Training Camp Takeaways — Day 16: Russell Wilson shows off his chemistry with Courtland Sutton in his best practice of camp

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — One more day…

The Broncos held their penultimate training camp practice on Wednesday, with the finale scheduled for Thursday afternoon. For the team, not much will change over the next couple of weeks except for the lack of fans in attendance. They’ll bring in the Los Angeles Rams for a pair of practices next week, and then start looking more and more at the Las Vegas Raiders, their Week 1 opponent.

The Broncos still have plenty of questions to answer before the season—especially along the offensive line—but the Broncos have to feel good about one thing: Russell Wilson.

Over the past two weeks, Wilson has looked like a superstar quarterback. There’s no guarantee that his performance will carry over to the regular season, but he’s playing great ball at the moment.

Here’s what happened on Wednesday.

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Participation report

• RB Tyler Badie did not participate in practice. The Broncos announced that they signed veteran running back Dwayne Washington after practice.
• S PJ Locke, CB Riley Moss, WR Brandon Johnson, S Justin Simmons, RT Mike McGlinchey, CB K’Waun Williams and TE Chris Manhertz did not participate in practice.
• OLB Nik Bonitto returned to practice.

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Russ had his best day of camp

Only one of Russell Wilson’s throws hit the ground on Wednesday.

Wilson was perfect in seven-on-sevens. His best throw was a dime to Jalen Virgil on a deep corner route past Caden Sterns. He tapped his toes at the one-yard line.

On his first throw of team drills, Wilson hit Courtland Sutton up the sideline for a jump ball about 35 yards downfield. Sutton boxed out Damarri Mathis and lept to make the grab. Frank Clark beat Greg Dulcich on the paly and probably would have had a sack.

Wilson’s next throw was his only miss. He tried to hit Virgil again. This time he’d separated past Dellarin Turner-Yell about 20 yards downfield. Wilson led him just a little bit too far toward the sideline and Virgil didn’t have a chance to make the play.

Wilson hit Jerry Jeudy on a 25-yard out between Pat Surtain and Caden Sterns. He hit Adam Trautman in space on a drag for a first down. On a 3rd & 1, he hit Sutton on a quick out to move the chains.

Wilson was at his best during red zone work. His first throw was to Trautman from 18 yards out. The window between Devon Key and Turner-Yell was virtually nonexistent, but he hit Trautman in the end zone straight up the middle of the field anyway. Trautman corralled the ball with one hand. Wilson also hit Courtland Sutton past Delonte Hood on a 10-yard fade for a touchdown.

The Broncos are still missing Justin Simmons, and Caden Sterns was a limited participant, but it’s a good sign to see Wilson at his best as training camp comes to a close.

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The offensive line rotated

The Broncos rotated their offensive lineman more on Wednesday than they have in the rest of camp.

Quinn Bailey, who has played at guard and tackle in his four previous seasons with the Broncos, has spent most of camp at guard. On Wednesday, he earned an opportunity to play right tackle, and he held his own.

Kyle Fuller, a new addition this offseason, has played center and guard in his career but has primarily played guard in camp. But he played center on Wednesday, which meant centers Luke Wattenberg and Alex Forsyth played guard. Fuller had one of his best practices of camp.

The Broncos don’t allow media to report which players are playing with which lineups—starters, second-teamers, etc.—but I can say that they rotated who played right tackle in place of Mike McGlinchey on Wednesday.

“Every day, there is an evaluation going on for these guys,” offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said on Wednesday. “We’re rotating through. Sometimes, some guys you see in the second half are repping with the first team. Once you see a small sample size of something good, you want to see if they can sustain that through more reps.”

NFL teams occasionally carry backups for all five positions, but more often than not, they only carry eight or nine offensive linemen. The Broncos seem to be feeling out which of their reserves can play multiple positions, making them more valuable on the 53-man roster.

Keep an eye on where the Broncos’ linemen line up and which lineups they’re playing with in the second preseason game on Saturday.

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2-on-2s and 1-on-1s

• Jonathon Cooper beat Quinn Bailey.
• DJ Jones beat Quinn Meinerz with a spin but couldn’t keep his feet.
• Lloyd Cushenberry wins.
• Zach Allen wins.
• Garett Bolles beat Nik Bonitto.
• Zach Allen and Frank Clark beat Ben Powers and Garett Bolles with a twist.
• Alex Palczewski stuffed Aaron Patrick, but Thomas Incoom beat him with a spin move.
• Alex Forsyth won his first rep but Matt Henningsen beat him on his second.
• Elijah Garcia had a sack.
• Jordan Jackson beat Henry Byrd.

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Other notes

• Luke Wattenberg lost his helmet during team drills and threw PJ Mustipher to the ground. Mustipher had a sack of Jarrett Stidham on the next play.
• Albert Okwuegbunam caught a hitch in seven-on-sevens. He also threw Marcus Haynes to the side in team drills.
• Jaleel McLaughlin looked quick, as always. Drew Sanders got hold of him during team drills and threw him to the ground.
• Josey Jewell blitzed up the middle for a sack of Russell Wilson. Frank Clark was there too.
• Lil’Jordan Humphrey caught a 15-yard dig from Jarrett Stidham.
• Taylor Grimes made a good play to get open on a scramble drill in seven-on-sevens.
• Michael Bandy caught a dig 20 yards downfield from Ben DiNucci. DiNucci hit Trautman for a touchdown deep up the right side, too. He also dropped a pretty ball over Faion Hicks to Montrell Washington at the sticks.