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The Denver Broncos opened up training camp as defending Super Bowl Champions on Thursday morning. As the players took the field and the crowd erupted, Jay Z’s “On To The Next One” appropriately blasted through the speakers.

Von Miller garnered the largest ovation from the fans, chanting “MVP” to the Super Bowl 50 Most Valuable Player in likely their first chance to see him in person since he stepped off of the field in Santa Clara.

BSN Denver was on hand for the entirety of the three-hour practice, here’s what we saw:

Sanchez settling in

If you had handicapped the quarterback competition coming into camp, offseason acquisition Mark Sanchez would have been the odds-on favorite to win the job. On Thursday, he looked the part.

“I thought Mark was very sharp in practice,” head coach Gary Kubiak said.

Sanchez no longer looks like he’s lost or pressing on the field, he looks like a player who expects to be the starting quarterback and expects to do whatever it takes to get that job done.

The veteran QB connected multiple times with Demaryius Thomas—who admitted yesterday that it’s human nature to pick a favorite QB—on deep out routes and displayed plenty of zip on those throws. Sanchez also connected with Virgil Green on a long ball over the middle and simply avoided the deer-in-the-headlights moments that he often displayed when running the offense in the Spring.

He wasn’t perfect, missing Emmanuel Sanders on a wide-open fly route down the sideline, leaving Sanders frustrated, but if you were to handicap the QB race again after today’s practice, Sanchez would have improved his odds.

As for the quarterbacks competing with Sanchez, the day was fairly similar to what we saw in OTAs and minicamp, Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch having their moments and having their struggles.

Siemian threw the lone interception of the day when Lorenzo Doss stepped in front of a Cody Latimer comeback route and took the ball the other way. Lynch missed a few short passes, looking a bit too hyped up for the first day of camp and airmailing the ball slightly.

All in all, not necessarily a trademark day for the quarterbacks as a whole, but Sanchez certainly has the inside track to the job and handled that well today.

Rookies set to contribute

John Elway said yesterday the big question for them as they looked at the team is, “Did we get better?” Well, it seems the team certainly added players in the draft and beyond that will contribute to the returning champs.

Off the top, Justin Simmons looks like the real deal. He’s so versatile as a DB that he will certainly find a way to be on the field this season. Today, he was running with a mix of the ones and twos and looked like he fit right in.

Devontae Booker was full-go today for the first time and showed some of the potential that people around the Broncos are so excited about. While he doesn’t quite seem to have full confidence in that knee yet—which is expected, coming off of what he called the first injury of his life—he has a nice mix of quicks and apparent power to go with it.

Another guy who was on the field with the team today is second-round pick Adam Gotsis. Despite not going full-speed, he was working with a mix of ones and twos during the half-speed period. He wasn’t able to show any of his skill, but his size was apparent, looking like a giant on the line.

Tight ends rotating

Tight end doesn’t seem to be a position that many are concerned about with this team, but it is a group that contains a lot of uncertainty.

Virgil Green is the only player at the position who has experience with this team, and even he hasn’t had much of an opportunity to display his ability as a pass-catcher.

Green, Jeff Heuerman and Garrett Graham shared the reps today, and it seems there is a lot of playing time up for grabs. Heuerman seemingly spent the most time with the ones, with the Broncos liking his ability to split out wide.

All three of those players and even undrafted rookie Henry Krieger-Coble are in a relatively open competition for the two spots that will be on the field so often.

Notes

-Aqib Talib, DeMarcus Ware and Kenny Anunike were the only players who didn’t participate in practice.

-Jordan Norwood and Kalif Raymond split time at kick returner.

-Paxton Lynch had a couple of nice connections with brand new wide receiver addition, Marlon Brown.

-Darius Kilgo worked extensively with the second-team at nose guard.

Stay tuned to BSN Denver throughout training camp for all of your coverage of the Denver Broncos