A svelte Russell Wilson smiled at the question.
You going to take off and run more this fall?
āIām trying to get moving for you,ā he said slyly.
The 12th-year quarterback looked capable of doing just that as he started his second training camp with the Broncos, though any grand conclusions after one day in helmets can safely be avoided, just as Wilson sidestepped a question about how much weight he cut over the offseason.
āI donāt know, Iām just ready to play football. Iām not worried about the numbers on that,ā he said. āI think the biggest thing for me is I feel great, feel confident in what Iām doing. Feel strong. Feel fast. Really worked on everything.ā
A nine-time Pro Bowler in Seattle, Wilson regressed across the board in Denver. He threw a career-low 16 touchdowns on just 60.5% completions. The Broncos lost 11 of the 15 games he started. He dealt with three different injuries over the course of the season.
āLast year is last year,ā Wilson said. āIt wasnāt anything that I ever wanted. ā¦ But you take the highs with the lows, the mountains with the valleys.ā
Just as alarming as his inefficiency and inaccuracy was the fact that Wilson took a career-high 55 sacks. Heās always been sacked a lot ā itās part of the nature of mobile quarterbacks ā but his 10.2% rate last year was the second-highest of his career.
Was it concerning, then, to see Wilson at times on Friday hold the ball, then improvise outside the pocket and either take off running or throw on the run? Head coach Sean Payton said not at all and that, in fact, he even encouraged it.
āYou want to play it like a game. Thatās what we are trying to simulate,ā he said. āItās hard to practice the spontaneous moments that take place in a game. If you break down a whole game, two thirds of it happens in the pocket the way itās supposed to. A third of it, thereās a movement adjustment, thereās pressure, thereās all sorts of things that can take place. Iām comfortable when I see him climbing (in the pocket) and taking off because one of those plays is like a 30-yard gain.
āHow else do you practice that? Itās the same way with the scramble drill when we are out of the pocket. You just begin working on that all of the time. I think itās one of the things he does well in the framework of a play. When something breaks down and he flushes, a lot of the time good things happen.ā
In the days since the Broncos reported for training camp Tuesday, Payton has gone further in expressing confidence in his quarterback than at any point so far over his first six months on the job. He expressed regret about the tone of his comments in a recent USA TODAY story overall, but stood by what he said about Wilson ā essentially that heās got plenty of ability left and that he didnāt hit a career wall last year.
āHe looks good now. Heās moving around well,ā Payton said Friday.
Suffice it to say many of Wilsonās teammates feel the same way.
Left tackle Garett Bolles earlier this offseason provided a fiery defense of his quarterback and said heās looking forward to Wilsonās doubters eating crow.
Wide receiver Courtland Sutton said Wednesday he sees a quarterback who might smile and play nice publicly, but wants nothing more than to engineer a career ā and franchise ā turnaround.
āYou guys have seen him, he looks amazing from the outside appearance, but just talking with him and seeing where his headspace is and where heās trying to get to, itās amazing to see him in that light,ā Sutton said. āHe has a chip on his shoulder because he knows he didnāt put out what he wanted to put out last year. Everyone knows who Russ is and the things heās done and last year wasnāt, obviously, what we wanted to see. Knowing him, it wasnāt what he wanted to put out there.
āTo see him show up looking the way he did and having the mindset he has, itās very encouraging and itās one of those things where everyone is rallying behind him and is ready to go to work.ā
Safety Caden Sterns? Heās on board, too.
āHonestly heās been the same and I say that in a good way,ā the third-year defender out of Texas told The Post. āFirst one in the building, last one out the building. Heās a good guy. Obviously in this sport, the nature of the beast is you get put on blast sometimes, but I really feel like heās still one of the best quarterbacks in the league and heās going to redeem himself this year. Iām excited to see what he does. He looks a lot healthier this year. He was going through some injuries (last year), so heās going to be a big piece to what we do. ā¦
āHeās definitely still got some gas in him, still.ā
Part of the challenge in the next several weeks is quickly gaining a mastery of Paytonās offensive system. The coach on Friday said itās ācompletely differentā than what Wilson and the offense did last year, making for a steep learning curve.
āThereās a great sense of urgency what weāre trying to do and a great sense of urgency to understand the playbook and get everybody on the same page. Theyāve done a great job of it. The coaching staff has done a tremendous job of really teaching the details to all of us players,” Wilson said. “ā¦ Weāve had a really focused offseason and I think, as I said, itās one day at a time and weāre trying to embrace every single day. In terms of the playbook and all of that, weāre ahead of schedule.ā
In addition to the playbook itself, though, Wilson and Payton have to develop their own on-field rapport through camp and the preseason. Wilson is a very different player than Payton had in New Orleans with Drew Brees. He can tuck the ball away and run for a first down, but Payton likely doesnāt want him freelancing so often that the offense struggles to find rhythm.
Like he has since before Payton even interviewed for the Broncosā job, Wilson on Friday sounded like a player eager to follow the veteran coach.
āCoach Payton has a great balance of winning and his mentality, how he speaks to us and how he walks into the room,ā Wilson said. āHe has a certain presence that you feel in the room and everybody feels that and we all collectively feel that. Heās a legend in this game we trust everything that he thinks about and what heās doing and how we go about it. ā¦
āItās a joy to be in this building and a joy to play for him.ā
When Wilson first waxed poetic about Payton’s offensive prowess in January and imagined what it might be like to play for him, he also acknowledged he needed to follow his worst season with his best offseason. The coach ended up in Denver.
Is the other mission accomplished, too?
āYeah we did that,ā he said. āAnd now itās time to just go one day at a time and go do what we know how to do and play at the highest level. Thatās our focus.ā
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