Broncos one of four teams linked to trade for 86-TD running back

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The Denver Broncos are confident with their group of running backs heading into the 2026 NFL season, but there is one rumor that just doesn't seem to stop following the team and that is the case of the New Orleans Saints and their star running back, Alvin Kamara.

This offseason, the Saints added free-agent running back Travis Etienne, who, coincidentally, was reportedly being pursued by the Broncos. That left the future murky for Kamara, who has long been the subject of trade rumors. It remains to be seen if the Saints will look to trade him or if he will finish out his career with the team that drafted him.

Should a trade occur, the Broncos are always going to be one of the teams that people look for to make that move, as Sean Payton is Kamara's former coach and the guy who drafted him.

Alex Kay of Bleacher Report feels the Broncos are in that mix despite selecting Jonah Coleman in the fourth round of the draft and adding him to a group that already featured J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey. Here was his analysis:

"The Denver Broncos came up just shy of making a Super Bowl run in 2026 and should have supreme confidence in their ability to raise another banner in the Mile High. They shouldn't hesitate to go all-in to capitalize on the window that head coach Sean Payton has cracked open.

Reuniting with Payton and former pupil Alvin Kamara could be the move that finally pushes Denver over the edge. The back had his finest seasons under Payton during their shared tenure with the New Orleans Saints, so it wouldn't be a surprise if Kamara rekindled that form if his next NFL act is played under the head coach.

While rushing production generally wasn't a major issue for the Broncos during the regular season, they hovered around league average with a pedestrian 118.7 rushing yards per game. The ground game truly stalled out in the playoffs, with Denver failing to crack 80 yards rushing in either of its two postseason contests.

One reason for this downturn was the lack of depth. While the Broncos deployed a strong backfield platoon headlined by veteran J.K. Dobbins and rookie RJ Harvey for the first half of the regular season, the Lisfranc injury Dobbins suffered in Week 10 wound up costing the club dearly.

Jaleel McLaughlin was uninspiring after being elevated into a more prominent backup role, and this depth issue was exposed during the team's season-ending loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.

Even after the Broncos drafted Jonah Coleman on Day 3 and brought Dobbins back in free agency, Kamara still makes sense as for his potential impact on this offense as a low-cost trade target brimming with upside.

Dobbins has missed a significant amount of time—including the entire 2021 campaign and nearly all of 2023—since entering the league, while Coleman is completely unproven at the NFL level and may be best served developing for a year on the bench while Kamara finishes out his contract.

The addition of Kamara would give the Broncos an ideal insurance option for Dobbins and unparalleled receiving threat to round out a three-man platoon that would arguably rate as the NFL's best."

Could the Broncos still trade for Alvin Kamara?

This trade would have made much more sense had it already happened, but after re-signing Dobbins and then drafting Coleman, it's hard to see where Kamara would get many snaps.

Dobbins and Harvey will get the majority of the work, at least early on, while the team mixes in the rookie Coleman. Dobbins' injury history does provide some huge question marks, as the team would have to rely on a young backfield should he go down again.

If the Broncos added Kamara, he could be the veteran the team sorely needed when Dobbins went down last season. But Payton likely wouldn't have four running backs active on game day, which could relegate Coleman to being a healthy scratch for much of the season.

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The Broncos could likely get the 30-year-old (31 in July) Kamara for next to nothing, so it's not a trade anyone should be upset about if it actually happens. It does seem unlikely given the current construct of the Broncos' roster, but it's an idea that will continue to be tossed around until Kamara's 2026 situation is clearer.