When Justin Strnad hangs up his shoulder pads, he wants to be a general manager. The NFL is a business. He understands that better than most. The veteran signed a one-year deal worth pennies this past offseason to return to Denver, and spent 2025 in a prolonged whirlwind: starting at will linebacker for the injured Dre Greenlaw, starting at mike linebacker for the injured Alex Singleton, ending the year in a timeshare with Greenlaw.
Through the “outside noise,” as Strnad put it, that consistently labeled the Broncos’ ILB room as a weakness, the linebackers had a pretty good year. Strnad did, too. But it ended three points short and with a cloud of snow Sunday, and Strnad stood in the team’s atrium a day later, suddenly preparing for an end-of-year conversation with current Broncos GM George Paton and company. His contract is up in the air. So is most of Denver’s current ILB room.
For the man interested in team-building, it’s a test. If the Broncos draft a linebacker in April, and Strnad comes back, does he feel prepared to compete for a starting job?
“I mean, to be honest, I don’t think I would be back here if it’s not in a starter role,” Strnad told The Denver Post Monday, clarifying that he won’t return to Denver if a starting ILB job isn’t part of the equation.
Less than 24 hours after Denver’s loss to New England, a variety of key Broncos trudged out from bagging up their lockers Monday to speak with reporters, still yet to process a blizzard of emotions from a snowy 10-7 loss in the AFC title game. Left tackle Garett Bolles called it “one of the most crushing losses I’ve ever faced.” Outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper said it’d eat at him “for the rest of my life.” Stage two of the five stages of grief is anger, and it will burn for every month of the offseason in Denver.
The next stage, however, is bargaining. And quickly, these Broncos will be forced to make long-term decisions on a host of key faces who now head towards free agency. Key among them: Strnad, Alex Singleton and the rest of the ILB position, as Paton has to weigh the benefit of veteran continuity against injecting some new life into the middle of a top Denver defense.
Singleton, who endured a remarkably trying year to put together what he felt his best season in his seven-year career, wants to return.
“Obviously, the best thing to do is run it back,” Singleton said. “We were the best defense in the league this year. We held a team under 200 yards in the AFC Championship Game. That’s what we expect every week. I think we can do that every game next year. To be back here, and to be able to do that, would be super special.”
Still, the Broncos’ linebacker room was beset by injuries often enough to turn the position into a carousel. Singleton is 32 and suffered a torn ACL in 2024. Strnad is 29, and his expressed position puts Denver in a bit of a bind. If the Broncos wanted him back, it’d likely mean cutting ties with Greenlaw — the oft-injured veteran has an out in his contract before 2026 that would cost Denver just $4.3 million in dead cap, according to Spotrac.
“I think he’s as good as the top-paid guys in the NFL,” Singleton said of Strnad. “I mean, I hope we’re both back here. I think between the three of us, it would be really fun to run it back and do everything we can. But yeah, I hope he gets everything he deserves because he deserves it.”
Big decisions elsewhere
The Broncos also have major decisions to make on the defensive line. Perhaps they’ve already made them. Veteran defensive end John Franklin-Myers, who finished the year with a career-best 7.5 sacks, confirmed that Denver never initiated conversations with him about a potential extension at any point this season.
“And – who cares?” Franklin-Myers said. “They had other people in mind, or situations in mind. And I know my contract may be a little different than those guys’ contracts. So who really knows what the reason is, and who really cares?”
Indeed, Franklin-Myers played out 2025 as the odd man out on Denver’s defensive line, as Zach Allen, Nik Bonitto and Malcolm Roach all earned preseason or midseason deals. All-Pro Allen told reporters that he’ll one day buy a beach house and call it the “JFM house,” because their partnership on the Broncos’ defensive line helped him get paid.
Denver hasn’t seemed willing to shell out the dough necessary to keep Franklin-Myers, though. The defensive lineman’s camp is looking at Dolphins DT Zach Sieler’s 2025 extension — three years, $64 million — as a potential floor for free-agency negotiation. And the Broncos have a pair of younger, cheaper options in third-round rookie Sai’vion Jones and ascending backup Eyioma Uwazurike.
Justin Strnad (40) of the Denver Broncos stretches during practice at Broncos Park in Centennial on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Players up and down the roster, though, see Denver as uniquely well-positioned to be buyers in free agency. Former Broncos QB Russell Wilson’s $32 million in dead-cap weight is finally off the books. The Broncos currently have $27 million in cap space in 2026, according to OverTheCap, with the clear potential to cut or restructure multiple deals.
“To be the richest player ever, right?” Singleton joked when asked about his goals with free agency. “We have a lot of free Russell money, right?”
One obvious need for these Broncos? Skill talent, after they finished Sunday’s game with two receivers — Elijah Moore and Lil’Jordan Humphrey — who were midseason scrap-heap pickups. Left tackle Garett Bolles said plainly that Denver needed “a couple more playmakers.” The Broncos could certainly elect to bring back RB J.K. Dobbins, who’s near a full mend from a season-ending Lisfranc injury suffered in November.
“People want to come to Denver,” Bolles said. “I mean, I’ll be shocked to see how many free agents want to come here. We got a young team. We got a quarterback. We got the best O-line in football – I don’t care what anyone says. We do.”
Long faces stretched to most every corner of the locker room Monday, a group that climbed tantalizingly close to a Super Bowl. But all are in agreement that the window for this Denver organization is wide-open, with a “win-now” mentality, as tight end Evan Engram said.
“We’re in a great spot,” Engram said. “We’ll be in a good spot for a while.”
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