The Broncos reached training camp this summer with a roster that looks more settled than most teams in football, and that stability is pushing Jahdae Robinson to the front of the 2026 breakout conversation. Denver returned most of its key offensive pieces, kept Sean Payton and George Paton on long-term deals, and still believes Bo Nix is the quarterback to build around.
That is why the Broncos schedule is drawing attention now: the same core that carried Denver into the AFC Championship Game is back, and the question is which young players can turn continuity into production. Robinson, a 2025 fourth-round draft pick, played in just six games as a rookie, but Paton said he might have the most upside of any member of Denver’s 2025 draft class, and Vance Joseph has said he can be a starter for the Broncos.
Robinson is only one of five breakout candidates the Broncos are tracking for 2026, but his case is built on more than projection. Denver has the vast majority of the snaps from its run to the AFC Championship Game back in place, which means every snap Robinson earns will come in a room where the baseline is already high and the margin for error is thin. That makes his jump more meaningful than the usual second-year hope.
Pat Bryant fits the same pattern in a different part of the offense. He opened his rookie year clearly behind Troy Franklin in the receiver pecking order, but as the 2025 season moved on, Denver used Bryant almost as much as Franklin and more than Marvin Mims Jr. He became a reliable target over the middle and the team’s best perimeter run blocker, and Bryant said he did not have any trouble picking up Payton’s complex system a year ago.
Jonah Elliss brings a different kind of intrigue. He racked up five sacks as a rookie in 2024, then battled injuries across 2025, including shoulder trouble and a hamstring injury after he had already dealt with shoulder issues in college and re-aggravated that shoulder in the wild-card loss to Buffalo. The raw pass-rush ability is still there, but the next step is holding up long enough for Denver to count on it.
There is still a reason this is not a clean story of steady progress. Denver’s defense has questions after John Franklin-Myers left in free agency, and Jonathon Cooper’s ongoing legal situation adds another layer of uncertainty. The Broncos are stable in the places that matter most, but the defensive picture is not fully settled, which is exactly why the growth of Robinson, Bryant and Elliss matters so much.
What happens next is simple: training camp will sort out who turns promise into snaps. For Denver, the bigger question is not whether the Broncos schedule points to another competitive season. It is which young players will be ready when the season asks them to carry more of it.
