J.K. Dobbins signed a one-year contract with the Broncos last year, and this year, despite a strong offer from the Jaguars, he stayed in Denver on a two-year deal. Dobbins says Sean Payton is a big part of the reason he didn’t want to leave.
Dobbins, who rushed for 772 yards in 10 games before a season-ending foot injury last season, says there’s no better coach than Payton.
“When I first got here, I just felt the love,” Dobbins said, via the team’s website. “Sean Payton is my favorite head coach I’ve ever played for. It just all feels like family here. They believed in me from the beginning.”
The other head coaches Dobbins has played for in the NFL were John Harbaugh with the Ravens and Jim Harbaugh with the Chargers. At Ohio State he played for Urban Meyer and Ryan Day. For Dobbins, playing for Payton in Denver is as good as it gets.
“This organization is amazing,” Dobbins said. “I was born to be a Bronco. I know I was drafted to the Ravens and played for the Chargers for one year, but I think I’m truly a Bronco. All roads led to here. I said last year, I had to get over the mountain to get here, and I’m here. I’m here to stay.”
Payton said he expects a big season from Dobbins this year.
“He was a big part of why we won 14 games last year, and sometimes that can get lost in the narrative,” Payton said. “Certainly, he’s been injured, and yet what we were able to do when he was healthy had a lot to do with where we ended up, so it was unfortunate. I believe in the player a lot.”
And the player believes in his coach.
Broncos Clips
Defensive back Sam Webb tried out for the Broncos on Thursday and he’ll be sticking around Denver for a while.
According to multiple reports, the Broncos will sign Webb to their 90-man roster. The team has not announced the move or a corresponding cut, but rookie cornerback Blake Cotton told Chris Tomasson of the Colorado Springs Gazette that he is being waived with an injury settlement.
Webb had eight tackles and a 47-yard fumble return for a touchdown in seven games for the Browns last season. He played in 28 games for the Raiders over the 2022 and 2024 seasons — he played one game for the Panthers in 2023 — and had 37 tackles for Las Vegas.
Cornerback Ricardo Hallman also tried out for the Broncos on Thursday.
Drew Brees and Sean Payton teamed up to win a lot of games with the Saints and Brees will tap into that history at next month’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Payton will serve as Brees’s presenter on August 8 in Canton, Ohio. Both men joined the Saints in 2006 and they remained in New Orleans through Brees’s retirement after the 2020 season. The run included a win in Super Bowl XLIV and nine overall playoff appearances.
“He was special,” Payton said, via Jeff Duncan of NOLA.com. “I told Drew these [partnerships] usually don’t end this way, with both of us leaving on our own terms. He meant so much to me and my career.”
Payton will also attend a dinner the night before the ceremony, which means the Broncos’ head coach will miss two days of training camp to help honor Brees.
Broncos linebacker Jonathon Cooper didn’t take part in the team’s minicamp after being arrested twice on domestic violence charges, but he is back with the team and participated in their first practice of training camp on Wednesday.
Head coach Sean Payton said on Wednesday that he, General Manager George Paton and team owner Greg Penner all met with Cooper after the arrests and that Cooper completed a counseling program that the team made part of his path to returning. Payton said he is “proud” of the work that Cooper has done since the arrest and that the team will “see where it goes.”
“We’re staying the course with league protocol, we’re staying the course with club protocol, relative to what we’re advised to do,” Payton said, via Denver Sports 104.3. “He’s been fantastic working away from the building, and we’ll continue to do that, and monitor it. We’re supportive, and very much aware of the seriousness of these types of things.”
Cooper faces an August 31 arraignment on multiple charges, including second-degree count assault by strangulation. In addition to his legal case, Cooper faces potential league discipline under the Personal Conduct Policy.
Left guard Ben Powers wanted to stay with the Broncos so much that he accepted a restructured, one-year contract, Mike Klis of 9News reports.
Powers took a significant pay cut but received more guaranteed money and will still make “starter money” this season, per Klis.
Powers was scheduled to earn $13 million in 2026, although none was guaranteed until he made the season-opening, 53-player roster.
He will compete with Alex Palczewski for the starting job.
Powers, 29, played only eight games last season. He tore a biceps against the Eagles in Week 5 and played the final five games with a previously undisclosed Lisfranc foot injury, according to Klis.
Palczewski replaced Powers, who had started every game the previous three seasons.
The Broncos are a popular draw in Denver. Thanks to an agreement between the Broncos and the Metropolitan Football Stadium District, some tickets will be sold on Tuesday at a steep discount.
Via Parker Gabriel of the Denver Post, half-priced tickets will be available on Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. local time. Some tickets will cost as little as $23.
Specific rules apply. Tickets are limited to four per household, and tickets can’t be purchased for more than one game. There are no refunds, cancellations, exchanges, resales, or transfers.
It’s a rare opportunity to go to a game, given that the Broncos had a 99.5-percent season-ticket renewal rate, with a waiting list of more than 100,000.
Gabriel’s report doesn’t specify the number of tickets that will be available. However many there are, they’ll likely move quickly.
The Broncos announced a pair of roster moves on Sunday.
Linebacker Jordan Turner has been placed on the non-football injury list and guard Nick Gargiulo has been placed on the physically unable to perform list. Both players still count against the 90-man roster and can be activated at any point in training camp.
The Broncos have their first practice of camp on Wednesday.
Turner signed with Denver after going undrafted last year. He appeared in seven regular season games and two playoff contests while seeing the majority of his playing time on special teams. He had eight tackles in those contests.
Gargiulo was a 2024 seventh-round pick, but has not played in any regular season or postseason games.
Broncos outside linebacker Nik Bonitto made 13.5 sacks in 2024 and finished ninth in Defensive Player of the Year voting. In 2025, he had 14 sacks and was fourth in Defensive Player of the Year voting.
He expects a similar jump from 2025 to 2026 but likely sees even more attention from the opponent. He spent the offseason studying other top pass rushers to see how they dealt with double teams.
Bonitto said Thursday he hopes to improve in “all facets” of his game this season.
“I still have a lot of room to grow in my game — in the run and in the pass,” Bonitto said, via Aric DiLalla of the team website. “Just keep trying to fine-tune these things, keep looking at other guys around the league that are doing it at a high level and seeing how I can put it into my game to continue to be the best player I know I can be.”
Bonitto might have been even better in two postseason games, forcing two fumbles, including a strip-sack, along with three tackles, a quarterback hit and a tackle for loss. Bonitto’s two forced fumbles led to six points in Denver’s 33-30 overtime win over the Bills.
“It’s obviously great when you can do it in the regular season,” Bonitto said, “but doing it in the postseason in those big type of moments, it gives you that confidence to know you’re supposed to be there, and you can make those types of plays on big stages.”
Broncos outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper is scheduled for a court hearing on Friday before a Douglas County (Colorado) judge, Mike Klis of 9News reports. Cooper will appear virtually along with his attorney, Harvey Steinberg.
The expectation is Cooper’s case will be continued to a later date, which would leave it unresolved before the Broncos report to training camp Tuesday.
Cooper was arrested twice in June and faces multiple charges arising from the June 4 incident involving his then-girlfriend. He is charged with second-degree assault, third-degree assault, criminal mischief, violating a protective order and harassment via repeated telephone calls.
He sat out minicamp last month in a mutual decision with the team to focus on his personal health and well-being. Klis reports that Cooper recently completed an inpatient counseling, therapy, mental health and overall wellness program that lasted more than a month.
Cooper, 28, has 31.5 sacks through the first five seasons of his career, with 27 coming in the past three seasons.
Broncos running back RJ Harvey is preparing for his second NFL season by studying some of the league’s best running backs.
Harvey, who arrived in Denver as a second-round rookie last year, said he has spent a lot of time this offseason studying some of the top players at his position to learn what makes them great.
“Just watching more film, watching other guys around the league, watching their film, I’ve been watching a lot of film of Christian McCaffrey, Kenneth Walker, Jahmyr Gibbs, guys like that, just trying to see things on film that they do, trying to help better my game. Year Two in the system, I feel way more comfortable and it’s only going to get better from where I left off,” Harvey said, via Andrew Mason of Denver Sports 104.3.
Harvey had 146 carries for 540 yards and seven touchdowns last season, and added 47 catches for 356 yards and five more touchdowns. He made a big impact as a rookie, but he aspires to make the same kind of impact as the top running backs in the NFL.
