Justin Joly's 88-yard TD complicates Denver's cut day
Justin Joly's 88-yard touchdown punctuated Denver's 34-6 preseason finale over Minnesota and gave Sean Payton one more problem to sort before Sunday's roster cutdown.
Joly's 88-yard touchdown couldn't have picked a better week
Before Friday's game, Sean Payton told his team he wanted them to "make us spin the chair. Make us spin it," borrowing the line from The Voice's judges, per denverbroncos.com. Nobody answered louder than rookie tight end Justin Joly, who took a checkdown from backup quarterback Sam Ehlinger near midfield, found Minnesota's coverage busted wide open, and turned it into an 88-yard sprint to the end zone. He finished the night with 95 yards and a touchdown on his only two targets — the signature moment of a 34-6 win over the Vikings that closed the Broncos' preseason at 2-1.
TOUCHDOWN, JUSTIN JOLY! t.co/YDUXMAFOTt
The timing mattered. Payton called the tight end room "deep" and said it would be "high on the list" of Saturday's roster decisions, per denverbroncos.com, with the club moving straight from the game into cutdowns ahead of Sunday's 4 p.m. MT deadline. A catch like Joly's is exactly the kind of tape that settles an argument like that. "This game has had its moments," Payton said afterward — and that was the biggest one.
Last time out: Broncos close the preseason at 2-1 with a rout of Minnesota
Denver's night ran through Ehlinger, who threw three touchdown passes, including an improvised scrambling completion to Cody Schrader for a 14-yard score, per denverbroncos.com. Schrader led all Broncos with 132 scrimmage yards, and fullback Adam Prentice added a second touchdown of his own preseason as Denver pulled away for good. Bo Nix didn't play at all, held out as the Broncos protected their starters heading into the opener.
Vikings34-6
Packers13-33
Falcons27-7Touchdown, Cody Schrader 🙌 t.co/oT7gXkHEKG
Not every bubble player helped his case. Wide receiver Troy Franklin failed to secure his only target on the night, the kind of quiet line that carries extra weight with cuts two days out. Denver finishes the exhibition slate at 2-1, with wins over the Falcons and Vikings sandwiching a loss to the Packers on August 22 — a preseason record, and nothing more, with the games that count still ahead.
Mims banged up, Taylor in concussion protocol as the secondary takes another hit
Marvin Mims Jr. wasn't the only injury out of Friday's finale. Cornerback Reese Taylor entered the NFL's concussion protocol during the game and did not return, Zac Stevens of TheDNVR.com reports. Mims bruised his foot and left early, though Payton downplayed it afterward — "Mims is going to be fine. It's a bruise. We were really more just cautious with him," he said, a read Chris Tomasson of The Denver Gazette relayed as well, and one Pro Football Talk echoed Saturday morning in reporting the team expects him to be fine.
Marvin Mims bruised his foot, Broncos think he'll be fine. t.co/2eYwCaDbk3
Those two join cornerback Riley Moss, who sat out Monday's practice with a rib injury, per Tomasson. None of it figures to change much on cutdown day — Taylor and Moss are established roster pieces — but it's a reminder that Denver's secondary is banged up heading into a season opener that will ask a lot of it, especially if Kansas City has Patrick Mahomes back under center.
The opener's real storyline isn't Denver — it's whether Mahomes plays at all
Denver's next assignment is Monday night in Kansas City, and the biggest question hanging over it belongs to the other sideline. Patrick Mahomes, still working back from the torn ACL and LCL that ended his 2025 season, hasn't played a preseason snap and said this week he's "extremely confident" he'll be ready for Week 1, per KSN.com — though the Chiefs have not yet officially cleared him. Kansas City enters the week 0-2-1 in the preseason itself, having most recently posted a 9-9 result against the Seahawks.
The line opened with Denver as a 2.5-point underdog on the road, and the total was set at 42.5 — a number that reads more like a rock fight than a shootout, particularly if Mahomes is easing back in behind an offense that hasn't found much rhythm this preseason. Kickoff comes at Arrowhead Stadium, where Friday's tune-up against the Vikings should mean a great deal more once the games start counting.