DENVER (KDVR) — The Denver Broncos are getting ready for the upcoming season, facing new challenges amid the COVID-19 pandemic as they try to construct a team.
“I moved out here (Denver) in July. That’s been going really well, although I don’t have much furniture in my house, thanks a lot Covid,” snickered veteran guard, Graham Glasgow. He continued, “I don’t have any couches and I have folding chairs in my living room.”
While Glasgow might be lacking the comforts of home (literally), what he is sure to have this year is a job.
That is something that not every Broncos camp invitee will have in the next couple of weeks with cuts on the horizon.
“They’re going to have to speed it up,” said head coach Vic Fangio. “Like I told them, in Camp-COVID, there’s no red-shirt year. We want you to play.”
Fangio will eventually trim down the Broncos 80-man roster to 53 ahead of the Sept. 14 season opener against Tennessee.
The hardest part this year? Not having any preseason games to sample the goods.
“Obviously those guys (on the bubble to make the roster) would get a lot of playing time in the preseason games, not this year.” shared Fangio.
Which means extra pressure on Fangio, the coaches and all of the evaluators.
“We have to get it done quickly and make good decisions in all of those areas.” explained Fangio.
As well as extra pressure on the players in question and to some degree, even their veteran teammates that want to see them earn a roster spot.
“I came in as an undrafted guy. As a rookie, I had guys like Kareem (Jackson) and [Texan CB] Jonathan Joseph showing me the way,” proclaimed veteran cornerback, A.J. Bouye. “No matter if I was a first round pick or undrafted guy, they always made themselves available to help me. That’s one thing I try to do now to be the best we can be on the field.”
It does take a village to put a complete roster together. It also takes fast results ahead of the quick math.
“I told the players we have 41 days from the first day of training camp to the game week preparation of your first game,” exclaimed coach Fangio. “This year it’s 23 days and six of those are days off so we have to get it done quickly.”