Broncos get impact performances from a pair of rookies who leave a big impression

ATLANTA — What the Broncos — and any team — seek from preseason games is good health above all, and then palpable progress, both as a team collective and through individual performances.

They didn’t completely get the former, as linebacker Levelle Bailey was injured in the first half. But that injury allowed them to have a longer and more fruitful glimpse at seventh-round pick Red Murdock, and that accomplished the other goal of individual progress.

There was some curiosity as to how the final draft pick this year would handle his extensive workload, which includes learning the defense to the point where he can relay the pre-snap playcalls while getting the front seven set pre-snap. But as defensive coordinator Vance Joseph noted last week, he’s adapting well.

Friday night, he led all Broncos players with eight total tackles. But it wasn’t just that he made the stops, it was how he made some of them — making a third-down stop in the open field near the sideline, meeting the ballcarrier and filling the hole. Plays may get TO Murdock, but they’re generally not getting past him.

All that was missing was a forced fumble, something he accomplished more often than any FBS player during his matriculation at the University at Buffalo. But one figures that’ll come along eventually.

“Eventually” could become quite soon for fourth-round rookie Jonah Coleman, who averaged 6.0 yards per attempt on his four carries, accumulated yardage after contact and displayed outstanding balance.

“He’s had a good camp, and I liked his balance coming out of some of the tackles,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said.

Such was the quality of Coleman’s work that Payton didn’t feel he needed to play the rookie beyond the series with first-team offensive linemen.

“You see enough of it, and you’re like, ‘all right,'” Payton said.

BRONCOS SEEING GROWTH IN JAHDAE BARRON, TOO

The football found Barron, last year’s first-round pick, when a Cooper Rush pass late in the second quarter was deflected by inside linebacker Karene Reid, and Barron happily sprinted down the right sideline for the touchdown that effectively turned the second half into an exercise in measuring player and team progress, rather than focusing on the scoreboard.

Barron’s 97-yard jaunt increased the Broncos’ lead to 24-0. But as he noted after the game, he was more focused on the interception he had the chance to make — but didn’t.

Riley Moss also intercepted a pass, but Payton was also cognizant of the takeaways left on the board.

“We had a chance for two or three more. We got the sleeves on,” Payton said, going back to a consistent point he’s suggested that the wearing of sleeves leads to issues of securing the football.

“I think there’s some things we can be better at; that was encouraging.”

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