The Denver Broncos losing Marvin Mims would be a massive mistake.
Sure, they can’t always keep every player they draft. And the Broncos just added to their receiver room with the talented and now No. 1 receiver Jaylen Waddle.
But they need to find a way to keep Mims around because he’s a talented two-way player.
Denver Broncos losing Marvin Mims would hurt the offense and special teams
Recently, the Broncos fourth-year receiver has been talking about his coming free agency.
At the end of 2026, Mims will be a free agent unless the Broncos extend him during this season.
But they currently have Courtland Sutton and Waddle under massive contracts, all while Troy Franklin continues to grow and Pat Bryant showed flashes of brilliance as a rookie last year, too.
If the team wanted to, they could keep going with those four at receiver and let Mims walk if need be.
But Mims wants to stay with the Broncos.
“I’ve proved it time and time again. just in different stretches, different opportunities,” Mims said. “I feel as if the coaching staff knows what they’re going to get from me. I love making plays, love being out there doing the things that I can do. It’s just whatever the team needs from me.”
But in this candid offseason interview in which comments came hot and fast, Mims also explained how he’s becoming frustrated in the Broncos offense.
“Sometimes, I’m not in the most fortunate situations. Sometimes I am a little irritated with my situation, but, at the end of the day, I’m blessed to be where I am today, standing right here where I am…With this possibly being my last year, I’m just going to enjoy it to the fullest, going through it carefree and just play my hardest because we have a real chance to do something extremely special.”
Mims has been a bit up and down as a receiver during his first three years. He started slowly in 2023, and began the 2024 season that way as well on offense.
But then he broke out during the last six games of the 2024 season.
In 2025, though, his production waned again. Partially because the Broncos leaned more on Franklin and then Bryant came on during the second half of the season.
Still, when the lights were brightest in the Divisional Round win over the Buffalo Bills, Mims had a spectacular touchdown catch.
Mims a great return man
Besides that offensive production, he’s been an electric return man both in the punt and kickoff games.
In 2023, his 99-yard touchdown kickoff return was the longest in the NFL that year. He was named Associated Press Second-team for his great kickoff return abilities that year.
In 2024 he turned his sights on punt returning excellence. His 15.7 yards per punt return led the NFL and he was named First-Team All-Pro by the AP. And Mims’ 452 punt return yards last year led the NFL, too.
Mims is the kind of return man the Broncos had been missing for many years.
That makes his lack of execution on offense more palatable because he can always affect the game in positive ways on special teams.
As it currently stands, Mims is a perfect depth receiver.
On any day, he could be the team’s No. 3 guy, or all the way down to the No. 5 guy. And he’s proven he has a ton of versatility.
In fact, in 2024 Sean Payton did a great job of putting him in the backfield at times and handing the ball off to him to let the receiver use his speed. That kept the defense off balance and was a net positive for the Broncos offense.
While Mims acknoledges “you can’t keep everybody,” losing him would be a huge mistake for the Broncos.
Meanwhile, the rest of the league is noticing that versatility. He’s expected to fetch north of $10M per year in the free agent market per the Denver Post.
Currently, the Broncos salary cap situation for 2027 is dire. They are $22M over the cap already and have only 54 players under contract, many of whom are just depth/practice squad guys.
Denver’s going to have to make some moves and hope the salary cap expands by a large amount again next year.
All to say, the Denver Broncos losing Marvin Mims is a certain possibility if not a likelihood.