The Denver Broncos will look to improve the roster this coming offseason, specifically early in the 2025 NFL draft. One position that will be mocked to Denver in the latter half of the first round will be tight end.

Denver is currently receiving next to nothing from its trio of tight ends — Adam Trautman, Nate Atkins, and Lucas Krull — in the passing game and none are all that great as inline blockers. Therefore it makes some sense for the Broncos to consider the position early come April.

That’s a viable path, according to Pro Football Focus’ most recent mock draft from Gordon McGuinness. With PFF projecting Denver taking the first tight end off the board in Michigan‘s Colston Loveland, Denver could add a versatile piece to the offense that has been missing.

“The Broncos’ upcoming offseason should focus on surrounding quarterback Bo Nix with as much talent as possible. Adding a premium tight end would be a significant boost, especially considering no tight end on the current roster has more than 14 targets this season.

“Loveland has been outstanding in 2024, earning an 88.0 PFF receiving grade while averaging 2.67 yards per route run,” McGuinness wrote.

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Loveland is a good athlete for the tight end position. He explodes off the line at the snap, has extremely strong hands at the catch point, and offers flexibility to play in line or in the slot.

While not an overwhelming big player for a tight end listed at 6-foot-5 and 245 pounds (245 is in the 18th percentile for tight ends at the NFL Combine dating back to 1999), Loveland plays tough as a blocker and in yards-after-catch situations, while not being special in either area.

Loveland is an exceptionally smart player who understands spacing as a pass-catcher and blocker deployed in a multitude of ways. He wouldn’t simply replace the Broncos’ tight ends should he land in the Mile High City, but with Sean Payton’s emphasis on a “big slot,” Loveland would see ample snaps replacing Lil’Jordan Humphry as well.

The Broncos offense has been on the rise. Thanks in large part due to the growth of rookie quarterback Bo Nix into what appears to be a franchise-caliber quarterback, Courtland Sutton’s re-emergence as a viable No. 1 receiver, and the upper-echelon play from the offensive line (specifically in pass protection), the Broncos offense just keeps getting better.

Since Week 7, Denver’s offense ranks 13th in the NFL in EPA/Play and 15th in offensive success rate compared to being the 26th-ranked offense in EPA/Play and 28th in success rate in Weeks 1-6. The offense is undoubtedly improving but still has ample room for growth under Payton.

Outside of running back, perhaps no position in Denver could use more of an immediate bump than tight end. Historically, though, neither tight end nor running back are high return-on-investment positions.

And given the incredible depth at tight end (as well as running back) in the upcoming draft class, Denver may consider other avenues with its first-round selection.

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More than 280 flights were delayed and two were canceled at Denver International Airport Wednesday morning as heavy mountain snow spread to metro Denver during a busy holiday travel period.

The average delay for flights in and out of DIA was less than 15 minutes, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

There were 282 delayed and canceled flights at DIA as of 11 a.m., according to Flight Aware. United Airlines reported the most delays with 89, followed by Southwest with 82, and SkyWest with 70.

DIA snow crews mobilized to ensure efficient operations, airport officials said, advising travelers to check with airlines for updated flight information and arrive at DIA two hours before scheduled departure times. Travel surges the week of Thanksgiving and DIA officials said Sunday will be the busiest day with 90,539 travelers expected to pass through security stations.

DIA ranks among the busiest airports in the world and busy holiday periods have put DIA on track to reach 82 million passengers by the end of 2024, up from 69 million in 2019.

Originally Published: November 27, 2024 at 11:22 AM MST

Mayor Mike Johnston is confused. 

Denver’s mayor wants to stand athwart the city’s boundaries to stop people from leaving. His problem is he’s focused on the wrong people. 

Apparently seeking to bolster his progressive bona-fides, Mayor Mike recently staged a public hissy fit about the incoming Trump administration’s plan to deport illegal immigrants. In a bizarre rant he had to walk back, he said he would deploy the already understaffed Denver Police Department to stop federal immigration agents. 

If his goal was to get national attention as a pro-illegal immigrant warrior, it worked. 

Badly. 

He managed to shine the spotlight on the widespread failures of Colorado’s capital city to reverse its decline. He also reminded citizens the massive influx of migrants has stretched the municipal and school district budgets beyond the breaking point. 

Quickly realizing he was over his skis, he said well maybe citizens would rise up and he would lead the resistance.

Resist what? 

Deporting the 1.3 million illegals for whom the federal government, under President Joe Biden, has already issued final orders of removal? Or fighting the departure of the minority of migrants who commit crimes?

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It would be nice if Mayor Mike had as much passion to resist — and reverse — the steady decay of the city he was elected to lead. 

Mike Johnston’s problem isn’t preventing illegals from leaving. It’s bringing back workers, diners and shoppers who have already left — and aren’t eager to return.

A study by the Common Sense Institute (CSI) looked at downtown Denver’s recovery from the pandemic.

What will not surprise anyone who has been downtown recently — Denver has the lowest foot traffic of 16 major cities studied by the University of Toronto. One reason is Denver has the highest office vacancy rate among Front Range cities, with one-quarter of offices sitting empty — and, oddly, the highest office lease rates. 

And worse, the state of Denver’s downtown also discourages people who do not live or work in the city from venturing out for an evening. 

This is what makes Johnston’s assertion he would deploy Denver cops to stop the deportation of illegals even more out of touch. Crime in Denver is sky high and that’s where the mayor needs to focus his police force. 

The CSI study showed there were 1,150 crimes in the third quarter of 2024, the highest of any third quarter since before the pandemic. This tracks with a Downtown Denver Partnership survey, which CSI cites, that says a major issue afflicting downtown is a lack of a sense of safety and security. 

As disturbing as these facts are, downtown’s decline wasn’t caused by the pandemic. COVID merely hastened and deepened it.  

Those of us who worked downtown pre-pandemic experienced the rise in homelessness, vagrancy, drug use, aggressive panhandling and more. 

Years before the pandemic struck, a leader in the business community told me about how he was excited to show off Denver as a destination for meetings and conventions. He said he was going to bus site selectors from the convention center Hilton at 15th and California to Guard and Grace restaurant at 18th and California. 

Driving them three blocks?

“Well I can’t take the chance of having them walk and encounter who knows what by the 16th Street Mall,” he said. 

The city then was so bad it had to hide the dysfunction on display downtown — like hanging a picture in a weird place in your living room to cover a gaping hole in the wall. 

Wouldn’t something that bad be a wake-up call for the city?

The elected leaders hit snooze. 

Others, like the Downtown Denver Partnership, have sincerely fought to reverse the continually rising tide of decay. But there is only so much one organization can do.

Denver, like too many American cities governed by naïve progressives, has been rendered unworthy of good people who want to live, work and play in Colorado’s capital city.  

Decades ago, Denver Mayor Frederico Peña challenged citizens to “imagine a great city.” Now people who make a great city thrive are rejecting downtown in droves because they can’t even imagine a decent city anymore. 

Sean Duffy, a former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Bill Owens, is a communications and media relations strategist and ghostwriter based in the Denver area.