Disappointment that he didn’t see his name pop up on television as one of 257 picks.

But also excitement. Adrenaline. A sense of unknown.

In the rush of several teams calling and trying to convince him to sign with them as an undrafted free agent, one voice stuck out.

“Sean (Payton) called me the first time and was talking to me, and I was like, ‘OK,” Bailey told The Denver Post this week. “I was sitting next to my mom on the couch, and she knows about Sean Payton, New Orleans and everything.”

He was hearing from coordinators in other cities, but here was a Super Bowl champion head coach calling multiple times.

Bailey, a linebacker out of Fresno State, talked with Payton once. He talked to then-linebackers coach Greg Manusky — they’d been in touch weekly through the pre-draft process — and defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, too. Then assistant Jamar Cain, who, like Bailey, is a Sacramento, Calif., native.

Then Payton called again and said he’d pass along stats about all the success he’d had with undrafted free agents over the years.

“You’re pulling out all the stops, and I’m glad we stayed patient in that process with him and we were able to get him because there were a number of teams interested,” Payton recalled this week.

Indeed, the full-court press worked.

“I called my agent and said, ‘If Sean Payton’s calling my phone, that really means something to me,’” Bailey recalled.

A year later, the Broncos’ second-year linebacker is in the process of trying to cement himself on Payton’s list of success stories.

Bailey’s authoring an eye-opening training camp. He made several plays in coverage the first week. After injuries to Alex Singleton and Drew Sanders, he’s seen a major uptick in reps alongside Dre Greenlaw on the No. 1 defense.

“His instincts are off the charts,” Bailey said of Greenlaw.

Those are serious strides since this time last year. He impressed Denver enough to crack the initial 53-man roster, but then was waived after a day. Bailey made it through waivers to the practice squad and eventually was promoted back to the active roster in October. He appeared in 10 games and played a handful of defensive snaps, but was essentially a special teams player when he was active.

That was a solid introduction to life on the field in the NFL.

Now, though, he’s aiming higher than that after an offseason spent learning how to be a pro in every other department.

“Preparation, getting your body right and learning the playbook,” Bailey said. “Knowing what I’ve got to do but learning, really, what the whole defense is about and why we’re doing it. … Then just studying what the offense is going to do. That gives me confidence to really fly around and make plays.”

Bailey said he spent the offseason mostly conditioning — Singleton and Greenlaw advised him to show up to training camp in shape instead of worrying about being five or 10 pounds heavier on account of a simple fact.

“If you can’t get to the ball, you’re never going to make the tackle,” Bailey said.

Bailey also credits Singleton for texting him early in the offseason with finer points of the defense and things to learn. The jump from understanding his job to understanding Vance Joseph’s defense in its entirety is substantial, but Bailey’s made it going into Year 2.

“Last year I didn’t sit next to Alex in the meeting room, but this year I am,” Bailey said. “Even when coach is going over film, if Alex sees something little, he’ll bump me and whisper in my ear, ‘You see what I was talking about’ with this or that. Justin (Strnad) does the same thing for me in the special teams meetings. … Having those type of guys that want to see me grow as a player and as a person in general and want to drop those gems for the younger guys, that’s really helped me.”

It’s showing on the practice field.

Early in camp, before the pads came on, Bailey made a handful of terrific plays in coverage. That part has always come naturally to him. He played quarterback and nickel in high school and began his college career at 195 pounds.

Former Bulldogs linebackers coach Tim Skipper told him he needed to play linebacker, but, as Bailey now recalls, cautioned him that, “It’s a different life in the box.”

“He’s extremely smart. He’s like a quarterback,” Skipper told The Post. “He’s going to remember the call, tell you the sign and stuff. What he struggled with was the fundamentals of how to strike blocks, get off blocks, make tackles, those sorts of things. Because he just hadn’t done it that long. So we really honed in on that, and I kinda just gave him goals.

“… And he, man, he just attacked it.”

Skipper gave Bailey a bunch of film of pro players to watch, with an emphasis on long, athletic guys who played physical.

“I wanted him to see what it looked like when guys were getting knocked backwards, seeing sure tacklers, seeing guys get off blocks,” Skipper said. “I wanted him to visualize it and see it so that he could go do it.”

Chief among them: San Francisco’s Fred Warner.

“Now it just so happens I’m playing with Dre,” Bailey said of Warner’s former running mate, who signed with Denver back in March.

Since the Broncos have donned pads, Bailey’s been in the mix a lot.

Singleton should be back next week with a club to protect his broken thumb. Until then, Bailey’s getting a long look.

“He’s had a few good days. Real good days,” Payton said. “I think you’re getting a player into his second year with confidence. He’s in good shape. He looks like an NFL linebacker, too. …

“I would say I’ve clearly seen a jump from Year 1 to Year 2 in his confidence.”

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Did not practice: Physically Unable to Perform list — WR A.T. Perry (foot/ankle). Out — ILB Alex Singleton (thumb), ILB Drew Sanders (foot).

Payton confirmed that Singleton was set to have surgery on his broken thumb Tuesday. He should be back with the team by Wednesday and then start practicing in about a week, though he’ll be wearing a club.

Newcomer impact

There’s already been a lot written about the Broncos’ running back room, but rookie RJ Harvey has made several plays since the pads came on for the first time Monday.

Tuesday during a mostly defense-dominated team period, Harvey made one of his trademark jump cuts to the right, left Jonathon Cooper in the dust, turned the corner and ripped off a big gain. That’s one way to open eyes.

“He had a run today that was somethin’,” Payton said. “We kind of turned and looked at each other. But there’s that learning curve for all those young players. … He’s doing exceptional.”

Harvey’s got soft hands and catches the ball very naturally, too. Pass protection, though, remains a work in progress. He got beat a couple of times Tuesday alone.

Top Plays

Not so much a single play on Tuesday but more a reminder that the Broncos defense has all the ingredients to be among the league’s elite. They made life awfully difficult for quarterback Bo Nix and the Denver offense throughout team periods. Up and down the ranks from the No. 1s through the No. 3s, Vance Joseph’s group made plays, generated pressure and just generally didn’t allow Payton’s offense to get into any semblance of rhythm.

“I just finished talking (to the team) about these physical practices and the necessity of what we’re building,” Payton said. “And how we go about doing it. I think it’s fantastic. It’s a back and forth. There will be some days coming off this field where you guys will feel like one side of the ball (won) and that’s the ebb and flow of training camp.”

Thumbs Up

Semi-multi-talented:  A funny scene: The Broncos’ quarterbacks usually take a special teams period and throw the ball into nets that have pockets. They navigate around tackling dummies and quarterbacks coach Davis Webb to work on footwork and reaction time, then eventually throw into the net. On Tuesday, Courtland Sutton and Evan Engram wanted to get into the action, too. Sutton’s got a good arm and put a pretty decent throw on the net, drawing a huge cheer from the fans in the bleachers behind them. Engram then took his shot and fully airmailed the entire setup. Not to worry, though, he got another chance a couple of minutes later and had a much better attempt. Sutton, it should be noted, is 4-of-4 passing for 84 yards and a touchdown in his NFL career, including 2 of 2 last year. Engram? He’s played 93 career games and never had the opportunity to chuck it.

Thumbs Down

Lightly toasted: One bad rep in a 1-on-1 drill isn’t going to be the difference in job security for Ja’Quan McMillian. After all, this is a guy who got Pro Bowl consideration and has been one of the better nickels in the NFL the past season-plus. All the same, he’s in a hot competition for the nickel job with first-round pick Jahdae Barron and is in a secondary that features no shortage of options. So on Tuesday, when he got roasted by Trent Sherfield on a corner route during 1-on-1s, it at least crossed the mind that neither he nor any of the other defensive backs have much room for error over the next couple of weeks.

Odds and Ends

• With Singleton and Sanders both out, there are a ton of reps to go around for the other linebackers, but particularly Levelle Bailey and Justin Strnad. Bailey, a second-year player out of Fresno State who went undrafted in 2024, has made a series of splashy plays over the past few days.

“Man, he’s in good shape. He looks like an NFL linebacker,” Payton said. “… I would say I’m clearly seeing a jump from Year 1 to Year 2 in confidence.”

• The Broncos have depth on their defensive line, but rookie Sai’vion Jones is an early camp eye-opener. The third-round pick out of LSU has length and power, to be sure, but he just plays with a degree of nastiness. Blocking him seems like an unpleasant assignment.

Jones has several veterans ahead of him, including stalwart Zach Allen and rotational regulars John Franklin-Myers, D.J. Jones and Malcolm Roach, along with Jordan Jackson, but at this rate, he’s got a chance to push for playing time.

“Playing at a major college, that transition for some of these players is not as drastic because of where they played,” Payton said. “He’s doing well. We get a lot better evaluation now with these guys with the pads on. But he’s one of these guys that, man, through the OTAs and the on-ramp program, it’s much more difficult to see. But he’s doing well.”

• Second-year receiver Troy Franklin continues to make plays. He dispatched Barron and Damarri Mathis during 1-on-1s. Then he ran past coverage, throttled down and went up in traffic to catch a deep ball from Sam Ehlinger during team later in practice — one of only a few offensive highlights on the day.

• Maybe no surprise here, but Courtland Sutton was in a terrific mood the morning after signing a four-year, $92 million extension on Monday. Sutton was right at the front of the line for all manner of drills and had extra juice in his step throughout practice.

• Nix and center Luke Wattenberg had one quarterback/center exchange issue during a team period midway through practice. It’s not something that’s been a regular occurrence since the early proceedings of Nix’s rookie season — and it happens occasionally — but something to watch for, whether it’s a one-off or becomes some kind of recurring issue.

• Rookie tight end Caleb Lohner’s far from a finished product, but he doesn’t look like a guy who played 52 college football snaps and was mostly a basketball player. The seventh-round pick has logged some production through practices, even if he hasn’t made a bunch of big, explosive plays.

“I don’t ever want to set an ideal plan (for a player) because look, I had an ideal plan for Jaleel McLaughlin (as a rookie) and he exceeded it,” Payton said. “There was no way we were going to get him onto the practice squad three years ago. So a lot of it is, let’s pay attention to his progress early on and then let’s build on it. But let’s make sure the things we’re asking him to do early are things we feel like he can excel at early.”

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The Broncos rolled the Saints, 33-10. They delivered an emotional coming-home win for head coach Sean Payton. They ran the ball at will. They completely discombobulated New Orleans rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler.

Rookie quarterback Bo Nix rushed for 75 yards but threw for just 164.

None of them to Courtland Sutton.

In fact, not only did Sutton fail to log a catch, but for the only time in his seven professional seasons, he didn’t get a single target.

A good number of receivers in the league — particularly one like Sutton, who felt the need to protest his contract situation through the offseason — might have groused publicly.

Sutton instead smiled and downplayed the outing as an anomaly and one that didn’t matter because Denver had improved to 4-3.

“We won,” Sutton said the following week. “That’s all that matters at the end of the day. Big win. … When you can run the ball that efficiently and effectively, it’s hard to be selfish.”

Easy to say. More difficult to actually stomach as a No. 1 receiver playing on a big salary cap number and sharing the field with the 10th starting quarterback of his career. Through seven games, Sutton had just 21 catches for 277 yards on 47 targets and was tracking toward the worst statistical season of his career.

Sutton, though, didn’t just say the right thing. He backed it up on the field.

Over the team’s final 10 weeks, he went on a run that cemented himself as quarterback Bo Nix’s go-to guy, a leader for a young position group, and a player Payton and the Broncos could envision featuring long-term.

That’s now reality after Sutton and the team agreed to a four-year, $92 million extension on Monday that comes with $41 million in guarantees. The deal ties him to the team through 2029, though it is likely more of a solid two-year commitment due to the terms.

Sutton followed the Saints donut by logging back-to-back 100-plus-yard outings for the first time in his career. Over a seven-game stretch in which the Broncos went 5-2 and solidified themselves as a playoff team, Sutton tallied 45 catches for 601 yards and four touchdowns. In that span, he averaged 9.4 targets and 86 yards per game and did so as Nix blossomed into a full-blown rookie of the year candidate.

Overall, Sutton played the final 10 weeks at a 1,366-yard pace.

Simply put, the receiver delivered and secured his own future in Denver in the process.

“Like any player, he’s dealt with some injuries,” Payton said Monday before the extension had been reported on. “There’s certain years — his 2019 film is outstanding. His film last year. It’s finding that right weight and balance, and then what are the things that he does well? Certainly, he’s a strong target. He’s smart. He’s clearly one of our leaders on this team.

“There’s a lot of things that he brings to the table.”

Sutton now checks in at $23 million per season from 2026-29, tied for 18th in the NFL in terms of average annual value.

That’s just about where he figured to end up, well short of the game’s elites but also comfortably above its middle class.

For their money, the Broncos retain a player who checks three boxes critical to Payton’s operation beyond just being a quality receiver.

He’s a leader with four seasons of captaincy under his belt already and a strong chance of getting the nod again this fall. He’s got the full and unwavering support of Nix, a young quarterback trying to ascend in Year 2. He’s become a sensei in a room full of young receivers the Broncos seem to like a lot more than the wider public.

Where Sutton goes, Troy Franklin, Devaughn Vele, Marvin Mims Jr. and Pat Bryant follow.

What Sutton does, those guys mimic.

“He brings, I don’t know if this is the right word for it, but like security for the group,” Franklin, a promising second-year player out of Oregon, told The Post recently. “We’re all young in the room, but we can lean on Court if we need any advice. We can watch what he does on the field, off the field and things like that.

“It’s great having Court. Plus, he’s a great guy.”

Similar to left tackle Garett Bolles, a third contract between the Broncos and Sutton never felt like a sure thing until that push toward the playoffs. Bolles got his extension in December. Sutton had to wait, but it felt like a matter of time. Look no further than Sutton’s sunny offseason disposition compared to his decision to skip all voluntary work in 2024.

Now he goes down as likely the second-to-last homegrown, pre-Payton player who forced his way into the Broncos’ long-term plans. Many, including Justin Simmons and Jerry Jeudy, didn’t make the cut after Payton’s first season. Pat Surtain II and Quinn Meinerz were never in doubt as foundational holdovers. Last year, outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper secured an extension, too.

Sutton became the fifth. The only other real candidate is 2022 second-round outside linebacker Nik Bonitto.

Payton, on Monday, happened to get into a conversation about team culture and how it solidifies over time rather than all at once.

“It happens — I don’t know that it happens with the signing of one (guy) — but you continue to look for a certain type of player,” Payton said. “… And then it begins to take shape. … We can aspire to have great culture, but if we don’t sign the right players, it’s going to be difficult to impossible.”

Sutton has been the right player for years in the eyes of many of his teammates.

The final 10 games in 2024 earned him the stamp of approval from Payton, too.

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Just about an hour after he said the Broncos and top receiver Courtland Sutton were “real close” to a contract extension, the deal is done.

The sides agreed Monday to a four-year extension, the team announced Monday evening. Multiple sources told The Post the deal is worth $92 million.

The deal tacks four years onto the final year of Sutton’s 2021 extension, meaning he’s now tied to the Broncos through the 2029 season. It comes with $41 million in guaranteed money, sources told The Post. That includes the $14 million Sutton was set to make in 2025 plus $27 million in new money guarantees.

The extension averages $23 million per season, which puts Sutton tied for 18th in the NFL in terms of average annual value. The $92 million in new money mirrors in some ways a deal done in 2024 between Tennessee and Calvin Ridley. Ridley got $50 million in guarantees, but the terms are relatively similar for players who were taken in the same 2018 draft class and have put up similar career totals since.

Over the Broncos’ practices Saturday and Monday, Sutton participated in individual work and early practice walk-throughs but did not take any repetitions in full-speed, 11-on-11 work.

That, it turns out, is not because he’s holding out or protesting his contract status.

“Courtland is real smart. Here’s the deal, he’s been participating in all the individual, all the 1-on-1s,” Payton said Monday while describing the sides as “real close” to an agreement. “He’s done 7-on-7, he’s gotten team reps. He’s just being smart. So it’d be different if you felt like he was missing improvement or not being out here or being out here but just riding the bike or something.

“I know that player well enough to feel real good enough about where he’s at and his mindset both mentally and physically.”

Since Sutton took some team reps on Friday, his representatives and the Broncos had been moving toward the finish line of an agreement.

Sutton had expressed confidence he’d get a contract extension since the spring. Back in April, he said he thought the conversations were headed in a positive direction. That alone represented a tone shift from a year ago, when Sutton skipped the voluntary portion of the Broncos’ offseason schedule and eventually settled for adding $1.7 million in earnable incentives to his 2024 deal.

Sutton cashed in $1.5 million of those incentives by putting together perhaps his best season as a professional. The 2018 second-round draft pick quickly became the go-to target for then-rookie quarterback Bo Nix.

He caught 81 passes on 135 targets for 1,081 yards and eight touchdowns and helped the Broncos to their first playoff berth of his tenure here.

Sutton is the second-longest tenured Broncos player, trailing only 2017 first-round draft pick Garett Bolles. Bolles received a four-year, $82 million extension in December 2024.

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Try lining up across from future Hall of Fame tight end Travis Kelce on a third down at Arrowhead Stadium, knowing Patrick Mahomes is likely to look your way.

Try seeing a quick-hitter develop and having to tackle Davante Adams or J.K. Dobbins in space, with a blocker between you and not much help behind.

Try doing all of that while communicating with both the safety behind you and the corner to your left or right in a couple of seconds between an offense getting set and the ball getting snapped.

That’s life as a nickel in the NFL. In today’s game, it’s a premium position and a unique one at the same time.

McMillian played outside in college at East Carolina but took to the slot when he was thrust into the Broncos’ starting lineup early in the 2023 season. He’s been an instinctive playmaker and steady presence there for defensive coordinator Vance Joseph ever since.

Nothing is guaranteed in the NFL, though, and now the 2022 undrafted free agent faces a new kind of pressure this summer. The kind that comes when a team spends a first-round draft pick on a guy who plays your position.

That’s what happened in April when the Broncos selected Jahdae Barron with the No. 20 overall pick.

McMillian, however, insisted on Friday that he’s excited about Barron’s addition and the already brewing competition.

“Of course, you take it as a challenge, but this is what we’re here for,” McMillian told The Denver Post after Denver’s first open practice of training camp. “It makes me better, it makes him better. We learn from each other. I’ve tried to teach him the ropes and some things that he knows that maybe I don’t, I try to learn from him.

“It’s part of the game and I’m bringing him in like he’s one of the guys I’ve been playing with. We’re going to keep getting better and keep learning with each other and hopefully we keep this thing rolling and win some games together.”

This is shaping up to be one of the best position battles of training camp for the Broncos, but it’s not quite as simple as Barron vs. McMillian for the nickel job. Denver’s got several players who can operate inside or out. That means the next few weeks will feature several combinations and different guys in different places around reigning defensive player of the year Pat Surtain II.

“There are a handful of guys that are going to dual train and there’s a handful that would be outside,” head coach Sean Payton said Friday. “Every once in a while, you have a corner that can go to safety. There’s a vision with each player relative to where we see him at.

“The flexibility certainly helps, especially on third down.”

McMillian and Barron both fit that bill. When cornerback Riley Moss injured his knee late in the 2024 season, Denver initially deployed McMillian outside in its base defense and then slid him to the slot in nickel.

Barron, meanwhile, played all over the field at Texas. Like McMillian and Moss, he’s getting reps at multiple positions already.

“He’s a smart player, so we’re not going to add too much (to his plate) if we feel like that’s a problem,” Payton said of Barron. “We see him starting off competing inside, but he has the flexibility to go out.”

That’s essentially the way McMillian’s seen his role take shape over the past two seasons, too. Then there’s Moss, who played well enough in his first full year as a starter that he’s likely to figure prominently in Joseph’s defensive plans. Perhaps what’s shaping up is a three-man race for two spots in standard alignments.

“It’s a good thing that we have so many guys that can play inside and out,” McMillian said. “Riley can play nickel, Jahdae can play inside and out, Pat can play anywhere. I can play inside and out. (Kris Abrams-Draine), too. There’s a lot of things you can do as a defense and a lot of different play calls to mix the offense up. It’s a great thing.”

The Broncos appeared to have one of the best trios in football at times in 2024. But the injury to Moss and a couple of scares for Surtain — including a Week 6 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers that he missed due to a concussion — showed Payton, Joseph and company that they didn’t have as much depth as they thought.

Then Abrams-Draine played well in hot spots down the stretch, the team drafted Barron, and suddenly this looks like a position group armed with an embarrassment of riches.

“It’s cool to see, like, the difference in all these guys rotating, because I mean — we’re deep, there,” wide receiver Marvin Mims Jr. told The Post on Friday. “We’re ridiculously deep at that position. So, just to see those guys and the different things they do and how they learn from each other, I think that’s the biggest thing. I mean, Riley will do some stuff now that he didn’t really do last year and the year before that. And J-Mac’s more fluid in his movements.”

All of that depth and versatility help protect the Broncos against injury going forward, but it also gives Joseph the chance to get creative in how he deploys personnel. That’s particularly so because McMillian, Barron and Moss are all good tacklers in addition to the coverage elements of their games.

That leaves room for one of Joseph’s greatest strengths as a coordinator: Taking particular players’ strengths and figuring out how to put them in position to accentuate them on the field.

“I can tell Coach V.J.’s excited,” McMillian said. “We added to the room and we’ve got a lot of pieces. Everybody knows we’ve got a lot of pieces. And I think it’s just about getting better. We want to learn every position on the field — even sometimes in certain packages, I’m considered a safety. It’s a great thing.

“He’s excited and he can do a lot with us.”

McMillian’s excited, too, even though he’s at the center of one of the hottest battles in training camp.

If he feels burned or frustrated by Barron’s arrival, he certainly doesn’t let on.

The nature of his position doesn’t allow for self-doubt or wallowing. Fall down in coverage? Better get your hands on the ball next time. Give up a couple of third-down conversions? There’s a screen to blow up coming right around the corner.

“Through ups and downs, I’m the same guy — that’s what I try to be, anyway,” McMillian said. “No matter the situation, I’m the same guy. It’s the NFL. I’m not going to be perfect, I’m not going to win every rep. Knowing that, I’m always (level). … My confidence is never low — even when you get a bad play or a bad game. And I don’t even necessarily think I’ve had bad games. Just bad plays.

“We’ve got the next-play mentality here and I just keep pushing.”

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The Broncos linebacker tore a tendon in his right foot during Saturday’s practice, a source confirmed to The Denver Post on Sunday afternoon.

Sanders needed a cart ride from the practice field to the team’s facility when the injury happened. When fellow linebacker Justin Strnad came over to check on him, the third-year linebacker simply responded with a thumbs-down signal.

The subsequent imaging showed tendon damage. The team and Sanders are still working through exactly what the treatment plan will look like and whether he’ll need surgery, a source said, so the exact timeframe for his recovery and potential return is not yet known.

Still, Sanders is expected to miss a significant amount of time, including into the regular season.

A third-round pick in 2023, Sanders played 14 games his rookie year but then tore his Achilles in the spring of 2024 and missed all but four games last fall.

He has bounced back and forth from inside linebacker to the edge, but had settled inside this offseason and looked to be off to a strong start through the offseason program and the very early days of training camp.

Sanders hadn’t fully settled into being a full-time, middle-of-the-field player in the NFL, but his athleticism shows just about every time he’s on the field. His first defensive snap last fall came on a third-down pass-rush against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 16 and he recorded a sack.

The Broncos are counting on healthy returns from veterans Alex Singleton and Dre Greenlaw on the top line at inside linebacker. They also re-signed Strnad to a one-year deal back in the spring and have a host of young players competing for spots. That includes second-year man Levelle Bailey — he recorded an interception on Saturday and made several splash plays in coverage — and undrafted rookies JB Brown, Karene Reid and Jordan Turner.

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Did not practice: Physically Unable to Perform list — WR A.T. Perry (foot/ankle). Out — RT Mike McGlinchey. Left practice — ILB Drew Sanders.

McGlinchey was walking around out on the field with the offensive linemen before practice, but did not participate. He had a sleeve over his right leg.

Sanders was injured midway through practice and had to be helped to the locker room entrance by cart. He put no weight on his right leg as trainers helped him into the team’s facility.

Newcomer impact

There’s no guarantee he’ll make the 53-man roster — he might even be considered a long shot at this point — but undrafted rookie wide receiver Kyrese Rowan makes plays just about every single day. On Saturday, he made a leaping catch in the back corner of the end zone during a red zone 7-on-7 drill over cornerback Quinton Newsome. The former Utah State receiver isn’t the biggest or the fastest in the group, but he just finds ways to be open and available. Head coach Sean Payton loves to say that it doesn’t matter how players arrive in the program. Once they’re in the building, they have a chance. Well, Rowan not only wasn’t drafted, but he wasn’t signed right away either. He showed up as a tryout guy at rookie minicamp and forced his way onto the 90-man roster. Can he take it even further over the next few weeks?

Top Plays

You got Moss’d: Second-year corner Riley Moss had a terrific Saturday. He was sticky in coverage and broke up several passes. Among them: An athletic, contested battle along the end zone sideline to knock away a well-placed red zone throw from quarterback Bo Nix to rookie Pat Bryant. Moss later gave Marvin Mims Jr. no space on a shallow throw in team. Moss dealt with a knee injury that cost him three games late in the 2024 season, but he looks healthy, fast and confident so far in camp.

Thumbs Up

Bulls on parade: The pads come on Monday and we’ll be able to see this kind of thing for real, but Saturday featured a couple of really nice pass-rush moves from what should be a disruptive defensive front. John Franklin-Myers bulled right through Alex Palczewski at one point in a red zone drill. Then shortly after, rookie Sai’Vion Jones unleashed a slick swim move to get pressure, too.

Fan presence: The Broncos did right by their fans to ensure that at least some can see practices this camp despite the construction. Those who have been in attendance the first two open days have made their presence felt despite the capacity only being around 800. Good stuff all around.

Thumbs Down

Close, but… Rookie receiver Pat Bryant came very close to making highlight-reel grabs on three different occasions Saturday. Of course, close does not count when it comes to catching the football. One he definitely should have had in the back corner of the end zone against Kris Abrams-Draine, but he brought the ball down too low as he came back to the ground and allowed Abrams-Draine to swipe it away.

Butterfingers: Abrams-Draine, the second-year corner out of Mizzou, had his own regrettable moment, though. He dropped a surefire interception thrown right at him by Bo Nix in a team red zone drill. Nix and Devaughn Vele weren’t on the same page and Abrams-Draine had the throw right in the breadbasket. He’ll hear about that one.

Odds and Ends

• Broncos No. 1 receiver Courtland Sutton continues to have an interesting workload in camp. On Saturday he did individual drills but did not take a rep in 11-on-11. Payton said some veteran players will have lighter and heavier workload days. Sutton, of course, is entering the final year of his contract and said earlier this spring he thought extension talks were headed in the right direction. He’ll be an interesting player to track next week.

• College rivalries never stop. In a funny moment, receiver Marvin Mims Jr., a former Oklahoma standout, was jogging past rookie cornerback and former Texas Longhorn Jahdae Barron. Barron, naturally, flashed the horns at Mims. The Broncos have four former Sooners and five former Longhorns on their roster, so the Red River rivalry is alive and well on the Front Range.

• Practice never got to full chippy status, but it came close on one red zone sequence. Veteran linebacker Dre Greenlaw kind of tackled Mims on a throw over the middle, prompting the typical coaches’ calls to “stay up.” One snap later, rookie running back RJ Harvey got loose up the right side and lowered his shoulder into safety Brandon Jones on his way into the end zone. Competitiveness is good. It teetered toward unproductive for a moment there.

• Payton had one of the better quotes of the offseason so far when talking about Greenlaw. The coach said the linebacker is off to a good start and acknowledged he’s still on something of a pitch count due to his veteran status and an offseason quad injury, but the first day in full pads on Monday will put Greenlaw in his element.

“There are certain players that really express themselves in full gear. He’ll be one of them,” Payton said.

• Some positions are difficult to evaluate. Running back? Not one of them, according to Payton.

“It’s an easy position to evaluate. Some aren’t so easy,” he said. “Once the pads come on and you get into the games and practice with other teams, I think it’s a position you guys will see as quickly as I will,” he said. “They all have different strengths, and I’m anxious to see. We’ve kind of seen (J.K.) Dobbins on film in the pro game, but a lot of these guys are limited to small resumes. I’m anxious to see how they perform.”

• Receiver Trent Sherfield’s calling card is special teams, but he’ll push to get some time on offense, too. He’s caught at least one touchdown each of the past four seasons in Minnesota, Buffalo, Miami and San Francisco. In 2022, he had 30 grabs for 417 yards and two touchdowns for the Dolphins.

“He’s tough and he can run,” Payton said. “The other thing he can do is block. So we’ve always had a handful of receivers that can run and stretch the field. When you get one that can do that and then block also, you can set up play action (and) it marries well to the run game. He’s pretty competitive.”

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“We told them to turn the music up when the stadium questions started,” he said with a smile.

Just a humorous coincidence, really, as Leech spoke with reporters Saturday morning ahead of the Broncos’ second open training camp practice.

Stadium questions, decisions, sites and timelines, however, are at the forefront for the club as it pushes toward the 2025 season.

Leech again said the Broncos don’t have a set timeline for deciding if or where a new stadium might get built. He held to that even as recent reporting around Burnham Yard, a former railyard south of Empower Field, shows the team has bought land in the area and done extensive work — from conversations with neighboring Denver Water to inquiring about urban renewal tax incentives — vetting the site.

“We have not made any decisions about a preferred site,” Leech said when asked directly about Burnham Yard. “What you’ve heard from us is really at a city level. City conversations, city viewing. Denver, Aurora, Lone Tree. Beyond that, the level of the detail there, no decisions have been made.”

In early April, Leech told reporters at the NFL spring meeting in Florida that the club had “a healthy amount of pressure” from a timeline perspective, given the amount of work that has to happen before shovels even go in the ground for a build.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has been adamant about keeping the team in the city and told The Denver Post recently, “I feel like we have a chance to do something special and we’re going to work hard at it to get it done. And I feel like we’re close, but I think that’s all I can say now.”

Leech said Saturday the team has no timeline for announcing its decision or even a preferred stadium site.

“Certainly respect the excitement and enthusiasm of the mayor. He’s a big fan of the Broncos,” Leech said. “… Both the mayor and (Colorado Gov. Jared Polis) have been sincere in wanting to do what’s right for the Broncos and they understand the role the Broncos play in this community, and so we’ve had very good conversations with them. That being said, we’re not going to put a timetable on it. This is a 30-, 40-, 50-year decision that we don’t want to rush by a matter of weeks here or there.

“So we’re going to continue to do our due diligence until we feel like we’re in a position to make the right decision.”

Leech also said the Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group believes Empower Field is in good shape right now, but added, “That being said, five more years and it’ll be a 30-year-old stadium. When you look around and what’s happening to stadiums built in that era, some younger, and they’re either being built new or going through significant renovations like Carolina and Jacksonville.

“That’s certainly something we’re thinking about.”

HQ progress

The Broncos’ new training facility and headquarters is impossible to miss at training camp as it gets constructed just away from the practice fields.

Leech said they recently finished the first hard-hat tour, and the project remains on schedule.

The Broncos plan to have a topping-out ceremony in August when the highest beam gets put in place. Then the structure will be enclosed by November.

“So from a weather standpoint, they’ll be able to do all the interiors and get us to a situation where we’re able to move in by May of next year,” Leech said.

He added it was too early to tell exactly what the training camp operation will look like next year.

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Did not practice: Physically Unable to Perform list — WR A.T. Perry (foot/ankle). Out — RT Mike McGlinchey.

McGlinchey left practice after stretching Thursday and wasn’t out there Friday, though he was spotted after practice. Head coach Sean Payton said the Broncos’ starting right tackle would likely be back to participating Saturday or Monday, but didn’t elaborate on what’s kept McGlinchey out.

Perry was on hand for practice but “still has some work to do,” Payton said earlier this week, before he’s cleared to get into the action.

Newcomer impact

An easy place to start: Tight end Evan Engram. Payton said it was the team’s first third-down installation day of camp and, not surprisingly, the Broncos’ new tight end was heavily involved. He’s got good feel for coverage and already has developed rapport with quarterback Bo Nix. Engram’s got the ability to stretch the field up the sideline and the seam, but also to be an easy target underneath defenses.

“I feel really at home in this offense and I feel like my strengths are being used at the highest level,” Engram said Friday. “It’s also challenged me to be sharp with my tools, be sharp on my details and the little things I need to clean up and get better at. It challenges me every single day, the different ways they’re planning to use me and also just the mentality they have and I want to have in the run game as well, to make that entire thing universal.”

Top Plays

Darts: Nix delivered one of the best throws of the day in the second half of practice during a team setting. He was on a dead sprint to the right and fired a dart back across the middle to rookie Pat Bryant, who was working across the field. It’s the kind of throw you’d better be sure about in a game, given the propensity for bad outcomes throwing back across the body.

Turnover time: Second-year inside linebacker Levelle Bailey created the first turnover of training camp when he snatched a ball that tight end Lucas Krull had bobbled along the sideline. Later in practice, Bailey ripped another ball away from Krull for a PBU. Bailey’s had a flair for the dramatic this summer. He ended a practice earlier in the offseason program with a pick, too. There are a bunch of players vying for reserve and special teams roles behind Alex Singleton and Dre Greenlaw. Bailey’s off to a good start.

Thumbs Up

Catching on: The Broncos’ young receiving corps had a really good day. All of Bryant, Troy Franklin, Devaughn Vele and Marvin Mims, Jr. had solid moments. Bryant and Franklin each jumped out several times, including a long touchdown pass from Jarrett Stidham to Franklin that likely would have been a sack. Still, Franklin ran right past Denver’s secondary, including safety Devon Key. Later, he beat first-round pick Jahdae Barron over the middle.

Thumbs Down

Slipped away: On the other end of Bailey’s highlight reel, Krull can’t let a defender take two different catch opportunities away from him. His calling card is his ability in the receiving game, but the roster’s going to be tougher to crack this year with Engram, Adam Trautman, Nate Adkins and rookie Caleb Lohner among the candidates at tight end. Letting a reserve linebacker make essentially the same play on you twice is a rough start for Krull, whom the Broncos counted on for regular playing time a year ago.

Odds and Ends

• Payton noted Friday that running backs J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey have been getting most of the work with the No. 1 offense, but said he’s interested in seeing what the rest of the group has, too.

“I want to see these other guys the same way,” Payton said. “We’ll see how it goes once we get into the preseason.”

• Safety Delarrin Turner-Yell, who hasn’t played in a game since injuring his knee at the end of the 2023 season, got beat by Engram one snap and then rebounded on the next to break on the ball and deflect a pass to Trent Sherfield Jr. Turner-Yell was a quality special teams player in 2023 and could end up being in the bubble conversation as camp unfolds.

• Undrafted rookie receiver Jerjuan Newton made a terrific catch down the sideline in traffic on a deep ball from Sam Ehlinger.

• The pads haven’t even come on yet and already when the Broncos go 11-on-11, defensive lineman Malcolm Roach can be heard from a long distance away. The defense has plenty of guys that can chirp, but none like Roach.

“There’s an optimism and a positive energy with him,” Payton said. “You find yourself, maybe it’s a hot day, but he just has that energy and adds a lot to a room. It’s kind of contagious. You feel his presence and sometimes you hear him before you see him. I don’t mind that with him.”

They had plenty to talk about Friday, too. The defensive front has been disruptive on a daily basis and they’re undoubtedly excited for the pads to come on Monday.

• One sneaky good battle through camp could end up being rookie defensive lineman Sai’Vion Jones and whether he can push Jordan Jackson and others for reps in the Broncos’ defensive line rotation.

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