Broncos players get more time off than others before reporting for the offseason program.
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — You won’t recognize the place.
Unless you’re turned around, maybe.
Know how fans always sat on the north-side berm during training camp at the Broncos training facility? That berm is long gone, and a brand new training facility and three-floor headquarters is up and will be ready for move-in in late June, or soon after the Broncos’ mandatory minicamp concludes June 18.
Then the existing headquarters and locker room will be torn down. For training camp, which will start in late July, there will be temporary bleachers placed where the existing building is now.
“We expect capacity to be almost twice what we had last year,’’ Broncos president Damani Leech said. “We’ll be in those temporary bleachers from a fan perspective this season. Then shortly after camp ends, we’ll start to build the berm back up and be more similar to what fans are used to.”
Broncos players have the latest offseason reporting date by far, at May 4. The next latest reporting date is April 21 by the Indianapolis Colts. Broncos head coach Sean Payton said it was because the Broncos went three extra weeks in the postseason, but Seattle and New England went five extra weeks, and they’re reporting April 20.
Payton and sports performance boss Beau Lowery have their methods, and the Broncos’ relative health the past three years is proof their system works. It begins with a lengthy period of weightlifting and conditioning. The Broncos are among the majority of the teams who skip the voluntary minicamp, using that time instead for uninterrupted strengthening and conditioning.
And instead of three weeks of OTAs, the Broncos condense those practices to two weeks, starting June 2. The offseason ends with a three-day mandatory minicamp, June 16-18.
Then the team will move its gear and boxes and personal items across the practice fields and into the new building. Players on the first floor. Ownership, coaches and personnel on the second floor. Business and marketing staff on the third floor.
They better hurry because the old building will go crunch and temporary bleachers will go up before training camp.