ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Broncos are BACK!

Well, they’ve actually been back for a few days, but on Friday, they took the field for their first training camp practice in front of fans and their third practice overall.

“It kind of feels like our second first day with the fans being here,” head coach Sean Payton said after practice. 

The Prophet was there. The Broncos Grim Reapers were there. A teenage girl in an Isaiah McKenzie Jersey was there. So were 2,996 others.

“It’s nothing better than seeing the fans being here,” quarterback Russell Wilson said. “The fans are so great here in this city, around the country, around the world for the Denver Broncos. Any time we get to practice and be on the field, it’s a gift.”

Drawing conclusions early in camp is a dangerous game. The Broncos won’t practice in pads until Monday, so contact is extremely limited, which changes the running game and the trenches in particular.

“Right now, it’s, ‘What are you doing? Do you know how to get lined up? Do you understand what we are doing so that when you do have the pads on, and we are in those preseason games or scrimmages, [you know what to do]?’” Payton said. “It’s hard to evaluate someone if they are having trouble learning what to do or if they are slow to do it. It is a little early, but they are certainly bright, willing to learn and working hard. That’s kind of where they are at.”

With that caveat out of the way, the defense won Friday’s practice, and they won it fairly convincingly. For what it’s worth, the defense usually starts a step ahead of the offense in training camp.

Here’s what went down on Day 1 (or was it Day 3?) of training camp…

A few Broncos are missing

A handful of Broncos weren’t on the field on Friday:

• RT Mike McGlinchey was absent for the second consecutive day while attending to a personal matter.
• RT Cam Fleming dressed but mostly worked off to the side. He didn’t participate in team drills.
• LT Garett Bolles sat out the second half of practice, including all of the team drills, as he works back from breaking his leg last season.
• S Kareem Jackson was given an off day because of his age.
• WR Marvin Mims worked on a side field during seven-on-sevens and team drills. He is due back within a week.

None of the injuries seem to be cause for concern.

“We’ve got three different groups of players,” Payton said. “Some of the older guys, as I mentioned before—anyone who was injured last year and that middle range group that we think are just a moderate risk. We’ll have a schedule for them. You saw a few guys that were not dressed today. This happened to be their day where they were going to be down. With each of these guys, it’s different.”

The Broncos activated Kendall Hinton from the PUP list Friday morning and he participated in practice.

Russell Wilson struggles

Russell Wilson is coming off a season he won’t want to remember, and he followed it up with a practice he won’t want to remember.

All of Wilson’s completions, both in seven-on-seven drills and in team work, came on short passes. Not only did Wilson not hit any deep balls, he didn’t try any. Sean Payton may have emphasized a focus on the short passing game, which wouldn’t be a surprise given short passes were the bread and butter of his offense in New Orleans, but we can only grade what we see. And what we saw was a lack of any pop from the passing game.

Wilson also missed on a couple of his throws. He tried to hit Greg Dulcich on a shallow post in team drills about 10 yards downfield on the right hash, but he left the ball behind his receiver, who hardly had a chance to make a play on the ball. Later in practice, Wilson threw a ball across the middle that hit the ground five yards in front of his target. The ball may have been tipped at the line of scrimmage.

Wilson hit a couple of hitches and quick out routes, but his work in the passing game left plenty to be desired.

There was a silver lining, though. Wilson looked fast as a runner.

After taking a would-be sack, Wilson took off and ran 75 yards to the end zone. While there are no stats to back this up, Wilson looked visibly faster than he did at this time last year, when he hardly broke the pocket at all.

“If you break down a whole game, two-thirds of it happens in the pocket the way it’s supposed to, and a third of it, there is a movement adjustment, there is pressure, and there are all sorts of things that can take place,” Payton said after practice. “I’m comfortable when I see him climbing [the pocket] and taking off because one of those plays is like a 30-yard gain. How else do you practice that? It’s the same way with the scramble drill when we are out of the pocket. You just begin working on that all of the time. I think it’s one of the things he does well in the framework of a play. When something breaks down and he flushes, a lot of the time, good things happen. You have to practice that and get everyone on the same page when it happens.”

Wilson’s big run came later in practice when he stepped up in the pocket, and the seas parted in front of him. You can credit Ben Powers and Lloyd Cushenberry III for creating the crease. Wilson took off and outran the defense for a gain of at least 20 yards.

After practice, Wilson once again refused to state his weight.

“I’m just ready to play football. I’m not worried about the numbers,” Wilson said. “The biggest thing for me is that I feel great, feel strong, feel fast.”

When asked if he’s changing his approach after not running during last year’s camp, Wilson smirked.

“I’m trying to get moving for you,” Wilson said.

Russell Wilson acknowledges the fans as they cheer during stretches. Credit: Ryan Greene

Jarrett Stidham didn’t fare much better than Wilson in the passing game, but he hit the longest pass of the day. Lil’Jordan Humphrey came free up the left sideline and Stidham delivered the ball for a big gain. The second-longest play was a crossing route to Greg Dulcich, who beat Essang Bassey in one-on-one coverage for a 20-yard gain.

Stidham’s big arm bailed him out of a couple of bad decisions. Undrafted linebacker Seth Benson from Iowa got his hand on one laser beam across the middle, but he couldn’t hold onto it.

Caden Sterns makes the play of the day

Despite his struggles, Russell Wilson should have finished Friday’s practice interception free. Caden Sterns had other plans.

As time wound down in the final team period of the day, Wilson found Greg Dulcich running up the seam and tried to get the ball to him. Justin Simmons jumped into the play and tipped the ball away from Dulcich harmlessly toward the sideline.

But, in the half-second it took for the ball to hit the ground, Sterns flew in from the other side of the field, dove, got his arms under the ball and rolled. The play should have been impossible, but somehow Sterns came up with it.

Sterns is competing with Kareem Jackson for a starting safety job next to Justin Simmons. While Jackson, 35, received a rest day, Sterns took an early lead in the competition.

“He’s certainly grasping what we are doing defensively,” head coach Sean Payton said of Sterns after practice. “There is less change defensively and structurally. There are some things that are new. Offensively, it is completely different. I think he’s doing well. I think he’s got good instincts, and we’ll just keep progressing with him.”

Damarri Mathis stakes his claim on a starting job

On the first play of seven-on-sevens, Adam Trautman ran a quick out route, and Russell Wilson thought he had a window to lead him to the outside.

But cornerback Damarri Mathis pounced from inside and knocked the ball to the ground.

Mathis is a heavy, heavy favorite to win the second starting cornerback job opposite Pat Surtain—a job he held for most of last season following Ronald Darby’s torn ACL—but the 2022 fourth-round pick will have to hold onto his spot during camp.

Mathis wasn’t perfect. He gave up a catch to Brandon Johnson on a similar route later in practice. For the most part, though, he wasn’t asked to handle very much as the Broncos focused on short passes between the numbers.

“I think overall, we’ve been pleased there,” head coach Sean Payton said of Mathis after practice. “It’s still early. The minute we start getting into some padded work, I think we’re going to have a much better handle. We get into a preseason game here in a couple weeks. We’re going to have joint practices at some point, but so far, the impression has been good.”

Rookie cornerback Riley Moss’s big play came on a comeback route to Lil’Jordan Humphrey near the sideline. He got a hand on the ball and knocked it incomplete. Moss gave up a catch later in practice when he sunk too deep, and Marquez Callaway stopped in front of him for a 10-yard gain.

The rookies can’t handle the edge rushers

With Garett Bolles and Cam Fleming sitting out team periods as he works back from his broken leg, and Mike McGlinchey absent for a second day for personal reasons, the Broncos ran short on options at tackle.

Undrafted rookie Demontrey Jacobs, out of USF, gave up a would-be sack to Randy Gregory. Another undrafted rookie, Alex Palczewski out of Illinois, gave up pressure from the other side.

A few plays later, Jonathon Cooper beat Jacobs around the edge and may have gotten a sack in a game situation, but he certainly would have hit Russell Wilson hard from his blind side.

Christian DiLauro gave up a would-be sack to Zach Allen around the edge.

Undrafted rookie Marcus Haynes from Old Dominion picked up a would-be sack, too.

The Broncos’ edge-rushing group is one of the team’s question marks this season, but it looks like they should be ready to put up big numbers this season… if their opponents don’t have their top three tackles.

JL Skinner wins the eye test

When Lil’Jordan Humphrey ran a crossing route late in practice, sixth-round rookie safety JL Skinner ran with him stride for stride and forced Russell Wilson to throw the ball at his receiver’s feet. Other than that, Skinner wasn’t all that visible…

Other than the fact that he’s a 6-foot-4, 220-pound safety. You can’t look at the field without No. 34 jumping out at you. He’s a monster of a man, and he looked even bigger when he was standing with 192-pound cornerback Faion Hicks.

Other eye-test winners:

• Ben Powers and Quinn Meinerz. The Broncos’ guards are massive.
• Semaje Perine. He wears about 230 of his 236 pounds in his quads.
• Russell Wilson. Not only does Russ look faster, he looks trim.
• Jonathon Cooper. No. 0 suits him.
• Lil’Jordan Humphrey. That’s a big dude.
• Zach Allen. I saw him and thought, “I should ask him if those are oversized shoulder pads.” Then I realized the team isn’t wearing pads.
• Pat Surtain. He was built in a lab.

Check out our Day 4 camp report here.