The Broncos’ defense looked a lot sharper on Saturday, and the difference showed up right away in team drills.
On the first pass attempt of the day, Bo Nix tried to get the offense moving, but Justin Strnad came blitzing through the middle with what looked like a sack in a real game. Because quarterbacks can’t be hit in camp, Nix was able to stay upright and float a ball 25 yards downfield to Pat Bryant. Kris Abrams-Draine had Bryant in single coverage, but Bryant created separation just before the ball arrived and made the catch before turning upfield.
The crowd loved the play, but the defense still won the rep. That was the theme of the day: the Broncos’ front got to the quarterback often enough to end the play in a game setting, only for the offense to salvage something after the rush had already arrived.
That happened again later when Jonah Elliss got to Nix for a sack, only for Nix to fire a deep ball over the top to Lil’Jordan Humphrey for a big gain once the pressure had already landed.
The pressure kept coming from everywhere. Elliss added a batted pass at the line of scrimmage, Zach Allen got a ball up in the air, Nik Bonitto recorded a sack and Dondrea Tillman added one as well. At times, the rush was so active in the backfield that it was hard to sort out who got there first.
That kind of result isn’t unusual this early in camp, when the pass rush often has the edge over the offensive line. Even so, Saturday offered a good look at the Broncos’ top defensive unit showing what it can do, with production coming from across the depth chart.
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