Training Camp Takes: Why Vic Fangio made a last-minute change to Monday's practice

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Denver Broncos Traning Camp had a case of the Mondays on Monday. It was slow, lacking energy and caused one to long for the glory of Sunday (only 20 more days, btw).

How bad was it, you ask? Well, third-string quarterback Brett Rypien got several reps at free safety for the scout team defense.

Monday was essentially a glorified walk-through for the Broncos, but there was a reason for it all. In fact, it was a last-second change of plans that led to this snoozer of a practice, and that reason makes quite a bit of sense.

MAKE IT STOP

At a certain point, enough is enough, and on Monday, Vic Fangio yelled, “Uncle!”

First, it was K.J. Hamler’s hamstring, then Von Miller & Melvin Gordon got banged up, then Todd Davis went down for multiple weeks. Denver then lost rookie linebacker Justin Strnad for the year, and to top it all off, the team had Tim Patrick, De’Vante Bausby and Alijah Holder all dealing suffer soft tissue injuries and Mike Purcell out with calf tightness.

Vic Fangio is a creature of habit, but you can only play the cards you are dealt with, so on Monday, despite having originally scheduled a regular practice, he pulled the plug.

“Today we altered practice,” the head coach said after the session. “That wasn’t the planned practice that we had today. That was a practice we were going to do later in the week. We did it today instead. We’ll see how we came out of that. What we exactly do tomorrow will be a product of what I think we need to do. I did know we were going to have to do some adjusting as we go. Today was an example of that.”

As it were, the Broncos used the practice to focus on concepts that they will see “from early opponents” and won’t see from their own defense, something that Vic Fangio says they will do a few times in the lead up to game week.

While the circumstances were far from ideal, it’s nice to see Vic Fangio call an audible here. There are certainly many coaches who would stand right by their plan for camp and said something like “we’re going to get work done with or without those guys,” but despite the fact that he looks like an old-school, hard-nosed football guy, Fangio has shown during his time in Denver that he is pretty progressive with his thinking.

While Monday wasn’t anything groundbreaking, it was likely a welcome sight for the guys who have seen their teammates dropping like flies around them.

PLAY OF THE DAY

When I call this the “play of the day,” I mean it is quite literally the singular play of the day that you can gather anything meaningful from, but it was also a nice play.

In the midst of a four-minute drill, after two straight runs for Phillip Lindsay, Drew Lock and the offense faced a 3rd-and-6, needing a first down to ice the game. Lock hauled in a shotgun snap and looked at Nick Vannett, who ran an out route right at the sticks.

Despite blanket coverage from Alexander Johnson, Lock unleashed it anyway, hurling his full fastball into the tiny window that existed. Vannett plucked it out of the air with ease to move the chains and ice the game.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

• Lloyd Cushenberry once again got significant reps with the first team, though Austin Schlottman and Patrick Morris rotated in, as well.
• Demar Dotson got work with the second team and did see some of his first snaps with Drew Lock under center, but it was with the entire second unit up front.
• I have been really impressed with Drew Lock’s accuracy throughout my three days at camp. There have been few, if any, wayword throws from Lock while I’ve been out there.
• Royce Freeman keeps having good practices. After many, including us, all but wrote him off this offseason, we have to give credit where it’s due. Right now, he looks like a very solid third option in the backfield.
• Brett Rypien had a nice deep connection with “Downtown” Fred Brown, who beat A.J. Bouye in coverage for what was the play of the day for the reserves.