Joshua Garnett, a guard out of Stanford, is scheduled to meet with the Broncos on Thursday. (Nicki Jhabvala, The Denver Post)
INDIANAPOLIS — Some highlights from the first day of the 2016 NFL scouting combine at Lucas Oil Stadium:
Meet Joshua Garnett, a guard out of Stanford who is scheduled to meet with the Broncos on Thursday.
Earlier in the morning, coach Gary Kubiak recalled the Broncos’ meetings with lineman Max Garcia before the draft and how they came away impressed by his knowledge of the game and his poise in interviews.
They may come away from their meeting with Garnett thinking the same thing.
Garnett (6-foot-4, 317 pounds) was a team captain and Stanford’s first Outland Trophy winner, given to the nation’s top interior lineman. The human biology major wants to become a trauma surgeon whenever football ends (he’s a big fan of TLC’s “Untold Stories of the ER,” naturally), but until then, he plans to “run through the soul” of defenders.Count on former Broncos coach John Fox to deliver the most memorable quote of the day. Fox was asked what impressed him about Bears running back Ka’Deem Carey and somehow his response included a nipple reference. (He said it, not me.)
“The way he carries his pads. We’re here and sometimes a lot gets put into height, weight, speed, 40, and a lot of times it’s hard to measure what’s behind that left nipple and between your ears,” Fox said. “I think he’s a guy that after contact is pretty special. Something that sticks out for me, I enjoy watching him run, even looking at some cut-ups recently, there were a few of those, a couple in St. Louis that I recall.”
Fox also weighed in on the improved play of Jay Cutler last season. (Sorry to disappoint, but this one does not include a nipple reference.)
“He was probably one of the brightest spots, I think, about our first year in Chicago and getting to know our players, which we know a lot better now than we did at this time a year ago,” Fox said. “So I saw way more about his mental toughness. I saw way more about how he can absorb an offense and execute it under pressure. I think that speaks volumes for how successful he was on third downs, which is a tough down for a quarterback in the NFL. But I was very, very pleased with what I saw and what we have to work with going forward.”
49ers general manager Trent Baalke expects quarterback Colin Kaepernick to be back in San Francisco next season:
“The good thing is we’ve got two guys who’ve gone into games and proven they can play,’ Baalke said. “Colin’s done some awfully good things in his career, won some big games for the San Francisco 49ers. I expect him to come back. The main focus right now is his health. He’s doing a good job with his rehab. I’ve talked to the medical staff and that seems to be going very well. Just look forward to getting him back and getting him working with this coaching staff.”
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— Troy Renck (@TroyRenck)
Jack Del Rio addresses media. Said of QB Carr ‘we think we have one. He took significant jump.’
— Troy Renck (@TroyRenck)
