Denver Broncos

Broncos running back Jaleel McLaughlin is set to hit the open market next month.

According to multiple reports, the Broncos will not tender McLaughlin a contract as a restricted free agent. Absent a change of heart, that will make McLaughlin an unrestricted free agent in March.

McLaughlin played in 33 games over his first two seasons in Denver, but he only appeared in eight regular games for the team in 2025. He also played in both playoff contests.

McLaughlin ran 37 times for 187 yards and a touchdown in 2025 and he had 226 carries for 1,093 yards and three touchdowns overall. He also caught 59 passes for 263 yards and two scores.

Teams making decisions about picking up the fifth-year options on the contracts of their 2023 first-round picks now know how much that will cost.

The NFL revealed the values on Friday afternoon. There are four levels of compensation at each position. Players who have made multiple Pro Bowls as an original selection are at the top followed by players with one Pro Bowl selection and players who have hit playing time milestones before reaching the lowest level.

Panthers quarterback Bryce Young and Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud were the first two picks of that draft and both of them reached the playing time level of compensation. That will leave them with fully guaranteed salaries of $25.904 million if the teams decide to exercise the options, but longer-term extensions are also a possibility now that they have finished their third seasons.

The full list of 2023 first-rounders — there were 31 that year because the Dolphins were stripped of their pick — and their fifth-year option salaries appears below:

1. Panthers QB Bryce Young — $25.904 million (playing time).
2. Texans QB C.J. Stroud — $25.904 million (playing time).
3. Texans DE Will Anderson — $21.512 (Pro Bowl).
4. Colts QB Anthony Richardson — $22.483 million (base).
5. Seahawks CB Devon Witherspoon — $21.161 million (multiple Pro Bowls).
6. Cardinals OT Paris Johnson — $19.072 million (playing time).
7. Raiders DE Tyree Wilson — $14.475 million (base).
8. Falcons RB Bijan Robinson — $11.323 million (Pro Bowl).
9. Eagles DT Jalen Carter — $27.127 million (multiple Pro Bowls).
10. Bears OT Darnell Wright — $19.072 million (playing time).
11. Titans OG Peter Skoronski — $19.072 million (playing time).
12. Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs — $14.293 million (multiple Pro Bowls).
13. Packers DE Lukas Van Ness — $14.475 million (base).
14. Steelers OT Broderick Jones — $19.072 million (playing time).
15. Jets DE Will McDonald — $14.475 million (base).
16. Rams CB Emmanuel Forbes — $12.633 million (base).
17. Patriots CB Christian Gonzalez — $18.119 million (Pro Bowl).
18. Lions LB Jack Campbell — $21.925 million (Pro Bowl).
19. Buccaneers DT Calijah Kancey — $15.451 (playing time).
20. Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba — $23.852 million (Pro Bowl).
21. Chargers WR Quentin Johnston — $18 million (playing time).
22. Ravens WR Zay Flowers — $27.298 million (multiple Pro Bowls).
23. Vikings WR Jordan Addison — $18 million (playing time).
24. Giants CB Deonte Banks — $12.633 million (base).
25. Bills TE Dalton Kincaid — $8.162 million (base).
26. Jets DT Mazi Smith — $13.391 million (base) Smith was traded to the Jets by the Cowboys.
27. Jaguars OT Anton Harrison — $19.072 million (playing time).
28. Bengals DE Myles Murphy — $14.475 million (base).
29. Saints DT Bryan Bresee — $13.391 million (base).
30. Eagles LB Nolan Smith — $13.752 million (base).
31. Chiefs Felix Anudike-Uzomah — $14.475 million (base).

Cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian has moved into a prominent role for the Broncos over the last three seasons and the team is moving to hold onto him for a fourth season.

McMillian’s agent Deryk Gilmore told Chris Tomasson of the Denver Gazette that the Broncos have extended a second-round restricted free agent tender to his client.

The tender carries a salary of $5.853 million for the 2026 season. Other teams will be able to negotiate with McMillian and can sign him to an offer sheet that the Broncos will have a right to match. If they pass on that opportunity, they will get a second-round pick as compensation.

McMillian appeared in every game last seasona nd played two-thirds of the team’s defensive snaps in the regular season. He had 56 tackles, four sacks, two interceptions and two forced fumbles. He also came up with a much-discussed interception of a pass by Bills quarterback Josh Allen to wide receiver Brandin Cooks to set up the winning score for Denver in overtime of the divisional round of the playoffs.

Four weeks ago today, the latest release of the Epstein files implicated Giants co-owner Steve Tisch. Three days later, Commissioner Roger Goodell said the NFL will “look at all the facts.”

Since then, the NFL has said nothing.

More facts have emerged, including reporting that contradicts Tisch’s claim of a “brief association” with Jeffrey Epstein and an item from The Athletic that characterizes Tisch’s behavior as a potential instance of quid pro quo sexual harassment.

Through it all, the league has referred reporters to Goodell’s comments from February 2. That’s the message the league recently repeated to Dan Wetzel of ESPN.com.

The league could be waiting for it to all blow over. Alternatively, the NFL could be hoping that the Tisch family will nudge Steve out of the spotlight as the representative of the folks who own the 45-percent share of the Giants.

Regardless, it’s not going away. As one high-level employee with another team told PFT on Friday, “Steve has to go.”

The league’s inaction makes even more clear the double standard between the Personal Conduct Policy that applies to owners and the one that applies to everyone else. Although the league claims owners are held to a higher standard, that rarely happens in practice. (For more, get yourself a copy of my 2022 book, Playmakers.)

Generally speaking, silence, inaction, and distraction have proven (so far) to be a useful strategy for more than a few of the men whose interactions with Epstein cry out for investigation and, possibly, consequences. Few seem to be buying the notion that it’s a hoax or a witch hunt or whatever other label would be used to dismiss something that should never be dismissed.

Whatever the outcome, the NFL must investigate Tisch. Until it does, it’s impossible for any league investigation of a player or any other non-owner to have a shred of credibility.

The Broncos dipped into the college ranks to find a replacement for Jim Leonhard as their defensive pass game coordinator.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the Broncos will hire University of Colorado defensive coordinator Robert Livingston to fill that spot on Sean Payton’s coaching staff. Leonhard left the Broncos to become the Bills’ defensive coordinator.

Livingston has been on Deion Sanders’s staff in Boulder for the last two seasons. He was a member of the Bengals’ coaching staff as their safeties coach from 2016-2023. He was a scout and a quality control coach in Cincinnati for three years before taking on that role.

Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph was on the Bengals’ staff in 2014 and 2015, so this will not be the first time that he and Livingston have served on the same staff.

Broncos coach Sean Payton is back on the Competition Committee. And he’s not afraid to share his opinions about league rules.

During his Tuesday press conference at the Scouting Combine, Payton was asked about last year’s opposition to the tush push, which came within two votes of ending it.

“I don’t think the push sneak — I think if that ever goes away, it’s not a health and safety thing,” Payton told reporters. “We discussed that last year for two hours and we just adopted a thousand more kick returns. Which play do you think is more of a health risk? A thousand more kick returns. So I think if we choose to ever move on from that, it won’t be because of health and safety. It will just be like, ‘We don’t like it.’ Which is OK.”

Why was returning to the rule-recommending body OK with Payton?

“I like the pain,” Payton said with a laugh. “I like our league. I like talking about stuff like that. Like when I bring up that, we literally spent two hours on the health and safety of a quarterback sneak. . . . Literally a half an hour prior, we passed a rule that allowed for over a thousand more kick [returns]. So every once in a while your B.S. meter goes up. I’m passionate about the game and being involved in it.”

He’s referring to last year’s decision to move the touchback point for a kickoff from the 30 to the 35, which resulted in a significant increase in kickoff returns.

And he’s right about the tush push. The opposition came from, we believe, the reaction by someone in the league office to the scene that played out in the 2024 NFC Championship, when Washington jumped offside multiple times as the Eagles tried to use the formation to score a touchdown. It happened so many times that referee Shawn Hochuli eventually warned the Commanders that, if it happened again, the Eagles would be awarded a touchdown under the never-before-used “palpably unfair act” rule.

The Broncos fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi to keep Davis Webb. Not only is Webb now the Broncos’ offensive coordinator, he is also the team’s new play caller.

For the first time in Sean Payton’s head coaching career, he will not serve as the team’s full-time play caller.

“It was something that I kind of knew during the year,” Payton said Tuesday. “He and I visited on a handful of occasions. He’s extremely talented. With regards to play calling, it’s something that I think he’ll be really good at it. I know that’s like, ‘Man, are you going to give up play calling?’ I would only do that if I thought it would help our team. I’ll still be involved with what we do offensively, just like what we do defensively, but I do think he has a gift. I think he’s real sharp. I’m glad he’s on our staff. Typically, any decision we make like that is to benefit our team. I’m looking forward to it. . . . I think it’ll help us, and certainly I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t think it was going to help our team win. You get to a point where you’re focused strictly on improving your team any way you can.”

Bills General Manager Brandon Beane actually broke the news about Webb earlier in the day at Beane’s media availability at the Scouting Combine. Webb spent four seasons as a backup quarterback in Buffalo and interviewed for the Bills’ head coaching job last month.

Webb, 31, called plays in a preseason game last summer, drawing praise from Payton after the game.

Quarterback Bo Nix was not consulted before Payton made his decision.

“A lot of it is, the minute the season ends, you have a number of coaches interviewing for other jobs. You have coaches you definitely want to retain,” Payton said. “And it’s never going to be quite on your timeline. It’s great to see Declan [Doyle] advancing. But it wasn’t on my timeline. In other words, it just happens faster.

“I remember there was a point during the year where he and I visited and it was relative to the position he has, but also more than just having the position, being someone who would have more input and would be able to call plays. It’s still going to be our offense, but I think it’s easier to do as you get older, and you look at, ‘How do we win more games?’”

Payton did not call plays for the first time as a head coach in 2012 with the Saints. Pete Carmichael called them while Payton was serving his suspension. Carmichael called them again at the beginning of the 2016 season, in a 2021 game against the Colts after Payton broke his leg and in a 2021 game against the Bucs when Payton had COVID.

But Payton has never relinquished them full-time until now, though he said he will “still call some plays during the game.”

“I think he’s sharp,” Payton said of Davis. “I think he’s been around it. He’s a coach’s kid. He played quarterback, and then in the preseason, he was really good.

“I want to do everything I can support to him, so we’re not going to sit and grade his play calling each week. At least, hopefully we’re not. It’s more about the team.”

Sean Payton and Mike Zimmer were colleagues on the Cowboys’ coaching staff more than 20 years ago and they could work together again in Denver.

Mike Klis of KUSA reports that the Broncos recently met with Zimmer about a senior coaching assistant position on Payton’s staff. There’s no imminent announcement of an agreement, but there is reportedly mutual interest in making something happen.

Zimmer was the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator when Payton was their assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach from 2003-2005. Payton moved on to become the Saints’ head coach in 2006 and Zimmer would become the Vikings’ head coach in 2014 after stints in Atlanta and Cincinnati.

Zimmer’s run in Minnesota went through the 2021 season and his last NFL job was a return to running the Dallas defense in 2024.

Competition Committee co-chairman Rich McKay does not expect there to be a lot of rules changes heading into the 2026 season, but his group is discussing many aspects of the game this week as they prepare for any proposed tweaks to the current rulebook.

One area that has come up in meetings are the rules that govern what is or isn’t a catch. That part of the game came back into focus during the divisional round of the playoffs when a long pass to Bills wide receiver Brandin Cooks was ruled an interception after the ball moved from Cooks’ hands to Broncos safety Ja’Quan McMillian as the wideout hit the ground. Officials ruled that Cooks did not fulfill the rules for possessing the ball before McMillian took it away, which was disputed by former Bills head coach Sean McDermott and others after the Broncos went on to win the game.

It also appeared to be a different ruling than officials came up with on similar plays at other points during the season and McKay said on Sunday that the committee “had a long discussion” related to the catch rules. He also said that the way plays look when subjected to replay has to be part of any conversation about how the rules are written moving forward.

“I think the issue on catch/no catch is that our technology today is just extraordinary,” McKay said, via longtime NFL reporter Mark Maske. “And so the ability to go frame by frame and slow things down is . . . a great solution for a lot of things, but it does present challenges for others. And you need to make sure that your rules as written don’t just match up [with] what’s on the field, but how it’s looked at in replay.”

The lack of a full replay review or full explanation of the ultimate ruling on the field during the Bills-Broncos game didn’t help create confidence that the ruling was the correct one. It’s unclear if a change to how the rules are written would have avoided the ensuing controversy, but the lack of other proposals could lead the committee to devote more time to devising language that would avoid the same kind of conjecture about future plays.

John Morton was a Broncos assistant before becoming the Lions’ offensive coordinator ahead of the 2025 season and he’s set to return to Denver after parting ways with the Lions.

Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports that Morton is expected to rejoin Sean Payton’s coaching staff as the team’s offensive pass game coordinator. Morton held the same role in 2023 and 2024, and he also consulted with the Broncos during the postseason after being dismissed by the Lions this January.

Morton was a Lions assistant under Dan Campbell in 2022 and replaced Ben Johnson as the offensive coordinator in Detroit last offseason. His run calling the team’s offensive plays ended in mid-November with Campbell taking over those responsibilities. The Lions hired Drew Petzing as their new offensive coordinator last month.

Morton also worked with Payton in New Orleans, spent the 2017 season as the Jets’ offensive coordinator and has had stints with the Raiders and 49ers over the course of his coaching career.