It was center stage on Saturday for the Denver Broncos 2026 rookie draft class, and a handful of undrafted and tryout players as the team held their second day of rookie minicamp.
Denver Broncos rookie minicamp provides first look at 2026 draft class
It’s always difficult to evaluate certain positions during OTAs and rookie minicamp because contact isn’t permitted, but on Saturday, we received our first glimpse of Jonah Coleman, Kage Casey, Tyler Onyedim, Justin Joly, Red Murdock, Miles Scott, and Dallen Bentley.
The initial class were the key players we had our eyes on during Saturday’s practice, but there were also several undrafted and tryout players that stood out during the various periods we were able to watch.
#Broncos rookie minicamp recap:
– First look at rookie class including Jonah Coleman
– Sean Payton shares promising update on Bo Nix
– Caleb Lohner mentioned as player who has improved the most since last year. pic.twitter.com/GlzjYIXR3P— Cody Roark (@CodyRoarkNFL) May 9, 2026
Joly had a nice one-handed snag on a pass that was thrown a little too far inside of him by the quarterback during a group period. Coleman had some runs and quick cuts that looked nice during group and team work. Bentley worked in a fair amount at tight end, as did Joly, Caleb Lohner, and undrafted rookie Stone Eby, who caught several checkdown passes from quarterbacks E.J. Warner and Nathan Peterman.
Murdock was someone who stood out to me from an operations standpoint. It was clear that Vance Joseph was loading responsibility onto his plate for the group of rookies, having him relay the call to the defense. What stood out to me both pre- and post-snap was that he was always communicating.
Joseph’s scheme, as we all know, features tons of match concepts, and Murdock was calling things out and getting players aligned properly, and in coverage was communicating with the other linebacker whether or not he was picking up a player coming into his area.
The scheme for this time of year is very vanilla, but there were some things that are true to the core of the offense and defense that Joseph and Davis Webb/Sean Payton wanted some players to get looks in.
Undrafted players who stood out on Saturday
Several undrafted rookies, Kolbe Katsis, Dane Key, Taurean York, Tommy Thomas, and Cameron Ross, stood out in several instances.
During the Broncos special teams period, Darren Rizzi worked with gunners and returners with handfuls of different players rotating in on the coverage unit. Katsis, an undrafted rookie out of Northern Arizona, looked the part in this drill specifically.
He’s got noticeably good speed and made a few coverage guys miss or take the wrong angles in the drill. During group period work with the offense, Katsis’ routes looked sharp as passing game coordinator John Morton looked on.
Once again, practices like Saturday’s make it easier to draw stronger opinions on skill players than they do in the trenches. Key, the brother of Broncos special teams ace Devon Key, made a nice play down the field in a contested catch situation, hauling in a tough catch with undrafted rookie Ahmari Harvey tightly contesting it.
Taurean York looked like he moved well, often at times playing alongside Murdock. Both linebackers communicated well when on the field together.
Thomas, an undrafted rookie wide receiver who is a local name out of Fort Collins and played his college ball at Chadron State, was in attendance on a tryout basis also had some moments during Saturday’s practice, hauling in several catches, finding the soft spot at times against zone looks.
But it was Cameron Ross who had one of the plays of the day, hauling in a pass deep downfield from Nathan Peterman in between two defenders.
For a Saturday minicamp practice, the on-field work was productive as we got to watch things in their entirety.
Next up, Broncos OTAs with rookies and veterans on June 2.
