Other Notes
Fangio practice vs. Vance Joseph practice
I don’t want to make too big of a deal about this, but I think if you’re around it enough you can tell the differences between how coaches run a practice.
Vance Joseph’s practices were loose, player-friendly practices filled with incredibly loud music. There was nothing wrong with it as long as it worked, but there was much less music for Fangio’s practice and a lot more 11 on 11 work.
Someone gave me a heads up that there were potentially 60 or more 11 on 11 reps, which seems like a lot.
Fangio noted after practice he cares more about fundamentals than scheme, and the Broncos spent plenty of time in individual drills working on those fundamentals for this first practice.
Dave Williams is back
The Broncos re-signed running back Dave Williams, who was a seventh-round pick of the team last year. This means that all 10 of the Broncos’ 2018 draft choices are not only in the fold, but they are also all fully healthy, which wasn’t the case at this time last year.
I don’t know how rare it is league-wide, but it’s got to be pretty rare to have a draft class of 10 guys all on the roster more than a year after they were drafted together.
Williams was obviously not with the Broncos most of last year, but that wasn’t their choice. He was on Denver’s practice squad when the Jacksonville Jaguars scooped him up.
His arrival is interesting. The Broncos have Khalfani Muhammad and Devontae Jackson competing for reps behind Lindsay, Freeman, and Devontae Booker. Williams was known for his pass-catching and pass protecting.
Could the Broncos be posturing for a Devontae Booker trade? I don’t want to make a mountain out of a molehill, but I would say keep an eye on that one.
New guy not practicing yet
After the retirement of WR Aaron Burbridge, the Broncos signed wide receiver Steven Dunbar Jr., a former Houston Cougars star who was a UDFA of the San Francisco 49ers last year.
Rich Scangarello probably knows a thing or two about this kid.
At any rate, he wasn’t practicing and that’s probably because he signed his deal (officially) shortly before practice began.
Bug Howard caught a bug
Bug Howard was impressive enough to sign after the Broncos’ rookie camp to compete at tight end, and I was quite excited to see what he could do but he caught a bug — food poisoning was what Vic Fangio thought it might be — and was out sick for practice, vomiting and things of the like.
I’m glad Fangio doesn’t spare any detail.