Broncos Notebook: Why most of the starters won’t play on Saturday

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Broncos’ fourth preseason game on Saturday night against the Los Angeles Rams will look like, well, a fourth preseason game.

The two teams will hold back most, if not all, of their starters on Saturday night, Vic Fangio announced on Thursday. The surprise to this, of course, is there’s still one more week of the preseason after Saturday’s game.

That means Denver’s starters won’t just sit for one week, but will, in fact, take two games off before opening up against the Raiders on Sept. 9 in Oakland. The Broncos’ starters won’t have played in a game in three weeks by the time the regular season kicks off.

“It’s our fourth game, not our third,” Fangio said on Thursday, explaining his decision to sit his starters. “We just feel like it’s the best thing to do for our team right now.”

The major advantage is it protects the starters, and most notably the stars, from football injuries. As the popular saying goes, the most important part of training camp and preseason is coming away injury-free, or as close to injury-free as possible. This move helps ensure that players such as Von Miller, Chris Harris Jr. and Joe Flacco are all on the field for Week 1.

On the flip side, the Broncos’ starters will have less than one half’s work of game-like football under their belts heading into the regular season, despite having five preseason games. It’s not like cohesion—a major reason McVay sits his starters during the preseason—is something the Broncos have on either side of the ball.

On offense, there’s a new playbook, a new coordinator, a new quarterback, two new linemen and a new tight end. On defense, there’s again a new playbook, again a new coordinator and multiple new starters.

However, as another saying goes, availability is more important than ability.

An underrated advantage of sitting the starters is the backups will get much-needed work. During Denver’s first three preseason games, the depth across the roster has been exposed and quickly called into question. By not playing the starters, the backups will have an opportunity to get better. Or at least try.

Due to Fangio’s decision, Kevin Hogan will get the start at quarterback. Undrafted rookie Brett Rypien will back him up and will play, although it won’t be an even split with the veteran.

“I want to show that I can run the offense, be efficient, convert on third downs, stay on the field,” Hogan said on Thursday, explaining what he wants to show to earn the backup spot for the regular season. “Get in the red zone and put stuff in the end zone—try and get touchdowns instead of field goals.”

Fangio said Jake Butt “might” play in his first game since tearing his ACL for the third time last year. The team wanted to see how he looked in Thursday’s practice before making a decision.

With Fangio stating “most” starters won’t play, that does leave the door open that a few do in fact strap on the pads.

OTHER NOTES

• Drew Lock was on his way to being the Broncos’ backup quarterback behind Joe Flacco before he sprained his right thumb, according to Fangio.
  • “He was improving daily. I saw good strides,” Fangio said. “He was tracking toward that; I wouldn’t say he had it yet.”
• According to Fangio, the injured reserve is a possibility for Lock if the team doesn’t believe he could play for a while. The timetable for Lock’s return is still unknown, while Drew is leaving it in the hands of the training staff.
  • “Obviously because it’s his throwing hand and a thumb that’s a pretty serious injury for a quarterback,” Fangio added. “It’ll be some time before we know exactly where he’s at and how much time he would miss.”
• The second-round quarterback won’t change the way he plays the game—i.e., scrambling, running around and attempting to make plays—because of his thumb sprain.
  • “You always get talked to as a quarterback about get down and avoid a tackle. Go ahead and do that or go out of bounds, but no that’s kind of who I am,” Lock said. “I feel like that’s what got me here so stopping that at any time now because I had this little kind of freak injury happen that’s just not who I’m going to be as a quarterback.”
• With Lock’s injury, Denver is now in a situation where they may be forced to keep three quarterbacks. Fangio stated most teams would prefer to keep just two on the final 53-man roster, but circumstances can force teams to keep three.
  • “I think most people would prefer two just because of the roster spot, but if you have somebody worth keeping to be a third then you’re going to do it,” the head coach said. “You’re going to inactivate seven guys a game. It’s by circumstance.”
• Don’t be shocked if Emmanuel Sanders is slightly limited in Week 1. Fangio said that Sanders “has worked as hard as you can work” this offseason, but he was still fatigued in Monday’s game after just a few plays. Fangio added the only way to get up to game conditioning is by playing in actual games.
• Austin Schlottmann “has improved a lot” this offseason and has done well, according to Vic Fangio. There’s a chance he’ll get to prove himself at both guard and center on Saturday.
• According to Fangio, Trey Marshall was just “okay” in Monday night’s game.
  • “Was hoping for better, but he’s a young guy that’s learning,” Fangio added. “His whole body of work—meaning since we’ve been here—practices, other games—was better than his work the other night. So hopefully he’ll be back to playing better.”
• Jamal Carter is a work in progress at linebacker after making the transition from safety last week, Fangio stated.
  • “He probably did about the way I expected him to,” the head coach said, referencing the team’s third preseason game. “It’s a new world in there. Instead of being back 10 yards, now you’re at four, and those linemen can now be in your lap pretty quickly. It’s a new experience for him. But he’ll get more playing time this week in there.”
• After not having it for years, the Broncos have and incorporate virtual reality in their preparation. Lock stated the quarterback’s use it, and it’s a great way for them to get extra reps that they missed in practice. While sidelined due to the injury, Lock said he’ll use that tool a lot to stay sharp mentally.
• Von Miller said the Broncos call Malik Reed “the dream killer” because he kills quarterback’s dreams every day.