Leading up to kickoff of the 2026 NFL season, TeamFB7 is going in-depth on each team from its strengths and weaknesses to breakout players, intriguing rookies and overall predictions. Next up are the Denver Broncos, who get started Monday night vs. the Kansas City Chiefs.
Sean Payton has led the Broncos on a steady trajectory through his first three seasons in Denver, from 8-9 to 10-7 and then the true breakout last year with a 14-3 record and run to the AFC championship game.
Is the Super Bowl next?
Seven NFL coaches have led two franchises to the Super Bowl — Don Shula, Bill Parcells, Dan Reeves, Dick Vermeil, Mike Holmgren, John Fox and Andy Reid — while no coach has ever won Super Bowls with different organizations.
(Weeb Ewbank won two pre-Super Bowl NFL championships with the Colts and then Super Bowl III with the Jets, and Shula won an NFL championship with the Colts and two Super Bowls with the Dolphins.)
Payton might well be headed for the Pro Football Hall of Fame one day regardless, but getting the Broncos to the Big Game and adding a ring to the one he won with New Orleans would certainly put him over the top.
The Broncos open the season tied for the ninth-best Super Bowl odds, per DraftKings Sportsbook, at +1900.
Denver Broncos Reset
2025 Finish: 14-3, AFC West title, lost 10-7 to Patriots in AFC championship game
Head Coach: Sean Payton, fourth season (32-19 with Broncos, 1-2 playoffs; 184-108 overall, 10-10 playoffs, won Super Bowl with Saints)
Hot Seat Meter (0-10): 0
Offensive Coordinator: Davis Webb, first season (promoted from within after serving as QBs coach, replaces fired former OC Joe Lombardi)
Defensive Coordinator: Vance Joseph, fourth season
Best Offseason Move: Trading for WR Jaylen Waddle
To be honest, we thought the Broncos vastly overpaid for Jaylen Waddle, trading 2026 first- and third-round draft picks to the Dolphins (while getting back a favorable fourth-round pick swap).
The Broncos paid for Waddle as if he was a star No. 1 WR, and his five years in Miami show him to be more of a high-end WR2.
But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s absolutely upgrades Denver’s WR corps and changes the complexion of the passing attack with his elite speed and ability to be used in a variety of ways.
(To be fair, with regard to our assessment, Waddle did have 1,356 yards and 8 TDs in his second NFL season back in 2022 while starting his career with three straight 1,000-yard seasons, but he was playing second-fiddle to Tyreek Hill in Miami and struggled as the focal point last year after Hill’s injury, finishing with 64 catches for 910 yards and 6 TDs. Yes, it was an unideal situation with QB Tua Tagovailoa struggling mightily, but all the same …)
Waddle and Courtland Sutton (back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons with 15 total TDs over the last two years) form one of the more intriguing 1-2 tandems in the league.
Worst Offseason Move: Losing and not really replacing DL John Franklin-Myers
The Broncos lost one of the key cogs from a defense that gave up the second-fewest yards in the NFL last season (278.2/game) when John Franklin-Myers signed a lucrative free agent contract with the Titans (three years, $63 million).
Denver has filled that spot internally with Eyioma Uwazurike, a fourth-round pick in 2022 with one career start and 3.5 sacks last season, winning the job after a battle with Malcolm Roach (another returning rotational reserve). He’ll be alongside returning starters Zach Allen and D.J. Jones.
(The Broncos did draft Texas A&M defensive tackle Tyler Onyedim in the third round — their highest pick — but he appears buried down the depth chart at this point.)
Denver Broncos Roster Breakdown
Biggest Strength: Offensive line
The Broncos landed at No. 1 on PFF’s preseason offensive line rankings while returning all five starters from the group that finished last season as PFF’s highest-graded unit.
Left tackle Garrett Bolles didn’t allow a single sack last year and earned the highest PFF pass-blocking grade (91.0), while right guard Quinn Meinerz was the highest-graded guard in the league (88.9).
Left guard Ben Powers, center Luke Wattenberg and right tackle Mike McGlinchey round out the unit.
Biggest Weakness: Tight end
The Broncos don’t really have any glaring weaknesses, but tight end was the most underwhelming unit last year as veteran addition Evan Engram wasn’t much of a difference-maker with 50 catches for 461 yards and 1 TD.
Behind him is Adam Trautman and rookie Dallen Bentley (seventh-round pick out of Utah).
Most Intriguing Rookie: RB Jonah Coleman
A fourth-round pick out of Washington, Jonah Coleman generated considerable buzz in the preseason and figures to get some opportunities as the team’s No. 3 RB behind the oft-injured J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey.
Breakout Player: DL Eyioma Uwazurike
He has a prime opportunity in taking the spot vacated by Franklin-Myers, who had 7.5 sacks and helped key the Broncos’ stifling run defense that gave up just 91.1 YPG on the ground.
And the feedback from teammates and coaches has been compelling.
MVP Pick: QB Bo Nix
The Broncos may well have played in the Super Bowl last year if Bo Nix didn’t fracture his right ankle at the end of the team’s divisional round win over the Bills.
Nix is back healthy for his third NFL season. It remains to be seen if he’ll be as aggressive running the ball after totaling 786 rushing yards and 9 TDs over his first two seasons, but he could be in for a career-best season regardless thanks to the addition of Waddle to his receiving corps.
Nix threw for 3,931 yards, 25 TDs and 11 INTs last season and has proven to be a great fit for Payton’s offense.
2026 Denver Broncos Schedule
| Date | Opponent | Time (ET) |
| Week 1, Sept. 14 (Monday) | at Kansas City Chiefs | 8:15 p.m. |
| Week 2, Sept. 20 | vs. Jacksonville Jaguars | 4:05 p.m. |
| Week 3, Sept. 27 | vs. Los Angeles Rams | 8:20 p.m. |
| Week 4, Oct. 4 | at San Francisco 49ers | 4:25 p.m. |
| Week 5, Oct. 11 | at Los Angeles Chargers | 4:05 p.m. |
| Week 6, Oct. 15 (Thursday) | vs. Seattle Seahawks | 8:15 p.m. |
| Week 7, Oct. 25 | at Arizona Cardinals | 4:05 p.m. |
| Week 8, Nov. 1 | vs. Kansas City Chiefs | 4:25 p.m. |
| Week 9, Nov. 8 | at Carolina Panthers | 1 p.m. |
| Week 10 | BYE WEEK | |
| Week 11, Nov. 22 | vs. Las Vegas Raiders | 4:25 p.m. |
| Week 12, Nov. 27 (Friday) | at Pittsburgh Steelers | 3 p.m. |
| Week 13, Dec. 6 | vs. Miami Dolphins | 4:05 p.m. |
| Week 14, Dec. 13 | at New York Jets | 1 p.m. |
| Week 15, Dec. 20 | at Las Vegas Raiders | 4:25 p.m. |
| Week 16, Dec. 25 (Friday) | vs. Buffalo Bills | 4:30 p.m. |
| Week 17, TBD (Flex Game) | at New England Patriots | TBD |
| Week 18, TBD (Flex Game) | vs. Los Angeles Chargers | TBD |
Denver Broncos Season Prediction And Parting Thoughts
Season Prediction: 11-6
The Broncos have an absolutely brutal start and finish to the schedule.
Denver opens with six likely playoff teams and several top Super Bowl contenders in a row with the Chiefs on the road, Jaguars and Rams at home, 49ers and Chargers on the road and the reigning champion Seahawks at home.
The middle of the schedule is more favorable, but then comes the final three weeks against the Bills, at the Patriots and home vs. the Chargers.
That said, Denver’s roster is as good as any in the league.
That elite offensive line, Nix’s continued development as a fringe top 10 quarterback, the upgraded receiving corps, a solid run game with Dobbins, Harvey and Coleman and most of the key pieces back on one of the best defenses in the league including a first-team All-Pro in the defensive lineman Allen and second-team All-Pros in cornerback Patrick Surtain II and safety Talanoa Hufanga.
That should be enough to put Denver in position again to make a run at the Super Bowl.
