The Broncos were back on the practice field today after a day off on Sunday, and for the first time this summer, they were in pads.
Today’s practice was run-heavy, and the defense came out as the winner. Specifically, cornerback Riley Moss, who made multiple big plays, and the Broncos’ pass rush, including Jonah Elliss, who got after the quarterback today. We also had an injury scare with starting center Luke Wattenberg, but thankfully Sean Payton told reporters after practice that he believes he will be just fine.
In today’s piece, we have more on the Broncos defense and Riley Moss winning the day, Pat Bryant looking good, a positive update on Luke Wattenberg’s injury, injury updates, news and notes, tweets from camp, and more!
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Defense, pass rush, and Riley Moss win the day
The pads came on today, and the Denver Broncos defense stepped up. Riley Moss was excellent in coverage and showed off his elite athleticism, making an incredible interception; the Broncos pass rush got after the quarterbacks while Jonah Elliss is beginning to look like an early training camp star.
Riley Moss stole the day with his Ja’Quan McMillian-ish interception in practice where he fought the ball away from veteran wide receiver Courtland Sutton. He showcased his athleticism throughout practice, and showed why he’s a very good number two cornerback in the NFL.
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After practice, Head Coach Sean Payton was asked how Moss has grown throughout his career, and he told reporters Moss competes his tail off and that he is moving around really well right now.
He knows obviously what type of attention he’s going to get relative to the routes, the route tree. I think learning to play with his feet, really working on reducing some of those fouls. He competes his tail off. I love that about him. He has those traits where it’s a short mindset, short memory. He’s moving around really well right now.”
He was later asked about his interception vs. Sutton during practice, and Payton told reporters it was “fantastic to watch”.
“It’s fantastic to watch because look, there are two things that can happen. You’re either deflecting it, but the ability to be able to catch it as a defensive back, it’s tough if you don’t have decent enough hands because they’ll just throw at you. So it was a good play.”
As we know, Moss is in the final year of his deal with the team, and we assume that the Broncos will need to decide who to re-sign between him and McMillian. So, it will be interesting to see how that goes, but it’s great to see he’s doing well in camp.
As for Jonah Elliss, he continues to stand out. We’ll see what the future holds for Jonathon Cooper, but it appears that the team has an ascending player here in Elliss.
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Pat Bryant makes plays
The Denver Broncos battle for the WR3 job and/or snaps/targets behind starters Jaylen Waddle and Courtland Sutton continues to be one of the top stories in camp. For the first few practices, Marvin Mims was the standout pass catcher who had multiple explosive plays, and today, second-year wide receiver Pat Bryant took his turn at being the standout wide receiver.
Riley Moss and the Broncos defense stole the show, but with Moss in coverage, Bryant caught a beautiful back-shoulder 25-yard pass from quarterback Bo Nix. He followed that with a top-tapping catch from backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham.
After practice, Payton was asked where he thinks Bryant can still grow in year two. He told reporters that Bryant has some of the better hands in traffic, he’s really smart, and can play all over the field, which will make it easy to create his role in this offense.
“I think his weight’s at a good spot. He has some of the better hands in traffic with his feet on the ground, he’s really good [at] run after the catch. I said this to you guys a year ago, he’s real smart. So he’s someone that can move from ‘X’ to the slot. It’ll be easy creating his role.”
Bryant is my favorite to win the WR3 job simply because of all the things he can do. We saw his role grow at the end of last year; he has great hands, runs good routes, can block, and simply made plays. I think he can thrive in this role, and I believe we see a second-year jump this season.
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Luke Wattenberg injury
Early during today’s practice, Denver Broncos starting center Luke Wattenberg went down hard and was seen holding his arm and talking with trainers. He never returned to practice, and backup center Alex Forsyth handled the starting center duties for the rest of the practice.
Thankfully, after practice, Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton met with the media and told reporters that he believes starting center Luke Wattenberg will be just fine.
“Yes, nothing now. We’ll go ahead and evaluate. I think he’ll be fine.”
So, while we don’t know exactly, it’s good to hear that he thinks he will be fine. However, if he were to miss time, Alex Forsyth stepped in for him nicely at the end of last year, so I believe he can do that in the short-term. If he does miss time, hopefully it’s not for an extended period of time, and he can be ready for Week 1 vs. the Chiefs.
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Injury Report
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Guard Nick Gargiulo remained on the PUP due to a knee injury he suffered last season and is expected to stay on the PUP through the start of the season
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Linebacker Jordan Turner remained on the NFI for undisclosed reasons
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Edge rusher Drew Sanders returned to practice after missing the first couple of days of camp
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TE Caleb Lohner continued to miss practice after undergoing offseason clean-up surgery on his knee
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UDFA WR Joseph Manjack returned to practice today after missing the first few days of camp due to a back injury
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Edge rusher Dondrea Tillman was in pads but working on the side with a wrap on his knee – he reportedly is dealing with a slight hamstring issue
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Starting center Luke Wattenberg went down hard and was holding his arm and was getting looked at by the Broncos trainers – After practice, HC Sean Payton told reporters he thinks that Wattenberg will be fine
News and Notes
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Broncos were in full pads today for the first time this training camp
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Jarrett Stidham was back at QB2 today with Sam Ehlinger working with the 3rd team offense
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Riley Moss and Ja’Quan McMillian had PBU’s during the Broncos 7 vs 7 drill
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Riley Moss had an incredible one-handed INT
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HC Sean Payton will talk with TE Taysom Hill at Drew Brees HOF ceremony this weekend to see where he is mentally
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HC Sean Payton said that Jahdae Barron is NOT playing safety and is a corner
Tweets from Camp
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Quotes
Head Coach Sean Payton on how CB Jahdae Barron is doing
“He’s doing good. I read somewhere where we moved him to safety, and I don’t know who wrote the article. I’m not. He’s playing nickel, he’s playing corner and then when we get into dime, he replaces a linebacker. So he’s doing really good. There’s been no position change.”
Head Coach Sean Payto on how DL Eyioma Uwazurike has progressed and how he continues to improve
“Yes with ‘Enyi’ (DL Eyioma Uwazurike)… Good point. I think any one of these guys, if someone in their own sport is off for a year, man, it’s difficult. But he’s young and I think he grew a lot last season. There’s some really good tape. I’m excited about what’s up for him because he has all those traits you’re looking for, and it’s important to him.”
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Head Coach Sean Payton on how much of emphasizing turnovers on defense is teachable versus driven by player mentality
“I think the first. I think it’s the mentality of the defense and I would go back to [former NFL Coach] Lovie Smith. When our league started to value the created turnover maybe a little bit more than the possible technique in tackling because there’s that happy medium. But those late 1990 Bucs, Rams defenses, Bears… There were all different players that had played on all the different other teams that maybe didn’t have the same takeaways, but it became so ingrained in what they did defensively. I’ve just seen that, and I think that’s a goal of [Defensive Coordinator] Vance [Joseph], and the defense and all of us really, is that mentality of the ball and what it does to a game. It’s a good question. Now certainly there are those more predisposed with athleticism that can put themselves in position to create more turnovers, but I do think more than anything… We saw two players in this year’s draft that had a rare amount of, not takeaways, but caused fumbles. I’m guessing, if we went and saw their practice, we would probably see that, hear that, feel that being taught.”
Head Coach Sean Payton on if he is concerned about TE Caleb Lohner missing reps
“I always get a little concerned, especially if it’s a younger player. Even going through the draft or signing free agents, when we hear they might miss a portion of, you just realistically know that’s a challenge then. So the sooner the better. Now I do know this, I do know what I was seeing before his injury and the work he’s put in. It’s interesting, when you draft someone like that, you really don’t know the temperament because you haven’t seen enough film, and he in his first year showed us that.”
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Head Coach Sean Payton on C Alex Forsyth’s progression and how he adds depth to the offensive line
“Yes, he’s super savvy and smart. He’s one of the smarter guys in that room. You don’t feel a young player. You feel like, if you interviewed him, you’d feel like you’re talking to a seven-year vet. He’s a little bit of an old soul that way and much appreciated though. He’s really talented.”
Safety Talanoa Hufanga on the first day of pads and how it changes things
“It was actually pretty intense today, it feels like. Obviously getting pads on, it just gets more physical down in the trenches. Back end, it’s a little different when you’re covering guys without pads because you don’t have a lot of hand placement to use, but being able to kind of use that surface area that we have now, go out there and kind of get back in the flow, it was fun. It was great.”
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Safety Talanoa Hufanga on being named a team captain last season and how much his leadership role on the team has meant to him
“It was a true honor. I’ll be honest, I’ve never been captain before. So that was something that shocked me. They honestly presented to me. It was one of those things like I never really knew I could be something like that in terms of it seemed like I had to be a little bit more vocal than I ever was because I’m a very communicating person on the field, not necessarily to break the huddle down and doing that stuff, but it kind of turned into that and it was kind of something that I had to learn. That’s what they want us. They want us to be uncomfortable. It was definitely something I grew out of my shell to do.”
TE Adam Trautman on Offensive Coordinator Davis Webb‘s youth and personality
“I’ve had a bunch of experience with that because Declan Doyle, obviously the offensive coordinator for the Ravens, he was our tight ends coach here and he was barely younger than me. So you kind of are familiar of how to deal with that. But [Offensive Coordinator] Davis [Webb] also played. So he also understands a lot of it. He brings a lot of energy. Obviously he relates to the players as well. We’re excited to have him. He is a little ball of energy out there honestly, and it’s pretty fun. It’s cool to get into meetings and just watch him talk about concepts, scheme, everything as a whole. That’s really cool because you never really stop learning this league because there are new concepts every year. There are new fads of things people like to do, like the new trend. So yes, it’s cool to watch him talk about things.”
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TE Adam Trautman on QB Bo Nix’s confidence going into Year 3
“I think he made tremendous progress last year, in just the fact of control and confidence… You could feel, ‘It’s my offense.’ [QB] Bo [Nix]’s offense obviously. He has even more of that this year. He understands the concepts wholly. He knows where he wants people. Sometimes you go in there, and it’s the drawing on a piece of paper and it’s like, ‘You’re supposed to be here.’ He’s like, ‘All right, that’s cool, but I like it this way.’ That’s a conversation him and [Offensive Coordinator] Davis [Webb] have all the time, I’m sure. He’s just in full total control. I said this all last year, but you’re never going to feel like you’re out of the game when he’s in the huddle.”
