PHOENIX — Sean Payton sat down at a table piled with microphones at the NFL league meeting on Tuesday and delivered a clear message about the 2026 season ahead: Don’t conflate roster retention with “running it back.”
“I hate that term. It’s not, ‘Let’s run it back,’” the Denver Broncos’ fourth-year head coach said. “Let’s understand one thing: it is anything but that.”
The start of the offseason for the Broncos, who are coming off a 14-3 season that earned them the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs, created angst among fans who believed Denver’s finish just short of a Super Bowl in 2025 demanded instant action once free agency opened and a chance to add new players arrived. But Payton, speaking for the first time since the NFL Scouting Combine in late February, said steady, intentional acquisition periods are what franchises should strive for in most years.
“That time of the season has been marketed right in front of every one of your eyes,” Payton said. “What is the next word that comes after free agency from the NFL Network and from NFL.com? ‘Frenzy.’ Frenzy is what you don’t want. Frenzy implies that it has to happen, chaos. … It’s all marketing. (Be) steady, right decision. ‘What’s our plan?’ Stick with our plan. Tune out the noise.”
That approach, of course, ultimately set the Broncos on the path to a blockbuster trade for speedy wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, whose expansive route tree, Payton said, will open up new doors for a Broncos offense eager to improve on its middle-of-the-pack standing from last season.
“He is explosive,” Payton said. “I think if you asked me, the single biggest thing that I think he does well is he’s extremely fast and he stops fast. He can sink his hips in transition and then the other thing that came up time and time again is how competitive he is.”
Teddy Bridgewater, a former Broncos quarterback who played with Waddle in Miami and for Payton in New Orleans, provided a glowing endorsement of Waddle’s impact in a locker room. So, too, did former Alabama coach Nick Saban. That aspect of player evaluation has become increasingly important as the Broncos have cemented a winning culture over the past two seasons. It is also a major reason why Denver re-signed running back J.K. Dobbins to a two-year deal early in free agency. It’s a contract that comes with $8 million in guarantees, a figure that surprised some given the veteran’s lengthy injury history, including a foot issue that forced him to miss Denver’s final nine games in 2025.
“Dobbins was a priority, ahead of all others,” Payton said. “Now, that will anger people. We know that he has been injured, and we understand that the injuries haven’t been soft-tissue driven. He is someone who is one of those compound multipliers — like he brings 10 others along with him in a positive light. Our success last year, he has some fingerprints on that.”
Payton rejected the notion that Denver had a quiet offseason, even if Waddle and former Bengals safety and special teams contributor Tycen Anderson have so far been the only external additions. When the Broncos looked at their board ahead of free agency, removing the magnets of their internal free agents, there were multiple needs to fill. The Broncos ultimately filled most of those with players from last year’s roster, but only after extensive evaluation of other options.
“We compare all our players to what’s there in free agency, and our guys were favored and were there pretty high,” general manager George Paton said on Monday. “We won a lot of games with these guys. They fit the culture, and not everyone does.”
None of that guarantees anything for the Broncos in 2026. Payton, as he did during his address at the combine, pointed to his team’s 11-2 record in one-score games last season. The Broncos can’t count on that many tight contests falling their way once again, Payton said. He brought up the Chiefs, with head coach Andy Reid sitting at a nearby table, who went 1-9 in one-score games in 2025 after achieving a 12-0 mark in those same contests in 2024, including the playoffs. The Broncos must create more separation as they make fine-tune adjustments to their roster.
“The better you get, the harder it is to improve your team,” Payton said. “We recognize where we are at. We understand exactly where we are at with Bo (Nix)’s contract, our team. And yet, the mistake that two-thirds of the teams make is trying to win the day. Win the draft day, win the hiring-cycle day and win the free agency day. We are interested in winning. That’s why our fanbase is extremely important to us, but we are going to do what we think is best for our team to be better when this puzzle is finished at the end of, call it, June. Then what do we look like at that point?”
Here are a few more notable marks from Payton’s nearly 30-minute session with reporters Tuesday:
New position for Jonah Elliss
The Broncos have not added an external piece to the inside linebackers room this season, but they’ll have a new face at the position nonetheless.
Jonah Elliss, who has played outside linebacker during his first two seasons in Denver, will “take some snaps inside” this season, Payton said.
“That is something that we have discussed relative to our depth at the edge,” Payton said. “Then, we will see where that goes during the draft.”
Jonah Elliss has 66 combined tackles and 7.5 sacks in 30 regular-season games for the Broncos. (Ron Chenoy / Imagn Images)
In addition to providing depth at inside linebacker alongside re-signed veterans Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad, moving Elliss inside could also open up a larger opportunity for Que Robinson, a fourth-round pick in 2025 who showed encouraging flashes in his limited defensive role last season.
“It was really looking at your assets, and we know that he is smart, tough and he has all the (traits to play inside linebacker),” Payton said. ” … One of the best in our league at San Francisco is Fred Warner, you saw him play more out in space, outside ‘backer. Sometimes, you have to look at the skill set, and then project where you think it can go, and your depth on the edge that allows you to do something like that.”
Regret with Greenlaw
One reason the Broncos have room to move Elliss inside is that the team released veteran Dre Greenlaw after re-signing Singleton and Strnad. It ended a one-year run for Greenlaw in Denver, a season punctuated by injuries that limited him to 10 combined regular-season and playoff games. The decision to release Greenlaw, who re-joined the 49ers in free agency, was a tough one for Payton to make, the coach said Tuesday.
“Here is why: he is so passionate,” Payton said. “In my career as a coach, I’ve been lucky enough to coach a lot of passionate players that love the game. I’m always disappointed internally that that didn’t work out because I love that player. I love how he competes. I love all the things he brings. You feel somewhat responsible when it doesn’t work out.”
Offseason schedule adjustment
Broncos veterans will report for offseason work May 4, Payton said Tuesday, which is two weeks later than last season. That’s because the Broncos played three weeks into the postseason when accounting for their first-round bye, and Payton wanted to ensure his players had the proper time away before returning to prepare for a new season.
Players will spend the first month of the offseason program running and lifting weights and won’t begin their two weeks of on-field OTAs until the start of June. A three-day mandatory minicamp will follow in the third week of June.