The Denver Broncos were back on the practice field in full pads for Thursday’s practice at the UCHealth Training Center.

Offensively, the Broncos received a boost with third-round tight end Greg Dulcich getting involved with Russell Wilson.

Greg Dulcich working his way into the mix

Over the last several days, Broncos rookie tight end Greg Dulcich has been slowly acclimating himself to the offense.

After suffering a hamstring injury during organized team activities, the team has been cautious about easing him back too soon.

During Thursday’s practice, Dulcich stood out during the team period inside of the offense.

His 6’4″ size and route-running ability were on display as Russell Wilson found him for several catches with one of them leading to a touchdown in the red zone period.

After practice, Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett talked about how Dulcich has looked since being brought up to speed offensively.

“Besides the hair? I’ll tell you,” Hackett joked after practice. “He only got a couple reps again. We’re trying to slowly work him in. We don’t want to throw him in there and have him running down the field all over the place and blocking but it was great. He kind of had a couple of plays—I think he caught a touchdown on the right there which was great because the play [QB] Russell [Wilson] made was awesome. I’m going to hear it from the defense because they’re going to think they sacked him, but they definitely didn’t. It was just a great feel for him.”

For Dulcich, he is making tremendous progress ahead of the regular season.

“That’s the thing with Dulcich right now,” Hackett spoke after practice. “He’s understanding the playbook because he’s been using so much mental time to understand it. But then to watch him go out there and make a natural play when he’s covered and kind of ran to get open and found the sweet spot. That was not—I didn’t know that was going to happen. That was just them playing ball.”

Denver Broncos offense turned in a good day

The Broncos’ offense has run up against a stout defensive unit for the first half of training camp.

However, Thursday’s practice was a change of pace as the Broncos’ offensive unit successfully moved the ball downfield.

The Denver offense faced a 10-14 deficit in a move-the-ball period with 1:48 left and two timeouts.

On one play, Russell Wilson connected with Albert Okwuegbunam for a 15-yard catch and run.

A false start penalty would back up the offense, but that didn’t impact Wilson’s aggressiveness.

Wilson would target a throw downfield, but standout linebacker Jonas Griffith came out of nowhere to knock the pass away.

With 1:18 remaining on the play clock, the offense facing a third and long saw Jerry Jeudy haul in a pass that came up just short of the first down marker.

Facing a fourth down situation, Wilson found Courtland Sutton downfield for a 34-yard reception that would give the offense a first and goal situation.

Shortly after that, Trey Quinn would haul in a touchdown pass to successfully cap off the team’s offensive drive.

Thursday’s practice was a big confidence booster for the Denver offense against a very stingy defense.

Broncos injury report

Did Not Participate on Thursday:

Kareem Jackson – veteran day off

Caden Sterns – received an injection in his hip, hopeful he returns for Saturday’s practice

Christopher Allen – Broncos working him back from a foot injury

Tyrie Cleveland – throat cartilage – the team is being cautious due to its uniqueness

Kendall Hinton – knee – did not participate on Wednesday either

D.J. Jones – back – rest.

J.R. Reed – escorted off practice field by training staff with undisclosed injury

P.J. Locke – got tangled up covering a pass attempt, but appeared to walk off under his own power.

Denver Broncos news and notes

Broncos rookie cornerback Damarri Mathis continued to make plays in the secondary, undercutting a Brett Rypien pass for an interception.

Jamar Johnson came away with an interception of Rypien in the red zone period after safety J.R. Reed deflected the pass into the air.

Early Thursday morning the team announced the signing of Darrius Shepherd who has ties to Nathaniel Hackett as a member of the Green Bay Packers from 2019-2020.

More recently, Shepherd was a member of the USFL’s New Jersey Generals where he hauled in 27 catches for 323 yards and one touchdown.

The new Broncos receiver made a tremendous play downfield hauling in a 60+ yard touchdown from Josh Johnson during the team period.

As the Broncos hope to solidify the backend depth of their receiver group after Tim Patrick’s injury, Shepherd got off to a hot start on his first day.

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The Denver Broncos will be back on the practice field on Friday for Day 9 of Training Camp at the UCHealth Training Center.