Broncos safety Devon Key signed his exclusive rights free agent tender Friday.
Key, 27, was one of five exclusive rights free agents the team tendered on March 4. Tight end Lucas Krull, outside linebacker Dondrea Tillman, cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian and defensive lineman Jordan Jackson also will return on one-year deals.
Key has spent time on the practice squad of the Chiefs (2021), Falcons (2022) and Broncos (2022-24).
Last season, Key played all 17 games with two starts. He saw action on 251 defensive snaps and 251 on special teams, totaling 33 tackles, a sack and a quarterback hit.
The Broncos own the 20th overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft, and they think that in this draft, that’s as good as owning the 10th pick.
That’s because Denver sees this draft as one in which the strength is in the depth toward the end of the first round and in the middle rounds, rather than having a few elite players at the top.
“We think there is going to be a similar player at 10 that will be there at 20 in our grades,” General Manager George Paton said. “We have more players in that area than we do at 1 through 10. You just work your board and set your strategy based on that.”
Broncos coach Sean Payton agreed.
“It’s good to be picking No. 20, if that’s the case,” Payton said. “We all have heard and read — depending on where you are at and what you need — there is a point where we feel like we can get a similar player at this portion of the first round that you may be able to get maybe seven picks up and you may be able to get seven picks into the second.”
The Broncos have their own picks in the second, third and fourth rounds, and Paton likes those as well.
“We do think there is some strength in the middle rounds,” Paton said, “maybe second, third and fourth.”
It sounds safe to say the Broncos won’t be trading up in the first round, and likely not on Day Two either. They don’t see this as a draft when moving up is worth the cost.
Free agent guard Dalton Risner expects to be on an NFL roster soon.
Risner, who has played the last two years for the Vikings, said in a video posted to social media that returning to the Vikings remains an option, although he acknowledged he would likely be a backup in Minnesota behind Will Fries and Blake Brandel.
“Minnesota has shown interest in bringing me back, but only to an extent,” Risner said. “I will be on a team soon, I could imagine.”
Risner mentioned the Broncos and Bengals as two other teams that are options for him.
The 29-year-old Risner was a second-round pick of the Broncos in 2019 and played four years in Denver before signing with the Vikings in 2023. He has been a starter when healthy throughout his NFL career. Last year he began the season on injured reserve but started the last eight games of the season.
Broncos head coach Sean Payton said at a Thursday press conference that he’s happy the team solved their quarterback issue in last year’s draft and how to best help Bo Nix was the subject of several questions about this year’s plans.
Payton said that he believes there are two major allies to help any quarterback. Payton said “real good defense and a real good running game” are big pluses to the play of a signal caller and said that he thinks there are players that can help in both of those areas.
The Broncos did a bit more to upgrade the defense in free agency and Payton suggested that they’ll be addressing the backfield next week.
“There will be focus on the running back position,” Payton said. “It’s a pretty good draft for running backs.”
Payton said there are a number of different types of backs in this year’s class and said that he and General Manager George Paton are asking themselves “how do they add to what we do offensively.” He also said that drafting a back in the first round — the Broncos have the 20th overall pick — works “if you have a real clear vision for how you want to use them” and Paton said the team is open to doing so next Thursday, so they could address the position right out of the gate.
Wade Phillips, a three-time former NFL head coach, has taken a leave of absence from his current position as head coach of the UFL’s San Antonio Brahmas.
The UFL announced on Wednesday that Phillips will step aside for personal reasons.
Offensive coordinator Payton Pardee will serve as the interim head coach for the balance of the 2025 season.
“The UFL is extremely grateful for the leadership that Wade has delivered to the UFL as head coach of the San Antonio Brahmas,” UFL president and CEO Russ Brandon and UFL executive V.P. of football operations Daryl Johnston said in a statement. “The credibility that he has brought to the UFL as a Head Coach validates what we are building as a league. This coaching legend has the respect of everyone in the league as well as throughout the entire football community for his dedication and accomplishments as a coach for over 50 years. If and when Wade is ready to return to the sidelines, the entire UFL Family will be there to cheer him on.”
Phillips coached the Houston Roughnecks of the XFL in 2023. When the XFL merged with the USFL in 2024, Phillips became head coach of the Brahmas. He led San Antonio to last year’s UFL championship.
Phillips’s coaching career began in 1969, as a graduate assistant at the University of Houston. He joined his father, Bum, in 1976 as defensive line coach of the Houston Oilers.
In 1981, he followed his father to the Saints, where he spent five seasons as defensive coordinator.
He has served as head coach of the Broncos, Bills, and Cowboys. He also worked as an interim head coach with the Saints and Falcons. After his NFL career concluded in 2019 as defensive coordinator of the Rams, he was out of football until the XFL came calling.
The Broncos have a CFP national champion in their building on Wednesday.
Per Mike Klis of 9NEWS Denver, Ohio State’s TreVeyon Henderson is on a pre-draft visit with the club.
Henderson, 22, was one of two Buckeyes who rushed for over 1,000 yards in 2024, as Ohio State won the CFP title. He averaged 7.1 yards per carry, rushing for 1,016 yards with 10 touchdowns. He also caught 27 passes for 284 yards with a TD.
In four seasons with OSU, Henderson recorded 590 carries for 3,761 yards — averaging 6.4 yards per carry. He also caught 77 passes for 853 yards with six TDs.
Henderson has had a busy week, as he spent Tuesday visiting the Steelers.
Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton is entering the final season of a four-year, $60.1 million extension he signed in November 2021. He is scheduled to make a $14 million base salary in 2025 and become a free agent in 2026.
The Broncos want him long term, and he wants to stay with the Broncos long term.
“My team has had a really good conversation with the guys up there in the front office, and I think it’s working in the right direction,” Sutton told Parker Gabriel of The Denver Post on Saturday. “Ultimately, you just want to know you’re working in the right direction. I think they see and have seen what I’ve brought to the team.
“I’m open and optimistic about the fact that I’ll be able to be here for the rest of my career.”
Sutton skipped the Broncos’ offseason program last year in protest over his contract, but, in a show of good faith, he is expected to attend this year.
Twenty-five receivers will make more than Sutton in 2025, but he is expected to get a deal worth more than $20 million per season.
Despite turning 30 in October, Sutton proved his worth last season with a career-best 81 catches for 1,081 yards and eight touchdowns. It was his second career 1,000-yard season, with his first coming in his 2019 Pro Bowl season.
Tight end Evan Engram heard from a pair of AFC West teams after he was released by the Jaguars, but the Broncos were able to beat out the Chargers when it came to signing the veteran as a free agent.
Engram said that his meeting with head coach Sean Payton had a lot to do with that. Engram said “everything kind of clicked” when he heard Payton’s thoughts about how Engram would fit into Denver’s offense. Engram said Payton pitched him on being a “jack of all trades” and that the coach sees him becoming “more of a vertical threat” that he was during his time with the Giants and Jaguars.
“In Jacksonville, I was kind of a master of the underneath game, which is big for offenses, it’s big for young quarterbacks, it’s big for staying ahead of the chains,” Engram said, via Bennie Fowler of DNVR. “I love that role in that offense. And I’m going to continue to be great at that and be great at whatever I’m asked to do. But I think the vertical presence that he mentioned and brought to the table and the vision he had for that was really big for me too. Because I do have that part in my game and I’m ready to be unleashed in that aspect. The vision that he has for that is that joker role. I love the narrative of the superhero, the supervillains, I love superhero stuff. I love Spiderman, Batman, all that stuff, it’s definitely cool. I love creating that narrative for myself to put a little bit of healthy pressure on me too. That’s something I’m going to full embrace. Whatever I’m asked to do, I’m going to do it to the best of my ability.”
Engram has never had 1,000 receiving yards in a season since entering the NFL, but that could change if he is able to turn into the kind of vertical threat that Payton believes he can be in the Broncos offense. That would be a welcome addition to the Denver attack as they try to build on their 2024 playoff trip.
Defensive end Chris Rumph missed the entire 2024 season, but he’s trying to get back on the field in 2025.
The NFL’s daily transaction report for Friday shows that Rumph had a tryout with the Broncos. There’s no word on whether the Broncos will be signing him to their 90-man roster.
Rumph was a Chargers fourth-round pick in 2021 and he played three seasons with the team before missing all of last year with a foot injury. His 2023 season also ended early when he fractured his foot and he played 37 total games for the Chargers.
Rumph had 39 tackles, three sacks, a pass defensed, and a fumble recovery during his time in Los Angeles.
UPDATE 6:49 p.m. ET: Chris Tomasson of the Denver Gazette reports that the Broncos have not made Rumph an offer at this point.
After selecting QB Bo Nix with the 12th overall pick in last year’s draft, the Broncos ended their eight-season playoff drought, going 10-7 before losing at Buffalo in the Wild Card. Now entering their second season with Nix at QB and their third season under head coach Sean Payton, the Broncos will look to return to the postseason in consecutive years for the first time since Peyton Manning was under center in Denver.
Pat Surtain was named Defensive Player of the Year last season, leading one of the best defenses in the league. This offseason, the Broncos will look to add more weapons for Nix and the offense.
Denver Broncos 2025 NFL Draft Picks
Round 1: No. 20
Round 2: No. 51
Round 3: No. 85
Round 4: No. 122
Round 6: No. 191 (from ARI)
Round 6: No. 197
Round 6: No. 208 (from PHI)
