Denver Broncos Training Camp – 8/6 AM Practice Report

Robert Ayers was one of the few players to put on full pads Thursday. (BroncoTalk/Kyle Montgomery)

Denver Broncos training camp… News and notes from the Thursday morning practice.

You could say today was a light practice. The only people in full gear for the entire session were Ed Hochuli and crew.

Preparing for the big show under the lights tonight, Head Coach Josh McDaniels moved the team’s two-hour practice to a 90-minute light workout later in the morning. A number of the backup offense and defense were the only players to don pads (over an hour into practice), and the majority of the team left for the locker room a full twenty minutes early. Since Coach mixed it up, I’ll have to, too, and just give you a few notes on what I saw from the guys in shorts.

DEFENSIVE VERSATILITY – Mike Nolan is installing a very versatile defense for this team. They went through a good thirty minutes of formation drills, where the defensive coordinator called out plays and the defense reacted accordingly. The players got into formation and either rushed or dropped into coverage at the snap of the football, executing mental reps.

What I noticed is how creative Nolan is with his formations. A guy like Robert Ayers, participating at left ouside linebacker, will line up at his normal spot, inside, and even up on the line inside. I noticed several formations employing only two down-linemen, and I saw a variety of blitzes from the defensive backs. You could tell the guys knew some plays better than others (even Nolan goofed and was corrected by the players a few times), but I got a sense for how much of Nolan’s defense will be mental instead of physical today.

BRANDSTATER RUSTY – Tom Brandstater was the only QB to put on pads and get any reps during the 11-on-11/9-on-9’s that ended today’s session. He had hardly been seeing any reps during team drills at all, and you could see he was still rusty. He overthrew both Darius Walker and Ryan Torain on short routes, and, to put it blunty, he just needs a lot of work.

A BLOCKING TE? – For a predominantly blocking tight end, Richard Quinn hasn’t really been impressing me in that department. During a run where Quinn’s block was crucial to the play’s success, tiny-in-comparison Josh Barrett easily disengaged and made the stop for a loss. He did have a nice catch a few plays later. Irony, anyone?

Not a lot to report today, but the feast that will be the Broncos’ 6:00 p.m. practice at INVESCO should be well worth this morning’s breadcrumbs.