As the football season comes to its close, front offices and coaching staffs alike are preparing to make tough roster decisions, both adding and subtracting talent from the organization. After a surprising playoff run, the Denver Broncos face newfound pressure to take the next step in 2025 to become a legitimate AFC playoff team, and potentially win a game once they've reached the playoffs. Before they can do any of that, they need to start by putting their plans for 2025 in motion, starting with changes to their current roster.
With changes coming to the Broncos' roster, a few players enter the spring with uncertainty around their role with the team, what their future in Denver looks like, or even if they'll be with the team coming training camp.
3 Broncos players whose future is up in the air in 2025
ILB Alex Singleton
Alex Singleton is an incredibly interesting case for the Broncos. For starters, their inside linebacking play was fairly rough in 2024. Once Singleton went down with an injury, the Broncos needed to ask much more out of Justin Strnad than they should have, and his poor play was exposed multiple times. Singleton has one more year remaining on his Broncos deal but is a cap casualty candidate as cutting him can save George Paton and company roughly $4 million, which isn't an insignificant amount of money for a Broncos team still dealing with an enormous dead cap. Singleton might be a goner if the team figures they can land the likes of Nick Bolton in free agency.
WR Troy Franklin
Troy Franklin was met with incredible optimism as a 4th round selection from Oregon but struggled in his rookie year. Drops and general poor fundamentals were a glaring issue, and Franklin was largely a disappointment his rookie year.
The biggest priority for the Broncos this spring is going to be adding offensive playmaking, and Franklin's subpar rookie season could bury him on the depth chart. As figures, he sits as WR4 in Denver, and adding a legitimate receiver to the group could push him as far down the depth chart as he can go.
S PJ Locke
PJ Locke has been an interesting story in Denver. He was a journeyman backup and practice squad player but found an elevated role as a package safety in Denver and eventually starter. Locke had been more than fine in his prior roles, but his poor play showed at times this year, and the veteran safety was overall unimpressive and lackluster.
Locke is 28 now, meaning his best football might be behind him. Moving on from Locke could save the Broncos roughly $3 million against the cap, which could be reason enough to move in a different direction at safety. Changes could be coming to the Broncos' safety room, and sticking with the status quo could be problematic.