After a whirlwind first day of free agency negotiations, all has been quiet on the Denver Broncos front. The Broncos hosted free-agent tight end Evan Engram at the team facility on Monday — with an emphasis on a medical evaluation, no doubt — but he left the Mile High City unsigned.
Engram is now headed to Los Angeles to meet with the Chargers. As a pivot, many Broncos fans hoped the team would turn to free-agent tight end Juwan Johnson, but we learned on Tuesday that he's decided to re-up with the New Orleans Saints, according to NFL insider Tom Pelissero.
"The Saints are re-signing TE Juwan Johnson to a three-year, $30.75 million deal, per The Insiders. Max at $34.5 million with incentives. He gets $21.25M guaranteed," Pelissero posted on X.
Johnson gets $10 million per year, and that lined up perfectly with his projected value via Spotrac. Would he have been worth that much to the Broncos? Obviously not.
And Sean Payton would know that. Payton was in New Orleans when Johnson entered the league as a college free agent in 2020. Payton didn't step down from his long-tenured head coach post until after the 2021 campaign.
Johnson is off the board, so where does that leave the Broncos at tight end? Many fans have been excited by the defensive additions the team has made in free agency, but they're wondering when steps will be taken to build the nest around Bo Nix.
Tight end and running back represent massive holes in Denver. The Broncos tight end group was one of the lowest producers in the NFL last year, with 25 individual players out-producing the team's entire room. Adam Trautman, Nate Adkins, and Lucas Krull are serviceable, to be sure, but none of them have the upside to be Payton's elusive 'joker' and elevate the Broncos' passing attack.
Meanwhile, the Broncos' running back room, which has been lackluster for years, took a hit on Monday when the starter, Javonte Williams, defected to Dallas on a one-year deal. It's not a strong free-agent running back class this year, but there are still some viable options Payton and Nix could conceivably make a lot of hay with.
And the sun's a-shinin', so here's to hoping the Broncos get cracking on making a few additions that will help elevate Nix and the offense in 2025 and beyond. Nix did a lot of heavy lifting last year, with some timely help from Courtland Sutton and Marvin Mims Jr., and while it's plausible to expect some year-two jumps from Devaughn Vele, Troy Franklin, and running back Audric Estime, the Broncos have very little to count on at tight end and running back.
We know the Broncos are heavily scouting the draft class at both positions, and whether a guy or two are signed in free agency likely won't change that a rookie tight end and running back (or two) will be added in April. But if free agency is about filling roster holes to free teams up for the best-player-available approach in the draft, the Broncos have some work to do.
Meanwhile, the pool of free agents dwindles by the minute...
