The Denver Broncos wrapped up Thursday’s joint practice with the San Francisco 49ers, which saw many of the reps being conducted in extended team periods. What’s the word coming out of Santa Clara?

Denver Broncos get valued reps in joint practice vs. 49ers

Mile High Sports was not boots on the ground for today’s practice in Santa Clara, and like you, we were scouring social media for updates surrounding today’s joint practice between the Denver Broncos and San Francisco 49ers.

Earlier this morning, we shared three things we wanted to see from the Broncos in today’s joint practice, and most of that came to fruition.

Whether updates came from other beat reporters from here in Denver or 49ers beat reporters, it sounded like Thursday’s practice was a great opportunity for extensive looks at players and their reps. There was a one-on-one period that saw the Broncos secondary thrive and Bo Nix and the offense capitalized on, but the focus was in the extended team periods that saw the Broncos offense and defense on two different fields.

Broncos head coach Sean Payton said that he was on the offensive side of the field, calling plays for Nix and that side of the ball, while Vance Joseph and his defensive staff evaluated the other side of the field.

“Obviously a lot of good film for us to get on here in the next day and a half,” Payton said. “Anytime, and you guys know this, you get to work against a different team, different cadence, different defense alignments, offensively the same way, route concepts, you’re solving maybe some problems on the fly. I spent the bulk of the practice on the offensive field. Of course, [49ers Head Coach] Kyle [Shanahan] was on their offensive field. I said to the players, ‘There’s a lot when we get back to the hotel that we’re going to want to look at and clean up.’ Overall I was pleased with the work we got, and both sides I thought handled themselves well. It was competitive, and yet we got a ton of situational work, two-minute, red zone, third down and a lot of team work. So a lot of players getting a lot of work.”

By all accounts, the Broncos offense had an impressive day and took strides forward despite the final move the ball period. Nix had touchdown throws to Courtland Sutton, Marvin Mims, Trent Sherfield, and an impressive on-the-run throw to Devaughn Vele as he escaped pressure.

His ability to extend plays and move around when pressure is mounting is something that drew recognition from Payton.

“I think that it’s something you can’t force that,” Payton said. “We can design plays to get him out of the pocket, but I’m talking about when a part of your protection breaks down, maybe the initial route’s covered. He tends to function comfortably in that position.”

His connection to Vele demonstrated that.

Nix, Broncos not shy about Super Bowl aspirations

Following Thursday’s practice, Nix had the quote of the day, and when you think about it, the Broncos are in a position to set themselves up for a Hollywood-esque script.

Their football season begins on Saturday in Santa Clara, the site of Super Bowl 60. 10 years ago, the Broncos hoisted the Lombardi Trophy at Super Bowl 50 as Peyton Manning rode off into the sunset. Now, Nix is the heir apparent QB the Broncos have been looking for since Manning retired and the story writes itself.

Internally, Payton hasn’t been shy about talking about the team’s goal of winning a Super Bowl, and he himself has said he believes he has a team that can get back there. Nix shared the same sentiment with the quote of the day.

“We should all be wanting to go win a Super Bowl,” Nix said. “If we’re not trying to go win a Super Bowl, why are we here? If you’re not trying to be the best of the best in your particular area, ours is the NFL, the National Football League. I believe that’s why you go out there and play the game. You go out there to play the game to be the best, beat the best and I feel good about our team but that is not just thrown around. It’s not easy to do, obviously and we have a lot of work to do to go get that goal.”

What a story that would be.

Broncos news and notes

Following Thursday’s practice, Payton shared an update on inside linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who has missed several practices since last week after suffering a quad scare.

“He’s doing really well,” Payton said. “We were fortunate last week with a little scare. He probably won’t play in the game and will be back working full speed on Monday.

  • LB Alex Singleton (finger) did not practice and is unlikely to play in Saturday’s preseason game vs. the 49ers alongside Dre Greenlaw.
  • Denver will play their players through three phases of personnel during Saturday’s preseason game. Starters and key players are in Payton’s first phase, where a handful of players will be getting snaps on Saturday in the second and third phases.
  • The Broncos’ ongoing running back battle between Jaleel McLaughlin, Audric Estime, Blake Watson, and Tyler Badie will fall under the microscope in Saturday’s game, with Payton hinting that one or two spots at the position are open for competition. “Yeah, he [RB Tyler Badie] does a lot of things well,” Payton said. “He’s someone who can play on third down. He is I would say a very good receiver at that position, and he’s right there in the thick of it as we start evaluating that group of runners who are all competing for a spot or two.”

The Broncos will play the 49ers on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. MT on 9News.