Broncos Training Camp Day 1 report: Energy starts with Russell Wilson

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Players trash-talked. Snaps were quick. Disputed outcomes of plays led to jaw-jacking between the offense and defense.

“It’s funny: As clean as a touchdown as it might be, there’s still people saying it’s not a touchdown,” Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett said. “That’s what you want, and that’s what you love. So, I think it’s great.”

And after one of his two touchdown catches Wednesday, tight end Eric Saubert spiked the football — even though members of the Broncos defense tried to prevent him from doing so.

“It doesn’t happen enough, so, when you get in there, you get your celebration in,” Saubert said.

“You’ve got to celebrate your tuddies, you know what I mean?”

Even on Day 1.

Welcome to the Broncos’ 63rd training camp. It feels a little different than most of the previous 62.

For the Broncos and their fans assembled on the west hillside of UCHealth Training Center, it was a day to savor. Even though it was just the first step in what they hope will be a six-and-a-half-month journey to Super Bowl LVII. Even though the players didn’t wear pads, and practice took barely 90 minutes from stretching to double horn.

“It felt like a game, honestly,” quarterback Russell Wilson said. “We were getting after it.”

Wilson was the biggest reason to celebrate — not just because of his prominence and success, but because everything flowed from him. The quick tempo of the work started from his work in the huddle and line of scrimmage and went from there.

This came as no surprise to those who watched OTAs in May and June. As those sessions began, the defense struggled to get set in time before Wilson called for the snap.

By Wednesday, the defense had adjusted to the rapid pace. The entire workflow progressed from there.

“The whole thing is based off the QB. So, how those guys run the practice is how it’s going to look,” Hackett said. “So, as we keep moving forward, get used to it, used to the play calls, keep continuously mastering the system, I think they’re going to go maybe a little bit quicker, maybe slow it down some?

“Once again, it’s all about that quarterback. As fast as he wants to go, I want to go.”

But the increased energy and pace wasn’t just about Wilson and Hackett and the contrast from the Fangio era. It was about this being the first normal camp since the pandemic.

It’s evident in myriad ways, from the time at the team hotel to media corralling players immediately after practice. Finally, Broncos training camp is back to normal — which for running back Melvin Gordon, is something new.

“It’s a little different, man,” Gordon said. “And obviously, COVID didn’t help with that situation — especially my first two years here. You’ve got the defense over there, guys split up, rookies were over there in the [Pat Bowlen Fieldhouse] locker room; they were treated like stepchildren. It was bad. But now that we’re all together in a hotel, we can kind of build that camaraderie amongst each other.

“It’s going to be a [heck] of a year.”

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SUSTAINING THE ENERGY

It’s one thing to have plenty of pep on Day 1. It’s another to keep that same vim and vigor when the dog days of camp hit next week.

“Hopefully, that energy stays where it is today,” defensive lineman D.J. Jones said. “Training camp is a grind, but hopefully it stays that way.”

So, how does one do that?

“You have to lean on your teammates, lean on your guys,” Jones said. “You can’t do it on your own. If you just come in here and you try to just go to practice, it’s not going to work that way.

“That’s why everybody’s energy has got to stay how it was today. I think we’ll be fine.”

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RED-ZONE EMPHASIS

Just as they did on the first team-vs.-team day of OTAs in May, Hackett emphasized red-zone work.

There was a method here — and it’s not just because the Broncos have ranked 20th or worse in red-zone touchdown percentage in six of the last seven seasons — including bottom-5 rankings in four of those years. It’s about easing the players into practice.

“It’s a marathon, like we’ve been talking about, and you don’t want to get big, long fields right out the gate,” Hackett said. “So, I think it’s so important to shorten the field

“We have a shorter practice, so you just want to get as many reps in as you can within the time frame. Work the most important area of the field.”

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PLAY OF THE DAY:

Courtland Sutton moved without hesitation and had perhaps the biggest pass play of the day, cutting across the middle past LB Alex Singleton to grab a pass from Brett Rypien. Sutton grabbed the ball in stride, setting himself up for plenty of yardage after the catch.

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NOTES:

• It didn’t take long for Gordon to work with Wilson and the No. 1 offense. After taking backup reps in OTAs, he checked in during the second team period and made an immediate impact, bursting for a solid gain set up by a quick cut, allowing him to slice through a hole.
• Gordon had a pair of touchdown runs Wednesday. The red-zone period accentuated his strengths: vision and quick cuts. He looked to be in regular-season form.
• Safety Justin Simmons punctuated the first team red-zone period of the day by intercepting Wilson after the quarterback rolled out. One play later, the defense deflected another Wilson pass at the line of scrimmage.
• Backup safety P.J. Locke followed up his strong spring with two passes defensed Wednesday at the expense of Josh Johnson, one of which prevented a touchdown pass to Travis Fulgham in the back of the end zone. Locke also had a nice play in a kickoff-return drill, bursting through protection along with LB Justin Strnad to quickly meet returner Montrell Washington.
• Washington, Kaden Davis and Trey Quinn handled returns during the kickoff period midway through practice.
• Washington caught a touchdown from Rypien, beating Delarrin Turner-Yell to grab a pass in the back of the end zone during a red-zone period.
• Malik Reed and Bradley Chubb each generated pressures on Wilson. But on one of Reed’s bursts, Wilson was able to respond to Reed’s leaping pressure on one snap by ducking and side-stepping him, allowing him to get away one of two touchdown passes to Saubert.
• Baron Browning had a solid day, generating pressure off the edge and reading runs well as they developed.
• DeShawn Williams worked alongside D.J. Jones and Dre’Mont Jones on the defensive line Wednesday. Dre’Mont Jones had a solid day, with perhaps his best play coming with a burst through the line to defuse a Wilson handoff to Gordon just as the play developed.
• Third-year cornerback Essang Bassey was solid in the slot with the No. 2 defense Wednesday. His best play came when he read a Rypien swing pass to TE Dylan Parham; in game conditions, Bassey would have drilled Parham in the flat for no gain.
• Rookie Luke Wattenberg had a rough moment when he sailed a shotgun snap wide of backup QB Josh Johnson during a team period.
• At the end of practice, Jerry Jeudy caught a quick pass at the goal line from Wilson. But immediately as the ball arrived, linebacker Jonas Griffith got his hand in and knocked the football loose. Simmons reacted quickly and got under the deflected pass for his second interception.

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EXTRA PROTECTION FOR THE O-LINE AND FRONT SEVEN

You couldn’t miss the extra padding that offensive linemen, defensive linemen, linebackers and tight ends wore on the outside of their helmets during practice.

It’s not the first time that players have worn such helmet additions. Some players have chosen to wear the Guardian Cap and Defend Your Head ProTech Helmet Cap in practices in recent years. But after a joint research effort between the NFL and NFL Players Association, this year those caps became mandated for training camp.

“It’s a protocol thing from the league,” Hackett said. “We’re going to wear those, I believe, up to the second preseason game, and we talk about the team all the time, it’s about protecting the team.”

The padding is designed to minimize the impact of not only the significant collisions, but the incidental helmet-to-helmet contact that happens naturally within the scope of most plays. Multiple universities have conducted research into the accumulated effects of hits, including North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.

“If that’s going to help anybody, I mean, hey, we’re going to do it,” Hackett said.

That being said, not every player welcomed it.

“It’s heavy,” D.J. Jones said. “No one likes it. But it’s for our safety, so, we have to like it. They’re making it easier for us to not be in a bad situation. We can’t do nothing but respect that.”

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PARTICIPATION/INJURY REPORT

• Offensive lineman Tom Compton did not practice and was placed on the physically-unable-to-perform list. Compton underwent what Hackett described as a “back procedure.”
• With Compton joining tackle Billy Turner on the PUP list, the Broncos brought back Cameron Fleming on Wednesday morning. Fleming started four games for Denver last year at right tackle. “For us, we always want to try to have 15 healthy bodies [on the offensive line],” Hackett said. “Always have three groups to go, especially in the preseason.
• Tight end Greg Dulcich was on hand for practice, but did not take part in any team-period work due to a hamstring injury suffered during OTAs. With Dulcich out, the Broncos spread first-team tight-end work among Saubert, Albert Okwuegbunam, Eric Tomlinson and Andrew Beck. “We’re just trying to kind of play that one slow and do it the right way. We want to be sure that he can still get a certain amount of work,” Hackett said of Dulcich. “That’s why he’s just going to be on the side a little bit, and then we’ll slowly work him back in.”
• After rotating the guards during OTAs and minicamp, Quinn Meinerz and Dalton Risner handled all the work with Russell Wilson during team periods. Netane Muti, who spelled Risner and Meinerz throughout the spring, took his snaps in front of Brett Rypien and Josh Johnson.
• Outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper was held out of team-period work as he continues recovering from a finger injury suffered on the first day of OTAs.

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WEATHER REPORT:

It was warm, but not oppressive. Temperatures rose from 77°F to 83°F during the course of the short practice.

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WHAT’S NEXT:

The Broncos practice Thursday at UCHealth Training Center at 10 a.m. MDT. The session is expected to last until noon, a bit longer than Wednesday’s work.

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