The Denver Broncos will tackle at practice this year, and their starters will play during preseason games this summer.
Tackling and getting reps in preseason might seem like a given for an NFL team, but it wasn’t for the Broncos last year. Under former head coach Nathaniel Hackett, Denver did not tackle to the ground during practice and almost all of the team’s starters sat out preseason games.
Things will be different under new coach Sean Payton.
“[W]e’re playing tackle football and you have to practice tackle football,” Payton said at the NFL owners’ meetings in Arizona last week.
Payton seemed to hint that some of the team’s injury woes last season could be attributed to the lack of tackling and game reps starters received during the summer.
“From a team standpoint, we weren’t healthy,” Payton said. “None of the starters played in any of the preseason games and there wasn’t any nine-on-seven, one-on-one [drills during training camp]. The approach was much, much different than what I’m used to. I know that we battled a lot of injuries a year ago.”
Not even quarterback Russell Wilson, who was learning a new offense under a new coach, played any snaps in preseason last summer. Now learning yet another offense under another coach, Wilson will get reps this time around.
“We are going to play all of them. In the preseason? Absolutely we are,” Payton said. “That’s the preseason.”
Denver’s preseason schedule will be announced later this spring.
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