The Broncos closed their 2026 NFL Draft on Saturday by taking Utah tight end Dallen Bentley with the 256th-overall pick, adding another pass catcher after a full day of Day 3 activity. Bentley, a two-year starter for the Utes, became the latest player to join a draft class the team used to stock multiple spots on both sides of the ball.
Bentley arrives after a 2025 season in which he caught 48 passes for 620 yards and six touchdowns and earned third team All-Big 12 honors. He goes into a tight end room that already includes Evan Engram, Adam Trautman, Nate Adkins, 2026 fifth-round draft pick Justin Joly and several other players, giving Denver another option at a position group that already had depth before the draft began.
The selection came after the Broncos spent earlier picks on Justin Joly, Jonah Coleman, Kage Casey and Miles Scott. Coleman rushed for 758 yards and 15 touchdowns while averaging 4.9 yards per carry in 12 games in 2025, while Scott was a two-time collegiate captain who earned honorable mention All-Big 10 honors and posted four tackles for loss, three interceptions and a sack last season. The group reflects a draft in which Denver kept adding pieces as the rounds moved into the margins.
That approach fits the way the Broncos have talked about the middle and late stages of the draft. George Paton has said those picks can define a class, especially when a team is working from deeper in the order, and Saturday’s run showed Denver treating Day 3 as a chance to leave with more than one possible contributor. Bentley may not be the loudest name in the class, but his production at Utah and his role as a two-year starter give the Broncos another player with a clear college résumé and a straightforward path into competition for snaps.
What happens next is simple enough: Bentley joins a crowded room and has to earn a place in it. Denver did not draft him to fill space. It drafted him because the team kept finding ways to add football players, and by the end of the weekend, that was the point.
