Horse Tracks: Broncos enjoying competition at right tackle between Chris Clark and Winston Justice

Good morning, Broncos Country!

Tim will be by later this morning with his massive Broncos minicamp day one recap. Stay tuned for that!

In the meantime, we can cover what the MSM has covered. One running theme of minicamp - and offseason workouts as a whole - is that the Broncos are fortunate that they are loaded with talent. This gives us little to talk about in the way of position battles - at least as far as starting players are concerned. While some teams are talking about who will start at quarterback, the Broncos are talking about right tackle.

The latest name-to-know in that vein is Winston Justice. According to Cecil Lammey, he has been impressive, and he's pushing Clark for time at right tackle.

The Broncos believe in Justice as they signed him to a one-year, $1.175 million contract back in March. The deal included a $75,000 signing bonus and another $1 million available through incentives.

Justice is splitting reps with Clark at this time, and the team will give him an opportunity to win the right tackle job. Clark has to be considered the front-runner, but this competition may continue into training camp.

A tip of the hat to Nbot in yesterday's comments for pointing out the article.

Sports Illustrated dished out offseason report cards and gave the Broncos a B+.

Kiszla says the Broncos received the rings no NFL player wants. He writes, "The Broncos got their rings. They will shine forever but will never be truly cherished. These were the wrong rings. When you think about it, those rings should be all the motivation this team needs in 2014."

Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders marvel at Peyton Manning's accuracy. Avoid Peyton Manning Hypnosis and read this.

Legwold discusses who in this 2014 locker room is stepping up to become a leader.

Former Broncos safety Mike Adams is still looking for a job, and I am still surprised by this.

Broncos minicamp videos

Manning on Value of Minicamp
Peyton Manning talks to the media after Tuesday's mandatory minicamp practice.

Broncos Minicamp Report - ESPN Video - ESPN
ESPN Video: Sal Paolantonio discusses the Broncos' mindset heading into minicamp and what Peyton Manning's role will be there.

Roby to Buy Mom 'Whatever She Wants'
After signing his rookie contract with the Broncos, first round pick Bradley Roby says he's going to buy his mom "whatever she wants."

Significance of AFC Championship Ring
A day after the Broncos received their AFC Championship rings, Peyton Manning explains the reminder the hardware serves.

Ware More Comfortable By the Day
DeMarcus Ware talks to the press after Tuesday's minicamp practice.

Roby on Signing: 'It Felt Great'
First round draft pick Bradley Roby talks to the media about signing his rookie contract with the Broncos.

Vickerson 'Pushing for Training Camp'
Kevin Vickerson talks about his recovery from an injured hip.

Horse Tracks

Podcast - AFC West burning offseason questions | Audibles - SI.com
In 2013, the AFC West sent three teams (Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, San Diego Chargers) to the postseason, cementing its status as arguably the best division in the AFC. How many teams can make the playoffs this season? That's just one of the burning questions that SI.

Te'o In First Full Practice Since Surgery - ESPN Video - ESPN
ESPN Video: ESPN Chargers reporter Eric D. Williams breaks down Manti Te'o participating in his first full practice since undergoing offseason surgery to repair a broken foot.

Last week of OTAs of San Diego Chargers - ESPN
The San Diego Chargers begin the last week of organized team activities (OTAs) on Monday. Today's practice is the only one of the four practices open

Raiders trying Darren McFadden on kickoff returns | ProFootballTalk
This is the time of year to experiment, or at least to see if an idea is disastrous enough to not waste training camp time on. So the Raiders gave running back Darren McFadden a chance to return kickoffs today in OTAs, via Scott Bair of CSNBayArea.com.

Side Saddle

I'm a big fan of other things besides the Broncos, too. And yesterday I read news surrounding three of them. Let's cover them in increasing order of holy WTF-ness, lowest to highest. And if you hate this divergence from Broncos-related news, just let me know. I'm always experimenting with the format of things.

The first is Rick Reilly's last piece. He has long been one of my favorite sportswriters. I could almost include this in the Broncos-related "Horse Tracks" simply because Reilly, as many of you know, is based in Denver and talks Broncos regularly. He was recently inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame. John Elway introduced him.

Staying true orange-and-blue, Reailly's final column makes reference to both Peyton Manning and Elway.

I watched safe after safe fall on John Elway's head -- Super Bowl losses, divorce, the loss of his twin sister and his beloved dad -- and yet he refused to allow himself one ounce of self-pity. From him, I learned grit.

While I didn't agree with everything Reilly wrote or said, that isn't the point - writing well is, and Reilly could always do that. I could ready a Reilly column like I could watch a good movie. His tale-spinning will be missed.

**

The second is E3, and particularly how my favorite-game-series-ever is getting its next huge installment. I'm talking about the Legend of Zelda.

A new console Zelda announcement basically makes the next year of my life a little better, thank to that sweet anticipation. I grew up on Zelda. More accurately, I grew up perpetually waiting for the next Zelda. I even started a Zelda blog, long before I knew what a blog was, and long before I focused on writing about these Denver Broncos.

This trailer featured a Link wearing blue (or was it Link?) fighting a laser monster while using mechanized arrows. Sign me up!

(Frankly, at this point, the trailer could have featured Link planting a garden of flowers he then gave to monsters as peace offerings, and I'd say, 'Sign me up!')

What E3 game caught your eye?

**

The third - and absolutely, massively hugest - off-topic big news of the day actually broke a few days before, but I only heard it just Tuesday. That news was the return of Bill Watterson. The Bill Watterson of Calvin and Hobbes fame.

Allow me to provide some context. There are few moments as a child that I remember so distinctly that I could re-live said moment again, right here and now. I can remember what there was to see. I remember the sounds and the weather and who was present. My first kiss. Losing the flag football championship by one touchdown due to a blown call and crying at the refs. Opening a Nintendo 64 one Christmas morning.

Reading Calvin and Hobbes' last strip in the newspaper.

I have been a Calvin and Hobbes fan all of my life. Watterson started the strip a year after I was born; since I learned to read, I read Calvin and Hobbes. My father had the collections in book form, and I read them cover-to-cover more than once. I own each treasury, and then I own the 10th-anniversary hardcover full collection for good measure (so I own every Calvin and Hobbes twice). The first rock band I started was named "Calvinball".

So when Watterson came back to cartoon-ing, even for just three strips, even as a surprise ghost artist, I became pretty excited.  It was amazing to see Watterson back in four-panel format, and Pearls Before Swine gained a new follower in me.

Yesterday was pretty fun. I wonder what today will bring?