Broncos Detail Camp Plan for RB Javonte Williams

The Denver Broncos are going to be smart with Javonte Williams.

How well Denver Broncos starting running back Javonte Wiliams continues his remarkable recovery from a major knee injury will be a compelling subplot in training camp.

Just because Williams has got clearance to be a full participant in camp out of the gates doesn't dictate that the Broncos' key decision-makers will take any unnecessary risks. Head coach Sean Payton's many years spent in the NFL have taught him to listen to the input of his medical team, which has allowed the Broncos to construct a roll-out schedule that fits a recovering player of Williams' importance.

Payton detailed his outlook for Williams on Wednesday. 

“Any player who had a significant injury a year ago—[Vice President of Player Health and Performance] Beau [Lowery] and I will sit down, and we’ll have a Group 1," Payton said. "That would be someone like him. We’ll have days on, limited days, and days off. There’s a process. It won’t only be with him. There will be a handful of those players. Then we’ll have a mid-group of players that will have a set schedule with load management. Then the last group would be veteran players like [S] Kareem [Jackson] and a handful of those guys that we’ll be smart with. He would fall into that first group of a planned schedule as he’s recovering from a major surgery. We’re pleased, obviously, with his progress. We felt really good about it in the spring, and he put the work in.”

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Certain players being handled differently doesn't dictate that training camp will somehow lack the required levels of intensity that were obviously absent last summer. Indeed, hitting the ground running will be a standard Payton will demand from players, coaches, and even his support staff.

After day one of camp concluded, Payton was happy with how engaged his players were, providing a positive early sign.

“The tempo is what we’re looking for today. What will gradually change is the time out on the field and the number of periods," Payton said. "This on-ramp—this was a really quick practice from start to finish, but hopefully the tempo is something that you would say you get used to seeing. You saw some of it today. I think that’s something that’s really been important to us, relative to how we practice offensively, and then what it forces the defense to do, as well.”

Just as Payton suggested, things will settle into some kind of natural, if not organic, kind of tempo. Key to that process will be how quickly the new Broncos coaching staff gets organized, which will allow the process to flow more freely.

“There are eight notes here of things I want to make sure we’re on the same page," Payton said. "We have a lot of coaches; we have a lot of trainers, and we’ve got a great support staff. It’s fantastic. We’ve just got to be on top of where they’re at on the field, and what they’re doing while we’re out here. We have to clean up a few things there, but part of that is coaching the coaches and just making sure we’re on the same page.”

Getting on the same page has inherent benefits to the team's mission of putting 2022 in the rearview. But given the importance of developing the quarterback and head coach dynamic during camp, the danger would be to expend too much time and energy in that particular direction.

Payton is savvy enough to understand that as a veteran head coach, it will be up to him to avoid such pitfalls. Bringing all the moving parts together under one water-tight umbrella will be crucial. 

“Well, it starts with the team. That’s what the head coach does," Payton said. "Then, it’s an area that I work with. Part of that’s hiring guys that I know and that are installing and coaching what we want and what we believe. I like the staff we put together.”

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