{"id":778416,"date":"2026-02-26T21:27:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T21:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/778416\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T21:27:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T21:27:21","slug":"2026-nfl-draft-team-needs-predictions-broncos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/778416\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 NFL Draft Team Needs & Predictions: Broncos"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is where contenders live.<\/p>\n

Picks 29 through 32 belong to the final four teams on the board \u2014 organizations that didn\u2019t just compete, but controlled the season. The Los Angeles Rams, Denver Broncos, New England Patriots, and Seattle Seahawks all won at least 12 games and enter 2026 with expectations of doing it again.<\/p>\n

The mindset here is different.<\/p>\n

There are no panic moves. No desperate reaches. No foundational rebuilds.<\/p>\n

This is about sustainability.<\/p>\n

Championship windows close faster than teams expect. Veterans age. Coordinators get poached. Depth gets tested. Contracts escalate. And the teams drafting at the end of Round 1 must balance two timelines:<\/p>\n

Win now \u2014 and win later.<\/p>\n

Do you reinforce a strength that carried you to 14 wins?
Do you patch the one weakness exposed in January?
Do you draft a successor before the roster demands it?<\/p>\n

These are luxury picks \u2014 but they\u2019re also strategic ones.<\/p>\n

Late-first selections are often about long-term cap health, premium position succession plans, and maintaining a competitive edge in a conference that\u2019s always hunting the top seed.<\/p>\n

In this batch, we break down:<\/p>\n

The biggest roster holes for each franchise
\nContract situations and future cap implications
\nWhich positions should be prioritized for veterans and rookies
\nPotential fantasy football implications<\/p>\n

These teams aren\u2019t chasing relevance.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re protecting it.<\/p>\n

Wrapping up the team needs series with: the Los Angeles Rams, Denver Broncos, New England Patriots, and Seattle Seahawks.<\/p>\n

Salary cap contract information provided by Spotrac.<\/p>\n

Fantasy Football Research & Advice<\/a>
\nFantasy Football Expert Rankings<\/a>
\n2026 NFL Mock Drafts<\/a>
\nFantasy Football Trade Tools<\/a>
\nNFL Team Needs: Raiders, Jets, Cardinals, Titans (2026)<\/a>
\nNFL Team Needs: Giants, Browns, Commanders, Saints (2026)<\/a>
\nNFL Team Needs: Chiefs, Bengals, Dolphins, Cowboys (2026)<\/a>
\nNFL Team Needs: Falcons, Ravens, Buccaneers, Colts (2026)<\/a>
\nNFL Team Needs: Lions, Vikings, Panthers, Packers (2026)<\/a>
\nNFL Team Needs: Steelers, Chargers, Eagles, Jaguars (2026)<\/a>
\nNFL Team Needs: Bears, Bills, 49ers, Texans (2026)<\/a>
\nNFL Team Needs: Rams, Broncos, Patriots, Seahawks (2026)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"FantasyPros<\/a><\/p>\n

Pick 30:\u00a0Denver Broncos<\/p>\n

2026 Free Agents<\/p>\n

QB:\u00a0Sam Ehlinger<\/a>
\nRB: JK Dobbins,\u00a0Jaleel McLaughlin<\/a>\u00a0(RFA),\u00a0Tyler Badie<\/a>\u00a0(ERFA)
\nWR:\u00a0Lil\u2019Jordan Humphrey<\/a>
\nTE:\u00a0Adam Trautman<\/a>,\u00a0Marcedes Lewis<\/a>,\u00a0Lucas Krull<\/a>\u00a0(RFA),\u00a0Nate Adkins<\/a>\u00a0(RFA)
\nOL: C\u00a0Sam Mustipher<\/a>, G\u00a0Alex Palczewski<\/a>\u00a0(RFA)
\nEDGE:\u00a0Dondrea Tillman<\/a>\u00a0(ERFA)
\nDL:\u00a0John Franklin-Myers<\/a>,\u00a0Matt Henningsen<\/a>\u00a0(RFA),\u00a0Jordan Jackson<\/a>\u00a0(ERFA)
\nLB:\u00a0Alex Singleton<\/a>,\u00a0Justin Strnad<\/a>
\nCB:\u00a0Ja\u2019Quan McMillian<\/a>\u00a0(RFA)
\nS:\u00a0P.J. Locke<\/a>,\u00a0Devon Key<\/a>\u00a0(ERFA)
\nST:\u00a0Michael Burton<\/a><\/p>\n

2027 Free Agents<\/p>\n

QB:\u00a0Jarrett Stidham<\/a>
\nRB:\u00a0Deuce Vaughn<\/a>\u00a0(RFA),\u00a0Cody Schrader<\/a>\u00a0(RFA)
\nWR:\u00a0Marvin Mims<\/a>,\u00a0Michael Bandy<\/a>\u00a0(RFA)
\nTE:\u00a0Evan Engram<\/a>
\nOL: G\u00a0Ben Powers<\/a>, LT\u00a0Matt Peart<\/a>, G\u00a0Calvin Throckmorton<\/a>, G\u00a0Michael Deiter<\/a>, G\u00a0Nick Gargiulo<\/a>\u00a0(RFA), C\u00a0Alex Forsyth<\/a>, RT\u00a0Frank Crum<\/a>\u00a0(RFA), G\u00a0Nash Jones<\/a>\u00a0(ERFA), OT\u00a0Marques Cox<\/a>\u00a0(ERFA)
\nEDGE:\u00a0Garrett Nelson<\/a>\u00a0(ERFA)
\nDL:\u00a0Eyioma Uwazurike<\/a>,\u00a0Kristian Williams<\/a>\u00a0(ERFA),\u00a0Jordan Miller<\/a>\u00a0(ERFA)
\nLB:\u00a0Drew Sanders<\/a>,\u00a0Levelle Bailey<\/a>\u00a0(RFA)
\nCB:\u00a0Riley Moss<\/a>,\u00a0Reese Taylor<\/a>\u00a0(ERFA),\u00a0Jaden Robinson<\/a>\u00a0(ERFA)
\nS:\u00a0Brandon Jones<\/a>,\u00a0JL Skinner<\/a><\/p>\n

Team Needs: RB, TE, LB, OG, DT<\/p>\n

Veteran gamers know better than anybody to never take HC Sean Payton on face value for fantasy football purposes. Who will be his \u201cJoker\u201d, etc.?<\/p>\n

Spoiler\u2026he is still looking for that RB or TE with those certain traits.<\/p>\n

But we do know he loves to use RBs in the passing game. And technically, what he says about certain player usage actually holds less weight in 2026 compared to previous years, given he will no longer be calling plays.<\/p>\n

Davis Webb<\/a>\u00a0was promoted to offensive coordinator and will call plays. Two potential winners that make the most sense based on the switch?\u00a0Evan Engram<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Marvin Mims<\/a>. Engram and Webb were former Giants teammates. And Mims \u2013 we all know \u2013 has suffered at the hands of Payton\u2019s dreaded WR rotations. If Webb decides this guy is too talented to come off the field\u2026well, we are cooking with gas.<\/p>\n

Still, Payton can\u2019t be left out entirely. He acknowledged Denver\u2019s top needs at the NFL Combine: Running back, linebacker, and tight end stand out as the biggest roster needs for the Broncos heading into the player-acquisition period.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Makes sense considering\u00a0J.K. Dobbins<\/a>,\u00a0Adam Trautman<\/a>, and\u00a0Alex Singleton<\/a>\u00a0are their top in-house free agents at those three positions. They also have players at these positions hitting FA in 2027.<\/p>\n

GM George Paton was adamant about bringing back his linebacker room. Also called\u00a0RJ Harvey<\/a>, a three-down back.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

I do think the Broncos will add somebody else to the backfield, but Harvey\u2019s role as the primary pass-catcher should remain intact from his rookie year.<\/p>\n

The offensive line was arguably the best in the NFL last season, and everybody is returning for 2026.<\/p>\n

LG might be the one area they look to add more depth.\u00a0Ben Powers<\/a>\u00a0was injured last season and is in the final year of his contract (a potential cut candidate per\u00a0The Athletic<\/a>). The same goes for OG\u00a0Matt Peart<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On defense, DEs\u00a0John Franklin-Myers<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Eyioma Uwazurike<\/a>\u00a0might both be gone as soon as 2027.<\/p>\n

CB\u00a0Riley Moss<\/a>\u00a0is also entering a contract year (but Denver did draft a CB in the first round last season).<\/p>\n

Denver\u2019s roster is very well built and is in a window to \u201csplurge,\u201d given the cost-friendliness of a rookie QB\u2019s salary.<\/p>\n

They can and should swing for the fences on a plug-in play piece to get them over the top. Paton mentioned there\u2019s a possibility of adding more playmakers on offense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is where contenders live. Picks 29 through 32 belong to the final four teams on the board…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[232,231,258,2426,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-778416","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-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116139055994723837","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778416","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=778416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}