The Broncos walked out of Carolina with a 26-21 win, and that kind of messy victory can still leave a team with something useful. Denver is now 7-2, has won five straight, and sits on top of the AFC West.
With the trade deadline arriving Tuesday at 2 p.m. MDT, the message is pretty clear: if the Broncos are going to make a move, it needs to be a meaningful one.
That’s because Sunday didn’t really change the biggest question around this roster. It sharpened it.
The backfield remains the most obvious place to look. Coleman was once again the difference-maker, and the rookie has clearly moved past J.K.
Dobbins as the Broncos’ RB1. But Coleman has already missed four weeks on injured reserve this season, and that makes it hard to expect him to carry everything by himself.
Denver learned last year that leaning too hard on a rookie down the stretch can be a dangerous game, even if Coleman is a different player than RJ Harvey.
Dobbins, meanwhile, hasn’t looked like his 2025 self. Against the Panthers, he carried the ball four times while Coleman handled 17 rushing attempts. The Broncos are already committed to him through the two-year extension they signed, but there’s no sign he’s about to flip a switch and return to form.
That’s why this feels like the time for Denver to add help before the deadline passes and the bye week arrives. If the Broncos are going to work in another backfield piece, the window is right now.
The big-name option is Jonathan Taylor, though he’d come at a steep price. The Indianapolis Colts are seeking first-round value in any potential deal.
Other possibilities include Tennessee’s Tony Pollard, Breece Hall even though the New York Jets say they’re not interested in moving him, and Baltimore’s Derrick Henry. All of them would bring something to the table, but all of them also play for teams that are out of the race this year and may be looking to stockpile assets.
That’s where George Paton comes in. A general manager in his position should be able to take advantage of that kind of desperation.
Denver also checked on Trey McBride, according to Adam Schefter, but Arizona turned away what was described as an “ambitious” call. McBride is one of the best pass-catching tight ends in football, but the Broncos may actually need a blocker more than another receiving threat at the position.
Adam Trautman and Evan Engram have been major parts of the problem in Denver’s rushing issues, and there are cheaper blocking tight ends available. Erick Trickel pointed to Carolina’s Mitchell Evans and Tommy Tremble, along with Indianapolis’ Moe Alie-Cox, as names that wouldn’t require a huge price tag.
There’s even an argument that fixing the tight end blocking would do more good than adding an offensive lineman or another running back. Still, the strongest case is probably for the right running back to make the biggest playoff impact. Denver has choices either way.
What doesn’t seem likely is a shakeup among the starting five up front. Ben Powers, who is in a contract year, had a rough day against Carolina and allowed penetration that led to multiple tackles for a loss in the run game.
Even so, he’s well liked in the locker room, and the Broncos already have a future answer in 2026 fourth-rounder Kage Casey. That makes it hard to see Denver paying premium draft capital for a veteran who could undercut that investment.
ESPN has tied Philadelphia’s Landon Dickerson, a three-time Pro Bowler, to Denver, and he’d be an immediate upgrade over Powers. But that still doesn’t feel like the move the Broncos are about to make. If they stay away from an offensive line trade, Sean Payton still has to get to the bottom of why the run blocking has become so inefficient.
A 3.0 yards-per-rush average, like the one Denver posted in Carolina, isn’t going to cut it in the stretch run or in the playoffs. Coleman brings juice, but he can only do so much when defenders are meeting him in the backfield almost as soon as the ball is handed off.
So if the Broncos do make a deadline move, the most likely path is still at running back. At this point, it feels like Taylor or bust. Pollard and Henry would help, but Taylor is the one who can create on his own, and that matters when the blocking in front of him is still a work in progress.
Put Taylor next to Coleman, and Denver would suddenly look a lot more dangerous for the run to come.
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