The Denver Broncos haven’t been very active in NFL free agency — they’ve yet to sign an outside free agent — but that doesn’t mean the franchise is slacking this offseason.

Denver will eventually sign some outside free agents — mostly for depth, though a big move can’t be ruled out. But for now, the Broncos appear comfortable running back mostly the same roster that dominated the AFC West last season.

The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue believes that approach from Denver is sending a certain message to the rest of the league.

The Athletic thinks the Denver Broncos have “openly called their shot”

Despite the Broncos’ lack of urgency in free agency, Rodrigue believes Denver’s approach signals that the team is in “win now” mode.

She also believes the Broncos’ approach shows that Denver likes the players they’re developing more than the free agents that were available during the first wave of free agency (and the price they were available at).

“A team that has so far signed zero external free agents this spring is in this category,” wrote Rodrigue. “They did agree to terms with their own players — 13 of them, through the first few days of free agency. The Broncos are here because of their roster completeness, from their top defense and offensive line to the continued emergence of quarterback Bo Nix (when healthy), and because their roster floor is so high, even with needs such as defensive line depth. They have also openly called their shot: that they like their developing players more than whoever was available in free agency. The Broncos act as though they belong in this bucket. We’ll see if it works out for them.”

We’ve said it a lot over the last week — Super Bowls aren’t won in March.

The Broncos weren’t going to make a bunch of moves during free agency just to win headlines in March — that’s when ill-advised overpays can happen.

Broncos head coach Sean Payton in fact, was crystal clear a couple of years ago that he’s not interested in making moves just to make moves.

“My brother’s the worst at this,” said Payton in 2024. “He’s the worst at free agency, and he’s the worst at the trade deadline. He just wants to see action. Then right after the action takes place, he never goes back and reflects and says, ‘Well that was a bad signing,’ or, ‘That was a bad trade.’ I say that — I kid him — but I think that there’s so much more that goes into it relative to whether you’re trading a player [or] acquiring a player.

“Contracts go into it, vision goes into it and locker room goes into it. There are a lot of details that go into that. To answer your question fairly, I’m sitting here with the numbers right now with Kansas City, the depth chart, injury report and scouting report. [I] kind of finished up on Baltimore. Our players are in meetings on Baltimore. That’s where we’re at.”

Denver already has a roster they like — a lot.

Maybe fans should trust the coach and front office that engineered the franchise’s turnaround over the last few years. They’ve done a damn good job, after all.

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