Bo Nix doesn’t need to be fully participating in practice just yet to see what he has in his new wide receiver.
Nix has been ramping up his activity as he rehabs from a pair of surgeries on his fractured right ankle this offseason, and, no surprise, he’s excited to get to full-speed work with new Denver wide receiver Jaylen Waddle.
“There’s an element of explosiveness that I think as an offense we’ve lacked for a couple years,” Nix said Tuesday. “We’ve had plenty of explosive plays, plenty of points, all that kind of stuff. We’ve made great strides, but there was a level of explosiveness that a guy like that adds. So you could be first-and-10 and starting a drive and go one-and-done because he takes it 75, 80 yards.
“Thatap the kind of weapon that we added, and thatap I think what we all have been out here watching and sort of really enjoy watching.”
Several Broncos players said after the season that the club needed more offensive playmaking ability and Waddle should deliver it atop a receivers room that also features Courtland Sutton, Troy Franklin, Pat Bryant and Marvin Mims Jr.
“You just can’t replace speed,” Nix said. “Thatap what he brings to the table. He’s extremely fast with the ball in his hands. He looks like he doesn’t really slow down to make cuts, which is pretty tough to do for a fast guy. …
“I think a guy like that makes everybody on the offense better, and then it obviously helps the defense in the same way.”
LG Ben Powers out, but ‘right on schedule’ according to Sean Payton
Left guard Ben Powers hasn’t done much during the offseason program practices open to reporters. He was one of a few players not seen on the practice field Tuesday.
“Ben’s right on schedule to where we thought he’d be at this point,” Payton said, without specifying why the veteran offensive lineman has been sidelined. Powers tore his left bicep last October and missed 10 games but returned for the team’s stretch run and postseason games.
Broncos waive two, host eight tryout players for minicamp
In order to make room for WR Hakeem Butler and CB/return man Sean Fresch Jr., the pair of UFL standouts Denver signed this week, the club waived veteran receiver Michael Woods and cornerback Paul Manning. Each of the two had an injury designation on the league’s transaction wire.
Meanwhile, the Broncos had eight tryout players on the field at Tuesday’s minicamp practice, including rookie quarterback Sawyer Robertson from Baylor.
The others: DLs Herbert Gums and Marlon Tuipulotu, DBs DeCarlos Nicholson and Blake Cotton, OLs Jack Walsh and Reid Holskey and FB Trent Howland.
