The Denver Broncos are capable of winning a Super Bowl this upcoming season, and there is a chance they could have hoisted the Lombardi Trophy had Bo Nix not gotten hurt. However, while the Broncos do have a loaded roster, it's not without mistakes along the way.
Every NFL team, even the best of the best, have made roster mistakes and have had slip-ups. What separates the best from the worst is the frequency of those mistakes and how a front office can fix what mess they created.
The Broncos have certainly made some recent roster moves that they regret. Let's cover the three biggest ones here.
3 Denver Broncos roster moves that continue to not make any sense
Drafting Jahdae Barron in the first round back in the 2025 NFL Draft
This was a puzzling pick at the time, and it looks even worse now. The Broncos drafting Jahdae Barron at pick 20 in the 2025 NFL Draft was a perfect example of the 'best player available' mindset that NFL teams typically employ. It's a flawed method of drafting, as one of the main downsides is that other positions on the roster end up getting neglected over time.
And on the flip side, positions that are already loaded or generally in a good spot get added to unnecessarily. That has been the issue with the Barron pick. Not only was the Broncos secondary in a good spot before this pick, but it turned into one of the most talented in the NFL.
Denver had added Talanoa Hufanga in free agency before the draft to shore up the safety room, and the cornerback room was already solidified with Patrick Surtain II, Riley Moss, and Ja'Quan McMillian at the top.
McMillian had the best season of his career in 2025, and both Surtain and Moss were as solid as ever. Even a depth option in Kris Abrams-Draine has been good when called upon. It's not a shock that Barron hardly made an impact during his rookie season, and he's already 24 years old and doesn't seem to have a clear position.
One of the main appeals with Barron was that he had the ability to play all over the secondary, but there just isn't a clear path to playing time even as he heads into his second year. It's not that Barron isn't talented, it's that the fit made no sense and continues to make no sense today.
Retaining Alex Singleton on a two-year deal
This was one of the worst moves that any team made this offseason. Alex Singleton simply isn't a good football player any more, but the Broncos clearly insisted on bringing him back on another deal. Singleton can't cover, doesn't blitz well, and doesn't bring much of anything to the field outside of being able to wear the green dot.
Furthermore, the free agency class at the position had a ton of appealing names, and there were numerous routes to upgrade. Not only that, but the Broncos got weaker at the position by cutting Dre Greenlaw, which was another unpopular move.
You could make an argument that cutting Greenlaw made sense, but to double-down on one of the worst players on that side of the ball when there were opportunities to upgrade continues to be a head-scratching move, at best.
Neglecting the tackle position every season
Both Garett Bolles and Mike McGlinchey are among the best at their positions in the NFL, and they form a top-3 tackle duo in the league, but both are on the wrong side of 30, and the Broncos do not have any sort of long-term outlook at either position.
The last time the Broncos took a tackle in the NFL Draft was with Bolles way back in 2017. We are now approaching a decade since Denver last addressed the position in the draft. The offensive line is one of the single-most important position groups in all of professional sports, but to give this front office credit, they've been able to field a top-tier offensive line for years.
The Broncos can't continue like this, though - at some point, Denver will need to find a prospect to develop for the sake of financial savings and for long-term viability. Perhaps the 2026 NFL Draft could be the end of this tackle-less streak.
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