Attendance
Physically Unable to Perform list — OL Nick Gargiulo (knee).
Injured reserve — DL Matt Henningsen (Achilles)
Did not practice — WR Jaylen Waddle (muscle strain), WR Marvin Mims Jr., C Luke Wattenberg (shoulder), C Alex Forsyth, TE Caleb Lohner (foot/ankle), OLB Dasan McCullough
Left practice — RB J.K. Dobbins (soft tissue), WR Michael Bandy
Consider Sean Payton officially concerned about the Broncos’ injury situation.
Denver, through its first 11 days on the field, has only lost one player to what is known to be a serious injury — that was Matt Henningsen, who tore his Achilles on Friday — but several key players have missed time with soft-tissue injuries. Receiver Jaylen Waddle strained a muscle last week and hasn’t been back on the field since. Marvin Mims Jr. was in pads Monday after leaving practice Friday. That day, he pulled up while running a deep route and grabbed near his groin on the left side, hobbling off the field.
Then Monday, running back J.K. Dobbins jogged off the field midway through practice with training staff behind. Payton said Dobbins had a “soft tissue” injury.
That continues a trend Payton mentioned off the top Monday.
“We’ve got to get a handle on some of the soft-tissues,” he said. “We’ve had a couple either strains, hamstring or groins. We continue to fight through that.”
Payton said he didn’t think the uptick was due to the heat, but said, “you always try to look at your pre-practice routine. Your hydration, obviously. And itap incumbent on the player. Itap hard for anyone to know your soft tissue. I’m always looking at maybe what we did leading up to the period when a guy had a strain.
Dobbins, of course, has not played a full season due to various injuries in his career, but earlier in training camp, he “pinky promised” he’d stay healthy this fall, play in all 17 regular-season games, and win the NFL’s rushing title.
Payton had the Broncos out for a long practice Monday and finished it not only with some conditioning work — thatap not uncommon — but also with a “warm-down” period of stretching on the field. That was a first for this training camp for sure and perhaps the first time since Payton became the coach in Denver.
Payton often points out that the Broncos have been among the least-injured teams in the NFL during his tenure here.
“If we’re second in the NFL with fewest games missed, man, that’s extremely important,” Payton said in January after Denver’s season ended. “You guys saw in 2022 (under coach Nathaniel Hackett) where there’s over 125 player-games missed because of injury and no one played in the preseason. There weren’t ever pads on. We’re never doing that.”
Denver’s regular season doesn’t begin for five weeks, but Payton is clearly trying to send a message already.
Elsewhere on the injury front, Mims and center Luke Wattenberg were in pads but didn’t do anything after stretching. They’re each making progress toward full returns, though. ILB Jordan Turner came off the non-football injury list and practiced for the first time.
Bo Nix had a good sequence on a run-heavy day
The Broncos had multiple team periods of all running plays, but quarterback Bo Nix turned in a good sequence later in practice. After starting with an incompletion to Troy Franklin, Nix hit three straight for good gains. First was a quick throw to Pat Bryant for what looked like first-down yardage. Then Nix dropped a perfect back-shoulder throw on Courtland Sutton for about 30. Then he came back to Franklin over the middle for around 20.
Thumbs Up
Center of attention. Veteran Michael Deiter is usually an afterthought in conversations about Denver’s offensive line, but he stepped in and did double duty on Monday with both Wattenberg and Forsyth down.
Deiter took most of the top-unit reps at center and worked in with the second group, too. There are only so many 53-man roster spots if the offensive line group is healthy come September, but Wattenberg and Forsyth have both dealt with injuries in recent seasons. If Deiter’s a trusted third, he’ll probably at least have a standing offer on a practice squad spot.
Kickers are people, too. Wil Lutz had a gripe with reporters and a warranted one Monday. He stepped to the podium after practice and said, “I made a field goal from 73 yards the other day and none of you said a word. But Brandon Jones hits an extra point and my timeline is going off.” Fair point, Wil. It wasn’t easy to see the yardages Lutz was kicking off a stick from last week when he hit from 73, but it was clear he had the fans’ full attention and they were lavishing cheers on him as he kept moving further and further back. Lutz suggested a kicker appreciation day. Next time he hits from 73, itap his.
Thumbs Down
Not a day for the snappers. The Broncos had trouble with the snap on Monday. In more ways than one. First, undrafted rookie Gavin Ortega had trouble with some snaps to Jarrett Stidham. Ortega has been playing center in camp but got bumped up the depth chart Monday with both Wattenberg and Forsyth out. Then later in the session, undrafted rookie long snapper air-mailed holder Jeremy Crawshaw on a field goal attempt. Better a Monday camp practice than a regular-season game, but misfires like those aren’t going to help when it comes down to evaluating practice squad spots, position battles and more later in August.
Ball security is… The Broncos also got a look at some of their down-roster kick and punt returning options on Monday with Mims out and Bandy leaving midway through practice. Return ability is one of the key factors Denver used in identifying some of its undrafted wide receiver targets this spring. While Cam Ross has been consistent catching the ball both on offense and in the return game, Kolbe Katsis has struggled with punts and kicks. On Monday alone, he bobbled two.
Odds and Ends
* The Broncos had one of their longer practices of camp Monday, pushing right to 12:29 p.m. before the double horn blew at the end of the “warm down” stretching that closed the session. Payton missed most of Friday and all of Saturday’s practice, but Denver spent just about the maximum amount of time possible on the field for his return. Payton said the Broncos will have a normal camp practice on Tuesday and then spend most of Wednesday’s practice preparing for their preseason opener on Friday in Atlanta.
* Deiter, an eight-year NFL veteran who has played in 92 career games, not only served as Denver’s top center on Monday, but he played well in one-on-ones, too. Twice he was able to anchor against D.J. Jones and hold the rugged nose tackle at bay. Rookie Kage Casey had another good day in one-on-ones, too, and right tackle Mike McGlinchey had a good rep on Jonathon Cooper. Defensively, Zach Allen drew an obvious hold on Ben Powers and Jordan Jackson put a punishing bull-rush on Calvin Throckmorton.
* The Broncos’ run-heavy script on Monday meant a ton of work for RJ Harvey and Jonah Coleman. Coleman’s been more consistent than Harvey between the tackles, but Nix likes what he sees from Harvey so far this training camp, too.
“He’s done a great job of improving in the little things,” Nix said. “Itap easy for a running back, once he gets the football, to go and be a playmaker. I think itap underrated what he does out of the backfield, in protection, in multiple different run looks. We’ve asked him to do a lot more this offseason and in this training camp, and he’s responded really well. You can tell he’s growing and learning more as time goes and itap not all new for him.”
* Nix had interesting insight into veteran tight end Evan Engram and what might unlock better production this fall. Engram caught 50 balls for 461 yards last year, but everybody involved finished the season feeling like he had something of an underwhelming first season in Denver. So far in training camp, Nix said, Engram’s been used somewhat differently to the pass-heavy splits in his playing time last fall.
“His ability to strengthen the run game is whatap showing right now,” Nix said. “He’s a willing blocker. Last year we used him a little bit more as a vertical pass threat, but I think him getting in the box and blocking is going to open some more things up. Thatap a game-plan thing, thatap a coaching thing to put him in that position. But I also think he’s willing and able and thatap part of his game I think he’s really going to be able to show off this year and not have to be on and off the field. He’ll just be able to play, he and (Adam Trautman) will be able to roll and just be able to do anything we ask them to do from that position.”
Next: 10 a.m. Tuesday. Parking opens at 8 a.m. and gates at 9 a.m.
