Broncos minicamp: Three things to watch

The Broncos conclude their offseason work this week with a three-day minicamp that begins Tuesday. It will be the only mandatory work of the offseason, and will be the team’s final set of club-organized practices until it reconvenes in six weeks for the start of training camp.

When the Broncos take the field Tuesday, all eyes will be on quarterback Bo Nix, whose work in the last two weeks has been limited to walk-through snaps as he recovers from ankle surgery in late April.

That’s where a look at what to anticipate begins.

1. HOW MUCH WILL BO NIX PRACTICE?

“I think you’ll see him next week,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said, adding that Nix did walk-through repetitions — including some two-minute work.

But when Nix returns, just how much work will he do? Will he be limited to individual repetitions, or will Payton give him seven-on-seven and team-period work? Further, how can the Broncos avoid Nix pushing himself too far if he is out there?

No matter what, Payton is confident that Nix’s mobility won’t be affected.

“He’s going to be completely clean mobility-wise,” Payton said. “He’s young, and one of his great assets is his ability to avoid sacks and escape from the pocket. I don’t think you’ll see that hindered at all.”

2. CONTINUING TO WORK JAYLEN WADDLE INTO THE MIX

Waddle had a catch last week during the June 11 practice that focused on third downs, but if Nix can practice, this will represent his first chance to begin building chemistry with the third-year quarterback, something that will be essential to the Broncos’ hopes of lifting their offense to another level.

So far, though, Waddle has been everything the Broncos expected.

“He’s good,” offensive coordinator Davis Webb said with a smile last week. “He’s a really good player.”

Webb sees the galvanizing effect of Waddle as potentially resembling that which Stefon Diggs had on the Buffalo Bills when he joined them in 2020. At the time, Webb was a backup quarterback to Josh Allen.

“When I was with Josh Allen going into Year Three — similar to Bo going into Year Three — ad we traded for Stefon Diggs and that’s that was a good year. That was a good two-year run, in ’20 and ’21 when I was together with them, just seeing the growth from both players at that time. There’s some similarities of what started to happen here.”

That said …

“It doesn’t mean it’s going to,” Webb cautioned. “We got a long way to go but man, [Waddle] is good and I’ve just enjoyed the person and just watching him work. He is a blessing to be around. He is a multiplier. He’s a thermostat.”

3. EXPECT CONTINUED FLASHES FROM THE ROTATIONAL EDGES

In both of the OTAs that were open for media viewing, Que Robinson, Jonah Elliss and Dondrea Tillman all continued to generate consistent pressure off the edge.

This isn’t anything new, of course. Tillman has 9 sacks over the last two seasons and had similar performance during last year’s OTAs and training camp. The Broncos discussed giving Elliss some snaps at inside linebacker — in part to get Robinson in uniform on game days after he spent 12 regular-season weeks last year on the inactive list — but as Payton noted June 4, he’s “doing too well” at outside linebacker.

And as for Robinson, he looks to defensive coordinator Vance Joseph like “a guy who can be a future starter for us.”

Their form has added significance in the wake of the additional charges filed against Jonathon Cooper, which led to a second arrest last week.