ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Tuesday’s Broncos practice was star-studded.
The Broncos welcomed their alumni to practice, which took place inside the Pat Bowlen Fieldhouse, including former linebacker Brandon Marshall, former tight end Daniel Graham and former receiver Brandon Lloyd.
“That was really good,” Sean Payton said after practice, about hosting the alumni at practice. “They were able to watch practice and spend some time with our players afterwords. It’s the lifeblood of your program are the people. So the present players, the former players, those that came before us and really built this foundation and really built this tradition, we’ve been able to enjoy.”
Over a dozen other former players were in attendance to watch practice and meet the team’s new ownership, including Greg Penner and Carrie Walton Penner.
Additionally, future Hall-of-Famer, and good friend of Payton, Drew Brees stopped by practice. But this wasn’t Brees’ comeback story or entry into coaching.
“He was just in for a day. His brother lives in Centennial,” Payton said, playing down the attendance of Brees. “He phoned us yesterday and said hey he’s coming into see his brother and wanted to know our schedule. He came in. It’s great to see him. He knows a lot of people here, coaches and players.”
Despite Russell Wilson picking Brees’ brain in the offseason about Payton’s offense, Drew wasn’t in town to coach up the starting quarterback.
“I think for him it was just getting around and seeing some familiar faces,” Payton said.
But despite many stars attending practice, the most important stars at practice were the ones on the field. For the first time in weeks, the Broncos got back a few of their most important players on each side of the ball.
Justin Simmons and Mike McGlinchey headlined a group of players that returned to practice on Tuesday after dealing with injuries. Brandon Johnson, Chris Manhertz and Tyler Badie also returned to practice.
Not only was it important for each of those players to be back at practice, the timing was important too. Simmons, McGlinchey and Johnson were all expected to return before Week 1, but an exact timeframe had never been publicly released.
“How was today? What can we expect from them tomorrow? Some of that is a little fluid,” Payton said, when asked about the health of all of the players that returned. “We’ll have a training room report tonight to get an update just on really how today went for a lot of these guys.”
The fact these players returned to practice nearly three weeks before Denver’s Week 1 game against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sept. 10 is significant. As long as their return to the field goes to plan, the Broncos will have three full weeks of practice with their starting safety, starting right tackle and potential third receiver.
“With the schedule the way it is now, you have this week, then you have that additional week that normally you wouldn’t have,” Payton said, talking about the importance of all of these players returning with plenty of time before the season. “Look, we’re talking about a number of guys that are front-line starters.”
The importance of McGlinchey and Simmons can’t be understated.
McGlinchey was brought in to Denver to be the team’s long-need solution at right tackle. The Broncos needed him so badly they gave him nearly $90 million this offseason in the first hour of free agency.
Simmons is not only the team’s highest-paid defensive player, he was also arguably playing the best football of his life the first week of training camp before injuring his groin.
To say both player are important to this team’s success is an understatement. That’s why their return to practice on Tuesday was so important.
