The MMQB Explains Why Broncos Among Top-5 'Most Improved' Teams

The Denver Broncos have been mostly lauded for their 2025 free-agent class. There have been some lingering skeptics and critics, though, due to the injury histories of the three key free agents Denver signed.

The Broncos filled four major roster holes in free agency, including safety, linebacker, tight end, and special teams ace. Undoubtedly, the Broncos have improved the roster since free agency opened, but the question is, by how much?

Perhaps by leaps and bounds. Despite being a 10-win playoff team last year,The MMQB's Gilberto Manzano included the Broncos as one of the NFL's five 'most improved' clubs as a result of the initial waves of free agency.

"There’s not much coach Sean Payton likes more than lengthy, athletic tight ends. He’s banking on Engram bouncing back from an injury-riddled final season in Jacksonville to be a go-to target for quarterback Bo Nix, who excelled in a quick-read offense as a rookie without a reliable pass-catching tight end," Manzano wrote. "It wasn’t that long ago that Engram, who’s heading into his age-31 season, racked up 114 receptions and 963 yards to become a two-time Pro Bowler during the 2023 season."

Indeed, the Broncos are hoping that Engram can avoid the injury bug, but the contract given to the soon-to-be 31-year-old is commensurate with the downside risk of his injury jacket. What he'll bring to the Broncos offense as Payton's elusive 'joker' will pay dividends for Nix.

But Manzano's logic for Denver's leap forward doesn't end with Engram. What safety Talanoa Hufanga and linebacker Dre Greenlaw bring to the defense could be a force multiplier.

"But the bigger free-agency payoffs could occur on the defensive side if former San Francisco 49ers Greenlaw and Hufanga stay healthy this season. Greenlaw, 27, showed flashes of his old self in the two games he played in his brief 2024 season due to the torn Achilles tendon he sustained during Super Bowl LVIII," Manzano wrote. "Hufanga, 25, is one of the best playmaking safeties in the league, but his physical approach led to him playing in only 17 combined games the past two seasons. These are two risky bets, but they’re worth the dice rolls as two physical playmakers still in their 20s. Denver could have a scary good defense that many offenses will dread facing if Greenlaw and Hufanga stay healthy for Vance Joseph’s defense."

Once again, the contracts paid out to the two ex-Niners reflect the downside risk of their respective injury history, although the Broncos are banking on the upside gain. Yes, Hufanga, Greenlaw, and Engram have all dealt with injuries in recent years, but for any prospective free agent eyeing a new NFL home, Denver is one of the best places they could land.

Ever since Payton's arrival as head coach in 2023, the Broncos went from being one of the NFL's most snake-bitten teams to one of the healthiest. In 2022, the Broncos led the NFL in the most salary-cap dollars on injured reserve, punctuating a brutal four-year stretch of injury woes.

Payton's high focus on prioritizing player wellness, nutrition, strength, and conditioning has paid huge dividends for the Broncos through two short years, as the team has galvanized into one of the healthiest. That availability was a key reason for the team's 2024 success, and there's no reason to believe those same benefits won't bless the trio of 2025 free agents moving to the Mile High City.

The Broncos defense was exposed in the Wildcard Round of the playoffs. The strategic additions of Hufanga and Greenlaw, if the health cookie crumbles favorably, will bolster the defense and inoculate Vance Joseph's unit against the very maladies the Buffalo Bills exposed moving forward. Namely, a cover linebacker and playmaking safety.

Offensively, Engram's addition will take much pressure off Courtland Sutton, opening things up underneath and over the middle for the new tight end and emerging wideout weapon Marvin Mims Jr. Over the course of a single year, Nix has gone from being purportedly devoid of weaponry to teeming with it at the skill positions.

Time heals all wounds, they say, but in the NFL, nothing accelerates those restorative effects like savvy, competent coaching. Mims emerged as a bonafide weapon to keep defensive coordinators up at night down the stretch, and seventh-round wideout Devaughn Vele became a starter and reliable possession receiver, thanks to Payton and his staff.

Throw in Sutton's steady playmaking production, and the addition of Engram to work the slot and the middle of the field, and Nix and the Broncos are loaded for bear on this hunt. The only thing missing from the arsenal is bonafide No. 1 running back.