Sean Payton 'rooting for them all' as players compete for roster spots

The Denver Broncos will have several key position battles at training camp this summer and when the pads come on, how a player joined the team won’t matter. Whether its an early draft pick or an undrafted free agent, the player that performs the best on the field will be rewarded with playing time.

Broncos coach Sean Payton wants players to be aware of that as the team kicks off training camp this week.

“All of this is to prepare them for — look, let’s not lose track of the No. 1 goal of when camp starts: It’s to arrive at the right 53 [-man roster],” Payton said in June. “We spend a lot of time on that because you don’t want a player in your camp that ends up leaving and excelling somewhere else.

“How do we get exposure? Did we get enough exposure of these players so we can make the right decisions? It’s all geared on the right 53 and the right practice squad. There is a lot that goes into that. We are rooting for them all and coaching them hard, coaching all of them hard, regardless of how they got here. At this point, we have to go by what we see.”

After setting a 53-man roster this summer, Denver will then build a 16-player practice squad (and the team can carry a 17th international player as well). That’s 70 players from the team’s 90-man offseason roster who can remain with the club for the 2024 season. Players competing for spots this summer aim to avoid being one of the 20 cuts next month. This week, the fun begins.