2024 Denver Broncos Training Camp Day 6 Report

It was a scorcher out on the berm for Day 6 of the 2024 training camp for the Denver Broncos. By the time practice ended, it was well over 90° F, and the sun was unrelenting the entire session, with zero cloud cover. As The Stranglers sing:

There's always the sun (always the sun)
There's always the sun
Always, always (always the sun)

The heat did not keep fans away, however, as the berm filled up quickly this morning, although the numbers dwindled some as practice went on. Today's practice started promptly at 10:00 a.m. MDT and ended at 11:52 a.m. MDT.

The biggest storyline from today appears that the starting quarterback competition—at least for now—appears to be narrowing down between Jarrett Stidham and Bo Nix. I think the preseason games will play a determinative factor in who both starts and how many quarterbacks the Broncos carry on their 53-man roster come September. Even if the race is down to Stidham and Nix for now, I think that Stidham has to really shine in the preseason, not only to remain in contention for the starting job, but also to secure a roster spot. This is particularly true if Zach Wilson shows competence to be QB2 in the preseason.

POSITIONAL AND SPECIAL TEAMS WORK

Today's training camp practice saw the team spend a fair amount of time doing positional and special teams work on kickoffs and field goals. During positional work, the defensive unit was found on the west field, which is closest to where fans sit. 

Positional Work

Many defensive players began positional work by engaging in exercises of leverage, ripping, and form tackling dummies. The inside linebackers worked plenty on agility, footwork, and dropping into coverage. The defensive line worked on alignment and timing of get off technique. The edge rusher group worked on power rush moves, along with proper positioning. The defensive backs engaged in agility and footwork exercises, including drop backs, as well as mirroring, tailing and pass breakup techniques, as well as ball tracking and securing errant passes. Vance Joseph and Greg Manusky, the inside linebackers coach, worked with the defensive backs and ILBs on proper coverage drop depth for zone looks. During this time, I also noticed Bo Nix on the east field throw a complete 45 or 50-yard dime on the run to the opposite front corner of an end zone.

Special Teams Work

It brought a smile to my face to see Mike Westhoff, at age 76, still shuffling around on a football field coaching up many who are young enough to be his grandsons, on the ins and outs of sound special teams play. As I have mentioned to fans sitting by me at the training camp practices that I have attended this year, the improvement that the Broncos made on special teams last season does not get mentioned nearly enough, and Westhoff was a big part of that. 

During the various periods of special teams today, the Broncos continued to work extensively on new kickoff formation. As far as I can remember, all kicks were fielded cleanly by the returners. Running backs Jaleel McLaughlin and Samaje Perine had the two best returns of the day, while Marvin Mims continues to be the most consistent, natural returner of the group that included McLaughlin, Perine, Jalen Virgil and Devaughn Vele. The Broncos also had four offensive linemen at the front of the blocking group going against edge rushers and inside linebackers for these kickoff returns.

Wil Lutz, from my account, attempted nine field goals to which he went 8-for-9, with his only miss coming wide right on a 66-yard attempt that had the distance to be good. Lutz's other kicks were good from 33, 38, 40, 43, 46, 48, 50 and 52 yards out.

11-ON-11 WORK FIRST SERIES

Jarrett Stidham

1. The Broncos called an inside run to Javonte Williams from under center. The play went for a minimal gain.

2. Garett Bolles false started on the play.

3. From under center, the Broncos ran an outside zone play, where McLaughlin slipped right before a cut back lane opened.

4. From under center, Perine bounced a run outside for a decent gain.

5. From under center, and an I-formation, the defensive line clogged the middle of the line of scrimmage, so that Audric Estimé had nowhere to run.

Bo Nix

1. From under center, the Broncos ran a crack toss play to McLaughlin for a minimal gain.

2. From under center, the Broncos ran an outside toss to Williams, who was one-on-one with a cornerback. I think Williams will have trucked the defender had been a real game and gone for a sizeable gain down the sideline.

3. From under center, McLaughlin magnificently got to the second level on an inside zone play.

4. From under center, and a two-back set, Perine gained about five yards on a run up the middle.

Zach Wilson

1. From under center, the Broncos called a gap run to Estime, who completely trucked safety, Keidron Smith, as the two players collided chest-to-chest.

2. From under center, the Broncos called a delay run to Tyler Badie for a minimal gain. 

11-ON-11 WORK SECOND SERIES

Stidham

1. From under center, Javonte Williams took a handoff and made a great read and cut to the strongside of the line of the formation to avoid Zach Allen, who was crashing in from the weakside.

2. From the shotgun, and a 3-WR set, Stidham hit Perine in the chest on an outbreaking route, which Perine dropped.

3. From under center, and a 2-WR/2-TE set, the Broncos ran an outside play to McLaughlin that went for a considerable gain. Mike McGlinchey engulfed Patrick Surtain II on a seal block.

4. From under center, and the I-formation, Stidham connected on a nice looking crossing pattern to Lil'Jordan Humphrey set up by a play-action fake.

Nix

1. From under center, the pocket collapsed, and Nix was "sacked."

2. From under center, Estime took a handoff on an inside zone play and made a great cut to get the sideline and then lowered the boom on another defensive back.

3. From under center, Nix play-action faked an outside zone run before connecting with Michael Bandy on a crossing route.

4. From the shotgun, Nix slickly faked a handoff and then took off to the strongside of the formation's sideline for a gain of 15 yards.

Wilson

1. From under center, the Broncos called an end-around to Marvin Mims, which went for a successful 10-yard gain.

2. From under center, Wilson overthrew David Stills on a slant route, with tight coverage on the play by the defensive back.

3. From under center, and a two-back set, Wilson hit Lucas Krull down the seam for 25 yards. Wilson was under duress on the play. With a cleaner pocket and time, Wilson may have been able to hit Krull in stride for what could have been a touchdown. It's arguable that Wilson would have been sacked on the play by an edge rusher in a real game.

4. From the shotgun, and a 3-WR set, Wilson connected with Troy Franklin on a short out route for a five-yard gain.

11-ON-11 WORK THIRD SERIES

Stidham

1. From the shotgun, and a 5-wide look, Stidham hit Courtland Sutton on an in-breaking route for 15 yards.

2. From under center, and the I-formation, McLaughlin took a handoff, made a nice cut, but found little daylight.

3. From the shotgun, and a 3-WR set, Stidham completed a pass to Badie, but under game conditions, that probably would have been a sack.

4. From under center, and a 2-WR set with Sutton and Josh Reynolds, Zach Allen jumped offside. The offense played through the penalty, with Stidham connecting with Krull on an out route.

Nix

1. From the shotgun, Nix was pressured early, checked the ball down to Estime, who gained minimally yardage, but once again, lowered the boom.

2. From the shotgun, Nix was flushed out and threw incomplete to Williams.

3. From the shotgun, and 3-WR set, Perine had a big gainer on an inside run.

4. From the shotgun, Nix completed a crosser to Sutton, but Thomas Incoom may have himself a sack on a delayed blitz had it been an actual game.

Wilson

1. From the shotgun, and a 3-WR set, Wilson's pass was batted down by a defensive lineman.

2. From under center, and a two-back set, Wilson connected with Vele on a crosser.

3. From the shotgun, and a 3-WR set, the offensive line setup an ideal pocket to allow Wilson to connect with Sills 25 yards down the field on a deep crossing pattern.

4. I missed making notes of this play beyond it being out of the shotgun, and a 3-WR set due to a fight that broke out between Nate Adkins and Durell Nchami at the conclusion of the play with Nchami throwing a punch, before the two were eventually separated. 

UPDATE: Cody Roark, of Mile High Sports and Locked On Broncos, provided the play information in his training camp report:

Badie had a great cutback inside on his run that sprung him free for a big gain, but it was overshadowed almost immediately due to some fisticuffs thrown by tight end Nate Adkins and outside linebacker Durell Nchami.

Scuffles typically happen in training camp because of the highly competitive setting, but Broncos head coach Sean Payton doesn’t want those things to happen out of frustration.

“It’s a scuffle,” Payton said. “Sometimes it doesn’t bother me. In that case I think we’ll look at the film. I think one player gets blocked pretty well and frustrated. I don’t want discipline fouls, and we’ve all seen it. We talked a little bit about it afterwards, but the guys are working hard.”

11-ON-11 WORK FOURTH SERIES

Stidham

1. From under center, Stidham play-action faked, before attempting a screen pass to Williams, which was deflected by Allen.

2. From under center, and a two-back set, Perine got stood up by Alex Singleton on an inside draw.

3. From the shotgun, Allen again batted down another pass attempt.

4. From the shotgun, and a 3-WR set, Stidham connected with Brandon Johnson in stride on a beautifully ran crossing route that went 22 yards from the line of scrimmage and would have gain 40+ yards in a game. Ja'Quan McMillian was covering Johnson on the play. 

Nix

1. From the shotgun, Nix completed a quick out to Adkins for a three-yard gain.

2. From the shotgun, and 3-WR formation, including Perine out wide, Matt Henningsen batted down Nix's pass attempt.

3. From under center, Nix deftly audibled to a draw run for Williams, who go outside for a big gain.

4. From the shotgun, the play was aborted, as there was confusion by the receivers as to the call.

5. From the shotgun, and a 4-WR look, Nix overthrew Bandy, who was blanketed by Reese Taylor. The play could have also resulted in a sack had it been an actual game.

Wilson

1. From under center, Wilson play-action faked an outside zone handoff to attempt a wide receiver tunnel screen, but the pass was batted down.

2. From the shotgun, and a 3-WR set, Wilson quickly went through his progressions and found no receiver open, so he scrambled for a minimal gain.

3. From under center, and a two-back/two-WR set, Wilson connected with Mims for 12 yards on a well thrown out route pass.

4. From the shotgun, Wilson connected with McLaughlin on an out route. McLaughlin bounced off the defender and ran down the sideline for what would have been a big play, if the defender was unable to tackle McLaughlin in a real game.

END OF PRACTICE 

Running Gassers (Running on Empty)

After the final 11-on-11 series, each Bronco player, as well as quarterbacks coach Davis Webb, ran from sideline-to-sideline three times or six runs in total. Bandy always finished first, while Jordan Miller, UDFA rookie nose tackle was clearly winded. On the last set, Perine ran side-by-side with Miller in a great demonstration of teamwork to cap off practice. 

Working Overtime

After the team broke things down for the day, Reynolds got in some additional route running work, with Nix tossing him passes. Surtain and Riley Moss worked in tandem, as did P.J. Locke and Damarri Mathis, as well as Tremon Smith and Keidron Smith, on coverage techniques. Both Alex Forsyth and Luke Wattenberg got in some additional blocking reps with Zach Allen. 

FINAL OBSERVATIONS AND THOUGHTS FROM TODAY'S PRACTICE

The offense had a better day today, particularly in the run game, but I have to give the defense the win, especially for how many passes it was able to bat down from all three quarterbacks, and the pressure that unit continues to generate, even without the presence of John Franklin-Myers and Nik Bonitto today. Zach Allen, in particular, was an absolute beast today. . . . Dondrea Tillman, who the Broncos signed from the UFL prior to training camp, worked exclusively in positional and 11-on-11 work as a standup OLB. . . . The base defense is still a 3-4, but with less two-gapping that we have been accustomed to since 2019. The DL's alignments, assignments, and techniques looked much more like those employed by the Broncos from 2015 to 2018, as was alluded to during mandatory minicamp. . . . From a mechanical and technical standpoint, there is not a lot of bad habits that this coaching staff has to work on with Bo Nix, which is encouraging. Nix's throwing motion and underrated mobility are valuable assets to have in a rookie quarterback. . . . Alex Forsyth saw extensive work at the center position with the first-team offensive line, as well as snaps at guard with the second-team, today. 

I won't be back on the berm until Friday, Aug. 9 for my birthday. Until then, thanks for reading, follow me on X @MileHighMoments, and GO BRONCOS!