ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- The Denver Broncos' 2016 draft class was a nice surprise last season, a tidy little roster bonus for a team coming off a Super Bowl win.

This season, there are some who have had the bar raised for and will be asked to make the jump to do far more.

“It’s different, way different," running back Devontae Booker said. “Last year, there was a lot of thinking with me being out there. I was nervous just thinking about the whole offense. My whole head was spinning ... this year it just feels different for me."

Turn back the clock to last summer and the Broncos’ rookies did something some may not have expected. An eight-player draft class did enough in the spring and summer to make the Broncos’ roster.

In some years past, that wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow. It would have simply been chalked up to quality draft prep. But the 2016 Broncos were coming off a Super Bowl 50 win and the team’s veterans believed the roster was good enough to repeat.

It didn’t turn out that way, for a variety of reasons, including coach Gary Kubiak’s health and the team’s seasonlong struggles on the offensive line, but that 2016 rookie class is poised to carve out even more in the months to come. Especially Booker (a fourth-round pick in that draft), defensive end Adam Gotsis (second round), fullback Andy Janovich (sixth round) to go with safeties Justin Simmons (third round) and Will Parks (sixth round).

That list doesn’t even include quarterback Paxton Lynch, the 2016 first-rounder who is in a quarterback competition with Trevor Siemian to start, or punter Riley Dixon (seventh round), who started last season and will start again in '17.

“Those young guys do need to make a jump, and I think they have," coach Vance Joseph said. “ ... We’ll see what happens, but we expect them to find some important roles."

Booker flashed last season, but he also plowed into the rookie wall after an offseason of rehab turned into a starting role after C.J. Anderson's knee injury in late October. Booker had suffered a knee injury in his final season at Utah and was still recovering when he arrived in Denver. Though he struggled down the stretch, he still led the team in rushing (612 yards) and carries (174).

The Broncos liked what they saw from Booker in the offseason program. They believe his potential as a receiver continues to grow, and he has pushed Anderson to the point where Booker may get some first-team work when training camp opens. Booker said earlier this offseason he had “worked [his] butt off" to learn the new offense and “everything is starting to slow up" and he's "able to play faster."

Gotsis had arthroscopic surgery to repair some cartilage damage in his knee as the Broncos' offseason work drew to a close, but he is expected to be ready for camp. He also figures to get plenty of work in the team’s revamped defensive front.

Janovich’s ability as a receiver means he should get plenty of snaps in Mike McCoy’s offense as the team’s running backs overall figure to be moved around the formation more in different down-and-distance situations.

Parks and Simmons will have plenty of work to do on special teams while Simmons could carve out some playing time on defense if he carries forward what he did in the offseason program. Simmons was consistently around the ball in team drills.

“It felt like he made a play every day where you felt like, 'Man, he’s around the ball all the time,'" Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr. said. “Those are the kinds of plays we want to make in the secondary."

“I’ve said last year wasn’t us," linebacker Von Miller said. “We didn’t play the way we can play enough. Everybody wants to fix that, make it different, and those guys should be a big part of that. You watch them and they’re ready for more."