Out with the old, in with the new…offense.
Gone are Emmanuel Sanders, Joe Flacco and Jeff Heuerman. Even Ja’Wuan James, who is still with the team, won’t play this year as he opted out due to the pandemic.
In are Drew Lock, Jerry Jeudy, KJ Hamler, Melvin Gordon, Nick Vannett and more. Make no mistake; this Broncos offense is brand new from the top-down (besides stars Courtland Sutton and Phillip Lindsay, and some linemen).
But, Denver’s offense isn’t just full of newcomers, it’s also extremely youthful.
Sutton and Lindsay just finished their second years. Lock, Dalton Risner and Noah Fant are all entering their second seasons while Jeudy, Hamler and Lloyd Cushenberry (center) are rookies.
Some of them are so young, they weren’t even born when the Broncos’ No. 1 offense won the Super Bowl for the first time, in Jan. 1998.
But, besides having a young group, with a ton of newcomers trying to learn one another’s tendencies, the Broncos offense is attempting to learn a new offense, too. And because of the pandemic, in a shorter amount of time than usual.
Pat Shurmur comes into Denver as the wily, old veteran coach who did well with rookie quarterback Daniel Jones in New York last year. And, from Lock’s comments after the Broncos’ third training camp practice, we learned how the players are learning the concepts and even a bit about the offense itself.
“This is a brand new offense for the whole offense,” Lock explained while crediting his coaches. “It’s literally been a culmination of one little baby step at a time. We’ve done a great job of prepping beforehand. We’re about to get to the point where we’re installing new plays and having to go out and run it.”
From those comments, it sounds like Shurmur and quarterbacks coach Mike Shula have worked slowly but surely, no not overload the kids and provide them some confidence.
“We’ve had install one, install two and install three ready. Keep it clean,” Lock continued on the new offense. “That’s what I did last year. When we came out and ran the first couple installs, I thought I was the man. Then we got to the last couple installs and I’m like, ‘Wow, these are kind of starting to pile up.’ I think our coaches are doing a good job of keeping us ahead of schedule on these scripts and plays in general. We’ve just got to keep piling it on and not let it overwhelm us as a young offense.”
That’s intelligent leadership from the young quarterback. He’s got to be there, learning the offense along with his teammates, while also keeping in mind what they need in terms of workload mentally.
Lock is leading by example, too.
“I’ve got to come out hot every single day and I’ve got to be ready mentally and physically before these practices and go out and do my best from the start,” he explained.
As for the offense itself, head coach Vic Fangio was asked about if he expected it to have “college-type” plays (likely, the Wildcat and/or the run-pass option).
“I think some of the plays that you are alluding to as college-type plays, a lot of teams have those plays now,” Fangio said. “They’re a part of our offense.”
Lock, who’s probably one of the most mobile quarterbacks in the game, could dominate by using a run-pass option. Either way, he’s an exciting youngster and this year’s offense promises to bring more exhilaration to Broncos fans than the borefest in 2019.
