4 Denver Broncos who won't be back in 2025 after brutal playoff exit at hand of Bills

Even with how things ended, you have to call this a successful season for the Denver Broncos in the first season with Bo Nix at quarterback. Most people didn't have this team with a chance of even sniffing the playoffs, much less making them. Yet, they took the field as the AFC's No. 7 seed on Sunday in Buffalo.

Again, that didn't end well. After Nix found Troy Franklin on a deep shot to take an early 7-0 lead, it would've been hard for even the most level-headed fan to not have hope. That was quickly snuffed out, though, as the Bills defense shut out the Broncos for the rest of the afternoon while scoring 31 unanswered points.

But the future should be considered exceptionally bright in Denver. They're ahead of schedule and appear to be ready to take further steps forward with Nix and Sean Payton as they get clearer of Russell Wilson's dead cap hit and the ramifications of that horrendous contract. However, to make things better moving forward, that can also mean forcing some familiar faces out.

These four Broncos specifically have likely played their final games with Denver.

4. Lil'Jordan Humphrey seems like an easy spot to upgrade for Denver

While Courtland Sutton became the clear No. 1 receiver in Denver this season, the rest of the receiving corps was seemingly jockeying for any footing in the hierarchy, including veteran Lil'Jordan Humphrey. In his second season with the Broncos, he played in all 17 games but played a minimal role in the offense, catching 31 of his 45 targets for just 293 yards and a touchdown.

Upgrading the group of weapons around Nix this offseason should be a top priority for the Broncos front office and Payton. Sutton is great, the offensive line is largely set, but there needs to be some more consistent help. At this point of his career, it's hard to say that Humphrey has shown anything to say he could be that type of player in this offense.

As such, I fully expect Denver to let Humphrey walk and use their limited free agency funds to target pass-catchers but, more importantly, to do so heavily in the draft as well.

3. Javonte Williams has no place left in Broncos backfield

On one hand, Javonte Williams was technically the leading rusher for the Broncos this season. On the other hand, that's not saying too much. The former second-round pick by Denver finished the regular season with only 513 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 139 carries. While he's also a decent threat out of the backfield as a pass-catcher, the truth of the matter is that Denver's run game could use some more juice moving forward.

As the year went on, we already saw Williams start to be more phased out in the offense. Whether we're talking about Jaleel McLaughlin or Audric Estime, Payton already seems like he's looking for avenues to move forward without the former Broncos draft pick in the fold.

While it wouldn't at all be a shock to see Denver utilize some draft capital on another running back and move forward with with the by-committee approach we largely saw over the final weeks of the season, the truth of the matter is that Williams is almost surely not going to be part of that rotation in 2025 or beyond.

2. Someone other than Denver will give Zach Wilson a shot

Just before Denver eventually selected Bo Nix with the 12th overall pick in this past year's draft, they acquired another former first-round quarterback in a trade with the New York Jets for Zach Wilson. Of course, Wilson ended up not really factoring into the Broncos plans at the position, despite playing pretty well in the preseason. He spent most of this season as the QB3 on the depth chart when it was all said and done, however, behind both Nix and veteran Jarrett Stidham.

Now at the end of his rookie contract, though, I expect a team to take a flier on Wilson, one that the Broncos would not be wise to try and match contractually. While it might be overly simple to say that banking on failed Jets quarterbacks has been profitable in the wake of Geno Smith and Sam Darnold's success, Wilson would be the obvious next quarterback to take a flier on for a functional organization and coaching staff.

Bringing Wilson back just wouldn't be prudent financially for the Broncos, plain and simple. They'll still be feeling the dead cap hit from Wilson, which limits their free agent flexibility. With holes to fill, the money could be much better spent than re-signing a third-string quarterback.

1. D.J. Jones petered out with the Broncos and it's time to let him walk

When the Broncos signed D.J. Jones to a three-year, $30 million deal in 2022, it looked like Denver had made one of the steals of the decade in free agency. The defensive tackle was one of the best at his position in the NFL in the first season on that contract. Unfortunately for him and the organization, however, he has never quite been able to reattain that level of performance in the final two years of the deal.

To be clear, that's not to say he's been bad — quite the opposite. However, it is fair to say that Jones isn't playing like a dominant force. It's also fair to believe that a team other than the Broncos will be more than willing to spend up a bit on a top-third defensive tackle in the league in free agency when he'll only turn 30 years old next season.

Much like with Wilson but on the other side of the ball, this just comes down to how Denver allocates resources. Paying up to bring back a defensive tackle, even one as quality as Jones, seems a bit misguided given the other more glaring and perhaps impactful holes on the Broncos roster.