With the Denver Broncos’ 28-19 victory over the New Orleans Saints, the 2025 preseason is now in the books, and it’s time to turn our eyes towards the regular season.
Who ended the preseason with a bang, and who’s fueling concern as we enter September? Let’s take a look.
Stock Up
Bo Nix & Courtland Sutton's Connection
The Denver Broncos’ offense was mired in another troubling display, following a punt on the team’s opening drive and a quick third-down stop on their second possession.
Then, on 4th-and-5, the Nix-to-Sutton connection sparked to life with a 14-yard conversion.
Later, on the starters’ third and final offensive possession, Nix went back to Sutton for another strike that gained a total of 43 yards, flipping the field for Denver’s offense. That same drive, they capped their day with a 19-yard touchdown pass, which was easily Nix’s best throw of the preseason.
Nix had a quality showing overall, but his connection with Sutton is on a different level. With the tandem’s connection continuing to blossom, it’s easy to understand why the team re-upped with Sutton this offseason
Audric Estime, Tyler Badie, Lucas Krull & Eyioma Uwazurike
Denver’s preseason bout with the New Orleans Saints served as the last opportunity for the players to make their closing arguments as to why they belonged on the 53-man roster, and Audric Estime, Tyler Badie, Lucas Krull and Eyioma Uwazurike made the most of that opportunity.
Estime assembled the best reel of his short Broncos career with nine total touches for 53 yards and a touchdown. Only the aforementioned Courtland Sutton gained more total yards for the Broncos than Estime this week, and no one had more touches. The second-year back also showcased a power rushing ability that had been lacking since his days in South Bend. Ultimately, it might be too little too late, but he made the most of the opportunity.
Badie boosted his roster chances despite a pedestrian day on the ground, as he demonstrated his value on special teams with a 47-yard kick return that led to Denver’s first points.
Krull finished the preseason as the Broncos' most productive pass-catcher outside the wide receiver room with 49 yards on three targets in Week 3.
Finally, Uwazurike might be primed for an overdue breakout campaign after an impressive summer. Against the Saints, Uwazurike totaled four tackles and notched a sack. His three preseason pressures were the most of any Broncos defensive lineman in August.
Que Robinson
Que Robinson could prove to be the Denver Broncos’ best selection of the 2025 NFL Draft.
He was the standout player at rookie minicamp, the most outstanding rookie at OTAs, and then continued to wow throughout training camp and the preseason.
Robinson finished August as the team leader in pressures, but Saturday saw him finally score his first sack. To make the moment even sweeter, it came in the form of a strip sack that Denver recovered.
Stock Down
Ben Powers
The Denver Broncos might have a problem bubbling up on the interior of the offensive line, based on what we’ve seen this preseason.
Center Luke Wattenberg has been a relative weakness that the team has been able to work around, though losing Lloyd Cushenberry III certainly hurt the run game. Still, despite that departure, the line remained one of the best because of the strength of the four other pillars.
One of those load-bearers is showing signs of buckling, though, as Powers allowed three pressures on just 27 pass-blocking snaps. That allowed pressure rate of 11.1% is the highest of any Broncos lineman, including the backups, this preseason, which is especially troubling considering the fact that Powers plays on the interior, where pressures are harder to come by.
Even worse, on his nine ‘true pass sets’ (dropbacks that are unaided by play action, RPOs, screens, or designed quick passes), Powers allowed two pressures, for a rate of 22.2%. No one else on the team was worse than 14.3%.
Jeremy Crawshaw & the Denver Broncos' Punt Team
Before we get too worried, the Denver Broncos only had six preseason punt coverage reps, so we’re reacting to an admittedly small sample. That said, what we’ve seen so far is undeniably concerning.
Among the 37 punters who have seen work this preseason, Jeremy Crawshaw ranked 32nd in yards per punt, 37th in net punt average, 36th in yards allowed per return, 35th in hang time, and he was one of just five punters to have less than two punts downed inside the opponents’ 20-yard line. Each of the other five punters had fewer attempts.
If this doesn’t get corrected quickly, Crawshaw could be out of the NFL as Denver turns to a new punter.