a two-year deal Thursday with versatile reserve Alex Palczewski<\/a>, who started 10 games in place of Powers as the veteran guard recovered from a bicep tear in 2025. There\u2019s a definite possibility the 26-year-old Palczewski pushes Powers for his starting left-guard spot in 2026.<\/p>\nThe Broncos will have to take a hard look, too, at replenishing their offensive-line depth this offseason to grow more Palczewski-types. Denver could save over $37 million in cap room by cutting or moving 31-year-old right tackle McGlinchey and left tackle Bolles, as creating room on their payroll becomes increasingly important in the years before a potentially massive extension for Nix after the 2027 season. Powers, of course, will hit free agency after this season.<\/p>\n
And Payton may have dropped a hint as to the Broncos\u2019 plans this April at that spot, speaking at the NFL Combine.<\/p>\n
\u201cHistorically speaking, for me, we\u2019ve always invested maybe early draft capital for that position,\u201d Payton said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to find those guys and the defensive linemen in free agency, this time of the year. There are certain positions that are abundant, but that\u2019s one that\u2019s tough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Historically speaking, then, Denver\u2019s due to invest in the offensive line this draft. The Broncos have taken two offensive linemen \u2014 Alex Forsyth and Nick Gargiulo \u2014 in Payton\u2019s three drafts in Denver, and never used more than a seventh-round pick on their front.<\/p>\n
The Broncos are high on rising third-year tackle Frank Crum, who filled in capably in spot snaps in 2025 when McGlinchey was temporarily banged up. At present, though, Denver will enter training camp in 2026 with futures signee Nash Jones as the only offensive lineman on the roster who will be younger than 26 years old. That\u2019s a potential issue.<\/p>\n
To wit, there\u2019s a host of intriguing, athletic options that\u2019ll be on the board for the Broncos in this 2026 draft, sitting at the back of Rounds 1-3 and with two picks in Round 4. Arizona State tackle Max Iheanachor ran an impressive 4.91-second 40-yard-dash at the combine in Indianapolis, and could be an early-round fit as a toolsy, developmental tackle. Look at Kentucky\u2019s Jalen Farmer or Texas A&M\u2019s Chase Bisontis as intriguing Day 2 options, too, who could be impact run-blockers in Denver\u2019s outside-zone schemes.<\/p>\n
Payton said at the combine, too, that his offseason must-haves were the \u201csame every year\u201d \u2014 but noted that \u201cyou want to make sure you\u2019re looking closely at your offensive line.\u201d And if the Broncos want to extend their Super Bowl window, they\u2019ll need to soon find fresh young talent to sit in the wings behind a stable front.<\/p>\n
Notes<\/p>\n
No-brainer returners. The Broncos are bringing back exclusive-rights free agents Devon Key, Dondrea Tillman, Tyler Badie and Jordan Jackson, a source confirmed to The Post Thursday. All will receive one-year deals at the league minimum, making for some obvious decisions for Denver. Safety Key was an All-Pro special-teamer in 2025, and Tillman was a key member of their outside-linebacker rotation for a second consecutive year.<\/p>\n
Badie, meanwhile, wasn\u2019t a popular man in Broncos Country after dropping four passes in 2025, but was excellent as a pass-blocker as Denver\u2019s third-down back in 2025. Jackson, an Air Force product, has provided rotational defensive-line depth for the Broncos for the last two seasons.<\/p>\n
A first top-30 visit. Denver hosted Mizzou defensive lineman Chris McClellan for a pre-draft 30 visit on Friday, a source told The Post. McLellan posted a picture inside the Broncos\u2019 facility to his Instagram story. He\u2019d be an interesting young piece to add to a room set to lose John Franklin-Myers. The 6-foot-4, 313-pound McLellan had six sacks and eight tackles for loss for Mizzou last year.<\/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":"The point where this all began, Darren Mougey remembers, was up front. In his coaching education, Sean Payton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":798447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[3877,3890,28570,232,7244,564,231,258,2426,9916,7,3898,1713,2318,929,3883,926,6,927,1813,9,1276],"class_list":["post-798446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denver-broncos","tag-alex-forsyth","tag-alex-palczewski","tag-ben-powers","tag-broncos","tag-broncos-country","tag-colorado","tag-denver","tag-denver-broncos","tag-denverbroncos","tag-dondrea-tillman","tag-football","tag-frank-crum","tag-garett-bolles","tag-john-franklin-myers","tag-latest-headlines","tag-luke-wattenberg","tag-more-broncos-news","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-combine","tag-sean-payton","tag-sports","tag-tyler-badie"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116188097256790842","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798446","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=798446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}