Broncos Set Their First Depth Chart of 2026 as the NFL Season Nears

Denver’s opening lineup card is out, Bo Nix is back at the top, and the roster around him tells you where this team thinks it’s headed.

The wait for real football is almost over. The NFL’s Week 1 schedule opens the 2026 regular season on Wednesday, Sept. 9, when the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks host New England, before the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers meet in Melbourne, Australia the next night. For fans across Northern Colorado, the date that matters comes five days later, when the Denver Broncos open at Kansas City. Before any of that, the depth charts are starting to firm up.

Denver released its first unofficial depth chart of the summer on Aug. 12, two days before its preseason opener at Atlanta. Head coach Sean Payton has never hidden his disdain for the exercise. “We don’t have a classic third [receiver],” he said July 31. “We don’t have a 1A, a 2, a 3. We’re just different than that.” The league requires the document anyway, so Denver filed one and then all but told everyone to ignore it.

There were no surprises at the top. Bo Nix is listed as the starting quarterback, with Jarrett Stidham and Sam Ehlinger behind him. J.K. Dobbins sits atop the running back group ahead of RJ Harvey, and Courtland Sutton leads a receiver room that added Jaylen Waddle in a trade with Miami. Nix, who fractured his ankle in Denver’s divisional-round win over Buffalo last winter, had a cleanup procedure in the offseason and said this summer he “could be full go right now.”

For anyone trying to track how those roles shake out across the league, RotoWire, an independent source that keeps up-to-date NFL depth charts for all 32 teams, offered a read through one of its analysts: “Denver putting Bo Nix back on top is the easy part. He’s 24-10 as a starter over two seasons. The line worth watching is Jaylen Waddle at receiver two right after the trade from Miami, because that reshuffles the whole target order behind Courtland Sutton.”

The oddsmakers are less convinced the roster settles everything. After a 14-3 season, Denver enters 2026 with a win total set at 9.5, priced around -120 to the over and +100 to the under, and sits third in the AFC West futures at about +210 despite winning the division a year ago.

“A 14-3 team opening at 9.5 wins tells you the market trusts the schedule more than the roster,” one betting analyst said. “Two games each against Kansas City and the Chargers will decide whether Denver defends this division.”

Denver’s quarterback picture is actually one of the calmer ones in the league. As the Associated Press reported, starting jobs in Cleveland, Atlanta and Minnesota ran deep into camp unsettled, with coaches rotating passers well into August. Payton has no such drama at the top; his questions live further down the chart, at slot receiver and along the offensive line.

Roster cuts come next. Teams have to reach the 53-man limit by Aug. 30, and Denver’s chart will look different once the preseason ends. Readers who want to follow the Broncos and the rest of the fall schedule can find more coverage in our Sports section. By the time the Broncos line up in Kansas City on Sept. 14, the names near the top should be locked, and the ones on the bubble will have their answer.