When the Denver Broncos begin recruiting free agents in the next couple of months, they are going to be armed with one of the best secret recruiting weapons out of any NFL team.
It's not Bo Nix, although he helps. It's not the continuity of the roster, which also helps. It's not the training facility coming in 2026, which also helps. The Broncos are top 10 in the NFL with $52 million in salary cap space and the richest owners in the league, but that's not it either.
No, the Broncos' true secret weapon and hidden advantage when it comes to recruiting prospective free agents or veterans to come to the team in 2025 has everything to do with two straight years of some of the best health in the league. The Broncos have done a complete 180 when it comes to players being on injured reserve since Sean Payton and his staff got to town. The addition of Beau Lowery and his training staff in Denver has taken the Broncos from among the worst teams in the league with the percentage of the salary cap and the number of players on injured reserve to one of the best.
Broncos training staff could be key recruiting tool in 2025 NFL Free Agency
Head coach Sean Payton and owner/CEO Greg Penner each talked about how this has been such a priority in the last couple of years and just how big of a difference Lowery and his staff have been over the last two seasons.
“[We’re] really pleased. If you looked at our data, the four or five seasons before the last two, we were typically in the bottom of the league in terms of injury rate. Some injuries are just based on luck, but some of it can be attributed to other things. I just felt like we had to take a step back and see what we could change. [There are] two things that I would primarily attribute it to. One was bringing in someone like [Vice President of Player Health & Performance] Beau Lowery who sits above the training room, strength and conditioning, nutrition, sports science, and sees all those verticals but looks at in on a horizontal basis by athlete.
That was a big change for us. The second thing is then marrying that up and the data they’re seeing and all that with how the coaches are structuring practice. So you want enough of that physical practice where players get calloused at the right points in the season, and then you have to make sure to give them the rest when they need the rest. If you can get that right and look at it on an athlete-by-athlete basis, to me that’s been the biggest, those two things, have been the biggest contributors to our success.”
- Broncos owner/CEO Greg Penner (via team PR)
Given this team's intentionality when it comes to player health, there's no doubt that we're going to see an uptick in interest from prospective free agents who may have the Broncos on their list. A lot of times, guys reach free agency in the first place because they can't stay healthy and earn another contract.
If you're a player in the NFL, you have two primary goals in all likelihood: You want to win as much as possible and you want to make as much money as possible. In order to do those two things, you've got to stay on the field. The Broncos, over the last two years, have proven that they can help players do that better than most other teams.
And Payton himself even got a little fiery when talking about it.
“Once again, the injury data. I could give you the graph. I think [we were] 32 teams a year ago, we finished first [last year]. This year, we’re currently second from the… I don’t want to use the wrong word, but from what was taking place prior. That’s a credit to [Vice President of Player Health & Performance] Beau Lowery. It’s a credit to the training room, the strength and development, it’s a credit to everyone involved.
There’s a lot that goes into that, and then if you’re finished towards the bottom, there’s a lot that goes into that too, and you’ve earned that. I know [Owner and CEO] Greg [Penner], everyone involved in the process is really excited because here’s the thing—you’re also selling to your players, and now your players are wanting to be here for their recovery. They want to be here for the offseason. They want to be here lifting. They want to be here. They’re not all disappearing to the satellite private workout expert facilities that are supposedly… They’re staying here, and there’s more than a year of proof.
There are two years of proof. For those prior that I didn’t work out so well for—tough. That’s just what it was. They earned those numbers. When you have 134 players miss games because of injury, something’s wrong. Then when you have 30-something two years in a row, something’s right. So that takes me I think to your question as to players being in here, and wanting to be here and feeling like, ‘I’m benefiting from my training here.’ When you can put those numbers up, that’s pretty substantial.”
- Broncos HC Sean Payton
And on top of the way they take care of the players on the training side of things, the Broncos will have an all-new facility in 2026 that will be a huge recruiting tool going forward. The ownership has also proven a willingness to literally replace the field itself in the middle of the season in the name of player safety.
It's clear that this is going to be a huge selling point for the Broncos. Some of the top guys that could help this team in the 2025 offseason are coming with maybe some medical red flags. Wide receivers Chris Godwin and Tee Higgins are two guys who dealt with injuries in 2024 (and prior) who could significantly boost this offense in 2025. And while it's understandable that Broncos fans would be hesitant to get excited about those players due to their injury history, there may be grounds to actually believe those players could benefit tremendously from the change of scenery to Denver.
The training staff has proven its worth over a two-year sample. For star receivers like Higgins and Godwin, why would you not want to go to a team that has been better than everybody else at keeping guys on the field?
On top of everything else, this could be one of Denver's best recruiting tools in 2025 NFL free agency.