The Denver Broncos 2025 campaign was among the most successful in team history without a Super Bowl title. The team tied a franchise record with 14 wins and earned the top seed in the playoffs. For the most part, you'd probably had a hard time finding someone who thought the Broncos would have lost the AFC Championship Game with a healthy Bo Nix.
Denver's heartbreaking loss after the Divisional Round sent shockwaves throughout the NFL and may have been a truly historical event overall. In the offseason, many thought that Denver was going to be hyper-aggressive in adding talent, but that didn't really happen until the Jaylen Waddle trade.
With Waddle in the picture, the Broncos have one of the most talented offenses in the NFL from top to bottom, and that isn't an exaggeration at all. This does make it quite obvious what the biggest question mark is for this team approaching 2026...
Denver Broncos biggest question mark for 2026 actually centers around one of their best players
Brad Gagnon identified a pretty obvious question for the Broncos heading into the 2026 campaign:
"Denver Broncos: Can Bo Nix take the next step?
The team's April question will be the same as its September question. That's how it plays out when you have had a quiet March, added another quality receiver for Nix in Jaylen Waddle, and are otherwise just focused on improving what you've already got. With no picks in the top 60 and the roster pretty much settled for 2026, it's a chill period in Denver. They need Nix to keep building in Year 3. "
Gagnon is correct. Even with how awesome Bo Nix has been thus far, his performance in 2026 is the single biggest question for the Broncos. On paper, you could argue that this roster is the best in the NFL. The defense, while far from perfect, is good enough to win a Super Bowl.
And when you combine all of the offensive talent outside of Nix, that group is plenty good enough to win it all. At the end of the day, it's going to come down to Nix's third-year performance. In 2025, while he wasn't quite as efficient as a passer, he had a much stronger grip on the offense throughout the season, really played well down the stretch, and suddendly developed into the most clutch quarterback in the league.
However, there was a lot of meat left on the bone on offense - the run game took a huge hit when J.K. Dobbins went down, and the Broncos dropped passes at one of the highest rates in the league. Adding Waddle does largely fix the receiver room, and that, in turn, should help the run game.
The Broncos, though, are very likely to add another running back before the regular season begins, so when Week 1 rolls around, we'll be looking at this roster, struggling to find a weakness. This only amps up the pressure on the quarterback, especially in today's NFL.
Having a franchise quarterback fixes most issues, but having a high-end passer is what can win Super Bowls. No one should deny that Nix is every bit of a franchise passer, but the biggest question left to be answered is just how good can he be.
If Nix can elevate his game one notch, Denver could win it all in 2026. If he regresses or remains the same, the Broncos aren't going to win a fourth Lombardi Trophy.