Sean Payton has already made his thoughts on the Broncos’ 2025 offense clear. His overall discontent showed through days after Denver’s AFC Championship Game loss to New England when Payton fired coordinator Joe Lombardi and receivers coach Keary Colbert. Then he lost senior offensive assistant Pete Carmichael to Buffalo, too. Payton promoted quarterbacks coach Davis Webb to offensive coordinator and quality control coach Logan Kilgore to quarterbacks coach. It’s a changing of the guard in Payton’s offensive meeting room — but regardless of whether Payton or Webb is the primary play-caller in 2026, it’s still Payton’s offense. Here’s a look back at the unit’s 2025 performance and an early look at questions going into what is shaping up to be a fascinating offseason. Five key offensive numbers 25: Points per game (No. 10 in the NFL) 5.3: Yards per play (T-15 and up slightly from 5.2 in 2024 and 5.0 in 2023) 334: First downs (T-14) 25%: Three-and-out rate (No. 29) 37.8: Percentage of drives ending in an offensive score (No. 20) Quarterback Bo Nix (10) of the Denver Broncos fires one downfield during a 34-26 win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, at Empower Field at Mile High Stadium in Denver. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post) High Point In terms of the regular season, there’s no more emotional high point offensively than scoring 33 fourth-quarter points in a comeback for the ages. There was no more thorough throttling than pouring 44 points on Dallas the very next week. Still, the real high point of the season for Bo Nix and company was a 34-26 win over Green Bay in mid-December. The Broncos entered as home underdogs, but Nix played perhaps the best game of his career to date. He traded blows with Packers quarterback Jordan Love in the first half, then took over in the second. He completed 23 of 34 passes for 302 yards and four touchdowns and helped bring the Broncos back from a 9-point, third-quarter deficit. It was a magnificent performance and at the time looked like it might provide a blueprint for how Denver could operate efficiently without much in the way of a running game after J.K. Dobbins’ injury a month earlier. Low Point Low points are relative during a 14-3 season that featured an 11-game winning streak, but the Broncos offense really did find itself in a funk for the better part of a month in that streak. The epic comeback against the Giants came only after New York shut Denver out for three quarters. The week before that, Denver had 246 yards against the New York Jets in London. After a one-week reprieve against the Cowboys, the Broncos mustered 18 points and 271 yards against a really good Houston defense, but then 10 points and 220 at home in Week 10 against Las Vegas in a 10-7 win. Nix turned the ball over twice. J.K. Dobbins was lost to a Lisfranc injury. Denver scored 20–plus in each of its three regular-season losses. Its three lowest-scoring games came between Weeks 6-10. That’s when it became clear that, for as good as the team results looked, the Broncos’ offense was a mostly middle-of-the-pack outfit and was capable of playing much worse than that. Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) scores a touchdown in the fourth quarter against the New York Giants at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025. Denver won 33-32. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post) Late-game magic MVP: QB Bo Nix. There’s a compelling argument to be made for first-team All-Pro Garett Bolles and for RB J.K. Dobbins, both for his 10-game production and his impact in absentia. Nix, though, gets the nod for his play but also for his leadership. He isn’t a perfect player and he’s got a lot of work to do to become a clear top-tier quarterback, but he’s a proven clutch performer and engineered countless big moments over the course of the season. It’s his team and his team was really good in 2025. Tough Season: TE Evan Engram. It started with a ‘Joker’ meme this spring and high hopes. The end result wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t exactly what anybody really expected, either. Engram, signed with the idea he might finally give the Broncos a dynamic, matchup-exploiting tight end, instead never quite seemed to find a groove. His numbers still ended up better than what Denver’s got from the position in recent years, but 50 catches for 461 and a touchdown also represent basically the worst production in a full season of his nine-year career. Under the radar: WR Pat Bryant. Denver was roundly questioned for taking Bryant in the third round of the draft, but quickly showed himself to be a player head coach Sean Payton trusts. Bryant played 29 snaps (16.7%) over the first three games, then averaged 55% for the rest of the season. He was part of the reason Denver traded Devaughn Vele in training camp and then released Trent Sherfied during the season. He finished with 31 catches and 378 yards, more rookie-year production than either Troy Franklin in 2024 or Marvin Mims Jr. in 2023, and is Denver’s best perimeter blocker, too. Broncos conversion rates — Sean Payton era Year Third down rate NFL rank Red zone TD rate NFL rank 2023 36.8% 21 51.7% 19 2024 39.6% 13 62.5% 7 2025 41.2% 11 57.9% 13 Run Offense Five Key Numbers 31.6. Drop in rushing yards per game after J.K. Dobbins was lost for the season to a Lisfranc injury 3.8. Yards per carry after Dobbins’ injury compared to 5.0 before 3.2. Yards per carry for the Broncos in two postseason games 74%. The Broncos’ run block win rate, according to ESPN (No. 4 in the NFL) 62.9%. Percentage of QB Bo Nix’s runs (non-kneeldown and sneak) that were categorized as scrambles. Down considerably from 81.2% in 2024. J.K. Dobbins (27) of the Denver Broncos finds space as Will Anderson Jr. (51) of the Houston Texans misses a tackle during the first quarter at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post) The Good For the first half of the season, the Broncos looked like one of the best in the business at rushing the football. They leaned on their big, veteran offensive line and Dobbins’ steady work. The veteran back was signed for just $2 million in June and turned out to be perhaps the most important single player on the unit over the first 10 games. As Denver slugged it out against the lowly Raiders in Week 10, Dobbins was on pace for 1,300-plus yards. Then he sustained a Lisfranc injury on what he believed to be an illegal hip-drop tackle and the going got tough from there. At their best, the Broncos have a highly paid and talented offensive line that can do everything. They can move people at the point, they can get out in space and they can crease runs between the tackles. They identified a couple of willing perimeter blockers, too. The ingredients were there and it showed… for half a season. The Bad The rest of the group just didn’t provide much punch once Dobbins was hurt. RJ Harvey racked up 12 touchdowns in his rookie season and the talent is obvious. He’s terrific with the ball in space and he’s got the potential to be a really good back in his career. The down-in and down-out work in his rookie year, though, was inconsistent. He ripped off a 50-yarder in the Broncos’ opener and touchdowns of 40 and 38 against Dallas and Jacksonville, respectively. Those certainly count. Harvey’s other 143 carries averaged 2.9 yards. In all, Dobbins had 21 rushes of 10-plus yards over 153 carries. The other three — Harvey, Jaleel McLaughlin and Tyler Badie — had 13 runs of 10-plus over 191 carries. Denver rushed for less than 100 yards once in its first nine games with Dobbins and then six times, including the postseason in 10 games he didn’t finish or play in. The Unknown There are unknowns across the board. Will Dobbins be back? He’s said he’d like to be, but that will require the sides finding agreement on compensation for a back who is terrific when healthy and also has played more than 10 games once since his rookie year in 2020. How much of a leap can Harvey take in his second season? Will McLaughlin or Badie return or will the Broncos revamp the back part of their room? Just as pertinent, what will the Broncos’ schematic approach look like going forward? Payton nodded to this after the season when he said he’d already been talking with offensive line coach and run game coordinator Zach Strief about the research they had to do this offseason to diagnose a myriad of issues. The Broncos dabbled more in the outside zone world over the past year, but didn’t lean hard into it. Could that change? What influence will Davis Webb’s promotion to offensive coordinator — and potentially into a playcalling role — have? Broncos RB Production Player Games Rushing yards Per carry 10-plus runs First downs J.K. Dobbins 10 772 5 21 37 RJ Harvey 17 540 3.7 8 28 Jaleel McLaughlin 8 187 5.1 5 8 Tyler Badie 16 23 2.9 0 1 Pass Offense Five Key Numbers 613: Pass attempts in the regular season (No. 4 in the NFL) 0.02: Estimated points added per pass play (T-9) 3.6%: Sack percentage for the Broncos (Lowest in the NFL) 139: Yards after catch over expected (No. 23) 21.7%: Blitz rate against (Fourth-lowest in the NFL) Bo Nix (10) of the Denver Broncos rolls out as Garett Bolles (72) blocks Dante Fowler Jr. (13) of the Dallas Cowboys during the first quarter at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post) The Good The Broncos were really, truly elite at exactly one thing offensively this year: Sack avoidance. Between their offensive line, Nix’s mobility and a mandate from Payton on down not to take sacks, Denver did it better than anybody in football. More than propel an offense into the NFL’s upper echelons, though, what the league-low 23 sacks did was mostly help offset too many penalties and too few big plays. Denver was good on third down (10th in the NFL), decent in the red zone (T-13), and pedestrian on a per-drive basis (T-18 in points per drive at 2.05). That’s partially because the Broncos went long swaths without throwing the ball consistently enough. Late in the season, when they strung together long, grinding drives, it happened because of a short passing game and the ability to stay on schedule. One other bright spot: Courtland Sutton checked in with top-15 marks in receiving yards (1,017; No. 13) and touchdowns (7; T-15). Related Articles Grading The Week: Broncos should let QB Bo Nix decide who calls his plays Would Broncos’ Sean Payton give up play-calling? Former NFL players say ‘that’s not happening’. Broncos OLB Nik Bonitto has cleanup surgery on wrist, sources say Broncos WR Troy Franklin says he’s ‘going to get a 1,000-yard season’ in 2026 How the Seahawks revitalized former Broncos QB Drew Lock after Russell Wilson trade The Bad Denver finished the year averaging 6.0 net yards per pass attempt. That tied for 17th and is a far cry from the top two marks in football — New England at 7.7 and Seattle at 7.6, the teams that just happen to be meeting in the Super Bowl. That mark factors in sack yards lost. When looking at just yards per pass attempt, Nix’s 6.4 tied for No. 32 among 42 qualified quarterbacks on the season and checked in well below the NFL average of 7.0. Nix led the NFL in drop-backs (669) and finished tied for 26th in quarterback rating at 87.8. Nix and the Broncos had a particularly tough time throwing the ball in the intermediate part of the field. The second-year quarterback generated a similar quarterback rating throwing short (under 10 air yards) and deep (20-plus), checking in at 91 and 91.4, respectively, according to Next Gen Stats. On throws of 10-19 air yards, though, Nix had a 73.4 rating, threw six interceptions against six touchdowns and completed just 49.6% of passes (4.9% below expected). The Unknown Can Nix make a big leap in Year 3? Webb, in training camp, told The Post that he thought the idea of a Year 2 jump for most quarterbacks was overblown. “Year 3, in my opinion, is more of a player jump,” Webb said then. “That’s just my experience personally and with my friends. Everybody talks about Year 2, but I think that’s just the world rushing, like we do with everything. We have seen Year 2 jumps, but Rich Gannon’s was at 36 (years old). So everyone’s different. It depends on the situation you’re in, the village you’re around, the play-caller, your defense playing good, your O-line’s protecting you, guys are catching it and you’re executing. There’s a lot of domino effect there.” Making that sentiment all the more interesting is Webb’s recent promotion to offensive coordinator and the looming possibility he could end up calling plays or be more involved on that front. The village matters, too, and the Broncos need to try to upgrade at receiver and tight end. But much of this offseason will be about finding ways to unlock another level for Nix. Bo Nix Year 1 to Year 2 Stat 2024 2025 Yards 3,775 3,931 Touchdowns 29 25 Interceptions 12 11 Comp. % 66.3% 63.4% Y/A 6.7 6.4 NY/A 6.1 6.0 Rate 93.3 87.8 QBR 53.5 58.2 EPA/dropback 0.00 0.05 Sacks 23 22 Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis. ...read more read less