The Denver Broncos were a top-5 team in the league for much of the season. Finishing 14-3 and securing the top seed for the AFC playoffs, the Broncos were easily a premier team in the NFL, and while people continued to hammer the Broncos for not being able to put opponents away, the team simply kept stacking wins.
And as we know, the ankle injury to Bo Nix cast a major 'what if' cloud over the AFC Championship Game and potentially the Super Bowl. Whether it was due to coaching or sheer roster talent, the Broncos were among the most elite in the NFL, and that's not really something that was up for debate.
In free agency this offseason, the team brought back many of their own players, but did see John Franklin-Myers and Dre Greenlaw depart. Franklin-Myers signed with the Tennessee Titans, and Greenlaw was cut. Well, in some recent NFL power rankings, the Broncos came in a lot lower than anyone would have expected.
Denver Broncos only ranked 12th in PFF's post-free agency power rankings
In PFF's recent post-free agency power rankings, the Broncos were ranked 12th. Yes, 12th:
"The Broncos were reserved throughout the first week of free agency, opting to prioritize their own pending free agents as opposed to adding new talent. Not all were able to be retained, as John Franklin-Myers cashed in on a strong showing over the past two years in Denver. The real splash didn’t come until this week with the trade to acquire former Dolphins receiver Jaylen Waddle, giving quarterback Bo Nix a highly efficient pass catcher who has ranked in the 88th percentile in yards per route run over the past three seasons." - Mason Cameron
I am not sure how ranking the Broncos 12th in the NFL, which is a 'fringe playoff team' tier, came across the minds of anyone. Sure, the team did lose a couple of players this offseason, but Greenlaw played less than half the games in the regular season, and Franklin-Myers hardly played 50 percent of the defensive snaps.
The overwhelmingly majority of the key pieces are brought back, and the team did make a bold move to get significantly better on offense with the Jaylen Waddle trade. I truly struggle to see how Mason Cameron arrived at a 12th overall ranking.
To me, that would only make sense if the Broncos had, let's say, five major players depart in free agency, but the roster did not get weaker, and many of the same players that helped Denver reach that 14-3 record will be back.
There isn't a ton of analysis present for the 12th ranking, but it's clearly too low. Even if you were someone who believed the Broncos could regress in 2026, which is a fine thing to think, would a regression be this steep?
Denver is still going to be positioned to win 11 or 12 games at least in 2026. There is reason to believe that the offense will soon take a huge step forward with Waddle in the picture, and there are still a good bit of competent free agents out there who could help the team.
Being ranked 12th is just not an accurate representation of where this team is right now. They were one of four teams remaining in the NFL playoffs last year and should really be ranked 4th at worst.