Polumbus: Can we grade Broncos players through a week of OTAs?
May 25, 2017, 7:26 PM | Updated: 7:27 pm
With organized team activities kicking off this week many, Broncos fans yearn for grades on how everyone is doing, especially Denver’s two quarterbacks.
Having gone through eight seasons of OTAs at the NFL level, here’s some insight into what kind of evaluation is realistic to discuss regarding these practices.
First, what exactly goes on during these practices?
The first week of OTAs is the most elementary football you’ll see an NFL team practice. The first practice, guys will only have about four runs, two pass protections, and the most basic route concepts installed.
These are the bread and butter plays.
Coaches slowly and methodically teach these foundational plays before they start adding any complexities to the offense. Practices feature much more time for individual periods with each position, and coaches drill elementary skill sets.
This is the only time of the year where coaches can slow things down and teach drills they might not get back to for the rest of the season.
The defense installs plays at the same pace as the offense and will only show very basic formations with little-to-no blitzing in the first few days. They will not change formation at the line scrimmage, and quarterbacks won’t need to make any audibles.
So, what does all this mean for how players are graded in the first few weeks?
Well, essentially, it leaves us grading the most elementary aspects of the game, leaving little to evaluate regarding decision making.
Players simply are not put in a position where they have to think much.
One-on-one matchups can be graded. We can grade technique demonstrating why players won or lost a battle. But anyone should be cautious to judge players’ decision-making process — specifically with quarterbacks.
This isn’t the time to say Trevor Siemian is in the lead or Paxton Lynch won the day or any other variation.
Let’s save that talk for the end of OTAs, once players start up the real football, and stick to evaluating basic football skill sets.
