The Broncos have built something that can flood an All-Pro ballot.
Denver’s 2026 roster is loaded from top to bottom, with game-changers at corner, on the defensive line, in the trenches, and in the return game. That’s why it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Broncos matched or even topped the six Associated Press All-Pro selections they piled up last season.
Some names are as close to automatic as it gets. Patrick Surtain II sits in that category without much debate.
He’s already got a National Championship from Alabama in 2020, first-team All-Pro honors in 2022 and 2024, the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2024, and four Pro Bowl nods. The case is simple: no corner in football shuts down elite receivers the way he does.
Zach Allen belongs in that same conversation. He’s the kind of defensive lineman who blows up plays before they start, whether that means stuffing the run or crashing the pocket for a sack.
In 2026, he posted 10 sacks, 36 quarterback hits, and 73 total pressures, and he led the league in the last two categories. He did all of that while lining up next to Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper, which only makes the production look even stronger.
If he brings similar numbers again, a third straight All-Pro selection should follow.
Up front on offense, Garett Bolles and Quinn Meinerz are also living in the top tier. Bolles was one of the NFL’s best tackles in 2025, and the numbers back it up: no sacks allowed, just 19 pressures, and six quarterback hits against a brutal slate of pass rushers.
He remains the blindside wall for what the Broncos believe is the league’s best offensive line, and he’s in the mix for another All-Pro nod. Meinerz is even more cut and dry.
He’s been named to the last two All-Pro teams, gave up only two sacks, five quarterback hits, and 25 pressures, and earned a 90.9 grade from Pro Football Focus. He’s the standard at guard.
There’s also a strong special-teams case for Marvin Mims Jr. His wide receiver work has been uneven, but as a punt and kick returner, he’s a problem.
In 2025, he piled up 1,110 combined kick and punt return yards and scored a punt return touchdown, while averaging 15.8 yards on punts and 26.3 on kickoffs. New England’s Marcus Jones and Buffalo’s Ray Davis handled the return honors last season, but Mims does both jobs, and that versatility gives him an edge.
After missing out on Pro Bowl and All-Pro recognition for the first time in his career last year, he looks ready to reclaim it.
Nik Bonitto has already proven he belongs in the league’s edge-rushing elite, and there’s another All-Pro run in play. Over the past two seasons, he has 27.5 sacks and 94 combined tackles, plus two Pro Bowl selections and a second-team All-Pro nod.
He’s got plenty of competition at the top of the edge-rusher heap with Myles Garrett, Will Anderson, T.J. Watt, and Nick Bosa all chasing the same spotlight, but Bonitto’s 14-sack season showed how high the ceiling still is.
Denver’s biggest offseason addition could end up opening a new lane for the offense. The former Miami Dolphins wide receiver, Jaylen Waddle, arrives in a system that has leaned on screens and quick passes as a run-game extension, though the results have been uneven.
Troy Franklin and Mims have had trouble turning those touches into explosive plays. Waddle should change that, giving the Broncos a more dangerous option in the quick game and a real threat in the intermediate middle of the field.
If the volume is there, he has a shot at his first All-Pro selection.
Talon Hufanga, meanwhile, already earned second-team All-Pro honors in 2025 in his first season in Denver. He was the tone-setter in the secondary, delivering the kind of hits that make him impossible to ignore.
The only thing that kept him from an even higher spot, according to the source, was the ball production; he dropped six to eight interceptions. Even so, he remains squarely in the All-Pro safety conversation.
Then there’s Bo Nix, who enters Year 3 with more pressure and more opportunity. He’s flashed big-time throws and clutch moments, but the next step has to come in his overall development.
In his first two seasons, he didn’t really settle in until midway through the year. He’s also tended to stay away from the middle of the field and needs to improve his progression work.
Those are fixable issues, and Denver’s setup gives him a real chance to level up, especially with offensive coordinator Davis Webb taking over primary play-calling and Waddle joining Courtland Sutton. To make All-Pro, Nix would need to be one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks in 2026.
That’s a long shot, but not an impossible one.
Nine Broncos are in the mix for All-Pro honors, and most of them have already been there before. Nix and Waddle are the only exceptions. With this much talent spread across the roster, Denver has a real shot to put even more names on the All-Pro list next season than it did a year ago.
In Other News...
Broncos Just Made Final Cuts A Lot Tougher Than Expected
The Broncos closed the preseason with a 34-6 rout of the Vikings, and the lopsided finish only sharpened the pressure on the front office as the roster deadline approaches. What had looked like a fairly straightforward trimming exercise suddenly has a few more names in the mix, thanks to backup performances that stood out when the stakes were highest for fringe players trying to survive the final round of cuts.
Sam Ehlinger and Cody Schrader both turned in notable outings that will make the conversation a lot more interesting over the next few days, while Marvin Mims Jr. left with a foot bruise but is expected to recover. Not everyone helped his case, either, as Barron struggled and could be staring at a tougher path than he seemed to have going into the finale, which is exactly the kind of late twist that can turn a routine cutdown into a real debate. [Read more 🡒]
Marvin Mims Jr. Just Put A Broncos Decision Back In Play
Marvin Mims Jr.s preseason debut for the Broncos was over almost as soon as it began against the Vikings, and the quick exit put an immediate spotlight back on his role in Denver. Mims was escorted to the sideline and then to the locker room after suffering a foot injury at the end of the first drive, a frustrating turn for a player whose speed and return ability have been part of the conversation around his place on the roster.
The timing matters because Mims has been viewed as one of the players who could shape Denvers decision-making at returner, and any injury concern naturally spills over into bigger questions about availability and contract talks. The Broncos do have other options if Mims is limited, which gives the team some insurance, but it also leaves a key special teams discussion hanging while the injury picture sorts itself out. [Read more 🡒]
Kolbe Katsis Just Made The Broncos' Easiest Cut A Real Problem
Sean Payton reached for a little pop-culture theater before the preseason game, borrowing an analogy from The Voice to push his players into the spotlight. For a Broncos roster still taking shape, that kind of message fit the moment. Denver has long been willing to keep undrafted free agents around if they earn it, and wide receiver Kolbe Katsis has done exactly what an uphill roster candidate needs to do by standing out when the games started counting for evaluation.
Katsis made his case in the preseason, and the loudest part of it came in the return game, where his work on kickoff and punt returns gave the Broncos something useful to think about at two spots at once. Wide receiver depth is always part of the calculation, but so is the return specialist job, and Katsis has put enough on tape to make what looked like an easy cut a little less simple. Denver still has to sort out the final roster, but his performance has created a real conversation where there may not have been one before. [Read more 🡒]