Throughout the 2026 offseason, and even dating back the past handful of offseasons, one position has been more of a question mark than almost all of the others on the Denver Broncos' roster: Linebacker.
The Broncos re-signed veterans Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad this offseason to multi-year contracts, but after the revelation from Sean Payton that Jonah Elliss would no longer be making a position switch to linebacker, the Broncos have been left with those two veterans and a bunch of inexperienced players as depth.
At some point, the Broncos are going to have to address that, because they are currently one injury away from Mr. Irrelevant in this year's draft, starting on what is expected to be a top-3 defense in the NFL. With some of the most cap space and draft capital of any team in the NFL right now, is it possible we could see the Broncos pursue a trade to address the depth at that position?
In the NFL offseason, nothing is really off the table. And there might be a scenario where the Broncos could get a player they were high on in the pre-draft process just last year.
The Denver Broncos should pursue a trade for 49ers linebacker Nick Martin
The San Francisco 49ers seem to have something of an abundance at the linebacker position entering the 2026 offseason program. Of course, they're going to have to be wise with the players they have as well, considering their projected starters are old friend Dre Greenlaw and Fred Warner, two players with some significant recent injury concerns.
But even behind those two guys, the 49ers have a number of players who can step up for them. They've already traded from their linebacker depth by sending Dee Winters to the Cowboys during the NFL Draft, but Tatum Bethune also played 499 snaps for them last season. The 49ers brought in another old friend in Garrett Wallow last year, and he ended up playing some snaps for them defensively as well.
Luke Gifford played 172 defensive snaps for the 49ers' defense last season. They just used a 5th-round pick on Jaden Dugger, a big, athletic, former safety who has plenty of upside.
The one guy in the 49ers' group of linebackers who had no defined role last year was 2025 3rd-round pick Nick Martin, a former Oklahoma State star who was a pre-draft interest of the Denver Broncos. Martin had a Zoom meeting with the Broncos before the 2025 NFL Draft and also spoke with them a couple of times at the NFL Scouting Combine.
It's entirely possible that the Broncos expected Martin to be available on Day 3 of the draft, but the 49ers scooped him up in the 3rd round and really surprised everybody.
Now that the 49ers have brought back Greenlaw this offseason, and have a healthy Fred Warner, is it possible that a player like Martin could be available? Not only do the 49ers have players who have experience, but they've got a new defensive coordinator in Raheem Morris taking over for Robert Saleh. If Saleh was the one who pounded the table for Martin, maybe the 49ers would be more amenable to the idea of trading him.
The Broncos simply have to figure out a way to fortify their linebacker group. There are plenty of options out there aside from Martin to try and land in a trade, but with the Drew Sanders experiment seemingly nearing its end, this is the type of trade that could give the Broncos the jolt of upside that position group needs.
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