The Broncos’ playoff overtime win against the Bills could have gone very differently, if a play Broncos coach Sean Payton called had actually been run.
Payton said after the game that he called a fake punt on fourth-and-11 in overtime, only to have the players change it at the line of scrimmage and run a normal punt.
A lengthy ESPN article about Payton details how he spent hours studying fake punts and found one he liked that the Raiders once ran. The Broncos adopted that Raiders play in their own special teams playbook and referred to as Rutgers Special because the ball would have gone to the upback, Michael Burton, who played at Rutgers.
The Broncos never actually ran Rutgers Special in the divisional playoffs against the Bills, but Payton confirmed after the game that he told his punt team to run it at the end of the first possession of overtime, on fourth-and-11 at their own 38-yard line. If the Broncos had failed, the Bills would have taken over only needing a field goal to win the game, and already being in range for a long field goal. It was a massive risk Payton was taking by making that call, but Payton has called risky special teams plays in big situations before, most famously the surprise onside kick he called as head coach of the Saints in their Super Bowl XLIV win over the Colts.
It’s not clear what the Broncos’ players saw at the line of scrimmage that made them call the fake off and punt the ball instead. But Payton described a fake as “Worth the risk” when the alternative was punting the ball to Josh Allen, and Payton added, “We had the right look.”
As it turned out, Allen threw an interception on the possession after the punt, and the Broncos drove into field goal range and kicked the game-winner to advance to the AFC Championship Game. We’ll never know what might have happened if the players had run the fake punt that Payton wanted.
Broncos Clips
A new article from Seth Wickersham of ESPN takes a look at Broncos coach Sean Payton’s hectic week before the AFC Championship. While taking a look at it, one thing stood out.
After the Patriots fired coach Bill Belichick following the 2023 season, Payton (who had just finished his first year with the Broncos) “considered suggesting” to owner Greg Penner that Payton would step back to the position of assistant head coach, running the offense. Belichick would hold the job until he won 15 games, breaking Don Shula’s all-time record of 347.
Belichick has 333 total wins, 14 behind Shula. (As regular-season wins go, Shula has 26 more than Belichick: 328 to 302.)
Wickersham explains that, "[i]n the end, it was too complicated — and maybe too fanciful.”
It was, as we understand it, Payton simply thinking out loud. It would have been practically impossible, but he at least formulated the thought out of his respect for Belichick.
Ultimately, it may have been the only way for Belichick to catch Shula. With only one NFL interview in three hiring cycles (including a 2026 turnover that had 10 open jobs), Belichick’s NFL door seems to be closed.
In November 2025, Von Miller said he didn’t regret choosing the Commanders over the Seahawks. He declared at the time he’d make the same decision “10 times out of 10.”
He probably wouldn’t make it 11 times out of 11.
Appearing on the 89 podcast with Steve Smith and James Palmer, via Jacob Camenker of USA Today, Miller said of his decision: “Obviously, I picked the wrong team on that one.”
Although some are aggregating the quote in a way that frames it as a diss of the Commanders, the sentiment would have applied to any of the other 30 teams in the NFL. With a choice between the Seahawks and any other team, the Seahawks were the right call.
But, as always, hindsight is 20/20 vision.
“For me, with the Washington Commanders, I just felt like Jayden Daniels was poised for another great season,” Miller said. “His rookie season went all the way to the NFC Championship, and last year, he got hit with injuries, not just at the quarterback position, but all over the place. And those are some of the things that you just can’t calculate on teams.”
Miller now laments the fact that he missed the chance to win three Super Bowls with three different teams. He won a ring (and the Super Bowl MVP award) with Denver in 2015. Six years later, he won a second ring after an in-season trade to the Rams.
To Miller’s credit, he didn’t agitate to be traded or released once it became clear that the Commanders weren’t going to get back to the playoffs.
His plans for 2026 remain unknown. He said in January he’d like to stay in D.C.
In March, Miller said he’d like to return to the Broncos, if he doesn’t re-sign with the Commanders. In late May, Miller was lobbying for the Broncos.
Hopefully, he won’t have two options again — if the one he doesn’t pick ends up winning the Super Bowl.
The Broncos showed how much they think of cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian by using a second-round tender on him as a restricted free agent. He will make $5.767 million on his one-year deal this season.
His long-term future with the Broncos appeared in question, with Marvin Mims Jr., Riley Moss, Ben Powers, Evan Engram and Brandon Jones among other high-profile players entering the final year of their contracts.
The Broncos had not started contract talks with McMillan’s camp as of June, per Zac Stevens of DNVR, but coach Sean Payton left no doubt about the team’s intent to keep McMillan long-term.
“Absolutely,” Payton said, via Stevens. “The ball finds him. We keep talking about taking it away. We even forget Buffalo on the road, Monday night [in] ’23. The first series of the game, ball’s out, and he’s causing a fumble. He’s just around it all. That’s not just good fortune. That’s the skill set.”
Since 2023, when he earned a bigger role, McMillan has six interceptions, five forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. Two of his interceptions were pick-sixes. He also has seven sacks, 16 tackles for a loss and nine quarterback hits.
“He has all the things you’re looking for,” Payton said. “Like when I say grit, chip on his shoulder.”
The NFL is making a significant change to the offseason calendar for the 2027 season.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that the free agent negotiating window will open on March 9 next year. That is the same date that the two-day window opened this year, but the change comes in how close it will be to the end of the Scouting Combine.
NFL teams will wrap up their examinations and interrogations of incoming prospects on March 8 in 2027, which moves the league away from having a week or so between the two events as they have in past years.
Under that setup, the Combine has always been rife with table-setting for free agency as agents and team executives are all in the same place with their minds on the same things. With that gap eliminated, there will likely be even more of that work being done in Indianapolis so that teams are ready to make moves right from the starting gun.
As Netflix expands its NFL footprint to include a full five toes of NFL games in 2026, it’s hoping to enhance its desire to “eventize” football with some normalcy.
Elle Duncan of Netflix tells the Sports Media Watch podcast that the studio show for the games will have the same people involved.
“We’re not doing an 18-game slate,” Duncan said, via Derek Futterman of Sports Media Watch. “We want every single one of our events to, yes, have a through-line and some consistency, and you’ll get that with the desk and the talent, but, ‘How are we making each one of those things feel special and different and honor where we’re doing it at?’”
Netflix will stream the Week 1 game from Australia between the 49ers and Rams, the Thanksgiving Eve game between the Packers and Rams in L.A., two Christmas games (Packers-Bears and Bills-Broncos), and a Saturday afternoon game to launch Week 18.
Officially, Netflix doesn’t aspire to have a full, season-long NFL broadcast package. However, with its current arrangement in place through 2029, Netflix could eventually decide to make a bid on one of the various weekly windows.
Pat Surtain II is set at one cornerback spot in Denver for years to come, but the makeup of the rest of the group is uncertain beyond 2026.
Riley Moss and Ja’Quan McMillian are both heading into the final year of their current contracts, which could lead to at least one departure once the year is out. The presence of 2025 first-round pick Jahdae Barron on the depth chart would seem to make that scenario likelier than not, but Moss said recently that he is not giving much thought to anything but the immediate future.
“To be honest, no. It’ll handle itself out like it always has,” Moss said, via Parker Gabriel of the Denver Post. “I trust in God, and I trust in myself, and I’m just going to go out, do my thing, continue to do my thing, and the rest will take care of itself.”
Moss was a third-round pick in 2023 and he’s been a starter alongside Surtain for the last two seasons. He had 80 tackles, an interception, a sack and a league-high 19 passes defensed in 2025. That last statistic is tied to teams’ unwillingness to throw at Surtain and that’s unlikely to change, so Moss should have plenty of opportunity to showcase his ability for the Broncos or any other team that may want to take a run at signing him as a free agent.
Broncos edge rusher Nik Bonitto was a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year, an award easily won by Myles Garrett. But Bonitto totaled only six sacks in the final 11 games of last season.
Bonitto, though, played with a cast-like wrap around his right hand for much of the season and required wrist surgery in February.
“It was a little bit of everything really,’’ Bonitto told Mike Klis of 9NEWS. “It was just trying to work through the whole wrist thing. Not being able to have . . . . wearing the cast, it kind of takes away a lot of stuff you can do. Hard to shed; hard to grab; all those things.”
Bonitto said he saw more attention from opponents, too, after 10 sacks in a seven-game stretch dating to the 2024 finale against the Chiefs.
“It was game-plan stuff too,’’ Bonitto said. “Getting doubled more, getting chipped and cut more. It was all those things in a combination where it was a learning process for me as I continue to grow in my career.”
Bonitto still earned Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors for a second consecutive season.
“I want to continue to grow and be a better player than I was the previous year,’’ Bonitto said. “Whatever comes with that comes with it, but I just want to continue to get better.”
The Broncos will hold their first open practice of training camp on July 31.
It will be the first of 14 practices that are free and open to fans this summer. The full Broncos roster is due to report to camp on July 28.
The Broncos will also be holding open practices on August 1, August 3-8, August 10-12, and August 17-19. All of the practices are scheduled to start at 10 a.m. ET and will take place at the team’s facility.
The first preseason game of the summer will take place in Atlanta on August 14, but the Broncos are one of four teams around the league that will not have any joint practices this year.
The Broncos have let go of one of their offensive players.
Per the league’s daily transaction wire, Denver has waived receiver Mike Woods off of injured reserve with an injury settlement.
Woods, 26, had signed with the Broncos in May after a successful tryout during rookie minicamp. But he was waived/injured earlier this month.
A Browns sixth-round pick in 2022, Woods has appeared in 15 career games with two starts. He’s registered 12 catches for 110 yards.
