2020 Denver Broncos Training Camp: Day 8 news and notes

The Broncos returned from their day off on Saturday for a padded practice today and it was another dominating performance by the defense. We have Jurrell Casey dominating in practice, rookie Lloyd Cushenberry getting a full run with the first-team offense, offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur praising Jerry Jeudy who by the way, did his best David Tyree impersonation today, news and notes, injury updates, quotes, and more.

Jurrell Casey dominates today

Von MIller did return to the practice, but he sat out team drills which allowed defensive lineman Jurrell Casey to steal the show. He has been doing it pretty consistently throughut camp by all accounts, but Casey was disruptive today.

Casey was consistently bringing the pressure up the middle and getting after quarterback Drew Lock. This shouldn’t be a surprise since Casey is a very talented interior defender which the Broncos somehow acquired for a 7th round selection.

Broncos defensive coordinator Ed Donatell was asked about what Jurrell Casey adds to thei defense and he told reporters that “he’ll stir things up”.

“Every player’s different. He’s an experienced NFL player that can bring his skills to our team, and we can plug him in. He’s been a inside rusher that can win one-on-ones and stir things up. He’ll add that to our rush.”

I think he’ll do more than just stir things up. He dominated in Tennessee with very little around him. He was the focus of the offense coming in, but now? He enters a much better situation. He’ll have Von Miller and Bradley Chubb on the edges and either veteran Shelby Harris or exciting second-year player Dre’Mont Jones next to him in sub-packages.

The Broncos front four could be deadly this season.

Lloyd Cushenberry was four first-team center today

Before today, rookie center Lloyd Cushenberry rotated in with the first-team offense a few times but never received a full practice run with the first-team offense.

That changed today.

Coming off the day off on Saturday, the Broncos coaches likely met and went over what changes they wanted to make to their depth chart coming into Sunday’s practice. One of those changes and likely the most notable one was giving Cushenberry a full run with the first-team offense.

By all accounts, Cushenberry held his own their as well. He handled veteran Shelby Harris in one-on-ones, and had little issue snapping the ball to quarterback Drew Lock. A pretty solid showing for the rookie center.

Head Coach Vic Fangio was asked if Cushenberry’s exclusive experience at center is helping him in this competition and he said no, but that he could be more ready than most rookie centers.

“No, not really. It may factor in to where each player is at, but as far as the decision we make it will be based upon the play out here on the practice field. It’s obviously an advantage for him personally that he’s played center most of his college career. He’s played at a good college. Obviously, they won the championship last year. He’s played it at a high level of competition in the SEC. You could say he’s more ready that some players are coming from certain programs.”

I think we’ll see Cushenberry with the first-team offense more and more as we move on.

Shurmur praises Jeudy

Offensive Coordinator Pat Shurmur met with the media after practice as was asked what rookie wide receiver Jerry Jeudy brings to the wide receiver room. He told the media that he has really good instincts and is a really good route runner.

Here is Shurmur’s full quote where he touched on Jeudy, the receiving room, how 2020 is rough for rookies and more.

“He’s got really good instincts. He’s a very good route runner. A lot of receivers come out of college and they don’t have a good feel for bump-and-run. Quite frankly, some defenses don’t challenge as much in college as they are going to get challenged here. He’s done a good job working against bump-and-run. He does know how to wiggle himself open. He’s been able to make some explosive plays for us. But then there’s the little things that he has to continue to work on. For some of these guys, this is eight times working together, but they’ve been in the league a few years. This is eight times working and you just got here, so you can imagine the challenge for him. This is a really, really, really tough year for first-year players. In most years, you would have come in with 10 OTAs and a mini camp. All that extra time we spend with rookies that’s off the books in previous years. You come into training camp having watched yourself do it. You’ve got reps with the starting quarterback. It’s going to be a real challenge for rookies this year in my opinion because they don’t have that foundation that you get in a normal year. But you know what, so be it. All 32 teams are dealing with it, so it’s very, very important that our older players—and I’ll give [WRs] Courtland [Sutton], DaeSean [Hamilton], Tim [Patrick]—I’ll give those guys credit. They’ve really put their arms around the young guys and they’re trying to bring them along. That’s a very important piece. This season—we talked about it yesterday as an organization—it’s very important. It’s very important that the older guys help lead the younger guys. I feel like in that group, even though those players are not old, salty vets, they’re old enough to be older than Jerry Jeudy, and they’ve done a good job of leading him.”

Speaking of Jeudy, he did have the highlight catch of practice which looked a lot like what David Tyree did in the Super Bowl.

Really excited to see what he can do on gamedays!

News and Notes

• Broncos signed wide receiver Cody White per 9NEWS Denver’s Mike Klis
• Center Patrick Morris shoved rookie defensive lineman McTelvin Agim to the ground after the whistle which pissed off Head Coach Vic Fangio
• Right Tackle Demar Dotson remained with the third-team offense

Injury Report

• Linebacker Von Miller who missed Friday’s practice with an elbow issue returned to practice today
• Tight End Nick Vannett who was in the concussion protocol was able to return to practice today
• Right tackle Elijah Wilkinson who left practice late on Friday returned to practice today
• Running Back Melvin Gordon remained sidelined with a rib injury
• Rookie wide receiver K.J. Hamler will be sidelined for at least two weeks with a hamstring injury
• Wide receiver Juwann Winfree remained sidelined with a groin injury
• Inside linebacker Todd Davis remained sidelined with a calf injury that will keep him sidelined for at least a week
• Rookie cornerback Michael Ojemudia was sidelined with a quad injury and will be out at least one week
• Tight end Austin Fort remained sidelined with a knee injury that will sideline him 4 to 8 weeks.
• Rookie linebacker Justin Strnad left practice with a wrist injury.

Tweets from Camp

Quotables

Head Coach Vic Fangio on how DE Dre’Mont Jones has performed during training camp compared to late last season

“He’s lightyears of where he was last year at this time. I think he’s normal years ahead of where he was at the end of the season. A lot of times things get better from Year 1 to Year 2 even though we didn’t have the normal offseason. They get to sit back, watch themselves on tape, take in everything they’ve learned, have a better understanding of what it takes to play their position in the NFL. I think he’s had a really good offseason. He’s obviously improved for it.”

Head Coach Vic Fangio on what he has seen from rookie defensive lineman McTelvin Agim

“He’s been doing well. I’ve been pleased with his play. We liked him in the draft obviously where we took him. He’s got size. He’s got some quickness. He’s got some strength. He’s just got to learn to play his position a little bit better. I think he’s already improved his run defense comparable to what he was putting on his college tape. I think he deserves credit for that and [Defensive Line Coach] Bill Kollar deserves credit for that. We need to keep him improving. I think he’s a guy that like a lot of these rookies are going to suffer a little bit from no preseason games, the shorter camp, no offseason. We have to get him on the fast track to being capable of playing.”

Defensive Coordinator Ed Donatell on what he has seen from CB Davontae Harris, CB De’Vante Bausby and CB Isaac Yiadom in the cornerback competition

“They’re all in there. It’s important to our team. It is still very open and fluid. We’re giving them all chances to do this. Right now, we’re going to take as much time as we need. We know there’s limited time in this year. Every practice we’re putting them out there. We’re keeping track of everybody. We’ll have a good player ready to start or contribute when the time comes.”

Offensive Coordinator Pat Shurmur on how QB Drew Lock has handled the installation of the offense and where he’s improved

“I think he’s done a good job. From an installation standpoint, he’s doing a really good job of knowing what the concept is and going out there and executing. There are times—and this is part of his nature—I call them the 60-yard check downs, where he can break out of the pocket and keep his eyes down field. He does a good job of keeping his eyes down field, which I think is part of being youthful. It’s him trying to continue to make plays. Sometimes your biggest plays come on scrambles because it’s not always perfect. I think he’s doing a good job there. The details and the tactics of things—I think he’s getting better with all that. Quite frankly, for guys that come out of no huddle operations—it’s sad to say, but just working under center and being in the huddle calling a play. Although that seems to be natural for quarterbacks. In the old days, that’s all we did. We played under center, and we called plays in huddles. When they come out of college sometimes, they’re looking at cards, they get one word and they barely have an alternate snap count. Even though he’s done a good job with that, those are things that he’s constantly working on.”