DENVER — Snow more excuses, Broncos Country.

Chad Muma bleeds orange and blue. Yet he said that his New England Patriots still would’ve beaten the Broncos in the AFC Championship at Empower Field, even if Bo Nix had played quarterback for Denver that frigid day.

“Everyone is always playing the what-ifs,” the New England linebacker told me Monday morning. “But you know, I would say we still win that game.

“I think Bo is a tremendous player. But we also have to scheme up for who you’re playing. And at the end of the day, we’re the ones that came out on top.”

True. Barely. In a pinch of irony, a native son helped to send his childhood team out of the AFC playoffs six months ago, playing on 21 snaps in a soggy, sloppy 10-7 Pats victory that ended the greatest Broncos season in a decade prematurely.

“And after we won that game, it was the first time that my parents were on the field (at Empower), that my wife was on the field, my brother was on the field,” Muma told me by phone.

“So having that moment after we won that game and we’re doing the trophy presentation and they’re running out there and we’re all celebrating together, taking pictures with the AFC Championship trophy — it was very surreal. And so cool.”

Muma, 26, is one of the NFL’s cool dudes, which makes it awfully hard to hold a grudge. Especially when he gives so much back to a Front Range community that made and shaped him.

The former multisport standout with the Titans and heat-seeking missile with the Wyoming Cowboys is bringing his Muma Movement football camp for children with Type 1 diabetes to Parker Fieldhouse on Friday. The midday session starts at 10 a.m. and runs through 1 p.m. Admission is free.

“It’s not only a camp for the kids, but it’s also a camp for the parents and caregivers, siblings as well,” Muma, a former Jacksonville Jaguars draftee who spent the ’25 season with the Indianapolis Colts and Patriots, explained. “Because I think that’s one of the biggest things with having Type 1, is to be able to bounce ideas off each other and see what works for some people. Because (even if) it might not work for you, it might work for someone else.”

Muma was diagnosed with Type 1 at age 13. He’d found himself chugging water to stay hydrated and constantly taking bathroom breaks. He lost 30 pounds. The kicker came at a friend’s house when he drank a whole gallon of milk and thought nothing of it. That friend’s Mom called Chad’s folks.

“(She was like), ‘Hey, you know, Chad just drank a whole gallon of milk.'” he recalled. “My parents had me walk in their room that night and they had a checklist of all the symptoms. And I was hitting every single one.”

One of the first things Muma did after being diagnosed was Google “NFL players with diabetes.” Can I still play this game? Should I still do this thing?

He didn’t need ChatGPT to tell him the answer to both was a resounding “Heck, yes.” The search engine came up with ex-Broncos QB Jay Cutler, then slinging it for the Chicago Bears.

“And that little amount of hope was all I needed just to be like, ‘OK, I can play sports.'” Muma said. “‘(That) I can keep doing this.'”

The wind beneath his wings came from Cutler — and from Mark Andrews, the Baltimore Ravens tight end who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 9.

“Everyone has a different amount of insulin that they have to give themselves,” Muma continued. “Their bodies react differently to exercise — some kids, while they’re playing football, drop super far, whereas when I’m playing, my adrenalin skyrockets. So it’s very different.

“But the whole premise of the camp is kind of to put it into a perspective of day in the life of a professional Type 1 diabetic.”

Muma tests his blood sugar for campers before they start working out. Then he’ll do it again during a “first-quarter” break. Then again at a “halftime,” after a “third-quarter” break, and so on — just to get them used to the routine. Campers are given Glow Gummies, a sponsor, to regulate their blood sugar, and also work out with small, portable insulin pumps provided by Tandem Diabetes.

It’s about the kids. It’s about Stella Piety. She’s from Indianapolis. Stella became a Muma Mover last year, at age 11, while he was rolling with the Colts. The Muma Movement had a sweepstakes to design Chad’s shoes for the NFL’s annual “My Cause, My Cleats” initiative. Stella won tickets to a game and got a chance to see her design up close. They swapped jerseys — Chad gave her a Colts No. 55; she gave him a flag football top. Muma says her family’s traveling all the way from Indy for Friday’s camp, and using it as the waypoint for a little summer getaway to the Rocky Mountains.

“So it will be fun to have her at this camp and kind of see her lead the other Type 1 diabetics,” Muma said. “It’ll be cool to see that whole family again.”

It’s for the kids down in Jacksonville, the ones who still follow No. 49 in blue. Including one who came up to Chad at a Muma Movement camp last year with a confession.

“I was diagnosed with diabetes four months ago,” one young man in Florida told Chad in 2025.

“When I was diagnosed, the first thing I did was search online for ‘NFL players with Type 1 diabetes.’ And your name came up.”

Muma smiled at that one. Some of the best blessings are blindside jobs. It’s amazing how far a little bit of hope can fly.

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