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As the Denver Broncos build their offseason needs list, there are three positions that stand out.

Broncos running back J.K. Dobbins, tight end Adam Trautman and linebackers Justin Strnad and Alex Singleton are all scheduled to become free agents next week. It’s possible that Denver could re-sign some (or all) of them, but that’s not a given, so those positions rank high on the team’s offseason to-do list.

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“[I]f we look at our roster and we start doing the ‘musts,’ you would say you have to take the free agents out of the equation,” coach Sean Payton said at the NFL combine last week. “So running back would have to be one. Linebacker, there are two of them. So when we go through that exercise, I think you have to remove the magnets. So I would say when you do that, you look at the roster differently. You look at tight end differently. So those are positions certainly that would stand out.”

So, RB, LB and TE rank high among the team’s needs. Payton was also asked if he’s still looking for a “Joker” for his offense.

“Every year,” Payton said. “We’re always looking for the tight end or running back that has those traits. They’re hard to find, though.”

NFL free agency is set to begin next week, followed by the draft in April. This year’s draft class appears to be deep at linebacker, which is good news for Denver.

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“I do like the [linebacker] depth of this class, I do,” general manager George Paton said last Tuesday. “We’ll see. It’s early in the process. We interviewed those guys last night. It was a sharp group, definitely.”

It’s still early, as Paton noted, but with free agency about to heat up, it seems fair to say that running back, linebacker and tight end are three positions to keep an eye on for the Broncos.

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This article originally appeared on Broncos Wire: NFL free agency: 3 key positions of need for Denver Broncos