A light practice on day three provides a hint at Broncos depth chart

The Denver Broncos didn’t do much on Friday. I have a feeling that changes on Saturday; that’s when the shoulder pads come on.

On Friday, the team spent plenty of time working on individual drills. Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett runs practice three different ways – light, medium and heavy. Wednesday and Friday seem to be light practices, while Thursday was a medium practice. Let’s see if Saturday, right before a day off on Sunday, is a heavy practice.

Here are some of my notes from the third day of training camp.

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Can You Say Install?

The Broncos must have spent well over half an hour working on installing various plays in the offense. This means the team was lining up, but they were running plays at 50 percent speed. You can see who is lining up with which group, but there’s no way to tell what the success on the scripted play would be because of the slow speed.

While Quinn Meinerz was second string on Thursday, he was back in the starting lineup at right guard just like he was on Friday. When the team went through their first set of plays with the starters, Javonte Williams got all the work. When they went through the second time with the first team (confused yet?), then Melvin Gordon got some work with the top unit. For those keeping score at home, Dalton Risner has not been out of the top lineup at left guard.

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Linebacker Love

The team is not in shoulder pads, so it’s difficult to draw much from practice performances at certain positions. However, I do look at the way players move through individual drills to determine if they’re comfortable with what they’re being tasked to do. On Friday, I had a good time watching the linebacker position.

Baron Browning continued to show great burst to the ball, but I want to once again highlight Nik Bonitto. He’s put together a good camp, and his movement skill looks sharp as he learns the ropes in the NFL. Bonitto is going to be a backup this year, but I like the flashes he’s shown early in camp. I want him to keep performing at a high level when the pads come on.

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Allen Cleared

Speaking of linebackers, undrafted Christopher Allen was out on the practice field for the first time. He was on the NFI list due to a foot injury that plagued him in the pre-draft process. The undrafted linebacker was a star at Alabama, but a foot injury caused him to slide to the undrafted ranks.

The Broncos think a lot of him, and they paid him the highest price of any UDFA added this offseason. Allen has talent, and I don’t think the Broncos could sneak him through to the practice squad. Too many teams will be watching for a player like Allen to scoop up because his developmental upside is so high. He was one of my favorite sleepers in this class, and his length and burst looked better than Bonitto at times during individual drills. It’s super early of course, but Allen is a name to keep track of.

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DEFWU Done

Derek Wolfe finally announced his retirement from the NFL on Friday, and he was at UC Health Training Center to appear on Broncos TV. Those close to the team knew Wolfe was done playing after a couple of seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, but he didn’t make it official until Friday. Wolfe, a second-round pick of the Broncos back in the 2012 NFL Draft, won a Super Bowl with the Broncos and was certainly a fan favorite during his playing days in Denver.

I spent quite a bit of time with and around Wolfe during his Broncos career. I can tell you he was one of my favorite players to be around because of his energy and intensity. Every team loves to have a player like Wolfe on the roster, and he made his presence felt on the field and in the locker room. I think Wolfe is a great guy, and I appreciate how hard he worked coming from a rough background such as myself. No matter what he does in retirement, I wish Wolfe all the best. He’s great on air, so long as he can stop cussing so much (LOL).

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Middle Field Open

Russell Wilson spreads the ball around the field as a passer. Per Broncos media policy, I can’t tell you exactly what he’s doing, but let me just say the middle of the field is a nice place for him to look. Shorter quarterbacks usually avoid the middle of the field and paint the edges as they can’t see over the linemen in front of them for those intermediate throws over the middle.

The Broncos offense is doing a good job of designing ways to create passing lanes for Wilson. Sure, he’s a short quarterback but all the field is available to him as a passer. This is something you didn’t see with the Seahawks, and the Broncos are making sure Wilson can attack anywhere he wants. I like seeing him go to the seam, and these tight ends (mainly Eric Saubert) are coming through for Wilson on such throws.

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