ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton took away playcalling from himself this offseason, and the team made one of the more marquee trades for wide receiver Jaylen Waddle. But by all accounts, the Broncos have a lot more work to do in order to get "the meat on the bone" that Payton has said was left over from last season.
In 2025, the Broncos had an offense that was 14th in scoring (23.6 points per game), a quarterback Bo Nix who was 15th in OBR (58.3) and a receiving corps with only one player among the league's top 62 in yards per game (Courtland Sutton, 19th). Their rushing attack wasn't much better, as J.K. Dobbins led the team by a 232-yard margin despite missing the last seven regular-season games with a foot injury. But Denver still tied the New England Patriots for the NFL's best regular-season record, a result of 11 wins by one score.
"It's painful, but you have to start from the beginning. You really do," Payton said at the NFL combine about approaching the offseason. "From my lens, we won a lot of games by one score or less. I'm not naive enough to think those games couldn't have swung. ... The meat on the bone exists with our takeaways. That has to improve. Our run game [consistency]."
As the Broncos have moved through their offseason work, it's clear Waddle's speed and explosiveness will bring an element to the offense it hasn't had enough of in recent seasons. But the Broncos have made renovations to other parts of the offense, as well. Start with Payton's decision to promote Davis Webb from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator -- and primary playcaller.
"I know how [Payton] wants the game to be played, [and] it's the same offense for the most part, just little tweaks here and there, but this is a Sean Payton-coached football team, a Sean Payton offensive philosophy," Webb said. "And we're just going to grow with our QB and our skill players and our offensive line."
Pacing -- by Payton's urging -- was at the forefront as Webb called the plays for Denver's backup quarterbacks in their offseason workouts. (Nix's on-field work has been limited as he recovers from a second surgery in April on his right ankle.) Webb called the down-to-down process of getting the play into Nix, as well as any substitutions, key in the quest to give Nix the best opportunity to look over the defense before the play clock runs out.
The Broncos' offensive staff also reviewed each game of Nix's first two seasons to glean what they've done well over that span and "what's going on around the league." Some teams moved toward more three-TE sets last season, but Waddle's arrival could actually nudge Denver's use of three-wide sets even higher than its 63% rate last season (11th highest in the NFL). His addition will at least re-distribute targets; Sutton and Troy Franklin were the team's only players with more than 51 targets last season (124 and 104, respectively).
Regardless, more production is needed from the tight end room. Evan Engram had 50 catches in 2025, but his only touchdown grab came in Week 5. The rest of Denver's tight ends combined for two touchdowns in the regular season. The Broncos invested in their TE room over the offseason, re-signing Adam Trautman and Nate Adkins. They also drafted NC State's Justin Joly in the fifth round and Utah's Dallen Bentley in the seventh round, and they picked Caleb Lohner in the seventh round of the 2025 draft. Payton lauded Lohner's progress in the offseason program before he was sidelined with a lower-body injury.
"We have the weapons in our room," Sutton said. "... I don't like the bashing of our tight end room, I'm going to say that publicly. I think they do their job really well, they do what's asked of them to a high level. Getting those guys going is really big. When every piece of our offense is able to contribute to the game, that's where our offense is able to grow."
Dobbins said during minicamp the run game's improvement could quickly be helped by his promise to have his "best year yet," as well as an effort to integrate more play-action passes. But like other parts of their offense, the Broncos are looking to boost their quality in that area. They were ninth in the league in play-action snaps last season but 12th in passing yards out of those plays.
"If you can make everything look similar, it makes it hard to diagnose what's about to happen," offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey said. "We've been working on those things wholeheartedly."