Editor’s note: Welcome into one of many, many BSN Denver observation pieces to come this offseason. A fan favorite in the past, these stories will be posted after each and every training camp practice. Who is standing out, who is lagging behind and who is looking like the favorite in each of the position battles? Those questions and many more will be answered right here.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Sunbeams broke through the dark storm clouds as the trickling rain tapered off at the beginning of the nine o’clock hour o Sunday, nearly the exact moment the Denver Broncos took the field for their eighth training camp practice of 2018.

With a moist, but not too damp, field and temperatures in the upper 60’s and 70’s, Sunday — as Sunday’s are — was the perfect day for football.

Head coach Vance Joseph took full advantage of that, hosting the team’s annual training camp scrimmage.

Here’s what went down during the 37-play scrimmage.

THE GAMER

The last time Chad Kelly had multiple touchdowns in a game situation, he was shredding the likes of Auburn — 465 passing yards and three touchdowns — and Alabama — 421 passing yards and three touchdown — during his final season at Ole Miss in 2016.

That was until Sunday.

While Sunday was just a scrimmage, it was the closest thing Kelly has seen to real game action during his time in the NFL. And he didn’t disappoint.

Taking third-team reps, No. 6 was strong from the very beginning.

Starting from his own territory, Kelly began the drive with a slant to River Cracraft for a 15-yard gain. Following a nine-yard run by David Williams, Kelly took his shot.

On 2nd-and-1 from roughly the defense’s 35, Kelly dropped back and found No. 19 Jordan Leslie in the left side of the end zone for a touchdown. The catch was impressive, but the throw was right where it needed to be to beat tight coverage.

Kelly wasn’t done.

On the next play, following a flag, Chad did it again, this time from roughly 50 yards out.

With Mark Chapman beating Brendan Langley on a go route just inside the numbers on the right side, Kelly let one rip, hitting the CFL’s No. 1 overall draft pick in stride for six — earning Play of the day honors as Kelly not only connected for a huge touchdown, but he looked off the defense in order for Chapman to run free after the catch.

“Chad looked good,” Joseph simply said after practice. “Yeah, he looked good.”

His next play, however, was the most entertaining play of the day. Starting again from his own 35-yard-line, Kelly handed the ball off to De’Angelo Henderson to the left.

As the entire offensive line collapsed to the left side, Henderson was unable to find daylight. After nothing opened, he turned on the burners, cutting back to the right sideline where there was daylight.

Approaching the sidelines roughly 10 yards down the line of scrimmage, as defenders began to approach, No. 6 came out of nowhere, tucked his shoulder and threw a block, helping Henderson gain a few more yards.

After two touchdowns and a successful block downfield, Kelly showed great patience as he connected with Troy Fumagalli in the flat, waiting for the tight end to escape traffic before throwing it to him.

Thanks to a defensive pass interference penalty downfield, Kelly had 1st-and-goal. After intentionally throwing the ball out of the end zone and a seven-yard run by Phillip Lindsay, Kelly was sacked before ending the day on a Lindsay screen pass that was stopped short of the end zone.

Outside of converting three touchdowns on three drives, Kelly was fantastic, guiding the third-team offense to what would have been three scoring drives in a real scenario.

As No. 6 walked into the locker room following practice, Joseph dropped his shoulder into him playfully and said, “Let’s go Chad!”

“He’s a playmaker. He’s always been a playmaker,” Joseph told the media after practice. “When you watch his college tape two years ago, he just makes plays. He doesn’t always look pretty, he just makes plays.”

On the other end of the spectrum, Paxton Lynch led the second-team unit to two-straight drives ending in punts and his third drive ending due to a rep limit.

Lynch was sacked multiple times in his limited reps and his best pass on the day went for roughly six yards to tight end Matt LaCosse in the left flat.

“It’s definitely helped him, just watching how Case prepares every day for practice,” Joseph said after practice on how Keenum has helped Lynch. “He’s following him like a little puppy, which is good. He needs that as a young quarterback. He’s gotten better from that. Half of his job is between the ears, so the better he gets there, the better he’s going to play quarterback for us.”

Despite the drastic different performance from each backup quarterback, Joseph only said Kelly “could” see second-team reps in the future.

THE GAME MANAGER

No fan base wants to hear their quarterback is a game manager, but on Sunday, both on and off the field, Case Keenum and the Broncos made an argument for just that.

“As an NFL quarterback you have to be a game manager,” Joseph stated. “When folks say, ‘Well I don’t want a game manager,’ I say, ‘I do. I want a guy that’s going to take care of the football and manage the football game for us.’”

“Someone asked earlier, ‘What’s your formula to win?’ We don’t know yet. But I know one thing, taking care of the football, that’s one part of it. That’s one of Case’s strengths, taking care of the football.”

During his 12-play scrimmage, Keenum displayed that to perfection.

While Keenum only had three short completions during his drive, in which the offense marched from their own territory to nearly the defense’s red zone, his two incompletions were never in harm’s way.

His first incompletion was an overthrow to Lindsay off play action and the second was an intentional throw out of bounds as the intended receiver was smothered by Brandon Marshall in coverage.

“I’m trying to end every drive with a kick. Whether it’s a field goal, extra point or punt,” Keenum said after practice. “I realize that sometimes the best play you can do is throw it away.

“Sometimes, at worst, you want to take a sack. Just eat it and punt the ball and let our defense do what they do. We’ve got some great defensive players, great pass rushers, you give them the full length of the field to defend, and they do a great job.”

In a real game, Keenum’s offense would have been a perfect 1-for-1 in scoring drives as Joseph would have settled for roughly a 40-yard field goal.

“Case, he finds completions. That keeps drives alive,” Joseph said after practice, doing an excellent job of wrapping up Keenum’s day.

Speaking of taking care of the ball, it is important to note that Keenum did throw an interception during 7-on-7s before the scrimmage. Looking to the left flat, Justin Simmons made a fantastic diving play on Keenum’s pass as he completely extended his body to bring in the interception.

Both of Keenum’s interceptions in camp have been to the left flat area, and both have been into the hands of safeties.

OFFENSIVE LINE SOLIDIFIED

Although Ron Leary sat out of practice Sunday (read below), it’s becoming more and more clear each and every day who Denver’s five offensive linemen are going to be.

“We’ve got five guys that we like as group and those guys have played together for the whole camp so far,” Joseph said, speaking about Garett Bolles, Leary, Matt Paradis, Connor McGovern and Jared Veldheer, from left to right on the line.

The only position that was up for grabs entering camp was right guard, and McGovern has seemingly locked it down. Sunday’s scrimmage did nothing to change that thinking.

RUNNING BACKS STILL WIDE OPEN

Eight practices into camp and the Broncos are in the same position they were in entering camp in respect to their vacant starting running back spot.

On Sunday, every running back had reps with multiple different units, and there was no indication — at least by the rotation — if any back had a clear advantage.

Devontae Booker, Royce Freeman, Henderson and Lindsay all had one carry with the first-team unit, and while David Williams didn’t receive a carry with that group, he did receive a rep.

Heck, even after practice, Joseph mentioned all five guys when naming off who he’s been impressed with in pass protection.

As of now, it’s anyone’s job.

INJURY AND AVAILABILITY NOTES

• Ron Leary (knee) and Adam Gotsis (ankle) both sat out Sunday’s practice due to soreness. After practice, Joseph said both players could have played if needed, but the team is “Just being real smart with our guys.”
• Matt Paradis walked off the field with a trainer after the conclusion of practice, but was just dealing with a sickness.
• Philly Brown (concussion) was wearing a helmet and participated in some of the individual drills at the beginning of practice, but did not have pads on.
• Marcus Rios also sat out practice.

ADDITIONAL TIDBITS

• Bill Musgrave — or “The mad scientist” as the Broncos called him when he was the Oakland Raiders’ offensive coordinator — showed outside of Keenum and the offensive line, there will be PLENTY of different looks, plays and personnel packages during the season.
  • In the 37 scrimmage plays on Sunday, Musgrave utilized heavy two tight end sets with a fullback and also five-receiver sets. He also threw in a trick play.
• Simmons had a nice day in the secondary, coming around the side of Demaryius Thomas to break up a pass in the middle of the field during the scrimmage to go along with his interception off Keenum during 7-on-7s.
• Lindsay, River Cracraft, Langley and Isaiah McKenzie all took kick return reps, in that order, during the scrimmage.
• Brandon McManus missed his first, and closest, field goal from the left hash before drilling the rest as he bounced between the two hashes as he moved further back.