I can’t want to see Jonah Coleman and Justin Joly for the Denver Broncos on Friday night.
Coleman has been a camp darling for the Broncos through the first 10 days of training camp. And we haven’t heard a ton of Joly, but he could be the future of the tight end position for the Broncos.
Jonah Coleman and Justin Joly are two exciting Denver Broncos rookies
Both first-year players have a mountain to climb in terms of the depth chart before they could become the starters of their respective positions.
And for Coleman, he seems more like a complimentary back than a No. 1 RB. But I’d be happy to be wrong about that.
Joly on the other hand could become the next leading man at tight end in Denver.
Jonah Coleman
Let’s start with Coleman, who again has been one of the camp darlings this year. He and Pat Bryant have stole the headlines with their great play at practice.
The Broncos took Coleman this April at No. 108 in the 4th round. The former Washington Cougars back is a wrecking ball standing at 5’8″ and 220 pounds, and he has incredibly sure hands losing only one fumble in four years in college.
He went over the 1000-yard mark as a junior with 10 scores, and rushed for fewer yards (753) as a senior but scored 15 touchdowns.
Coleman’s been so impressive during camp that some are saying he’s looking like a first-round pick. That may just be some preseason overhype, but Sean Payton likes what he’s seeing from the rookie.
“He did a number of things on tape or was exposed to certain protections maybe that a lot of college backs weren’t,” Payton explained on Wednesday. “So you feel an older player or a veteran player, and you saw that on tape. You saw the runs that we run, some protections. You had a chance to see more of it maybe than you do with some other guys.”
Running backs have a lot of jobs, and picking up blitzes is one of them. It sounds like Coleman has been adept at that since his college days; let’s see how he does tonight and into the season.
Payton also called Coleman the pleasant surprise of camp 10 days ago, but he’s not the only one singing the running back’s praises.
Quarterback Bo Nix likes what he sees from Coleman, too.
“You can tell he came from a developmental system in college,” Nix explained. “I think he did a really good job. He was coached really well in college. They did a lot of versatile things, so when he gets here, it’s not as big of a jump. He’s familiar with the verbiage, familiar with the positions that we’re putting him in and he’s just responding well. He’s great out of the backfield. He can run routes, he can catch and he’s explosive. I think as a running back, his strength is running in between the tackles and being physical. So I think with how our offense is evolving, how our running back position goes, he does a really good job of being able to do both and run and catch the ball out of the backfield.”
Nix hit on exactly what I want to see from the young man; running tough between the tackles. J.K. Dobbins has done well between the tackles, but RJ Harvey, the smaller and faster back, wasn’t as good there as he was outside. When Dobbins went down due to injury last year in Week 10, Denver couldn’t move the pile with Harvey.
I want to see what Coleman can do on inside runs tonight, see if he can break a tackle or two, and hope to be impressed.
Justin Joly
Some think Joly could be the best tight end of this class.
In college, he was great at N.C. State the last two years. He totaled 43 catches for 661 yards and 4 touchdowns in 2024, then had 49 receptions for 489 yards and 7 touchdowns as a senior. And in 2025, he was named All-ACC.
The Broncos took him in the fifth round at No. 152 overall, and they added to an already incredibly deep tight end room. Evan Engram is the starter, and then there’s Adam Trautman, Nade Adkins, and Lance Krull who the Broncos all re-signed this offseason. Plus, last year’s draft pick Caleb Lohner. Oh, and Dallen Bently.
So, he has a long list of guys to jump to get to that starting spot. But many of the men ahead of him are blocking tight ends, not receivers.
“Yes, he’s coming,” Payton said of Joly on Aug. 5. “It’s a big jump for all those young tight ends. He’s certainly someone we feel like is better with ball in hand. He’s pretty powerful. So there’s a lot of developmental still for his game, but this is one you want to see this accelerated period. I think a week from now, I’m anxious to get the same question just to see where he’s at, but he’s doing well.”
Payton touched on what analysts saw in his game before the draft. Joly is a strong receiver with huge hands and great body control. He’s best with the ball in his hands rather than as a blocker on the end of the line of scrimmage.
Here’s hoping Joly can get involved in the offense tonight and throughout the preseason. Then, maybe in the second half of the regular season we will see him catch some passes from Nix. Remember, Payton doesn’t like to play rookies if he doesn’t have to; that happened with Pat Bryant last year, when he finally came on late.
Tonight, the Broncos face the Falcons in Atlanta with a kickoff of 5 p.m. MT. The game will be televised on 9News.