broncos Player Attendance
Did not practice: Physically Unable to Perform list — OLB Baron Browning (knee). Non-Football Injury list — WR KJ Hamler (pec), DL Mike Purcell (knee).
RT Mike McGlinchey was absent a third straight day as he attended to a death in his family, but coach Sean Payton said he’d be back likely Sunday and on the field when the Broncos return Monday.
Rookie WR Marvin Mims (hamstring) did some individual work on the field but then was off to conditioning-only work again along with rookie center Alex Forsyth, Browning and Purcell.
Top Play
Nine out of 10 scientists agree that the wheel route is the best play in football. Broncos running back Samaje Perine reeled one in from Russell Wilson for a touchdown on Saturday during a 7-on-7 period. Perine’s settling in alongside Javonte Williams at the top of Denver’s running back room and getting a lot of work as the club gradually increases Williams’ workload.
“I’m just your normal, hard-working running back,” Perine said. “I don’t do anything special, I just work hard and get results.”
Thumbs Up
No. 2: Pat Surtain II can be on this list pretty much any day of the week. But Saturday was one of those sessions where it’s easy to marvel at the third-year cornerback’s talent and ability. He ran stride-for-stride with Jerry Jeudy up the right sideline, positioned himself perfectly and got both hands on the ball but dropped what should have been an interception. That’s about as picky as you can get with the All-Pro so far in camp. At some point, perhaps somebody will get open against him.
A rookie flashes: Everybody’s in for a big jump in challenge when the pads come on Monday, but rookies especially. That includes inside linebacker Drew Sanders, of course, but the third-round pick did some nice things Saturday. He provided an entertaining — and worthy — matchup in coverage for tight end Greg Dulcich early on and then arrived in the flat quickly later in the session. The hard part’s still ahead, of course.
Thumbs Down
Catch the ball: Receivers Kendall Hinton and Montrell Washington each struggled some fielding punts with a high sun and bit of breeze Saturday. They were Denver’s top two options a year ago in that department, but will have competition from Mims as he gets healthy.
“The first thing is reliability and ball security,” Payton said. “There’s nothing worse than when a ball’s in the air and you’ve got that (feeling), like, ‘I hope he catches it.’ That’s something where the preseason will help show the hands a little bit.”
PBU (via helmet): Kyle Fuller broke up a pass for the Broncos. Well, not that Kyle Fuller. Instead, the Denver center — signed this spring in free agency — had a screen pass out of the hand of quarterback Ben DiNucci bounce off his helmet rather than find DiNucci’s target. Not ideal. At least it drew a chuckle from the fans on the berm looking on. More problematic was an errant throw over the middle from Stidham in 7-on-7 that Faion Hicks easily intercepted.
Odds and Ends
• One of the prettiest throws of the day came from Russell Wilson on a deep out-breaker to Courtland Sutton. The Broncos’ big wide receiver went high for the catch and then tapped both feet along the boundary. Denver’s defense caused some problems again on Day 2, but that was a dime.
• D.J. Jones made an interesting comment earlier in the week regarding Purcell, who’s working his way toward activation off the NFI list.
“To me, Mike is the core,” Jones said. “Mike is a dominant nose, immovable, and he’ll allow myself to play three, Zach (Allen) to play four and other guys to roll in.”
Purcell played almost 50% of the Broncos’ defensive snaps last year and Denver has a veteran option (Tyler Lancaster) and a rookie one (P.J. Mustipher) vying for time while he rehabs.
• Spotted on the sideline Saturday: Portland Trail Blazers head coach and Denver native Chauncey Billups.
“First time I’ve met him,” Payton said. “That was fantastic. I didn’t realize his history here in Denver and in Colorado, but (director of player development Ray Jackson) introduced me to him and he’s going to come up here and get a tour. I was a big fan watching him play. He’s doing the same thing, head coach, and I’m a big fan of his.”
Maybe he’ll get some intel on what’s up with the Damian Lillard trade request.
• The Broncos’ kicking competition is off and running between Brett Maher and Elliott Fry. The angle for reporters watching late in practice made tracking difficult, but Payton said he didn’t think either had missed over the first two days.
“Fortunately I don’t think we’ve missed one yet,” Payton said. “Hopefully that continues.”
• Turns out, the lack of music on Day 1 was not a big statement by Payton or anything like that. Just so happens that nobody asked about tunes on Friday.
“Someone said, ‘Are we going to listen to music?’ and I said, ‘Yeah,’” Payton said, drawing a laugh. “And so ‘Flip’ (equipment manager Chris Valenti) put the music on. I like all genres. I didn’t have it in my notes.”
Sunday schedule
The Broncos have an off day from practice Sunday, then return Monday for the first of six straight days on the field. Practices are at 10 a.m. and open to the public Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Each day the parking lots open at 8 a.m. and gates at 9 a.m.
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