The Denver Broncos are bringing back veteran defensive tackle D.J. Jones, coming to terms on a deal before NFL Free Agency begins. Denver keeps one of their household names intact as they look to preserve the success they had on the defensive line last season.

Denver Broncos re-sign D.J. Jones to three-year deal

D.J. Jones was the Denver Broncos most important in-house free agent going into today’s legal negotiating period. With other teams making deals on Sunday to retain a lot of their in-house free agents, the Broncos quickly took care of re-signing Jarrett Stidham and long-snapper Mitchell Fraboni.

On Sunday evening, Denver took care of locking in Jones to a three-year deal worth up to $39M, with $26M fully guaranteed. The compensation of the deal was first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

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Jones was an anchor for the Broncos at defensive tackle last season, where he was a plug against the run, helping Denver finish as one of the league’s best-run defenses in 2024. On top of that, Jones was part of a defensive front seven that led the entire NFL in sacks, with Denver’s defense setting a franchise record with 63.

Just two weeks ago, Broncos general manager George Paton was asked about Jones and whether or not he would be speaking with his agent at the NFL Combine.

“I will, definitely,” Paton said. “We really like [DT] D.J. [Jones]. We’d love to have him back, and we’ll have those conversations.”

Those conversations went well. Paton and head coach Sean Payton want to continue to invest in the trenches on defense and bringing back Jones was an important piece to doing that. With him locked in, the Broncos can now focus on today’s legal negotiating period, where they’ll look at a handful of players and positions around the league to potentially sign.

Wide receiver could be a position they make the most notable move at here this week as free agency kicks off. Look for them to scan the safety market with players like Cam Bynum and Jevon Holland available. The linebacker market dried up quickly over the weekend after several potential targets re-signed with their respective teams over the weekend.

The tight end position is also another interesting group to keep an eye on, with several of the top targets re-signign with their teams as well. The top remaining targets are Evan Engram and Juwan Johnson, with Philadelphia Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert rumored to be available as a potential trade target, according to Josina Anderson.

If this is the case, the Broncos should inquire as they look to boost the tight end room for Bo Nix this season.