Broncos stock report: Pat Bryant gaining on Troy Franklin and other takeaways from the Raiders game

December 9, 2025Uncategorized

With a gameplan that Sean Payton called a full “antithesis” of the first time the Broncos met the Raiders in November, Denver downed Las Vegas 24-17 in a ho-hum affair in the desert Sunday. Here’s The Denver Post’s stock report.

Stock up

Fullbacks forever: If there was a “star in your role” for the Broncos on Sunday, it was Adam Prentice. The fullback straight-up deserved a game ball, too, for his contributions against the Raiders. Payton relied on him heavily in an assortment of run or play-action schemes, and Prentice not only dominated his blocks in clearing lanes for RJ Harvey but also turned four touches into 39 yards. One 3rd-and-1 even turned into an 18-yard-dash that Sean Payton mistakenly recalled postgame went for 38. It felt like it.

“I definitely thought I was going to score,” Prentice said Monday. “I’m a little bummed I didn’t.”

Sunday was the summation of a quietly incredible season for Prentice, who has earned an increasingly important role in first fulfilling duties of the injured Michael Burton and now duties of the injured Nate Adkins. He’s consistently won one-on-one blocks all year, and has recorded nine first downs on 13 offensive touches in 2025. As always, long live the fullback.

Jumbo packages: Prentice got a season-best 30 snaps on Sunday because the Broncos went bulk-on-bulk against the Raiders, trotting out a ton of run-heavy personnel groupings and checking at times into play-action or quick-pass looks if the Raiders went heavier. That created some fairly wild snap distributions, with highlights such as:

–TE Adam Trautman playing more snaps (55) than any other skill player.

–Recent practice-squad elevation and 41-year-old blocking tight end Marcedes “Big Dog” Lewis playing more snaps than $23 million free-agent signee Evan Engram.

–Recent midseason acquisition and blocking wide receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey playing more snaps — and finishing with more yards — than Troy Franklin and Marvin Mims.

It was gameplan-specific, certainly. But Humphrey and Trautman showed enough juice on underneath routes to warrant similar doses of run-heavy schemes if the Broncos play a team in this final stretch that turns to its base defense often.

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Pat Bryant, WR2: Here’s an offensive development that didn’t seem gameplan-specific. In pure playing time, targets and comfort in any possible situation, third-round rookie Bryant is quietly running away with the Broncos’ WR2 mantle. He has earned the second-most snaps of any Broncos wideout (behind Courtland Sutton) for two straight games, and Bryant has 12 catches for 156 yards in his last three games. Payton isn’t looking like a lunatic for drawing a comparison to former Saints great Michael Thomas when Bryant was drafted.

Defensive rest: Zach Allen is a unique breed of defensive lineman for his ability to line up pretty much everywhere, on any snap. Still, the Broncos have bought him some more time on the sidelines this season: his overall snap share is down about 16% in 2025.

“We’re trying to pay attention to his pitch count a little bit better,” Payton reiterated, this past week. “It was a little too much last year.”

Backup Eyioma Uwazurike’s continued growth has helped plenty with that. And overall, reserves like Malcolm Roach — who started in place of D.J. Jones Sunday and recorded a massive sack — and Dondrea Tillman have helped keep the Broncos’ defensive line fresh. Outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper’s time is down, too, and Nik Bonitto’s snap share has held steady at around 60% the past two years. It’s a great sign for fresher legs down the stretch.

Stock down

Talanoa Hufanga in coverage: This is one pretty loud warning sign for Vance Joseph’s defense, in a season that hasn’t had many of them. Nearest-defender statistics aren’t perfect, but Hufanga has surrendered a 151.0 quarterback rating and two touchdowns when targeted in coverage the past three weeks, according to Next Gen Stats.

On the Raiders’ opening-drive touchdown, Hufanga was slow to tag over to tight end Brock Bowers, who flew wide open for a 15-yard score. Pat Surtain, who stuck with a scissoring Tre Tucker, didn’t exactly look thrilled at the defensive execution.

Hufanga currently stands as the second-highest Pro Bowl vote-getter among free safeties for a reason, and he’s been fantastic against the run all season. But there have been some gaps in the Broncos’ secondary in the past couple weeks.

Explosive plays: Who needs ’em? The Broncos’ longest play from scrimmage was that 18-yard Prentice scamper. One would not traditionally think a team would win a football game in which its best offensive set was a fullback draw. But this was the Broncos’ gameplan heading in — attack the Raiders underneath, and quarterback Bo Nix happily dinked his way to a 31-of-38 line for 212 yards.

Troy Franklin, WR2: Here’s the flip side of Bryant’s rise. Franklin will still get his touches the rest of the year and has consistently created separation in 2025, but his playing time has declined for four straight weeks ever since a 10-target, four-catch, 27-yard performance against the Houston Texans. He just hasn’t played with optimal strength at the point of contact, bobbling a couple catches Sunday, including one that pushed a would-be first down back short of the sticks.

Sports bettors: In pure garbage time Sunday, with backup quarterback Kenny Pickett leading the charge, the Raiders drove down to the Broncos’ 33-yard-line with time set to expire — only for an utterly meaningless defensive delay-of-game call on safety Brandon Jones to stop the clock.

With five seconds left and literally no hope of winning a two-score game, Las Vegas decided to kick a field goal. For some reason. Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson nailed a 46-yarder, and the Raiders walked off with the final score cut to 24-17.

It meant nothing. Except in today’s landscape of sports betting, it meant plenty. The Raiders covered the spread with that field goal, prompting a widespread outcry on social media. In the wake of recent activity with — well, waves hands — Sunday’s game brought a rather strange end.

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