The Broncos are adding some depth at safety.
According to multiple reports, Denver has signed veteran Taylor Rapp on Thursday.
Rapp, 28, spent the last three seasons with the Bills. He appeared in just six games last year due to a knee injury before being released in March.
A Rams second-round pick in 2019, Rapp has played 93 games in his career with 72 starts. He’s recorded 12 interceptions with 31 passes defensed in his career.
Denver will host Green Bay for the second week of preseason play on Friday.
Broncos Clips
The Broncos had a fight at practice on Tuesday. On Wednesday, however, coach Sean Payton wasn’t willing to use the “F” word.
“Let’s call it a tussle,” Payton told reporters. “I got a chance to watch the film. There were no punches, it was just a tussle.”
There’s still a lesson to be learned from the tussle, given the rule change that allows 345 Park Avenue to trigger ejections for actions that officials missed in the heat of the moment.
"[W]e covered [it] last night,” Payton said. “What’s new — from an officiating standpoint — this is our first season where they can go to replay in New York and remove a player. So with that being the case, it’s going to be hard to be the guy that gets the first jab. They’re going to be able to go to replay and get it right. So we discussed that and we had examples of shoving and then the officials just getting bumped, you’re ejected. All of it we kind of covered, especially with the replay now being changed and it’ll be the first season we have that.”
It’s a great point. In the past, the second guy to throw the punch tended to be the one who got caught. Now, the league office can watch the play and take action against anyone/everyone who did something that merits disqualification.
With the issue being a point of emphasis this year, it’s important for all coaches to emphasize the importance of not letting an NFL game become an MMA fight.
Broncos quarterback Bo Nix wanted to play last week. He will play this week.
After being held out of the preseason opener on the artificial turf at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Nix will play in the second preseason game on Friday night against the Packers. He has not played in a game in 216 days since breaking his right ankle in the divisional playoff game.
“I’m super excited,’’ Nix said, via Chris Tomasson of the Denver Gazette. “It’s always a blast to play at home. It’s great to get in front of our fans. It’ll be fun to get out there for the first time this year, put the pads on, and go out and play a game.”
Nix underwent two surgeries on his ankle, one on Jan. 20 and another clean-up procedure in late April.
Friday’s game will be the first time Nix has had offensive coordinator Davis Webb call the plays.
“This will be my first time in a game with him in my helmet, and I think it’ll be fun,” Nix said. “Get out there, something new, something to get used to.”
Webb said for Nix “some plays are like reading the ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ book like he knows it like the back of his hand” but others “are like ‘Harry Potter’ the fourth book.” Webb will give Nix a “few reminders” on some plays.
“He’s excited,’’ Webb said. “I think you could feel that last week when he couldn’t play. Just was down. But I know he’s excited, but hopefully there’s a lot more games in his career. So he’ll be just fine.”
Von Miller doesn’t currently have a number on the Cowboys’ official roster, and a day after signing a one-year deal with the team, he doesn’t know what his number will be.
Miller wore 40 at Texas A&M and 40 with the Rams and Bills. He wore 58 in his nine seasons with the Broncos. He wore 24 last season with the Commanders.
Miller was asked about wearing 94, a number that DeMarcus Ware wore with the Cowboys. Ware and Miller were teammates in Denver when Miller won Super Bowl 50 MVP honors.
“Nah, 94, that’s D-Ware. That’s D-Ware,” Miller said, via video from the team.
He wants to return to No. 40, but fullback Hunter Luepke currently owns that number.
“I don’t know. I don’t know what uniform number I’m going to be,” Miller said. “I know Hunter is 40. I think 58, that’s a Denver thing. I wore 58 so long in one spot. I wore 24 last year. That’s already taken as well. But Hunter, we already started off on a great foot. I’m a team guy. Whatever it takes to get it done. I’m sure we can figure something out. Even if it doesn’t work out, that’s just how it’s supposed to be. I’m not going to get caught up in a number, but I did make some offers to him already that I feel like he can’t really come off of those. I think a lifetime supply of chicken will do it.
“Whatever it takes to make it happen. Whether it does or not, I’m here to win games. I’m here to win a Super Bowl. That number would be nice, but I think the most important thing is to win a lot of these games, play in big games. The number will be an afterthought.”
Miller is dressed for the Cowboys’ joint practice with the Saints on Tuesday and is wearing No. 40.
Quarterbacks are usually not involved in training camp fights, but Broncos quarterback Bo Nix was today. And he said afterward that he enjoyed it.
Nix grabbed Broncos pass rusher Nik Bonitto by the leg and pulled him out of a pile, which infuriated Bonitto, who had to be held back by teammates. Prior to that, Nix had been pushed down on a sack — despite the rule that quarterbacks are not to be touched in practice — and got up angry about it, throwing the ball. Other offensive and defensive linemen scuffled, but Nix said afterward that it was all good.
“I love it. It’s football,” Nix said. “It’s getting me ready for the games coming up. It’s a physical practice played by physical people. So it got intense and we were really enjoying it, and sometimes in the dog days of summer, practice gets long and the intensity gets high.”
Nix may have loved it, but Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph acknowledged afterward that his players were wrong to hit Nix, saying, “We don’t want anyone near Bo.”
Green Bay’s starters played in the team’s preseason opener against Pittsburgh last week.
They will be out there again on Friday.
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur confirmed in his Tuesday press conference that starters will play in Friday’s matchup with the Broncos, with the first unit likely getting at least another drive.
Quarterback Jordan Love and the starters were on the field for just nine plays last week, with the one possession resulting in a field goal.
But with a joint practice on tap with the Cardinals next week, LaFleur noted the starters are unlikely to play in the Packers’ preseason finale.
Kickoff between the Packers and Broncos is slated for 9 p.m. ET on Friday.
Broncos wide receiver Jaylen Waddle returned to practice on Monday.
Waddle left practice early on Aug. 5 with a muscle strain in his left leg. He had not practiced since.
“We’re being smart with it, and he’s coming along really well. So we’ll see how this week unfolds,” coach Sean Payton said Monday, via a transcript from the team.
Center Alex Forsyth also returned to practice from an undisclosed injury that had kept him sidelined.
Wide receiver Marvin Mims worked on the side field during team drills. He left the Aug. 7 practice with a lower-body injury.
The weather in Denver is clear and sunny today, but weekend storms will continue to affect Broncos training camp.
The Broncos announced this morning that fans will not be able to attend today’s practice because the storms damaged the fan seating areas.
“Due to damage from this weekend’s storms, the bleachers for fans are unsafe and today’s #BroncosCamp practice is now CLOSED to the public,” the team posted on social media.
Denver experienced flash flooding, heavy hail and damage to structures throughout the region over the weekend.
Broncos coach Sean Payton has a history with Atlanta, dating back to the intense rivalry between the Saints (whom he coached from 2006 through 2021) and the Falcons. Payton’s current team was back in Georgia tonight for a preseason game.
And Payton couldn’t resist making a crack about the crowd in Atlanta, or the lack of one.
“There’s a lot of people dressed up as empty seats today,” Payton said at a halftime interview, via Awful Announcing.
The official game book for the Broncos-Falcons contest lists attendance at 68,183. That may have been the tickets sold, not the tickets used.
Whether the seats will be filled during the Falcons’ regular-season home games depends on whether the team performs better than it did on Friday night. Preseason or not, the Falcons trailed 24-0 at the half. The final score was 27-7.
The Falcons have reason for optimism. They finished in a three-way tie for the NFC South crown. If they can get something/anything out of the quarterback position, they could win the division in 2026.
They’ll need to win early in the season to get the fans on board. Three of the first four games are on the road, and three of the first four teams they play made it to the playoffs in 2025.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa made his preseason debut with the Falcons on Friday night against the Broncos.
In two drives led by Tua, the Falcons punted twice.
The first was a three-and-out effort, netting four yards. The second saw the Falcons gain a first down and advance from their own 15 to their own 32 before punting again.
Before exiting for Cooper Rush, Tua completed three of five passes for 22 yards and a passer rating of 70.4. He also fumbled a shotgun snap before falling on it.
Tagovailoa is currently listed as the first-string quarterback. Michael Penix Jr. doesn’t have a formal spot on the depth chart, as he recovers from a torn ACL suffered last season. Penix has yet to be cleared for team activities.
The Falcons open the regular season with a September 13 visit to the Steelers. Last year, a Dolphins loss in Week 15 at Pittsburgh triggered Tua’s benching by the Dolphins — setting the stage for his offseason exit and the Dolphins paying him more than $50 million to play for the Falcons.
