Less than two weeks out from the start of training camp, the Denver Broncos have yet to sign either of their top two draft picks to contracts.
The Broncos will kick off training camp ahead of the 2025 season on Friday, July 25. To this point, first-round pick Jahdae Barron and second-round pick RJ Harvey remain unsigned. While several teams have yet to sign their second-round picks to a deal, the Broncos and Cincinnati Bengals are the only teams in the league to have gotten a new deal done with neither.
Though the situation between the Broncos and Barron is nowhere near as contentious as the one between the Bengals and their first-round pick, Shemar Stewart, it would still be in the best interest of the team to get a deal done soon. It would not be ideal to open camp without Barron and Harvey under contract, as every rep is precious, but that goes double for rookies.
Jahdae Barron hasn’t signed his rookie contract yet. Should we be concerned? Will this become a Shemar Stewart Bengals situation?@espn’s @Jeff_Legwold talked us off a ledge this morning. There’s no reason to worry (yet)#BroncosCountry pic.twitter.com/Q6rkmKSHxm
— 92.5 FM – Denver’s Altitude Sports Radio (@AltitudeSR) June 26, 2025
Guaranteed money — and how much of it — seems to be the hangup with these contracts. While there is nothing to suggest that the Broncos won’t get these deals done before the start of camp, it has to be considered at least slightly concerning that it hasn’t happened yet.
Barron is expected to be a huge part of the Denver defense in year two. While he wasn’t on the radar for the Broncos by many within the draft community, he fell to the team with the No. 20 overall pick in the draft and George Paton and Sean Payton couldn’t turn that down.
In the second round, the Broncos selected Harvey despite many running backs who were rated higher still being on the board. That pick was made because Payton sees something in him that he feels many other front offices are overlooking.
The point is, the team was excited to get these two players on the roster, so hammer out the details, work with them on good deals in guaranteed money and get signatures on those contracts. If that doesn’t happen within the next two weeks, the Broncos will open camp without them.
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