Broncos say goodbye to defensive veteran in latest ESPN mock that has Denver loading up ahead of 2025 regular season

By 2 p.m. MT on Tuesday, Aug. 26, the Denver Broncos must trim its roster from 90 to 53 players. General manager George Paton and the front office are going to be more than a little busy over the next 24 hours as they create a roster ready to compete for a Super Bowl. One of the ways this can be done is through a trade, and that's exactly what ESPN has mocked for the Broncos, sending cornerback Damarri Mathis to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for a 2026 seventh-round pick.

It's a good problem to have for Denver, plenty of key depth across multiple positions where some more-than-capable players can and will find a new home after being waived/released from the team. Mathis is one of those casualties in the ESPN mock trade. After a strong rookie campaign, he's been unable to see the field as a starter and appears to be more of a serviceable backup.

"The Broncos have a rare problem among NFL teams: too many cornerbacks. ESPN's Jeff Legwold projects they could move on from Mathis, who was very good as a rookie in 2022 before losing his starting job after the defense's slow start in 2023. He played just 27 defensive snaps after Week 6 that season and 80 more across 10 games in 2024. With the Broncos using their 2025 first-round pick on cornerback Jahdae Barron, they could justify moving on from Mathis, who might not be active on game days even if he sticks around."

Denver has plenty of cornerbacks already on their roster, and we suggested in our 53-man prediction that Mathis would be a prime candidate for a trade. Ahead of roster cutdown day, the Broncos had: Pat Surtain II, Riley Moss, Ja'Quan McMillian, Jahdae Barron, Kris Abrams-Draine, Damarri Mathis, Jaden Robinson, Reese Taylor, Quinton Newsome, Micah Abraham and Joshua Pickett.

Landing a seventh-round pick for a player that you would've most likely had to release is a win-win for the Broncos and has them loading up ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft. The team at A To Z Sports compiled a list of All-Tradable players, with Mathis being dealt for a decent return while freeing up some cap space. However you want to look at it, many believe he'll be elsewhere once the 2025 regular season begins. Let's take a look at some former seventh-round picks the organization has selected to get a better idea of what type of player the team may be able to add down the line. We're going to go back to 2021, Paton's first draft class.

Previous seventh-round selections by the Broncos

• 2021: Jonathon Cooper, Marquiss Spencer
• 2022: Faion Hicks
• 2023: Alex Forsyth
• 2024: Devaughn Vele, Nick Gargiulo
• 2025: Caleb Lohner

While the jury is still out for a handful of guys, some quick history tells us that the front office has been more than a little successful with their late-round picks. Lohner is a project, and it's unclear what the team will do in the 2025 season, but his upside is exciting. Vele was traded for a fourth-round pick and a seventh, which was another win for the organization, and Gargiulo, despite being on season-ending IR, was poised for a supporting role before his injury. Cooper, enough said, a definite hit with this selection. All of that being said, nothing is a guarantee, but if the Panthers start calling, Paton should absolutely listen. We've already had one trade, let's see another.