ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The final portion of the Denver Broncos‘ offseason program is underway.
The Broncos took the field Tuesday for the first of three mandatory minicamp practices. They’ll return to the field Wednesday and Thursday, before heading home until training camp begins in late July.
The Broncos continued their quarterback rotation, with Jarrett Stidham taking the first-team reps on Tuesday. Assuming their rotation remains the same, Zach Wilson will work with the starters on Wednesday and Bo Nix will get his chance on Thursday.
Here’s what we learned on Tuesday…
Bo Nix
Bo Nix stole the show on Tuesday. While Nix only hit a few passes 10 yards or more downfield, he made the short stuff fun.
Nix played with the third-stringers, which meant his protection wasn’t perfect. He made throws with strange arm angles and off of his back foot. He hit his running backs and check-down options more often than you’d probably like, but he found a receiver on almost every pass.
The lone mistake from Nix on Tuesday was a miscommunication with Phillip Dorsett on a drag route. Dorsett sat down in a gap in zone coverage. Nix expected him to keep running. The quarterback accepted the blame for the play.
But other than that mistake, there’s nothing to complain about from Nix’s day.
He put an exclamation point on the day with on the final snap of practice. He sprinted out to his right, flipped his shoulders and hit try-out wide receiver Ra’Shaun Henry on a deep crosser, mirroring Nix across the field. Nix’s ball may have been slightly underthrown, but Henry snagged it for a 35-yard gain.
The second-best throw of the day belonged to Jarrett Stidham, who held the starting role for the day.
Marvin Mims Jr. ran a shallow post against Cover 3. Devon Key played the deep middle, and Mims shortened the route to take the space in front of Key. Stidham delivered a good ball and Mims was off and running. The play was very similar to the deep ball Stidham hit Mims on two weeks ago in OTAs.
Like Nix, it’s tough to come up with complaints for Stidham. He took what the defense gave him. More often than not, that meant hitting running backs or quick passes to tight ends and receivers. He rarely found receivers downfield, but it was an efficient day.
Zach Wilson brought up the rear, but he had the worst luck of the group. His first pass of team drills was batted down by Malcolm Roach. Lil’Jordan Humphrey bobbled one of his passes. Tyler Badie dropped one, but the throw may have been slightly behind him. Riley Moss made a great leaping play on the sideline to knock a pass away from Josh Reynolds.
Wilson didn’t have a terrible outing, but he didn’t provide much of a spark, and he wasn’t efficient, although he didn’t get much help.
Nik Bonitto
All it takes for an edge rusher to have a great day is a couple of big plays. Nik Bonitto found his plays in the first three snaps of team drills.
On the first play of the day, Bonitto chased a run down from the back side and blew it up. He had help from the defensive line, which collapsed the line of scrimmage, but Bonitto’s speed created the tackle for loss.
Two plays later, Bonitto flew off the edge for a sack of Jarrett Stidham.
While Bonitto was quiet for the rest of the day, he did more than enough to earn an A grade for his Tuesday efforts.
Tim Patrick
Tim Patrick, 30, put together his best practice since returning from a torn Achilles this spring.
While Patrick’s outing wasn’t flashy—other than when he put a defensive back on skates with a juke—he was a consistent presence in the middle of the field, where he caught balls from Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson. He brought in a ball on a quick out route, too.
“Just those intangibles,” Payton said of Patrick. “I do know and obviously have seen healthy tape. Granted, I wasn’t here, but I kind of have an idea or vision for the player. Then all the other things that he brings relative to his competitiveness, his versatility. He’s a great teammate. I think he’s an important part of the locker room, so it’s good to see him more and be smart with that.”
John Franklin-Myers
The Broncos’ biggest non-rookie offseason addition made his presence felt on Tuesday. Like Bonitto, his contributions came in a single burst.
John Franklin-Myers plowed through the starting offensive line to stuff Javonte Williams behind the line of scrimmage. He wrapped the running back up before letting him go. Then, on the next play, Franklin-Myers pulled a swim move on Ben Powers and would have pounded Jarrett Stidham in a game situation.
After practice, Payton noted that adding Franklin-Myers and Malcolm Roach to the defensive line isn’t just about what they can do on the field. By adding various versatile pieces, they can use their returners in the positions where they excel.
“It’s all a puzzle relative to how we play these guys,” Payton said. “So when you have depth and you have flexibility of where you can play… We know kind of where we’d like to play Zach [Allen], where we’d like to play D.J. [Jones], and yet if you’re thin, sometimes you don’t have that luxury. I like where the numbers are there, and we got some experience that we brought in there, both at the end and the tackle position.”
Absences
Courtland Sutton was back on the practice field on Tuesday, after missing all of the Broncos’ voluntary workouts. He spent the vast majority of the practice on the side field doing conditioning, though.
“We were smart,” Payton said. “I know we did some extra work [with Sutton] on field three. It’s great having him out here. He’s in good shape, but you don’t want to just throw him in there. So we’ll be smart about that.”
Pat Surtain II, however, received his most extensive workload of the spring. He participated in team drills and made his presence felt with a breakup against Lil’Jordan Humphrey in the middle of the field.
A handful of Broncos spent the entire practice rehabbing: tight ends Greg Dulcich and Dylan Leonard, and safeties Brandon Jones, Caden Sterns and Delarrin Turner-Yell.
Payton said Dulcich is nearing a return.
“We’re going to see where he’s at tomorrow,” he said. “He’s doing really well. We have these meetings where we go through the roster, so we’ll be smart in our approach. I think there are a couple of guys that we have a chance to maybe see more work from tomorrow than today.”
Notes
— I rarely come away with notes on the centers. It’s tough to tell what exactly is happening in the middle of the trenches, unless you’re totally locked into that part of the field. Without pads, you rarely see anything. But I have my first major note on a center: Alex Forsyth made a great pre-snap read to call out a blitzer. The offensive line defended the blitz perfectly.
— After practice, Payton said that Alex Singleton will “more than likely” wear the green dot this season, which means he’ll have the radio in his helmet and will relay playcalls to his teammates. This is not a surprise, but it’s worth noting.
— Another linebacker tidbit: When asked about the competition at linebacker, Payton brought up undrafted rookie Levelle Bailey. He said he’s part of the competition for the MIKE job next to Singleton.
— Former Florida and Arkansas quarterback Feleipe Franks tried out on Tuesday, after spending the past three years with the Atlanta Falcons. But there was a twist: Franks played tight end. Could Franks be something of a Taysom Hill for the Broncos? The Falcons experimented with Franks at tight end, for what it’s worth.
— The Broncos’ offensive line put together back-to-back awesome reps in the run game. The first opened up a big lane to the left for Jaleel McLaughlin. The next opened up the middle for Samaje Perine.
— Defensive lineman Matt Henningsen blew up a run and would have lit up the running back in a game situation.
— Outside linebacker Durell Nchami had a good day. He blew up one run and might have had another stuff after getting a free run into the backfield.
— Almost making a play doesn’t count for much, but cornerback Art Green dove to break up an out route from Bo Nix to Troy Franklin. He came within inches of an incredible play.
— Running back Tyler Badie looked quick today and produced a couple of really solid runs. He’s the forgotten man in the Broncos’ running back competition, but he’s a well-rounded back.
— Undrafted rookie tight end Thomas Yassmin put together his best day of the spring on Tuesday. It wasn’t flashy, but he caught a few balls underneath. He would have been crushed on one of them.
— Wide receiver Michael Bandy is always open in the middle of the field. He had a quiet day, but even his quiet days are very solid.
