The Denver Broncos head into the 2026 NFL season with a roster that has people talking in a big way. The talent level is obvious, the ceiling is sky-high, and the idea of a Lombardi Trophy isn’t being treated like fantasy. But when expectations climb this fast, so does the pressure for a few key names to deliver.
And that’s where the warning signs come in. Even on a team this loaded, there are still players who could leave Broncos fans wanting more in 2026.
Jaylen Waddle is one of the biggest reasons the excitement around this roster has surged. The trade brought in a receiver with rare speed and separation ability, the kind of weapon Denver has been missing for years. He also arrives with more than 5,000 receiving yards across five seasons, which makes the upside easy to see.
Still, Waddle isn’t coming in as a flawless answer. He has mostly stayed on the field throughout his career, with only one full 17-game season but never fewer than 14 games played.
That said, he has a habit of leaving games with minor injuries, and his recent efficiency numbers have dipped. According to Pro Football Reference, his passer rating when targeted over the past two seasons is 87.1, and Miami quarterbacks have thrown 10 interceptions while targeting him since the start of 2024.
That’s a far cry from the 101.9 passer rating he posted when targeted during the first three seasons of his career.
Bo Nix is another player who comes with plenty of buzz, and for good reason. Some people already view him as a good quarterback, and others would go even further.
Based on what Denver has done in the Nix era so far, there’s a real argument that he belongs in that upper tier. But there are still flaws in his game.
He does sometimes bail on clean pockets, and his footwork can get messy. Accuracy down the field has also not always been sharp.
His overall passing numbers may not leap off the page, but he’s also been dealing with a brutal amount of dropped passes. In fact, no quarterback in the NFL has had more drops from his pass-catchers than Nix, according to Pro Football Reference.
There was also a lot of pre-draft chatter that Nix might hit his NFL ceiling pretty quickly and that the ceiling itself might not be all that high. That doesn’t mean he can’t be excellent in 2026 - plenty of Broncos fans expect that exact outcome - but it does leave open the possibility that what he’s shown already is close to what he is. And if that happens, the gap between expectation and production could be noticeable.
J.K. Dobbins rounds out the list, and the concern here is straightforward.
He has never played a full NFL season, and he appeared in just 10 games last year. That alone makes him a risky bet for a team with big plans.
Denver’s decision to draft Jonah Coleman in 2026 signals that the team wanted another dependable option behind him, likely because the Broncos know the injury risk is always hanging over Dobbins. Coleman could help lighten the load and improve Dobbins’ odds of making it through the year, but it doesn’t eliminate the problem.
Dobbins is still set to open the season as the Broncos’ starting running back, and if he can average at least five yards per carry, that would be a major boost for the offense. But the injury history is impossible to ignore, and it could be enough to undercut any optimism surrounding his 2026 outlook.
In Other News...
Broncos Rookie RB Is Already Pressing A Bigger Role
Jonah Coleman arrived in Denver with the kind of profile that tends to earn immediate trust from coaches: a fourth-round pick with a balanced running style, the size to handle a physical workload and the pass protection chops to stay on the field in more than just obvious rushing situations. For a Broncos backfield that has already dealt with injury concerns elsewhere, that versatility gives him a real path to playing time before long.
What makes Coleman even more intriguing is how broad that path could become as the season unfolds. Scouts and executives see a runner who can contribute in multiple ways, and that kind of skill set usually leads to a role that grows by the week if the player handles the early opportunities well. The Broncos do not have to force it, but they may not be able to keep him in a small package for very long either. [Read more 🡒]
Broncos Still Have One Defensive Concern Entering Week 1
Less than a week before their regular-season opener, the Broncos were still looking around for defensive help, bringing in four players for tryouts as they worked through the final stretch of roster decisions. Dean Clark, Jack Henderson, Jack Dingle and Emany Johnson all got a look as Denver continued to assess the back end of the defense and the middle of the field, two spots where the team has more questions than answers.
The fact that none of the four had been signed by the time of the report suggests the Broncos are not rushing into a move, even with safety and inside linebacker still standing out as relative depth concerns. It is the kind of late-August roster housekeeping that can say plenty about how a team feels about its current group, and for Denver it leaves one defensive subplot worth monitoring as Week 1 approaches. [Read more 🡒]
Broncos Cap Flexibility Just Raised The Stakes For Their Next Core Decisions
The Broncos enter the next phase of roster building with real breathing room, and that matters because the choices coming over the next year are no longer being made under cap stress. Denver currently has about $23.99 million in space for the 2026 season, good for fifth in the league, a position that gives the front office more options as it weighs extensions, free agency and the kind of move-by-move housekeeping that can shape a contenders window.
There is still some drag on the books, including roughly $5.984 million in dead money tied mostly to former linebacker Dre Greenlaw, along with smaller cap hits from players on the practice squad, injured reserve and the commissioners exempt list. The bigger point is what comes next: Denver is also projected to be in a healthy spot for 2027, and with that kind of flexibility, the stakes only rise for how aggressively the Broncos choose to lock in their core before the market starts pushing harder. [Read more 🡒]