Each offseason, NFL rosters change and teams lose players who saw considerable playing time. Sometimes players leave as free agents, sometimes they're traded away, and sometimes they're cut.
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Regardless, you seldom, if ever, see an NFL team field the exact same roster or starting lineup from one season to the next. With that said, teams that stay in playoff contention try to keep as many of their players as possible, while those that are rebuilding or re-evaluating their situation will part ways with more players than they will keep.
One way to evaluate a team's roster retention is by examining lost snap counts. Over The Cap's Jason Fitzgerald examined the snaps each team lost for 2025, or how many significant players moved on.
Relative to the NFL, the Denver Broncos did pretty well in terms of not losing snap counts. They lost just 6.5% of their snaps after accounting for players who are no longer with the team, the 11th-fewest in the NFL.
Some fans might raise their eyebrows at how OTC revealed that the Broncos lost more defensive snaps (8.1%) than offensive snaps (4.9%). The defensive snaps are mostly those that linebacker Cody Barton played.
Barton signed with the Tennesee Titans in free agency and was replaced by Dre Greenlaw, who is an upgrade from a talent standpoint. Thus, the defensive snaps lost are not necessarily a big deal.
But the Broncos did keep two players who saw significant playing time on defense: defensive tackle D.J. Jones and linebacker Justin Strnad. There are also the extensions given to cornerback Patrick Surtain II and rush linebacker Jonathon Cooper during the 2024 season.
On offense, the notable player lost was Javonte Williams, who accounted for a significant amount of running back snaps. He's a player the Broncos are likely to replace in next week's NFL draft.
The Broncos could still part ways with certain players who saw considerable playing time in 2024, if they decide younger players can easily fill in roles on the depth chart. Case in point is P.J. Locke, a starting safety last year, who is now in a depth role after the Broncos added Talanoa Hufanga in free agency.
Of course, in a situation like Locke's, the Broncos found an upgrade at starting safety in free agency, and if they were to move on from Locke, it would mean they're confident in players such as Devon Key, Delarrin Turner-Yell, and JL Skinner to fill out the depth.
The good news is that the Broncos not losing too many snaps for 2025 shows that they have a quality roster in place and are not in a rebuilding or reevaluation year. It also means they don't have as many pressing needs to fill in the draft.
Of course, it's possible in future seasons that the Broncos could lose a lot of snaps and still be coming off a successful season. It's not always possible for teams to keep every player because of the salary cap, and they sometimes have to make tough decisions.
Consider the Philadelphia Eagles, who won the Super Bowl but still lost 27.4 percent of the defensive snaps for 2024. The Eagles let a couple of key players depart, but given the way they've drafted, they should be able to replace them.
And so it would go with the Broncos. If the Broncos continue to draft well, there could come a season in which they make a deep playoff run but still have to make tough choices, allowing certain players to depart. But in doing so, Denver could have other players in place who are ready to replace them.
The main thing to know is that the Broncos didn't lose players of significance in 2024, and in one case, they found a replacement in free agency. A playoff team with low roster turnover is always a good thing.
