With the Denver Broncos offseason kicking off, it is a great time to step back, take a look at the roster, and play a little armchair GM leading up to all of the excitement of possible free-agent signings, trades, and, of course, the NFL Draft.
All of this is my personal opinion based on my tried-and-true eye test of what I’ve seen from these players on the field this season. For the sake of brevity, I’ll be leaving out guys who didn’t see the field in any significant way in 2025 and most Unrestricted Free Agents. This is meant to be a very high-level view of the roster and not a nuts-and-bolts review of each player (we’ll do that later in the year at an individual level), so I encourage you all to look at it through that lens.
Enjoy the discussion, join the subjective debate, and share your thoughts (good or bad) in the comments.
Let me give a tip of the hat to ftnfantasy.com for their information on snap percentages and www.overthecap.com for their information on current contracts for all players.
Next up, we’ll examine the special teams and determine what holes the Broncos should look to fill in the 2026 NFL offseason.
Player Rating Key:
1 – Project / developmental – lacking the necessary skills to contribute as it stands today
2 – Backup quality – Can play, but isn’t a guy you want out there every snap
3 – Average starter – Doesn’t bring anything special to the table, but can do the job
4 – Good starter – An above-average talent
5 – Blue chip player – Top 10 talent in the NFL at what he does
Unit Rating Key:
1 – Critical Need – lack of talent at starter and depth
2 – Lacking at least one starter
3 – Mediocre need
4 – Solid talent and depth
5 – Elite talent level
Kicker:
| Player | FGA | FGM | Lng | XPA | XPM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wil Lutz | 32 | 28 | 57 | 39 | 39 |
Wil Lutz – 4
Contract DetailsWil Lutz has established himself as a veteran leader on the team. He’s a reliable kicker and a guy who tries to be a constant for the team, which is a real asset in the kicking game. His field goal percentage dipped a hair to 87.5%, down from 91.2% in 2024, which isn’t that significant given the sample size.
He’s still got a big enough leg with his longest field goal being a 57-yarder last season. There were multiple times that the Broncos went for it on 4th down instead of attempting a 55+ yard kick, but I attribute that to coach Payton’s decision-making, knowing that there’s risk there even if your kicker has the leg and not being willing to take the long odds given how much time is on the clock.
Punter:
| Player | Y / P | NetY / P | TB | Inside 20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeremy Crawshaw | 47.6 | 41.1 | 9 | 30 |
Jeremy Crawshaw – 4
Contract DetailsRookie Jeremy Crawshaw was taken in the 6th round of the 2025 NFL draft. He’s accounted for himself very well this past season and has the punter position on lock heading into 2026. The guy has an absolute cannon of a leg with his longest punt being a 76-yarder. More impressively, he’s very accurate with punt placement, with a 40% rate of pinning teams back inside the 20.
Returner:
| Player | Punt Returns Returns | Yards | Y / Return | TD | Kick Returns Returns | Yards | Y / Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marvin Mims | 29 | 452 | 15.6 | 1 | 25 | 658 | 26.3 |
| Tyler Badie | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 452 | 26.6 |
| R.J. Harvey | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 353 | 22.1 |
Marvin Mims Jr. – 4
Contract DetailsWe’ve been enjoying the fruits of Marvin Mims Jr. as a returner for a few years now. Mims is electric in the return game and makes teams pay for not having enough hang time on their kicks. His ability as a returner is top-tier in the NFL. He had a punt return for a touchdown in 2025, averages 15.6 yards per punt return, and averages 26.3 yards per kickoff return.
It is worth noting that the Broncos worked both Tyler Badie and R.J. Harvey in at kickoff return quite a bit. Part of this is a necessity given how the new kickoff returns work and teams electing to kick away from Mims. Of the two, Badie seemed to have consistent upside to his ability to return kickoffs.
Special Teams Unit Score – 5
I really don’t see much to improve on or change in the Special Teams unit for 2026. These three key special teamers are professionals. They are all top-tier talents at what they do.
The only real wrinkle I could buy into is drafting another young punt returner if the team wants to focus Mims on being a bigger part of the offense. With Mims being an unrestricted free agent in 2027, that might be a direction the team wants to go anyway.
Defensive roster status overall – 4
- Defensive Linemen: 4.5
- Outside Linebackers: 5
- Inside Linebackers: 1
- Cornerbacks: 4
- Safety: 3