The Broncos’ rookie class is already in camp, and they’ve got a little breathing room before the veterans arrive on July 28. That extra week matters, but not because Denver is handing out easy paths.
Quite the opposite. This is a loaded roster, and for a group of rookies trying to carve out space, the margin for error is tiny.
Denver didn’t own a first- or second-round pick this year, and even if it had, the depth chart would still make life difficult. Jahdae Barron, last year’s first-rounder, is a reminder of that reality.
He’ll likely still be stuck in a depth role in Year 2 because the cornerback room is so strong. Across the roster, there’s really only one starting job that feels genuinely open, and that’s on the defensive line after a free-agent departure.
Still, there are six rookies worth tracking as camp gets rolling.
RJ Harvey is the one who seems most likely to climb fastest. Denver took him at No. 108 overall in Round 4, and the fit felt almost inevitable.
He met with the Broncos multiple times before the draft, including a top-30 visit, and even posted a video before the draft showing him announcing a card with his name on it going to Denver in Round 2. The Broncos passed on him there, then traded out of the round entirely, but he stayed near the top of their board and landed in the end.
Sean Payton has made his stance clear: how a player arrives in Denver matters less than what he does once he gets there. Harvey is eager to prove that point.
He’ll open camp buried on the running back depth chart, but the Broncos expect him to work his way past Jaleel McLaughlin, Tyler Badie, and Cody Schrader for the No. 3 job behind J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey.
By the time the season starts, Denver wants Harvey to be the third piece in Payton’s running-back-by-committee plan. Harvey has already called it a "three-headed monster."
The question is how quickly he can force his way up.
On the defensive line, Sai’vion Jones gives Denver another rookie with a real chance to matter. The Broncos took him in Round 3 after trading out of Round 2, and he arrived with a reputation as one of the draft’s better run-stopping linemen.
In Vance Joseph’s system, that could play well. The vacancy opposite All-Pro Zach Allen is the one opening on the roster, and Jones will be part of that competition, even if it would take a huge summer for him to jump the veterans Denver already has in mind.
Malcolm Roach has been the primary nose tackle backup behind D.J. Jones, but Joseph let it slip during mandatory minicamp that Roach will also be in the mix for John Franklin-Myers’s old starting spot at defensive end.
Jones will be battling Roach and his Iowa State friend Eyioma Uwazurike. He handled offseason work well, but camp will be a much tougher test.
Once the pads come on a few days in, he’ll be one to watch closely.
At tight end, Caleb Lohner is trying to make his case as the next man up behind Evan Engram. Denver grabbed him in Round 5 after some draft evaluators had him pegged as a late-Day 3 name, and the Broncos even gave up a sixth-round pick to move up and get him. Engram is in a contract year, so Lohner is auditioning for the F-tight end role, or as the Broncos call it, the "Big Slot."
That position isn’t empty, though. Engram and Adam Trautman sit atop the depth chart, and Denver usually keeps four tight ends. That means five players are fighting for two spots, with Lucas Krull and 2025 seventh-rounder Caleb Lohner standing as Lohner’s biggest competition for the backup F role.
Linebacker is another spot where a rookie could sneak onto the roster, and Que Robinson has a real opening. Beyond Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad, the depth chart is wide open. Denver has a cluster of incumbents there, all former undrafted free agents, and Robinson is the only linebacker the Broncos have drafted in the Payton era besides Drew Sanders, not counting edge defenders.
Robinson’s college production stands out. He finished his career at Buffalo as the FBS all-time leader in forced fumbles with 17.
That kind of playmaking can get attention fast, but he’ll still have to learn quickly and show he can handle the scheme. He’ll be battling Karene Reid, Levelle Bailey, Jordan Turner, and the undrafted rookie Taurean York for a place on the roster.
Robinson’s fire should show up early once the pads go on.
The cornerback room makes things especially rough for Jahdae Austin, the undrafted rookie out of Cal. Denver is deep there, and Austin faces a steep climb just to stay in the conversation.
He’s a press-coverage corner who also showed he can handle zone, and his 13 pass break-ups last season were the second most in the nation. A 53-man roster spot would be a challenge, but the Broncos could see him as a practice-squad development piece.
Austin isn’t impossible to keep, but that path likely requires Denver to carry six cornerbacks unless the team trades Riley Moss or Ja’Quan McMillian, both starters on expiring contracts.
York also belongs on the list. At 5-foot-10 and 226 pounds, he has the build of a safety playing linebacker, and the big question is whether he can shed blocks consistently.
He had trouble with that in college, and the NFL will only make it harder. If Denver were using a 4-3 look with a weakside linebacker living more in space, his size would be less of an issue.
In a 3-4, though, he has to take on blocks and get off them to reach the ball carrier.
York’s intensity, football IQ, and athleticism are what make him interesting. If he wants to stick at linebacker, he’ll have to prove he can handle the rough stuff between the tackles. The pads will tell that story soon enough.
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