The Denver Broncos announced on Apr. 26 that they feel confident about their selections in the 2026 National Football League Draft, believing the new additions will strengthen their team after a successful previous season.
The Broncos finished last season with fourteen regular-season wins, an AFC West title, and the conference’s top seed. Despite these achievements, General Manager George Paton said after the AFC Championship Game loss that improvements were still needed. “We’re going to have to build,” Paton said on Jan. 27. “… We just need to get better than we were.”
Paton and Head Coach Sean Payton believe their seven-player draft class meets those goals. The Broncos selected defensive tackle Tyler Onyedim with the 66th pick before adding running back Jonah Coleman, offensive lineman Kage Casey, tight end Justin Joly, tight end Dallen Bentley, safety Miles Scott, and linebacker Red Murdock. Paton said that while there was no specific strategy to target offense early in Day 3 of the draft, opportunities aligned with team needs: “I hate saying, ‘The best player’ [as the strategy], but we just kind of took the best players as they came,” Paton said. “Sometimes need and the best player intersected, and it worked out.” He added: “I think we both feel really good about the last couple days and the team in general… I think we helped our depth; we helped our team in a lot of areas… So I think we got younger; I think we got better over the weekend.”
Assistant General Manager Reed Burckhardt also spoke positively about how this group fits into Denver’s existing locker room culture: “They fit our culture,” Burckhardt said. “All these guys, they’re going to raise the level when they come in and add to our current group and they’re going to fit right in.” Co-Director of Player Personnel Cam Williams echoed this sentiment regarding wide receiver Jaylen Waddle—acquired previously using Denver’s first-round pick—saying: “We’re super excited. We think we got better. Definitely, Waddle was a huge piece of that.”
Paton concluded by highlighting Waddle’s addition as part of an overall improvement for Denver heading into next season: “You factor in [that] our first-round pick is a really good player so [we] feel good about that as a whole,” he said.
Looking ahead, Broncos leadership remains optimistic that these changes will help maintain their position among league leaders for another year.
