Everyone in the media world has spent significant time this offseason talking about the Denver Broncos' obvious needs at running back, tight end, and linebacker, but there's one area of the team that hasn't gotten nearly as much attention: Special teams.
The Broncos' first external free agent signing was Tycen Anderson, a safety who plays a ton of snaps on special teams, and figures to help the Broncos replace what PJ Locke (now with the Cowboys) brought to the team in that phase.
While having quality special teams players is crucial, having multiple players who can return kicks has now become a non-negotiable essential in the NFL. The Broncos have one of the league's best return men in Marvin Mims Jr., but the 2025 season was evidence that they need to add someone else to return kicks and take some pressure off of the All-Pro.
Broncos must target top-tier kickoff returner in the 2026 NFL Draft
The Broncos are perhaps at a crossroads when it comes to Marvin Mims Jr. returning kicks at all. There were 59 kicks returned by the Broncos in 2025, 25 of them by Mims. Even though Mims is dynamic and explosive on kick returns, there were two issues that came up last season.
First, Mims got hurt multiple times on kick returns, specifically with concussions or concussion symptoms. Second, teams are obviously not oblivious to Mims's ability to take a kickoff back at any moment, so they avoided kicking directly at him.
That's why we saw 17 kicks returned by Tyler Badie and 16 returned by RJ Harvey last season. And neither of those guys really proved to be an explosive threat in the return game.
There are options in the 2026 NFL Draft that the Broncos could look at investing in if they really want to upgrade the return game. Specifically, some intriguing names would be Iowa's Kaden Wetjen, Clemson's Adam Randall, and Notre Dame's Jadarian Price.
Price had two kickoff returns for touchdowns last season, and Wetjen had six career return touchdowns at Iowa between punts and kickoffs.
The Broncos need to figure out a way to make teams pay for kicking the ball away from Marvin Mims Jr., and perhaps find another weapon who can give them another major field position advantage.
With so many games being decided by one score, think about the impact of having another return specialist who can go the distance, or flip the field in the blink of an eye. Having multiple weapons like that would be huge for the Broncos, who already have a major advantage when teams actually punt the ball to Mims.
Getting that second threat and perhaps even allowing Mims to stop returning kicks altogether (depending on his potential role in the offense) will be crucial. There are options in this draft class, so don't be surprised if the Broncos prioritize one of them with how important the "hidden yardage" of special teams is to head coach Sean Payton.