KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Nik Bonitto grasped at Patrick Mahomes’ ankles and held on as long as he could. The Broncos outside linebacker got to Kansas City’s star quarterback at least enough to have his feet, but not with any way of getting him to the ground.

Mahomes, though, was impacted enough that when he threw for the end zone, the ball wobbled end-over-end into the waiting arms of Denver safety Justin Simmons.

A young guy and an old guy — OK, a veteran — teaming up to make a key play early in a turnaround game for the Denver defense Thursday night.

Except the Broncos in the end lost, 19-8. They’re 1-5. There’s roughly two weeks before the NFL trade deadline. Denver is still short on draft picks for next spring. And the Broncos have several veteran players who could draw interest.

The Broncos certainly look like trade deadline sellers and soon must decide whether to attempt to acquire draft picks, shed salary and jumpstart a roster rebuild that could land anywhere between a re-tool and to-the-studs reconstruction.

In fact, Denver’s already started, jettisoning a pair of outside linebackers this month in Randy Gregory and Frank Clark.

Those types of moves, obviously, impact the players on the team. But they also know what happens when a team is out of contention by midseason. Most of them saw it last year when Bradley Chubb got traded to Miami, and several were around in 2021 when Von Miller, a franchise luminary, was dealt to the Los Angeles Rams.

“(The front office) can do what they want to do,” inside linebacker Alex Singleton said after Thursday night’s loss. “For the guys that are here, we’re going to play football games. That’s our job. And we’ll let them do their job. If you’re not winning football games, then upstairs can do whatever they want. It’s on us to keep the team we want. If we’re not playing good, they can make the decisions they want to make.”

It may not be about want, but general manager George Paton and head coach Sean Payton need to find a way to infuse younger, cheaper talent into the organization. One part of that equation is knowing what the team has.

Bigger than the potential benefit of a late-round draft pick for a player like Gregory, of course, is the ability to free up playing time and evaluation time for younger players on the roster.

Even before Gregory and Clark played their final games for Denver, Jonathon Cooper and Nik Bonitto were the Broncos’ best players at the position. Now Ronnie Perkins is getting a long look, too. As soon as next time out against Green Bay, they’ll be joined by Baron Browning, who is in the finishing stages of rehabbing an offseason knee surgery.

“I feel like we have great guys in our room still with Nik, with Baron coming back and with guys stepping up like Ronnie Perkins,” said Cooper, who has combined with Bonitto for 9.5 sacks through six games so far. “I feel like we’re all doing well, we rely on each other, we have confidence in each other and we’re very confident we can get the job done and produce and make a lot of plays for us.”

How well are the Broncos equipped for a shift toward young players at other positions on the roster? Let’s take a look at a few that have trade candidates and what Denver has waiting in the wings.

Wide receiver

Start with the most obvious. Denver used its top draft 2023 pick on Marvin Mims Jr., and he’s been a big play machine so far this fall… when he’s on the field. Mims is second on the team in receiving yards at 246 despite checking in fifth among receivers in playing time so far. He’s caught one pass for four yards the past two games. On Thursday, Mims played a season-low 12 snaps and wasn’t targeted.

That would almost certainly change if the Broncos traded one or both of Jerry Jeudy and Courtland Sutton.

Nobody had big production against Kansas City as Russell Wilson threw for just 95 yards. Jeudy had three catches for 14 while Sutton had four for 46 and a touchdown, most of that in the fourth quarter.

“At the end of the day, I’m going to do my part and do my job,” Jeudy said Thursday when asked about the coming trade deadline. “I don’t think about all that. I’ll just be where my feet are, you feel me? So, I can’t think about the future. I can’t think about the past. It’s out of my control. I’m just taking it day by day.”

The Broncos this spring exercised Jeudy’s fifth-year option, meaning he’s under contract for 2024 at a guaranteed $12.987 million. Sutton signed an extension in November 2021 and is under contract through 2025, but doesn’t have guaranteed money left on his deal and carries cap numbers of $17.325 million next year and $17.825 million in 2025, according to OvertheCap data.

A restructure or extension could bring those numbers down substantially, but only if Denver considers Sutton central to its long-term plan. Otherwise, they could be motivated to try to get something in return for him if there’s any interest from the rest of the league.

Inside linebacker

Denver misses the physical presence of Jonas Griffith, who played extensively the first half of 2022 but then missed nine games with a foot injury and rehabbed the entire offseason only to tear his ACL during training camp.

All the same, the Broncos have another Day 2 draft pick, Drew Sanders, who’s made two starts this year but mostly has played spot duty in place of Josey Jewell or alongside both Jewell and Singleton.

“You get him ready by playing him,” defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said of Sanders recently. “Young guys, when they first start playing, there’s going to be some mistakes. But he’s a playmaker. The more he plays, the better he will play.”

He’ll play a lot more if the Broncos find a trade partner for Jewell or Singleton. Jewell is a free agent after this season and would make more sense than Singleton, who signed a three-year contract with the Broncos this spring.

Singleton, though, could draw more interest given his recent production — he’s tracking toward leading the Broncos in tackles for a second straight year — and the fact that he’s never missed a game due to injury.

Nickel

An absence that probably doesn’t get the attention it deserves in Denver’s slow start is nickel K’Waun Williams. He was an underrated force for the 2022 defense and has yet to play as he rehabs from August ankle surgery. Williams is also in the final year of his deal and, though he likely wouldn’t command a huge return, teams are always on the lookout for versatile defensive backs. When healthy, Williams can cover, blitz and is a physical tackler.

Essang Bassey started the season in his spot for Denver, but was recently waived. That’s left Ja’Quan McMillian in the role the past three games. He’s fared OK but Sunday against Kansas City was probably his best outing yet as he logged three tackles for loss.

The other wild card is 2023 third-round pick Riley Moss. He’s healthy after having core muscle surgery during camp, but has seen only special teams work so far. Could he play in the slot? Or perhaps take Damarri Mathis’ job on the edge opposite Pat Surtain II and bump Mathis inside?

The Broncos are already living without Williams currently, but there’s still intrigue at what the rest of the season holds.

Left tackle

Now we get into iffy territory.

Garett Bolles has played every snap so far this season at left tackle after rehabbing this offseason from a fractured leg. He’s under contract through 2024, but has no guaranteed money beyond this year. So the same principle as with Sutton applies regarding the decision whether to extend or perhaps move on after the season.

Bolles’ current cap number for next year is $20 million. At the same time, the Broncos haven’t drafted a true tackle since they took him in the first round in 2017 and the bench looks awfully thin behind him.

Veteran Cam Fleming is the swing tackle. Other options would include fourth-year man Quinn Bailey (appeared in six games) or perhaps undrafted rookies Alex Palczewski or Demontrey Jacobs. Palczewski is currently on injured reserve but eligible to return. He played right tackle at Illinois and mostly manned that spot during training camp when Mike McGlinchey was out. The staff likes Jacobs’ upside as an undrafted player, but that’s obviously a big jump to go right into the lineup.

Safety

The Broncos have already got a clear read on what their secondary looks like without Simmons. It’s not pretty.

The star eighth-year man missed games against Miami and Chicago and watched as quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Fields shredded the Broncos defense.

Really, the only caveat is that P.J. Locke was also unavailable for those games as he waited out an injured reserve stint due to a dislocated toe in training camp. Otherwise, second-year man Delarrin Turner-Yell struggled and even when the injury situation was at its bleakest, the Broncos didn’t yet feel comfortable activating rookie sixth-round pick JL Skinner.

Of course, no trade the Broncos make in the coming weeks is exclusively about opening the door for younger players. In fact, mostly they’d be largely about adding draft capital for the future.

That’s especially the case for Simmons, who is a franchise staple, entrenched in the community and is genuinely one of the most impactful players in recent franchise history both on and off the field.

He also happens to be the most valuable trade chip the Broncos could entertain cashing in because dealing All-Pro cornerback Pat Surtain II at this stage would be a shocker. And, like the other vets listed here, Simmons is owed the last of his guaranteed money this year.

Trading him, like Miller two years ago, would be an excruciating call to make for Paton and Payton.

It’s not the kind of situation players want to think about at this stage. After a weekend off, it’ll be about trying to prepare to beat Green Bay. And maybe convince the brass on holding off before pushing the “Sell” button.

“As a team, we’ve got to control what we can control,” Surtain said. “Obviously the NFL’s a business and the business side of things can suck. But as a team we’ve just got to look forward to building on the weeks ahead. We can’t focus on what’s coming up (with the trade deadline) or here and there. We’ve got to focus on, as a team, getting some wins. Especially through this crucial moment of the season.”

Added Singleton, ”Like we’ve been saying, we’re together and we’re going to continue to be together. Whoever’s here when we line up against Green Bay in a week and a half or whatever it is, we’re going to go out and try to play a better game than (Thursday).”

Broncos WR playing time and production

Career INTs — Broncos safeties