The Broncos’ current lease at Empower Field at Mile High runs through the 2030 season, so a new stadium for the franchise isn’t necessarily urgent.
But given the time it takes for development and construction, the Broncos have been doing plenty of research into potential sites for their next home.
Team owner and CEO Greg Penner said on Monday at the annual league meeting that the Broncos are “continuing our diligence” on a new stadium.
“As I mentioned before, it’s complex,” Penner said, via transcript from the team. “We haven’t ruled anything out. We’re still looking at the current site, other sites around Denver, Lone Tree, Aurora. We don’t have a set timetable for making a decision. We obviously have our lease that ends at a certain date, which is a date that we could focus on. It could be something that would happen earlier than that. If we needed to, we could be in our current stadium longer. So we don’t have a set timetable at this point.
“We’re really focused on what’s the best option long-term. We’re thinking, and we want to create what’s the best option for the next 40 or 50 years, not the next 10 or 20 years.”
In keeping the team’s options open, Penner noted that a dome or a retractable roof is under consideration — which would allow the team to host big, national events like the Final Four.
But there are also a lot of things that will go into how the franchise will proceed, particularly with a new stadium’s physical location.
“[No.] 1 is working with different government entities whether that’s the state or the city, but it’s also where our fans are and where they want to be,” Penner said. “If we’re going to do development, which as you know, there is a plan on our current site for development, so that’s certainly an option that would go around the stadium.”Gre
Empower Field at Mile High opened in 2001 — back when it was named Invesco Field. It replaced Mile High Stadium, which had been the Broncos’ home since 1960.
The Broncos have a third quarterback on their roster.
Sam Ehlinger will join Bo Nix and Jarrett Stidham on in the quarterbacks room.
Jordan Schultz of Fox Sports reports that the Broncos and Ehlinger reached agreement on a one-year deal. He could replace Zach Wilson as the third quarterback after Wilson signed with the Dolphins this offseason.
The Colts drafted Ehlinger in the sixth round in 2021, and he was with the team through the 2024 season.
He appeared in eight games with three starts for the Colts, going 0-3 in 2022. He has 573 passing yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions. Ehlinger hasn’t played a game since 2023 when he played three snaps in one game, without attempting a pass.
Teams that intend to keep their free agents usually get the deals done before another team has a chance to catch his eye. The 49ers didn’t do that as to linebacker Dre Greenlaw, and by the time they mobilized it was too late.
In an article from Luca Evans of the Denver Post regarding the process that resulted in Greenlaw landing with the Broncos, Evans reports that 49ers G.M. John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan flew to Greenlaw’s home in Texas in an effort to keep him. The 49ers also increased their offer.
“That was, like, a last-ditch effort,” Greenlaw’s adoptive father Brian Early told Evans.
But it was too late. Greenlaw had been courted by the Broncos, and he’d made up his mind.
Greenlaw’s agent, J.R. Carroll, separately told Evans that Greenlaw sensed an opportunity to have a “fresh start” with an ascending defense in Denver. Another factor was the fact that the 49ers have been losing plenty of players.
One who’s staying was Greenlaw’s partner at middle linebacker, Fred Warner.
“It just looked different when him and I were going after other teams from the second level, and just trying to erase space in the middle of the field,” Warner told Evans. “He’s, by far, one of the greatest athletes and football players I’ve ever played with, and it was truly an honor to play alongside him. . . . I even told him, and I always say, that I would not be the player that I am today without playing alongside Dre Greenlaw.”
Greenlaw’s adoptive father saw it a little differently.
“Hey, man, you stay in San Francisco, you’re Scottie Pippen,” Early told Greenlaw. “And Fred Warner is [Michael Jordan]. . . . Go be frickin’ MJ.”
Greenlaw now gets the chance to do just that.
The Jets are adding a weapon for quarterback Justin Fields.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, New York has agreed to a one-year deal with receiver Josh Reynolds.
The contract is worth up to $5 million.
Reynolds, 30, split his season between the Broncos and Jaguars last season. He was a victim of a shooting in Denver in October, but was able to return to the field later in the year with Jacksonville. In nine games with the Broncos and Jaguars, he totaled 13 catches for 194 yards with a touchdown.
A fourth-round pick in 2017, Reynolds has appeared in 116 career games with 55 starts for the Rams, Titans, Lions, Broncos, and Jags. He’s totaled 233 receptions for 3,217 yards with 20 TDs. In 2023, he caught 40 passes for 608 yards with five touchdowns for Detroit.
Last year, when the Steelers visited the Broncos in Week 2, quarterback Russell Wilson didn’t play, due to a calf injury. This year, he’ll get a chance to play in Denver again.
The Broncos are one of the Giants’ opponents in 2025, with the game set for Denver. That’s the only former team Wilson will face this year, unless he crosses paths with the Seahawks in the playoffs or the Steelers in the Super Bowl. (Stop laughing.)
Things didn’t go well for Wilson in Denver after the trade that sent him from Seattle. Yes, they paid him a lot of money. But it didn’t work. And he eventually was cut, even though the Broncos owed him $39 million, minus the $1.21 million he earned in Pittsburgh.
Overall, the New York schedule won’t be an easy one. The Giants will play 10 games against 2024 playoff teams, with two other games against the Cowboys and contests against the 49ers and Bears.
In other words, it could be a long year. Which will make it hard for Wilson to maximize his 2025 compensation by going 17-0. And which will save me from having to get John Mara’s face tattooed on my arm.
Fullback Michael Burton is set for another season with the Broncos.
Luca Evans of the Denver Post reports that the Broncos have re-signed Burton. No terms of the deal have been disclosed.
The 2025 season will be Burton’s third with the Broncos. He also played for Broncos head coach Sean Payton when Payton held the same job with the Saints.
Burton appeared in every game the last two years and made five starts. He had 14 carries for 17 yards and a touchdown to go with 13 catches for 73 yards and another score. Burton is also a regular on special teams and has recorded 10 tackles and a forced fumble in that role.
Former Dolphins coach Brian Flores sued the NFL and multiple teams (Dolphins, Giants, Broncos, and later the Texans) in February 2022. More than three years later, a federal appeals court has officially taken up the question of whether certain claims will be sent to arbitration controlled by the league or will unfold in traditional, open-court litigation.
An oral argument occurred today. The entire session lasted more than 80 minutes, with many questions from the three-judge panel to which the case was assigned.
We’re currently listening to the entire argument, which has been posted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
The losing party will have the right to seek relief before the U.S. Supreme Court. And if the NFL loses, it undoubtedly will. Which will serve only to continue to drag out the case even longer.
Regardless of whether the NFL prevails on its effort to force arbitration, the fact that the NFL can make the straight-faced effort to force all claims made against the league and its teams into arbitration controlled by Commissioner Roger Goodell necessarily slams the brakes on the entire process.
For years.
That’s why, at some point, a broad, comprehensive, and final challenge to this practice is needed. Either it’s fine and dandy for a company to let the CEO be the judge and jury for all disputes involving the company and its workforce, or it’s not.
That’s the question that needs to be resolved, once and for all and for good. By truly neutral and impartial judges, untainted by politics or money or anything other than a fundamental sense of what’s right, and what’s wrong.
Is it right for the CEO of a company to serve as the judge for claims made against the company? Or is there a better and more fair (and/or less unfair) way to do this?
The Jets made Zach Wilson the No. 2 overall pick in 2021 to be their franchise quarterback. After three seasons, the Jets shipped him to the Broncos before last season.
Heading into his fifth NFL season, Wilson is with his third team, having signed with the Dolphins as a free agent.
He will backup Tua Tagovailoa in Miami.
Wilson, though, isn’t ready to embrace the “journeyman label.”
“I would like to view it differently,” Wilson said, via Joe Schad of the Palm Beach Post. “Obviously, there’s nothing wrong with being a journeyman, but I still believe I can be a starter in this league whenever the opportunity comes. And so, just trying to put myself in the best situation with the best team and coaches and do the absolute best that I can and then you know hopefully at some point you can get that opportunity to show what you can do.”
Wilson, 25, did not play last season with the Broncos, serving instead as rookie Bo Nix’s backup.
“Denver was a good opportunity for me to kind of allay the stresses of being an NFL quarterback and just trying to be perfect every day to spending more time with the guys in the locker room and growing that bond,” Wilson said. “I think that is always important. And just enjoying every single day of being there. So I think that’s always an important aspect, and then it carries onto the field of you just being more comfortable.”
Wilson started 33 games with the Jets and has completed 57 percent of his passes with 23 touchdowns and 25 interceptions. He said his understanding of the game is night and day from his rookie season.
That could serve him well this season behind Tagovailoa, who has missed 14 games the past four seasons.
“Luckily I’ve played in a lot of games in the NFL so far,” Wilson said. “And so it’s just the ability to step in and make the offense feel like nothing’s changed. From a leadership standpoint, just command of the huddle, getting guys the information they need on each and every play.”
The Broncos may not be done adding tight ends after signing Evan Engram in free agency.
Texas tight end Gunnar Helm went to Denver for a pre-draft visit with the Broncos, according to Mike Klis of 9 News. Helm was born and raised in Colorado, so he counts as a “local” visit for the Broncos and does not count toward the team’s limit of 30 draft prospects who can travel to the team headquarters for visits.
Helm had a rough performance at the Scouting Combine and it was later revealed that he had badly sprained his ankle at the start of the event but went through the workouts anyway. His Combine measurables won’t impress NFL teams, but his decision to tough it out on a bad ankle might.
Last year at Texas Helm caught 60 passes for 786 yards and seven touchdowns.
The Broncos have hired Jeff Schmedding as their inside linebackers coach, Bruce Feldman of CBS Sports reports.
Schmedding will replace Michael Wilhoite, who the Broncos fired after his arrest on suspicion of second degree assault of a police officer. Isaac Shewmaker will serve as the team’s outside linebackers coach.
Schmedding has never coached in the NFL, but he has 21 years of experience in the college ranks.
He was fired from Washington State in December after two seasons as the Cougars’ defensive coordinator. Schmedding also has served as the defensive coordinator at Eastern Washington (2015-18), Boise State (2019-20) and Auburn (2022).
