DENVER — Sean Payton and George Paton have once again arrived at one of their favorite parts of the calendar: Water bottle labeling season.

The Broncos head coach and general manager are set to spend most of the first four weeks of April sequestered in front of a big screen in Denver’s team room, clickers in hand, watching tape of draft prospects.

Tape, tape and more tape.

“(Wednesday) morning at 7:30 a.m., we enter that team meeting room and we’re in there for the next 26 days,” Payton said Tuesday.

Last spring, they spent so much time sitting in chairs next to each other that Payton copped to accidentally drinking out of his general manager’s water bottle instead of his own.

“You break for lunch and you break for dinner,” Payton said a week before Denver selected Jahdae Barron at No. 20 overall last spring. “You go through the rounds and others will come back in with (information) — maybe we hand two scouts and two coaches a clump of outside linebackers or a clump of nose tackles.”

There are layers to the strong relationship that has grown between Payton and Paton over the past three-plus years, but their shared love of evaluating players is at the center.

Spring weather on the Front Range can be invigorating, but for Paton and Payton, April beauty is identifying a mid-round pick who becomes an impact player.

“You are dying to fall in love with guys,” Payton said last year.

This spring, of course, the Broncos will be waiting quite a while to make their first pick. After trading their first-round pick and more for star receiver Jaylen Waddle, Denver is not currently on the board until No. 62 overall, the 30th pick of the second round, which arrives on the draft’s second day.

That’s familiar territory for Paton, though, who will be operating without a first-rounder for the third time in six drafts as Denver’s general manager.

“Obviously, we’re focused on 30 in the second (round),” Paton said Monday at the NFL’s spring meetings. “We’ve fortunately been there before — I think two different times. We have a good feel for that. We can hone in.”

Paton was careful not to rule out trading up from No. 62, but Denver has depleted draft capital after the trade. Packaging No. 62 and one of its fourth-round picks (Nos. 108 and 111) might allow the team to slide up a few spots and dealing both could potentially get the Broncos to the middle of the second round. Denver could dip into its haul of 2027 picks and is in line for potentially two compensatory selections, too.

Overall, though, Payton and Paton are in for a long wait.

“We have a pretty good feel for that realm,” Paton said.

When they finally do arrive on the clock, here are the positions the Broncos find themselves most in need of adding to.

The Broncos still need a mismatch tight end

Maybe the term “Joker” has finally fallen out of vogue in Broncos Country, but the value of that player — a mismatch in the middle part of the field — most certainly has not. Not to Payton.

“Every year,” Payton said earlier this year at the NFL Combine. “We’re always looking for the tight end or running back that has those traits. They’re hard to find, though.”

Particularly so for the Broncos and particularly so at tight end.

Denver thought it might have found one in veteran Evan Engram last year. The results? More OK than wow. Even if Engram fares better in his second season with the Broncos, the club needs a young playmaker at the position. Noah Fant flashed at times, but this has been a sore spot more or less since the days of Julius Thomas more than a decade ago.

Payton and Paton will be dying to fall in love with a tight end from a 2026 group that doesn’t have the same star power as last year, but that is deep and diverse from a skill-set and body type perspective. Is there a big guy with blocking chops that they see untapped receiving potential in? An undersized pass-catcher who can be a stout blocker with a bit of fine-tuning?

“There are some really good prospects, but I’m anxious to see who they are because right now I just know the names,” Payton said. … “Hopefully we can get to know them and possibly have a target in there.”

NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah has only Oregon’s Kenyon Sadiq (No. 14 overall) in his latest top 50, so perhaps Denver will have its pick of any tight end after Sadiq at No. 62, but Vanderbilt’s Eli Stowers and Ohio State’s Max Klare are among a group of others who could come off the board around the Broncos’ first pick. Denver is doing its diligence on tight ends, including hosting NC State’s Justin Joly on a visit this week.

Sean Payton likes Denver’s running backs, but …

The Broncos are no strangers to taking a running back late in the second round. They did it just last year when they grabbed RJ Harvey at No. 60 overall.

Harvey had a productive rookie season, accumulating 12 total touchdowns and 896 offensive yards. He struggled to consistently produce as a rusher when called upon to be Denver’s lead back in the wake of J.K. Dobbins’ Lisfranc injury in November, but he undoubtedly has explosive ability.

Denver re-signed Dobbins and believes Harvey, a dynamic pass-catcher, will only trend upward in Year 2.

“We love the way RJ played,” Payton said Tuesday.

The day before, Paton called Harvey, “an explosive player and an explosive receiver out of the backfield. A matchup problem. He is going to get better as a runner. He got better as the year went on.”

Both men called the position one Denver could address in the draft or over the summer and pointed out that, this time a year ago, neither Harvey nor Dobbins (a June signing) were on the roster.

Whether it’s in the second round or later, though, the Broncos could use more youth and overall dynamic ability in their room.

Offensive line isn’t a need right now, but could become one quickly

There’s an argument to be made for inside linebacker or safety as Denver’s next priority, but the Broncos have addressed each of those positions in some way over recent weeks. The Broncos signed safety and special teamer Tycen Anderson to a one-year deal. That’s not a long-term defensive solution, which Denver could certainly still use and may look to the draft to address. Payton said this week that edge Jonah Elliss would get a look playing inside linebacker, too. Now the Broncos have Elliss, Jordan Turner, Drew Sanders, Levelle Bailey and Karene Reid behind their starting duo inside. Not much proven production defensively, but several options to sort through.

Meanwhile, the offensive line is one of the more fascinating groups on the roster.

Denver’s is one of the best in the business, and is poised, if healthy, to continue that run in 2026 and perhaps beyond.

The group has a back-to-back first-team All-Pro right guard in Quinn Meinerz and a newly extended center in Luke Wattenberg. Both tackles, Garett Bolles and Mike McGlinchey, played at a high level in 2025, with Bolles being named a first-team All-Pro.

Left guard Ben Powers is entering the final year of his deal in 2026 and, with the caveat that things can always change, looks likely headed into his final season with the Broncos.

Denver retained Alex Palczewski with a two-year deal, and he could end up being the primary backup at three positions — LG, RG and RT — in 2026 and then slide into Powers’ spot beyond that. Easy, right?

Well, yeah, as long as everybody else stays healthy. McGlinchey has had injury issues in the past, though he was mostly healthy in 2025. Bolles’ longevity is impressive and he’s shown not even a hint of decline from his perch as one of the premier athletes at left tackle.

And yet, Bolles and McGlinchey will be 34 and 32, respectively, when Week 1 rolls around.

They could each play multiple more years at a high level or age could start to catch up with either or both quickly.

The Broncos, then, are in an enviable position but also one that carries perhaps more risk than first glance might suggest.

They have developmental options in the pipeline in Palczewski, tackle Frank Crum, center Alex Forsyth and a wild card in Nick Gargiulo and they have built that depth using only seventh-round picks and undrafted free agency signings.

In fact, seventh-rounders Gargiulo (No. 256 in 2024) and Forsyth (No. 257 in 2023) are the only linemen Denver has drafted since Payton arrived as the coach.

Before them, Paton selected Wattenberg in the fifth round in 2022 and Meinerz in the third round in 2021.

That’s four straight draft classes since 2021 in which only linemen were taken on Day 3. The Broncos currently have only one Day 2 pick this year, so that run could well continue. But offensive line — guard or tackle — feels like a real possibility, be it at No. 62, early in the fourth round, or somewhere in between, depending on how Paton and Payton maneuver with their picks.

A guard could push "Palcho" and Crum further toward being the heirs apparent at each tackle spot. A tackle could line Palcho up as the left guard of the future. Either way, a young, talented player in the room would be a welcome addition, regardless of exactly where he plays or how good the Broncos’ room still looks on paper.

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