Following the 2026 NFL draft, the Denver Broncos announced jersey numbers for their draft class. More numbers are still to be announced, and those selections could arrive ahead of organized team activities (OTAs) in June.

Players won’t be allowed to choose from six numbers — three numbers are officially retired, and three others are rarely (if ever) given to a new player. 

The Broncos retired No. 7 for legendary quarterback John Elway, and No. 44 was retired for Hall of Fame running back Floyd Little. Denver also retired No. 18 for Frank Tripucka, the first QB in franchise history, but he gave Peyton Manning permission to wear the number from 2012-2015. 

Three numbers are also held back by the team’s equipment staff — Champ Bailey’s No. 24, Von Miller’s No. 58 and the late Demarius Thomas’ No. 88. Bailey gave Adam Jones his blessing to wear No. 24 in 2018, but it hasn’t been worn by any other player besides Jones since Bailey’s retirement. 

Two of the top three players in the NBA will face each other Monday. The other, according to MVP voters, will be watching from the couch.

Nuggets center Nikola Jokic finished in second place in the 2025-26 MVP vote, the league announced Sunday night. In what was widely regarded as a three-horse race, Jokic was a distant runner-up but extended his streak of top-two finishes to six consecutive years, joining Bill Russell and Larry Bird as the only players to do so.

Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was crowned MVP for the second straight season. San Antonio Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama, just 22 years old, placed third. He was also named Defensive Player of the Year last month. The Spurs and Thunder are set to compete in the Western Conference Finals starting Monday night.

The award is decided by a panel of 100 voters who cover the NBA and its teams for various local, national and international media outlets. Jokic appeared on all 100 ballots, earning 10 first-place votes and 48 second-place nods. He was third on 37 ballots, fourth on four, fifth on one.

Gilgeous-Alexander received the lion’s share of the first-place votes with 83. Wembanyama got five votes for first. Ballots are submitted before the playoffs begin, ensuring that only the regular season is taken into account — meaning that Denver’s first-round exit had no bearing on the tally this year.

Jokic averaged 27.7 points, 12.9 rebounds and 10.7 assists per game, marking the seventh time in NBA history that a player has averaged a triple-double. Jokic, Russell Westbrook and Oscar Robertson are the only players to accomplish the feat. Jokic has done it two seasons in a row.

He shot 56.9% from the field, 38% from 3-point range and 83.1% from the foul line, good for a 67% true shooting clip that ranked fifth in the league. At 66.5%, Gilgeous-Alexander was the only non-center to rank in the top eight. He averaged 31.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 6.6 assists for the defending champion and first-place Thunder.

Head Coach Seb Hines: