Mutual admiration

Rod Smith likes Eddie Royal as camp wraps

Daniel Williams, DDN Staff Writer

Monday, June 15, 2009

Denver Broncos wide receiver Eddie Royal makes a catch during drills at Dove Valley Saturday morning. Denver Daily News photo by Hector Acevedo.

Rod Smith holds nearly every Denver Broncos receiving record and was a huge part of the Broncos’ two Super Bowl titles — and Eddie Royal is his biggest fan.

Smith was on hand at the third and final day of the Broncos’ first mandatory mini-camp held over the weekend, and current Broncos receiver Royal had a chance to pick his brain.

“Any chance you get to learn from a legend like [Rod Smith] you take every opportunity. He’s got great knowledge,” Royal said. “My mind is wide open.”

The pair had the chance to talk during practice yesterday, and Royal added that Smith is helping him with all the little things that will help him continue to develop into an elite receiver.

“He is making sure I get better out here everyday,” Royal said. “He has been through what I am going through.”

Smith likes what he sees

But Smith himself said he was impressed with Royal and liked what he saw out of the rest of the Broncos.

“With guys like Champ [Bailey] and D.J. [Williams], guys that I actually played with, Daniel Graham, I look for those guys to lead this team,” Smith said. “I get excited to come out and watch them.”

However, Brandon Marshall wasn’t able to pick Smith’s brain because for the third strait day he was a no-show at camp.

Marshall is holding out because be wants his rookie contract reworked — even though he has a recent repeated string of domestic disputes that involved the police, and the fact that he is hanging on by a thread with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell that will break the next time he fouls up.

And it is unknown if McDaniels is going to redo his deal or call his bluff.

“We are going to play offense with the guys that are here, and we are going to score points with the guys that are here,” McDaniels said.

But McDaniels also added that he understands where Marshall is coming from.

Royal, who may not have the same huge statistical season this year as he did last year if Marshall is not lined up opposite him, said he is trying to stay out of it.

“I can only do my job,” Royal said.

Royal also said that he hasn’t really talked to Marshall.

But that was just the tip of the iceberg of what happened at Dove Valley this weekend.

Here is a complete wrap-up of went down during camp.

• The next biggest news over the weekend to Marshall’s absence was when McDaniels surprised everyone and named Kyle Orton the starting quarterback. He was quick to say that Chris Simms still had a chance to take the job away, but at this point it is clear that McDaniels thinks he can win with Orton.

• For a majority of Sunday’s practice the team ran repeated game situations with all 22 players on the field. They did red zone work, let Matt Prater attempt several pressure field goals (where he had about 70 percent success) and worked a lot of different simulated game situations.

• Punter Brett Kern may be on the hot seat, because new-leg Britton Colquitt was awesome all weekend. Colquitt’s sweet-touch landed multiple “coffin-corner” balls inside the five yard line during pooch-punt drills. Colquitt then capped off the weekend by pounding a punt 60 yards, making Alphonso Smith backpedal for his life.

• Who knew Brandon Stokley is one of the biggest and best smack talkers on the team, even though many times when you talk to him he has a mouth full of chew?

• Also, who knew newly signed receiver Jabar Gaffney could play quarterback? He did during multiple drills and simulated game situations over the weekend. Gaffney looks like he may be the emergency quarterback for Denver.

• Most of the players said they enjoyed the music that McDaniels had one of his assistants pump through practice over the weekend. McDaniels said he picked “the good songs” and left it up to the assistants to pick the others. He also said it is done to simulate crowd noise.

• On Saturday the entire defensive team worked on repeated turnover and fumble drills. The Broncos were one of the worst take-away teams in the NFL last season.

• Robert Ayers and Jack Williams both picked off new starter Orton for touchdowns during one of Orton’s “bad stretches” on Saturday. Williams was also impressive in coverage in some nickel packages over the weekend.

• Knowshon Moreno impressed with a couple (no contact) touchdowns, but he also fumbled the ball a couple times on Saturday.

• McDaniels went out of his way to congratulate Tony Scheffler after the tight end made a nice play, squashing any concern for the pair’s relationship post-Cutler.

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