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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — It is the most curious hole in the Denver Broncos’ defensive résumé. And the Broncos defenders spent much of their spring and will spend a lot of their upcoming training camp striving for ways to accomplish something that occurred far too infrequently in 2025.
They're searching for more turnovers.
"You have to look at that," Broncos edge rusher Nik Bonitto said. “We made so many plays, the sacks, third downs, stop the run. And the turnovers didn’t really come with it. We always say they come in bunches, but the bunches didn’t really come.
"[I have to] turn some of those sacks into a takeaway, get the ball out. We're there, we make the plays, so get the ball out. That's been a big thing this offseason."
It was one of the first topics Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph addressed with the players when they arrived for the offseason program in May. And those players fully expect it to be one of the first items to be covered when training camp starts later this month.
"It was right on the board," Broncos safety Talanoa Hufanga said. “At the top.”
The Broncos led the league with 68 sacks last season, were second in third-down defense (33.8%), first in red zone efficiency (42.6%), sixth in defensive EPA (41.4), second in run defense (91.9 yards per game) and seventh in pass defense (187.2 ypg). Yet somehow the 14-3 Broncos finished tied for 26th in takeaways, causing only 14.
Only the Dallas Cowboys (7-9-1), Washington Commanders (5-12) and New York Jets (3-14) caused fewer. The Broncos recovered three fumbles in 2025 — tied with the Jets and Kansas City Chiefs (6-11) for fewest in the league — but only two of those came from the defense.
It seems like an improbable disconnect for a team that sacked the quarterback more than anyone else and hit the quarterback a league-leading 224 times, 42 more than the next-best team.
"[That's on] our players when they're sacking a quarterback, [hitting] the elbow and causing more forced fumbles," Joseph said. "You attack the ball, you make the tackle first, but you attack the ball when you get to the quarterback. … I really believe you sack the ball; that's the approach."
The postseason provided the Broncos an idea of what more turnover creation could look like. They had five takeaways combined in their two playoff games, including three fumble recoveries in the divisional-round win over the Buffalo Bills, equaling their total in the 17 regular-season games that preceded it.
"We did it in the playoffs, and some of it was circumstance," Joseph said. "I think our focus has to always be playing great defense. That's first and second down, stopping the run, being great in the red zone and being great on third downs. Those things can't change, but you can still focus on getting the ball."
Joseph said that some of the takeaway improvements could come from him in the form of tweaks to the team's schematic approach.
He has always said the Broncos, who are routinely graded as playing man-to-man defense more than anyone in the league (the Broncos had the top four defenders listed in man-to-man snaps last season and five of the top six), don't play as much "pure, straight-up man snaps" as is often credited. He has described his approach as more a mixture of man-to-man concepts with zone matchups. But he added that high-turnover defenses, including some of those directed by former Broncos coach Vic Fangio, often have more zone concepts in which more defenders are facing the ball on a down-by-down basis.
"That's for me, schematically, having more eyes on the ball with pressure," Joseph said. "… So, it's all of us, but it starts with me pushing it and making sure we fix that problem."
For his part, Hufanga said he and the other defenders could implement the simplest solution to the turnover drought: catching the ball more. He cited the cast he wore on his right hand/wrist last season — he had wrist surgery after the 2024 season — as the reason he dropped multiple interceptions. Plays he considered easy were instead turnovers lost.
"Wearing a club during the game, that was really uncomfortable," Hufanga said. "… [But] as a safety I don't know how I dropped all of them because some of them were right there. I'm being real with you, they dropped right in my lap and I didn't come out with them. A lot of my teammates would say, 'You ain't living right.'"
