“To be honest with you,” Mike Shanahan was saying the other day, “we don’t even pay much attention to the first preseason game.”
And, of course, it’s a Shanahan tradition to rest his starters for the final preseason game. That leaves the middle two preseason games, which, to be honest with you, don’t matter much, either.
However, comma.
Granted, the NFL preseason is a way for the owners to line their pockets, but it does hold some significance for a handful of players on the training-camp roster. Or maybe you’ve forgotten the 2006 preseason, when David Kircus secured a spot on the team by catching 12 balls for 214 yards and two touchdowns.
The other players the coaches will be watching? The kick returners, most notably Domenik Hixon, who spent the 2006 season on injured reserve. Shanahan is tired of getting beat by shoddy special-teams play, witness his hiring of Scott O’Brien, one of the best special-teams coaches in the business.
Another area to focus on during the preseason: The strong-side linebacker spot, where the job is up for grabs among Louis Green, D.D. Lewis and Nate Webster. Then you’ve got the backup wide-receiver spots, where Hixon, Kircus and Brian Clark are trying to impress the coaches in the absence of Brandon Marshall and Rod Smith.
Finally, there’s Marcus Thomas. For all his potential, he hasn’t played much football in the past year. He was suspended from the team at Florida after five games last season, so the Broncos’ coaches want to see him in action.
Jim Armstrong issues regular reports from training camp throughout the day along with video takes from the sidelines and snippets where fans get to do the talking. Visit .
