Denver Broncos Training Camp Takeaways: Even without pads, the right-tackle competition is taking shape

Editor’s note: Welcome into one of many takeaway pieces to come during Broncos training camp. A staple of DNVR’s training camp coverage, these stories will be posted after each and every practice of camp. Who is standing out, who is lagging behind and who is looking like the favorite in each of the position battles? Those questions and many more will be answered right here.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Vic Fangio believes it’s too early to truly evaluate the Broncos’ offensive line. A better grasp on their potential will not come until pads go on next week.

Still, it isn’t too soon to begin scoping out the competition and depth up front. And left guard Dalton Risner feels the process of evaluation is well under way.

“You can gauge it for sure. We go 100 percent,” Risner said. “Doesn’t matter if we have pads on or not, we’re at a hundred percent out here. We’ve been getting work man. Great work. Work isn’t going to change when we get pads on.”

RIGHT TACKLE: THE SECOND-MOST IMPORTANT COMPETITION

Any discussion of position battles starts with quarterback. But in a division blessed with pass rushers on both flanks, the proficiency of the Broncos’ right tackle could be the difference between maximizing the talents of Drew Lock and Teddy Bridgewater or having those passers running for their life.

The first two days of training camp saw third-year veteran Calvin Anderson work on the first unit at right tackle. On Friday, the baton passed to veteran Bobby Massie. When Massie and Cameron Fleming signed with the Broncos in May, it was widely expected that they would compete for playing time there. Fleming worked on the second unit Friday, with Anderson handling No. 2 left-tackle duties behind Bolles.

Of these three, Massie is the most seasoned.

He has 110 career starts to his name, and has started every game in which he has played since 2014, his third season with the Arizona Cardinals. He moved to Chicago in 2016 and held down their right-tackle position for all but 16 games in that span, dealing with injuries that cost him 14 games over the past two seasons.

He’s not used to being in a competition.

“It’s new for me, something I’ve never done before,” he said. “But football is football. The plays I get, I go out there and execute them.”

The afore-mentioned injuries that led the Bears to move on from Massie this offseason. So, he decamped to his home — which just happens to be in Colorado.

He isn’t a native. He and his wife simply fell in love with the state during their visits in recent years.

“My wife is an avid hiker. I fish a whole lot, and I’m getting into hunting,” he said. “It’s just a perfect place for both of us.”

Their affinity reached the point where they bought a house in Larkspur last September, intending to make Colorado their forever home.

As he fished and enjoyed his new life this spring, he lingered on the free-agent market, going unsigned for two months.

Then, Ja’Wuan James tore an Achilles tendon working out on his own. The Broncos released him, bringing down the curtain on one of the most disastrous free-agent signings in team history.

That opened the door for Massie.

But at first, he wasn’t aware of the possibility.

His wife, on the other hand …

“She came to me,” Massie said. “She wanted me to jump on it and not think about anywhere else. We want this to be the place I finish out my career.”

Massie can see the finish line. In his career, he’s been with four teams that made the playoffs, although he didn’t play in the Bears’ wild-card loss at New Orleans in January due to a knee injury. The closest he came to a Super Bowl was when the Cardinals advanced to the 2015 NFC Championship Game, falling 49-15 at Carolina.

He didn’t need to keep going. He was content to hunt, fish, play video games, sample restaurants and settle into life as a Coloradan by choice.

But the Broncos offered him a chance to write a better ending than going out on Chicago’s injured-reserve list.

“At this stage of my career, I’ve played a long time. I made a little bit of money,” he said.

“It wasn’t about having a job. I wanted to play in a place I lived at for good. It’s a great team with a lot of young talent. They’re capable of doing a lot of great things. They just need to execute at certain times.”

If Massie earns the job, his experience could help them do just that, playing the role that Demar Dotson did last year in providing stability to a position that lacks it.

“Just him being in the room in so many facets talking about run game, and pass game, and how guys rush,” Risner said. “He’s just been around the game a long time so, you kind of soak in what those guys say.”

Play of the Day

When I see an offensive lineman pancake a physical defender, this will be my favorite play of almost any day. So, when Lloyd Cushenberry sent Alexander Johnson tumbling toward the grass when he pulled right on a run play, I felt a shudder of glee in my spine.

Was it too physical for a day in which the Broncos only wore shells, with full pads not on the docket until next Tuesday’s practice? Probably. But the only moment that got a louder reaction from the fans on the hillside was when Jerry Jeudy walked over and waved his arms to celebrate after catching a touchdown pass from Lock.

The hit could also be the beginning of something.

“You heard ‘A.J. [Johnson] after; he went up to him and he said, ‘Not again. You messed up now. I’m coming after you now,’” Risner said. “That’s football.

DNVR Stock Report

Trending up

TE NOAH FANT: Both Bridgewater and Lock got Fant involved throughout the day, with Fant’s biggest gain coming when Bridgewater it him on what Fant said was “essentially a corner route.”

“I should have had a little bit more definition on that route, but I fit into the zone,” Fant said.

At another point in practice, Bridgewater looked for Fant on a post route in the red zone, but with tight coverage, Bridgewater threw the ball safely. It was the third time that a Broncos passer looked for Fant in the middle of the end zone in the last two practices; Lock tried to jam two passes in blanket coverage into the end zone for Fant on Thursday, but both fell incomplete and were nearly intercepted.

Trending down

WR TYRIE CLEVELAND: Two opportunities for big plays in the first three practice skipped off Cleveland’s hands — literally. He was out in front on a deep post route for a potential touchdown from Bridgewater on Wednesday, but the pass skipped off his hand. On Friday, he broke open near the right sideline, shaking free of coverage from rookie CB Pat Surtain II, but dropped Bridgewater’s pass.

Quote of the Day

“I don’t know what the intelligent equation would be but one s***ty play that could really affect that game, how many of the ‘wow’ plays do you need to make to wipe that off the books? I don’t know the answer to that.”
— Fangio, on weighing the value of splash plays against the damage from mistakes from the QB position

Injury and Availability

WR COURTLAND SUTTON: He continued to rotate in for team and seven-on-seven periods as he continues progressing back toward a full practice workload.

NT MIKE PURCELL: He left practice midway through with an ankle injury, walking back to the locker room under his own power. “The early prognosis is it’s just a sprain, but we’ll see,” Fangio said.

WR TIM PATRICK: Fangio opted to hold him out of practice because of leg soreness. “He’s fine,” Fangio said. “He could have practiced; I trump the medical people. I get a joy out of that sometimes.”

Name to Know

RB MIKE BOONE: The improved offensive line should lead to better opportunities for Denver’s running backs. Melvin Gordon III and Javonte Williams have each ripped off impressive runs over the first three practices. But it’s Boone, a free-agent pickup signed as much for his special-teams acumen as his running ability, who has opened eyes and shown that the Vikings might have erred in giving him limited opportunities in the last three seasons … and then by letting him test the market in March.