Thursday Night Football is back for the first time in eight months and people couldn’t be happier. Even preseason games gets football-deprived fans going in August. But for Kapri Bibbs, the next month of preseason football means much more than extra practice or entertainment.

Bibbs may have just one more chance to either make the team or move on. After spending his first two years on the practice squad, Denver’s decision to draft Devontae Booker make it now or never. But the 23-year-old running back out of Colorado State has never needed extra motivation.

“I’m very, very hungry. I think that’s just from the past two years where I thought I was going to get my opportunity but that wasn’t what it was,” Bibbs said last week. “This is the year that I go out and showcase and have my opportunity, and I am going to take full advantage of that. I’m going to go out and get it.”

With C.J. Anderson solidified as the No. 1 back, Bibbs is battling Ronnie Hillman and rookie Devontae Booker for a roster spot. Hillman has never truly lived up to the hype, but flashes of brilliance and speed continue to keep him around, and Booker, the fourth-round pick out of Utah, has impressed coaches and fans so far at camp. In the span of a few weeks, he has already catapulted himself ahead of Bibbs on the recently released depth chart. 

“It’s absolutely big for me,” Booker said. “Being a rookie, everybody just wants to see what I got, and what I can do out there on that field in a real game situation. I’m just going to go out there, exceed expectations and do what I need to do out there on the field.”

For Bibbs, it’s been an uphill battle to prove he belongs since he declared early for the NFL Draft. But his dedication to build a better life for his family and save himself from injury at the collegiate level drove him to take his chances. The Broncos signed him to their practice squad as a free agent, and he has been working to stay ever since.

Competing for a job is nothing new to him.

“Only you can go out there and win that spot or lose that spot,” Bibbs said. “[Booker] is not going to do anything to hurt my chances at running back. It’s all up to me and how I play.”

Bibbs will get one of the most-important opportunities of his life Thursday night, and he’ll get to do it in front of the people he loves. The team travels to Chicago tomorrow, the town Bibbs grew up in. His family and plenty of friends plan to come out and support No. 35. It’s a make-or-break month for Bibbs, but he’s taking it one game at a time.

“Every preseason is important for me because I have to make the team,” Bibbs said. “I just have to go in and make it happen.”