Broncos free agency tracker: Denver swings big, agreeing to three-year deal with S Talanoa Hufanga

Ready, set, tamper.

The NFL’s two-day free agent negotiating window — also known as the legal tampering window – opened at 10 a.m., marking the unofficial start of the 2025 season.

The Broncos and the league’s 31 other teams can speak with agents for perspective free agents and come to agreement on contract terms starting this morning. Deals cannot be formally executed or announced until the 2025 league year officially begins at 2 p.m. Wednesday, but for all intents and purposes, free agency begins now.

For Denver coach Sean Payton and general manager George Paton, that means a window of substantial opportunity. Before any extensions or roster moves, the Broncos are sitting near the middle of the league with more than $40 million in cap space. They could create much more if they want to or as they get contract extensions done this offseason for the likes of defensive tackle Zach Allen and wide receiver Courtland Sutton. Last year, they had to move on from several veterans and re-structure several deals just to get to $29 million in space.

That sets the club up to be as aggressive as they want to be in the coming days and weeks. Paton said last month the team will show restraint, but also left the door open for a splash or two.

The Broncos know what their needs are and, critically, what they are not. They’ve done their homework on running backs and tight ends — the search for a “Joker” is in full gear — and they’re committed to improving up the middle of the defense.

Around the league, teams have been rushing to get their own players back and clearing cap space by releasing veterans with expensive contracts. Denver got in on the action Sunday, too, agreeing to bring back defensive tackle D.J. Jones on a three-year deal worth around $39 million, back-up quarterback Jarrett Stidham on a two-year, $12 million deal and long snapper Mitch Fraboni with a three-year deal. They could also aim to bring back any of several several other role players from 2024’s roster among their 11 remaining impending unrestricted free agents.

Either way, the Broncos are armed with cap space and a full suite of draft picks. Payton likes to say that free agency and next month’s draft fit together like a puzzle.

Now comes the starting point: Securing the pieces to add.

NFL free agency updates

1:02 p.m.: The Broncos are solidifying the middle of their defense, just like they said they planned to.

Denver on Monday agreed to a three-year contract with former San Francisco safety Talanoa Hufanga, a source confirmed to The Post.

Hufanga has dealt with multiple injuries over the past two years, but when healthy he’s one of the best safties in the game.

The 26-year-old was a fifth-round draft pick of San Francisco in 2021 and quickly made his mark.

He played in 15 games as a rookie and then burst onto the scene in 2022, racking up four interceptions, a pair of forced fumbles, five tackles for loss and 97 tackles overall. That earned Hufanga first-team All-Pro honors and a spot in the Pro Bowl.

Since then, he’s dealt with injuries and appeared in just 17 games over the past two seasons.

Hufanga tore his ACL in Week 11 of the 2023 season. After he returned last fall, he injured his wrist and was limited to seven games.

In Denver, Hufanga will add quality depth to a safety group that was solid but unspectacular in 2024. Brandon Jones, signed in free agency last year, turned into a pleasant surprise and played the best football of his career. P.J. Locke started opposite him and played, admirably, through a broken thumb. Overall, though, Denver felt the need to upgrade the talent and depth levels in the room.

Hufanga, if he can put together a healthy season, will do just that in a substantial way.

12:45 p.m.: As safeties start to come off the board, a target’s emerging for the Broncos at a key position of need. They’ve reportedly been in talks with former San Francisco All-Pro Talanoa Hufanga, according to ESPN. That certainly tracks given Denver’s want to upgrade at the position and the fact that others have been signing around the league.

Cam Bynum got four years and $60 million from Indianapolis, Tre’von Moehrig got three years and $51 million from Carolina and Eric Murray got three years and $22.5 million from Jacksonville. — Parker Gabriel 

11:45 a.m.: The Broncos made their re-signing of backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham official. It’s a two-year deal worth up to $12 million (with $7 million guaranteed), a slight pay raise from a $10 million deal he signed to come to Denver in 2023. He looked quite cheery in a Twitter photo posted by the Broncos.

The only question left for the Broncos’ QB room: will Zach Wilson return? Bo Nix, Stidham and Wilson were a chummy group in 2024, and Wilson offers a high-upside option as a young backup. —Luca Evans

11:40 a.m.: One of Denver’s most important special-teams pieces from 2024 is heading to Houston, as a source confirmed to the Denver Post that Broncos free-agent cornerback Tremon Smith is signing a two-year deal worth up to $7.5 million with the Texans.

It’s a deserved opportunity for Smith, who recorded just nine tackles over two seasons with the Broncos but played all 17 games in both 2024 and 2025 as a key special-teams “gunner.” The Broncos will likely have a different special-teams identity in 2025, with Smith gone to the Texans and former special-teams coordinator Ben Kotwica replaced by Darren Rizzi. —Luca Evans

11:30 a.m.: The Broncos are re-upping with another depth piece, as a source confirmed to The Denver Post that Denver is re-signing tackle Matt Peart to a two-year deal worth $7 million. The deal can scale up to $10 million with incentives, the source said.

It’s not a flashy signing, but Peart’s an important reserve for an offensive-line group that the Broncos have used considerable resources to keep together. With Peart’s deal, all six of the Broncos’ highest-workload offensive linemen from 2024 — according to snap counts from Pro Football Focus — will return in 2025, with Denver committing over $55 million in cap space to the position group this upcoming year.

The 27-year-old Peart appeared in all 17 games for the Broncos in 2024, starting two games and racking up a total of 190 snaps in the best overall season of his career. A third-round pick by the New York Giants in 2020, he spent four uneven seasons with the Giants, starting a career-high five games with New York in 2021. — Parker Gabriel/Luca Evans

10:15 a.m.: One thing to watch this morning: Would not be a surprise at all if the Broncos are in the mix for former San Francisco ILB Dre Greenlaw.

Greenlaw is coming off injury, but when he’s healthy he’s one of the best middle-of-the-field defenders in the business. He was expected to have a strong market in the first place and it’s only strengthened in recent days as top-of-the-board linebackers like Zach Baun, Jamien Sherwood and Nick Bolton have signed deals to return to their former teams. — Parker Gabriel 

10:05 a.m.: One random thought after Carolina signed CB Jaycee Horn to a record $25 million per year contract: Pat Surtain II is already a bargain. — Parker Gabriel

8:30 a.m.: Denver didn’t even have to wait for the negotiating window to open to potentially address one of its foremost needs.

The Broncos had former Jacksonville and New York Giants tight end Evan Engram in Denver on Monday, a source confirmed to The Post, for a free agent visit. Because Engram was released by Jacksonville last week, he’s free to sign anywhere as soon as he wants and isn’t governed by the limitations set by the NFL for the negotiating period.

Engram, 30, dealt with injury issues in 2024 that limited him to nine games. First a hamstring problem and then a labrum injury in December that ended his season.

When he is healthy, though, the 6-foot-3, 240-pound tight end delivers something the Broncos have sorely missed in recent seasons: A vertical threat and a tight end that has to be accounted for regularly in the passing game.

Engram caught 114 passes for 963 yards and four touchdowns in 2023 and posted 700-plus receiving yards three times total in his first seven pro seasons. Last year he finished with 47 catches and 365 yards.

The visit, among other things, allows Denver to get a good sense of Engram’s health. As the negotiating window kicks off today, they can also start talking with the agents for pass-catchers like former New Orleans tight end Juwan Johnson and others. — Parker Gabriel 

8:00 a.m.: As teams cannonballed head-on into offseason moves before Monday’s free-agency negotiating window ever opened, making splash after splash in signing cut-for-cost vets and trading for disgruntled stars, the Broncos swung mightily on … their backup quarterback and long snapper.

Both were priorities, certainly. Agreeing to re-sign Jarrett Stidham stabilizes a solid backup for Bo Nix, and Mitchell Fraboni was named a Pro Bowl alternate for his work as a long snapper in 2024. But Monday’s available market has thinned considerably across the past week.

Stud receiver Davante Adams, released by the Jets for cap relief, signed a two-year deal with the Los Angeles Rams. Running back Aaron Jones, theorized as a fit for Denver due to his versatility on the ground and through the air, re-upped with the Minnesota Vikings. Linebacker Nick Bolton, one of the top ILBs potentially available come Monday and a definite target for the Broncos, inked a three-year extension with Kansas City.

As the Broncos still look for potential help at the skill positions, linebacker and in the secondary, there isn’t a wide stable of big-name upgrades left to pick from. But plenty of intrigue remains. Tight ends Evan Engram and Juwan Johnson could give Sean Payton a serious Joker, and former San Francisco 49ers staple Dre Greenlaw, as well as a handful of other linebackers, still dangle in the mix. — Luca Evans 

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