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Jeff Legwold, ESPN Senior Writer
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — When it comes to the Denver Broncos‘ offseason, their depth chart and quarterback situation has raised questions around a potential “rebuild” mode.
“I get that,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said at the recent league meetings in Orlando, Fla. “I don’t understand — in our league, you regroup and you get ready to play. We’re still in the midst of assembling our roster. If you paid attention to [rebuilding talk], there are a ton of different seasons, and I’ve been a part of it, that never would have had the success we had relative to the expectations. We have to get better in a lot of areas and we’re excited to do that.”
In the wake of their 8-9 finish and the team’s eighth consecutive playoff miss, the Broncos have garnered far more headlines for the departures from the team rather than the arrivals.
The Broncos have taken on a $85 million dead money charge over the next seasons against their salary cap to release quarterback Russell Wilson, $53 million of that this year. And that has constricted their ability to do some things as they may have done them without the charge.
It also has left the marquee position on their, and anyone else’s team, without a clear starter.
Add in the release of veteran safety Justin Simmons, a Denver fixture who was the longest-tenured player on the team, and the loss of most of free agents like center Lloyd Cushenberry III and linebacker Josey Jewell, it has looked like far more subtraction than addition.
But, as all of the team’s top decision-makers reaffirmed at the league meetings, the Broncos continue to stand by the belief this all was in the plan they have made to navigate their way through it. That short-term pain was part of the blueprint and that the team knows the route out of it, despite what anyone outside of their facility may think.
“We’re passionate about being competitive,” owner/CEO Greg Penner said Orlando. “That’s both in the short term and the long term. You can call it sort of whatever you want, but our focus is on putting the best possible team on the field this coming year. I don’t think there are any shortcuts or quick fixes. We’re going to do this the right way and have this team be competitive this coming season, but also be in a position to build for the future.”
The biggest question that still lingers over any discourse about the Broncos is at quarterback. The Broncos sat out the initial wave of free agency, as most available quarterbacks signed elsewhere around the league to be backups with teams that had an established starter.
“It felt like we had a really good handle as to who was available,” Payton said. “Certainly, I think we’re at a place other quarterbacks would like to come to, and yet we weren’t just going to sign a quarterback to sign one. We will be smart about our thoughts relative to who’s coming in and most importantly what the vision is for the player.”
With the No. 12 pick in this year’s draft, the Broncos aren’t positioned to select any of the top three, or perhaps four, if a run is on, of the top quarterbacks on the board. At least without surrendering future prime draft capital to move up in the first round, a difficult decision for a team with just two of its own first-round picks on its current roster and hasn’t made a first-round pick since the 2021 draft.
The Broncos do not currently have a second-round pick so after the No. 12 pick and won’t be on the clock again until pick No. 76 — 12 picks into the third round.
Payton has said Jarrett Stidham, who started the final two games last season, will “compete” for the starting job and that “other candidates” will compete with him. Stidham and Ben DiNucci (on a futures contract) are the only signed quarterbacks on the depth chart.
And Paton has said September is still a ways away with the draft still on the table and no closed sign on free agency after the draft.
“I’ve been impressed with Sean and George,” Penner said. “They’ve been very measured and strategic. Our approach is going to be long-term to build the roster through the draft, and then be opportunistic with free agency and trades and strike when we are in a good place to do that.”
