Peyton Manning throwing the football at Broncos practice. (Photo: Brandon Krisztal/KOA NewsRadio)
Day 7 of Broncos Training Camp was highlighted by a visit from a familiar face.
That’s right #18 himself, Peyton Manning was on-hand along with his twins Marshall and Mosley to watch the Broncos first afternoon practice of the year.
Broncos Country shouldn’t get too excited about the prospect of “The Sherriff” coming out of retirement. The only time he threw the ‘ol pigskin was when playing catch with his kids, before making his way over to watch his former team practice following the first players off-day of the year.
As for what the Mannings and everyone else in attendance saw on the field, wasn’t necessarily a spectacular play, but rather a player capable of making spectacular plays. One of Peyton’s favorite targets, Emmanuel Sanders, ramped up his activity on the field by participating in 7-on-7 for the first time since tearing his AchillesDecember 4th.
Sanders said he’s easing into each phase as he ramps up to full speed. “I’m just going to go four or five plays in 7-on-7 and then gradually building up. I felt good out there. I’m happy to be back, at least back on what I'm doing.”
“We don't have a time period on that right now, but eventually I am looking forward to continuously, gradually—[from] 7-on-7 to team. Hopefully 1-on-1s. Hopefully in two or three weeks here, I will be full speed and full go all the way around.”
Sanders was all smiles on the podium. Although, when asked about the young receivers having a case of the “drops” through the smile you could sense that he doesn’t want it linger.
I'm trying to take it easy on the young guys,” Sanders said. “Obviously, you see them over there—they're on a jug machine right now. It's the youngest group that I've been around. Nobody is over 25. I'm 32. We've got a very young group. [We're] just trying to get these guys right. It's a lot of these guys' first training camp—or second, or third training camp. They're trying to make the roster. I know sitting on the sideline it looks easy. [You may think], ‘Oh my grandma could have made that catch,’ but it's a lot harder than you think. They are just trying to get acclimated with that, but I'm pushing for those young guys. We still have 30 more days of camp, so hopefully we can turn that around and stop putting balls on the ground.”
In fact, Sanders, provided the most colorful statement of the day, when asked if he tells the young receivers to ‘take a breath and slow down.’
You can see and hear his response in the this tweet. (If you’re a parent reading this post with a youngster, you may want to cover their ears)
Today also saw the first fight of training camp involving several members of both lines, but the two central participants appeared to be Derek Wolfe and Conor McGovern. At least that’s what we could ascertain as the fight concluded with Wolfe heaving McGovern’s helmet about 20 or 30 yards downfield toward the fans on the burm. It was a toss that Kyle Turley certainly would’ve been proud of
Following practice I asked Vic Fangio if he minds skirmishes in practice.
“I do,” he said. We talked about it. I don’t like it. There’s no need for it. We need to refrain from that and we’ve talked about it.”
Although the Hall of Fame Game is still a week a way, Fangio was asked what his plans were for playing starters in Canton next Thursday.
“We haven’t sat down and talked about it yet,” he said. “There could be some starters that get a little playing time, but to be honest with you, we haven’t really discussed it yet.”
If any starters do play, my money would be on Garrett Bolles and that may be it…maybe Dalton Risner and McGovern play a series or 2 at most.
Although it’s too early to predict, odds are we won’t see Ohio native Jake Butt who missed his 3rd straight practice as he works his way back from his 3rd ACL tear, that he suffered in walkthrough Sept. 27th
The 3rd year tight end from Michigan, whom I proclaimed draft weekend 2017 to be the steal of the draft, sent out this tweet about 90 minutes before Wednesday’s practice.
Fangio didn't seem too concerned about Butt's 3rd consecutive absence. “It’s more of what [we] expected. He’s hit a little pothole here in his road to recovery, but I don’t think it’s anything too, too serious at this point. He could be out here tomorrow or he could be another day or two.”