Denver Post Broncos writer Ryan O’Halloran posts his Broncos Mailbag weekly during the season.
You can pose a Broncos- or NFL-related question for the Broncos Mailbag here. Follow Ryan for more daily updates on Twitter.
Is John Elway really all in on Joe Flacco? He’s been pretty quiet lately, what with all the Drew Lock hype going around from beat reporters. Is Flacco winning the respect of his teammates with his play and command of the team?
— Kevin Josenhans, Mardela Springs, Md.
I’ll be up front and say I wasn’t fueling any Drew Lock hype. He’s a rookie quarterback who had some very good throws and some not very good throws. Remember, he’s working against no pass rush (7-on-7) and a soft pass rush (11-on-11) that can’t hit him. Big difference. As for Elway, he did his talking during the draft and isn’t expected to meet with reporters until the opening day of training camp next month. Fangio and offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello said last week that Lock is making proper progress, which is what you want to see considering the pressure isn’t on to get him ready for Week 1. Elway is all in on Flacco … for 2019. As for Flacco’s relationship with his teammates, they have been universal in saying how much they like his presence and leadership qualities. Shoot, running back Devontae Booker threw the previous quarterbacks under the bus by saying Flacco actually says hello to him on the hallway.
Who would you say are the players that have impressed you the most? This could include sleepers that you feel like could make the team. It could also include players who have made a big jump into this year.
— Navuhb Yttesmarrey, Flower Mound, Texas
I’ll go a couple of different ways with this question. The major caveat is I didn’t chart the OTA/mini-camp practices like I will during training camp because the Broncos weren’t wearing pads and, well, I was paying attention to different things like who was on the field so I could sketch out a depth chart and also paying attention to how Vic Fangio watched practice. New players who stood out: Tight end Noah Fant can obviously run and he will be a match-up problem if covered by a linebacker. Running back Royce Freeman looked comfortable catching passes out of the backfield. The edge rushers won more than they lost. And it sure felt like cornerback Bryce Callahan was around the football. Overall, I reserve all judgment on the offensive line and the interior defensive line.
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Think you nailed this with your square-peg-in-a-round-hole metaphor. I don’t get why offensive line coach Mike Munchak is moving Ron Leary back to right guard and slotting rookie Dalton Risner at left. Leary has a long-stated preference for the left side and coming off an Achilles it doesn’t seem to make sense to push him back to the right. What gives?
— Don Miller, Boynton Beach, Fla.
Well, Don, this gained some clarity last week when Leary finally decided to talk to reporters. I gave it a shot a few weeks ago and he kept walking. Anyway, Leary said his preference was to play right guard, adding that he told last year’s coaching staff he wanted to stay there. But just because a player wants to switch positions doesn’t mean he gets to. Munchak obviously feels Risner — who didn’t play guard in college — is a better fit on left tackle Garett Bolles’ hip than right tackle Ja’Wuan James’. The Broncos better have right guard reinforcements ready because Leary was unable to finish the last two seasons because of injury.
How has Vic Fangio been as a head coach in practice compared to the other coaches you’ve seen over the years?
— Tyson, Parker
Good question. 1. You don’t hear him yelling, either positively or negatively. 2. The Broncos ran a lot of plays of team drills during OTAs/minicamp, which shows that Fangio wanted them to run through as much of the playbook as time allowed. 3. The tempo was solid — players weren’t walking from drill to drill. 4. If Fangio didn’t like something, it appeared he ran another play or during the end of the first minicamp practice, he put the starters back on the field for a second hurry-up series after the offense stalled the first time around. Tough to compare outside of the tempo a coach wants to run. Everybody runs the same drills and does the same team work.
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What kind of impact will safety Su’a Cravens make this year? The guy’s got all the physical talents to be that monster safety to stop tight ends.
— Mike, Castle Rock
Colleague Kyle Fredrickson wrote about Cravens in Saturday’s paper. The first thing for Cravens: Staying healthy so he can have the chance to earn a roster spot. As Fangio pointed out, Cravens is a safety, period. He’s not a corner. He’s not a hybrid safety/linebacker. That means Cravens has to win a competition against Jamal Carter, Dymonte Thomas, Shamarko Thomas, Trey Marshall, etc. Working against Cravens is that he doesn’t play special teams.
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