{"id":733088,"date":"2026-02-06T09:22:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T09:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/733088\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T09:22:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T09:22:19","slug":"offseason-outlook-denver-broncos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/733088\/","title":{"rendered":"Offseason Outlook: Denver Broncos"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Enjoying near-2024 Chiefs-level success in one-score games, the Broncos rode to a 14-3 record and the AFC&#8217;s No. 1 seed. Denver far outdistanced longtime AFC West kingpin Kansas City and won the division by three games. The team&#8217;s recent extension recipients led the way, with six players extended in 2024 or 2025 earning original-ballot Pro Bowl nods and four collecting All-Pro honors.<\/p>\n<p>More impressively, the Broncos extended their season to the AFC championship game with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/W\/WilsRu00.htm?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.profootballrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-02-04_pfr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Russell Wilson<\/a>&#8216;s $32MM cap figure topping their payroll. While Denver fell just short of Super Bowl LX &#8212; with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/N\/NixxBo00.htm?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.profootballrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-02-04_pfr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Bo Nix<\/a>&#8216;s season-ending ankle injury bringing one of the bigger what-ifs in recent NFL history &#8212; the team has a clear window to continue as a top-tier operation in 2026. The Broncos are now clear of Wilson&#8217;s record-setting dead money sum, and with Nix on a rookie contract, 2026 represents a sweet spot of sorts for the rejuvenated franchise.<\/p>\n<p>Coaching\/front office:<\/p>\n<p>Significant changes are on tap for Sean Payton&#8217;s staff, though Denver&#8217;s 2026 coach roster will include Joseph &#8212; despite extensive HC interest &#8212; and Webb even though teams pursued the latter for HC and OC jobs. Webb&#8217;s status likely led to Lombardi&#8217;s ouster. The longtime Payton underling was not viewed as a head coaching candidate despite the Broncos&#8217; recent success, and credit for Nix&#8217;s development generally went to Payton and Webb. Lombardi, a three-stint Payton replacement, has landed with the Ravens.<\/p>\n<p>  <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"landing-logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/landing-logo.png\"\/><br \/>\n  Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription<\/p>\n<p>  &#13;<br \/>\n    Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Sam Robinson&#13;<br \/>\n    Join exclusive weekly live chats with Sam&#13;<br \/>\n    Remove ads and support our writers&#13;<\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.profootballrumors.com\/membership?ref=391982\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Enjoying near-2024 Chiefs-level success in one-score games, the Broncos rode to a 14-3 record and the AFC&#8217;s No.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":733089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[232,231,258,2426,7,67247,6,43967],"class_list":{"0":"post-733088","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-broncos","8":"tag-broncos","9":"tag-denver","10":"tag-denver-broncos","11":"tag-denverbroncos","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-front-office-originals","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-offseason-outlook"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=733088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/733089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}