Broncos position battles: A closer look at 5 spots up for grabs in training camp (2024)

If you created a word cloud that encapsulated all the nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs Broncos coach Sean Payton spoke during the offseason, “competition” would be a bold word that jumped off the page.

The Broncos are a team in transition. Out are several veteran stalwarts, from Justin Simmons to Russell Wilson. In is a new wave of young players hungry to find their roles. It will create an environment for the Broncos during their quickly approaching training camp in which starting jobs will be up for grabs across numerous positions. And it’s an environment that Payton and Denver’s front office staff created intentionally.

“I would say the competition sharpens things. We have it at a lot of spots,” Payton said. “It was different and felt different this year in a good way.”

Here’s a closer look at five of the position battles that will begin when camp opens with the opening practice on July 26:

Quarterback

2023 starter: Russell Wilson

Replacement candidates: Bo Nix, Jarrett Stidham, Zach Wilson

When Wilson met the Denver media in the spring of 2022 following his blockbuster trade from Seattle, his talk of winning multiple Super Bowls with the Broncos seemed lofty for a team that hadn’t — and still hasn’t — made the playoffs since 2015. But the idea that Wilson wouldn’t even be in training camp with the Broncos two years later would have been labeled even more outlandish. Yet, that’s where the Broncos stand after Wilson was released in March following two lackluster seasons in Denver, setting the stage for the team’s fourth training camp battle for the starting QB job since 2016.

This competition is unique in that it will feature, at least initially, three starting candidates: the rookie Nix, the holdover Stidham, and Wilson, who was acquired in a draft-week trade with the Jets. Nix is the future of the position after being selected 12th in April’s draft — the sixth of six first-round QBs — and he made steady progress during his first offseason program. Stidham is the only quarterback with experience in Denver’s offense, and that familiarity was evident during OTAs and minicamp. Wilson, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 draft, has the biggest arm and the most sheer talent of the three, but also brings the baggage of an underwhelming resumé with the New York Jets (12-21 as a starter in three seasons) and showed during the offseason program that he’ll need time to learn Payton’s system.

The big question with this competition is how much time each quarterback will get to make his case. The offseason reps for all three players were largely split evenly. That can’t be the case for all of training camp because it will limit valuable reps for whoever ultimately emerges as the starter. The Aug. 11 preseason opener in Indianapolis seems like a natural inflection point. The staff needs to use that game and the dozen practices preceding it to narrow the race.

Payton has said the most important goal of the competition is to get the decision right. But there is a long-term view at play here, too. The Broncos must set Nix up for long-term success. If he is to become the Week 1 starter as a rookie, that means giving him ample time to settle into the role. It’s why the first two weeks of training camp are so critical to the competition.

“When we get into training camp and when we get into the preseason games, I think oftentimes the decisions take care of themselves,” Payton said. “But the object is to win. I understand the question, but in our league it’s year-to-year. We’re competing to win this year, and we’re going to make the right decision relative to who gives us that opportunity.”

Center

2023 starter: Lloyd Cushenberry

Replacement candidates: Alex Forsyth, Luke Wattenberg, Sam Mustipher

The Broncos will have a new starting center for the first time since 2019. Cushenberry filled that role for four seasons after being drafted in the third round in 2020, and he turned his best performance last season. He signed a four-year, $50 million deal with the Tennessee Titans in March, making him the NFL’s third highest-paid center and creating a key vacancy on an offensive line bringing its other four starters back in 2024.

Wattenberg (fifth round, 2022) and Forsyth (seventh round, 2023) are late-round picks with limited experience. Wattenberg has played in 23 games during his two seasons, but most of his work has come on special teams. Forsyth did not see the field as a rookie last season. The Broncos also signed Mustipher, who was the starting center for the Chicago Bears in 2021 and 2022, to a one-year, minimum deal, providing a veteran option at the position. All three players rotated with the first team during the offseason program, similar to the quarterbacks.

Ideally, the Broncos would get one of the rookie-contract players into the role and allow him to build a rapport with Nix.

“There is a grit element to them,” Payton said during the offseason of Forsyth and Wattenberg, whose lockers were adjoined in Denver’s training facility last season. “They’re both athletic and they’re both extremely smart, just as Lloyd is. It’s a position that requires not only a certain skill set but a certain cerebral mindset. I think that both of those guys have that temperament, but they also have that understanding of what we’re doing.”

Forsyth has the advantage of experience with Nix. He was Oregon’s center during Nix’s first season at the school in 2022 and was an important sounding board for Denver’s coaching staff as they evaluated the quarterback in the pre-draft process. But can he go from practice squad onlooker to full-time starter in one offseason?

Cornerback

2023 starter: Fabian Moreau

Replacement candidates: Riley Moss, Damarri Mathis, Levi Wallace, Kris Abrams-Draine, Art Green

Pat Surtain II was drafted in 2021 and immediately became a standout at one of Denver’s outside cornerback positions. Stability on the opposite side has been more elusive. In Surtain’s three seasons, he’s started in tandem with Michael Ojemudia, Ronald Darby, Essang Bassey, Moreau and Mathis. None of those cornerbacks started more than 16 games during that 51-game stretch. Figuring out a more permanent solution has been a priority, which is why the Broncos have drafted a corner in each of the last three drafts — Mathis (fourth round, 2022), Moss (third, 2023) and Abrams-Draine (fifth, 2024).

“Pat is one of the best corners in football, so if you’re playing opposite of Pat, you’re going to get most of the targets,” Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said. “That’s part of it. It’s having a guy who is resilient and who can work through adversity during games and kind of invite being attacked. It’s kind of a good thing for a corner because you can make a lot of plays that way.”

Moss, who played mostly special teams as a rookie with limited work as the dime in six-DB formations, profiles as the potential play-maker the Broncos are looking for on the outside. He was set back during his first training camp because of a core muscle injury that required surgery, but the speed that helped him excel as a gunner on Denver’s punt team toward the second half of last season showed up defensively for Moss during the offseason program.

“With Riley, he is an exceptional athlete,” Joseph said. “He makes it look easy. He’s really smooth, he’s mature, he’s smart, he has great size and great ball skills. When you watch him play, it looks really easy and he’s always in a comfortable position.”

Mathis also had a strong offseason, one that came on the heels of his being benched for Moreau six games into last season. Joseph said the third-year player “has physical traits that most corners don’t have,” and he spent this offseason “upping his football IQ” after play-recognition mistakes led to some of his struggles last season.

Abrams-Draine will likely work at multiple spots in Denver’s secondary during his first training camp, but the rookie has already impressed coaches with his toughness, a trait that stood out at Missouri and could ultimately make him an option outside.

Inside linebacker

2023 starter: Josey Jewell

Replacement candidates: Cody Barton, Jonas Griffith, Justin Strnad

You knew Alex Singleton had grown close to Jewell when the pair showed up to a game in 2022 wearing matching Canadian tuxedos. Singleton made 327 tackles across the past two seasons, more than all but two NFL players, and most of those came with Jewell at his side.

“I think for me, (chemistry with) Josey was really natural,” Singleton said. “I think it was just something we had walking in.”

Singleton now will be patrolling the field with a new partner at inside linebacker after Jewell landed a three-year, $22.75 million deal with the Panthers in free agency. That comes with the responsibility of helping a new starter adjust to a new scheme.

Barton, a 13-game starter with the Washington Commanders in 2023 after spending his first four seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, signed a one-year, $2.5 million deal with the Broncos in free agency. He’ll compete with Griffith and Strnad, who both re-signed with Denver on one-year deals in March, and Bailey, an undrafted free agent out of Fresno State.

Griffith missed all of last season following a training camp knee injury and missed the second half of the 2022 season with a broken foot. At 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds with above-average side-to-side speed, Griffith has the physical traits to excel at the position. When he put all of those together ahead of the 2022 season, he beat Singleton out in a training camp competition to start alongside Jewell at the start of the year. How he’ll look after two seasons largely spent on the sideline is an important subplot for Denver’s defense.

“I’m anxious to see him once we get into camp and get to know the player more when he’s carrying his shoulder pads, fitting runs, playing the passing game,” Payton said.

Running back

2023 starter: Javonte Williams

Replacement candidates: Williams, Audric Estimé, Jaleel McLaughlin, Samaje Perine, Blake Watson

To support a new quarterback who will enter the job with relatively little starting experience, the Broncos must run the ball better than they did in 2023. Denver ranked 21st in yards per carry (4.0) and was 21st in TruMedia’s offensive success rate metric. They converted only 45.8 percent of their third-down rush attempts into first downs, a rate that ranked 22nd. Perhaps most damning, the Broncos were the NFL’s least efficient rushing team in the red zone, a root cause of their struggles in that area of the field.

It’s why everything has to be on the table for Denver’s coaching staff as they cobble together a plan for the position. Williams struggled in his first season back from a major knee injury suffered in 2022. His average 3.6 yards per carry was well below his 4.3-yard career mark, and he especially struggled during the second half of the season. Still, Williams finished with 1,002 total yards and five touchdowns and is now nearly two years from the devastating injury he suffered in Las Vegas. There is hope he can return to the form that made him a dynamic all-rookie performer in 2021.

Williams, though, will have to earn the starting job in camp. He’ll be pushed by Estimé, the team’s fifth-round pick out of Notre Dame. Estimé missed most of the offseason program after undergoing a minor scope of his knee, but he’s expected to be “full go,” Payton said, at the start of training camp. In limited action in front of the media, Estimé, at 5-foot-11 and 227 pounds, looked the part of a running back who can bring more short-yardage toughness. But can he supplant Williams as an every-down option?

There are other questions in the backfield, too. How much McLaughlin’s role be expanded after he totaled 570 yards of offense and three touchdowns as undrafted rookie last season? Can Watson make a push for a roster spot in a crowded backfield? What role do the Broncos envision for Perine, who turned into something of a two-minute specialist last season, as he enters the final season of his deal?

(Top photo of Bo Nix handing off to Javonte Williams: David Zalubowski / Associated Press)