Throwing it 'hard' vs. 'more of a floater': Here's what happened during the Broncos' June 1 OTA

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Teddy Bridgewater and Jerry Jeudy have worked together for only four practices. But you wouldn’t have known it by the way they meshed Tuesday when the Broncos began the second week of Phase 3 of their 2021 organized team activities.

Together, the recently-acquired quarterback and the second-year wide receiver had two of the offense’s biggest plays during the three seven-on-seven periods.

The first long connection came five plays into the Broncos’ first seven-on-seven period. Jeudy worked past Parnell Motley down the right sideline, and Bridgewater launched a bomb that settled into Jeudy’s outstretched hands as he crossed the goal line in stride.

The second big connection wasn’t for a touchdown — but in some ways was more impressive, especially for a QB-WR tandem that just came together last week. Bridgewater went through his progressions and saw Jeudy downfield. He fired just as Jeudy began making his break toward the sideline. The ball settled perfectly into Jeudy’s grasp.

It was the type of throw that caught Jeudy’s eye when he was asked about Bridgewater on a Zoom conference following the practice.

“I feel like he’s a great quarterback. He knows how to anticipate,” Jeudy said. “I feel like he’s good at anticipating where players are going to be.”

Such throws are what made Bridgewater a first-round pick seven years ago. Raw arm talent was not high on the checklist. But mobility, football intelligence, leadership, precision passing, a willingness to drop the ball into tight windows and an ability to anticipate the breaks of his receivers — these helped compel the Vikings to trade back into Round 1 to pick him.

The leadership was on display Tuesday, as he was seen providing guidance to the Broncos’ receiving targets, and on one occasion was directing traffic downfield as he prepared to pass.

BUT THE DEFENSE MADE PLAYS ON THE QBs, TOO

A few moments after the touchdown strike to Jeudy, rookie CB Pat Surtain II had his hands on a Bridgewater attempt for Tim Patrick near the sideline, but couldn’t hang on. And while the eighth-year quarterback later found a wide-open Noah Fant for an easy, long touchdown pass, he also had too much under a pass for Fant down the left seam, allowing CB Bryce Callahan to break back and swat away the pass.

Drew Lock continues to split the first-team repetitions with Bridgewater and showed discretion through much of the practice. With coverage often tight from the defensive backs, he looked to the running backs and tight ends for some short completions.

But Lock also had two passes that were nearly intercepted — one on an overthrown attempt to Seth Williams that rookie safety Jamar Johnson dropped, and later when he looked for Diontae Spencer but was victimized by a quick break on the ball by Michael Ojemudia.

Perhaps Lock’s best pass of the day was on a strike down the left sideline, as he launched a howitzer to Trinity Benson that the receiver grabbed for a gain of 20 yards in game conditions.

The successful moments for Bridgewater and Lock reflected the striking differences between the two quarterbacks — something that Jeudy has noticed.

“The guys have a different type of spiral and air to the ball. Drew has more of a hard [throw] and Teddy is more of a floater,” Jeudy said.

“You just have to adjust to the certain way they throw the ball. You have to focus on each person and catching the ball when it comes out of their hands.”

Jeudy noted that working with quarterbacks so different was beneficial.

The question the Broncos must answer in the coming months is this: Which quarterback’s skill set serves their needs better?

OJEMUDIA SEEING DIME REPS

With Kyle Fuller not on hand for OTAs, all of the other cornerbacks move up a notch — including second-year cornerback Michael Ojemudia.

Last year, Ojemudia led all Broncos cornerbacks with 11 starts, 16 games played, and 62 total tackles. His six passes defensed also paced the cornerback corps. But he struggled at times, and for two weeks in November, played no snaps on defense. Callahan’s season-ending injury against New Orleans pushed Ojemudia back into the lineup; A.J. Bouye’s suspension and Essang Bassey’s torn ACL left Ojemudia as the Broncos’ CB1 for their final four games.

“I think he learned a lot last year,” Fangio said. “He got thrown to the fire probably earlier than we would have wanted to, but we had no choice.”

Months later, the Broncos chose to ensure that they wouldn’t be caught short again at cornerback, signing Fuller and Ronald Darby before using their first-round pick on Surtain.

It would be easy for Ojemudia to be down after those additions. But Fangio has not seen any indication of woe from the 2020 third-round pick.

“He’s not let the fact that we’ve brought in some new corners affect him,” Fangio said. “He’s out here competing and trying to earn a spot. I like where Michael is at. He’s still got a way to go, but overall, he’s in a good spot.”

In OTAs, that spot has been as a dime-package defender. Fuller’s absence gave the Broncos the chance to take a look, and he’s responded well, breaking up — and nearly intercepting — a Lock pass Tuesday.

“We’re teaching him some of the inside positions at the nickel and dime position,” Fangio said. “He has a lot on his plate, but I’ve liked his focus and his attitude.”

NOTES:

• The Broncos practiced without LT Garett Bolles and RT Bobby Massie on Tuesday. Bolles was absent due to a “family issue,” Fangio said, adding that he was “not sure” where Massie was.
• Third-round pick Baron Browning remained sidelined because of a lower-leg injury that he suffered during rookie minicamp. Fangio said that Browning would miss the remainder of the week.
• WR K.J. Hamler sat out due to a hamstring issue. He worked out with a team strength-and-conditioning coach on the north practice field.
• K Brandon McManus didn’t attempt any field goals, but he kept busy. During punt periods, he held a stick and waved it at returners as they judged Martin’s punts in flight, creating a distraction designed to safely mimic players in punt coverage sprinting downfield.
• Punting was the focus of the special-teams periods. Incumbent Sam Martin got the work Tuesday after undrafted rookie Max Duffy handled all of the punting chores during the open-to-media OTA on May 24. During the first punting period, Martin consistently drilled punts of between 45 and 53 yards with all but one of his punts posting a hang time of at least 4.10 seconds.
• The Broncos are expected to have their first team-period repetitions of the 2021 offseason next week. Fangio said that the structure of next week’s OTAs would be “similar” to what the team has done so far, but that some of the 7-on-7 periods would be replaced by 11-on-11 work.