The Denver Broncos didn't make a trade for star wide receiver Deebo Samuel, but the fallout after Samuel was traded to the Washington Commanders included some fantastic news. According to Dianna Russini of The Athletic, the Broncos were one of just three teams that Samuel wanted to be traded to when he requested a deal out of San Francisco.
Deebo Samuel's preference was to play for the Commanders, Texans or Broncos. But the latter two chose not to make offers for him.
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) March 2, 2025
Now, Samuel is set to be traded at the start of the new league year. Could Brandon Aiyuk follow?
More, from yesterday: https://t.co/VfmhyKPOXJ pic.twitter.com/RghJpqsQlb
Why is this great news for the Broncos? While it may seem disappointing that the Broncos didn't make an offer for Samuel, it's a much bigger deal that a player of his caliber wanted to play for the team.
The Broncos are back.
Broncos were one of Deebo Samuel's preferred trade destinations
The feeling of having a prominent star player in the NFL want to play for the Denver Broncos is something we haven't really experienced since the Peyton Manning days. For the Broncos to be a desirable destination for big-name players means the team has figured something out, and we have both Sean Payton and Bo Nix to thank for it.
The Broncos ended an eight-year playoff drought in 2024 and found their franchise quarterback in the process. Getting Bo Nix with the 12th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft was about as fortuitous as it gets in the NFL Draft. We've seen wilder stuff happen like the Eagles getting Jalen Hurts in the second round of the vaunted 2020 quarterback class, and other outstanding quarterbacks falling even further in the draft, but to get Nix at 12 overall was huge for the future of the organization.
The Broncos didn't make an offer for Deebo Samuel, but the fact that he would have wanted to come to Denver over most other places is indicative of tremendous progress for the franchise. And you can't help but wonder who else is going to want to come to Denver this offseason...
The Broncos have plenty of salary cap space (nearly $42 million) to work with. They have obviously plenty of ways they can upgrade the roster through free agency, and you can count on plenty of players being interested in coming to the Mile High City.
You also can't help but wonder why the Broncos didn't make any offer for Deebo Samuel. I'm sure there were a variety of reasons for it, but off the top of my head, they probably didn't want to commit such a large fraction of their available cap space -- nearly $17.5 million -- to add him to the roster. The Broncos also didn't have a 5th-round pick to even offer, which was the ultimate asking price for Samuel.
It's also very possible that the Broncos have something else in mind at wide receiver. Whatever it is they have in mind -- whether in-house or outside help -- they like that direction enough to not even make an offer for a guy who has been the definition of an offensive weapon in his NFL career.