Here is the biggest challenge for the Broncos this offseason

DENVER — Arranging for Zoom conference calls between players and coaches, ensuring reliable connections for communication during the NFL Draft — all that might be the easy part for the Broncos in an offseason that will be unlike any other in NFL history.

The hard part might be ensuring that players are in camp-ready shape when — or if — teams gather for training camp in advance of a season.

The only offseason that is in the same galaxy as this one was in 2011, when a lockout prevented players from working out at team facilities.

Unlike in 2011, players and coaches can communicate with each other, which will allow for remote conferencing to replace the team- and position-group meetings that chew up significant chunks of players’ days during the two months of offseason work.

“I’m sure we’ll come up with something to communicate with the players via the iPads, Skype and all that good stuff,” Fangio said. “We’ll figure that out. We don’t have the total plan yet, but we are in the process of getting the players their iPads so they can receive stuff from us in the next couple of months.”

But in 2011, all players could go to their local gyms and work out. They could also gather in groups, which led to players organizing sessions among themselves. A slew of Broncos worked out together under the guidance of Loren Landow, who eventually became the team’s strength and conditioning coach in 2018 but back then offered his services privately to players. Dozens of Broncos would gather at Valor Christian High School for sessions that came close to approximating what players would face during offseason work.

As a result of work like that, the vast majority of players arrived at training camp that year in shape and ready to contribute.

“I have talked to a bunch of the players in the last week or so. A lot of them are finding ways to get it done,” Fangio said.

But it won’t be easy for some.

Players with home gyms will be able to maintain their workout routine. Other players — particularly fringe roster members and first-contract contributors — are left out in the cold without local gyms at which to work and will have to figure out alternative solutions. Their efforts are hindered by the shelter-in-place regulations covering most of the nation.

Without team-organized workouts and OTAs and with most gyms nationwide closed because of restrictions on non-essential businesses, player conditioning could suffer, noted former Broncos offensive lineman Matt McChesney.

McChesney, the host of the DNVR McChesney Unchained podcast who trains several current and former Broncos players at his Six Zero training center in Centennial, said that the nature of football and its emphasis on size and power – particularly on the offensive and defensive lines — creates different challenges that the ones that will exist in other sports as they attempt to resume.

“This is a big guys’ sport. This isn’t a tall guys’ sport, where you’re running all day. This is a big guys’ sport, where you can really get out of shape really fast,” McChesney said.

“And I know guys are working. I know guys are out sacrificing and getting better, but there’s a reason that they have offseason programming. There’s a reason that they have OTAs. There’s a reason that they hire the best people in the world — i.e. Loren Landow — and everything he does to work with those guys.”

This could lead to more soft-tissue injuries such as muscle pulls if and when players do report for training camp, McChesney added.

Players coming into camp not in top shape could necessitate longer training camps. In the 1970s, for example, teams would often report up to two months prior to their regular-season opener, with the first two or three weeks devoted to getting players in shape, since year-round training was not standard operating procedure in those days.

The result of all this, combined with other factors incorporating the schedule, could be a season unlike any in recent memory — apt, since it will follow the most unusual offseason the NFL has witnessed.

“If we do end up playing, it could be the most wild and watered-down season that you’ve ever seen,” McChesney said.