What we learned at Broncos camp today: Malik Reed leads the dominant defensive charge until Courtland Sutton ends practice with a bang

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — No so fast, offense.

After the Denver Broncos’ offense began to pick up steam the past two practices, the defense said enough is enough during Monday’s practice.

Here’s what went down during the Broncos’ 11th practice of training camp.

Who won the day: Defense

Coming off their second day off of camp, Ejiro Evero’s defense didn’t have any rust to knock off Monday morning.

Malik Reed jumped out of the gate, almost literally, to get things going.

On the first pass attempt of practice, Denver’s leading sack artist over the past three seasons combined would have added another one to his tally if Monday’s practice were a game. Flying off the left side of the defense, the 6-foot-2, 235-pound pass rusher jumped past Calvin Anderson and was in Russell Wilson’s face almost instantaneously. Sack.

Two pass attempts later, it was Reed again. This time, however, Reed broke out a much different move. Instead of going around Anderson, the undersized outside linebacker went right through him as he bull-rushed his way to Wilson for another would-be sack.

In the first-team offense’s first five plays of the day, four of them were potential sacks, while the other was a dump-off pass to Javonte Williams, which No. 33 made a great play tipping the high pass to himself for a short gain. Other than that, the defensive pass rush was making life quite difficult for Russ to operate.

In the following period, after Courtland Sutton slipped coming out of his break, Wilson threw a pass right to Ronald Darby. The ball hit the cornerbacks hands, but safely fell to the ground as Darby couldn’t hold on.

With not much working, Wilson went deep. Looking for Sutton down the right sideline, Wilson threw the ball slightly behind No. 14. Surprisingly, that actually helped Sutton draw a pass interference penalty roughly 35 yards downfield. Nearly every official tossed their yellow flag after Essang Bassey ran into Sutton as he went back for the ball.

Still looking for his first completion to a receiver during team periods, Wilson tried to find one as Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler crossed the back of the end zone running left to right. However, Russ put just too much air under the ball and Justin Simmons made a terrific read. With both hands in perfect position for the interception, Simmons watched the ball float right through them to the ground for an incompletion instead of a potential game-changing play.

During the next period, Wilson hit Williams on a quick pass in the flat, which No. 33 turned upfield for the easy five-yard touchdown.

As practice neared the end, Hackett put the offense in third-and-long. Wilson picked up the first one by hitting Mike Boone out of the backfield for a gain of 10. That was followed by a false start by the offensive line. On the following play, Russ threw his second-best pass of the day, finding Albert Okwuegbunam on a seam route between the hashes for a gain of 15 and a first down.

With one play left in practice, Wilson was still looking for his first completion to a receiver.

That changed on the very last play.

Play of the day

Russell Wilson, Courtland Sutton and Nathaniel Hackett saved their best for last.

With practice coming to an end, Wilson and Hackett dialed up a deep bomb.

From the gun, Wilson caught the snap and looked to No. 14 from the jump. As Sutton began to pick up steam down the left sideline, Russ tossed a 50-yard bomb in his direction. Ronald Darby wasn’t just running step-for-step with Sutton, but was in perfect coverage, as though he was the receiver.

But the matchup wasn’t fair.

Sutton’s five inches and 23 pounds that he has on Darby made this a true mismatch. With Darby glued to his chest, Sutton went over his shoulders, caught the ball and then had the hand strength to not just maintain it on his way down, but to keep control as Ronald popped out from between he and the ball.

Courtland had the offense deep in the red zone and his job was done for the day. He, and a pack of receivers, immediately ran into the locker room to end practice.

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Malik Reed — With Baron Browning making a push for the starting spot opposite Bradley Chubb, as Randy Gregory is sidelined, Reed had an incredibly impressive day to fend him off. No player on the team has more sacks in the past three seasons as Reed and he displayed his talent with a pair of sacks on Monday.

Tight ends — While the Broncos’ receivers didn’t have a catch until the final play of practice, the tight ends were eating left and right. Okwuegbunam and Eric Tomlinson led their group on Monday, each making plays in the passing game. Tomlinson had more catches during Monday’s practice (2) than he had all of last season (1).

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Calvin Anderson — Thanks to Reed, Anderson’s Monday felt like a typical, awful Monday. Not only did Anderson get beat for multiple sacks, but he also had a false start. The good news for him is that his competition for the starting right tackle job is on the PUP.

Injury report

• D.J. Jones returned to practice, although he spent the majority of his time on the side field. His return is a step in the right direction for him being a full-time participant.
• K’Waun Williams returned to practice after missing a week.
• Greg Dulcich spent Monday’s practice on the side field after practicing at the end of last week. Hackett said it’s precautionary as hamstring injuries are tricky to deal with.
• Netane Muti did not practice for a second-straight day with a knee injury.

Existing injuries

• Randy Gregory, Billy Turner and Tom Compton on the PUP.
• Both Tim Patrick and Damarea Crockett have been placed on the injured reserve after tearing their ACLs.
• Tyrie Cleveland missed practice after suffering a cartilage injury in his throat in the second week of camp.