ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—The team here’s last playoff appearance came in Super Bowl 50. Russell Wilson and a revamped football operation have arrived to fix that. Can they? Will they? After stops at the Bills, Packers, Bears, Colts, Bengals, Steelers, Browns, Vikings and Chiefs, here’s some of what I saw just outside Denver on another clear, warm summer day in Colorado.
1) The first thing that was noticeable here, very clearly, is the level of energy and competition in practice. Through coach Nathaniel Hackett’s first camp, the Broncos have pretty much eschewed 7-on-7s and 1-on-1s altogether for 11-on-11 work—it felt like about three-quarters of Thursday’s practice was a full offense going up against a full defense. I was told that could vary a little in the coming days, with perhaps some 1-on-1s mixed in, but it is pretty much the way it’s been through camp. And the idea here, hatched by Hackett (and to some degree mirroring what he was a part of in Green Bay the last three years) is to make the most out of the 13 full-speed practices they’ll get in camp, essentially prioritizing the quality of reps the players get over the quantity.
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