Admission to the Broncos’ training camp workouts is free, and half the time, fans hoping to see Jerry Rice catch a pass, Rod Smith slip a defender or John Lynch stuff the run get what they paid for.
Rice, Smith and Lynch are among the dozen or so Broncos veterans who have been bestowed enshrinement into coach Mike Shanahan’s unique one-a-day workout program. Considering the Broncos have two workouts a day during training camp, Dove Valley can hurt for star appeal half the time.
Then again, the idea behind the privilege is to maintain a healthy dose of star appeal come NFL Sunday.
“It took me nine years to get a chance to get a day off, and I didn’t know how to act when I got one,” said Smith, whose 712 catches for nearly 10,000 yards earned him the honor. “Some of the guys look at me like, ‘Oh, you got the day off.’ A guy like Ashley (Lelie), this is his fourth year and I’m like, ‘Ash, four more years and you’ll get one-a-day.”‘
There isn’t another camp like it. The one-a-day privilege was not offered in San Francisco or Oakland, where Rice spent his previous 21 training camps. Lynch played for three head coaches in 11 seasons at Tampa Bay and said he never was granted an excused, non-injury related workout absence.
Most coaches are no doubt afraid preferential treatment for a few won’t blend with the one-for-all, all-for-one mentality that football so fervently preaches.
“I worried about that last year,” Lynch said. “I worried how it would worked, how it would be perceived.”
Shanahan delicately balances the concept of individual honor with team-before-self by addressing it head on. Before the Broncos held the first of their two-a-day workouts Friday, he told his squad one-time-a-day for a few would benefit the team as a whole.
“These players don’t necessarily want to practice once a day,” Shanahan said. “Like Rod Smith, I have to fight Rod Smith to take a practice off. But after talking to the trainers and doctors about players who are a little older and players coming off injuries, when you practice two times a day, sometimes you just put too much pressure on the joints. The only way to keep these guys healthy and ready for the season is to progressively work them in properly.”
Shanahan initially had to verbally spar with Rice and Lynch while convincing them one is better than two.
“Now I’m trying to get two practices back-to-back so I can get that wind up with this altitude,” Rice said. “But it’s hard.”
Renowned for his work ethic, Rice, 42, got his wish Sunday by participating in both workouts. He can expect orders to catch his breath today by taking off at least one practice.
To a man, the younger players practicing through the punishing summer sun say there’s no reason for envy, not when there’s benefit to having the established veterans out of the way.
“It gives us a chance to shine and show the coaches what we can do,” Lelie said. “We get more reps. Every now and then we might razz those guys a little bit for getting a day off, but usually we’re so tired when we’re out there, we don’t do it too much.”
To make it clear, it’s not a day off. Players on the one-a-day list usually spend the first half of their missed workout either lifting weights or churning up a cardio sweat, or both, before sauntering out to watch, and help counsel, the others.
Still, Smith had enough years of two-a-day workouts to understand not participating in half the workouts can mean skipping half the drudgery.
“Was I jealous?” Smith said about his two-a-day years. “Not really. I always looked at it like, John Elway gets a day off. Shannon Sharpe gets a day off. Gary Zimmerman gets a day off. You’re like, what are you going to say? What you say is, I hope I play long enough to get to that point.”
Staff writer Mike Klis can be reached at 303-820-5440 or mklis@denverpost.com.
