By Jordan Long
The Denver Broncos open up the preseason slate tomorrow against the Minnesota Vikings. Kickoff is at 2 PM Mountain Time. The Broncos’ main goal in the game is to stay healthy. After that, there are players and positions to watch for.
Of course, the biggest storyline for the Broncos this offseason is who is going to be the starting quarterback. Drew Lock is starting this preseason game. Teddy Bridgewater will start in preseason game #2. Lock needs to show improvement from last season. He has a cannon for an arm and trusts it too much. Those are often thrown over the receiver or into double or triple coverage for interceptions. Lock must show he can throw the check-down short yard passes. He can’t keep his eyes on one receiver in this game otherwise the defense is going to pick him off by reading his eyes. If Lock plays clean football and moves the chains, that creates pressure on Bridgewater to play well against Seattle on August 21st. Lock must show he is the quarterback for this year and years to come, otherwise Bridgewater will have his opportunity.
Besides quarterback, backup running back is up for grabs. Melvin Gordon is likely going to be the starter. After that rookie Javonte Williams and Royce Freeman are battling it out to be the backup. Freeman is the forgotten man in the backfield. He is entering his 4th year. Last year he barely played on offense with 35 carries for 170 yards. Freeman was used on special teams coverage and to block for the return man. Freeman wants to stay in Denver. He needs to show it by blocking well for the quarterback and running the football as well as catching passes out of the backfield.
Williams is most likely going to be on the team since the Broncos drafted him in the 2nd round. This will be his first NFL action. A decent showing by running the football or even catching passes out of the backfield could give him the edge as the running back behind Gordon. The key for both Freeman and Williams is to hold onto the football. They can’t fumble. Turnovers will make the coach’s job easier to decide who should be the backup going into preseason game number 2 and possibly the regular season.
All offseason, experts and fans have talked about how great the defense is going to be. The Broncos upgraded the secondary adding cornerbacks Kyle Fuller and Ronald Darby in the offseason. Denver even drafted a cornerback with Patrick Surtain with the 9th selection overall in this years’ draft. They hope all of them can create turnovers. Denver totaled 10 interceptions last year. This will be the first look to see how they play against a pretty good Minnesota offense.
The cornerbacks of Bryce Callahan, Fuller, Darby, and Surtain must show they can defend passes. In this preseason game against the Vikings, don’t get beat by a receiver. That will be an easy throw and catch which could go for first downs or longer. When a pass is thrown to their area, sure interceptions are great but just knock the football down and away from the receiver is best. Knocking the ball down is an incompletion and the receiver isn’t able to gain yards. Even if a pass is caught, don’t go for the big hit but just tackle the receiver.
These are just a few of the positions to look for in this preseason game. Hopefully, win or lose the Broncos come out healthy. It would be awful if a player suffers a season ending injury.
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