Broncos defense 'can be as good as we want to be,' but climb requires patience

New York Times

3 days ago

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Dre Greenlaw was put on a pitch count as the Denver Broncos began their first week of training camp, so he came with all fastballs.
During a team period in the red zone on Saturday, Denver's newest linebacker bolted from his spot on the far side of the field to make a beeline toward Marvin Mims Jr., who had caught a short pass and was momentarily pausing to set up his blocks near the goal line. Before Mims fully accelerated, Greenlaw tagged him down in the two-hand drill, and the linebacker moved so fast that his momentum brought both players to the ground.
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The play was followed by a standard command from coaches during non-contact periods ('Stay up! Stay up!'). But internally, there was an acknowledgement that Greenlaw knows only one way to play — and it's the reason the Broncos pursued him so heavily in free agency. Just wait, Sean Payton said afterward, until real football begins.
'He's impressive when you put the tape on,' the Broncos coach said of Greenlaw, who the Broncos are bringing along slowly after the linebacker dealt with an offseason quad injury. 'Monday will come with the pads and there are certain players that really express themselves in the full gear, and he'll be one of them.'
The brief scene with Greenlaw in Saturday's practice can be viewed as a microcosm of a Denver defense that played with an explosive edge during the first week of training camp. The new inside linebacker gives the Broncos an aggressive, sideline-to-sideline presence they didn't have last season. Talanoa Hufanga, Greenlaw's teammate then with the 49ers and now with the Broncos, has brought a similar torpedo play style to the safety position, where Denver is also benefiting from the return of a healthier P.J. Locke after offseason spinal surgery.
In front of both players is a confident, trash-talking defensive front that was relentless in its pursuit of the quarterback last season — a franchise-record 63 sacks — and appears to be picking up where it left off after returning nearly every player who contributed to that league-high total. The pressure during team periods during the first week of camp, whether it was coming inside or on the edge, was nearly constant.
'You've got to know what other guys are thinking, what other guys are feeling on certain plays or on certain calls and knowing each other's jobs,' veteran outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper said. 'Those conversations don't stop whether we're on the field or whether we're off the field. We're constantly talking about football and constantly building a better connection with each other so that we can go out there and perform the way that we're supposed to.'
The attacking front is buoyed by a secondary that added Hufanga and drafted Jahdae Barron in the first round, a versatile defensive back who has already trained at multiple spots this offseason but is likely to start out manning the nickel position, where the Broncos already have a capable presence in Ja'Quan McMillian. Barron is flanked by Pat Surtain II, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, and Riley Moss on the outside, the latter of whom was one of the early standouts during the opening week of camp as he enters his second season as a starter.
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'Look, he's sticky,' Payton said of Moss. 'Obviously, he's going to get a lot of traffic and a lot of balls thrown his way. I like his length and his ability to mirror and shadow. He's a good tackler and he does a lot of things well. He's come back in really good shape, and I think we saw it in training camp last year.'
The tantalizing potential of Denver's defense doesn't only reside among its front-line starters. Dondrea Tillman, the outside linebacker who had five sacks during his first NFL season in 2024, has been a menace in training camp so far, collecting would-be sacks in every practice. Inside linebacker Levelle Bailey has shown impressive chops in coverage, intercepting one pass and deflecting at least two others, an encouraging development given that Denver is set to face an extended period without fellow reserve Drew Sanders due to a foot injury. Rookie defensive end Sai'vion Jones has been a consistent presence in the backfield, a long and rangy lineman with the tools to make an early impact against the run. Kris Abrams-Draine, the second-year cornerback who was pressed into action late last season and had an interception against Justin Herbert of the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 16, splashed with multiple deflected passes during Saturday's red-zone period.
'I have never been a part of a team that had this much depth,' safety Brandon Jones said. 'It's really exciting and kind of scary to see that with the twos, the threes and the fours, there's no drop-off. People go in and everybody is executing at a high level, playing full speed, so it's super exciting.'
The ingredients for an elite defense have been plain to see early in camp. But for all the excitement that exists within that unit regarding the levels it can reach in 2025 — 'We're going to be as good as we want to be,' Jones said — there is also a recognition that the process to achieve lofty goals requires patience.
Linebacker Alex Singleton has had to exercise patience ever since tearing his ACL in Week 3 last season. When he began running full speed for the first time in February, he could start to envision himself back on the field. When the Broncos signed Greenlaw one week later, eliciting a 'Hell yeah!' reaction from Singleton, the veteran started to imagine what the two could do as a wrecking-ball inside tandem. Singleton had targeted his return to the field for the start of training camp for months, so it's telling that he was thinking about the long game as he took a seat on a bench after the first full practice of camp.
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'It has to be a marathon thought,' he said. 'These early days are almost hard because you want to scheme against each other. The offense is going to want to run a play and we're going to want to change a call, little things that don't matter right now. It's four installs (during the first week of camp) and then we'll repeat them next week. So it's the marathon mentality and we're not even at the first quarter mile. It's really just getting these fundamentals correct because those are hard to fix in Week 6 or 7 and their easy to fix right now. If we can have two-, three-, four-deep of guys who can step in and play — we have guys right now with the twos and threes who would be starters all over this league. We have so many guys who are learning and doing things the right way and that's exciting. We have to enjoy the process, enjoy these long days and just get to know each other.'
Pat Surtain II, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, on expectations for this season: pic.twitter.com/DQnQeQnodE
— Nick Kosmider (@NickKosmider) July 22, 2025
Further mileposts in training camp provide an opportunity for the Broncos to test graduate-level concepts in Vance Joseph's defense. Of the 11 projected starters, nine have played in Joseph's scheme for at least two seasons. It's a rare continuity that gives the Broncos a shorthand as they adjust calls and make changes on the fly. But none of that means the Broncos can take the next step of their defensive evolution for granted, the veteran coordinator cautioned. The practice standard must match the elite expectations the unit strives for. It's why Joseph can be heard bellowing 'Finish!' during nearly every practice rep at camp. It's why Cooper has been shouting 'Don't be satisfied,' even when he exits the field after creating pressure that spoiled an offensive play.
'My entire sell this offseason has been, 'Let's start over again. Let's keep improving,'' Joseph said. 'Last year counts, but it doesn't matter moving forward. We have to continue to improve. When you watch our cut-ups from the fall, it wasn't perfect in every area. Third down, we have to get better. There is lots of room for improvement and every year is different.'