Broncos' rookies hit practice field today
Broncos' rookies hit practice field today
By Lindsay H. Jones
The Denver Post
POSTED: 04/30/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT
Sure, the NFL draft is over, but for 28 Broncos rookies, their postcollege job interview is only beginning.
The Broncos' nine draft picks and 19 college free-agent rookies will participate in their first NFL practices today. The team's rookies-only minicamp runs through Sunday at Dove Valley.
Players such as Demaryius Thomas and Tim Tebow, first-round draft picks, and second- and third-round picks such as Zane Beadles and Eric Decker surely will make the Broncos' 53-man roster in September, but many of the other players who arrived in Denver on Thursday have no such future job security.
In 2009, the Broncos cut one of their draft picks (seventh-rounder Blake Schlueter), and only one undrafted player made the active roster out of training camp (nose tackle Chris Baker).
The Broncos' rookie class arrived in Denver on Thursday, spent the afternoon at Dove Valley and will stay en masse at a hotel through the duration of the team's offseason program. The first full-team voluntary camp is May 17-19, and the only mandatory camp is June 11-13.
"The earliest time you can be here is Thursday afternoon, so I'll be here Thursday about noon," Tebow joked last week.
So while these first few days are important for team bonding and chemistry building, make no mistake: This is all about football.
Broncos coaches have worked out many of these young players in the predraft process, but now they will begin coaching the players their way and teaching the players Broncos-specific techniques and plays.
The camp will be especially important for several of the team's top draft picks, including Beadles, an offensive lineman taken with the 45th pick. Beadles, from the University of Utah, should see plenty of extra work throughout the spring and summer with star left tackle Ryan Clady out for at least three months after partially tearing his patellar tendon over the weekend.
"The situation with Ryan is not ideal," coach Josh
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McDaniels said in an interview with the NFL Network on Wednesday night. "I think it will benefit some of the other players in terms of getting reps in the spring and in camp, if that is what happens."
Thomas and Decker, wide receivers drafted in the first and third rounds, respectively, are not expected to participate in the minicamp. Both are recovering from foot injuries. Thomas is expected to be able to participate in full-team camps by the middle of May, but Decker's rehab might take a little longer. Both players are in Denver, though, to work with team doctors and trainers and attend meetings with their new teammates.
Footnote.
The Broncos on Thursday re-signed veteran linebacker Nick Greisen. He originally signed with the team as a free agent in 2009 but spent the entire season on the injured reserve list after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament during training camp. He became an unrestricted free agent after 2009. Greisen had a formal tryout with the Broncos on Wednesday.
Lindsay H. Jones: 303-954-1262 or ljones@denverpost.com
Clady might have violated contract with basketball injury
Not to bring up a sore subject or anything, but if Jay Cutler were still around, he would tell Ryan Clady what he thinks. Remember when Brandon Marshall put his right forearm through a TV set, severing tendons, muscles, a vein, an artery and a nerve in the spring of 2008?
"He's not my favorite person right now," Cutler, the Broncos' quarterback of the time, said of Marshall, his top receiver.
Marshall recovered, and the Broncos figure Clady will too. But until Clady, the Broncos' all-pro left tackle, sufficiently heals from the partially torn left patellar tendon he suffered while playing basketball Saturday, he might as well rehabilitate from the proverbial Dove Valley doghouse.
It's possible that by suffering his injury through an activity unrelated to football, Clady violated his contract. Section 3 of the standard player contract states "a player will not engage in any activity other than football which may involve a significant risk of personal injury."
The question is whether basketball would be considered a dangerous activity when several NFL players have been known to participate in charity basketball games. A few hours before Tim Tebow became the Broncos' first-round draft selection last week, the quarterback was filmed playing in a lightly contested full-court basketball game in Jacksonville, Fla.
It's highly unlikely the Broncos will seek to recoup a prorated share of Clady's bonus money, in large part because he's expected to return in time for the season opener at Jacksonville on Sept. 12.
But even if Clady needs a few more weeks, the Broncos are not likely to play hardball with a player they hope will protect their quarterbacks' blind side for the next 10 years.
Mike Klis, The Denver Post
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