Welcome to the twentieth part of a thirty-two-part series: Reading the NFL Offseason Tea Leaves. Fantasy football tasseography is deeply rooted in predicting future fantasy fortunes. Some of the team tea cups we'll be looking into may be larger than others. The smallest of cups may have the most alluring blends of offensive weaponry, or be set to bloom after a long steep. This series will aid in your approach to Redraft and Dynasty leagues by bringing you up to date on:

• Free Agency
  • Re-signings, additions, who signed elsewhere, and what it means for fantasy.
• NFL Draft
  • What can we decipher about the direction a team is headed in based on their draft selections?
• Coaching Changes
  • Who's in, who's out, and how do the coaching philosophies translate to fantasy production?
• Fantasy Fortunes
  • What does this all mean for your fantasy football drafts?

Like tasseography, the arrangement of these four sections will vary as we digest each team's offseasons and see how the offensive pieces settle. Each article will interpret what this NFL team has told us about their future plans based on what they've done since their 2025 season ended. 

Reading the Denver Broncos' 2026 Offseason

The Waddle Trade and the WR Room

Denver made a big splash when they acquired WR Jaylen Waddle from the Miami Dolphins, offering QB Bo Nix a game-breaking athlete at WR who can play every WR role at a high level. There was a tiny bit of hype building around Troy Franklin and Pat Bryant to end the 2025 season. Take the air out of their sails, as they're now competing for whatever targets are left over after Courtland Sutton and Waddle are fed.

Veteran WR Franklin had a mini-breakout last year, seeing 104 targets and pulling 65 in for catches. He went over 700 yards, scoring 6 TDs. If not for the Waddle signing, the conversation around Franklin would likely be very different. Alas, he'll likely be nothing more than a flex option for fantasy as Waddle and Sutton are both under contract through 2028. 

Draft Additions: Coleman, Joly, and Bentley

The Broncos brought in University of Washington RB Jonah Coleman, NC State TE Justin Joly, and Utah TE Dallen Bentley in the NFL draft. Coleman figures to muck up this Broncos' backfield, casting uncertainty upon Dobbins and Harvey's roles for 2026. Coleman is a bigger back with enough speed to get to the outside, soft hands, and reliable pass protection. If the UW offensive line were better, there would've been more buzz around Coleman, as he possesses all of the skills to be a three-down back.

The TE Competition

Joly and Bentley will compete with Evan Engram and Adam Troutman for snaps in 2026. Engram is a free agent in 2027 and seems to have fallen out of fantasy relevance. Last year he saw 76 targets, catching 50 of them for over 400 yards.

The problem with Engram's fantasy production was that he only scored one TD; he hasn't scored more than four TDs since his rookie year. If he does bounce back this year, he is going undrafted and is on the waiver wire in nearly 30% of Sleeper dynasty leagues. One of these TEs likely takes on a bigger role in 2027, and my money is on Joly.

Joly is a converted WR who's bulked up from 190 lbs coming out of high school to 241 lbs by the time the Broncos selected him. He measured in with nearly 10.5" mitts and 33" arms at the Senior Bowl. His hands are in the top tier of this class and will undoubtedly translate over to the NFL due to good technique at the catch point.

Joly can be lined up as an H-back, on the line, or split out wide. He is one of the better pass blockers amongst receiving TEs in the 2026 class, and his versatility will allow Payton to be more creative in his playcalling.

Bentley is the better blocker of the two, but is less versatile and has limited athleticism. He won't likely be more than a complementary TE in an offense throughout his career.

Bo Nix, a Discounted QB

Per the Optimus Tools Team Analytics dashboard, last year's Nix-led offense ran the 6th most plays, was 13th in Expected Points Added per Play, and was 10th in Pass EPA. This fueled Nix to his second straight QB1 finish. Nix is being valued like a QB2 in redraft this year despite an improvement in his offensive weaponry and two consecutive QB1 finishes to start his career.

When you think about how strong Denver's defense is, you might assume Denver wants to slow the game down, but that's simply not the case. When I checked our Play-by-Play Analysis tool, Nix was fourth in the league in no-huddle snaps. The Broncos are an uptempo offense, and Nix should once again be a discounted QB1, and it appears it'll remain that way unless a drastic change happens in Denver.

Buy Nix in dynasty.

A Muddled Backfield

Veteran RB Dobbins resigned with Denver on a two-year $16M contract that is incentive-driven. He has an incentive in his contract to achieve 1,200 scrimmage yards to earn $2M of the deal. His contract also has a per-game active bonus worth $1M for 2027. Should Denver cut Dobbins next offseason, they'll incur $2M in dead cap, which muddies Dobbins' long-term outlook in this offense. I fully expect Dobbins to lead this backfield in 2026 as long as he's healthy. He is the most talented RB on the roster.

Behind Dobbins are Harvey, Jaleel McLaughlin, and the aforementioned rookie Coleman. I've been critical of Harvey's vision when evaluating his long-term dynasty outlook. He has the athletic traits we look for in an RB1, but far too often I saw him make the wrong decision in my college film analysis and when rewatching his snaps from last season in Denver.

McLaughlin was the fun upside lotto ticket the fantasy community fell in love with, but it appears he'll be fourth on the depth chart in 2024.

Fantasy Fortunes

The Broncos offense added cream to their tea this offseason with the new exciting weapons they acquired. The strong offensive line will likely help sustain drives and lead to top 24 finishes for Waddle and Sutton. Expect QB Nix to continue his high level of play, potentially exceeding 20ppg in four-point per TD fantasy leagues in 2026.

The RB room is muddier than ever, and Sean Payton is going to be a thorn in our side as he unpredictably cycles the RB room. I expect Dobbins to lead the backfield in touches as long as he's healthy. I'm not a Harvey guy, and I did like Coleman throughout the draft process and will anoint him RB2 for projection purposes.

If we hear any buzz about Harvey improving his vision, he can put up top 12 RB stats in any given week, but he really lacked the necessary RB IQ in 2025 to cement himself as the future RB1 of the Broncos.

The rookie Joly is a dark horse for TE1 amongst the rookie class if Engram goes down. Bentley has a more rounded skill set and surprises in YAC situations. For fantasy, we're likely looking at a QB1, two to three RB2-3s based on Dobbins' health, two WR 2s, and a TE2-3.

Cam White is a Senior Analyst & Host at Optimus Fantasy. You can find more of his work on our YouTube channel, and make sure to follow him on Bluesky.