The Broncos enter 2026 with real optimism, but there’s a clear wrinkle on defense: John Franklin-Myers is gone, and Jonathon Cooper’s off-field issues leave a spot along the edge that needs answers. That’s why Nick Kosmider of The Athletic pointed to a name that barely registered for most of last season - Que Robinson - as Denver’s breakout candidate.
Robinson was a 2025 fourth-round pick out of Alabama, and his rookie year was mostly quiet. He played sparingly on a deep Broncos defense and logged just 150 snaps in the regular season. In six regular-season games, he finished with one pass defended, 0.5 sack, 12 tackles, three tackles for loss and three quarterback hits.
Still, he flashed in the biggest moment he got. Kosmider highlighted Robinson’s AFC Championship Game appearance, when he chased down Drake Maye and brought the Patriots quarterback down by the shoulders for a sack.
"Robinson, a 2025 fourth-round pick out of Alabama, played sparingly as a rookie on Denver's deep defense, but he made a lasting impression during his appearance in the AFC Championship Game by chasing down Drake Maye and pulling down the Patriots quarterback by the shoulders for a sack," Kosmider writes.
That playoff sack was Robinson’s only postseason game action. He played in the AFC Championship Game, not the Divisional Round, and finished the playoffs with one sack and three tackles.
For most of his first year, Robinson was an afterthought. That’s no longer the case.
With Cooper’s situation and the Broncos needing someone to help on the edge, his role is set to grow, and the path to a much bigger 2026 is right there. On a defense that’s already proven it can play at a high level, Robinson may finally get the chance to show why Denver spent a fourth-round pick on him in the first place.
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