ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — The Denver Broncos kicked off their mandatory minicamp on Tuesday with a notable attendee — quarterback Bo Nix, who's returning from two ankle surgeries — and a notable absentee — Jonathon Cooper, who's dealing with a pair of domestic violence arrests this month.
Nix returned to practice, albeit on a limited basis, for the first time since breaking his right ankle late in overtime of the Broncos' divisional playoff win over the Buffalo Bills in January.
“It was great,” said Nix, who underwent a cleanup procedure this spring rather than pushing it off until next offseason. “I'm sort of glad we got it all out of the way, don't have to do it in the years to come. But football's a physical game, so there's no telling what will come up, but for right now I feel really good about the steps I'm making and I'm going to be just fine.”
Asked if he thinks he'll be full-go by training camp in late July, Nix laughed, saying, “Yeah, I could go full-go right now if they wanted me to.”
Instead, he participated in individual drills with the rest of the starters but sat out 11-on-11 sessions where backups Jarrett Stidham and Sam Ehlinger split snaps.
“He's doing well, he's doing real well,” coach Sean Payton said, adding he has no doubt the third-year pro will be the same mobile quarterback he was before the surgery and cleanup procedure.
“Some of his superpowers — an ability to move and not get sacked, find throws — I don't think any of that will be impacted at all,” Payton said. “He's working extremely hard on this recovery and I think he's more than ahead of schedule.”
Nix concurred, saying his ankle is like new and so maybe he’ll be even more elusive in the pocket.
“They say it's back healthy, as good as new and I haven't really been like that in a couple of years, so my concern is maybe I'll move around a little bit better,” Nix cracked.
Nix returned to an offense that underwent major changes since last year's 15-4 campaign. Payton promoted quarterbacks coach Davis Webb to offensive coordinator and handed him play-calling duties. The Broncos traded for speedy wide receiver Jaylen Waddle and they drafted bruising running back Jonah Coleman.
As for Waddle's addition, Nix said, “there's an element of explosiveness that I think as an offense we've lacked for a couple of years. ... You just can't replace speed and that's what he brings to the table. ... A guy like that makes everybody on the offense better.”
As for Payton giving up play-calling duties, Nix said it'll sort of be like Payton is his position coach and can focus on teaching him rather than spending so much of his time on the game plans and play calls.
Nix realizes that quarterbacks get outsized attention and a QB's injury is a trending topic throughout the offseason, but “for one, nobody's ever really cared about me this extensively for a long time,” he said.
“I've got little kids at the park asking me if my legs are crooked and all,” Nix said. “... but at the end of the day, I've been here before, I feel great. I'm going to be fast, elusive. Everything that I've done in the past I'm going to be able to do again. I mean, it's a broken bone for crying out loud. Everybody here has probably had an issue with a broken bone and you heal up right back the same.”
So, what did he tell the kid who wondered if his ankles were crooked?
“I asked him, ‘Does it look like my ankles are crooked?’ And he sort of gave me a good no. Thank God he didn't say yes.”
Cooper excused
Meanwhile, the Broncos are having Cooper stay away from the three-day minicamp that closes their offseason program ahead of training camp after the veteran linebacker was arrested twice in one week on domestic violence charges.
“We excused him from this minicamp,” Payton said. “He’s taking this time, obviously he’s got to work on himself and the club’s very much in tune to the league office, the local authorities here and we’ve had several meetings.
“Clearly from an ownership standpoint, head coach, organizationally, there’s a bar that we have and an expectation that we have that’s very high,” Payton added. “We’ll consider all of that as we continue to (monitor his situation), and I think it’ll take a little bit of time but we’re continuing to go through that process and we take it very seriously.”
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