Projecting how the Broncos’ initial 53-man roster will look By Ryan O’Halloran Denver Post June 10, 2019 Coach Vic Fangio and his new coordinators are expected to put a new stamp on the depth chart. Exiting the offseason program, a whopping 44.4 percent of the Broncos’ roster (40 of 90 players) was not on the team at the end of last season. New coaches, armed with new schemes, want to turn over a depth chart that fits their view, appropriate considering the Broncos have missed the playoffs three consecutive years. But how many of those new guys will stick on the initial 53-man roster? Will coach Vic Fangio wave good-bye to drafted players he inherited? Will more than one undrafted free agent make the team? Now that the Broncos’ offseason program is complete and the players are off for the next month, it’s time to predict how the roster will look after cutdown day. Here’s my best guess: OFFENSE (25) Quarterbacks (3) In: Joe Flacco, Drew Lock and Kevin Hogan. Out: Brett Rypien. Analysis: The first of many decisions that was difficult to finalize. Two or three quarterbacks? Hogan took all of the second-team snaps during the Broncos’ minicamp. If the coaching staff exits the preseason confident Lock could help them win a game if forced to play, it makes Hogan expendable. If Lock’s sledding is tough in August during training camp, it creates a need to keep Hogan. Rypien should be ticketed for the practice squad either way. Running backs (5) In: Royce Freeman, Phillip Lindsay, Devontae Booker, Andy Janovich (FB) and George Aston (FB).

Out: Khalfani Muhammad and Devontae Jackson.

Analysis: Yes, two fullbacks! Janovich is entering the final year of his contract, creating the need to keep Aston around to use as a pass-catching fullback and get him ready for full-time duty in 2020. It’s a long shot, but we think the fullback will be a big part of coordinator Rich Scangarello’s offense. Three tailbacks sounds reasonable, but if Janovich/Aston are both active and Freeman becomes well-versed enough in pass protection to also be a third-down back, does that make Booker a healthy scratch?

Receivers (5)

In: Emmanuel Sanders, Courtland Sutton, DaeSean Hamilton, Tim Patrick and Juwann Winfree.

Out: River Cracraft, Trinity Benson, Brendan Langley, Aaron Burbridge, Kelvin McKnight, Fred Brown and Romell Guerrier.

Analysis: The extra fullback keeps the Broncos from keeping a sixth receiver. Winfree makes the team as a sixth-round pick if he can win the punt return spot. Converted from cornerback, Langley has the athleticism to maybe develop and he could merit practice squad consideration. The key is Sanders. If he is deemed healthy for the season opener, but doesn’t play much in August, that may force the Broncos’ hand to keep Cracraft or Langley, at least to start the season.

Tight ends (4)

In: Noah Fant, Jeff Heuerman, Jake Butt and Troy Fumagalli.

Out: Bug Howard and Austin Fort.

Analysis: The Broncos figure to run a lot of two-tight end personnel, which creates a spot for Fumagalli if he can make it through training camp/preseason healthy after missing all of last year. Fant, the first-round pick, should emerge as the lead pass-catching tight end and Heuerman can deliver consistent blocking. Butt is a wild-card who will make the team, but whose role will be defined by how he comes back from his ACL tear sustained last October.

Offensive line (8)

In: Ja’Wuan James (RT), Garett Bolles (LT), Connor McGovern (C), Ron Leary (RG), Dalton Risner (LG), Don Barclay (G), Elijah Wilkinson (G/T) and Sam Jones (G/C).

Out: Chaz Green, Austin Schlottmann, Nathan Jacobson, Ryan Crozier, Jake Brendel, Jake Rodgers, John Leglue and Quinn Bailey.

Analysis: We went with eight linemen instead of the nine most teams carry. The caveat is the Broncos could be scouring the waiver wire on Labor Day Weekend looking for a back-up tackle. There appears to be decent interior depth since Barclay is experienced. Wilkinson started games last year at guard, but is best suited to being a swing tackle.

DEFENSE (25)

Defensive line (6)

In: Derek Wolfe (DE), Adam Gotsis (DE), Shelby Harris (NT), Zach Kerr (NT/DE), Dre’Mont Jones (DE) and Billy Winn (DE).

Out: DeMarcus Walker, Mike Purcell, DeShawn Williams, and Deyon Sizer.

Analysis: The top five spots are pretty much locked in. That leaves the sixth position for Winn in our projection. Walker was a second-round pick only two years ago, but will start camp on the bubble. If the Broncos are loathe to not give up on Walker, he could get the slot we have reserved for the 10th linebacker. Overall, this should be a good group. Wolfe, Gotsis and Harris are entering their contract years, Kerr is a reliable rotation player and Jones, the Broncos’ third-round pick, showed flashes during the offseason program.

Outside linebacker (5)

In: Von Miller, Bradley Chubb, Justin Hollins, Dekoda Watson, and Jeff Holland.

Out: Malik Reed and Ahmad Gooden.

Analysis: Miller and Chubb will be expected to match or exceed last year’s combined total of 26 1/2 sacks. But getting some production from the back-up players will help. We listed Hollins as an outside linebacker although he also learned the sub-package inside linebacker spot after being drafted in the fourth round. Watson will make the team because he is viewed as a core special teams player. Holland is one to monitor. Can he defend the run if asked? He certainly has the pass-rushing pop to contribute. He will need a productive preseason to convince the new coaching staff to keep him.

Inside linebacker (5)

In: Todd Davis, Josey Jewell, Joseph Jones, Keishawn Bierria and Joe Dineen.

Out: Alexander Johnson, Aaron Wallace and Josh Watson.

Analysis: Davis and Jewell will enter training camp as the starters and could both be every-down players if Fangio decides nickel (five defensive backs/four linebackers/two defensive linemen) is his best sub-package option and Hollins isn’t viewed as ready. They will stay on the field in those situations if they can cover receivers. Things then get interesting. We settled on 10 total linebackers because that’s what Fangio’s Chicago Bears opened up with last year. Jones and Bierria will be special teams contributors and we opted for the undrafted Dineen over the unproven Johnson.

Cornerback (4)

In: Chris Harris, Bryce Callahan, De’Vante Bausby and Isaac Yiadom.

Out: Horace Richardson, Linden Stephens, Trey Johnson and Alijah Holder.

Analysis: Kareem Jackson’s ability to play cornerback in general and cover the slot receiver, in particular, gives the Broncos roster flexibility. Harris and Callahan will be the starters entering camp assuming Jackson is at safety. Bausby has experience in Fangio’s scheme, which is an obvious plus. Holder could squeeze his way onto the roster if his preseason performance makes it too big of a risk to put him on waivers. The Broncos have to think about the future since Harris is a free agent next March.

Safety (5)

In: Justin Simmons, Kareem Jackson, Will Parks, Shamarko Thomas and Jamal Carter.

Out: Su’a Cravens, Dymonte Thomas and Trey Marshall.

Analysis: Simmons and Jackson are the projected starters and Parks is expected to be the second safety in nickel when Jackson moves to cover the slot receiver. If the Broncos are committed to nickel instead of dime (three safeties/three cornerbacks), does that require an extra cornerback and only four safeties? Something to watch in the preseason games. Carter was on track to make the team last year until a hamstring injury in the preseason opener. Cravens ended 2018 as a healthy scratch so we think his bubble will burst. We chose Shamarko Thomas over Marshall because of Thomas’ special teams ability.

SPECIALISTS (3)

In: Brandon McManus (K), Colby Wadman (P) and Casey Kreiter (LS).

Out: Tyler Bertolet (K).

Analysis: Pretty simple here. McManus, Kreiter, and Wadman will enter their sixth, fourth and second seasons, respectively, with the Broncos.

Review: Denver gives Garth Brooks the “greatest night of (his) career” By Dylan Owens Denver Post June 10, 2019 To many country music outsiders, Garth Brooks is one of life’s greatest mysteries. How has a dad-jeaned balladeer from Tulsa moved more albums in the U.S. than any other artist in the world beside The Beatles? And, some 20 years after his heyday, still selling out stadium tours? The answer was blowing in the cool wind that cut through Mile High Stadium on Saturday, where a record-breaking 84,000 fans gathered under a slate of clouds to give Brooks what he’d call the greatest night of his career, striking up his 11-piece band to mine an immense catalogue of country-FM gold for a career retrospective. But first, they had to get there. Traffic was a bear — “Expect Delays: Garth Brooks Concert,” a CDOT sign on Speer read — and then there was the matter of squeezing into the stadium itself. Thirty minutes before showtime, fans cracked beers in a massive line for field seating that snaked around the concourse, bonding over the annoyance. That would be just a teaser for the human traffic jam inside the tunnel, though, a powder keg of drunk, impatient people jammed into a too-small egress. “I’m gonna puke!” a woman yelled, trying to push upstream toward the exit. Elsewhere, a pair nearly came to blows after one bumped the other trying to slide by. After 10 minutes, the end was near. “I feel air,” a woman said, hopeful the nightmare was almost over. Sure enough, just as we let out onto the field, it was showtime. Brooks emerged from the floor singing “All Day Long,” cowboy hat flaring in the spotlight. The four LED pillars that marked the corners of the stage egged the crowd on with a graphic that mimicked a decibel reader. They wouldn’t need it. “You guys are serious about this one,” Brooks said during one of many taking-it-in moments between songs. Brooks is as famous for his concerts as he is for his songs, and it’s easy to see why. Throughout roughly two hours of hits –“Two Pina Coladas,” “The Beaches of Cheyenne” and “Thunder Rolls” were in the mix — he played each as if the world was slated to end at a quarter past midnight. If his voice went out, it would have been from screaming in admiration for the crowd, not warbling “The River.” He doffed his cowboy hat so many times it left a black streak on his forehead. Aside from the typical fan service, Brooks pulled out a few unexpected tributes, too. Over “We Shall Be Free,” the top seating section of Mile High Stadium strobed the colors of the rainbow in recognition of Pride Month. For “Friends in Low Places,” he brought out one of the studio musicians that wrote parts for his hit songs and but never gets to perform them live. It was a high-water mark for the night, as fans sang the choruses sans Brooks — “think I’ll slip on down to the ohhh-ay-sis” — beer raised with a boot on the seat. Charging toward the encore, Brooks again screamed in appreciation, calling the evening “the greatest night of (his) career.”

It’s easy to assume this level of gratitude is disingenuous, and many do. Podcast host Joe Rogan and comedian Tom Segura made a bit out of Brooks’ insanely amiable public persona, insisting there just has to be skeletons hiding behind all those Rockmount shirts in his closet. Right? What’s scarier — especially to them — is that Brooks might actually just be that pure. Before playing “Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old),” Brooks explained to the crowd that they’d be recording it for Triple Live, a sequel to his popular Double Live album, a treat to the city he considers one of the song’s earliest adaptors. To make it work on tape, we’d need to make ourselves heard — first, after the intro guitar solo and then again, even louder, after the fiddle solo. The song struck up, there went the guitar solo and the crowd cheered. Then, after the fiddler took the spotlight, a roar went up you could feel in your spine. Downstage, Brooks hunched over and pinched his eyes, a swell of emotion threatening to burst the dam. It wasn’t a jumbotron moment, too quiet and organic to be taken for anything other than a person feeling a hit of love from 84,000 fellow human beings. It lasted a second; he socked it away and sang: “To sleep would be best, but I just can’t afford to rest / I’ve got to ride in Denver tomorrow night.” The verse rang out clear, even if his eyes were a little cloudy.

Chris Harris Jr.: 'I definitely want to be in the rafters when I'm done here' By Mike Klis KUSA June 10, 2019 Broncos' cornerback returns richer and pleased with new coaches, quarterback and secondary mates. More money wasn’t the only reason Chris Harris Jr. ended his two-month offseason holdout two weeks ago. There was also the matter of playing for a winning team and cementing his personal legacy. Harris, a cornerback who has averaged 2.6 interceptions in his seven seasons as a full-time starter, was not happy with how his Broncos fell to 5-11 and 6-10 the past two years. His frustration was exasperated by the spoiled success he enjoyed early in his career, when his Broncos reached the playoffs in each of his first five seasons. Harris knows what good and bad teams look like and he believes his current Broncos can return to their winning ways in 2019. "It starts with your quarterback," Harris said last week in a sit-down interview with 9News. "You have to have a solid quarterback and I think Joe (Flacco) is way more comfortable. He likes it here. I think this offense fits him well. "And I think we have a lot of playmakers on defense. I think every week were going to show something new to the offense and they won’t have a bead on us. We can change it up. One week, I’ll line up straight outside; one week I’ll play nickel. So we can do a lot of different things." And then there is Harris’ standing reservation among the Broncos’ greats. Even had he forced a trade at the onset of the NFL Draft six weeks ago and not played another down here, he probably had gathered enough accomplishments to one wind up in the team’s Ring of Fame. Then again a bitter divorce might have delayed things. Harris has four Pro Bowl selections, is tied for second in team history with four pick sixes and was among the centerpieces for that dominant Super Bowl 50 defense in 2015. But former Broncos middle linebacker Al Wilson earned five Pro Bowl berths and is not in the ROF. Harris could use another Pro Bowl year on a winning team to secure his place in the Broncos’ annals. "Oh yeah, it definitely matters," Harris said. "I definitely want to be in the rafters when I’m done here. I know the fans wanted me here, my family wanted me here. It just made sense to go out here and do whatever I can to prove it that I want to retire here."

He is here on a one-year, $12.05 million deal, a 35 percent raise on the $8.9 million he was scheduled to make. Funny how it works. Harris was the subject of more chatter and headlines during his two-month absence than he received in the seven offseason workouts programs he participated in combined. "I wasn’t really looking at everything except stuff that popped up on my Twitter," he said. "But it’s crazy how it all happened." As the losses mounted the previous two years and his frustration grew, Harris would speak out about the lack of creativity in the team’s game plans or the defensive play calling. He doesn’t foresee such issues with the current coaching regime of head coach Vic Fangio, whose roots are grounded on defense, and defensive coordinator Ed Donatell, whose background is steeped in the secondary. "He just has an answer for everything," Harris said of Fangio. "He likes to rotate the hard down. Instead of being the hard down on me every play of the game." Hard down? "One down you might have help," Harris said, referring to a safety over the top. "The next down it might be all on you. In previous years it’s been all on (me) a lot of the plays. He wants to rotate that and give us a chance to make more plays." Varying the 'hard' down assignments was made possible this year after general manager John Elway signed versatile defensive back Kareem Jackson and slot corner Bryce Callahan in free agency. Jackson has been playing the safety position vacated with the release of Darian Stewart, and Callahan has been playing outside corner. Harris, Callahan and Jackson have all taken turns playing the slot when Fangio employs the nickel defense, which figures to be 60 to 80 percent of the time during the season. "These guys are smart. They can play everywhere. They just love the game," Harris said of Jackson and Callahan. "That’s what I always want. I want to play with teammates that really love the game like me and are really all in on football and try to win so I’m really happy with the guys we brought in." Whatever awkward discomfort Harris felt in the first day or two after his return has since been soothed. He became quickly acclimated with the new terminology and concepts. He believes in his teammates and has confidence in his new coaches. "These guys have a lot of experience," he said. "Like I said, we have answers for a lot of different things that the offense is doing and I’ve had great one-on-one talks. "I went out to eat with coach Donatell and I talked for a while with coach Fangio one on one and I feel comfortable with them and they expect me to go out there and make a lot of plays for them."

Garth Brooks calls Denver show the ‘greatest night of my career’ By Allison Sylte KUSA June 10, 2019 Does he say this every night? No, he doesn't ... on Twitter anyway. More than 80,000 people crowded into Broncos Stadium at Mile High to see Garth Brooks on Saturday night – the biggest crowd in the venue’s history. That means it’s fair to say the country superstar has lots of friends in Mile High places (GET IT?!), and it looks like the love is mutual. “Epic is an understatement!” Brooks tweeted. “Denver, YOU just gave me the GREATEST night of my career! THANK YOU!!” He said something similar during the concert, referring to his sold-out show as his favorite in the Mile High City. “This probably was the greatest frickin’ night of my career!” Brooks said to the enthusiastic crowd toward the end of the concert. It was high praise, and his words led to an impromptu 9NEWS.com Wants to Know™ investigation into whether he says this every night during his stadium tour. The answer? It doesn’t look like it judging from his Twitter. His last show in Pittsburgh also set an attendance record. He was definitely "reeling" from it, according to his tweet, but he was already looking ahead to his concert in Denver. On May 4, he complimented the folks in Minnesota for setting the bar but did not call it the greatest night ever. He did, however, tell Darius Rucker, of Hootie and the Blowfish, that opening for him in Minneapolis would be the greatest night of his life. And guess what? It appears it was. "You were right, Garth," Rucker tweeted. Brooks appeared to enjoy his time in Florida, but was it the best night of his career? No. He did learn he has friends in the swamp, though! Brooks' stadium tour will make its next stop in Eugene, Oregon, on June 29. Will this eclipse Denver as the best night of his life? It looks like we've set a high bar. Only time will tell. The good news is that Denver's love affair with Garth is what experts would call a healthy relationship, because he loves us back.

Broncos' Vic Fangio bridges age gap with players -- compliments or not By Jeff Legwold ESPN June 10, 2019 Vic Fangio spent more than three decades as an NFL assistant waiting for this chance to be a head coach. Now, the Denver Broncos' new head man is working with players who are three -- and almost four -- decades younger than he is in a league that always seems to be looking for the Next Big Thing in the under-40 set. The 60-year-old has introduced himself to his players by staying true to what he believes works in any era. "Fundamentals and structure, and are you making them better?" Fangio said. "Ultimately, that is the question players will have: Are you making them better? Are they part of a team that does what needs to be done to be successful? I just believe if you're not good at the fundamentals, your schemes, your plans, will be affected. You won't give yourselves a chance to be successful." Fangio doesn't sprinkle in pop culture references the way a 70-something Wade Phillips did during his time as Broncos defensive coordinator, and he doesn't have a playlist that matches that of his players. But Fangio has his own way to bridge the age gap. Linebacker Von Miller, who is playing for his fourth head coach, said it is a simple, direct approach. "He's just real, he tells you straight, and that's it," Miller said. "When it's good, when it's bad, how to fix it, how to be better. We all appreciate that." Former Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning has seen Fangio work up close. Fangio was an assistant with the New Orleans Saints when Manning was a high school prodigy working out at the team facility, and Fangio was defensive coordinator for three seasons (1999-2001) with the Indianapolis Colts while Manning was there. Manning peeled back the curtain a bit on Fangio's matter-of-fact, competitive nature during a recent visit to practice. He said Fangio's authenticity is what players will notice first, and he joked that Fangio "probably wore that same gray sweatsuit" to his interview with the Broncos. "I think he owns a couple of ties and a couple of suits," Manning joked. "... He hasn't changed one bit since 1999 in Indianapolis. I think that's what [general manager] John [Elway] saw: This guy's a football coach. We need to get back to playing solid, fundamental football around here. That's what wins games. That's kind of been the core of what the Denver Broncos have been about, and I think Vic will bring that to Denver." Defensive coordinator Ed Donatell, who has been with Fangio for eight seasons, said Fangio wants to put the players in "uncomfortable" situations. Manning added that Fangio will make every practice as competitive as possible, in every situation.

"We didn't have refs at practice back then, but I was probably complaining about they're holding our receivers, and Vic put a plate of wine and cheese in my locker. He didn't say it was him, but I knew it was him." Peyton Manning "He tried to win every practice, and they would have the upper hand a lot at practice, and he really could be irritating," Manning said before recalling a specific incident. "I can't remember what I did. But it seems like they held a lot during one practice. We didn't have refs at practice back then, but I was probably complaining about they're holding our receivers, and Vic put a plate of wine and cheese in my locker. He didn't say it was him, but I knew it was him. Only he had access to it. ... And if you get a compliment from Vic Fangio, you've done something special because he does not roll them out there very much." Ah, compliments from Fangio. He says his reluctance to give them has been "exaggerated." But the Broncos have learned -- All-Pro or not -- that the standard is the standard, and praise will be parceled out accordingly. "With Vic, you don't know if he's happy or mad. I couldn't tell you," defensive lineman Shelby Harris said with a laugh. " … Like, all right, cool, did I do something wrong? I just got a sack, I thought. All right, it's cool." "He gives compliments. It's not like if you do something good he's not going to just overlook it," Miller said. " ... He's been coaching for a long time. You're not a great coach if you never give compliments. You're not a good coach if you just scold guys all the time, either. He has a perfect mixture. If it's good, it's good. If it's bad, it's bad." The Broncos closed their first offseason with Fangio this past Thursday with a "field day" for the players instead of the scheduled practice. From a home run derby to a chipping contest to Elway taking a spin in a dunk tank, the Broncos took their requisite optimism into the remainder of their football summer. Fangio got the start he wanted. Now the games await. "I don't say a whole lot out there [at practice] because during the game, we're on the sidelines, and you can't talk to the players other than in between series. I like to see them play without people in their ear telling them what to do," Fangio said. "When we sit in the meeting rooms, I'm very complimentary and very critical -- whatever is deserving of it."

‘I’ve boxed before, but not like this’: Following Derek Wolfe’s lead, Broncos add new element to offseason training By Nicki Jhabvala The Athletic June 10, 2019 Sandwiched between a tile store and a concrete contractor off Sante Fe Drive in Englewood is a gutted industrial warehouse that for nearly a decade has been home to some of the most elite athletes in Colorado. Since 2010, this expansive metal box has been a mixed martial arts haven, with professional fighters sweating their way to potential championship belts and amateurs looking to follow their lead. Many have already reached the top, evidenced by the pile of metal-plated belts stashed in the corner of the facility, next to the MMA cage. This is Factory X Muay Thai, where Anthony “Lionheart” Smith, the third-ranked fighter in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s light heavyweight division, trains. It’s where Joe Warren, a renowned Greco-Roman wrestler turned Bellator MMA champion, trains. Banners commemorating Warren’s Bellator championships hang from the rafters above a black mat that blankets the warehouse floor. And as of this year, it’s where Broncos defensive end Derek Wolfe and nearly a dozen of his teammates have passed through regularly to prep for the 2019 season. Under the tutelage of Factory X’s founder and noted Muay Thai/MMA instructor Marc Montoya, a good chunk of the Broncos’ defense has paraded in and out of these doors typically once a week for boxing workouts tailored to their own craft. The hour-long sessions are a unique mix of striking and pass-rushing, with an emphasis on proper breathing and muscle stamina to strain the players both mentally and physically. “I don’t ever bend over or lay down during workouts,” Wolfe said. “This is the only workout where I’m like, ‘I gotta lay down.’” For the past three months or so, Montoya has taken football players at the highest level and knocked them down a few rungs as they try to keep up on the mat or the cage. “The first day was just me and Derek and we were like, ‘Bro, this is super dope,’” Von Miller said. “We were working our hands, working combinations and really we get cardio out of it, keep going and going and going for a whole hour. It’s a really good cardio workout. I’ve boxed before, but not like this.” What was Wolfe and Miller led to Wolfe and Miller and Bradley Chubb, which led to Wolfe and Miller and Chubb and Shamarko Thomas and Shane Ray and Will Parks and Jeff Holland and Alexander Johnson. Their shirts drenched and bodies exhausted, the players leave Factory X each time in a different shape than they entered: beat but hooked on a workout that tests their limits.

The black metal chairs lining the mat are the only places of respite, and Wolfe is a good hour away from getting any of that. The encircled white “X” at the center of the mat will soon be speckled with sweat, and the blaring rap music will fade to white noise. Wolfe’s attention is on his feet and hands and the coordinated dance between them. It’s a Friday afternoon and Wolfe, less than 24 hours removed from the finale of Broncos minicamp, is here for a solo session with Montoya. Many of his teammates have scattered for the offseason but will surely return at some point for the addictive agony of Factory X. So, for now, Wolfe dives in alone. At the direction of Montoya, he begins with footwork to get warm, and movements to activate his core and mind. Pivots, shuffles, back steps and one-legged hops. As Wolfe takes a breather, Montoya grabs two foam noodles. “I knew you were getting those,” Wolfe said, anticipating another go-round at an exercise more difficult than it looks. As Wolfe moves around the floor, Montoya tosses the noodles in different directions, forcing Wolfe to eye them both and catch them at different points. Then it’s onto the pads. Montoya wraps Wolfe’s hands and wrists, slips on boxing gloves and takes him through a progression of combinations. “So we start with like a five-punch combination and then he’ll add another combination so you’re doing like a 15-, 20-punch combination and doing it 15, 20 times,” Wolfe said. “It’s just such a different aspect. Your nervous system is being worked because you have to remember the combinations and you have to think about what’s coming at you. You have to think about what do I do, where do my feet go in this one? It’s just like pass-rushing. It’s happening so fast that you have to make that split-decision.” For athletes accustomed to quick bursts followed by brief rest periods in between plays, the 45-90-second intervals of striking and dancing can be jarring. It was for Miller, a rare athlete who has the power, speed, quickness and flexibility that few, if any, pass-rushers can match in the NFL. Broncos training camps have become annual exercises in futility for young pass-rushers attempting to duplicate his movements around and under tackles. But on the mat at Factory X, it’s Miller’s skill that needed attention initially. “Derek has had some experience. Von, at the beginning it was bad,” Montoya said. “I was like, holy shit. For as good of an athlete as he is, he was a fish out of water when it came to mitts. One thing is Von will have a tendency to hold his breath and then perform. I don’t know if it’s something he does with this or if it affects him on the football field because they’re short bursts. I was like, ‘Dude, you can’t hold your breath. You have to exhale when you’re working.’

“Now that he’s been doing this for eight, nine weeks, it looks awesome. Again, it’s an attribute that he has in the sense of being a good athlete, but also he’s really coachable.” Montoya’s workouts are about more than striking or releasing any pent-up steam with power punches. In between combos, Montoya will raise his hands in a high guard, signaling to Wolfe and the others to speed around him as if they’re mimicking a pass rush. One, two, jab cross, swipe and rip. There is no kickboxing; the players don’t need any added strain on their hip flexors. There’s no wrestling; the players don’t need any added risk of injury. “I know it’s fun, but what’s the point in the sense of what they’re trying to gain?” Montoya said. What they do gain is significant, from cardio, to muscle stamina, to hand-eye coordination, to core work, to balance, to hand speed. It’s a break from the norm, but one calculated to maximize its effectiveness. Montoya, a fourth-generation Coloradoan, played baseball at Metro State before beginning a career in journalism at the now-defunct Rocky Mountain News. A year in media, however, was more than enough for him. In 1998, just as he started with the Rocky, Montoya took up kickboxing. “I needed something to do and I’m not really a softball guy,” he said. “I needed something real competitive, so I started doing that and I had a background anyway in some of it, so I loved it. I transitioned into MMA that way.” Believing he’d be a fighter for life, Montoya spent his early years in the sport training alongside Duane Ludwig and Oscar Martinez, among others, in Colorado, and even traveled to Thailand learn Muay Thai from the experts. “I didn’t have a head coach, which was one of my driving factor for these guys,” Montoya said. “What I didn’t have, I wanted to give them. It just wasn’t available to me.” Montoya now works with 50 fighters who also train at Landow Performance, a facility in Centennial owned by Broncos strength coach Loren Landow. Montoya’s work with Broncos players stretches back to the days of Lance Ball, a former Broncos running back from 2009-12, and of Ryan Harris, a former third-round tackle who was with the Broncos in three separate stints. “When Ryan was playing, he was with Peyton Manning and Peyton runs a fast offense,” Montoya said. “So he said to me, ‘Man, sometimes I don’t even know what the hell is being called because I’m still panting from the play before.’ So we worked a lot of hand-eye coordination stuff and footwork, but we also worked a ton on breathing and just the mental side between plays.” For years Wolfe has been a regular at Landow’s, spending his evenings in season and many afternoons in the offseason working with Landow’s trainers to keep his conditioning and his strength up to par. But for the past six years or so, Wolfe has also turned to boxing as an ancillary to his primarily football workouts. He started with Henri Hooft, a renowned kickboxer turned MMA coach based in Florida, and later worked with Trevor Wittman, a boxing and MMA coach in Colorado.

This year, Wolfe finally got in the doors of Factory X. “I’ve known him for years because we were working over at the same gym all the time because he works out over at Landow Performance,” Wolfe said. “So I was like, ‘Hey, man, I need a striking coach.’ Because I love to box. I love the striking game. He was like, ‘All right, cool.’ So I dragged Von in there and after the first time he was hooked.” The relationship between Montoya and Landow has ensured the players’ boxing sessions work in conjunction with their football workouts. The two regularly communicate so the boxing at Factory X doesn’t detract from Landow’s instruction, but rather enhances it. “The cool thing that I’ve seen with them is they get a lot of shoulder stamina from hitting mitts, which is required for their job in football,” Montoya said. “Their lung capacity changes for the better because they’re doing movements that are way, way, way longer than they’re used to. They’re short-burst, fast-twitch athletes, so we’re making them extend it. “It’s new movement for them, so anytime you do new movement it’s going to require a lot from you both physically and mentally because you’re trying to figure out how to do all that.” Miller has often likened himself and Wolfe, two players that have worked in unison for seven seasons in Denver, to the former Dallas Mavericks duo of Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash. “What Dirk did for the Dallas Mavericks early in his career, and still now, he is still the greatest,” Miller once explained. “Some of the stuff that he does, for his team, that’s what Derek does for us. He’s a big man. He can take on more than one guy. He’s able to make plays. He’s able to shoot the three, that’s the sack for us. He’s able to get sacks and he plays the run. That’s solid paint-work right there. He’s our big man. It’s like Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash.” For much of his tenure as a Bronco, Wolfe has been used as a setup man, plugging a gap or creating a lane to give Miller his shot at a quarterback. Many of Miller’s franchise-record 98 sacks have come with the aid of Wolfe. But over the years, the two have developed chemistry so strong that words aren’t needed on the field. Just a look. “It’s being able to play off of each other,” Wolfe said. “He does the same thing for me. If he feels that I just really hit that B-gap hard, he’ll just slow play it and wrap around me. We see that happen all the time where he just kills the quarterback and takes the ball from him. That’s the ultimate goal to get to the quarterback. I don’t care who gets there as long as we get him.” This year, with Vic Fangio implementing his own version of the 3-4 defense, Wolfe envisions a chance to get more of his own — to do more, to create more — while still working in unison with the line. But his excitement about the possibilities in Fangio’s defense is a result of much more than just scheme. This season is vital for the Broncos as they seek a return to the playoffs for the first time since their Super Bowl 50 win. But it’s more so for Wolfe, who is entering the final year of his contract and hopeful of becoming a “Bronco for life.”

After undergoing neck surgery at the end of the 2017 season, Wolfe played all 16 games in 2018 to produce 43 total tackles, record his first career interception and come up with a career-high six pass-breakups. Wolfe believes the surgery tacked on years to his career. Miller believes their time training at Factory X, while supplementary to their other workouts and specialized training sessions, has bolstered their on-field chemistry that has long been vital to the Broncos’ defense. “There are a lot of different personalities in the locker room and a lot of testosterone going around, but when you get in the ring and you actually throw hands, you can really put it out there,” Miller said. “I think as men, we all enjoy doing that. It’s definitely team bonding. Especially with me and Derek. I’ve been with Derek for eight years now and it’s just another thing that we can add and work on our relationship.” Ten minutes into his workout with Montoya last Friday, Wolfe was drenched. His tattooed arms turned a shade of red, along with his cheeks and neck, as every bit of energy was released into Montoya’s mitts. In between intervals, Montoya reminded Wolfe to “breathe, breathe, breathe and recover,” sometimes sending the 6-foot-5 defensive end in a crouching position to regroup. When the workout ended, Wolfe took a seat on one of the black metal chairs, unwrapped his hands and wrists, and realized the fruits of his efforts. “I didn’t have to lay down once this time,” he told Montoya with a smile. Then he begged Montoya to increase his regimen to twice a week for at least the next two weeks. Wolfe will be back for more.

Garth Brooks to Denver: Mile High concert 'greatest night of my career' By Ryan Osborne KMGH June 10, 2019 Garth Brooks talked up his Denver fans ahead of his concert here Saturday night – and apparently they delivered. "Denver, YOU just gave me the GREATEST night of my career!" the country music star tweeted Saturday night. Sounds like a ringing endorsement for the 84,000 fans who packed into Broncos Stadium at Mile High. Granted, Garth is pretty complimentary of his fans on Twitter after his most of his shows. But as far as we can tell, he hasn't declared another concert the "GREATEST" night of his storied career. And if he did, well...we can just conveniently ignore it.

Mason's Mailbag: A look at the Broncos' special teams By Andrew Mason DenverBroncos.com June 10, 2019 Why did the Broncos sign a kicker to compete with Brandon McManus, but did not add a punter to push Colby Wadman? -- Bill Davis First of all, just because there isn't another punter doesn't mean that Wadman is not in a competitive situation. Special Teams Coordinator Tom McMahon noted at minicamp that he is "watching every single guy" who is in camp with any team, noting that Wadman's competition is among the punters with other clubs who don't make it. Wadman is also younger than McManus and is at the point where extra repetitions can help his development. When Wadman worked during OTAs, placement punting was a priority. McMahon placed a particular emphasis on punts down the right side of the field. "I challenged him with his right ball -- we call it a 'rip,' punting to his right," McMahon said. "That's hard for a righty, because as you guys know, in baseball, most righties pull to left field. So you'll see a lot of righties hit the ball down the middle when they miss, and his misses right now are few and far between, whereas last year, he pulled the ball a lot to the other field, and it would really hurt us in terms of our coverage." Last season, Denver seemed bullish on Sam Jones. Where do you see him fitting in, and do you see a swing tackle? -- Emmett Smith The swing-tackle capability is there based on his resume, but based on his work to this point, that possibility seems to be a little ways off, as his work was at guard throughout the offseason. That said, I'd like to see what happens with him in training camp. It is possible he could follow a path similar to the one taken by Connor McGovern (although McGovern received first-team repetitions throughout OTAs and training camp of his second season, since then-center Matt Paradis was recovering from two hip surgeries). One factor in his favor is the fact that he does have the potential to be used at tackle in a pinch. Versatility could be a separating factor in determining the composition of backups on the 53-man roster. (This also helps Elijah Wilkinson, who started at right guard last year but has a background as a tackle.) Jones also has practice-squad eligibility, so that could be an option if the Broncos waive him at the cut to 53 players and passes through waivers. Are there any favored undrafted free agents to make the team? -- Kaleb Mora

You always start with the players who have the clearest path to a potential roster spot based on how the depth chart looks. At this point, I would place inside linebacker Joe Dineen and outside linebacker Malik Reed atop this list. Both looked like they belonged during OTAs, and while Reed went over the top at one moment when he collided with Drew Lock, his explosiveness off the edge was evident. Wide receivers Trinity Benson and Kelvin McKnight also have a path to the roster through special teams, but establishing clarity there will take much longer. Their chances should crystallize when preseason games begin. Austin Fort was a reliable pass-catcher during OTAs and minicamp. But with Troy Fumagalli, Jeff Heuerman and Noah Fant all playing well in the last month and Jake Butt working his way back from a torn ACL, the road to grab a 53-man roster spot appears rugged. A practice-squad place would not be out of the question. What are your thoughts on UDFA Kelvin McKnight? Does he really compare to Tyreek Hill, and would the Broncos utilize him like Andy Reid might in our new offense landscape? -- Jerry Hollon McKnight is an intriguing prospect, but with how the receiver position looks to shake out, it's all about special teams for him. It's a wide-open competition that, as I noted in the previous answer, will remain muddled until preseason games. "We've got a bunch of guys out here that are playing real hard. It's really going to solidify itself come about the preseason, game three," McMahon said. "The young guys, in their defense -- and I know I've said it before -- but college players don't catch 5.0[-second] hang times [on punts]. Every single punt they see is brand new to them right now. But we get into that second and third week of the preseason, there'll be some separation that will come. But right now there is none." As for the Tyreek Hill comparison, no. It's unfair to McKnight or almost any player to compare him to Hill (only regarding terms of on-field skill set), given Hill's 4.25-second speed, fluidity and agility.

Broncos Film Room: Butt vs. Fumagalli, who fits best as Denver’s third tight end? By Andre Simone BSN Denver June 10, 2019 It’s almost become a tradition at this point, summer is in the air and hope springs eternal for the Denver Broncos and often-injured former All-American tight end Jake Butt. While a lost rookie season was to be expected and 2018 promised to be a big year for Butt before yet another season-ending injury, 2019 has been different for the Michigan man. With the selection of Noah Fant in the first round and the emergence of another Big Ten tight end, Troy Fumagalli, in minicamp, Butt’s status has never been this uncertain since the Broncos selected him in the fifth round of 2017. With Jeff Heuerman receiving a contract extension and Fant fully entrenched in the lineup, both are locks to make the roster. This means Fumagalli and Butt are set up to have quite the battle during training camp and preseason, assuming butt is healthy enough to compete. The loser might not just find themselves falling down the depth chart but are likely going to be left off the final 53-man roster altogether. Given the high-stakes battle that both these unknown talents have coming this offseason, here’s what they bring to the table and how they fit the Broncos new offense. What they bring to the table If it wasn’t for injuries, Jake Butt would’ve gone much higher than the fifth round due to his enticing and very complete skill set. Butt is a prototypical in-line tight end who’s a strong enough blocker with adequate size and strength at the point of attack. As a receiver, Butt has the hands, size, and enough speed to stretch the seam in addition to the body-positioning skills to box defenders out and create space for himself. The Broncos No. 80 is also talented in coming down with contested grabs and getting open on intermediate routes to pick up chunk plays. He’s a true starting tight end at his peak, who can handle blocking duties and be a factor as a receiver, getting open underneath when lined up in-line and with enough talent to get open when flexed out wide or lined up in the slot. If healthy, he’s a reliable starting tight end with the upside for more. That’s the big question with Butt; will he finally be healthy? Additionally, how will the lingering effects of three ACL injuries affect his ability to get open consistently? Assuming Butt is able to return to full health, a pairing with Fant’s dynamic athleticism could make for one of the more formidable duos in the NFL, with Butt handling intermediate routes and primary blocking duties, while Fant stretches the field and can be a major threat running after the catch on short dump offs and screens.

Troy Fumagalli, on the other hand, isn’t the blocker Butt is and doesn’t fit the profile of a typical in-line tight end who can be plugged into any formation on a regular basis. The former Badger needs a head of steam to be at his best as a blocker which really showed when lined up as an H-back, where he can be used to block on the move or get open underneath with that added head of steam. While Butt has the ability to come down with contested catches, Fumagalli possesses the stronger hands and is at his best gaining position on defenders and coming down with catches in tight spaces. Those hands and his ability to box out defenders to get open in tight coverage, make Fumagalli a very intriguing weapon in the red zone and on short-yardage situations. He’s also a deceptively-quick athlete who’ll surprise as a runner in the open field and is extremely crafty in getting open on short yardage situations, proving to be a nice security blanket. Butt definitely has a more rare skill set and can be plugged into just about every scheme, while Fumagalli’s strengths have to be plugged into select situations to get the most out of what he does. The ideal scheme and roster fit In Rich Scangarello’s offense, Heuerman’s blocking ability in-line and power at the point of attack is a key for the running game, while Fant’s speed to stretch the field is also essential for the pass. Where Fumagalli and Butt can fill in is with their duties as the third-tight end; proving to be that security blanket for the passing game and being an extra blocker in three tight-end sets. That’s where Fumagalli has a noticeable advantage, with his skills getting open in short-yardage situations and proving to be a greater threat on dump offs than Butt. Fumagalli also has the more reliable hands of the two, which, in addition to his knack for finding holes in underneath coverage, make him a more reliable threat on short routes. The former Badger is also more equipped as a blocker if utilized out the backfield in three-tight-end sets that can also function as three-back formations, with Fumagalli being able to fill many of the duties of an H-back or improvised fullback. In fairness, Butt is a crafty route runner as well who can disengage from coverage underneath and has shown plenty of promise blocking on the move. But Fumagalli brings more versatility and is a better fit to what the third tight end needs to do out of this scheme. Butt can be lined up all over, especially when flexed in the slot or outside but with Fant and Heuerman already in the mix, the Broncos already have those areas covered. While it might be a slight advantage, Fumagalli’s fit is better as the third tight end in Scangarello’s offense with his ability to play at his best as an H-back.

The apple of Flacco’s eye New Broncos quarterback Joe Flacco loves his tight ends, especially ones he can trust in short-yardage situations both in the red zone and on third down, two areas in which both of Denver’s unproven targets can be valuable assets for the big-armed quarterback. Third-down security blanket Butt really stood out for how often he was targeted—especially in his junior season—on third down. He’s talented at finding openings in coverage underneath and creating space for himself. He can set up defenders, getting open with subtle body fakes. He has a knack for flipping his hips quickly to come back inside and run towards the ball—just watch how he sets up this safety against Indiana, scoring a huge overtime touchdown in the process. Fumagalli’s route running isn’t as polished, but the natural ability in finding holes in coverage is abundantly clear. He’s also more talented in making tough grabs when the ball placement isn’t perfect, whether on low throws or tough passes away from his frame. Red-zone threat Fumagalli’s play so far in OTA’s has been eye-opening, especially for his work in the red zone. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone given the former Wisconsin product’s biggest strengths. Butt’s also a strong red-zone weapon with his body-positioning skills and brings more blocking ability down in the short yardage situations when lined up in-line. Butt isn’t a dynamic leaper nor does he have the same skills in making high-level-of-difficulty catches but given his dual-threat skills in the red area, this is about a push. Final verdict If the Broncos didn’t already have a dynamic weapon in Fant and a proficient in-line blocker like Heuerman, Butt would win the battle with Fumagalli in his sleep, assuming full health. Given what the Broncos scheme could do with the third tight end and the type of security blanket Flacco needs out the position, Fumagalli’s actually positioned to be the better option. Butt has the more unique talents and the type of skills that are harder to find, but Fumagalli fits better right now and has already impressed with his strong OTA showing. The bigger factor here is health, as Butt losing a half step from his college days could really hurt his ability to get open on intermediate routes and really put Fumagalli in the driver seat in the race for the third tight end. Losing either will be a very tough pill to swallow given how intriguing both are at the position, but with what Denver needs right now, Fumagalli has the slight edge.

Mile High Monday: Putting a bow on the Broncos offseason By Cecil Lammey 104.3 the Fan June 10, 2019 It’s a Mile High Monday with the Broncos on a break. Mandatory minicamp wrapped up last week, and Denver even got the final day of workouts off in favor of a team field day. That was a nice changeup from head coach Vic Fangio. Now, the team is off for about five weeks before the start of training camp. I like this time of year because it’s what I call vacation time – although that’s not for a couple of weeks for me personally. The Broncos players just need to stay out of trouble, stay in shape and get ready for things to get real in mid-July. I also like contemplating life and sports when driving around with the top down on my old Jeep TJ. The following is a result of those trips during the week. Buckle up, let’s take a ride through my thoughts. *** Not Coming Off .500 After watching this team all offseason, I have not yet changed my expectations for this season. The Broncos look like an 8-8 team to me. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen out at rookie minicamp, offseason training activities and mandatory minicamp, but that does not mean I’m changing my prediction for the Broncos win total in 2019. Simply put, the Broncos should have looked like what we’ve seen this offseason. Joe Flacco is an upgrade over Case Keenum, and likely a bigger one than some think. He’s a Super Bowl MVP and has been a starter from the first day he came into the league. The understanding he has of the position is leaps and bounds greater than what Keenum had as a journeyman quarterback of backup caliber that was just trying to learn what it means to be a starter. The defense looks great under Fangio. Several pieces were already in place for the new head coach, with guys like Von Miller, Chris Harris Jr. and Bradley Chubb (to name a few) capable of playing at an incredibly high level. Fangio’s reputation as a defensive guru is well-earned, and now with these tools on the Broncos roster it should lead to defensive improvements in 2019. Flacco and Fangio are two of the biggest acquisitions for the Broncos this offseason, but the impact they’ve shown this offseason should not come as a surprise. These key pieces have a history and a reputation that has showed during practice. Simply put, the Broncos aren’t currently exceeding realistic expectations.

I was filling in for DMac last week on “The Drive” and was arguing with Tom Nalen about what the Broncos record should be this season. Nalen thinks they could win 10 or 11 games, but I simply can’t put that total there yet. Going with a .500 record is not a copout; I’ve studied this team closely and first hand all offseason long. I give them a chance to get back to their winning ways and perhaps even competing for a wild card spot in the playoffs, but we have to see more. Right now, this looks like an improved team, but not one to go from the cellar to near the top of the charts. Maybe I’ll get a better feel about what this team’s record could be when the preseason gets here. *** Good To Go For Camp The Broncos got to see their starting five offensive linemen together during mandatory minicamp. This was only the second time in more than a month of workouts that all five starters were on the practice field together. It’s a great sign that Denver’s offensive line is getting healthy with training camp coming up in five weeks or so. One of the most important players who is now healthy is starting guard Ron Leary. An Achilles’ injury ended his 2018 season after just six games. Now at full strength, Leary is moving from the position he played last year (left guard) to the spot (right guard) where he played for the Broncos in 2017. Medically, he’s been fully cleared. And he seems ready to go. “I’m doing everything out there. I’ve been cleared by the doctors,” Leary said. “I feel great. I haven’t had any setbacks. Like I said, I’m doing everything and feel great out there.” Undrafted out of Memphis in 2013, Leary has only played one full 16-game season in his pro career – and that was when he was a rookie with the Cowboys. In fact, the lineman has only played in 17 games during the last two seasons for the Broncos. Talent is not a question whatsoever with Leary, but he needs to stay healthy and prove that he’s still capable of being a quality starter. *** Ahead of Schedule? Some of the best news we received during minicamp was about wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders. We learned earlier this month that Sanders might actually be ahead of schedule in recovering from the Achilles’ injury that cut his 2018 season short. Fangio gave us some insight about the veteran receiver. “I think Emmanuel is doing well physically. I’ve got no medical basis for this, but I think he’ll be back earlier than people think,” the Broncos head coach said.

I don’t think Sanders will be at full strength when training camp opens in mid-July. However, I do think the team will ease him back into action as training camp and the preseason rolls on. The Broncos have five preseason games to see plenty of their younger receivers during that time. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sanders only plays in one of those games, perhaps sparingly, as he continues to work back from this Achilles’ injury. *** To Slot or Not to Slot The Broncos signed one of the best slot corners in the league when they acquired Bryce Callahan earlier this offseason. Callahan played 640 snaps in 13 games for the Fangio-led Bears defense last season. Out of those snaps, 580 were from the nickel formation with Callahan lined up as the slot corner. With Chris Harris Jr. likely to play on the outside for the 2019 season, I thought that free agent addition Kareem Jackson would be lining up opposite of him. That does not seem to be the case after watching these offseason practices. Jackson is going to play much more safety than corner in 2019. In fact, Jackson looks to be the favorite to play the slot corner when the Broncos are in a nickel look. That means Harris and Callahan are the primary outside corners for the Broncos this season. I’ve got zero concerns about Harris, as he should be tasked with stopping an opponent’s top receiver each week. Harris is an outstanding slot corner, but he’s incredibly capable of playing on the outside and blanketing receivers of all sizes and athletic ability. I do have concerns about Callahan, however, if he’s not playing the slot. Callahan is a small player, measuring in at 5-feet-9-inches and 185 pounds. In the slot, he is not going up against larger receiver – but that will be much different outside. Callahan has the speed and quickness to shadow any receiver he’s up against, but larger players will be able to easily use their size as an advantage. Fangio obviously knows what he’s doing, so that does assuage my concern about Callahan playing on the outside. I like the versatility from this secondary, but initially assumed Harris and Jackson would be their outside corners in 2019. After watching offseason workouts, that’s just simply not the case. *** Ford v. Ferrar I have always been a Ford man. My dream car for years has been a Shelby Mustang, and two years ago I was able to purchase a 2007 (my favorite year) Shelby GT. In fact, I have the No. 7 car built that year and it’s a car that one day I will pass down to my son. I love the story of the legendary Carroll Shelby. He was one of the greatest minds in car racing and what he did for Ford Motor Company in battling against Ferrari was legendary. The stories say that Shelby told Henry Ford II that “Ferrari’s (butt) is mine” when first hired by Ford to build cars that would beat Ferrari in the 24-hour LeMans race. There was a great debate at the time who hated Enzo Ferrari more, Henry Ford II or Carroll Shelby (for various reasons).

Now, Hollywood has made a movie out of that tale. Simply put, this movie trailer puts a big smile on my face. The word is they moved this movie’s release date back for award season and it certainly looks like it could pull in quite a few honors with it’s star-studded cast. “Ford v. Ferrari” looks like a must-see movie in my opinion, and I can’t wait to see it on opening night.

FMIA Guest: Nick Hardwick on Taking Proactive Approach to Brain Health By Nick Hardwick Pro Football Talk June 10, 2019 This has been anything but a typical NFL offseason for me. If you follow me on either Instagram or Twitter, you know I recently undertook an intensive, six-week brain treatment protocol at the Brain Treatment Center where I live in San Diego. It’s an affiliate of the USC Center for Neurorestoration, a progressive brain health clinic focusing on the intersection of physics and neuroscience. I was turned on to the treatment from a great friend of mine, Pat Dossett, who spent a decade as a U.S. Navy SEAL. Upon his departure from the SEALs, he earned his MBA at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by several years working at Google. Pat is one of those people that when he offers advice, you take it, without thinking twice. While he was by all accounts succeeding in his post-military transition, he still didn’t feel like he was quite operating at nearly as high a cognitive level as he could be. From my perspective, it felt very familiar in my post-football life. Post-NFL Brain Health Upon retiring in February 2015 after 11 seasons as an NFL center, all of them spent with the Chargers, I did my best to follow the counsel I received from coaches, the players union, and former teammates who had smoothly transitioned into the next phase of their post-playing lives. For starters, I almost immediately lost a good chunk of my playing weight. It wasn’t necessary to carry 295 pounds on my 6-4 frame, because I no longer was tasked with routinely fighting some of the baddest humans on the planet for three hours-plus. I dropped the weight fast and got down as low as 208 pounds at one point, but my wife, Jayme, didn’t really favor that version. So I regained some muscle and currently weigh a very comfortable 230 pounds or so. To keep busy and stay close to the game, I went to work almost immediately on the radio in San Diego, including at iHeart Radio, where I’ve hosted my own show since 2016. As part of the gig, I got to serve as the Chargers radio sideline reporter in 2015, and I spent the following two seasons in the booth as the team’s radio color analyst. Those roles kept me engaged, and helped me challenge myself mentally. I felt as healthy as I had ever been since my freshman year of college, the year before I walked on and made the football team at Purdue. But like my Navy SEAL friend, Pat, I still felt I had more cognitive ability left untapped, because my brain wasn’t necessarily firing on all cylinders. Fortunately I was able to function because over the years I had hard-wired my mentality to continue to persevere through pain, discomfort, less than ideal situations and, to be honest, some states of depression I now recognize. I knew a certain amount of mental endurance was required after playing the game so long.

But I also realized toughness alone wasn’t the answer. I came to realize and accept my fate that as a former football player, I had accumulated about 25,000-plus head hits over the course of my playing career, all at least equivalent to boxing jabs, with the occasional straight punch and uppercut thrown in for good measure. How did I get to that 25,000-plus estimate? I played 11 NFL seasons, for about 1,000 game snaps per year. Add in another 1,000 snaps during training camps, not counting our offseason practices. And don’t forget the three years of college football I played, with similar snap totals, but rougher practices. It’s easy to see the hits accumulate quickly at the position I played. I was diagnosed with six verified concussions in the NFL, but I still never missed a game due to one of them, a gut-it-out approach I would not recommend to kids or anyone else. During the 2008 season in Kansas City, I was knocked out cold on the field for about 12 minutes, waking up on the X-ray table at Arrowhead Stadium with the technician asking me to turn on my right side for reasons I didn’t understand. “What?!’’ I thought for a moment I had broke my neck, but it turned out I had caught a hip to the head, delivered courtesy of Chiefs linebacker Rocky Boiman, whom I was blocking on a screen pass to Chargers fullback Jacob Hester. While I accepted the damage that came with playing football for a living as part of the price paid, something hit home and came to a head for me at Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta this past winter. I was there covering the weeklong event for my radio station, XTRA 1360, and despite being at the NFL’s glamor event, surrounded by the league’s football community, I found myself in one of those emotional troughs that occasionally came. I knew then that I had a decision to make and some sort of action to take. While there was no erasing the time I had spent banging heads and colliding with defenders—and I wouldn’t take it back if I could any how, because it was the time of my life with so many lessons learned—it wasn’t enough just to plow through the low ebbs in life. One of those lessons that football taught me came back to me, and suddenly seemed very handy: Do everything in your power today to ensure a positive outcome in the future. Those were words we learned and lived by each and every offseason, like the year the regular-season schedule came out and we found out the Chargers were in line to play the always tough Ravens, Colts and Patriots (who, damn it, had traded Richard Seymour to the Raiders, meaning we had to face him twice a year. But more on him later). With teams and opposing players like that on our schedule, the workout intensity always picked up in the offseason. The classroom prep was diligent. Film study went to a whole new level, because you had to prepare for the great challenges ahead. Those were the lessons I needed to remember and act on now. A Proactive Approach At age 37, I didn’t want whatever neurologic decline had already occurred to continue without me becoming more proactive. We’ve all been privy to the information out there about the damage football can cause to the brains and bodies of the men who traded in their health for some sweet paychecks in return. There have been some notably ugly stories and outcomes for some ex-players. To me, those are the cautionary tales we have to take to heart. You can’t just sit by and let things take their course.

My friend and former Chargers teammate, Philip Rivers, used to call it the frog in hot water. You drop a frog in hot water and he immediately jumps out. But, if you put him in a pot of cool water and slowly turn the heat up, he will hang in there and keep cooking until it’s too late and he can’t get out. It’s the slow decline and complacency that catches up to you, and you have to be wary of it. While on a phone call one night during Super Bowl week from Atlanta with Jayme, who was back in San Diego being super mom to our two boys, (Hudson, 7; Teddy, 5), we mutually decided my emotional highs and lows were unnatural, unwanted, and unacceptable. Something beyond the current healthy lifestyle routine we had established had to be done, and soon. That’s when I remembered my conversations with my Navy SEAL pal, Pat, and immediately googled “Brain Treatment Center San Diego.” Two short weeks later, I walked in to a nondescript medical building in downtown San Diego and took a tour of the facility, which is operated by another former Navy SEAL who is passionate about helping Special Forces Operators restore the health of their brains. The center features an ultra-comprehensive rehabilitative/restorative program for those elite ex-soldiers, whose brains have seen and dealt with far worse scenarios than my own. Their sessions include daily stand-up paddle boarding sessions, art therapy, and, of course, the actual treatment of magnetic brain stimulation itself. The art therapy is what most interested and attracted me. Patients are taught a simple and repeatable method to paint that could be rapidly learned, allowing them to produce beautiful oils on canvas almost immediately. Very graphically, in their painting, you could see their brains and thought processes being restored to a healthier state. If they could go from the one extreme of dark, painful, and at times horrifying art to the other extreme of light and bright, I had to see what the treatment could do for me. The Treatment Two weeks went by and and I returned to the center on a Friday, finding myself sitting in a comfy Eames Lounge Chair with a cap on my head with about 30 holes in it, all filled with a transmitting gel, taking an EEG (electroencephalogram). This was the first step in the treatment. The test measures brain activity through brain waves, and in essence creates a map of where my brain’s health is currently. The first week of treatment went by without me having the chance to sit down with the doctor, to hear him explain my brain’s baseline results and come up with a plan of attack. Naturally, your mind starts to wander into dark places during times of waiting to hear back about test results. Do I have early onset dementia or Alzheimer’s? Is it Parkinson’s or ALS? Is it nothing at all? It felt good to be getting treatment, but the unknown was not a great place to dwell. Relief finally came with my first EEG analysis, and thankfully, none of my greatest fears were realized. My brain map showed abundantly high Theta wave activity, associated with a sleeping or meditative state—and I’m not a monk, so this wasn’t ideal—and low Alpha wave activity, which is where an active brain wants to be high. Ideally, I would have more Alpha waves and less Theta waves, along with more congruent wave transmission from the front to the back of the brain and from the left to the right hemisphere. As in all things, balance is key. An interesting revelation is this: As you can see above, my right frontal lobe is where a significant portion of the damage was sustained. As a center, snapping with my right hand, and having a behemoth defensive

lineman lined up three inches from my face, unable to get my hand up before contact, my right temple became my defacto hand. For five days a week over six weeks, I went back and sat in that same chair, this time with an MeRT machine (Magnetic e-Resonance Therapy) on both the front and back of my head, sending magnetic stimulation into the targeted areas of my brain, at first to assemble neuronal activity, and then to mobilize it in the right pattern. The treatment felt like really strong eSTIM, if you’re familiar with that pain management tool. If you’re not, it was more like a penetrating, shocking sensation. You don’t feel it on your skin, but it felt as if someone was to be able reach their thumb and index fingers inside my skull and pinch the brain. I have to admit it was a little jarring at first. But I settled into the rhythm of the “pain” relatively quickly and eventually even started craving that sensation. Maybe because I knew it was the good kind of pain that led to necessary improvement. The ritual was this: A countdown timer on the computer would give me three seconds warning. Boop. Boop. Booooop. At that time, I was instructed to close my eyes and discontinue talking, texting, Instagramming, or whatever I was doing and simply allow my brain to receive the stimulation. The actual impulses were only fired for five to eight seconds out of every minute, for roughly 35 minutes per session. In between “shockings,’’ I got to know my clinicians, prepped for my radio show, or just took in the blue light (designed to help with regulating sleep patterns) that they would turn on for the morning treatments. About midway through each session, we would do a daily evaluation of where my level of stress, anxiety, pain, and happiness resided on that current day. It was tiring, and I’ve got a “tell” when I’m tired. My right eyelid gets really heavy and droops. It happens after really intense workouts, when I’m sleep deprived, or in this case, when my brain got a really good squeezing. As it was described to me, this treatment is a workout for the brain. In fact, they keep an abundance of sugary snacks on hand to replenish the brain’s sugar levels following the treatment. As athletes know, after a really intense anaerobic (explosive) workout, the body’s sugar reserves are depleted, and must be restored in order for rebuilding to take place. My eye would sag, and I’d get sleepy. Almost every day, I would go home and take a quick 20-30 minute nap, if possible, before I went to the radio station for my shift. We did another EEG every two weeks to measure the change and progress that was being made in my brain. Within the first two weeks, during the neuronal assembly sessions, I noticed an increase in cognitive performance. It’s painfully easy to tell if I’m firing on all cylinders with my daily radio gig. Three hours of live interaction and conversation is a great barometer for checking in on the brain’s RAM (random access memory), and its processing speed. After two more weeks of treatment, I began noticing some slight disconnects, as the brain was mobilizing these newly assembled neurons into the right pattern. Thankfully, another two weeks later and my brain was totally mobilized. While it was tedious to be at a doctor’s office every day for six weeks, and the cost isn’t cheap, I found it to be a very effective treatment.

The results showed there were improved physical changes in my brain activity following the treatment. My brain waves interacted in a notably more connected manner. The brain map shows more congruence from left to right and front to back, meaning it is more balanced. The Future I’m two or three months past my last treatment, and I can honestly say my brain is in a better place than it was before. The emotional highs and lows I was living with have been stabilized. My cognition took off during that period and it hasn’t slowed down since. Overall, I’d definitely recommend the treatment to other former football players. Eventually it would be nice if the NFL could figure out a way to have this, and other treatments associated with the brain, as part of the “checking out” phase of a player’s career. Sure, there is the league’s Brain and Body Assessment program, of which I also took part. Measuring and knowing where you stand is great. But doing something to improve your position is even more critical. Taking charge of your situation, whatever it may be, is powerful and empowering in itself. Knowing that I didn’t quit, and will never stop seeking tools to help me repair and grow had its own positive benefits. That’s a version of the placebo effect. I’ve heard lots of research scientists say the placebo effect is roughly 30% effective in everything. I’m not labeling this a placebo treatment by any means. But I do know, when you fully commit yourself to a process, and completely believe in it and give up doubt, the outcomes of any treatment or plan has a far greater likelihood of achieving the desired outcome. So yes, some damage to my brain was sustained. Some of it, like the arthritis in my joints and back and neck that I wake up with every day aren’t going to just miraculously vanish. But, as they say with arthritis, the minute you stop moving, the worse it gets. I’m not sure if a former NFL player has ever lived to be 100, but that’s my goal. I may not get there of course. But every season you don’t set out to go 9-7 or to just make the playoffs. Hell no! You set out to win the Super Bowl. Every year. Living to 100 is my new Super Bowl. And it starts with ….. Do everything in your power today to ensure a positive outcome in the future. Here’s to your health. 10 Things I Think I Think 1. I think I’m not as good today as I will be tomorrow. That’s a philosophy that came to me after Philip Rivers and I flubbed a snap on Halloween in Kansas City on Monday Night Football in 2010 that ended up costing us the game. We both struggled to comprehend what happened and to piece it all together in the aftermath. Yet we had to face our teammates and own up to being the goats (not the G.O.A.T.), and get ready to play again in the following weeks. 2. I think people need to meet Philip Rivers. While I’m fairly sure the negative perceptions about Phil and his strong personality have lessened over the years, it bears saying here: If you ever met Rivers, you’d immediately fall in love with him as a human. One word describes him perfectly: pure. He’s pure of thought, pure of action, and pure in his passion. Go back through his 15-year NFL tenure and I can guarantee you will not find a single teammate who has spoken poorly of him.

3. I think this when asked: What do I miss about being an NFL player? Everyone always says, “I miss the locker room.” I don’t miss the locker room. I miss the meeting room. I miss the urgency with which the football world moves. One game of pro football equals 10 games of Major League Baseball, and five games of both the NBA and NHL. Go on a 10-game losing streak in the NHL, and someone is getting fired. But a two-game losing streak in the NFL is a bad start to the season for the Patriots. Corporate America, of which I’m now loosely a part, has no idea what urgency, hustle, and timeliness look like. As my old college defensive coordinator, Brock Spack used to say, “Assess and elbows, men. Asses and elbows.” He wanted to see us digging trenches with some urgency. That’s the norm in football. 4. I think this when it comes to the Patriots: As a player and opponent, I used to despise them, mostly because we were only able to beat them two times in my career, and only once with Tom Brady at quarterback. The other time was with Matt Cassel (in 2008). Do we even count that one? But now, I find myself cheering for them. For one thing, Brady has done a great job of allowing us access to him as a human. It’s easy to hate the machine. It’s hard to sustain hatred towards a human. I can’t believe I’m saying this publicly, but I devour any information I can get on the guy. He’s beyond impressive. And hell, so are the Patriots. There I said it. They are something to marvel at, learn from, and cheer on. Unless they’re playing my Chargers. 5. I think it’s worth noting one more thing about the Patriots: Ex-Patriots defensive lineman Richard Seymour most likely won’t make the Pro Football Hall of Fame, because his numbers aren’t outrageously good. But I bet if you polled offensive linemen during his time in the league, there would be a high percentage of centers, left guards, and left tackles who would say, “There wasn’t a smarter, tougher, more physically imposing presence in the league than Richard Seymour.” He was in fact the only player I publicly talked trash to, after we lost to them in the AFC Championship game in 2007. I was immature and he played the game with his trademark instigating, stir-it-up style. Sorry Richard. Hope you’re well. 6. I think parents are crazy. And we do it to ourselves. Yes, sports are important for all of the reasons we all know. But the idea that traveling all over the state when your kid is only eight to 10 years old, because that’s going to get them into college and help them land a professional contract, is absolutely ludicrous. You’re far more likely to burn your child out on the sport they may have been passionate about than helping them start a career. Don’t put your own failures and ineptness as an athlete on your expectations and hopes for your child. If it’s meant to be, it will be. (I think I stole that line from Doris Day). True story: I didn’t play football in high school. I was a high school wrestler who walked on to the Purdue football team my fourth semester. My left guard with the Chargers for many years, Kris Dielman, was a defensive lineman when he first showed at training camp. He got cut his rookie year and then was brought back as an offensive lineman a couple of weeks later. He wound up making four Pro Bowls and would’ve been a Hall of Famer if he didn’t have his career cut short by concussions. Go back and watch his tape if you want to see what my coaches would call “a blind dog in a meat market.” His was an impressive tenacity. Antonio Gates is going to be a Hall of Famer some day. But he didn’t play college football. The point being, if your child is good enough to make it at the college level or in any professional league, they will be found. Players are being drafted in the NFL now out of Canada. If they can find you in Canada, you can be found

anywhere. My wife is Canadian, so I feel at liberty to take a jab. And Canadians are some of the nicest people on the planet. 7. I think this on the topic of regrets about playing football: I have absolutely ZERO regrets about my time spent playing one of the most violent positions in all of sports. ZERO. First off, my health is in pretty good shape. Secondly, it was the absolute time of my life. Not many people get the thrill of running out of the tunnel with their name and number being blasted over the PA system, to the reception of cheers or boos of 70,000 friends, family members, and foes. Very few will understand what it’s like to look in a teammates’ eyes and without words they KNOW I will do anything to protect him, and he’d do the same. 8. I think with football it’s a net positive by a wide margin. When the worth of football is being evaluated by skeptical parents and politicians, what gets lost in the conversation on the game’s health and safety issues comes down to a really simple question: Did it add more to your life or take away more? Without a doubt, it added more to my life. Financially it took me from the very middle class in Indiana to having my children in private school, living in paradise in San Diego, with a home, a wife, and a life that I probably don’t deserve. More importantly, it shaped me as a man. The urgency I spoke of earlier also pertains to the timeline with which life’s lessons were learned in the game. I’d always say at the end of the season every coach on our staff looked like they aged five years in about six months. But from a maturity standpoint, with the necessary learning of how to handle both success and defeat, football players can leave the game at age 30, with the wisdom of a much older man. 9. I think this is my answer to the question: Would you let your kids play? I would, 100 percent. Admittedly, immediately out of the league, I would’ve given a different answer than now. But the dust has settled after my retirement due to injury. As a former NFL player, if you allow it, the fear-mongering and incessant news cycle will absolutely swallow you alive. You can be consumed with negative thought patterns and get caught in the vortex of loathing, self doubt and regret. While the negative press about the dangers of the sport has died down over the past couple of years thanks to the necessary rule changes the NFL implemented, our awareness is still heightened. The reality is players today do a better job of taking care of themselves and each other, while still maintaining the essence of a brutal sport. As is the case with all youth sports and activities in general, the interest needs to come from the child. FOOTBALL IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. It takes a certain type of human to enjoy throwing their body around and fighting for three hours at a time. But I assure you, such humans do exist, and it’s not because our Dads “made us do it.” I watch my sons in our trampoline, which serves as a defacto UFC ring. They look like Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber. Moreover, they look like lion cubs getting after it. Being physical is part of their makeup. If they ask to play football, without hesitation I would say yes. 10. I think my final point about football is this: Don’t try to change things that aren’t yours. If football isn’t your thing, like really YOUR THING, you have no business trying to change it or eliminate it. There’s no amount of reason that will help you understand why we continue to play the game amongst the mountain of evidence that informs us of the perils of the sport.

We know it’s dangerous. We know there are potentially bad outcomes. That’s part of what makes it fun in the first place. We know there are only a small slice of folks who could survive the chaos we enjoy so much. We want to test our physical and mental endurance. We want to prove who is the alpha male. We want to establish dominance and break an opponent’s will. You may not understand that. You might even think it’s absurd. But people still ride motorcycles, jump out of planes, climb mountains, box, fight, swim with sharks, fly small planes, run 100-mile races (while impressive, not healthy), surf 100-foot waves, and any other activity you want to mention that also has mountains of evidence to steer participants away from them. In reality, it’s because there’s no money associated with them or no platform to gain attention from in explaining why nobody is leading campaigns against those dangerous activities. Football gives football players what they want out of their life experience. Further, for even a more select few, it gives them what they NEED in life. If it isn’t yours in the first place, it’s not for you to understand, change, or eliminate. Just accept it and move along people. One More Thing Former Chargers quarterbacks coach John Ramsdell gave us a great bit of advice that really pertains to everything: “If your happiness depends on if you ever win the Super Bowl, you’re setting yourself up to be miserable.” It’s a perfect confluence of events that leads to a Super Bowl championship team. With its single-elimination playoff system, football, more than any other professional sport, has a large element of good fortune involved. The best team more often than not wins a seven-game series. But in football, with an oblong ball that doesn’t bounce predictably, in a game played, at times in the elements, by 11 emotional characters, and judged by humans; the opportunity for upsets and surprise outcomes is high. Don’t get me wrong. Having a Super Bowl experience would’ve been amazing, I’m sure of that. But in no way would I be a better or happier person today than I am had I won a Super Bowl ring (or even six). Living like a champion doesn’t require being a champion. Find your purpose. Pursue it like a champion. Then you’ll find your happiness.