Training Camp Takes: For the Broncos, there is so much to do ... and so little time

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Monday morning’s Broncos practice was the 13th of training camp so far.

Usually at this point in their work, the team would be through one preseason game and getting ready for its second, with the regular season still nearly a month away.

For example, when the Broncos had their 13th practice in 2019, it was Aug. 5. The 53-man roster deadline was 26 days away; the regular-season opener was 35 days in the future.

A year earlier, practice No. 13 was on Aug. 15 — 17 days before cuts were due and 25 before the opener.

That lead time shrunk to five and 14 days, respectively, this year.

WHAT’S LOST WITH LIMITED PRACTICES

First of all, the Broncos are into game preparation at a point when they would usually still be in camp mode. Game-prep practices are different; instead of the first-teamers and second-teamers facing each other, the No. 1 offense faces a scout-team defense, and vice versa.

“It’s a juggling of the limited time here with all the things you want to get done,” Broncos coach Vic Fangio said. “Today’s practice was more of a preparation for the season. Then we’ll have a practice or two this week that are going to look more like a training camp practice.

“We’re moving back and forth and trying to manipulate that fine line.”

So in effect, this week the Broncos are trying to balance two parallel tracks: regular-season preparation with camp-style practices that help determine the composition of the roster. And that comes after losing in-person offseason work due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The good news is that every team had to do the same thing,” left guard Dalton Risner said.

But not every team has a quarterback with five career starts, a projected starting offense with five rookies or second-year players and a new offensive coordinator.

That isn’t an excuse for Risner.

“We’re not sitting here saying, ‘Are we going to get as many reps together?’ Do we wish we had more reps? Yes. Do we wish we would’ve had OTAs to work into this, to ease into this, to ease into have a new offensive coordinator, getting brand new offensive linemen on the team and on the starting five? Of course we do. Of course we wish we had more time to do this and to ease into it,” Risner said.

And the timing and execution issues in Saturday’s practice offer evidence that the offense isn’t all the way there yet.

“Maybe it’s not about being 100 percent ready like you would be if you had OTAs, a full camp and full preseason games,” Risner said. “Maybe it’s about who is going to be the most ready out of this situation and the circumstances that we have.”

And that’s where situational work can help. Fangio has emphasized this throughout training camp, with various no-huddle and move-the-ball periods, as well as rehearsals of specific end-of-half situations that involve trying to maximize limited clock time.

Success in high-leverage moments like this can offer the offense a way to make up for what it might lack in its overall production.

“We try and do situations every day,” Fangio said. “We try and have an end of half period and an end of game period where we simulate those. We work them in other spots of practice.

“With the less time and the less practice like it’s been before, we have to get reps for these guys. Everything’s crunched. We have to try and cover them all and master all of them. We’re on our way to that, but we do have to squeeze it in, and we are.”

There is no alternative. But the Broncos are continuing to make the best of the limited time they have.

BARRON SETTLES IN

Wearing jersey number 42, safety Mark Barron made his practice debut Monday, working during the individual periods that opened the two-hour session. In coverage drills, he looked quick and crisp in his backpedal, movement and reaction to the ball.

The 30-year-old linebacker appears to be in good condition.

“I kind of had to do everything essentially on my own. I wasn’t going into a big gym or anything—home workouts, just having to stay on top of everything by myself. I feel like I’m in pretty solid shape.”

But it’s one thing to be ready to practice. Being in football shape? That will take a few days.

“Obviously, it’s a difference between actually getting in shape playing football and getting in shape working out outside of football. Those are two different things. I’m in solid shape, but obviously … there’s a difference between in-game and in-football being in shape and outside-of-football being in shape.”

DNVR STOCK REPORT

Trending Up

• CB Davontae Harris: Harris has made strides in recent practices as he pushes to be the No. 3 cornerback. He notched an interception Monday, picking off a deep Jeff Driskel pass that was intended for rookie WR Tyrie Cleveland down the left sideline.
• OLB Jeremiah Attaochu: With Bradley Chubb resting his knee, Attaochu was a force off the edge, generating pressure on multiple plays, including one during a red-zone period where he worked past Hunter Watts and forced an errant Driskel throw into the end zone.

Trending Down

• QB Jeff Driskel: Even working against the scout-team defense, he continued to struggle with placement of his passes, throwing behind multiple targets during the course of the practice.

INJURY AND AVAILABILITY NOTES

• OLB Bradley Chubb was held out of Monday’s work to rest his knee. Fangio indicated that the Broncos would be “conservative” with Chubb and would hold him out for “some days.” The issue flared up during Saturday’s practice, nearly 11 months after he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in the same knee.
• RG Graham Glasgow will miss what Fangio termed at least “the next few days” with a sprained ankle suffered during Saturday’s practice at Empower Field at Mile High. “We don’t think it’s a long injury at all,” Fangio said.
• TE Troy Fumagalli remained sidelined with what Fangio described as an “abdomen issue.” The third-year tight end spent Monday getting the problem examined. “I don’t think it’s too serious,” Fangio said, later adding, ” There may have been a suture down there that usually dissolves that didn’t dissolve. That’s why it’s a little abstract. I don’t have a lot to say about it.”
• CB Michael Ojemudia (quadriceps), safety Alijah Holder (soft-tissue injury), WRs Juwann Winfree (groin) and K.J. Hamler (hamstring) and ILB Todd Davis (calf) all worked out with team strength-and-conditioning coaches on the north practice field adjacent to the Pat Bowlen Fieldhouse.
• ILB Justin Strnad (wrist) and TE Austin Fort (knee) remained out. Strnad will miss the entire season; the Broncos officially placed him on injured reserve Monday afternoon. Fort has not practiced since undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery at the start of camp.

PLAY OF THE DAY

The focus was on game-planning and preparing for the Titans in two weeks, but there were some athletic plays. None stood out more than a catch by rookie tight end Albert Okwuebugnam, who reached down low to snag a Drew Lock pass for a double-digit gain during a team period early in practice.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

• It wasn’t the best day for QB Drew Lock in the wake of a difficult practice two days earlier, but he fared well in a red-zone period, hitting Tyrie Cleveland and Noah Fant for touchdown passes. The pass to Fant saw Lock roll out and hit the second-year tight end, who flashed open in front of him. Lock continues to be effective when he gets outside of the pocket and has time to locate receivers who flash open to the sideline on out routes.
• As you might expect, the first-team defense had its way with the scout-team offense, especially against the run. Running backs Levante Bellamy and Jeremy Cox had little room to operate as front-seven defenders poured into the backfield. Jurrell Casey was particularly dominant against the run, and on one play burst into the backfield so quickly that he almost beat Driskel’s handoff to Bellamy.