Life as a rookie in the NFL is tough enough.
For Red Murdock, picked by the Broncos with the final selection of April’s draft, the degree of difficulty is even higher.
Murdock, Mr. Irrelevant in the draft but hardly so in the eyes of Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, has been on a true crash course since arriving in town this spring.
All of Denver’s linebackers learn both of the inside spots, but Joseph and the Broncos’ defensive staff gave Murdock the task of learning to call the defense on the field from the moment he arrived in town.
Murdock got plenty of run in his preseason debut Friday night in Atlanta. The former University of Buffalo great played 47 snaps, 13 more than anybody else on Denver’s defense. He made eight tackles, too, double anybody else who played for the Broncos.
The early results: Quite encouraging.
“I thought Red did a great job of controlling the huddle, making the calls and making the checks,” Joseph said Tuesday. “Thatap his strength, man, he’s super smart. I want him to turn it loose more often than not. … Things move and we’re in the right fronts and the right coverages. Thatap his strength right now and the play-making will come with time.”
Joseph is already challenging Murudock to make more plays, along with all of the between-the-ears responsibility he’s carrying in his first training camp. The Broncos’ veteran coordinator predicted that Friday night against Green Bay, “you’ll see more play-making from Red.”
The competition for roles behind starters Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad looks to be wide open. Levelle Bailey went down with a fracture in his lower leg Friday, but there are still four players squarely in the mix: Murdock, fellow undrafted rookie Taurean York, and a pair of undrafted second-year players in Karene Reid and Jordan Turner.
Turner came off the non-football injury list last week and right away jumped into work with Denver’s top two groups, though he did not play against Atlanta. Reid made a great break on a ball that led to Jahdae Barron’s pick-six. Murdock and York both made plays themselves, too.
In practice, Joseph said, all of them get time playing both spots.
“Everyone behind Alex and Justin is training at Mike and ‘Mo.’ And dime,” Joseph said. “It has to be that way for the gameday roster.”
Not everybody regularly calls all the plays on defense, though. That will be an interesting responsibility on gamedays, too. Singleton has called the defense when healthy his entire time in Denver. If Strnad ends up playing in dime or some nickel packages instead of Singleton, he may call some in those situations, too, or that duty could fall to nickel Ja’Quan McMillian.
Down the roster, Murdock and York have played next to each other a lot. They’ve developed a bond that dates back to the Shrine Bowl in January.
“Shrine Bowl, I was in a boot and we were still collaborating together,” Murdock told The Post earlier this month. “Trying to see certain things and helping him make plays in practice and stuff like that, because I wasn’t able to play.
“But now, we’re two guys that love ball.”
Murdock called the competition “fierce,” but said he doesn’t worry about how roster spots shake out.
“I can go to sleep peacefully knowing I gave it my all, we all gave it our all, and the Broncos are getting the best linebackers they can get,” he said. “Also, all of us emptying the tank pushes each other to be better. Anybody slacking, anybody going through the motions, itap going to be so evident on tape, the way that we play football here in Denver.
“You can’t be slacking at all. Every rep is very intentional, from physical intensity to mental.”
Joseph thinks the physical part will come with Murdock. The mental part? He’s already proving that on a daily basis.
“Itap his college tape. Itap the draft eval,” Joseph said. “He was a smart football player that punched the ball out a lot and we’ve seen that in practice. To be a Mike ’backer in this league, itap more than the physical traits. Itap your mind. That part he has.
“Now we have to use his mind to make more plays.”
