The Denver Broncos are only two games into the 2026 season, and that’s exactly why it’s too early to make any final calls on anybody.
Still, a handful of players have opened the year in a way that’s hard to ignore. The good news for Denver is that Sean Payton’s teams have a habit of starting slow, even if he still hasn’t found a clean fix for it.
The Broncos, as usual, may need time to find their rhythm. The bigger question is whether they can start stacking better football before the early-season rough patch turns into something more stubborn.
Courtland Sutton is right near the top of the list. His usage has been a sore spot already, and the numbers back it up.
Through two games, Sutton has only five catches on nine targets for 36 yards, with just one reception that moved the chains. That’s the lowest-producing two-game stretch of his career since Bo Nix became the quarterback in 2024.
Denver even tried to scheme him a touchdown against the Jacksonville Jaguars, but Nix was intercepted in the end zone. Sutton was also used as a decoy on several plays last week while Jaylen Waddle had the bigger impact.
There’s still a path for Sutton and Waddle to function as the team’s top two receivers, but the Broncos haven’t made that happen yet.
Pat Bryant has also been a letdown after flashing so much in training camp. Instead of becoming a bigger piece of the passing game, he’s been leaned on heavily as a perimeter blocker.
He’s handled that work willingly, but the results have not been clean. Bryant has been flagged for multiple holding penalties that have knocked the offense behind schedule and stalled drives.
He’s been targeted seven times, caught four passes for 42 yards, and all of that production came in the opener. He also had a dropped pass in Kansas City.
Even after earning the second-most receiver snaps last week behind Sutton, he still didn’t catch a pass.
The backfield hasn’t been the same story people expected either. J.K.
Dobbins returned, but he hasn’t looked like the difference-maker Denver got early last season. He’s rushed for 72 yards on 18 carries, good for 4.0 yards per attempt, which is well below his career average of 5.2.
Then came the hip injury in Week 2, which forced him out for most of the second half and only added more uncertainty. Dobbins made a “pinky promise” this summer that he’d play all 17 games, and that’s still on the table.
But if he’s going to stay available, the Broncos need more from him and from the line in front of him.
Right tackle Mike McGlinchey has been another problem area. He has struggled in pass protection and hasn’t brought his usual edge in the run game either.
That becomes even more important this week with Byron Young and the Los Angeles Rams coming to town. Denver needs McGlinchey to do a much better job keeping Bo Nix upright, and with the injuries piling up at running back, the Broncos also need him to deliver his best run-blocking performance of the season on Sunday night.
On the defensive front, Eyioma Uwazurike has not matched the role he’s been given. After standing out as a run defender last season, he’s been asked to do more with John Franklin-Myers gone, but that expanded job has not gone smoothly.
He’s been getting handled one-on-one and hasn’t created much interior pressure. Zach Allen and Malcolm Roach have carried a lot of the load up front, but Uwazurike and nose tackle D.J.
Jones need to raise their level.
Alex Singleton is showing the wear and tear of age, too. The soon-to-be 33-year-old linebacker has looked slow, missed too many tackles, and made some costly mistakes in run fits.
His tendency to fill the wrong gap has opened the door to big plays. He still leads the Broncos in tackles, as he usually does, but the efficiency has not been there.
Denver may not be able to keep covering for him much longer if this doesn’t turn around.
Then there’s Jahdae Barron, whose lack of involvement has been one of the more surprising developments. One year after being drafted in the first round, he has played exactly six defensive snaps through two games.
That’s hard to explain, and it’s even harder to defend when the Broncos are about to face the Rams and their athletic tight ends. Denver would be wise to use Barron more often as a one-on-one stopper, the way it did at times last season.
He didn’t ask to land on a roster with the NFL’s best cornerback trio, but the Broncos still need to find him work. Colby Parkinson and Terrance Ferguson could be the matchup to watch if that happens this week.
Finally, Brandon Jones has been uneven at free safety. He did intercept Patrick Mahomes in the season opener, but outside of that, he’s been out of position too often and has allowed some big plays.
His tackling improved a lot in Week 2, but Denver still needs better discipline in coverage. Against Matthew Stafford, that matters in a big way.
Stafford has a way of making safeties pay when they drift, bite, or lose their spot.
The season is still young, and the Broncos have plenty of room to clean this up. But these are the names that have left the biggest dent so far.
In Other News...
Broncos Already Have A Growing First-Round Problem With Jahdae Barron
Jahdae Barron arrived with the sort of first-round expectations that usually come with being the 20th pick, but his role has already become a puzzle for the Broncos to solve. The 2025 draftee has seen his playing time shrink in recent weeks, with only a few defensive snaps in recent games, a development that stands out for a player the team invested heavily in just months ago.
Broncos insider Mike Klis noted that Barron is mainly a nickel cornerback, which matters because that spot is already occupied by JaQuan McMillian. When a rookies clearest path to the field overlaps with an established starter, the margin for error gets thin quickly, and it has only added to the sense that Denver may be rethinking how the board unfolded on draft night. [Read more 🡒]
Broncos Already Avoiding A Risk Other Teams Are Embracing
Through two games, some offenses around the league are leaning hard on one back, but Denver has gone the other way. The Broncos have spread the ball around more evenly, with JK Dobbins leading the team at 18 touches, a usage pattern that stands in sharp contrast to the kind of early-season workload that has been piling up in Detroit and Kansas City.
The Lions Jahmyr Gibbs and the Chiefs Kenneth Walker are both on pace for a massive touch total, the sort of number that would put them near the top of the all-time list. For Denver, the appeal of a more measured approach is obvious, since history has often been unkind to backs carrying extreme loads. The question is whether the Broncos can keep balancing production and health as the season wears on. [Read more 🡒]
Broncos Get A Real Test Of Their NFC Dominance This Week
The Broncos have quietly built one of the leagues more notable cross-conference runs under Bo Nix, going 9-1 against NFC teams since he took over as the starting quarterback in 2024 and stacking up nine straight wins in those matchups. It has been the kind of stretch that can blur the line between good fortune and real progress, especially for a Denver team trying to show it belongs among the AFCs steadier groups.
The next chance to answer that question comes against the Rams, who bring their own imposing track record into the week after going 9-1 against AFC opponents over a recent stretch. Sean Payton has already pointed to the challenge of facing a team like that, and it fits the way these interconference games have felt lately, with the NFC battles Denver has won often carrying the same edge it now expects in a test that should say plenty about where the Broncos really stand. [Read more 🡒]