The Offseason Champions! (Tied for 3rd Best Offseason)
Summary: The Broncos really did it. No more Javonte Williams and all the tools Sean Payton and Bo Nix need to be a serious contender.
Broncos Looking to Seriously contend.
Sean Payton man. The optimist once in the midst of a total apocalyptic catastrophe somehow saved the Broncos organization from impending doom. He did the unimaginable and salvaged Denver from the nightmarish situation Russell Wilson put the organization in. Now the Broncos are seemingly mimicking the Steelers. Have Bo Nix keep his average depth of target down, deploying a game plan that protects the football and sustains long drives to wear away at opposing defenses. He manages the game, their defense is remarkable, and the team seals a playoff berth almost every season. So who at tight end is better on the open market than Evan Engram at catching dump down passes for this gameplan? Nobody. So the team gave him $16.5 million guaranteed and up to $23 million to play the exact role of being a short game weapon for Nix. Nix throwing deep balls just isn’t a winning recipe and nothing screams “WE CHECK THE FOOTBALL DOWN,” like making Evan Engram a pillar of your offense. Engram isn’t that great, but for this specific scheme is a perfect fit. Not too shabby, but on defense the moves they made were something else.
Safety Talanoa Hufanga signing with the Broncos on a 3 year, $45 million with $20 million guaranteed was the best free agent defensive signing of 2025 in my book. Although he has dealt with an injury bug the past two seasons, who doesn’t get injured in San Francisco? He has missed 17 games over the last two seasons, which is quite rough on paper, but he’s only 25 years old. When he’s playing football he flies around the field, is sound in coverage, forcibly demolishes anyone coming over the middle of the field, and even sports the vintage Polamalu hairdo. For Denver you could have a top 5 safety in the NFL for the next three years to pair with an already elite secondary anchored by the best cornerback in football, PS2. I’m taking that ten times out of ten with the lowered guarantee to soften the blow if things don’t workout. Alongside Hufanga the Broncos also brought in his former teammate linebacker, Dre Greenlaw on a 3 year, $31.5 million deal with $13.5 million guaranteed. He had a gut wrenching injury in the 2023 Super Bowl while running onto the field resulting in a torn ACL and has missed a staggering 36 games since being drafted in 2019. He only played in two games last year since the Niners weren’t in contention so at least the 27 year old has had ample time to recover. He flows to the ball so well as an offball linebacker and is as sound of a tackler as there is in the NFL. He’s a heat seeking missile and again with this deal Denver has effectively shielded themselves from potential cap damage if there were to be another Greenlaw injury with a low guarantee.
This front office learned their lesson from Russell Wilson. Giving generational wealth to aging players past their prime has a significant, damaging effect: astronomical overly guaranteed contracts yield disastrous results. Denver believes their time is now with the Chargers and Raiders still forming an identity and the Kansas City Chiefs lacking the weapons they’ve had in the past. That isn’t accounting for Rashee Rice’s return so bolstering their defense could be crucial. Maybe the Broncos could be a contender? But man is Bo Nix hard to watch when he takes a drop back and just throws up a deep ball. It’s usually an underthrown wounded duck when there’s nothing there that tells him he should throw the ball. I saw him do it a few times, which made his brief stint of being in consideration for Offensive Rookie of the Year puzzling to me. He demolished bad defenses with short passes. If this team stays healthy the one thing that can hurt them most is Bo Nix being forced to throw the ball down the field. The Chiefs likely still have a chokehold on the AFC West, but maybe the Broncos could give them a run for the money if a rookie running back comes into town.
