News And Notes From Broncos Practice

The Broncos were back at practice today after a day off yesterday. John Fox wasn’t thrilled with having to take yesterday off as mandated by the new CBA, but players still attended meetings.

Here are some sights, sounds, smells, and other observations from today’s practice:

– Warm-up music is a thing of the past. The Broncos practice has a serious tone to it, and it resonates throughout the entire practice.

– Dennis Allen could be heard telling his defensive ends how to get around blockers.

– Pat Bowlen, John Elway, and Rod Smith were in attendance.

– There were too many veteran players in jersey’s, but not participating in practice. This includes Brian Dawkins, Matt Prater, D.J. Williams, Ryan McBean, Marcus Thomas, Willis McGahee, and LenDale White. They are not allowed to practice because they are either restricted free agents or unrestricted free agents. They will be in full pads tomorrow afternoon.

– Knowshon Moreno is a lean mean fighting machine. He dropped 14 pounds in the off season, and he’s running with more speed and power.

– Eddie Royal and Matt Willis caught plenty of balls in today’s 7-on-7 drill. They were the wideouts that stood out the most.

– Although this is Julius Thomas‘ first go-around as a tight end, the rookie and former basketball star out of Portland State had some nice catches and looks like a natural. He was running with the first-team offense quite a bit.

– Keep an eye out for running back Mario Fannin. The rookie out of Auburn went undrafted, but he busted out some big runs today, two for touchdowns. He will compete for playing time with Moreno and Willis McGahee.

–  The hit of the day goes to Kyle McCarthy who popped Dan Grankowski so hard that the ball was jarred loose, and fans went wild.

– Closing in on 5:00 pm, the Dove Valley chefs fired up the grill for dinner. On the menu: 80 lbs of beef.

– Tim Tebow and fourth string quarterback Adam Webber were working out together well after practice ended. The two stayed on the field for 45 minutes throwing passes to each other,running wind sprints, and doing crunches.

– As far as the quarterbacks go, Kyle Orton and Tim Tebow saw most of the reps today, but Brady Quinn some action as well. Orton was working with the first-team offense and had a solid day passing. Tebow also hit his receivers on the numbers, but it’s clear that Orton’s throws were a little more crisp. Despite Adam Scheffter coming out and saying that Orton has the starting job in Denver, it’s not true. After practice, John Fox told the media that the competition is still wide open.

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