Third-year safety Dymonte Thomas got on the air with Andrew Mason and Steve Atwater on First and 10 at 10 on Orange & Blue 760 to talk about Denver Broncos minicamp. Mason and Atwater noted right of the bat the differences in practice compared to last year and Thomas had a pretty interesting reply.
“We didn’t know what to expect really,” Thomas said. “Then after a few practices, we were like, ‘Oh yeah, this man is going to definitely try to get all his plays in’ ... It helps though, because it really makes you think when you’re tired and it really makes you hone in on your skills and your assignments and just makes you pay closer attention. And it’s also cool, because it’s not just the one’s and two’s getting the reps - everyone’s getting the reps. Everyone gets the same amount of reps pretty much. It actually helps a lot and I do appreciate that.”
It sounds like head coach Vic Fangio isn’t going to leave any stone unturned as he prepares this team for the 2019 season. From top to bottom, he wants every player ready to contribute.
Atwater went on to note that the players just seemed more excited this year and Thomas was able to elaborate in a very insightful way.
“A lot of times when you play defense, you get caught up in so much man or cover zero, you’re all eyes on your receive right? So when you are all eyes on the receiver, you are not really looking back at the ball or looking back at the quarterback,” Thomas said. “But in this defense, we have some coverages that will allow us to have zone and allows us to look at the quarterback and break on plays on the ball rather than having our back towards the quarterback playing man. I think it’s going to help us a lot, because it’s going to help us create turnovers.”
He went on to talk about the scheme in even greater detail and how the pressure is spread around, which helps take the burden off any one position group. It was a pretty good interview, well worth the listen.