Coach’s Thoughts:
One of my fellow position coaches went to see the Denver Broncos training camp yesterday. Which first and foremost must be stated, he is one of the most energetic, talkative, and fun-to-be-around guys that I have ever known. The Offensive GA and I got to talk with him about what he thought of the Broncos. Here were some of his thoughts on what he saw:
- Paxton Lynch will become the starter late in the year. According to his account, Lynch throws a better ball and can move really well. He doesn’t think fans and the coaching staff will be able to put up with Mark’s turnovers. Coach noted that there were a lot of people getting after Mark after he threw an INT in camp. “Jesus Christ, you want to can him already?” was his slightly paraphrased response.
- The Bronco TE’s, while already being disadvantaged in pass pro versus DEs. are handicapped by the lack of practice time against pass rushers. The coach noticed that the TEs were getting a lot of work in 7 on 7’s and route running but, did not rotate with the OL in 1 on 1’s vs DL or pass pro drills. He inquired with one of the Bronco coaches about why they structured practice that way. The Bronco coach responded, “They hardly block anymore on pass plays, coach.” Enter my thoughts: The Broncos run their amount of play pass and 7 man protections which I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes up 20% of their offense. I have also seen many a TE last year get beat by the like of Khalil Mack, etc. Virgil Green is the only body on the roster, not part of the OL, who counts as an edge blocker and he’s only really good at blocking when he can take guys downhill. I personally think that if teams are smart enough to get an edge rusher on one of the Bronco TE’s, they will see results come from their pass rush.
- Emmanuel Sanders looks really good, Demaryius Thomas can go either way. From what coach watched on the sidelines, even though Emmanuel and Demaryius both did not participate when he saw them, he could tell that Emmanuel Sanders “can go” just from “seeing him bullshit around on the sideline.” Take with that as much as you will. He commented Demaryius Thomas is naturally a big-boned athlete and it takes away from some of his abilities as a receiver because he has to move more weight around ie. elusiveness, lateral speed, route-running, etc. Demaryius, from what he knows of him, is a good-natured “Georgia Boy” at heart but when it comes to nitty-gritty situations, doesn’t know whether he can persevere through sometimes. Use the first New England game last year as an example.
- He remembers recruting Devontae Booker when he was coming out of American River JC a couple of years ago and he had really, really bad grades. The grades were so bad that ultimately every school that recruited him from the FCS level either pulled their offer or didn’t even touch him at all after seeing his transcript. Which is incredibly puzzling considering he got accepted into the University of Utah, a competitive Division I school with an average GPA of 3.55. I neglected to ask why he got in, but I assume it was because someone found a loophole or someone overlooked an admission requirement they weren’t supposed to. Devontae is probably a good man with good leadership qualities considering he was a team captain at Utah. Just keep in mind that he may have not been the brightest bulb in the academic facilities.
- Coach also liked DL #90 (Kyle Peko) on the field. He said he moves well and made a couple of great plays during camp that he really liked.
News
- After a departure to go to Houston to explain to his daughter that he won’t be able to make it to her track competition, Chad Johnson is now back interning with the Cleveland Browns. Which means he never left in the first place. Or maybe not according to Hue Jackson:
“Chad hasn’t been here lately,” Jackson told reporters on Monday. “As I said, Chad came down. I think everybody thought he was going to be here the whole time. I knew he wasn’t. Chad came as a guest of mine. I wanted him to see what this is going to be like. I knew at some point in time Chad needed to go do what Chad needed to do. I think his time here was very beneficial because guys were able to ask him questions about playing in the National Football League – what were the characteristics that the great players carry and what they were like. I think guys asked him those questions. It was good for me to have him around. Chad is very close to me as we all know. At the same time, I think he found out that this business is rough. There are a lot of hours that we keep, and I don’t think Chad’s used to that.”
- RB Reggie Bush will sign with the Bills on a one-year deal. He promises to do whatever the Bills want him to do.
- Rex Ryan calls his practices more business-like than last year considering that last year was a whole new year for him in a new setting.
- DeAndre Hopkins told media that his recent “holdout” was not sending a message. He is focused on football currently which means he wants to prove what he is worth.
- Colts’ first rounder, C Ryan Kelly, is out with a shoulder strain for an indefinite period of time. A timeline will be found within the next few days.
- Steelers CB Senquez Golson was carted off the practice field yesterday with a foot injury.
- DE Chris McCain and T Laremy Tunsil of the Dolphins got into a little shoving match yesterday that resulted in nobody being harmed. “That’s football, man,” McCain said. “It’s training camp, we see each other all day, we’re around each other seven, eight, 12 hours a day, so it’s all good. It’s part of football.”
- Ex-RB Kevin Faulk was inducted into the Pats Hall Of Fame yesterday by none other than Tom Brady.
- Michael Bennett made a call to Cam Newton to help improve the social landscape of the NFL’s players.
- DeAngelo Hall believes the Redskins’ secondary is the best he has been around in his entire career.
- According to the Big Bill himself, the QBs on the Pats love throwing to Martellus Bennett and Rob Gronkowski and they are interchangeable in nature because they can do about everything.
Analysis
- John Clayton ranks the Top 25 free agents for 2017. (U: inthinair@outlook.com P: JohnElway7)
- David Newton writes about the interesting trash-talking relationship between Thomas Davis and Cam Newton.
- The PFF Staff breaks down the Steelers WR corp to which they say, their roster is deep.
- Eric Eager previews the Jacksonville Jaguars.
- Bryson Vesnaver previews the Pittsburgh Steelers.
- Thomas Maney notes that the Chiefs’ extension of T Eric Fisher, albeit puzzling, was one based on potential not performance.
- Matt Claassen explains why “The Other Brandon Marshall” made a huge mistake in betting a Rolls Royce that he will get more receiving yards than Antonio Brown this upcoming year.
Broncos
- In support of Paxton Lynch (and my coach’s thoughts above), Gary Kubiak told Andrew Mason that Paxton Lynch is “No. 12 is really, really stepping up…He’s making some progress here.”
- Meanwhile, Terrell Davis advocates the opposite. He strictly believes that Kubiak’s ability to keep QBs comfortable in the offense is an underrated part of the equation and Mark will benefit from it to another successful season.
“I don’t think [Kubiak] gets enough credit for what he did last year,” Davis said. “… It wasn’t even a true system. It was kind of a hybrid. And each week, you’re trying to figure out: What do we do? How do we make the quarterback comfortable? How do we make the backs comfortable? How do we do this? And you figure it out … and go ahead and win the Super Bowl. Man, they don’t get enough credit for that.”
“I am biased, but I’ve seen what he can do. … Everywhere he’s been, he’s proven he can get a quarterback to play at a high level. That’s part of the equation I feel for Mark Sanchez.”
“Who are we fooling?” Davis said. “It’s the quarterback. If Mark Sanchez proves he’s capable of throwing the ball down the field, of protecting the ball, they’ll open up the offense more. If not, then they’ll use more ball control, and yeah, the receivers would probably suffer doing that.”
- After visiting the Saints, Peyton Manning paid a visit to Adam Gase at the Dolphins’ camp.
- Andy Benoit breaks down his ten thoughts regarding the Denver defense of yesteryear and concludes it is unsurprisingly, an all-time great defense.
- A 10 year old fan, Grant Thornham, stuck his hand up to catch a Brandon McManus FG and the ball broke his wrist. He said afterwards,”Well, I’m glad I broke my arm this way,’’ Thornham said. “I’m still going to say it was pretty cool because of where it happened.’
- G Connor McGovern will move up to first-team after G Ty Sambrailo injured his left elbow in practice yesterday.
Silliness
- After a photo surfaced of Tony Romo looking a little bit chubbier than usual, GM Stephen Jones informed the media that Tony Romo is not overweight and is indeed in good shape.
- Kirk Cousins’ catch phrase makes an appearance at a corn maze.
- “The Other Brandon Marshall” may have to be known as “The Third Marshall” after one WR Jalin Marshall impresses the coaches and fans at NYJ training camp.
Preach!
“Common sense is like deodorant, the people who need it most never use it.” – Anonymous
