The Denver Broncos had a great 2025 season but came up just short in the AFC Championship game against the New England Patriots.
The Denver Broncos are having a strong training camp despite dealing with some small injury concerns.
The most notable development has been soft-tissue injuries and running back J.K. Dobbins was the latest player to leave practice and not return. He returned to practice for the Broncos on Tuesday and looked sharp, but injury concerns have followed him over the last few years.
Last season, Dobbins took issue with people saying that he’s injury prone weeks before suffering a season-ending foot injury in Week 10. At the end of July, Dobbins made a “pinky promise” to reporters that he would be on the field for all 17 games this year.
Wide receivers Jaylen Waddle and Marvin Mims Jr. have also dealt with soft-tissue injuries over the last couple of weeks and head coach Sean Payton addressed the problem on Monday.
“After the two-and-half-hour workout, Payton had the strength and conditioning staff add a longer, more formal warm-down period,” ESPN’s Jeff Legwold reported Monday. “Payton said he expected to continue to have the players go through the longer warm down in the days ahead.”
With preseason games beginning this week, it’s important for starters to be as healthy as possible. Payton plans on playing healthy starters for at least a few snaps on Friday against the Atlanta Falcons.
Speaking of preseason, NFL.com released their preseason power rankings on Tuesday and ranked Denver at No. 2.
“There's good reason for the optimism: Their core contributors return on both defense and offense, and they've added a new weapon in explosive receiver Jaylen Waddle,” Nick Shook wrote. “Theoretically, the team that finished 14-3 last season should be even better.
“The Broncos have enjoyed an ideally quiet camp, are led by a veteran coach with a history of high-level success, welcomed their quarterback back into the fold after his injury-related exit in January and are hoping J.K. Dobbins can fulfill his sky-high promises (including completing a full season).”
Having quarterback Bo Nix healthy again is of the utmost importance after losing him ahead of the American Football Conference Championship game against the New England Patriots.
Nix may have led the Broncos to the Super Bowl to take on the Seattle Seahawks had he not fractured his ankle in the final moments of their 33-30 overtime win over the Buffalo Bills, but we will never know for sure.
Nix wants to play during the preseason, but it’s unclear if Payton will allow him to play at this time.
