For NFL players, this time of year, OTAs, is very different depending on who you are and how long you’ve been around.
For veterans it’s a time to shake the rust off, get used to some new wrinkles in the system and build chemistry with your teammates. For highly regarded rookies, it’s a time to put your mouth up to that firehose of information and try to absorb as much as you possibly can, to try and do everything you can to be ready when the team needs you in the Fall. But for late picks and undrafted free agents, this is a chance to prove you belong and there are absolutely no guarantees as to how many chances you’ll get to do that in this league.
Every day, these young guys are out there trying to get noticed by Gary Kubiak, Wade Phillips, Rick Dennison and maybe most importantly Joe DeCamillis.
DeCamillis, the Broncos special teams coordinator, holds a lot of power when it comes to which proverbial long shots make the team. If you aren’t going to contribute right away on 1st, 2nd and 3rd down, you better be able to help the team somehow.
On Thursday, the 28-year coach explained what he’s looking for in the rooks.
“How much information they can actually take from the meeting room to the field is important,” he explained. “You see certain guys that are able to do that quickly, and that usually means they’re going to be ready to play on Sunday. The other thing that you like to see is you like to see guys show their athleticism out on the field. Not just through the combine stuff.”
One guy has stood out the most so far.
“The young safety comes to mind, 34, Will Parks,” DeCamillis told. “He’s done a good job of really putting himself in position for a lot of plays. He’s got real good energy out there. That’s a real positive so far.”
Parks has been catching praise all over the place, Wade Phillips told media that he’s one of a few players to have not missed a single question on the 25 tests they’ve given the rookies about the system, he also had an interception in practice on Thursday.
“As a rookie, things go a lot faster than you expect,” Parks said on Tuesday. “But once you kind of pick up on the things and pick up on the tendencies of the offense, you can just interpret what you’ve got in there in the film room and put it out there on the field..”
Earlier this week, we talked about the competition at receiver for the five maybe six available spots. That too will be affected by special teams, as receivers will try to prove their worth with return skills.
“We worked on it this week,” DeCamillis explained. “Jordan [Norwood] is back there catching, Kalif Raymond was also back there with him and then a little bit of a surprise is Mose [Frazier], the kid from Memphis, he’s done a good job so far. We’ll have good competition during camp.”
Both Raymond ( 5-foot-9, 160 pounds) and Frazier (5-foot-11, 190 pounds) have made plays on offense but are small enough that the return game may be their best avenue towards sticking around.
Finally, there’s the guy who was drafted strictly for special teams, the punter. Although, the 6-foot-5, 207 pound Riley Dixon looks like he could join the wide receiver competition if he wanted to.
“It was a good week for him. It was a good week,” the coach said of the seventh-round pick. “I thought both of those guys had good weeks. [P] Britton [Colquitt] had a good week also. It’s exactly like we thought it was going to be. It’s going to be a tough deal. Whoever is the best guy and the best one at the end, that’s who we’ll take at the end of camp.”
Anytime they say that competition is close, go ahead and give the edge to the rookie who is set to make $450,000 over the guy who’s in line for $3.25 million.
The competition is a-plenty right now at Dove Valley and the competitions at all positions will be close, look for special teams to be the great tie breaker as we move closer to the season.
