2025 Denver Broncos Team Preview

The Broncos were one of the league's biggest surprises last season, making the playoffs after a 10-7 season that far surpassed the preseason over/under of 5.5 wins. Sean Payton did a tremendous job rebuilding both sides of the ball and hit a home run with first-year quarterback Bo Nix.

Integral to Denver's success is an offensive line that ranked first in pass protection. Nix jelled after a slow start. He averaged 165 passing yards with one touchdown and four interceptions in his first four starts. After that, Nix totaled 31 touchdowns and eight picks the rest of the way. With an improving cast of pass-catchers supporting him, Nix enters his second pro season firmly in fantasy QB1 territory.

Payton has long preferred a committee backfield approach. However, with Javonte Williams in Dallas, Payton nabbed UCF RB RJ Harvey with the 60th pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Harvey became just the fourth running back taken before Day 3 of a draft by Payton. The other three- Reggie Bush, Mark Ingram, and Alvin Kamara. Harvey is a tackle-breaking machine and offers a three-down skill set. One of the top sleeper RBs of 2025.

Courtland Sutton returns as the top wideout in Denver. Sutton had the best season of his career with Nix, posting WR15 numbers that included five games with 95-plus yards in the second half of the season. Marvin Mims also excelled down the stretch and will be one of the top third-year breakout wide receivers to target.

Third-round Illinois WR Pat Bryant has excellent hands and shows well in contested-catch situations. Payton compared the rookie to Michael Thomas. He's the favorite to earn Denver's WR3 role.

Evan Engram signed a two-year, $23 million deal to stabilize Denver's tight end position. Payton's offense has an extensive history of utilizing the tight end heavily, and Engram will be a massive upgrade over Denver's previous trio of unassuming veterans. Engram posted back-to-back top-5 fantasy finishes in 2022 and 2023 and has sneaky potential to contend for those lofty numbers again in 2025.

Fantasy Grade: C

QB Bo Nix, DEN - Solid/Safe Pick

One of the biggest surprises of last season, Bo Nix finishing as the QB9 overall. His 5.1 percent touchdown rate surpassed rookie-year marks of Joe Burrow and C.J. Stroud. Nix amassed 3,775 passing yards, 29 touchdowns, and 430 rushing yards with four scores, ranking fifth among quarterbacks in carries. Nix demonstrated deep-ball prowess, completing 31 of 73 passes over 20 air yards for 932 yards and eight touchdowns. His explosive play rating (EPX) of 103.2 ranked 14th league-wide. With Sean Payton's system and Denver's strong offensive line, Nix projects as a high-floor QB1 in 2025 drafts

RB RJ Harvey, DEN - Sleeper (undervalued)

Sean Payton has only selected three running backs before Day 3 of any NFL Draft. Those backs, Reggie Bush, Mark Ingram, and Alvin Kamara, turned out to be excellent fantasy bets. R.J. Harvey rushed for over 1,400 yards in back-to-back seasons at UCF and showed elite tackle-breaking ability. In 2024, Harvey ranked 2nd in FBS in breakaway runs (32), 7th in missed tackles forced (69), scored 22 touchdowns, and reeled in 20 catches. Harvey checks all the boxes to be a three-down weapon and landed with a coach who knows how to make that happen.

RB J.K. Dobbins, DEN - Bye Week Fill-in

The Broncos signed Dobbins to a one-year deal. This is good news for Dobbins, but bad for RJ Harvey and the Denver backfield from a fantasy perspectiv. It looks like the Broncos will stick with a frustrating committee, limiting the potential for each player.

RB Jaleel McLaughlin, DEN - Deep-league Only

McLaughlin got an extended look down the stretch, surpassing double-digit carries in three of his final four outings. However, Sean Payton using Day Two draft capital on RJ Harvey ends any chance McLaughlin had of making a fantasy impact in his third season. Harvey will be given every opportunity to command a three-down workhorse role, which will reduce McLaughlin and Audric Estime to change-of-pace duties. McLaughlin is a decent receiver who caught 24 of his 27 targets in 2024. Expect him to see limited carries this season as Harvey's understudy.

RB Audric Estime, DEN - Dynasty Only

ADVICE: Estime is over two years younger than R.J. Harvey, who is expected to lead Denver's backfield. Of course, Sean Payton isn't adverse to trotting out a committee, so Estime makes sense as a late-round flier.

WR Courtland Sutton, DEN - Solid/Safe Pick

The ascension of Bo Nix led to a career-best 14.8 PPR points per game average for Courtland Sutton, who finished as the overall WR15. Sutton was a man-coverage killer, who ranked 2nd among all wideouts with 1,787 air yards and 3rd in contested catch rate. He ended the season on a heater, catching 45-of-77 targets for 582 yards and six touchdowns in Denver's final eight regular-season contests. He's indisputably Denver's No. 1 wide receiver and could benefit from Sean Payton's reinforcements that arrived in the draft.