How the coaches have cranked up the urgency on the Broncos’ special teams

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — It’s not just the frequency of Broncos special teams periods that increased during Sean Payton’s first training camp as the team’s head coach. The intensity did, too.

“I would say definitely urgency, for sure, because they (the coaches) are making you feel like every single day you come out here, it’s a competition,” said safety P.J. Locke, who ranked second on the Broncos last season in social-teams snaps played.

But that isn’t merely limited to the practice fields.

“Not to say it hasn’t been like that in the past few years, but I would say you feel like it’s harsh in the meeting room sometimes; you’ve gotta have thick skin,” Locke said. “But [the coaches] make you feel like, man, if you messed this up, now you don’t have a spot on this team.”

With no disrespect to past coaches and schemes, that’s a change.

But for Locke, that’s a familiar feeling, as he’s spent much of his career on the knife’s edge, working to claim one of those precious spots on the back end of the roster.

“So, I didn’t really feel that urgency in the past [on special teams], but that’s something that I hold true to my heart, because I’ve been through it and now I feel it. You feel a little tense!” Locke explained.

“You’ve gotta go out here, and you’ve gotta do your job, because you’re going to get called out in the meeting room first of all. I don’t care if it’s walk-through, jog-through or full speed, you’re going to get called out. So, I think that’s one thing that’s kind of sticking with everybody.”

It helps that the high standard comes from coaches with a track record of success — whether guiding special teams, as is the case with Mike Westhoff and Ben Kotwica, or playing on those highly-ranked units, as is the case for first-year assistant Chris Banjo.

“We understand we’ve got coaches who have been where we’re trying to get,” edge rusher Aaron Patrick said.

“… We trust what they’re telling us. We’re out there; we see it. We put up the film after practice, and they’ll give us examples, [saying], ‘This is what it’s supposed to look like; this is what it’s not.’ They make it clear to us: You’re going to know your assignment, and they’re going to teach us how to execute the assignment at the highest caliber.”

Getting there won’t be easy. But it’s a path the returning Broncos are more than willing to take after the struggles of recent years. The last time the Broncos had a special-teams unit that ranked in the top half of the league in multiple across-the-board metrics, they won Super Bowl 50.

So, it’s been a minute. And the players are willing to sacrifice comfort for getting it right.

“We know that sometimes it’s going to be tough … however, our goal, is to get where [the coaches] were,” Patrick said. “So, we work together with them, and all we can have is success.”

They hope that starts Friday night.

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