Sean Payton walked into the Broncos’ final preseason game with a simple challenge for his players: make him turn the chair.
That was the message he borrowed from The Voice, where a singer only needs one judge to spin around to keep the dream alive. Payton wanted the same thing from his roster hopefuls against the Minnesota Vikings on Friday night.
“I don’t watch a lot of TV, but my wife likes watching that Voice where the singers sing. So today it was like, ‘Hey, make us spin the chair.’ Make us spin it.”
- Sean Payton, via Broncos PR
One undrafted rookie made a very loud case.
Kolbe Katsis may have taken what looked like the Broncos’ simplest roster call and turned it into a real headache. With one strong preseason after another, the rookie wide receiver forced his way into the conversation in a way few undrafted players ever do.
The Broncos had spent the offseason with a pretty clear shape at receiver. Sean Payton usually carries five, and the top five looked settled: Courtland Sutton, Jaylen Waddle, Pat Bryant, Marvin Mims Jr., and Troy Franklin.
All five were healthy enough heading into the regular season, which made them easy to pencil in. Even Lil'Jordan Humphrey had a case to be the sixth man if Denver chose to keep that many.
Katsis was supposed to be fighting uphill from the start. An undrafted free agent making this team would almost certainly need to earn it in the return game, and that’s exactly where he made his mark.
The Broncos were thin there last season, and it showed. RJ Harvey and Tyler Badie struggled to give the unit a lift when teams avoided Marvin Mims Jr., and Michael Bandy’s muffed punt return in Houston after Mims got hurt was a costly reminder of how fragile that depth could be.
Special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi has already said the return game looks better this year, and Katsis is a big reason why. He was electric throughout the preseason. One return was wiped out by a penalty, but the production kept coming: a 40-yard return against the Packers, a 49-yard kickoff return against the Vikings, plus a 17-yard punt return against Green Bay, a cleaner 13-yard punt return against Minnesota than the number suggests, and an 18-yarder to close it out.
By the numbers, Katsis finished the preseason with 187 kickoff return yards on six chances, good for a 31.2-yard average, and 48 punt return yards on three tries, a 16-yard average.
That kind of output matters to Payton, who places a premium on “hidden yardage.” Over three preseason games, Katsis kept stacking it up and helped Denver tilt the field position battle.
One flashy return can be brushed off. Ten quality ones, including the one called back, start to force the issue.
Now the Broncos have a decision they probably didn’t expect to be sweating. Sending Katsis through waivers would be a gamble, especially with Marvin Mims Jr. briefly getting banged up in the finale before being okay. Denver can’t afford to be careless with its second-best return option.
There’s also the bigger picture: the Broncos have had an undrafted free agent make the roster in 21 of the last 22 seasons. Katsis, along with a few others, has a chance to make it 22 of 23.
It won’t be easy, because keeping him means some real roster juggling. But after what he showed in the preseason, he’s made himself hard to leave off.
And he’s made it hard to imagine Denver not having him back there with Marvin Mims Jr. against Kansas City.
In Other News...
Broncos Just Made Final Cuts A Lot Tougher Than Expected
The Broncos closed the preseason with a 34-6 rout of the Vikings, and the lopsided finish only sharpened the pressure on the front office as the roster deadline approaches. What had looked like a fairly straightforward trimming exercise suddenly has a few more names in the mix, thanks to backup performances that stood out when the stakes were highest for fringe players trying to survive the final round of cuts.
Sam Ehlinger and Cody Schrader both turned in notable outings that will make the conversation a lot more interesting over the next few days, while Marvin Mims Jr. left with a foot bruise but is expected to recover. Not everyone helped his case, either, as Barron struggled and could be staring at a tougher path than he seemed to have going into the finale, which is exactly the kind of late twist that can turn a routine cutdown into a real debate. [Read more 🡒]
Marvin Mims Jr. Just Put A Broncos Decision Back In Play
Marvin Mims Jr.s preseason debut for the Broncos was over almost as soon as it began against the Vikings, and the quick exit put an immediate spotlight back on his role in Denver. Mims was escorted to the sideline and then to the locker room after suffering a foot injury at the end of the first drive, a frustrating turn for a player whose speed and return ability have been part of the conversation around his place on the roster.
The timing matters because Mims has been viewed as one of the players who could shape Denvers decision-making at returner, and any injury concern naturally spills over into bigger questions about availability and contract talks. The Broncos do have other options if Mims is limited, which gives the team some insurance, but it also leaves a key special teams discussion hanging while the injury picture sorts itself out. [Read more 🡒]
NFL Draws A Line Around Mahomes Betting Before Broncos Opener
As the Broncos get ready to open the season against Kansas City, the league is once again making clear it does not want betting markets turning a star players availability into a public trade. Polymarket withdrew its plan to offer trading on whether Patrick Mahomes would take part in the Chiefs Week 1 game after guidance from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a reminder that the line between sports wagering and speculation about player status is getting harder for regulators to ignore.
The NFL has backed a prohibition on those kinds of prediction markets and wants a system that would give the league a chance to review them first, arguing that competition integrity has to come before novelty. Even so, Kalshi is still offering similar markets after, so far, not responding to the CFTCs direction, leaving one more layer of uncertainty around an opener that already carries plenty of significance for Denver. [Read more 🡒]