To say that the 2025 NFL Free Agency period was a productive one for the Denver Broncos would be a massive understatement. The class of 2025 is expected to have an impact of the same caliber of the vaunted class of 2014, which brought DeMarcus Ware, Aqib Talib, TJ Ward, and Emmanuel Sanders to Denver all in the same offseason.
The Broncos signed Dre Greenlaw, Talanoa Hufanga, Evan Engram, and JK Dobbins in one offseason, but another free agent pickup could be poised to play a much bigger overall role than expected.
The signing of veteran wide receiver Trent Sherfield didn't move the needle for many, but Sherfield has been expected to be one of the likely six wide receivers kept on the active 53-man roster when the season begins in September. It's not that Sherfield is a highly productive veteran receiver, but that he's an outstanding special teams player.
Trent Sherfield could play underrated role for the Broncos in 2025
Day 5 of #Broncos training camp thoughts
— Ryan Edwards (@redwardsradio) July 28, 2025
-first day of pads
-Drew Sanders will be out 4-6 weeks per Coach Payton but there’s optimism about his injury and return
-Broncos are “close” on a new contract with Courtland Sutton per Payton
-Evan Engram is going to be a SIGNIFICANT…
Sherfield has long excelled at doing the "dirty work" at wide receiver and has played roles for the 49ers, Dolphins, Bills, and Vikings in recent years. Although he's played a higher overall percentage of special teams snaps, Sherfield has not been riding the pine on offense.
He hasn't missed a game over the last four years and played 265 snaps in 2021 with the 49ers, a career-high 611 snaps with the Dolphins in 2022, 392 snaps for the Bills in 2023, and 179 snaps for the Vikings last season.
At this point, it might be fair to theorize, given his skill set and strengths, that Sherfield is not only set to replace what Tremon Smith used to do for the Broncos as a core special teams ace, but also potentially Lil'Jordan Humphrey's role in the offense as a receiver who can block and give you an occasional play as a receiver.
Over the course of his NFL career, Sherfield averages just a shade under 12 yards per reception and has been very efficient with his targets over the past few seasons.
This wasn't a move that really moved the needle, but there's more than meets the eye with a guy like Sherfield. And the Broncos liked him enough to give him a two-year deal.
And head coach Sean Payton likes him...
“He’s tough, and he can run. The other thing he can do is block, and so we’ve always had a handful of receivers that can run and stretch the field, and when you get one that can do that and then block also, you can set up play action, marries well to the run game. He’s pretty competitive.”
- Sean Payton, via Broncos PR
Maybe we underestimated this signing for the Broncos with the way Payton is talking about him here and with what others have observed in the early goings of Denver Broncos training camp.