ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- The Denver Broncos will formally close their offseason program, which began April 13, with their last set of organized team activities (OTAs) this week. But with last week’s mandatory minicamp now in the books, here are the top three offseason takeaways on defense and special teams:
On the nose: As the Broncos’ new defensive staff installed their 3-4 scheme, they had players to make the transition fairly smoothly at every spot on the depth chart except one -- nose tackle. Nose tackle also happens to be the most important job to fill, at least according to longtime former Broncos defensive coordinator and longtime practitioner of the 3-4, Joe Collier.
And as the Broncos' mandatory minicamp drew to a close last week, head coach Gary Kubiak dropped three names into the conversation about where things stand at the position: Sylvester Williams, Vance Walker and Marvin Austin Jr.
Rookie Darius Kilgo was a full-time nose tackle at Maryland and could still find a way to get himself into the discussion, but the Broncos worked Williams the most with the first-team defense and he will enter training camp in that role.
“The good news is that (defensive coordinator) Wade (Phillips) has played with a big nose, he’s played with the small guys, he’s played with all of them," Kubiak said. “But I like the way (defensive line coach) Bill (Kollar) works, and they’ve responded to Bill and I think they’ve done a good job."
The Broncos like Walker’s versatility across the front -- he’s played end and on the interior in both a 4-3 scheme and a 3-4 scheme in his career. Overall, the Broncos figure to keep six defensive linemen when the roster decisions are made –- 3-4 teams usually have just five defensive linemen active on game day as opposed to the seven the Broncos usually had with a 4-3 scheme -- so without a slam-dunk traditional nose tackle on the roster, the multi-taskers will have an advantage.
The Broncos have also tinkered with the idea of moving a player like Malik Jackson into the middle of the defensive line in some pass-rush situations.
Still need far more special on special teams: The Broncos are really not that much closer to decisions in the kicking game or at punt returner now than they were three months ago. Sure, they've gotten a long look at the candidates so far, but there is a pile of work still to be done. And if there is a group that could still be impacted by late-preseason cuts around the league, this is it.
Karl Schmitz, with an atomic leg but not a lot of experience -- he hasn’t kicked in a game situation in seven years -- was shaky when offseason work began and simply has to show more reliability in terms of ball placement and consistency of punts to challenge Britton Colquitt.
The Broncos don’t want to keep an extra kicker this season as a kickoff specialist -- special-teams coach Joe DeCamillis said, “Ideally you’d like to have one punter, one kicker and one long snapper; that’s the amount of specialists we’d like to carry going in" -- and because Schmitz would kick off, it does make him a viable option if he can elevate his work as a punter.
Neither place-kicker Connor Barth nor Colquitt are considered options to kick off, and while Brandon McManus was the kickoff specialist for the second half of last season, he was cut by the team’s former coaching staff after some misses on field-goal attempts.
In the return game Omar Bolden still has the look as the most reliable kickoff returner, but a sea of candidates at punt returner didn’t produce a leader. The Broncos would prefer not to use a starter like Emmanuel Sanders, but that means somebody like Jordan Norwood or Solomon Patton has to rip the job away from the others in the weeks to come.
Defense will be an attention-grabber: Sure, good health is always the caveat in any NFL discussion once the talent is in place. And workouts with players in shorts and jerseys don’t allow a defense to show what it can really do, beyond a good look at where things stand on the current depth chart and an indication of who does -- or doesn’t -- understand the scheme.
But the Broncos have team speed, depth at coverage positions and three potential impact edge rushers in Von Miller, DeMarcus Ware and rookie Shane Ray. They also have players like Miller, Jackson, Derek Wolfe and Danny Trevathan in contract years.
Phillips has promised to be aggressive when the games actually get played, and while there is plenty of road to travel until then, it’s clear he has plenty to work with along the way.
