With Bo Nix officially named QB1 for the Denver Broncos, co-owner Greg Penner and HC Sean Payton made sure to provide their main man with the best support system before entering the 2025 season. In the name of Dre Greenlaw, Talanoa Hufanga, and Evan Engram, the Denver front office made some serious moves to land these highly-touted free agents this offseason, all while maintaining a low cap. Now, this is when things get interesting in Denver. The Broncos did have a winning season last year, making it to playoffs for the first time since their championship-winning season in 2015. Now, when things seem to be going on the right track, the Broncos owner has sent a stern message when we are just five months away from the 2025 season.

“We’re not satisfied, at all, with where we are,” Penner already set the expectations clear after the NFL’s annual meeting on March 31. “We think we’re in a good place, in terms of the building blocks that we’ve got set now. But we’re in a tough division. But we’re in a tough division. Everybody is looking to improve. We have some work to do this offseason to get to where we need to be.” With the next season just around the corner, Penner has taken charge of being the tough guy in the building and his latest message doubles down as a stern reminder that “good enough” simply will not cut it in Denver.

The Broncos are concentrating on standards. While the rest of the NFL is still getting used to free agency and dreaming up draft smokescreens because even though they made their first postseason appearance in years last season, Greg Penner’s message isn’t “well done.” It’s “do better.” And at the heart of that message? Rookie quarterback Bo Nix—who just stepped into one of the most scrutinized gigs in football with the ghost of a $242 million misfire still haunting the facility.

The Broncos owner has made it quite evident that he is not impressed with the wild-card appearance from the previous season. Penner made it clear at the NFL Annual Meeting that “we need to be competing for Super Bowls, not making the playoffs.” Not whispered in back rooms. Not filtered through PR. Said it. Meant it. Sent it out like a memo to every employee, including the cafeteria queue and coaching staff. The focus of Penner is not on rah-rah speeches. He is focused on outcomes. And after consuming almost $90 million in dead cap space while seeing the club struggle to a 10-7 finish last season, he is stepping up his discipline and avoiding sentimentality.

“We do a town hall [within the organization] twice a year, and in the last town hall, I spent a lot of time talking about what our values are. And one of those key values is, we’ve got to have financial discipline,” Penner said. “We’re going to provide the resources that are necessary to win, but at the same time, we’ve got to be disciplined.”

If anything, the success Denver had last year only heightened the urgency. “You lose focus and discipline when you just assume you can spend your way to wins,” Penner warned. Translation? Everyone’s got to earn their ink on checks and contracts. Including QB1-in-waiting, Bo Nix.

Over the course of three offseasons, Penner’s philosophy has changed. With Sean Payton’s arrival, there was first a cultural shift. Then came the 2023 cap-strapped chess match, in which Denver managed to salvage a 10-7 record despite dead money totaling almost $90 million. Right now? It all comes down to sustainability, discipline, and accuracy. No more temporary solutions. No more careless errors. During a recent internal town hall, Penner reaffirmed, “We’re going to provide the resources that are necessary to win, but at the same time, we’ve got to be disciplined.”

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Talk is cheap and so is bluster. Talent wins. You cannot squeeze a lemon and get orange juice. Payton is...more

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This isn’t just business jargon, either. Greg Penner and Carrie Walton Penner are there. This ownership duo doesn’t micromanage, but they also don’t disappear, as evidenced by their efforts to improve the injury-prone medical wing and their presence in the trenches alongside coaches and executives. They’re moving through the corridors. They are posing enquiries. They are holding themselves and everyone else responsible.

Penner stated during the NFL Annual Meeting that “Nobody should be feeling comfortable with where we are just because we made the playoffs,” including Bo Nix. Especially Bo Nix. But while ownership is laying the foundation for a sustainable future, Sean Payton’s still sweeping up the rubble of the past. And its expensive rubble.

Greg Penner and Sean Payton aren’t paying $32M to lose again

The headline? Russell Wilson’s 2025 cap hit is $32 million. Yes, following their 2024 dead cap hit of $53 million, the biggest in NFL history. This is what a $242.6 million misfire looks like. In addition to being disappointing, Wilson’s Denver chapter was historically poor. He led an offense that finished 26th in scoring and 27th in total yards over two seasons, went 11-19, and missed the playoffs both years.

It was a breakup, not drama when Payton benched Wilson with two games remaining in 2023. And the Broncos weren’t merely bidding farewell when they cut him after June 1st, distributing that dead money over two years. They were setting fire to the blueprint that got them into this mess.

Payton also didn’t hold back. Regarding the 2023 season, he remarked, “That was misery, sorrow, drudgery… that was brutal.” And because Wilson cost the Broncos three players, two first-round picks, and the equivalent of a private island in terms of money? Perhaps “brutal” would be an understatement. Now that Bo Nix has taken center stage, Wilson’s contract continues to cast a shadow. And with a $32 million cap handcuff, Payton needs to figure out how to develop a contender.

Oh, and there are other ghosts on the payroll besides that. The Broncos are expected to pay former tight end Greg Dulcich $251,207 this season, whose flashes of potential were buried under three years of injury struggles. When you have one financial hand tied behind your back and are attempting to push for Lombardis and build depth, every dollar counts.

The worst part is that this isn’t a sob story. This serves as a call to action. Greg Penner and Payton are on the same page. The house has been cleaned. The tone has been set. And they’ve absorbed the cost of past mistakes in pursuit of future dominance, they have also taken on the consequences of their previous errors. Even though Wilson’s contract has been tough, it made it very evident to the rest of the roster that nobody is above the norm.

So, to Bo Nix and every other Bronco in that locker room: the message from the top is loud and clear. You’re here to win. Or you’re gone. The Broncos don’t just want to make headlines in April. They want to make history in February. And they’re willing to pay the price—literally and figuratively—to get there.