‘Go by what we see': How 2 rookie tryout players earned offseason shots with Broncos

New York Times

2 days ago

Sean Payton patrols practice fields and meeting rooms at Denver Broncos headquarters armed with stories that double as teaching tools.
If the Broncos are drilling a specific end-of-game situation in practice, Payton will quickly pause the proceedings and pull from a Rolodex of real-world scenarios where the same sequence unfolded. When the Broncos are recruiting undrafted free agents, Payton can hop on the phone and explain how a previous undrafted player at the same position from his coaching past not only made a given team but also became a key contributor.
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'I think the first time it was a significant subject (was in) '07,'' Payton said earlier this month. '(In New Orleans) we had drafted a running back, I think in the fourth round out of Ohio State, and we had signed a free agent, Pierre Thomas, out of Illinois. We got to training camp, and there was a period of time that Pierre was playing better. … He was playing better enough, where the players and most people knew. So we released the fourth-round pick and kept Pierre.'
Next year, Payton will be able to show every player who arrives at rookie minicamp on a tryout basis that they, too, have a path to follow. As the Broncos began OTAs earlier this week, two of the players working out with the group — wide receiver Kyrese White and inside linebacker Jordan Turner — began their journey with the team earlier this month as rookie tryout players. Neither player was selected in last month's draft. They weren't even among the 15 rookies the Broncos signed in the wave of undrafted free agency to follow. They arrived in Denver in early May with nothing guaranteed beyond participation in three days of minicamp practices.
But when Payton addressed reporters following the second of those sessions, he hinted there were tryout players who had already earned strong consideration to be added to the actual roster, saying a couple 'have a chance to go to (training) camp with us.'
'Bill (Parcells) was big on that: Go by what we see,' Payton said.
By the afternoon on Mother's Day, instead of flying back home as they were previously scheduled to do, White and Turner were finalizing contracts that added them to Denver's roster. Their three-day audition was turning into something more.
'I was so excited when he let me know because it was couple weeks earlier that the draft was going on and then all the free-agent deals were going on, and Kyrese hit me up a couple days afterward saying, 'Coach, I haven't heard from anybody and I don't know what to do,'' said Kyle Cefalo, who worked with White the past two seasons as the wide receivers coach at Utah State. 'He got one minicamp invite and that was it. It wasn't even like he decided to go to the Broncos. It was his only option.'
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White was hard to miss during the practice open to reporters, and not just because his big hair flowing under his helmet and the No. 43 he wore made him look like Troy Polamalu. White did a little bit of everything last season at Utah State, where he finished with 44 catches and 526 yards while also returning kicks and developing into one of the team's best perimeter blockers despite his 5-foot-10, 185-pound frame. He shuffled through all of those roles with aplomb during his tryout with the Broncos. It wasn't the first time White had willed himself onto a team. He was a walk-on at Utah and, after entering the transfer portal in 2023, also had to earn his way into a deep wide receivers room at Utah State that featured Jalen Royals, a fourth-round pick of the Kansas City Chiefs.
'The one thing I told scouts was, 'If someone gives him a chance and brings him in, you're going to have a tough time getting rid of him,'' Cefalo said. 'He's going to be smart and he's going to work really hard. He's going to be great on special teams. He's a great athlete and he's going to make plays. That's the message I gave. I didn't oversell or undersell Kyrese to anybody. I was just like, 'If you bring him in, you're going to have a tough time cutting him.' Sure enough, that's what happened with the Broncos. Clearly, he made a great impression in a few days.'
The impression Turner made on the Broncos started well before he arrived for minicamp. In the days leading up to the draft, he had conversations with Broncos linebackers coach Jeff Schmedding. He had another connection on the staff in Jim Leonhard, Denver's defensive pass game coordinator. Before transferring to Michigan State for his final college season in 2024, Turner had played two seasons at Wisconsin for Leonhard, who was the team's defensive coordinator and later its interim head coach during that time.
'Just from a relationship standpoint, Jordan was having all these different touch points,' said Turner's agent, Jackson Magnini. ' … Jordan had made the comment to me, even before the draft ended, 'I don't want to go anywhere else, even if there are other opportunities. This is where I want to be.''
Despite the Broncos' significant interest in Turner, they signed two other players at his position during undrafted free agency: JB Brown of Kansas and Karene Reid of Utah. The flurry of post-draft activity can be a chaotic time for teams and players alike, like college recruiting on hyperdrive. Teams don't know how many spots they'll have to offer at a given position until players start deciding where they want to sign. The inside linebacker spot in Denver, which should feature ample offseason practice time as veterans Dre Greenlaw and Alex Singleton finish injury rehab, quickly became a popular destination for players with options.
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Still, the Broncos quickly made it clear their opinion on Turner hadn't changed. They still wanted to see him in rookie minicamp. Turner, unlike White, had a chance to go to other camps. Denver remained his target despite the sting of not being drafted or initially signed by the Broncos.
'Once he got out there, his mindset, which I give him a lot of credit for, was, 'I'm not leaving here,'' Magnini said.
Turner impressed the coaching staff with a quick grasp of the playbook. He made a similarly quick transition when he transferred to Michigan State, finishing his final season with 66 tackles (11 for loss), three sacks and two interceptions. The 6-foot-1, 228-pound linebacker made enough of an impression at minicamp for the Broncos to add him to an inside linebacker group that now has four undrafted free agents, including last year's post-draft signee at the spot, Levelle Bailey.
It also helped White and Turner that they had extensive special teams experience in college. New special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi will have a strong voice in shaping the end of Denver's roster. The Broncos were the only team to select a punter in last month's draft (sixth-rounder Jeremy Crawshaw) and other picks, like fourth-round outside linebacker Que Robinson, were made with early special teams impact in mind. The team's two newest rookies will need to make themselves valuable in that phase of the game to extend their stays further.
The path to the 53-man roster by September will be a narrow one for White and Turner to navigate. They will continue to battle undrafted free agents at their positions this offseason — White was the fourth wide receiver the Broncos signed after the draft — to say nothing of the veterans already entrenched at those respective spots. Cuts can come any day in the offseason. To make room for the tryout standouts, after all, the Broncos had to cut two other players after minicamp, undrafted rookies Kendall Bohler and Christian Dowell, to stay within the 90-man roster limit.
White and Turner know nothing is given from here. But they are here as the offseason rolls forward. For now, that's all that matters.
'I give them the same message each year,' Payton said of rookie minicamp participants. ''(How) you arrive, that's part of us procuring the talent, but once you arrive here, how you arrived here isn't important to us. You're here.''
(Top photo of Kyrese White: Jamie Sabau / Imagn Images)