ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – The feel-good moment came about halfway through the first full-scale training camp practice for the Denver Broncos of the Sean Payton era.
It was Russell Wilson, running free. The crowd (tickets distributed: 3,000) roared as the heavily scrutinized quarterback raced down the middle of the field, 70 yards for an imaginary touchdown.
Never mind that in a real game, Wilson might have been sacked. In this case, he spun out of non-contact trouble, not a single defender chased him, and then it was "run, Forrest, run!"
Symbolic? Maybe. To start a new year, Wilson could be leaving the disaster of 2022 in the dust.
Yet surely, this snapshot was striking on multiple levels.
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Unlike last year, when Wilson was the centerpiece of the NFL’s most pitiful offense, nobody booed. Instead, with his big run, Wilson, 34, prompted the biggest cheers of the hot, sticky day.
Plus, this dash came from an apparently leaner Wilson. While he is still listed at 5-11 and 215 pounds, camp observers insist that this is a sleeker model than last year's edition. He seems to have followed through on his expression after the season finale in January, when he pledged to have the best offseason of his life.
“Yeah, we did that,” Wilson told reporters. “Now it’s just time to go one day at a time and do what we know how to do. And that’s play at the highest level.”
That Wilson made plays with his feet – he can still bolt from the pocket to dash past first down markers, can still buy time to throw darts on scramble drills – was also significant. According to one of the Broncos beat reporters, Wilson ran more during one single practice on Friday than he did during the entire training camp that preceded the horror of last season.
And that’s not including the running that came with the wind sprints Payton ordered for the team at the end of practice.
“I’m trying to get moving for you,” Wilson quipped, with a grin. “It’s going to be a great year. A great year.”
Payton, tasked to marry the discipline of his system with the uncanny improvisational knack of his quarterback, knows. The stuff on the practice field tends to carry over to the games.
“It’s hard to practice the spontaneous moments that take place in a game,” Payton said from the podium. “If you break down a game, two-thirds of it happens in the pocket the way it’s supposed to, and a third of it, there’s a movement adjustment, there is pressure and all sorts of things that can take place.
“I’m comfortable when I see him climbing (the pocket) and taking off because one of those plays is like a 30-yard gain. How else do you practice that?”
The evolution of the Broncos offense under Payton will be one of the NFL’s most intriguing subplots this season. Payton created an offensive juggernaut, armed by Hall of Fame-credentialed Drew Brees, during his lengthy tenure as New Orleans Saints coach. Now he must do it again. Denver scored an NFL-low 16.9 points per game last season under in-over-his-head, rookie coach Nathaniel Hackett (fired after 15 games), while Wilson suffered through the worst season of his career.
It won’t be as simple as directing Wilson to run the plays that Brees executed. Part of the challenge for Payton, offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and other coaches will be to design a system that accounts for what Wilson and other players do well and not-so-well. That entails coaching, teaching, sensing, creating.
An upgraded offensive line should not only provide the better protection after Wilson was sacked a career-high 55 times in 2022, but it should also fuel visions of the effectiveness that Wilson had during his best years with the Seattle Seahawks when he was able to lean on a strong rushing attack. Wilson can be so lethal in a zone-read running scheme, and when that’s clicking, he poses an even bigger threat as a play-action passer. Add his potency in throwing out of spread formations and the off-script gift that he possesses, and Payton will have plenty to work with in trying to revive his quarterback. Especially if the mechanics are sound and disciplined.
So far, Payton has been impressed with the work he saw from Wilson during the spring. And Wilson, with a Lombardi Trophy and two Super Bowl appearances on his resume, sounds plenty upbeat about how this working relationship with Payton will come together. Payton put his foot down from the start in declaring what he won’t allow from Wilson – the personal quarterback coach, athletic trainer and others in his camp having access to the Broncos headquarters – yet he has also been very supportive publicly in expressing confidence that the nine-time Pro Bowl selection can still be an elite player.
Then again, that much is to be expected. The Broncos invested so heavily in Wilson, shipping three players and five draft picks – including two first-round and two second-round selections – to the Seahawks in the blockbuster trade in 2022 to get him. Then Denver signed Wilson to a five-year, $245 million extension last summer.
In any event, Wilson said his connection with his new coach began formulating years ago when Payton coached him in the Pro Bowl.
“Always a gift,” Wilson said. “I’ve always had high regard for who he is as a coach, as a man. As a competitor.”
Ah, the joy of summer. Weeks from the live action when the games matter, hope is gushing about now. Wilson, reflecting on the work during the spring, praised the coaching staff for teaching the details. He also complimented teammates for taking ownership of the offense. It’s no surprise that he feels comfortable with his grasp of Payton’s system.
“In terms of learning the playbook and all of that, yeah, we’re ahead of schedule,” Wilson said.
During an interview with USA TODAY Sports last week, Payton provided insight into Wilson’s struggles of last season, explaining how the quarterback was hindered by other elements, including the shaky offensive line and coaching.
Asked how the public support from his new coach struck him, Wilson said: “Coach Payton has been the best, in terms of just stepping in, leading our football team. Obviously, he’s a world champion coach, a Super Bowl champion.”
Payton has also declared that he would be, well, disappointed if the Broncos don’t rebound from a 5-12 campaign last season to make the playoffs in his first season at the helm. That’s an expectation Wilson will gladly embrace.
“That’s a statement that we all know that’s what we want to do,” Wilson said. “We put on our cleats, we put on our pads and train as hard as we do every day because we want to be the best in the world. We don’t want to be second place. Anything not first is second, or last, in my opinion.
“The biggest thing as a team, we have a goal in mind. All that stuff’s down the road. The best way to get there is one moment as a time, enjoying each day, each practice, each moment, battling through, lifting each other up each day, and trying to be the best version of us individually and collectively that we can. That’s the journey we’re on right now.”
And it’s a journey that promises to be anything but boring.
