What a difference a year makes.
With training camps starting up across the league, the Denver Broncos are viewed as a playoff contender, which wasn’t the case at this point last year.
ESPN has Denver’s roster ranked sixth in the NFL, a massive improvement from when they were ranked 31st (second-worst in the league) last summer.
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Additionally, NFL.com’s Eric Edholm has the Broncos ranked as the 10th-most complete team in the league. Last summer, Edholm had Denver ranked 30th (second-worst) in his training camp NFL power rankings.
So, what changed?
Some of the personnel did change — more on that in a moment — but these new rankings also reveal that national pundits are taking the Broncos (and quarterback Bo Nix) seriously after they proved to be a playoff-caliber team in 2024. Denver was projected to win five or six games last fall, in part because few pundits had much faith in Nix. That’s not the case going into 2025.
The Broncos also made several key additions, including adding safety Talanoa Hufanga, linebacker Dre Greenlaw, cornerback Jahdae Barron, tight end Evan Engram and running backs RJ Harvey and J.K. Dobbins. Denver made notable upgrades on both sides of the ball, and it’s reasonable to expect the team to take another step forward in Year 3 under coach Sean Payton.
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After playing three preseason games in August, the Broncos will open the regular season at home against the Tennessee Titans on Sept. 7 (view the full schedule). Denver is considered a 7.5-point favorite in Week 1.
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This article originally appeared on Broncos Wire: NFL: Broncos’ roster improves from 2nd-worst to 6th-best