The Denver Broncos will take the field in a month for the start of training camp, and as the season approaches, there are two pressure-filled storylines to watch for.
Denver Broncos two pressure-filled storylines in 2025
As the Broncos gear up for the 2025 campaign, there are a couple of storylines that we’ll have our eyes on as Sean Payton prepares for his third season leading the franchise.
Riley Moss can prove doubters wrong
Quite arguably one of the weirdest developments I’ve seen this offseason is the discourse surrounding Riley Moss. For 13 weeks last season, Broncos Country couldn’t stop singing his praises.
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After he suffered a knee injury against the Las Vegas Raiders midway through the season, fans were worried about how the defense would perform without him opposite of Patrick Surtain II. He returned against the Cincinnati Bengals in the second-to-last game of the season and had a rough outing against Tee Higgins, and because of that, the narrative around him has changed, apparently, if you look at the discourse on social media.
It’s a stark reminder that fandom is sometimes transactional or conditional, but I disagree vehemently with the above narrative. Moss will be just fine, and one game shouldn’t change the perception of him. He was extremely valuable to the Broncos’ defense last season, and we saw that during his absence.
As a matter of fact, his absence changed how the Broncos called their scheme defensively. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, the Broncos played man coverage on 40.7% of dropbacks with Riley Moss on the field this season, compared to 31.2% with Moss off the field.
When he’s playing, opposing offenses have thrown downfield less often (6.8 air yards per attempt) than when he’s off (8.0), and they average fewer yards per attempt as well (6.3 with Moss on, 7.0 off).
After Denver drafted Jahdae Barron in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, social media commentary suggests that it puts Moss’s roster status in question, which is not true. Moss is the outside corner opposite of Surtain, and that’s where Payton and the Broncos envision him, with Barron being a chess piece player who will likely play more in the slot.
Moss isn’t concerned with the social media discourse, and a strong start to 2025 will silence some of the doubters.
Can Denver Broncos take care of contract extensions?
As it stands today, the Denver Broncos still have to find a way to work out contract extensions for Courtland Sutton, Nik Bonitto, Zach Allen, and John Franklin-Myers. The question is how the Broncos can do it, and is it possible to extend all of them?
The latter part will be a little trickier, but if I had to predict how things will go, I’d lean toward Sutton getting an extension during training camp or the preseason, Allen getting an extension during the season, and Bonitto’s contract extension falling into place during next offseason.
Going into the 2026 offseason, Denver will no longer be dealing with the Russell Wilson dead cap hit. While they’re eating the remaining $32M this year, it clearly hasn’t affected their operating budget, as they were able to sign Dre Greenlaw and Talanoa Hufanga to big deals in free agency.
Franklin-Myers could very well test the free agency market, but he’d be a valuable asset to keep in Denver on a dominant defensive line that led the NFL with 63 sacks in 2024.
Until these moves take place, there will be some pressure on the Broncos as the season approaches.
