After finishing one game short of reaching the Super Bowl, the entire Denver Broncos' fan base is watching with great anticipation to find out how the brain trust in charge of building the roster is going to attack the 2026 offseason.
From the perspective of the fan base, the Broncos could have made and possibly won the Super Bowl this past season if it weren't for an injury to Bo Nix in the Divisional Round victory over the Buffalo Bills. But Sean Payton is adamant that you don't build on success in the NFL, you shuffle the deck and start all over again.
Based on Payton's own philosophy and how close the Broncos were to winning a championship last year, anything less than an ultra-aggressive offseason -- similar to the way the team attacked the 2014 offseason -- would be a massive disappointment. Broncos insider Mike Klis of 9News in Denver recently posted a free agency primer, and some of his intel and predictions for what could happen will quickly transform the anticipation and optimism in Broncos Country to dread and disappointment.
Broncos predicted to run it back, make minor free agency moves by team insider
Despite a lot of rumors to the contrary, Klis doesn't expect the Broncos to be players in the top end of the running back market in free agency:
"The top free-agent running backs available are Seattle’s Kenneth Walker III, Jacksonville’s Travis Etienne, Tampa Bay’s Rachaad White, Carolina’s Rico Dowdle and Atlanta’s Tyler Allgeier. But it would be a surprise if the Broncos spend big money here."
- Mike Klis
This, in itself, is a very disappointing revelation. If the Broncos are not in on the top players at the running back position, Klis suggests someone like Steelers free agent Kenneth Gainwell feels like the "Sean Payton" type of back in free agency. And if the Broncos were to sign Gainwell, hopefully that would be coupled with the return of JK Dobbins, at the very least.
But if Gainwell and Dobbins are signed, what does that do about RJ Harvey's role going forward? You have to have depth at the position, but Payton has also mentioned how hard it is to involve more than two backs.
Klis's post also suggests that the Broncos have strong interest in retaining both starting tight end Adam Trautman and linebacker Alex Singleton. Both of those moves would be incredibly disappointing to many in the fan base, even though Trautman and Singleton have done a solid job over the past few seasons helping the Broncos get to where they are now.
The reality is that there are simply too many options available for potential talent upgrades
"Blocking tight end Adam Trautman is a free agent. The Broncos want him back, but he will also draw interest from other teams."
"The Broncos want to re-sign Singleton and Strnad. It may especially be difficult to sign Strnad, who besides a decent pay raise wants to start.
Re-signing Singleton appears to be a priority."
- Mike Klis
Once again, re-signing those players would represent the Broncos choosing the status quo over the potential to upgrade in the talent department. And that's not to say there is no value in continuity, but this quote from Sean Payton at the Scouting Combine would seem to fly in the face of settling for the status quo:
"From my lens, we won a lot of games by one score or less. I’m not naive enough to think those games couldn’t have swung. And you could grab any two or three, but where’s the meat on the bone? The meat on the bone exists with our takeaways. That has to improve. Our run game consistently. Consistency. Our meat on the bone relative to a number of things that we won despite maybe not being as good as others. I think that’s the only way to look at it relative to this team writing its own chapter and getting us to where we want to go, which is obviously a game and a half further than where we went.”
- Sean Payton (via Broncos PR)
It simply doesnt make any sense for the Broncos to "settle" in any way for the 2026 offseason. Klis's article also throws out the possibility that the Broncos could move on from one of Ben Powers or Mike McGlinchey, and look for a new starter on the offensive line.
The entire post he made simply feels like a nightmare scenario for Broncos Country. With the team on the cusp of a Super Bowl, taking two steps back during the offseason would be a horrible look for the brain trust and would put a sour taste in everyone's mouth in the lead up to the 2026 season.