Thread: Ziggy's Training Camp Report 8/3/15

The weather was perfect today. Cloudy throughout the entire practice. I wanted to address the new facilities before talking about the players.

Positives: The fan's area is far more comfortable, more roomy, and more fan friendly.
Negatives: The view of practice isn't as good. Rather than sitting along the sidelines, you sit in the behind the end zone. Overall, I still think it's a decent trade-off.

Now let's get to the practice. Many of the stars sat today, so the backups got a chance to really show their stuff.

On Offense:

QB- Osweiller took the reins today. He ran with the first team in every set since Manning didn't practice. His arm is strong and his mechanics looked solid. He seems to be throwing with a higher delivery than when he came into the league. His accuracy outside of 10 yards was not there today. There were 2 or 3 opportunities for big plays where he overthrew his receivers. I hope it was just an off day for him.

Dysert didn't look much better. Average arm strength and he struggled with accuracy. The bright spot today at the QB position was Trevor Siemian. He has Osweiller type of arm strength and was probably the most accurate QB overall on the field today. He looked better than both Oz and Dysert.

RB- It was hard to evaluate these guys today. The offensive line struggled throughout the practice so there weren't many opportunities for the backs. CJ looked like CJ. Power and vision. Montee was running with the second team. He had a nice run or two during drills. The third team back today was Juwaan. He ran well, but dropped a pass that was right in the bread basket. I wouldn't be surprised to see him challenge Ball for the #2 spot. Splitting 4th team reps were Kapri Bibbs and Ronnie Hillman. Bibbs actually looked like the most explosive back on the field today. He has sharp cuts, good vision, and is probably far and away the fastest back on the team in pads. He looked really good today.

WR- DT is still DT. The only way I can describe him is unstoppable. Sanders looked really sharp as well. They split off to the side with a coach during special teams drills since they are the only 2 receivers not involved in special teams. They both looked to be in pro bowl form today. The kid that has been blowing up the camp reports lately is Jordan Taylor. I made it a point to keep an eye on him. I was watching him in drills trying to figure out how this slow moving, lumbering white kid was making all the headlines. He showed me why when he started going against backs. He has a knack for getting open and catches everything around him. His catch radius is huge and he has hands like glue. At least today he did anyways. I noticed early on in practice that he was out fielding kickoffs. Looks like they're already trying to find a way to keep him on the roster. The other 2 receivers that stood out today were Jordan Norwood and Nathan Palmer. Both flashed more than once. They also happened to be the two players that were returning punts today.

Oline- As I mentioned earlier, they struggled all day long. The defensive line was dominating most of practice. Kubiak was already making adjustments to help in the pass blocking department. There was usually a TE or back chipping on the way out of the backfield. Of note, Sambraillo looks bigger than I remembered him from his college days. You really can see the quick feet that everyone is talking about. Ben Garland looked average at best. Max Garcia was just plowing folks. He looked great, and should challenge for the left guard or center position fairly quickly. He looks like a stud to my untrained eyes. The right side of the line was getting swallowed up all day long with Vasquez sitting out. No one else really stood out to me on the Oline. I expect the offensive line to be way behind the defense until they get the ZBS down, and build some chemistry.

TE- Joe Don Duncan is an absolute hammer. He was punishing people all day long. He has crazy quickness for a 270 pounder. I know it's early, but I see special written all over him as well. Casey played FB every time I saw his #. He's solid, and they're going to need that extra blocking and receiving out of the backfield while this line goes through it's growing pains.

Defense next-

On Defense:

Dline- Wolfe and Sly look great together. They are going to be disruptive this season. Wolfe is really playing with a chip on his shoulder out there. He said that he was going to play pissed off and it shows in practice. Malik wasn't out there so Vance Walker took his spot. He would have had a sack in real play during 11 on 11's, but other than that he was invisible. The kid that jumped out over and over again was Darius Kilgo. It's hard to believe that he weighs in at 320. I believe Marvin Austin was held out most of the day for some kind of injury. Kilgo took full advantage of his time with the 2nd team. I can't say enough about how much he flashed. No one else on the Dline caught my eye today.

LBers- With Von and DeMarcus not practicing today Shane Ray got his chance to run with the ones. He looks average in the speed drills, but when the whistle blows he seems to pick it up a notch. I had a hard time seeing the offense vs defense pass rushing drills, but the two times I looked over he beat his man easily. It was fun watching Ware giving him tips on hand fighting between reps. Surprisingly, the other starter at OLBer was Gerald Rivers. He played in DeMarcus's spot with the 1's. I'm going to have to do some research on him. He was solid. Todd Davis was consistent and had at least one would be sack today. Barrow looked very sharp in coverage. Because of the limitations of the Oline, the offense was completing a lot of short passes over the middle. The linebackers as a whole did a good job of holding the receivers and backs to short gains. No one else stood out to me at LBer.

DB's- Roby looks like he could start for most teams. He was solid, and was being taught between reps by Chris Harris at times. He has decent size, great speed and good instincts. He pretty much shut down his man all day in the 11 on 11's. Kayvon had a very good day. He got his chance to play with the first team and let his presence be felt every time he was out there. It wasn't full tackle, but he was pushing the limits on that every time he got the chance. He was the most physical guy on the field today other than Duncan and the lineman. Bruton put Joe Don Duncan on his butt once. Poor Lorenzo Doss. He decided to take on Joe Don Duncan on a crossing route and got absolutely destroyed. Best hit of the day. I'll give him credit for sticking his nose in there though. It seemed to earn some respect from some of the other DB's as they helped him up on the sidelines and cheered him on. Stewart was good in coverage all day at safety. He can play either spot.

Overall thoughts-

I thought the practice itself was very lackluster. There wasn't a lot of emotion out there. I don't know if it is because a lot of the starters were sitting or what, but the energy level seemed a bit low today.

My Stars of the Day- Darius Kilgo, Shane Ray, Kapri Bibbs, Max Garcia, Sly, Derek Wolfe, Jordan Norwood, and Solomon Patton.

Biggest Disappointments of the Day- Oline as a whole, Brock Osweiller, and Zac Dysert. It makes sense that the QB's would struggle with poor blocking, but both were inaccurate all day long.

I expect that the offensive line will be a work in progress. Hopefully they'll start to gel fairly quickly.

I take it a lot of the veterans were getting the day off. I know they were going to do that with Manning and it's not surprising if they are doing that with other veterans as well.

Thanks for the report Ziggy.

I saw something yesterday about Taylor and hiim making one handed grabs and what not. Might be a sleeper.

Originally Posted by Northman

I saw something yesterday about Taylor and hiim making one handed grabs and what not. Might be a sleeper.

If he keeps catching the eye of the coaches it will be tough to cut him.

Norwood might catch on as the returner too. He was going to make the team before getting hurt last year. I would be ok with a WR corps of DT/Sanders/Latimer/Taylor/Norwood. Bye bye Caldwell.

I have seen a couple of mentions about the view not being that great - i.e. endzone view. From pictures I have seen of the facility over the years, it seems as though they rotate the two southern fields 90 degrees from time to time. I assumed that was to even out the wear and tear on the grass surface. It may be that next year the viewing area will be along the sidelines of one of the fields if they do in fact rotate them. Just a thought.

Originally Posted by LawDog

I have seen a couple of mentions about the view not being that great - i.e. endzone view. From pictures I have seen of the facility over the years, it seems as though they rotate the two southern fields 90 degrees from time to time. I assumed that was to even out the wear and tear on the grass surface. It may be that next year the viewing area will be along the sidelines of one of the fields if they do in fact rotate them. Just a thought.

I don't think so Law....that's were the press and VIP's sit. It has something to do with the ground freezing I heard on the radio. It's different, you can see, but it's a totally different point of view and if the sun is out, it's just hot!

Thanks Ziggy!!!

I mean rotate the fields from East West to North South. Anyway, was just hazarding a guess.

Originally Posted by Ziggy

The weather was perfect today. Cloudy throughout the entire practice. I wanted to address the new facilities before talking about the players.

Positives: The fan's area is far more comfortable, more roomy, and more fan friendly.
Negatives: The view of practice isn't as good. Rather than sitting along the sidelines, you sit in the behind the end zone. Overall, I still think it's a decent trade-off.

Yeah I don't understand people waiting in line so early just to sit right next to the back of the end zone, you can't see anything from there. Maybe they just want to be first for autographs? I don't know. When I went saturday I felt the best view was higher up (as is usually the case when watching football anyway) and I tended to just loiter at the top of the hill near the misting tent as you can get a great view of the field up there. If I do go again I'd wait for an overcast or at least breezy day, sitting there in 90 degree dead air with thousands of people around you is a little taxing for 10 minutes, let alone a few hours.

Too bad they aren't doing a scrimmage this year again, I really enjoyed those.

http://www.nfldraftscout.com/members...php?pyid=84165

Rivers has sick physical ability, great numbers even for LB, he just hasn't played meaningful football since his Jr season two seasons ago.

It'd be sweet if he'd show enough to make the team and maybe give Denver more options at ILB, I've been wondering what Lerentee McCray could do at ILB where the Broncos have somehow fallen in love with the likes of Johnson and Davis. Cause I've also been wondering what Johnson and Davis are gonna look like when they're not taking on the likes of Sambrailo, Smith, Garland and Gradkowski.

Gerald Rivers is listed on the depth chart as being the 3rd string WLB behind DeMarcus Ware & Shane Ray, not as an ILB. Is he playing in the rotation at ILB since Danny Trevathan and Brandon Marshall are recovering from injuries? Cause there's no way he makes this team as a WLB.

Originally Posted by MasterShake

Yeah I don't understand people waiting in line so early just to sit right next to the back of the end zone, you can't see anything from there. Maybe they just want to be first for autographs? I don't know. When I went saturday I felt the best view was higher up (as is usually the case when watching football anyway) and I tended to just loiter at the top of the hill near the misting tent as you can get a great view of the field up there. If I do go again I'd wait for an overcast or at least breezy day, sitting there in 90 degree dead air with thousands of people around you is a little taxing for 10 minutes, let alone a few hours.

Too bad they aren't doing a scrimmage this year again, I really enjoyed those.

They're going to scrimmage against the 49ers and guess that will be during the week leading up their game on August 29th.