Everything you need to know from the Broncos’ second joint practice with the Los Angeles Rams

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Broncos bounced back on Thursday.

After being outplayed by the Los Angeles Rams in the first of two joint practices on Wednesday, the Broncos were much more competitive on Day 2. The Rams probably had the better showing, but neither team looked markedly better than the other.

The biggest news of the day was a hamstring injury for Jerry Jeudy, who was carted off the field. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that the injury was of “moderate” severity and that he is expected to miss several weeks, after initial testing. (Click here for more on the Jerry Jeudy’s injury.)

The Broncos’ offensive line executed much better in the running game on Thursday than it did on Wednesday, when the Broncos’ running backs weren’t given much to work with. Denver’s defense started sharp, but faded as practice progressed.

Here’s what you need to know…

Thursday wasn’t a banner day for Russell Wilson, but he held his own, and most of the offense’s flaws weren’t his fault.

Wilson was under pressure early in practice, and was probably sacked two or three times. In his first clean pocket of the day, he couldn’t find any open receivers and threw a checkdown to a running back that would have drawn a big hit in a game. From there, he rolled out and hit Jerry Jeudy for a double-digit gain on the sideline. He hit Jeudy again on a quick out. He hit Williams across the middle for a short gain. He hit Courtland Sutton for a 10-yard gain on an out. He also missed on a deep ball to Taylor Grimes because he led the rookie too far into the end zone.

In red-zone drills, his offense didn’t score. He threw a nice ball on a post to Greg Dulcich, but it was broken up on the goal line. He overthrew Hinton on a ball to the back pylon, but the ball hit Hinton’s hand and he probably could have made the play.

In the move-the-ball period, Wilson threw a pass to Williams in the flat, and the running back got whalloped immediately. He hit Marvin Mims Jr. on the sideline to convert a 3rd & 3, but didn’t convert either of his other two third downs.

The early portion of team drills was dominated by Nik Bonitto.

The second-year edge rusher picked up a pair of obvious sacks. He was there well before the ball was released. After one of them, Rams head coach Sean McVay gave him a fist bump. Bonitto also blew up a run play, getting to the running back right when he got the ball.

Bonitto slowed down later in practice, but he was unstoppable for the first few minutes.

Jarrett Stidham wasn’t perfect on Thursday, but in one team period he did just about everything you could ask for.

He threw four passes in the series. The first was a deep corner route to Kendall Hinton on the left sideline. Then he hit Brandon Johnson over the shoulder up the right sideline. Then he rolled out of the pocket and hit Josh Hammond on the sideline. Then Albert Okwuegbunam was left wide open on a drag route, and Stidham hit him for another chunk gain.

Later on in practice, Stidham hit Michael Bandy on a deep fade. He also hit Albert Okwuegbunam for the offense’s only touchdown in red-zone drills. Okwuegbunam dunked the ball over the field goal post, which drew a meaningless flag.

Okay, they weren’t really fights, but there were a few instances of shoving matches.

The biggest was when everybody from the Broncos defense and Rams offense came together on the field they practiced on. With so many bodies, it was tough to tell who started it and who was most involved. One thing was clear, Alex Singleton was near the center and he wasn’t wearing a helmet.

The other two were small and only lasted a couple of seconds. Michael Burton ran the ball up the middle during red-zone drills and had a Ram in his face, and Tommy Hudson had some words for Desjuan Johnson later on.

Henry was born in Columbia Falls, Montana and graduated from Columbia Falls High School in 2015. He earned bachelor's degrees in journalism and economics from the University of Montana in 2019. After graduation, he joined DNVR. He spent three years covering the University of Colorado before moving to the Broncos beat ahead of the 2022 season.Henry joined DNVR as a remote staff writer in 2017, providing support to BSN's Broncos beat reporters. He interned at DNVR headquarters in the summer of 2018 and accepted a full-time position after graduating from UM.Follow Henry on Twitter - @HenryChisholm

You must be logged in to post a comment.