Former NFL linebacker Jerry Wayne Hopkins has died at 85. His funeral was Monday in Hillsboro, Texas.
(Hopkins is on the left in the photo.)
He played center and linebacker at Texas A&M from 1960-62, earning first-team All-Southwest Conference honors in his final college season. Hopkins played in three college all-star games — Blue-Gray Game, the Southwest Challenge Bowl and the All-American Classic.
The Houston Oilers selected Hopkins in the fourth round of the AFL draft in 1963. He played four seasons for the Broncos, one for the Dolphins and one for the Raiders.
Hopkins had a team-leading eight sacks in 1964 with the Broncos.
After his retirement, Hopkins owned and operated Hopkins Oil Company.
He is survived by his wife, Joan Brooks Hopkins; his son, Jerry Hopkins, Jr. (Ali); his daughter, Allison Hopkins; his granddaughter, Parker Hopkins; and his sister, Judy Baker (Buddy).
Broncos Clips
Broncos head coach Sean Payton will be in Canton, Ohio this week to take part in Drew Brees’s induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and he’ll also do a little work on a possible addition to his roster.
Payton said over the weekend that the Broncos will explore signing former Saints tight end Taysom Hill and Hill will also be in Canton for Brees’s induction. That will give Payton a chance to see where things stand.
“There’s no hurry right now. I’m going to see him in five days,” Payton said Monday, via Jeff Legwold of ESPN.com. “We’ll see where he’s at and kind of go from there. ... The key thing is his health and, you know, where he’s at mentally. I don’t want to assume he wants to play.”
Hill released a statement last month saying that he doesn’t “have a clear answer about what the future holds, but I know that returning to New Orleans is not in the cards.” He had knee surgery in 2024 that was performed by the Broncos’ team doctor Karim Meijer and Payton said that Meijer has followed up with Hill during visits in Denver since the operation.
Several teams are building and/or trying to build new stadiums. The Broncos are in the “trying to build” category.
And the key word is “trying.”
“It’s been almost a year since we announced Burnham Yard as our preferred site,” Broncos president Damani Leech told reporters on Sunday. “It remains our preferred site. We’re laser focused on delivering it by 2031. It’s been a great effort by ownership, ourselves, the staff, the city.
“I’ve got to be honest, I wish we were further along in some areas than we are now. I think areas where we do control, particularly real estate, you mentioned Burnham Yard, real estate, engaging with the community, we’ve done site tours of the location, the design of the stadium continues to evolve, the master plan continues to evolve. All of those things are moving along really, really well, but we also understand that we can’t do this alone.
“There are certain things we don’t control. I think as an example, the community benefits process is something that we can’t control. We’ve had a lot of initial great discussions with community representatives. More recently here, it’s been on more of a staff level. We’re eager to engage with those community members directly, understand what they’re looking for, what needs and interests they have on the development. Things like that, we have to continue to progress. We said many months ago, this is an ambitious timeline, so for that to happen, we need everybody to be involved. We can’t do it alone in order to get to 2031.”
Leech said opening the stadium by 2031 is “still achievable for sure,” but that “everybody has to be involved.”
Is there frustration with the process?
“I’ll be honest, there are days when I have concern,” Leech said, “there are days when I have frustration because you can’t control it all, so I think that’s fair.”
On one hand, five years is forever. On the other hand, it’ll fly by. Regardless of where it goes from here, it’s clear that it hasn’t gone the way the Broncos would like.
The Broncos added some speed to their offense during the offseason by trading for receiver Jaylen Waddle.
Quarterback Bo Nix has been impressed with what Waddle brings to the club.
“He’s an explosive playmaker,” Nix said over the weekend, via transcript from the team. “The guy is really good at what he does. He makes plays, he’s fast, he’s really explosive. He’s great ball in hand, he’s great going to get the ball deep, he’s great in the screen game. He can do just a lot of things. He’s very versatile. He adds an extra element to our offense, and it’s exciting.
“We have a lot of different weapons that we’re using, and I think top to bottom, this is just a really strong team, really good. We just have to find what works for us and find ways to utilize all our tools.”
Nix added that the Waddles’ presence and explosiveness can lead to more opportunities everywhere.
“Middle of the field, outside, vertically, behind the line of scrimmage,” Nix said. “We’re going to utilize him and whatever the defense is giving us, we’re going to attack.”
Waddle caught 64 passes for 910 yards with six touchdowns in 16 games for the Dolphins last year.
Sam Ehlinger took the Broncos’ second-team snaps on Saturday, Mike Klis of 9News reports.
Jarrett Stidham, the team’s backup to Bo Nix the past two seasons, was with the third team.
“There was nothing remarkable or anything that we discussed in a meeting, so maybe they just unfolded where . . . I wouldn’t make anything into it,’’ Broncos head coach Sean Payton said, via Klis.
It was the first time Ehlinger has run the No. 2 offense, though, when Nix is healthy. (Ehlinger was the backup to Stidham in the AFC Championship Game when Nix was out with an ankle injury.)
Ehlinger had a chance to leave for Washington and Indianapolis last season — and perhaps a better chance at the No. 2 job — but remained on the Broncos’ practice squad. Now, it appears he will push Stidham for the backup job.
“I think we just sold our program and the offense,’’ Payton said of keeping Ehlinger. “We could never promise anything other than [a chance to develop]. I would say this, we saw immediate growth, and I think you’d have to ask him, but I think he felt like, ‘I want to continue with this offense and continue where I’m going.’ I think he felt good about it to make that decision.”
Broncos quarterback Bo Nix is back practicing on his surgically repaired right ankle, which he fractured at the end of the divisional-round win over the Bills. The third-year player said the injury will not change the way he plays.
“Absolutely not,” Nix said, via Jeff Legwold of ESPN. “I’m going to roll [out]. I’m going to be as athletic as I can be. . . . It’s a strength of ours and so we’ve got to use our strengths. For me that’s when I feel at my best. That’s when I feel free. When I’m playing like that, when I’m moving around, it’s a good thing.”
Nix’s 356 rushing yards last season were third on the team, and his five rushing touchdowns were second. He was sacked only 22 times despite 612 pass attempts. Coach Sean Payton has called Nix’s mobility as “one of his superpowers.”
“It’s hard to sack some quarterbacks, and he’s one of them,” Payton said after Saturday’s practice. “That was something we saw on college tape and in our league, when you take a sack, just do the analytics on it, getting points on that drive or likelihood to kick a field goal, it all drops dramatically.”
Nix underwent two surgeries on his ankle, with the second a follow-up in April to treat bone spurs. He missed most of the team’s offseason program but has no limitations in training camp.
“I feel great, feel normal. Nothing’s holding me back out there,” Nix said. “Playing like I normally do, and I feel really good and continue to push and progress and also continue to get ready for this long season.”
Taysom Hill won’t be back with the Saints in 2026, but the versatile tight end could wind up reuniting with a former coach.
Broncos head coach Sean Payton told Steve Wyche and Cynthia Frelund of NFL Media that the team will explore bringing in Hill.
Hill saw his first NFL action while playing for Payton in New Orleans in 2017 and would go on to see time as a tight end, quarterback, kick returner and various other offensive roles during their time together. Hill remained with the Saints after Payton left following the 2021 season, but said last week that “returning to New Orleans is not in the cards” this year.
Given the history between Hill and Payton, the Broncos were seen as a possible next stop for Hill and that possibility feels a little more likely with the team set to consider the move.
J.K. Dobbins signed a one-year contract with the Broncos last year, and this year, despite a strong offer from the Jaguars, he stayed in Denver on a two-year deal. Dobbins says Sean Payton is a big part of the reason he didn’t want to leave.
Dobbins, who rushed for 772 yards in 10 games before a season-ending foot injury last season, says there’s no better coach than Payton.
“When I first got here, I just felt the love,” Dobbins said, via the team’s website. “Sean Payton is my favorite head coach I’ve ever played for. It just all feels like family here. They believed in me from the beginning.”
The other head coaches Dobbins has played for in the NFL were John Harbaugh with the Ravens and Jim Harbaugh with the Chargers. At Ohio State he played for Urban Meyer and Ryan Day. For Dobbins, playing for Payton in Denver is as good as it gets.
“This organization is amazing,” Dobbins said. “I was born to be a Bronco. I know I was drafted to the Ravens and played for the Chargers for one year, but I think I’m truly a Bronco. All roads led to here. I said last year, I had to get over the mountain to get here, and I’m here. I’m here to stay.”
Payton said he expects a big season from Dobbins this year.
“He was a big part of why we won 14 games last year, and sometimes that can get lost in the narrative,” Payton said. “Certainly, he’s been injured, and yet what we were able to do when he was healthy had a lot to do with where we ended up, so it was unfortunate. I believe in the player a lot.”
And the player believes in his coach.
Defensive back Sam Webb tried out for the Broncos on Thursday and he’ll be sticking around Denver for a while.
According to multiple reports, the Broncos will sign Webb to their 90-man roster. The team has not announced the move or a corresponding cut, but rookie cornerback Blake Cotton told Chris Tomasson of the Colorado Springs Gazette that he is being waived with an injury settlement.
Webb had eight tackles and a 47-yard fumble return for a touchdown in seven games for the Browns last season. He played in 28 games for the Raiders over the 2022 and 2024 seasons — he played one game for the Panthers in 2023 — and had 37 tackles for Las Vegas.
Cornerback Ricardo Hallman also tried out for the Broncos on Thursday.
Drew Brees and Sean Payton teamed up to win a lot of games with the Saints and Brees will tap into that history at next month’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Payton will serve as Brees’s presenter on August 8 in Canton, Ohio. Both men joined the Saints in 2006 and they remained in New Orleans through Brees’s retirement after the 2020 season. The run included a win in Super Bowl XLIV and nine overall playoff appearances.
“He was special,” Payton said, via Jeff Duncan of NOLA.com. “I told Drew these [partnerships] usually don’t end this way, with both of us leaving on our own terms. He meant so much to me and my career.”
Payton will also attend a dinner the night before the ceremony, which means the Broncos’ head coach will miss two days of training camp to help honor Brees.
