By most measures, the 2024 season was a massive success for the Denver Outlaws. After a moribund final year as the Chrome, the fresh-faced franchise rebuilt on the fly with a dynamic group of rookies that took the team to the Cash App Playoffs.

The Outlaws fell to the Maryland Whipsnakes 11-10 in the first round, but the team showed that it’s ahead of schedule and ready to compete for championships as soon as next year.

The rapid rebuild was spearheaded by a historic rookie class. Brennan O’Neill is the face of the class and a surefire franchise centerpiece moving forward. The rest of the rookies proved to be just as ready for primetime, as well.

Midfielder Graham Bundy Jr., long-stick midfielder Jake Piseno, faceoff specialist Luke Wierman, attackman Josh Zawada and undrafted attacker Dalton Young all looked like pieces to build around moving forward.

In addition to the rookies, Denver’s veteran cornerstone pieces delivered another strong season. Defenseman JT Giles-Harris was an All-Pro, and short-stick defensive midfielder Ryan Terefenko was one of the best at his position in the league.

As head coach and general manager Tim Soudan takes this team fully into this new era of Outlaws lacrosse, the next step is to retool around the youth and find the missing pieces to make a good team great.

The Core

A Brennan O’Neill (signed through 2026), Josh Zawada (‘26), Cross Ferrara (‘25)

M Graham Bundy Jr. (‘26), Dalton Young (‘26), Sam Handley (‘25)

SSDM Ryan Terefenko (‘26)

LSM Jake Piseno (‘26)

D JT Giles-Harris (‘26)

FO Luke Wierman (‘26)

All of these players are signed through at least next season and are key contributors to Denver’s gameday roster. Most of these guys, especially those signed through 2026, will be the heart of this next generation.

The Outlaws' last two draft classes are well-represented at the heart of this team, and that success in the draft allows the club to build its strong, homegrown culture. 

Pending free agents

A Eric Law, Logan Wisnauskas

M Justin Anderson, Dylan Gergar, Mac Costin

SSDM Will Haus

LSM Nick Grill, Eli Salama

D Mike Manley, Jesse Bernhardt, Greg Weyl

G Owen McElroy

Denver has several questions to address this offseason. Anderson and McElroy should be no-brainer re-signings. Both are in the prime of their careers and coming off of excellent seasons for the Outlaws.

After those two, it gets a little trickier.

Manley and Bernhardt have been staples of this group for a long time. They’re both good enough to continue playing at this level and are key pieces of this team’s defense and culture. If they want to come back, they’ll be back.

The same is true for Law. His midseason addition was a massive shift for Denver and helped propel the team into the postseason. He’s a great leader for a young offense, but we’ll see if he decides to come back for another year.

Wisnauskas is the biggest question mark of all the free agents. At his best, he’s one of the top goal-scorers in the world. The team invested a lot in him when it drafted him first overall in 2021. But what is his place on the roster after he missed almost all of last season with an injury?

Wisnauskas is one of the best attackmen in the league when he’s healthy, but does he fit alongside O’Neill long-term? That was the biggest question for this team entering the season, and they didn’t get a chance to find an answer.

Top needs

Getting younger on defense

Even if one or both of Bernhardt and Manley come back, Denver needs to start finding long-term answers at the backend to partner with Giles-Harris. Come draft time, close defense needs to be a top priority.

An offensive facilitator

The Outlaws have a lot of good offensive pieces, but they lack a true facilitator to create chances for others. O’Neill is a special dodger when creating for himself, but Denver doesn't have a dominant dodge-to-feed type of player. 

Denver finished with the third-fewest assists in the league (54), and the offense needs more of a playmaking punch to take the next step and elevate the likes of O’Neill, Bundy and potentially Wisnauskas.

Short-stick depth

Terefenko and Alex Smith are the only SSDMs on the roster signed through next season. At times this season, Denver struggled at that position outside of Terefenko. 

Haus is a good veteran who would be a strong re-signing, but the Outlaws need to do even more to shore up the rope unit.