How Broncos' Coming Roster Needs Could Dictate Draft Direction

The Denver Broncos could go any number of directions with the 20th overall selection and their first-round pick in the 2025 NFL draft. While Michigan tight end Colston Loveland remains the team’s most highly-mocked prospect according to the NFL Mock Draft Database, Pro Football Focus has the Broncos zeroing in on one specific player as the “trendy” option.

North Carolina running back Omarion Hampton.

Hampton makes a load of sense for the Broncos. He checks nearly every box that a team could want from a statistical and measurable perspective.

If it weren’t for superstar Boise State back Ashton Jeanty in this class, Hampton likely would have received more attention last season at Chapel Hill. The Broncos also have a glaring need at the position. If Hampton is there at 20, which is far from a guarantee, it makes sense that he’s so widely linked to Denver. After all, 1+1=2.

However, given the historical context of the running back position, the Broncos have options in the first round. As opposed to simply drafting to fill a hole on the roster, another viable team-building strategy is to attempt to get a year ahead of impending expensive free agents.

Using a premium pick on a player at a position where a starter is set to hit the open market in a year gives the team pivot points from moving on from veterans that get more expensive than it's willing to pay while leaning into the natural churn of inserting younger players into a roster and letting older plays go.

Not every team is in a position where it has the security to look beyond 2025, but the Broncos who appear to be entering a multi-year competitive window should be afforded that long-term view given the jobs both head coach Sean Payton and his staff and GM George Paton and the personnel department have done over the past three offseasons.

So what positions on the Broncos roster are currently filled with quality players that could become a problem exceedingly quickly in just one year? The first and most obvious spot is the interior defensive line.

Defensive Line

The Broncos did retain nose tackle D.J. Jones this offseason on a three-year, $39 million contract. However, all of the Broncos' other top snap-earners across the interior, including Zach Allen, John Franklin-Myers, and Malcolm Roach, enter 2025 on the last year of their respective contracts.

It feels safe to assume the Broncos will work something out with the All-Pro, Allen. The team will have to compensate him handsomely on what could be a near top-of-the-market deal, but it’s hard to imagine the Broncos moving on from their best defensive front player who will turn 28 this offseason.

After that, it's likely fair to question the team’s long-term plans for Roach and Franklin-Myers. The Broncos likely have the cash (thanks to the exceedingly wealthy ownership group in the Walton-Penners) and Bo Nix on a rookie quarterback contract under control, but would the Broncos want to pay four interior players into their age-30-plus years?

Wide Receiver

After the interior defensive line, the next position where it makes sense for the Broncos to consider an early investment to give themselves long-term options is at wide receiver. Not only has wide receiver ballooned into the second most expensive position on the field, thus amplifying the value of a quality starting receiver on a rookie contract, but the Broncos have also yo-yoed for what seems like years with No. 1 wideout Courtland Sutton.

Sutton will turn 30 years old this season, entering the final year of his contract, and could easily command $23M-plus per year on his next contract, given the receiver market. Will the Broncos want to pay that for Sutton at his age?

The team certainly could, but above age 30, the risk certainly amplifies. Will Sutton age gracefully similar to a Davante Adams who has declined some but is still a great receiver turning age 33 next season, or will his ability fall off a cliff similar to DeAndre Hopkins who will turn 33 and is now a year-by-year mercenary type but far from a pass-catcher with enough talent to run an offense through.

Reports have repeatedly said how much the Broncos adore their young trio of receivers in Troy Franklin, Devaughn Vele, and Marvin Mims Jr. All three, though, are relative unknowns regarding being a No. 2 receivrer or better for an offense. The trio combined last season only had 21 more targets (combined!) than Sutton had on his own in 2024.

Bonitto's Imminent Bonanza

After the interior trio of defensive linemen and Sutton at wide receiver, the Broncos' next priority free agent in 2026 will likely be rush linebacker Nik Bonitto. While always possessing excellent speed off the edge, Bonitto has developed more strength in his game, becoming a more well-rounded defender in both run defense and as a pass rusher.

While Bonitto will never be a monstrous edge-setter with mass and length, he's a great fit in the Broncos’ early-down blitz-centric defense that creates about as many one-on-one opportunities as any in football under defensive coordinator Vance Joseph.

However, with Bonitto’s fantastic statistical season in 2024, he will surely demand a large contract, whether he signs before free agency or hits the open market. DNVR’s Zac Stevens reported that Bonitto was looking for a contract at about $23M per year, but that was reported before this year’s free agency cycle. As they say, “yesterday’s price is not today’s price."

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Complicating the Broncos utilizing an early draft pick on edge, though, are the ample bodies the room already has and quality of depth. It’s easy to make a case for snaps being available along the interior defensive line.

Allen playing 1031 snaps is a testament to his stamina but bordering on abuse from Denver as he played a way higher snaps-per-game rate on the interior than every other player at his position in the entire league, with many of his games coming at altitude. Depth pieces like Jordan Jackson and Eyioma Uwazurike could also be bumped for a high pick.

At receiver, another heavily rotated position, the Broncos could have reps available from the vacated Lil’Jordan Humphrey and become less reliant on Sutton. The young guys should have competition as well.

Edge is more difficult, though. The Broncos locked up Jonathon Cooper to a solid contract after another impressive season by the former seventh-round pick. 2024 third-rounder Jonah Elliss earned All-Rookie honors while being one of the youngest players in the league and accumulating five sacks and 20 pressures.

In a very small number of games, former UFL star Dondrea Tillman also looked like an exceedingly serviceable edge, notching 22 pressures (in approximately half the snaps of Elliss) and five sacks. The Broncos could surely roster five rush linebackers this season, but the path to snaps is not as obvious as along the interior D-line or wide receiver.

Still, given how important depth is at the position and how incredibly expensive edge rushers are, if one falls to an early pick the Broncos adore, they could certainly go that direction and help the team and roster build long-term.

Linebacker

While not as impactful as the previously listed players, but players still worth considering drafting a successor for somewhat early are tight end Adam Trautman and linebacker Alex Singleton. The Broncos raised the floor of their tight end room by landing Evan Engram in free agency, who can help the team add dynamism at the tight end spot that Payton believed he needed to run his offense.

However, Engram is playing on essentially a two-year contract, will turn 31 years old this season, and is coming off a season-ending injury. Trautman is a serviceable Y tight end, but on the last year of his contract, he shouldn’t keep the Broncos from adding to the room to compete with snaps with him, and also compete with Adam Krull and Nate Atkins likely kicking one off the roster.

The Broncos could consider linebacker for slightly different reasons. Unlike the offensive skill positions and the defensive front, teams are not often rotating their second-level linebackers on and off the field.

There are not necessarily “rotational” snaps available. Also, depending on how the Broncos view Drew Sanders and his ability to synthesize everything necessary to play linebacker in the NFL, the team looks solid on paper.

However, given that Singleton will be hitting the market after next season and will turn 32. And both he and the Broncos’ other projected starting linebacker (Dre Greenlaw) hardly played in 2024 due to injury, so adding a player relatively early to the mid-rounds should be considered to give the team long-term options at the position and some wiggle room should the starters have issues coming off injury.

Draft Good Players not Positions

At the end of the day, what matters for the Broncos in the draft is not addressing an immediate hole on the roster, like running back, nor adding players who can be succession plans for impending free agents who might get more expensive than the Broncos want to pay for aging players, but simply, they need to draft good players.

It may sound overly simple, but the team is drafting individual players and not generic fillers at positions. What matters is hitting on the player in the draft and not necessarily filling a position.

The Broncos have stated that they will wait until after the draft to address the team’s own impending 2026 free agents. The team will very likely lock up a few of their in-house guys prior to the season like they did with Patrick Surtain II and Quinn Meinerz last year, as well as in-season with Garett Bolles.

Waiting until the draft to conclude makes sense for the Broncos to engage in these talks. It gives the team leverage and options should an agreement not materialize and will keep the Broncos from a place of weakness when discussing terms. The Broncos have the wealthiest ownership group in football, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be smart with how they use their money and fill in players against the cap.

The Takeaway

The Broncos have a complete enough roster outside of the need at running back (which does not have to be addressed with their first pick), and the team’s coaching staff and front office have enough stability that the team can look a season ahead to get in front of impending needs.