{"id":832098,"date":"2026-09-10T07:36:30","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T07:36:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/832098\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T07:36:30","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T07:36:30","slug":"broncos-players-on-who-could-break-out-this-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/832098\/","title":{"rendered":"Broncos players on who could break out this season"},"content":{"rendered":"

It has been a while since Mike McGlinchey was in college. Eight years, in fact. But the setup of this Denver Broncos offensive line, with four returning starters alongside McGlinchey at right tackle, reminds him of his days in South Bend, Indiana.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very lucky. It\u2019s so rare in our league to have what we have,\u201d McGlinchey said.<\/p>\n

The offensive line is a microcosm of a Broncos roster that\u2019s predicated on continuity entering the 2026 season. With nearly the entire starting lineup returning, it\u2019s difficult to parse through the roster to find any potential breakout players. For two straight seasons, general manager George Paton and coach Sean Payton have zigged while the rest of the NFL zags. On average, only 56% of NFL players return to the same team from one year to the next, and just 35% of players return every two years, according to a study done by Over the Cap<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But there are always surprises in the NFL. To gauge who could emerge this season as an impact player for Denver, The Denver Post asked several Broncos which of their teammates could shock people in 2026.<\/p>\n

Eyioma Uwazurike<\/p>\n

The amount of love Uwazurike has gotten throughout camp will be music to both Broncos fans and the team\u2019s front office. After John Franklin-Myers departed to the Tennessee Titans in free agency, it left a big hole in the middle of Vance Joseph\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n

Uwazurike felt prepared to fill the void. Last season, he told The Post<\/a> he was \u201c100% able to take over that role completely.\u201d He\u2019s looked the part this offseason, consistently disrupting plays during team sessions and repping alongside All-Pro defensive tackle Zach Allen in positional drills. His teammates have noticed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll say Eni, bro. Eni\u2019s had an amazing camp. He\u2019s a guy that just disrupts,\u201d wide receiver Pat Bryant told The Post when asked who could break out for the Broncos this year. \u201cLike coach was saying, man, it\u2019s going to be hard to keep him off the field. Big guy. Moves very well. I\u2019m excited to see what he does this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

A raw fourth-round pick in 2022, Uwazurike served a year-long gambling suspension that held him out in 2023 and then played a marginal role in 2024. He finally found consistent playing time in 2025, finishing the year with 39 tackles, five tackles for loss and five quarterback hits.<\/p>\n

Known primarily as a run-stopping defensive tackle, Uwazurike took a lot of early down snaps last year. That freed up Franklin-Myers to be more effective on third downs, but Uwazurike has insisted he is not just a run stuffer. In his final season at Iowa State, he racked up nine sacks. The 320-pounder has some quickness to his game and worked on his pass-rushing repertoire this offseason. Fellow defensive tackle D.J. Jones called him \u201cunblockable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe leap he\u2019s taking right now is pretty scary,\u201d Jones said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Payton also pointed to Uwazurike as a potential breakout player, saying he\u2019s played \u201creally well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PatPat Bryant (13) of the Denver Broncos warms up before the game against the Buffalo Bills at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado on Saturday, January 17, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz\/The Denver Post)
\nPat Bryant<\/p>\n

Offensive coordinator Davis Webb dubbed Bryant as \u201cPatty Ice\u201d this offseason, and if you earn a nickname like that from a new signal-caller, you\u2019re probably doing something right.<\/p>\n

Bryant has arguably been the Broncos\u2019 star of training camp<\/a>, as he\u2019s garnered praise from Payton, Webb, his fellow wide receivers, defensive players and the media. The second-year wideout out of Illinois is set to be Denver\u2019s third wide receiver, behind Courtland Sutton and Jaylen Waddle, by becoming much more comfortable in Payton\u2019s system.<\/p>\n

Safety Talanoa Hufanga, who\u2019s had to help guard Bryant in training camp, said Bryant was \u201ca role player\u201d last year as a rookie, still learning Payton\u2019s scheme.<\/p>\n

\u201cWatching his leap, you kind of could see it as the season went last year, but what he\u2019s done through this camp, he\u2019s really solidified himself and making a name for himself in this league,\u201d Hufanga said.<\/p>\n

Que Robinson<\/p>\n

The second-year edge rusher might be the unproven player the Broncos are counting on this season. Robinson\u2019s job got significantly more important after Jonathon Cooper was put on the commissioner\u2019s exempt list. It seems as if he\u2019s ready for the increased role.<\/p>\n

Several players tabbed Robinson as their breakout player of the season. Bryant pointed him out and tight end Evan Engram said he\u2019s had to \u201clock in\u201d whenever he\u2019s facing the linebacker in pass protection drills.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guy I\u2019ve been super impressed with is Que Robinson, he\u2019s been a force all camp,\u201d Engram said. \u201cHe\u2019s definitely growing as a player and he has a bright future ahead of him for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sam Ehlinger and Bo Nix<\/p>\n

While no players specifically pointed to Nix or Ehlinger, each quarterback got some love from their teammates. Cornerback Patrick Surtain II said Nix is \u201cbetter than before, more sharp.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s ready to show the world what he\u2019s about. Not that he already didn\u2019t, but he\u2019s ready to make a statement,\u201d Surtain II said.<\/p>\n

Payton said Ehlinger greatly improved this offseason. Ehlinger \u201cearned\u201d his spot on the 53-man roster despite being the third quarterback on the depth chart, Payton added. If Ehlinger has to play significant snaps this season, something disastrous likely happened in Denver, but Payton\u2019s praise for the signal-caller is worth monitoring.<\/p>\n

Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It has been a while since Mike McGlinchey was in college. Eight years, in fact. But the setup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":832099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[7,10148,2858,2864,42233,86641,301,2863,187,3943,28551,42235,8608,34671,38207,19557,165,29260,6324,6,9,302,41331,43285,8131,66,28554,10154,42244],"class_list":["post-832098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denver-nuggets","tag-basketball","tag-bo-nix","tag-broncos","tag-courtland-sutton","tag-d-j-jones","tag-davis-webb","tag-denver","tag-denver-broncos","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-denvernuggets","tag-evan-engram","tag-eyioma-uwazurike","tag-george-paton","tag-jaylen-waddle","tag-john-franklin-myers","tag-jonathon-cooper","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mike-mcglinchey","tag-more-broncos-news","tag-nba","tag-nfl","tag-nuggets","tag-pat-bryant","tag-sam-ehlinger","tag-sean-payton","tag-sports","tag-talanoa-hufanga","tag-vance-joseph","tag-zach-allen"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117245600667477946","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/832099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}