Denver Broncos: 5 standout players from day one of camp

Who were the top standout players from day one of Denver Broncos training camp?

The Denver Broncos have finally started their official ‘training camp’ practices after a few weeks of makeshift OTAs to get players re-acclimated to being in the building, get regular COVID-19 testing, and just generally get out on the football field for some actual team-sanctioned work.

It’s really exciting to have some semblance of normalcy in the football world, especially with the NCAA and all of college football in question for the fall season.

The Denver Broncos have one of the most exciting young rosters in the NFL, and a fan base that simply can’t wait to see how all of the new pieces fit together.

Even those outside of the fan base have taken notice of the great work John Elway and the front office have done over the past three offseasons of building this team.

The majority of that impressive young roster was out on the field for practice on Friday, save for tight end/fullback Andrew Beck (COVID list) and tight end Austin Fort, who tweaked the knee he injured in the 2019 preseason.

Aside from those two guys, everyone else at Denver Broncos camp is a full go.

Unfortunately, after attending Denver Broncos training camp nearly every year for the last two-plus decades, I was not able to be there to see things in person.

Fortunately, there are great people able to get eyes on practice and give the fans an account of which players had strong first days of camp.

1. Jerry Jeudy, WR

Was there any question that Jerry Jeudy was not going to shine when it came time for everyone to get out on the football field together?

He’s going to have defensive backs seeing ghosts out there in 2020.

Throughout his practice on Friday, Jerry Jeudy was labeled: Mesmerizing, as advertised, phenomenal, and perhaps the highest compliment is one he received from head coach Vic Fangio:

Considering last year, Fangio was not so complimentary early on of quarterback Drew Lock, this is high praise for a first training camp practice.

One of Jeudy’s most undeniable qualities and strengths is his ability to separate from defenders and create space for himself on virtually every rep. There’s not much defensive backs can do with Jeudy’s well-rounded game and, as Fangio described it, polish.

At this point, the Broncos are playing a little bit of the seniority game with players like Jeudy running mostly with the twos on the depth chart (Tim Patrick, DaeSean Hamilton ahead of him) but that won’t take long to change.

Jeudy has the star quality about him and the more reps the Broncos can get with both he and Courtland Sutton on the field together, the more of an accurate picture of the regular season rotation we will have.

2. Bryce Callahan, CB

Plenty of players around the NFL — including Broncos players — suffer season-ending injuries, so it was shocking to see the fan base’s scathing critique of the Bryce Callahan signing after he was forced to miss the entire 2019 season with his foot injury.

The Denver Broncos signed Callahan to a very reasonable three-year contract and he was the only player the team signed off of Vic Fangio/Ed Donatell’s defense in Chicago.

It turns out, even with his foot injury keeping him off the field, Callahan was a tremendous off-field asset for defensive players trying to learn the scheme, including star safety Justin Simmons.

Now he’s healthy, making plays in training camp again.

According to those in attendance at camp, Callahan looked like he was surely going to live up to his billing as a big-ticket free agent pickup.

Hopefully, he is able to stay healthy in 2020 and be an asset on the field in the Broncos’ secondary. The team has plenty of confidence in him and he’s going to make life tough on the quarterbacks in practice sessions with his ability to play that nickel corner position as well as outside.

3. Jake Butt, TE

If you’re sleeping on fourth-year tight end Jake Butt, it might be time to wake up.

Butt has been having a quietly very good offseason now that there’s very little expectation about his potential involvement in the offense.

Many had written Butt off with the progression of Noah Fant and the additions of players like Nick Vannett and Albert Okwuegbunam, but Butt is not to be written off, at least not at this point.

These two notes are crucial. Why?

Allbright’s note about what ‘a little birdie’ told him means that someone within the team still wants Butt to be on it. The Broncos currently appear to have five or six tight ends worth keeping on the roster if you count Andrew Beck among them, but Beck also doubles as a fullback.

Edwards’ note about Butt is important because if Butt is running crisp routes, it means he’s having no problems cutting on his surgically repaired knees.

Butt will not only have to prove himself worthy of a roster spot, but he’s going to have to stand out above guys like Vannett, Troy Fumagalli, and even players like Okwuegbunam and Beck, who shouldn’t be in danger of losing spots.

With Beck on the COVID list right now and Austin Fort out with an unfortunate knee injury, the way is being paved for Jake Butt’s comeback story.

4/5. Melvin Gordon and Phillip Lindsay

Gordon and Lindsay, Lindsay and Gordon — it doesn’t matter which order you put them in.

I’ve tried explaining it this offseason, but the addition of Melvin Gordon does not spell the end of the Phillip Lindsay story in Denver.

There is nothing wrong with having two Pro Bowl backs on your roster, and in fact, it could be a tremendous asset for young Drew Lock as he heads into his first full season as the Broncos’ starter.

Phillip Lindsay set out to answer some questions about his pass-catching abilities this offseason, and the Broncos got him some reps right away on day one.

More of Phillip Lindsay in the passing game is going to be very good news for the Denver Broncos.

According to those in attendance, the usage of Lindsay and Gordon on day one of camp reflected a true split of reps, and you can expect that to continue throughout the regular season.

Both Gordon and Lindsay have proven in their NFL careers to be tremendously effective with around 50 percent of the reps.

There’s only so much you can take from a single practice for the running back position, but some reports out of camp were praising Gordon for his decisive one-cut abilities and there is no question that both he and Phillip Lindsay bring an explosive element to the position.

It’s great to hear about Pat Shurmur getting them both equally involved with the top reps on offense, as we should expect throughout the season.