Denver Broncos Senior Bowl practice has great energy, pace

DENVER, CO - DECEMBER 31: Head coach Vance Joseph of the Denver Broncos looks on before the game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on December 31, 2017 in Denver, Colorado. The Chiefs defeated the Broncos 27-24. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)
DENVER, CO - DECEMBER 31: Head coach Vance Joseph of the Denver Broncos looks on before the game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on December 31, 2017 in Denver, Colorado. The Chiefs defeated the Broncos 27-24. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Denver Broncos and the North roster at the Senior Bowl had a well-paced, high energy practice on Tuesday afternoon in Mobile…

The Denver Broncos hosted their first practice of the week in Mobile, Alabama at the 2018 Reese’s Senior Bowl, and it did not disappoint.

As hilarious as it would be for me to be actually joking about the fact that the Broncos had a great practice (where have we heard that before?) it really was impressive to watch.

There was energy around every single snap of practice, from the very first horn to the last. The Broncos operated just as Vance Joseph said they would in his initial address to the North roster. It was especially noticeable in comparison to the way the Houston Texans operated the South practice a couple of hours earlier.

Not that there wasn’t high effort from their players, but there was a definite shift when the North roster took the field. Coaches were shouting out direction, praise, and correction before, during, and after every play.

The Broncos’ North roster, of course, includes the two most intriguing players at this event in quarterbacks Josh Allen and Baker Mayfield. The masses of media were quick to surround Mayfield after the practice, in which I thought he fared fine.

There is nothing about Mayfield’s game that is going to alter his overall grade from three days of practice, though he did drop a couple of snaps from under center. That’s something that will be a bit of an adjustment for him.

Mayfield also had a number of errant throws, but for every errant throw, there were one or two others where he used his arm strength, touch, accuracy, and anticipation to make nice throws.

More from Predominantly Orange

What impressed me about Mayfield was that, as he was being coached through practice, he would take a practice rep, and then as he rotated out and the other quarterbacks rotated in, he would often do the same exact drill or movement he had just learned off to the side, trying to get the rhythm of the drop or play-action fake down both mentally and physically.

Mayfield also never seemed to go half-speed on any given rep. He was always going full game speed, and looked like he was trying to win a race to be the first player up for every individual drill or session in the practice.

He’s just an impressive guy to me, overall.

For Josh Allen, I think the general feeling was the same around the building. There is no one else in that stadium or on almost any NFL roster that can make the throws he can make. The issue with Allen is, he’s gotten so used to having to fit the ball into tight windows that he doesn’t always know when to take a little bit off of his throws.

This kid is a phenomenal talent, and he’s shown a little bit of his competitive edge with some of the comments he’s made about wanting to be the guy who turns around the Cleveland Browns and things like that.

Even just watching Allen warm up, you can tell that throwing a football is almost effortless for him. But one of his passes hit Michael Gallup so hard in the hands it sounded like he had caught a baseball with no glove on, and I’m guessing that’s what it felt like.

The talent is obvious with this young man, and what he brings to the table physically and athletically is as good as it gets.

I’m excited to see how he, Mayfield, and the rest of the North roster progress with their continued work off the field with the Denver Broncos’ staff, and how everyone responds to their day one performances.