In one offseason, the Denver Broncos went from having a very good defense to having one of the best units we’ve seen in a long, long time. That doesn’t just happen. Sometimes it takes a little known player stepping up and making a difference. For the Broncos, that player is David Bruton.

For the last few years, Bruton has earned the respect of Broncos players and fans with his ability to shine on special teams, but this year he’s shining in a different role: safety.

As the Broncos prepared to enter their bye week on Tuesday, they had one last chance to talk to the media before jetting off to wherever it is that million dollar athletes go on their week off, and they used it to talk about the importance of David Bruton

Here’s what they had to say:

Gary Kubiak: “It’s been amazing. He’s really played well on defense. If you go back [and look at] his start against Baltimore, how he’s played and the play that he made the other day, he’s still the captain of our special teams. David is another guy that has worked really hard around here, has kind of been a role player and the role has gotten a little bigger. That’s a good thing. He deserves it.”

David Bruton: “I just get my chances. I’ve been waiting for a year to have chances. I finally got chances toward the end of last year. I feel like I’m playing at a high level and I feel like I can continuously build on that. I feel like when the ball is in the air around me, I can make the play on it or make a big stop that I may need to. I feel like the coaches trust me. It’s my job as a professional not to let them down.”

Chris Harris Jr.:“I was telling them, Brute [Bruton] and [CB Bradley] Roby, they’re starters to me. Roby is coming in playing safety and corner [back]. Brute’s playing dime and safety. They’re very crucial to our defense. Brute is shutting down every tight end. His size and speed make it a tough match-up for these tight ends. To be able to have him do that is huge for us.”

David Bruton: “I just look at it as me going out there to do my job. I’m part of a defense who, we had a great pass rush on the one verses Cleveland and just great communication between me and [CB] Aqib [Talib] in Detroit, me and [S Darian] Stew [Stewart] at the end of Baltimore. It’s just us working together as a team. Nothing is done individually. There are 11 guys out there who could easily make a play to change the game. It so happened to be me for a couple of them.”