Here’s one reason is more remarkable than many football legends in the Hall of Fame By Mark Kiszla Denver Post August 3, 2019

Until his final days, late, great Broncos owner adored a family dog named “Champ.” And for good reason. Although cornerback Champ Bailey represented both the nation’s capital and the Rocky Mountains during a brilliant NFL career that has earned him induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, his gold jacket was won wearing a Denver uniform and his heart belongs to Broncos Country.

Hey, Colorado: He’s our Champ.

This Ohio town located somewhere between the heart and belly button of middle America is painted orange this weekend, with Broncos fans raising toasts to Mr. B and Bailey as they are honored in the Hall’s class of 2019. And what has Washington done to celebrate Bailey joining an elite fraternity of football immortals?

“Nobody from Washington had called me until three days ago,” Bailey said Friday. “I mean nobody … just to say congratulations.”

Really?

At age 41, Bailey looks as if he could still run a 4.28 in the 40-yard dash and line up as the shutdown corner opposite Chris Harris Jr. in the defensive alignment for new Denver coach Vic Fangio.

“Looks can be deceiving,” said Bailey, feeling the gravitational pull of middle age and bemused at the changes he sees in the mirror. Father Time is undefeated, even against Hall of Famers.

Truth be told? Rather than pine to get his football cleats on the grass one more time, Bailey is thankful he escaped from a 15-year professional career with his body and brain both in sound condition.

“I’m not wearing a helmet any more, which is great,” Bailey said. “Because I don’t know how I did what I did.”

Bailey not only had the skills to wrap up the opposing team’s No. 1 receiving target in a wet blanket, he also was unafraid to use every last ounce of his 192 pounds to bring down a ball carrier in the open field. The dude could tackle.

“Always below the waist,” Bailey reminded me. He embraced the game’s violence, but was smart enough to not allow the beast to eat him alive.

While Champ played in 215 NFL regular-season games, his kid brother wasn’t so fortunate. For five years in the league, Boss Bailey did duty as a linebacker, in the vortex of the game’s demolition-derby violence.

“I played 15 years. My brother played (five), and he deals with stuff all the time,” said Bailey, taking inventory of the havoc football wreaked on Boss.

”His ankles. His knees. Especially his knees. He had two micro-fracture surgeries. Each knee. ACL (surgery), two or three times, I can’t remember. I lost count. Seven different surgeries. It kind of puts it in perspective. Look at my brother. He didn’t play half as long as I did. And he suffered. So I’m fortunate. I’m very fortunate.”

Yes, being issued a gold jacket to be immortalized alongside your football idols is the thrill of a lifetime.

“Now I’m thinking, ‘Every event, do I have to wear my yellow jacket?’ Or do people just know I’m a Hall of Famer? I mean, how do I walk in the room?” said Bailey, chuckling at his next assignment of learning the protocols for his new, lofty status in NFL circles.

But maybe here’s the biggest blessing for a player that did battle in the NFL wars for 15 years, and hopes to walk this earth for another four decades:

Bailey is most thankful he can pull on that shiny gold coat without pain.

“I’m so fortunate,” Bailey said, “just to be able to get up from all those tackles and walk around now, able to lift my arms over my head.”

Every old Hall of Famer who gathered for the Gold Jacket dinner on Friday night is a legend. But what makes Bailey more remarkable than many of his legendary brethren? He’s unbroken.

For Pat Bowlen’s children, immediate focus on Hall of Fame and not future of Broncos By Ryan O’Halloran Denver Post August 3, 2019

On the eve of their father’s induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the children of late Broncos owner Pat Bowlen expressed confidence in upholding his legacy.

Although they both want to be the Broncos’ next controlling owner, Beth Bowlen Wallace and Brittany Bowlen attempted to side-step the issue on Friday.

“Beth and I both agree that this organization is a top priority for this family and we adore and love this community and we want to do right by them,” Brittany said. “But (the weekend) is about my dad and celebrating him and his Hall of Fame career.”

Said Wallace: “Like Brittany said, this is about the Hall of Fame, my father, and his honor. I’m so glad we’re here as a family talking about that.”

In June and October 2018, respectively, Wallace and Brittany Bowlen expressed their desire to succeed their father. Since July 2014, the Broncos have been led by a three-person trust, headed by president/CEO Joe Ellis. It was Pat Bowlen’s desire to keep the team in the family and empowered the trustees to sell the team if none of his children are interested or deemed qualified for the role.

Walking out of McKinley High School, where media availability was held, Brittany told The Denver Post she will “soon” meet with Broncos president/CEO Joe Ellis to map out her return to the organization.

Asked if she was excited to see what plan Ellis presents, she said, “Of course … to make a plan with him.”

On July 17, Ellis said he would be meeting with Bowlen to “go over some elements of her job description,” and that she would re-join the team, “sometime late this year or right after the season ends.”

A January 2018 story in The Denver Post outlined the document sent by the trustees to Bowlen’s seven children and his wife, Annabel, that wasn’t a checklist per se, but a list of items (education and work experience) any Bowlen child would need to meet to be considered (but not guaranteed) their father’s role.

The Bowlen children have tried to present a united front since their father was elected to the Hall in February.

The plan for the future is unknown. The plan for this weekend is to enjoy the recognition their father is receiving while continuing to mourn his death on June 13 after a long fight with Alzheimer’s and make sure fans are aware of his legacy, not only with the Broncos (three titles) but at the league level (instrumental in negotiating labor and television deals).

The Bowlen contingent were all over the Canton area on Induction Eve. At the annual “State of the Hall” event, the Class of 2019 surprised Hall of Fame officials and the Bowlen family by making an undisclosed donation in Pat’s name to the Hall. Bowlen’s five daughters attend the event. Kevin Mawae made the announcement on behalf of fellow inductees Champ Bailey, Ty Law, Ed Reed, Gil Brandt, Tony Gonzalez, and Johnny Robinson.

Mawae said the idea was planted during a site visit to the Hall after he was elected.

“(Hall of Fame president David Baker) showed us some things and there was a wall with donor names,” Mawae said. “I looked at the list of names and not one Hall of Famer was on the wall and I thought it was pretty cool for our class to stand out from other classes so I reached out to my classmates to ask if they would be willing to make a donation, however big or small.

“During that time, Mr. Bowlen passed away and we decided to make that donation in honor of him.”

Wallace, her siblings and Baker became emotional as they watched Mawae’s announcement.

“Completely unexpected,” she said. “There were a lot of things we expected through this process, but that donation, I thought it was special enough and then Kevin said they were making it on Pat Bowlen’s behalf and that’s when tears streamed down my face.

“It brought to everybody’s attention the commitment this class is making to the Hall of Fame. And it was just another example of how my father impacted people around him, whether they played for him or not.”

Brittany Bowlen was also a guest at a surprise luncheon for former NBC Sports chief Dick Ebersol, who Brittany considers a mentor. Ebersol, along with Pat Bowlen and Dallas owner Jerry Jones, spearheaded the creation of “Sunday Night Football.” Ebersol received the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award from the Hall.

Early Friday afternoon, Wallace and Patrick, Brittany, Annabel, and Christanna Bowlen, along with Broncos director of sports medicine Steve Antonopulos (whose video tribute will introduce Pat on Saturday), headed west to Massillon and the Boys & Girls Club to present the facility with a bench to honor the Broncos and their father. Pat Bowlen financed a Boys & Girls Club in Denver.

“He loved their mission and it was all-around dedication and being caring and responsible citizens for the community,” Brittany Bowlen said.

It was then back to Canton for media availability. Antonopulos, Wallace and Patrick, Brittany, Annabel and Christianna did a joint interview session.

During the group session, Patrick Bowlen said the Broncos are in good hands if they remain in the family.

“I don’t think anybody should have to worry about anything,” he said. “We’re going to follow the same rules my dad followed and we’re all going to follow his same dreams and we’re going to bring several more Super Bowls to the city of Denver. We’re going to make everyone happy.”

The busy day wrapped up with the Gold Jacket Dinner at the Canton Civic Center. During their speeches, commissioner Roger Goodell and Ebersol saluted Bowlen. Goodell said Bowlen was “just an extraordinary man and an extraordinary contributor to the success of the NFL.”

Ebersol said Bowlen was, “the real deal with it came to being a man.”

Bowlen was honored last among the inductees, his coat in a frame. Antonopulos, Wallace and Brittany and Annabel Bowlen represented the family on stage.

On Saturday night, the six Bowlen kids in attendance are expected to be on-stage with Antonopulos as Bowlen’s bust is unveiled.

Takeaways from the Broncos’ win over Atlanta By Ryan O’Halloran Denver Post August 3, 2019

Eleven items of note from the Broncos’ 14-10 preseason win over the on Thursday night:

1. Playing time leaders (offense): G Sam Jones 53, OT Chaz Green 41, G Don Barclay 33, RT Elijah Wilkinson 32, RT Quinn Bailey 31 and G/C Austin Schlottman 31. Among the projected Week 1 regulars, LG Dalton Risner, RT Garett Bolles and C Connor McGovern played 12 snaps apiece and TE Jeff Heuerman nine.

2. Playing time leaders (defense): OLB Jeff Holland 48, ILB Josh Watson 40, S Dymonte Thomas 38, DT Dre’Mont Jones 38, LB Alexander Johnson 36 and CB Trey Johnson 36. Starting DE Adam Gotsis and NT Shelby Harris played six snaps apiece.

3. QB Kevin Hogan’s first drive (three-and-out): LB Foyesade Oluokun beat Wilkinson to stop Khalfani Muhammad to a three-yard gain, Oluokun correctly read a screen to TE Noah Fant (incompletion) and WR Juwann Winfree dropped a 17-yard pass.

4. Hogan’s second drive didn’t start any better as he ran a bootleg right and Fant dropped a five-yard pass after running a shallow cross. Two plays later, Fant ran a quality route (stuck his foot in the ground to change direction) for a seven-yard catch. Muhammad capped the possession with a three-yard touchdown when Wilkinson and Barclay had clean-out blocks.

5. The first two defensive drives: On a three-and-out, Gotsis batted down Matt Schaub’s pass, S Su’a Cravens easily avoided WR Christian Blake’s block for a tackle for loss and after a Holland penalty, Schaub threw incomplete. The second drive was a three-and-out, but the Falcons kept possession after PR Brendan Langley’s fumble.

6. QB Drew Lock’s four incompletions: Ahead of Fant 27 yards downfield, behind WR Steven Dunbar (should have been intercepted), ahead of Muhammad on a wheel route 35 yards downfield and a drop by RB David Williams (fine throw, would have been an easy first down).

7. Lock’s initial first down was a six-yard scramble that became a 21-yard play (15-yard penalty). The drive ended with consecutive sacks (4.35 and 3.39 seconds). On the first sack, the Broncos had a six-man protection against a six-man rush and Lock scrambled into pressure.

8. Among the pressure looks called by Broncos coach Vic Fangio: Dropping both outside linebackers into coverage and rushing three linemen/one inside linebacker and particularly in the second half, blitzing the nickel back.

9. Against back-ups or not, you have to like some of the things rookie OLB Malik Reed did. On Atlanta’s second drive he had a stop for no gain when he was unblocked and later beat TE Logan Paulsen around the edge for a sack.

10. Communication is always an issue in the preseason. On Atlanta’s only touchdown (1-yard pass), it appeared that Johnson should have followed RB Brian Hill into the left flat. Johnson, though, tracked TE Alex Gray on a crosser even though Marshall had coverage. That left Hill wide open.

11. The Broncos’ longest offensive play was a 31-yard run around the right side by Muhammad. Bailey had a pancake block of DE John Cominsky to spring the run.

Bailey and Bowlen become sixth and seventh Broncos to receive HOF Gold Jackets By Mike Klis KUSA August 3, 2019

Champ Bailey got to try on Hall of Fame Gold Jacket No. 319 on for size.

And then, for the first time in Pro Football Hall of Fame history, a Gold Jacket was made for a deceased inductee. Because Broncos owner Pat Bowlen was alive when elected and his Gold Jacket was already in production, the HOF allowed for three of his daughters – Beth, Brittany and Annabel – to receive their dad’s fashion relic encased behind a frame.

Ordinarily, the HOF does not provide Gold Jacket to posthumous inductees.

Suitable for display in the lobby of Broncos’ UCHealth Training Center headquarters.

Although their enshrinement ceremony won’t happen until Saturday night, the Gold Jacket ceremony Friday night at the Canton Civic Center means Bailey and Bowlen are officially Hall of Famers.

Bailey as a 10-year Broncos cornerback and Bowlen as the Broncos’ owner and contributor.

Four of the Broncos’ five previously elected Hall of Famers – , , and – attended the Gold Jacket ceremony. So did Broncos’ offensive line coach Mike Munchak, as more than 100 Hall of Famers attended the ceremony.

The ever-busy arrived in Canton too late for the Gold Jacket ceremony, but he was going to attend the Bailey/Bowlen HOF party Friday night and enshrinement ceremony Saturday. So that's 100 percent attendance from Broncos Hall of Fame alumni.

The only speeches were made by writer Sam Farmer and TV sports producer Dick Ebersol, who partnered with Pat Bowlen to bring the No. 1-rated Sunday Night Football to NBC.

"I really love Pat Bowlen," Ebersol said in an interview 9News prior to his ceremony. "He was a straight shooter. There was never any artifice. He was never in it for anything towards himself. Very selfless guy."

Bowlen kids confident they can carry on their father's legacy By Mike Klis KUSA August 3, 2019

Somewhere, dad would be proud of his oldest son’s bold proclamation.

Six of the seven Bowlen children are here representing their late father, Pat Bowlen, the beloved Broncos’ owner who is to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame both through the Gold Jacket ceremony Friday evening and the formal enshrinement Saturday night.

Once Bowlen is enshrined, attention turns to the children who are to replace him as chief custodians of the franchise.

There does seem to be at least some concern about what the Broncos’ ownership leadership going forward.

"I don’t think anyone should have to worry about anything," said Patrick Bowlen III. "We’re going to follow the same rules that my dad followed and we’re all going to follow the same dream and we’re going to bring several more Super Bowls to the city of Denver. And we’re going to make everyone happy."

Bring it, Patrick!

Brittany Bowlen has stated a desire to one day become the Broncos’ principal owner as has Beth Bowlen- Wallace.

Standing in the middle of those daughters at their father’s Hall of Fame press conference Friday was Steve "Greek" Antonopulos. What about it, ladies? Can you assure Broncos Country this is all going to work out?

"Beth and I both agree this organization is a top priority for our family and we adore and love this community and we want to do right by them," Brittany Bowlen said. "But today is about my dad and celebrating him and his Hall of Fame nomination and career."

Beth backed her sister.

"Brittany said this is about the Hall of Fame and my father and the honor," she said. "That’s what we’re here to talk about and that’s why we’re here as a family talking about that."

9News asked each of the five Bowlen children present at the Hall of Fame press conference to describe what they are doing now with their lives.

Patrick: "Right now I’m enjoying working for the stadium. I’ve got a 4-year-old daughter Marley at home, a wonderful wife Mary. Just enjoying my life.

"My daughter has a disability but my dad instilled some great things in me, told me to never give up, to stay strong. And that’s what I’m doing right now and that’s what everyone has to do. Everyone’s got to get together and stay strong and be positive and be happy."

Brittany: "I’m working for a global consulting firm called McKenzie & Company. I work on a lot of strategy projects. I work with some incredible people and feel very honored to be part of that organization.

"I live in Denver. And I have a wonderful fiancé, Alex, who’s a lawyer in the Denver area. And we have a dog named Lupa who’s a French bulldog."

Beth: "My dad encouraged me to go to law school back in the day but he said I didn’t have to be a lawyer so I (am not). I work in the energy business with my husband. That’s a dynamic relationship because not only do I have a husband but a business partner as well.

"I have two teenage boys (who are) keeping me very busy. I have three dogs and won’t tell you all their names and much to my husband’s -- and my dad would tease me as well -- I have quite a few horses."

Christianna: "I go to the University of Denver. And what I tell the players all the time -- I’m the baby of the family. I study media journalism and I’ve got a few more years, I think."

Annabel (Lil Bel): "I am going to the University of Colorado-Denver and I’m finishing my undergrad. I’m majoring in communication. I’m doing a minor in business. I also have a family and a dog named Tulip."

‘I think my Hall of Fame career really started with the Bowlens’: Champ Bailey reflects on fortuitous trade, decade with Broncos By Nicki Jhabvala The Athletic August 3, 2019

The evening of Dec. 7, 2003, might have been the final straw. That Sunday was when former Broncos running back rushed for 218 yards and five touchdowns, then reached for the black-and- gold championship belt he stashed on the bench, strapped it on and yelled to tight end Shannon Sharpe: “Hey, Sharpe! I’m the heavyweight championship of the world.”

For that moment, what Portis believed was true. He bested Kansas City’s star back Priest Holmes and showed the world that, yes, he was No. 1.

What he showed Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, however, apparently was something much different. Portis’ flamboyance wasn’t exactly Shanahan’s style, and the Broncos’ football boss was always looking a step ahead. Always pondering the possibilities. His rumination then centered on his marquee player, who was in the prime of his career with the value to match.

As detailed by ESPN’s Adam Schefter on his podcast, the day after the Broncos’ victory against Kansas City, Shanahan sought Schefter’s opinion on a wild proposition. (Schefter at the time was the Broncos beat reporter for The Denver Post.)

How about the Broncos trade Portis? The Broncos needed help on defense, and for a player like Portis, they could get some real value in return.

Schefter, while stunned, left Shanahan’s office that day knowing full well a deal would go through eventually. As talks progressed, the conversation turned to Washington and its star corner because the Redskins’ plan for Bailey wasn’t adding up — literally.

Bailey reportedly turned down an earlier nine-year, $55 million contract offer from Washington, and with negotiations at an impasse, Bailey’s agent asked to coordinate his client’s exit.

“We were very far apart, and I had an opportunity to meet with Ted Sundquist at the Senior Bowl (in 2004) when Ted was the for the Broncos,” Jack Reale, Bailey’s agent and Hall of Fame enshrinement presenter told The Athletic. “The Redskins had made it clear that their plan was to franchise (tag) Champ. I told the Redskins that that was not going to end well and asked their permission if we could talk to some other teams and I was told we could.

“I don’t think they ever envisioned there would be a possibility for a trade, but when I talked to Ted and talked to coach Shanahan and (owner Pat) Bowlen, they were all in. Then things progressed from there.”

What came to fruition was a deal that would alter not only two careers (arguably three), but also the future of two franchises and the balance of the NFL. Saturday, Bailey and the owner that green-lit his arrival to Denver will fittingly enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame together.

Although Bowlen’s moment arrived two months too late — he died June 13 following a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s — Bailey’s memories of some 15 years ago and his career thereafter remain strong.

“One thing I learned to cherish was great leadership and stability, and that’s what I was walking into,” he said. “The only reason I found out about that was because everybody that played for him talked that way about him. It’s really the people that have nothing to gain from saying anything positive about him that I really put a lot of weight into. Every player I talked to, when they talked about the Broncos they immediately talked about Pat Bowlen. That said enough.”

The conversation that began in earnest December 2003 continued into the new year, through the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., through the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis and into early March.

The Redskins, as expected, did place the franchise tag on Bailey, knowing they didn’t have the salary-cap space to keep him. Had no trade come to fruition, Bailey and Reale said they were prepared to sit out training camp in 2004.

“The way the system operates, if that eventuality had occurred, he probably would have missed most of training camp and come in at the end of August and played 17 weeks and left and they would’ve had to pay him as a franchise player considerably more than they were offering on an average per year based on the deal they had proposed,” Reale said.

Added Bailey: “It probably would’ve gotten to that point. When you’re franchised, nothing counts against you.”

It didn’t get to that point. Not even close.

Conversations intensified at the combine, with Schefter privy to the various talks and scenarios being considered.

“I knew that it was getting closer and closer, and I remember having the conversation with Mike, ‘Hey, you should float in there that Dallas is interested and maybe get more,’” Schefter told Bailey on the podcast. “Of course when the trade is made, Denver gets back a second-round pick with Champ Bailey. You for Clinton Portis, which a lot of people couldn’t understand. I think it was the threat of the Cowboys being interested in that deal at that time that perhaps enticed Washington.

“So the trade goes through at that point and you come to Denver and it was such a shocking thing.”

But Schefter, armed with the intel that Bailey was arriving and Portis was going, couldn’t report it for The Denver Post. The information wasn’t obtained on record.

So he told his editor that he was going to write a column suggesting the idea of trading Portis for Bailey and that The Post really needed to run the column on the front page.

The Post instead buried it inside the sports section. As Schefter recounted to Bailey last week, he sat on a plane next to then Broncos running backs coach Bobby Turner the day the column ran. Turner turned to Schefter and asked, “Where do you come up with this garbage?”

The next day, March 4, 2004, the trade became official. Bailey and a second-round pick to Denver in exchange for Portis.

That pick became Tatum Bell and Bailey embarked on a second career in Denver, playing 10 seasons with the Broncos, acquiring eight of his total 12 Pro Bowl selections and earning three consecutive first-team All-Pro honors.

He amassed 18 total interceptions from 2005-06 alone and led the Broncos in picks for five seasons. In 135 regular-season games with the team, Bailey notched 589 tackles (515 solo), 34 interceptions (340 return yards with three touchdowns), 122 pass breakups, two sacks (loss of 14 yards), five forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. He also helped the Broncos to five playoff appearances and was instrumental in the growth of Chris Harris Jr., the Broncos’ undrafted corner who was almost cut before morphing into arguably the game’s finest slot corner.

Harris returned to Colorado after the Broncos’ Hall of Fame Game victory over the Falcons on Thursday night but will return to Canton to attend the enshrinement ceremony for Bailey and Bowlen.

“Hopefully someday when I retire he can make it back to mine if I can make it,” Harris said. “It’s a huge honor for him, everything he’s done off the field and on the field as a player and for him to get recognized it’s a great honor and I’m excited to see him go in. I played with him and to see his work and his competitiveness every day was just something that I — I was already competitive, but to see him, how he worked, did that, and be competitive for 15 years that’s definitely motivating right there.”

In the years since Bailey’s retirement from the NFL, his Hall of Fame selection as a first-year candidate was regarded more as an inevitability than a possibility.

“He’s the first defensive back in the NFL to ever go to 12 Pro Bowls, so if that didn’t get you in on a first ballot, I’m not sure what it would take,” Reale said. “He’s a phenomenal player from the time he stepped on the field and his first play as a rookie until his career ended. I expected it, but like they say, it’s never over until it’s over.”

The Hall of Fame’s selection committee agreed, of course, but the lasting imprint of Bailey’s skill and domination at his position is retold by players and coaches alike with a tone of awe.

Myth, even.

“There were some guys who were pretty good, and then there were some guys who thrived based on the defensive line rush and all of those things,” former receiver Steve Smith Sr. said. “But Champ was that guy who would really eliminate you from the game. He was a guy I went against very early on in my career, and I really learned a lot about myself and the game by facing him.

“The guys that are playing right now don’t play the same way. They don’t follow. Champ lined up three, two yards in front of you, and everybody else ran a different coverage, but Champ ran man-to-man. That’s what he did. There are a few guys in the league over the years I believe that are really the word ‘shutdown.’ Champ was that guy.”

Ed Donatell, the Broncos’ defensive coordinator who was Bailey’s positional coach from 2009-10, described Bailey simply as “special.”

“He might be the rarest guy in the last 25 years when you ask different guys about an athletic, smooth, smart, tremendous teammate — could do anything you want,” Donatell said. “And he’s just a great guy to work with, and that’s really what he was.”

Former Jake Plummer, who was intercepted twice by Bailey in their first meeting in 1999 (that was Bailey’s three-interception game against the Cardinals), remembers the relief he felt when they became teammates in Denver.

“His abilities on the field, his ball-hawking abilities, his coverage — he had a close that was unbelievable. When he was beat, he could close on a receiver and it was unreal,” Plummer said. “That’s really a true sign of a great DB, is someone that can cover that those gaps, that separation, those short few steps. He was so quick, had great feet and he was an intense competitor too.”

Domonique Foxworth, a cornerback and third-round pick by the Broncos in 2005, recalls Bailey’s game and skill that seemed to be free of any weakness.

“There wasn’t anything he couldn’t do and there wasn’t anything he was unwilling to do,” Foxworth said. “The criticism that corners get of not being physical or not wanting to tackle and that sort of stuff, that was never something that anyone could ever pin to Champ. He was really a complete player. … I don’t know how he ended up at cornerback at Georgia. I know he played both sides of the ball, but he could have played and been good as an NFL receiver or running back. You don’t see it very often where there’s one guy on the field that is just better than everybody else and it’s obvious.”

And Broncos president/CEO Joe Ellis has compared him to the owner that made his career in Denver possible.

“He had a lot of the same personality traits that Pat had,” Ellis said. “He was very humble and very quiet and even a little bit shy. Now, he was a very confident guy and very confident player. He really was — one of the most — and that’s part of what made him great. But he never, never drew attention to himself and that was especially true with all the stuff he did off the field. He did so much for this team away from the field and nobody knew about it. In fact, you had to dig hard to find out about it. That’s the kind of guy he was. I thought that was a pretty special character trait on his part.”

When Bailey reached the end of his career and knew his body could no longer keep up, he signed an honorary one-day contract to retire a Bronco. On Nov. 18, 2014 — roughly 11 years after his path to Denver was initially laid — Bailey stood alongside Broncos teammates for a farewell.

Although his career started in Washington and lasted five seasons before he arrived in Denver, Bailey said Friday that his relationship with the Broncos was unmatched. Inductees do not enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a member of a specific franchise, but when asked jokingly if he considered going in as a Washington player, Bailey looked down and said: “I mean, no. It was never on the table. Nobody from Washington had called me until three days ago. Nobody.” The trade, he said, reminded him of the NFL’s reality.

“It let me know that everybody is expendable at that point. I think I knew that before then. The league is very cruel in that way. Very honest,” Bailey said. “It is what it is. It happened, and it did help my career I believe. Because now I go to a franchise that’s known for being in the playoffs, winning games, first-class in the organization, best owner in the league. You couldn’t ask for a better situation.”

Saturday evening, Bailey will unveil his bronze bust and take his place in the Hall of Fame, alongside Bowlen. And then in October, the year-long celebration will continue when Bailey returns to Denver to receive his Hall of Fame ring and his place in the Broncos’ Ring of Fame, also alongside Bowlen.

When he thinks back to his days with Bowlen now, he remembers two things vividly. The first was his promise kept.

“I just remember telling him that he would not be disappointed,” Bailey said. “I was bold enough to say, ‘I’m going to do some great things for you.’ That’s the confidence I had in my ability. He just looked me in the eyes, ‘Oh, OK.’ He just gave me that, ‘Yeah, we’ll see. Let’s get to work.’”

The second? The fortuitous start to the second phase of his NFL career some 15 years ago.

“It’s weird because I think my Hall of Fame career really started with the Bowlens,” Bailey said. “To have Pat go in with me is something I really appreciate.”

Champ Bailey comes full circle as goes into Hall of Fame with Pat Bowlen By Troy Renck KMGH August 3, 2019

Champ Bailey shook his head, trying to come to grips with what was happening around him. He sits on the doorstep of immortality, preparing for his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. The honor alone creates “wake up and pinch me” moments. That Bailey will enter with Broncos owner Pat Bowlen provides an even deeper meaning.

Bailey's entire career spent swimming toward the setting sun is about to finish, in many ways, where it began.

“There could not have been a better script for this. I get to Denver, a great organization, and my first game is against the Redskins (Bailey's former team) in this (Hall of Fame stadium). (John) Elway was going into (the Hall of Fame). A lot of this is coming full circle,” Bailey said. “It’s bringing back old memories, being on that field last night. Seeing Elway. It’s surreal. I think my Hall of Fame career really started with the Bowlens. To have Pat go in with me is unbelievable.”

Bowlen never sought this as an owner. But the way he ran his franchise made it inevitable. He bought the Broncos in 1983, and the Broncos have posted as many Super Bowl appearances as losing seasons in that time. The Broncos won three rings under his leadership, changing the perspective of a team, city and region. Bowlen’s mission statement never wavered: Be the best at everything. Saturday, Bowlen will be acknowledged as one of the all-time greats. For the family, it is difficult, though rewarding. The children miss their father, who passed away in June after a years-long battle with Alzheimer’s, but appreciate the significance of this weekend.

“He is looking down probably getting a chuckle at all of this. But it means a lot,” said Brittany Bowlen of Pat, who demanded excellence while sidestepping the spotlight. “It is going to be emotional.”

Added Beth Bowlen Wallace, “It’s humbling to have an opportunity to represent him, and we are grateful that his legacy of excellence is going to go on forever and ever.”

Bailey says he’s nervous about the upcoming moments – receiving the gold jacket on Friday, the ceremony on Saturday -- a notion that remains hard to believe. Bailey is near his playing weight. He looks like he could blanket a top receiver – he said Marvin Harrison was the toughest to cover “because of Peyton Manning” – or light up a running back. Butterflies? Uncertainty? That's not the Champ everyone remembers in orange and blue.

“What do I do with the jacket? Do I wear it? I believe I will. ... How can you not think you are on (The Hall of Fame team and be humbled). You turn left and you turn right and you see somebody way more accomplished,” said Bailey, who thanked his family, and specifically his brothers, for helping achieve his goal. “That happens every second every gold jacket walks by. I am on their team now.”

Bailey earned 12 Pro Bowl berths, and lists seven All-Pro honors on his resume. Broncos star Chris Harris Jr., who considers Bailey a mentor, ranks him among the three best defensive backs of all time.

“For me it’s Deion (Sanders), then Champ and Charles Woodson,” Harris Jr. said after the Broncos won their preseason opener 14-10 over the Falcons. “Champ was so consistent in how he prepared and played.”

Bowlen’s entry comes with a notable distinction. At the State of the Hall event on Friday, the class of 2019, led by center Kevin Mawae, presented a donation to the Hall of Fame in Pat Bowlen’s name. It marks the first time the players have ever done this. Mawae hatched the idea after hearing of a story of a local Canton resident who honored his wife with a contribution to the Hall after selling his home to make room for the Hall’s expansion project.

“That was a surprise for our family. For them to do that was amazing,” Bowlen Wallace said. “We all thought what a special moment it was for them to stand up like that for our dad. It was just another example of how (Pat) impacted the people around him, whether they played for him or not.”

Pat Bowlen's daughter, Beth Bowlen, talks about her father's legacy on and off the field By Anne Trujillo KMGH August 3, 2019

What can you say about the man all of Broncos County adores? It’s tough to put into words for Beth Bowlen, the second child of Pat Bowlen, who saw the mutual admiration between her dad and Broncos fans firsthand.

“My dad, he’s the best leader I’ve ever known," said Beth during a sit down interview with Denver7. "My dad was hands on. He had an incredible sense of humor, a wonderful laugh. He raised me and he had rules and he had expectations."

That's no surprise coming from a man who always made it known, he was always in it to win.

I sat down with Beth Bowlen in our Denver7 studios before she left for Canton. She was wearing her Super Bowl 50 ring, bright, shiny and brilliant — a ring she wears on special occasions. This was a special occasion.

“Because if I’m talking about my dad, it makes me feel closer to him," Beth said.

Beth and her six siblings all traveled to Canton on the same flight with the Denver Broncos to celebrate their father. Under his watch, the Broncos made seven Super Bowl trips and Beth was at every one. And she was there in January 2019, all the Bowlen children together, when they got the ceremonial knock on the door letting them know their father was chosen to be one of the men inducted into the Hall of Fame.

"We had it planned, we’re going to say this one’s for Pat just like Super Bowl 50 when John got to say this one’s for Pat."

Beth and her oldest sister, Amy, grew up in Hawaii with their mother, Sally Parker, Pat’s first wife. He didn’t own the team until she was a teenager.

"He came every year for his parenting time and that parenting time turned out to be six months out of the year. What he loved so much about Hawaii was that he could just be himself and (it) was such a laid- back environment. I mea,n he worked every day from there, but it was just a culture and an environment that spoke to his heart. He had a love affair with the islands," Beth recounted.

And that love affair spoke to his competitive spirit. Even then, Pat Bowlen was the ultimate competitor, a triathlete who also loved canoe surfing.

“We did a lot of canoe surfing together. We ran, I would go on some away games with him and I would put on our tennis shoes and I would have to kind of gear up for that because it was never a run with my father, it was a sprint."

And it showed in everything he did. “His competitiveness wanting to surf the biggest waves even if he wasn’t the youngest, most prolific paddler out there, he wanted to be on the biggest waves. But then you look at how competitive he was in the and his number one, you know, saying was, 'I want to win, I want to be number one at everything' and he lived his life like that. But he also understood that came with failure and I think that’s how he got over those first three losses with the Broncos and he never gave up," she said.

Beth says the Bowlen family was always struck by the fans and their loyalty to the team and to their dad. Even when the Broncos lost.

“You suffer through a loss like that and never was there a question whether they’d show up next year, and I think that was just something that my dad took to heart and took great responsibility to be able to provide them with a Super Bowl win, because they stuck with him," she said.

Beth describes her dad as a dedicated man to his family, who walked Beth down the aisle twice and loved his five grandkids who fondly called him “Grumps." They all watched his battle with Alzheimer’s and kept it private for a couple of years. It took a toll on this very private family.

“I was in the office with him the last four years he spent there and I feel protective over those moments and try to keep those to myself because I feel protective of his dignity through that process… it was as tough as losing him a month ago, that diagnosis," Beth said.

Much has been made about what’s next for the Broncos, the Bowlen family and who will control the team. Beth tried to put that to rest.

"I think there’s been a misrepresentation of my family, I think the passing of my dad, I think the Hall of Fame, the knock on the door, shows genuinely how we care and love and feel about one another, so the Hall of Fame has brought us that," Beth said. "My dad’s passing has just further galvanized this family together, realizing no one person’s every going to fill the shoes, we’re together through this grief, we’re together at the Hall of Fame knock, we’re together in joy, so I think the community and the fans and the people have been able to see the family through those two experiences”.

Beth thinks her father would very much want the team to stay within the Bowlen family.

“I’m sure if I polled everyone, I’m sure at this moment we’d all feel the same," she said.

For now, they family is just taking in every moment of this memorable Hall of Fame weekend, knowing their father, a Broncos legend, will forever be remembered in bronze.

"No doubt in Canton, Ohio, this one’s for Pat, this one’s for Denver, this one’s for all the fans, too, and the people that have stood by him as an owner and have recognized what an incredible leader he was," Beth said.

Hall-of-Fame bound Pat Bowlen leaving permanent mark on Ohio By Woody Paige Colorado Springs Gazette August 3, 2019

Pat Bowlen will have a bust in Canton and a bench in Massillon.

Even more momentous, though, Bowlen had a breakout in Cleveland.

Mr. B leaves a mark in Ohio forever.

On Saturday, Pat will receive posthumously professional football’s highest honor — inclusion in the exclusive Hall of Fame.

Thankfully, Pat learned Feb. 2 from his family, representing him this week in Canton, that he had been voted in as the 14th owner, of hundreds in the century of the National Football League. His 75th birthday was 16 days later, and Pat died June 13 from complications associated with debilitating dementia disease.

Gratefully, Pat will be inducted with one of his all-time favored players — Champ Bailey.

Both were champs.

The ceremony Saturday will be held in the Hall of Fame stadium before tens of thousands of NFL loyalists.

Another ceremony in tribute of Bowlen was held Friday about 15 miles west in Massillon, Ohio, the workingman’s steel town that loves its football. Massillon has won 33 state or national high school titles. The city of about 30,000 has produced 24 NFL players, Hall of Fame coach Paul Brown and Notre Dame’s Harry Stuhldreher, one of the legendary Four Horsemen.

Every baby boy born is presented with a miniature football.

Now, Bowlen, a Canadian-American, was given his own Massillon monument — a blue-and-white bench featuring the Broncos logo. His name is not inscribed on the bench. He wouldn’t have allowed it.

More than a hundred Boys and Girls Club members, and 50 adults (including Broncos CEO Joe Ellis, five of the Bowlens and Thunder the Broncos mascot), convened for a day of fun and games on their field of dreams and a short dedication to a man none of them ever heard of. The Broncos and the Bowlen children contributed the bench and health and wellness bags to the local club because of their father’s commitment to the organization in Colorado. The Broncos are the league’s only team to fund and operate a chapter of the Boys and Girls Club.

The bench was as fitting as the bust.

I talked with three of the Bowlen daughters, who said they have been emotionally touched by the tributes to their father in Denver in June and in Canton this week. One of the daughters eventually will succeed Pat.

In the hallowed Hall Pat will join his most bitter antagonist, Al Davis of the Raiders, and one of his closest friends in the NFL — Lamar Hunt of the Chiefs. His sculpture will rest alongside those of fabled original owners George Halas and Art Rooney, and Bowlen will be in the rooms with John Elway, Gary Zimmerman, Shannon Sharpe, Floyd Little, Terrell Davis and Bailey. The Broncos’ representation is small in numbers, but qualified in talent and certified in influence on the game’s history.

Pat was an average young and prep player who walked on for a year at Oklahoma. But he became one of the best and brightest in the NFL because of the success of the Broncos — 19 playoff seasons, five Super Bowls and two championships from 1984-2018 during his stewardship. He had so much more to accomplish before being struck down by Alzheimer’s. He suffered and battled, and was steadfast, for a decade. But he brought back John Elway and, in one of his last decisions, agreed to bring in Peyton Manning. What owner ever had two of their stature ... and Tim Tebow?

There’s one place in Ohio where Bowlen was not so beloved in life.

Cleveland.

On Jan. 17, 1987, in Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium, Pat’s Broncos beat the Browns in a miraculous comeback and overtime for the AFC Championship always designated as The Drive. The Broncos would advance to the Super Bowl for the first time with Bowlen and Elway.

If that didn’t seriously injure the Browns enough, two more acute insults followed Jan. 17, 1988, and Jan. 14, 1990 when the Broncos beat the Browns again and again to return to the Super Bowl.

Pat is remembered for his philanthropy, his own drive to build a new stadium, his passion for winning, his close connection with Colorado and his fur coat.

I asked Pat in the mid-1990s what happened to the fur coat he had worn on the sideline in 1984.

“It’s in a closet — retired.’’ Then he laughed long and loudly.

“I last wore it in the first AFC championship in Cleveland.’’

From Canton to Massillon to Cleveland, Pat’s back, Oh-hi-Oh!

Denver Broncos Hall of Famer Bailey was appropriately named Champ By Woody Paige Colorado Springs Gazette August 3, 2019

At the Enshrinees Gold Jacket Dinner on Friday night Troy Aikman tossed a basket of rolls toward former teammate Emmitt Smith.

Champ Bailey intercepted the pass.

When Champ needed a break, he dashed 40 yards to the bathroom in 4.28 seconds.

Another member of the elite gold-jacket club had a question for Bailey. “Were you the best cornerback of all time?’’ Champ deflected it.

Hall of Fame humor. I made up all that.

I wasn’t invited to attend.

But Champ could have done those things Friday, and so much more.

Apologies to Chris Harris Jr. and Aqib Talib, Champ and Louis Wright were the best corners I ever covered in half a century of NFL football. One will be inducted Saturday. The other should be someday yet.

I did spend time in a group interviewing Champ on Friday afternoon in the media center adjacent to the Hall headquarters. When he got up to go try on his new gold jacket, Champ left behind the placard at his table. I followed him out the door and said: “I have a present for you, Champ.’’

He responded: “Don’t you want to put that on the wall in your bedroom?’’

“No, I got all the great memories.’’

“Me, too,’’ he said.

“How you doin’, Champ?’’ I asked.

“Still figuring out life on the other side. There’s been nothing like this weekend in my life.’’

I realized then that the only other athlete I ever called “Champ’’ was Muhammad Ali in a Vegas hotel room.

Ali and Bailey were better than Barnum & Bailey, and the rest.

In 2006 I witnessed every Broncos game, and the season generated a rather forgettable 9-7 record. But, Champ ... He intercepted 10 passes that year and gave up zero touchdowns. He was unanimously named first team all-Pro, and he was called on “Monday Night Football” “by far the best defensive back in the league.”

Over a two-year span, Champ picked off 18 passes and went 31 straight games without allowing a touchdown reception by a receiver.

Champ, the Broncos were fortunate to trade for you (before the 2004 season) and even more privileged to have you for 10 years and a Super Bowl in your final season.

And, of course, a 100-yard record return of an interception off some guy named Tom Brady in the playoffs.

“I gave it everything I had,’’ Champ told me when he retired.

Everything he had was just fine.

Only 30 defensive backs are in the Hall of Fame, and Champ played with Darrell Green and Deion Sanders in Washington, and with Brian Dawkins and fellow 2019 enshrinee Ty Law in Denver. And Champ was as good as any of them, and probably better. He was selected by his peers to 12 Pro Bowls, most of any cornerback in league history.

At the Pro Bowl he became friends with Willie Brown, another Hall of Fame cornerback in the old days (1963-78) with the Raiders for 12 years after being traded from, yes, the Broncos. “Willie would gather all the corners at the Pro Bowl and tell us stories.’’

When Washington, which had drafted Champ out of Georgia in the first round, prepared to franchise him in ’04, Bailey threatened to be a holdout. He was traded to the Broncos for exceptional running back Clinton Portis.

Champ thought it snowed in Denver every day, and he didn’t even know who the owner was. He found out the owner was named Bowlen. He asked players with the Broncos and other teams, and the feedback totally was positive. “I was excited to play for Mr. Bowlen.’’

Bailey told me that the first time he heard from representatives of Washington about his Hall of Fame induction was three weeks ago.

He then spoke about the first time he met Pat and told the owner he hadn’t made a mistake. “He sort of said, ‘Well, OK.’ I had a lot of confidence in myself.’’

With good reasoning. He intercepted 34 passes with the Broncos, and few quarterbacks had the temerity to test him. When they did, Champ defensed (deflected, knocked down, intercepted) more than 200 of the throws. And Champ rarely was called for interference.

At 41, he still looks like he could intercept a Brady pass or get across the room in seconds or still play for these Broncos. Congratulations to the aptly named Champ. Springs man remembers his father, the pioneer who brought Broncos to Colorado By David Ramsey Colorado Springs Gazette August 3, 2019

When Robert Howsam Jr. drives along Interstate 25 past Mile High Stadium, he looks past the massive sports cathedral and sees his yesterdays.

He remembers the days before I-25 was built, the days before the Broncos arrived in Colorado. He sees, just north of where Mile High now sits, the efficient, modest Bears Stadium, which his father, Bob, built on the side of a garbage dump. He sees a 9-year-old boy in the 1950s wrestling with weeds and collecting trash in the blazing summer sun.

Robert, sitting in his home near The Broadmoor, laughs as he remembers his father, a diligent dreamer who built a powerful minor-league baseball franchise before bringing the Broncos to the Front Range as the franchise’s first principal owner.

Father gave no breaks to son. Bob expected to find a parking lot cleansed of weeds and garbage.

“Oh, he was always checking,” Robert says. “He was always saying, ‘You are goofing off.’”

Bob spent his youth tending bees on the family farm a few miles south of Alamosa. He worked hours in the southern Colorado sun, suffering a multitude of bee stings. Hard work, he believed, vastly improved any young man.

“He felt this was personal development,” Robert says of his long-ago afternoons of weeds and trash.

So much has changed. Today, the average worth of an NFL franchise is $2.6 billion, and Colorado Sunday afternoons in the fall belong to the orange-clad Broncos. The franchise, winners of three Super Bowls, reigns as the state’s secular religion. This weekend, the Broncos late owner Pat Bowlen and defensive back Champ Bailey will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Bob was the brave pioneer who started the saga.

In 1959, Bob led a group of investors who sought to bring professional football to the edge of downtown Denver as part of a crusade, led by Texas megamillionaire Lamar Hunt, to form the League. Bob and father Lee earned a comfortable living, starting with the beekeeping business, but they were no magnates.

Once the established National Football League heard about the renegade league, it quickly offered expansion franchises to Dallas and Minneapolis, the most attractive of possible AFL destinations. The NFL had no interest in poaching Denver from the AFL..

Bob and the crew of football rebels persevered. For a $25,000 franchise fee, the Howsams brought pro football to Colorado. Bob, convinced his native city would support the team, spent close to $1 million adding 11,000 seats to Bears Stadium, pushing the capacity to 35,000.

He was fueled throughout his life by intense optimism, but his belief in an immediate Colorado football romance proved premature. The Broncos, wearing used brown uniforms purchased in a salvage sale, stumbled to four wins in 14 games and never drew more than 20,000 fans. Howsam lost $270,000, more than $2 million in 2019 dollars.

“I was convinced that someday professional football would be successful in Denver, but I knew I didn’t have the money to stick it out,” Howsam wrote in his autobiography. “I knew at the end of the season I would have to sell out.”

He talked with John Monfrey, who owned the Falstaff beer distributorship in San Antonio. “Monfrey was something of a rake, a gambler and horse-racing proponent with impressive connections; he was even rumored to have ties to the Mafia,” reported Texas Monthly.

For a few weeks, the beer tycoon prepared to transport the Broncos to Texas. But this possibility alarmed Denver businessmen Calvin Kunz and Gerald Phipps, who wanted the Broncos to remain in Colorado. The pair purchased Howsam’s interest in the Broncos along with the Bears and the stadium built on the side of a dump.

On May 26, 1961, the day of the sale, Bob and his wife Janny drove to Bears Stadium and examined the house the Howsams built.

“I … thought about the twists that life takes, and I shed a few tears,” Bob wrote.

But this is not a sad story. Bob’s life was one of triumph. The tears soon ended.

Bob, deep in his soul, was a baseball man. He built the Denver Bears into the nation’s premier minor league franchise. In good seasons, the Bears drew more fans than struggling Major League teams.

In 1964, Bob was named general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, and he constructed the roster that won the 1967 World Series. Later, he enjoyed a spectacular 11-season run as Cincinnati Reds general manager, assembling the famed “Big Red Machine” that won four National League titles and consecutive World Series championships in 1975-76.

He didn’t hold a grudge. Bob returned to Denver and joined packed crowds at Broncos games. It took a decade, but football fans in Colorado eventually developed a romance with the Broncos. Bob’s radiant optimism, the one that led to his life-altering gamble in 1960, was proven sound.

Bears Stadium, improved and enlarged over the decades, was torn down in 2002 after the Mile High was constructed a few hundred yards away. The house that Howsam built is a memory.

But a strong, lingering one. On his drives through Denver, Robert still can see the cozy stadium his father built.

The one with a clean parking lot. At jacket ceremony, Pat Bowlen remembered as 'the real deal' By Andrew Mason DenverBroncos.com August 3, 2019

When the Pro Football Hall of Fame presented the gold jackets to the members of its 2019 class, it saved the most poignant presentation for last.

After the other seven members of the class received their gold jackets, the Hall of Fame presented Owner Pat Bowlen's coat, framed for display, to three of his children: Beth Bowlen Wallace, Brittany Bowlen and Annabel Bowlen. Together, Brittany and Beth held the frame aloft, displaying it to the thousands on hand for the jacket presentation at the Canton Civic Center.

Bowlen's presence was felt throughout the evening, never more than when former NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol spoke midway through the dinner.

Ebersol, the winner of the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award, worked closely with Bowlen on myriad broadcast projects, including the 2006 creation of Sunday Night Football as the NFL's flagship primetime broadcast.

After thanking his parents, his wife and longtime NFL color analyst John Madden -- who advised Ebersol that "less is more" -- Ebersol turned his thoughts to Bowlen, his longtime friend and business associate.

"Pat Bowlen would be the most excited about what I am about to say next: What did I mean by less is more? I've thrown away the script," Ebersol told the audience. "And if there was ever anyone in big-time life who wanted no part of the ego, or the small things or looking for more praise, it was Pat Bowlen.

"He was the real deal when it came to being a man."

Twenty-eight minutes later, Champ Bailey, one of Bowlen's favorite players, donned his gold jacket for the first time. As applause poured upon Bailey, he paused to gather himself, overcome with emotion.

When NFL Network's Steve Wyche interviewed him a moment later, Bailey revealed that the emotion was due in part to thinking of Bowlen.

"It's hard, man," Bailey said. "I wish Pat was here."

Nevertheless, Bowlen's presence was undeniable Friday night.

With Hall of Fame induction, Champ Bailey comes 'full circle' By Andrew Mason DenverBroncos.com August 3, 2019

Everything about the timing of Champ Bailey's induction of the Pro Football Hall of Fame seems perfect, as if he was long destined for this place.

The announcement on Feb. 2 came in Atlanta, the capital city of his home state that nurtured him from birth until his years as a two-way star at the University of Georgia. The owner who brought him to Denver, Pat Bowlen, is also a part of the 2019 class.

And then came Thursday night, when the members of the class walked across the field at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, striding the 50-yard line from one sideline to the other, flanked by the Atlanta Falcons five yards to his right and the Denver Broncos standing five yards to his left.

With sunglasses on, Bailey strode with the same cool confidence that he showed as a player. At 41, he looks like he could still play, even though the little aches that linger from his playing days tell him otherwise.

He looked like a Hall of Famer.

"I'm looking around on the field, and there's only three guys that I played with," Bailey said, referring to cornerback Chris Harris Jr., outside linebacker Von Miller and defensive end Derek Wolfe. "And I go up in the coaches' booth and there's two guys up there -- Chris Kuper and Renaldo Hill and I'm like, "OK, there's something wrong here. I'm getting old.'"

"It's surreal, man."

It also took him back 15 years. His first game as a Bronco was on that field, then flanked by two sets of aging concrete stands that comprised what was known as Fawcett Stadium. He looked across the field and saw his past team, the Washington Redskins. His team of the present, the Broncos, surrounded him on the sideline.

What he didn't realize on Aug. 9, 2004 was that he saw his future, too. John Elway was there, celebrating his Hall of Fame induction that weekend. He became the first player inducted to the Hall based on his accomplishments as a Bronco. Fifteen years later, Bailey was back, set to become the first defensive player inducted based on what he did in Denver, and the second first-ballot inductee in Broncos history.

"You couldn't write a better script for this," Bailey said.

"So a lot of it's coming full circle, and bringing back old memories, being on that field, and Elway walks right in front of me, and I'm like, this is like deja vu."

Even though it reminded him of the passage of time, that moment was easy. So was the eight hours in one day he spent sitting for the construction of his bust.

"That was an experience in and of itself. I didn't know what to expect and then the guy [sculptor Blair Buswell] takes the [cover] off -- because he had been working on this before I got there -- and it already looks like me," Bailey said. "So I'm like, 'OK, well, that needs to be a little different, and he's already telling me things that look different on my face,' and I'm like, 'I see this thing every day, so how do you get it so perfect?'

"The guy was amazing. I want to see the bronze finish. I saw the clay, all that. I've got to see the bronze. There's no way he messed it up, because he was on point."

Sitting down for so long, knowing that the product of the work will linger for generations after he's gone -- you might think it would give some an opportunity to ponder a career, a legacy, a form of immortality. Or the time in the chair might lead to tedium. But that really wasn't the case.

"We were having a conversation. And I think that's the beauty of it. We were able to just sit there and talk," Bailey said. "The process went by fast. I mean, it could be tedious if he was an [objectionable person], but he wasn't, and it was a great experience."

The hard part for Bailey? Writing the speech he will read Saturday night.

"Stressful. Because when you think back to when you were a kid and you try to include everybody, it's hard. I mean, there's no way I'm going to include everybody that I should be thanking," Bailey said.

"As I sit here now and I think about it, I can think of five people that I need to put in there, but I can't do it. I don't want to go back and try to do that. There's a reason that it played out the way it is. I'm just glad they're able to put some names on the screen so I can at least acknowledge as many people as possible."

Bailey will give that speech in the gold jacket that the Hall of Fame will bestow upon him at a Friday evening dinner in Canton. After this weekend, all that will be left is the presentation of the Hall of Fame ring, which he will receive at the Broncos' game against the on October 13.

Picking up a coat and a ring is easy. But it also causes a dilemma. When do you wear the jacket? When do you wear the ring? Some inductees, like Terrell Davis, don their gold jacket so often it shows signs of wear and tear.

"Well, I've seen a lot of guys wearing theirs, so I'm assuming I'm going to wear it a lot," he said. "I don't know. I really don't know. It's funny because now I'm thinking, like, 'Every event, do I have to wear my yellow jacket? Or do people just know that I'm a Hall of Famer?' I mean, how do I walk in the room?"

Then Bailey was reminded of the ring. "Exactly!" he replied.

Others have noted that the ring is perhaps more valuable than a Super Bowl ring because of the scarcity of the honor. In some years, there are more Super Bowl rings issued to players, coaches and staff of the winning organization than members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The ring made him think again about how often he will wear the jacket. "You know, I think I'll use it when necessary," he said.

Bailey will treasure the jacket and ring. But as he showed Thursday night, and as he demonstrated for 15 seasons, he doesn't need either of them to have the regal bearing of a Hall of Famer. Just walking into the room is enough.

A clear choice: Bowlen family explains why Steve 'Greek' Antonopulos will present Pat Bowlen at Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement By Aric DiLalla DenverBroncos.com August 3, 2019

In the years ahead of her father’s Hall of Fame election, Brittany Bowlen would allow herself to dream about the moment.

She allowed herself to think about the gold jacket, the bronze bust, the Hall of Fame ring — and about who she and her family would want to present her father during the enshrinement ceremony.

“I think that I thought about for years the kind of person that would embody my dad’s spirit,” she said Friday ahead of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s gold jacket ceremony.

A few of those years were tough. Bowlen seemed on the edge of Hall of Fame election, only to have the Contributors Committee tab others in his place. And as his health declined and he battled Alzheimer’s, his family struggled with the notion that Bowlen could pass away without knowing he’d been elected to the Hall.

“There were a couple years that were really hard for us, because we knew we were teetering on that edge of [him] understanding or being able to come,” Brittany said. “So it was really difficult. But you know what, I know that the Hall of Fame and all of the voters, they have a very difficult job. There are so many players and contributors who deserve to be in the Hall of Fame, so I have a lot of respect for the decisions they have to make.

“I’m so happy we’re here now and that my dad got to know and he got to have that smile.”

Indeed, Bowlen was elected to the Hall’s Class of 2019 in February before he passed away on June 13.

And on Saturday night at Tom Benson Stadium, Bowlen will be presented at the Hall of Fame’s enshrinement ceremony by a man who embodies the characteristics that Brittany thought about years ago.

Steve “Greek” Antonopulos, who has been with the Broncos for more than four decades, will help the rest of Bowlen’s family reveal Bowlen’s bust on stage. Antonopulos will also be featured in a video that recognizes Bowlen’s accomplishments.

Antonopulos’ inclusion in the ceremony is only fitting. As Beth Bowlen Wallace said Friday, Antonopulos is like another member of Pat Bowlen’s family. So when Bowlen’s children decided on Bowlen’s presenter, Antonopulos was the logical choice.

“That choice was really reflective of who my father was [to] have someone who pursues excellence in their workplace and does it with great humility and behind the scenes,” Bowlen Wallace said. “We believe he really reflected who my father was as an owner.”

While the decision made complete sense to the Bowlen family — and to anyone who knows about the friendship between Bowlen and Antonopulos — it came as a shock to the Broncos’ longtime athletic trainer and current director of sports medicine.

“It was not ever a thought,” said Antonopulos when asked if he had considered the Bowlens would ask him to present their father. “I was stunned when I was asked to do it.”

Antonopulos, who said Bowlen was a “great friend” in addition to being a supportive owner, said the honor is a “very emotional” responsibility.

And though there would be no real way to boil down more than three decades of a friendship to mere minutes for the enshrinement ceremony, Antonopulos said he will try to capture the essence of Bowlen’s legacy as an owner and man.

“There was no way I was able to say all the things that I wanted to say about him,” Antonopulos said. “Some of it was directed [in terms of] the things to say. I just wanted to show the compassion that people had for him and the passion he had for people and his integrity and mindset and just honor him in the most honorable way we all could.”

On Saturday, he’ll have the chance to do just that. And to the Bowlen family, it’s more than fitting that the person presenting their father is someone who in many ways reminds them of their dad.

“We also wanted to pick somebody who really embodied my father’s spirit, especially within the organization,” Brittany said. “We felt that Greek was someone that does that.

“He loves this organization deeply, and he conducts himself in a quiet way behind the scenes, just like my father did."

Bowlen family reacts to Class of 2019's donation to Pro Football Hall of Fame in honor of Pat Bowlen By Aric DiLalla DenverBroncos.com August 3, 2019

During Friday’s “State of the Hall” address, Class of 2019 enshrinee Kevin Mawae stood to make a surprise announcement.

On behalf of the rest of the Class of 2019, Mawae announced a donation to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in honor of Pat Bowlen.

For his children in attendance — Brittany Bowlen, Beth Bowlen Wallace, Annabel Bowlen, Amie Klemmer and Christianna Bowlen — the moment was powerful.

“This was the first time that anything like this had ever been done,” Brittany said, “It was in honor of my father, and it was really moving. We were completely shocked by it, and it was a great moment.”

Bowlen Wallace said Mawae began the speech by talking about how the Hall of Fame’s wall of donors lacked names from the NFL community. The Class of 2019, he said, would change that.

“But what we didn’t expect was they were doing it in my father’s honor,” Bowlen Wallace said. “It was certainly an emotional and very humbling and wonderful thing to have them do in memory of my father.”

The moment generated an emotional response from the family members in attendance.

“It meant so much to me that they all got together to do that, because my dad, I don’t know if he would really say, ‘this is for me,’ but it really is for him,” Annabel said. “That was so special. It brought tears to my eyes.”

Added Klemmer: “Oh my gosh. We all were crying. It was really special that they felt driven to do that –– and to do it in his honor, I can’t explain it. It was very meaningful.”

During a weekend that is designed to celebrate the legacy of Bowlen and the rest of the Class of 2019, this surprise moment only added to the experience.

“It meant the world to all of us,” Christianna said.

In emotional return to where his football career started, Dre’Mont Jones shows potential in NFL debut By Ben Swanson DenverBroncos.com August 3, 2019

It had been almost eight years.

In that time between the first moment that Dre'Mont Jones stepped on the field next to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a high school student and when he did it again Thursday night, this time as a fledgling NFL player, a lot had changed.

The stadium he first entered was just a shell of what it would become by 2019, after numerous renovations to increase seating and making it more suited to hosting NFL teams like the one he would join.

But back then, that was still far from reality — both for the stadium and for Jones, himself.

On that day, that 14-year-old was getting just his first taste of competitive football as his Saint Ignatius Wildcats took on Canton McKinley in something of a glorified scrimmage.

On Thursday, this 22-year-old returned to the field for his NFL debut in the Broncos’ preseason opener against the Falcons, and though there was considerably more fanfare this time around, he was struck by the emotions he felt upon realizing the serendipitous moment.

“It didn’t hit me until we pulled up here,” Jones said after the game. “I was like, ‘Dang, I had my first high school game-type thing here in Canton, Ohio, and I got my first NFL game.’ So it was super surreal. It was crazy. I got a little emotional, I’m not going to lie. It was cool to be back here.”

Nostalgia washed over him, but more than that, he felt that the connection truly meant something.

“[I had] just some inclination of how everything has come full circle for me,” Jones said, “because I started off here and I started off here again as an NFL player. … The excitement, the feeling of getting my [feet] wet in something new, that definitely hit me”

In this homecoming of sorts — Jones is from Cleveland, about an hour away — he showed that the promise he showed back then was the real deal. He was a pervasive presence in the trenches, breaking through for three tackles, including one for a loss, and three quarterback hits. The final of his hits bothered Falcons quarterback Matt Schaub enough to disrupt the throw and allow Trey Johnson to intercept a pass for the Broncos. Head Coach Vic Fangio noted Jones' play unprompted in his postgame press conference.

“I was out there just trying to produce as much as I can,” Jones said. “I know it’s a deep rotation of D- linemen who are super-talented, but whatever I do out there isn’t alone. Because I’m a rookie, I’m the baby out there, so I got older guys like DeShawn [Williams] or [Derek] Wolfe or Adam [Gotsis]; Shelby [Harris] is out there always giving me pointers after every play, after every series. I don’t do it by myself.”

In the moment, it’s easy for Jones to get caught up in it all — returning to a place where his football career took root and then having a strong performance on that same field. It’s almost storybook for the start of his first chapter in football to line up with the start of this one.

To his credit, Jones isn’t getting caught up in that.

“I can’t say that yet, because it’s just the first preseason game,” he said. “You have to take games day by day. I don’t want to get too ahead of myself. I had a good game today, but I could do terrible next week. So I’ve just got to make sure I’m focused on the things at hand and focus on the now, not how much could happen in the future.”

In emotional return to where his football career started, Dre’Mont Jones shows potential in NFL debut By Ryan Koenigsberg BSN Denver August 3, 2019

Preseason games are sloppy. A pre-preseason game? Sloppy would be a compliment.

The Denver Broncos beat the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night in the 2019 edition of the Hall of Fame game, but in the words of Vic Fangio, “we weren’t doing cartwheels.”

In fact, if someone had done some gymnastics, it may have been the most exciting thing we saw all night, save for Juwann Winfree’s tip-drill, game-winning catch on 4th-and-14.

The unfortunate thing, in the eyes of many Broncos fans, is that the most exciting storyline going into the game, well, wasn’t very exciting.

Thursday night marked the first time most of Broncos Country got to lay eyes on Drew Lock, the team’s second-round pick and the Elway-deemed quarterback of the future. In seven series, Lock went 7-for-11 (63.6%) for just 34 yards. In his time on the field, the Broncos weren’t able to muster any points and didn’t move the ball much at all.

After the game, head coach Vic Fangio admitted he was in the same boat as the Orange & Blue faithful.

“I was hoping for more,” he said. “But I’m not surprised. You know, he’s still got a lot of work to do.”

So, what went wrong?

“I thought his accuracy wasn’t clean all the time along with his reads but, you know, that’s to be expected,” Fangio explained before getting even more frank. “We’ve got four more games. We’ve got to get him ready, more ready than he is right now.”

“Maybe I was thinking a little bit more than I had before,” said Lock.

It wasn’t all bad for the former Missouri Tiger as he made a nice throw across his body on a bootleg to the left side, and had a nice scramble to move the chains on third down.

In the locker room, it was clear that the gunslinger was a bit frustrated, but he’s not the type of player to reveal a lot of negativity.

“I think that’s what you can expect from an opener, a couple of ups, a couple of downs,” he said. “There’s a lot of things we can work on, especially myself.”

One of the perceived positives of Lock playing with the third team was that he would go up against a lower level on competition on the other side. But it also meant that the highly-talented quarterback would be surrounded by lesser talent, and that showed. Lock had trouble getting comfortable in the pocket as he was under pressure, even taking two sacks in his time on the field. There was also a dropped pass from running back David Williams that would have gone for a first down and more had he hauled it in.

But, even with the struggles around him, Lock didn’t have his best stuff.

“I won’t give it a one to 10, I’ll rate it as a learning game,” he said when asked how he would rate his performance. “There are definitely things to learn there. I’m excited that I’m sitting here and that was my first time ever stepping out on that field, and it was the Hall of Fame Game, it wasn’t the Super Bowl or the playoffs. So, there’s a lot of things for me to learn and a lot of things for me to look forward to progress and get better.”

As it relates to Lock especially, the Broncos having five preseason games is a pretty big advantage. It’s clear that Denver doesn’t want to put the young QB into any regular-season games this year, so having that extra time in the exhibition portion of the schedule will be extremely valuable.

They’ve got a long way to go, but the kid will be ready when his number is called.

“You get your first taste of it, and you just keep wanting more,” he said. “The days are going to go by slow until our next game.”

Five question marks for the Broncos after the team’s first preseason game By Zac Stevens BSN Denver August 3, 2019

Vic Fangio and the Denver Broncos are a perfect 1-0 in 2019.

On Thursday night, the Denver Broncos defeated the Atlanta Falcons 14-10 to kickoff the NFL’s season in the annual Hall of Fame game.

While there were plenty of positives that came with the team’s victory, there were also numerous areas of improvement, as Fangio himself admitted after the game.

Here’s who can improve after the first of football in the 2019 season.

THE BALL As it’s been through the first two weeks of training camp, the ball was trending down again on Thursday night. Trending down all the way to the ground that is.

Juwann Winfree ended the game with a glorious “acrobatic” game-winning catch, but he started the game with a dropped pass on third down, forcing his team to punt on their first series.

Fellow rookie Noah Fant got in on the drop action, also putting one on the ground from Kevin Hogan on what should have been a routine catch in the flat.

The ball hitting the ground carried over to special teams where Brendan Langley let a punt slip right through his hands after sprinting to attempt to catch a short kick. That mistake gave the Falcons the ball in Denver territory.

Fortunately for Tom McMahon, Vic’s defense was playing out of their mind, and it turned into another Falcons punt, which Langley was not given an opportunity to return.

David Williams also dropped a pass, letting one slide through his hands on third down from the arm of Drew Lock. There was plenty of open green pasture ahead of him if he held on.

Coaches preach how a team practices is how they’ll play. That held true in this respect.

NO-AH FANT The Broncos used their first-round pick to snag a dynamic receiving threat in the middle of the field. Oh, by the way, Noah Fant can block, too.

But on Thursday, it was nearly the opposite.

Fant’s under-the-radar blocking skills were on display as he drove a defender into the end zone on Khalfani Muhammad’s touchdown run and he also had a good block on the outside on a separate run. But a holding penalty on the rookie negated a 23-yard run by Muhammed as well.

On the receiving end, there were fewer positives.

Fant’s first pass slipped right through his hands onto the turf. He rebounded by hauling in a third-down pass and turning it up-field for a first down. That, however, was his lone catch on the day.

The No. 20-overall pick was targeted three times, officially, and had one catch for seven yards. On Drew Lock’s first pass, he sailed one over Fant’s head down the right hash. While it initially looked like an overthrow by the rookie quarterback, NBC commentator Cris Collinsworth put the incomplete pass on Fant.

Collinsworth, a former receiver himself, said Fant looked to have “training camp legs,” adding the ball was in the right position for a receiver that runs a 4.5 40-yard dash, as Fant does.

It wasn’t the perfect game that everyone wanted to see from the team’s top tick, but it wasn’t all negative, either.

THE FUTURE Much to the chagrin of many, Drew Lock was Kevin Hogan’s backup entering the first preseason game. But it was evident why on Thursday.

After Hogan looked crisp, leading the team to a touchdown in one of his three series, Lock looked, well, like the rookie that he is.

There was the overthrow to Fant on his first pass, a near interception on another pass and another overthrow on a go route again down the right sideline this time to Muhammad. It’s only fair to give the rookie credit that he wasn’t afraid to take the shots downfield. But he didn’t connect.

Lock did pick up steam, taking off for a first down and later connecting with Nick Williams for a gain of 12 on a play-action boot.

But then he went back into rookie mode, looking frazzled in the pocket as he tucked the ball and ran backward when he still had time. The next play, while it wasn’t as much his fault as the pocket collapsed, he was sacked again.

There was also a delay-of-game penalty within two minutes of the first half under Lock’s guidance.

After the game, Fangio said he was “hoping for more” from the rookie quarterback but that he wasn’t surprised.

“I thought his accuracy wasn’t clean all of the time as well as his reads,” Fangio honesty evaluated his quarterback postgame. “We need to get him ready. More ready than he is now.”

Lock finished the night with 34 passing yards on a team-best 63.6 completion percentage for a 68 passer rating and two sacks.

LAUNDRY TIME Flags haunted the Broncos in their most recent practices. Much like the drops, that carried over to the field on Thursday.

In the first half, the Broncos had a troubling five penalties for 65 yards. In the second half, there was progress, only racking up three more penalties for an additional 25 yards.

While the numbers certainly weren’t great, it was the type of penalties that will drive Fangio up a wall.

There was an offsides on Jeff Holland, a delay of game with less than two minutes in the first half and after a Falcons timeout, an illegal formation on an extra-point block formation and a false start.

There was also a holding penalty on backup center Ryan Crozier that negated a first-down pickup on fourth down in the red zone in the waining seconds of the game. If it weren’t for Winfree’s heroics on the next play, that penalty simply would have cost them the game.

The Broncos ended the game with eight penalties for 90 yards.

DEVONTAE BOOKER The most experienced back on the team didn’t suit up on Thursday, yet it was still a rough day for No. 23.

Hours before the team’s first game, it was reported the team will sign veteran running back Theo Riddick later this week.

The problem for Booker is the soon-to-be new guy in town plays a very similar role as the team’s current third-string back as they are both viewed as receiving backs.

Riddick just happens to be one of the league’s best receiving backs over the last four seasons. With Muhammad and Devontae Jackson impressing on Thursday night, many believe the Riddick signing is bad news for Booker.

Vic Fangio proved his mettle in coaching debut for Broncos By James Merilatt 104.3 The Fan August 3, 2019

Meaningless.

That’s the word that’s going to be bandied about a lot when people discuss the preseason opener between the Broncos and the Falcons. Today, everyone will be talking about how the final score, the stats and nearly everything else that occurred on the field in Canton didn’t amount to a hill of beans.

And there’s certainly plenty of evidence to support this claim.

By the end of the game, Al Michaels was virtually begging for the game to end. The venerable broadcaster was bemoaning every call Walt Anderson made, as the referee was getting more camera time than everyone on the NBC crew combined. But flag after flag kept flying when no one cared about the latest ticky-tack call, giving the announcers repeated opportunities to suggest how inconsequential everything happening on the field was at that point and had been throughout the night.

But for those not looking to make a beeline for the hotel, there was plenty to be gleaned during the Hall of Fame Game. And from the Broncos perspective, one big takeaway could pay huge dividends this season and beyond.

Sure, it doesn’t matter than Denver won the game 14-10. Granted, no one should care what the final stat lines were for Kevin Hogan, Drew Lock and Brett Rypien. And admittedly, accounts of who played well, who struggled, and who disappeared aren’t nearly as important as everyone will make them out to be between now and the next exhibition game.

Those things are unimportant, at least in the grand scheme of things. But the Broncos did set a tone on Thursday night, which could prove to be invaluable moving forward.

Early in the day, it was reported that Vic Fangio was in the hospital, dealing with kidney stones. It was distressing news on many fronts, not the least of which is the ill-timed ailment had the potential of derailing the head coach’s long-awaited debut at the helm of an NFL team.

But after 40 years in coaching, Fangio wasn’t about to miss his moment. The game wasn’t meaningless to him, as he proved by leaving the hospital, heading to the stadium, standing on the sidelines for three hours and coaching his team, all before the stone had passed.

“That was never in question, really,” he explained when asked if there was a chance he wouldn’t be at the game. “It was never in question.”

The toughness award winner for the 2019 season has already been determined. Google “kidney stones,” see what they look like and read about how they exit the body; a newfound respect for Fangio will emerge. Surely, the coach’s presence on the sideline had an impact on his team. He demonstrated through his actions how important getting the job done is to him, which will undoubtedly permeate throughout the roster. Fangio sent a message by being at the game, telling everyone within the Broncos organization what his first priority is this season.

But the tone setting didn’t end there. Late in the game, after Anderson threw yet another flag for a borderline call, the Broncos faced a fourth-and-14 from the Falcons 15-yard line. Trailing 10-7 with 1:33 to play, conventional wisdom would have suggested that a field goal attempt was the right play. Even in a preseason game, going for it in this scenario wasn’t a prudent decision.

Fangio didn’t care. He rolled the dice and went for the win.

Sure enough, Rypien was able to find Juwann Winfree in the end zone for a juggling catch that gave Denver the lead for good. An otherwise boring night was essentially erased with one play, as the highlight-reel touchdown had everyone on the Broncos sideline elated.

At that moment, the difference between winning and losing wasn’t meaningless. Making a play to turn a defeat into a victory, when there was no margin for error, was a galvanizing event. The clutch touchdown helped brings teammates together.

It also helped them have faith in their head coach. Fangio showed that he was willing to push all his chips into the middle of the table, albeit in a situation that wasn’t as pressure-packed as he’ll see starting on Sept. 9 in Oakland, which will endear him to his players.

He wanted to win his head-coaching debut, so he went for it on fourth-and-14. That’s the kind of gutsy move that earns all sorts of props in the locker room.

That was the biggest takeaway from Thursday night.

Yes, plenty of what happened at Tom Benson Stadium was meaningless. The good, the bad and the ugly will soon be forgotten. But not everything that occurred will quickly be disregarded.

Hogan’s impressive drive, Noah Fant’s dropped pass and Brendan Langley’s fumbled punt will be talked about ad nauseum in the coming days. A month from now, however, no one will have any recollection of these moments from the Hall of Fame Game.

But Vic Fangio’s gutty performance in his debut on the Broncos sideline has the chance to become the stuff of legend. If his career in Denver proves to be successful, people will forever reference an August night in Ohio when he left a hospital to coach his first game and dialed up the game-winning gamble in the waning minutes to help his team earn a victory as the place it all started.

Meaningless?

It sure didn’t feel that way last night.

Dre’Mont Jones earns high praise in Broncos win over the Falcons By James Merilatt 104.3 The Fan August 3, 2019

Late in the Hall of Fame Game, NBC was doing everything they could do to fill the airtime with something of interest. And more often than not, that meant ignoring what was happening on the field, as the Broncos and Falcons traded punts and Walt Anderson threw flag after flag.

Instead, the network paraded a series of guests through the booth for interviews. This included John Elway, who provided his thoughts on Pat Bowlen, Drew Lock and various other topics. And it concluded with Dick Ebersol, the long-time sports television executive who worked with Bowlen to create “Sunday Night Football” and other properties that helped the NFL grow into the behemoth it is today.

While Ebersol was answering questions from Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth, something of interest happened during the game, however. It was so notable that the crew wound back the tape, took note of what happened and provided an update upon returning from commercial break.

During the interview, Dre’Mont Jones made a pair of huge plays for the Broncos defense. He knifed through the offensive line on two occasions, making a tackle for a loss on one play and pressuring the quarterback on another.

They were splashy plays for the third-round pick out of Ohio State. He jumped off the screen, popping up as a big-time player during a time when most people were no longer paying attention to the game.

Collinsworth was so impressed that he compared Jones to Malik Jackson, suggesting that the rookie could provide the kind of inside pass rush that the former Broncos defensive tackle did during the team’s Super Bowl 50 run. Rather than simply occupy space and blockers, Jones could be a playmaker in the middle of the defensive line.

That’d be huge for Denver, as they haven’t been able to get that kind of play since Jackson left for Jacksonville via free agency. It’s certainly what the Broncos were hoping for when they selected Jones in April.

Granted, the impressive plays were made against backups and guys who will be selling insurance in three weeks. But they were a solid first step; great players should stand out in that type of a situation, which Jones certainly did.

On a night when other draft picks struggled, Dre’Mont Jones provided a bright spot. He’s a rookie who looked ready for primetime on Thursday night.

Noah Fant and Drew Lock shouldn’t worry Broncos Country By James Merilatt 104.3 The Fan August 3, 2019

Welcome to Overreaction Friday, where everything from last night’s Hall of Fame Game is analyzed, dissected, reviewed and debated. It’s a frenzy of discussion, with every detail from the Broncos win over the Falcons being placed under the microscope.

During this evaluation, two players are catching the wrath of Broncos Country. A pair of rookies have those who don orange and blue worried after subpar performances in their NFL debuts.

First-round pick Noah Fant didn’t fare well against Atlanta. He was on the field a lot in the first half, but only managed one catch for seven yards. He was targeted three times, but dropped a pass in the flat and couldn’t catch up with a deep ball that was thrown his way.

Those two blunders have people concerned. The first ball thrown to Fant hit him right in the hands, yet it fell incomplete. Then when he had the chance to demonstrate the ability that made him the 20th overall selection in the 2019 NFL Draft, his downfield speed, the announcers were making excuses for his inability to track down a long gain; no one wants to hear about a rookie having “training camp legs.”

Throw in a holding penalty and it was a forgettable night for Fant. He didn’t exactly dazzle in his debut.

Neither did second-round pick Drew Lock. The Broncos “quarterback of the future” finished the game 7- for-11 passing, but only netted 34 yards through the air. It was dink and dunk, and it didn’t move the chains.

In eight drives, Lock led the Broncos to a grand total of two first downs. His group punted six times, fumbled once and turned the ball over on downs, netting 79 yards in two quarters of play. Meanwhile, Kevin Hogan led a touchdown drive in the first quarter, while Brett Rypien put the winning score on the board in the fourth.

It was a performance that was difficult to get excited about. Even Lock’s head coach was less than impressed.

“I was hoping for more, but (I’m) not surprised,” Vic Fangio said after the game. “He’s still got a lot of work to do.”

Yikes.

But before panic sets in, hit the pause button and look at the big picture. The Hall of Fame Game was the NFL debut for both Lock and Fant. They were playing with a hodgepodge of teammates, executing very vanilla game plans throughout their time on the field.

In reality, the Broncos offense was bad all night. Aside from the touchdown drive led by Hogan, they sputtered their way to punt after punt. Colby Wadman was a busy guy, booting it away nine different times when Denver drives stalled.

It was impressive to see Fant stretch the field. Sure, it would’ve been better if he’d hauled in the long pass from Lock, but that was more of a timing issue. The play was there, which is a positive sign.

Speaking of the quarterback, two of his incompletions came on deep balls. One was the previously mentioned throw to Fant, while the other was a pass that sailed over the head of running back Khalfani Muhammad. Lock was just a little too revved up and the ball sailed on him a bit. But taking a deep shot, something neither Hogan or Rypien did, was good to see.

Was it a good night for two of the Broncos most-ballyhooed draft choices? Not by any measure.

But was the Hall of Fame Game a disastrous performance? Not at all.

Overreaction Friday will cause some to worry about Fant and Lock. That’s unnecessary at this point.

Khalfani Muhammad comes up big for Broncos in win over Falcons By Cecil Lammey 104.3 The Fan August 3, 2019

The Broncos had their first preseason game of the year on Thursday night. They beat the Falcons by a score of 14-10 in the Hall of Fame Game.

Running back Khalfani Muhammad was a star of the night for the Broncos and his play helped lead the team to the win. Muhammad is built like starting running back Phillip Lindsay, and like Lindsay, he is fast and explosive with the ball in his hands.

Broncos head coach Vic Fangio was succinct when talking about Muhammad’s performance after the game.

“He’s got speed, he is elusive and he’s a tough guy. I’m not surprised by that too much.” Fangio said.

Can Muhammad make the 53-man roster? Let’s take a look.

Big Opening Night

Muhammad was the brightest star for the Broncos on Thursday night. He looked good as a runner and receiver out of the backfield. He finished with seven carries for 50 yards and a touchdown and caught four passes for 24 yards.

Like Fangio, I’m not surprised by what Muhammad did in the preseason opener. I’ve watched him dating back to his days in college at Cal, through his brief pro career and all throughout OTAs, minicamp and training camp to this point. Muhammad is going to make these types of plays against that level of competition due to his natural skill as a downhill runner with track speed.

What we needed to see more of was Muhammad in pass protection. If he is going to make the team as a third-down back, then Muhammad will have to prove that he can protect his quarterback consistently. He’s a small back at 175 pounds and that’s not the size of player you want going up against 230-plus pound linebackers and blitzers hellbent on hitting Joe Flacco.

I talked to Muhammad earlier in camp about how important pass-blocking is for his chances to make the team.

“Pass protection is everything in this league, so we go over that a lot before practice and during practice. That’s a crucial part of a running back excelling.” Muhammad said.

One of the best ways Muhammad can prove his worth is when he doesn’t even touch the ball.

New Guy Crowds the Room

The Broncos were able to secure the services of free agent running back Theo Riddick on Thursday. When it becomes official, Riddick is going to push one of the backs off the roster.

The 28-year-old veteran is well known as a fine pass-catching running back. Riddick has caught 281 passes during the last five seasons compared to 268 carries in the same span. He is also capable of lining up as a slot receiver and running receiver routes in addition to catching passes out of the backfield.

Riddick is a seasoned pro with more experience than anyone else on the roster at that position. He’s been in the league three years longer than Devontae Booker, but is only a year older than the Broncos most tenured back. Riddick’s presence is a direct threat to Booker making the roster, and it also clouds the future of guys like Muhammad.

Practice Squad Bound?

The team could keep Muhammad around in 2019, but not on the 53-man roster. Instead, the Broncos may attempt to sneak through Muhammad to the practice squad. He was a seventh-round pick of the Titans in the 2017 NFL Draft, but Muhammad does have practice squad eligibility left if the team deems that’s the best landing spot for him.

On the practice squad, Muhammad will get to stay with the team and practice as a scout-team player. However, like other backs which have been stolen away (David Wiilliams was signed away by the Jaguars last year) Muhammad is free to sign with another team if he is going to their active roster.

Having that opportunity for a player like Muhammad could be too tempting to pass up. There is no doubt that Muhammad can play at the NFL level, but he may not want to be a practice squad player for Denver especially if he gets an opportunity to play with another team. The Broncos are playing a dangerous game if they risk losing Muhammad on the practice squad this year.

Summary

We’ve seen Muhammad make plays regularly out at training camp and that performance carried over to the first preseason game. Muhammad was the best offensive player for the Broncos in their first preseason game. But going forward, he may actually get less playing time. The starters should play more for the Broncos in their following preseason games and that will cut into the chances that Muhammad gets to impress.

Adding Riddick will also cut into the snap count for players in the backfield. Even if Riddick plays mostly as a slot receiver, his presence will automatically mean that players near the end of the depth chart will play less.

The most-likely scenario for Muhammad is that he makes the team’s practice squad. He has skill as a runner and receiver, so having Muhammad ready in case of emergency is a solid plan for the Broncos.

Around the AFC West: Drama everywhere as camps get underway By Cecil Lammey 104.3 The Fan August 3, 2019

The Broncos played their first preseason game on Thursday night. They were victorious over the Falcons by a score of 14-10. Denver gets a head start in the preseason due to playing in the Hall of Fame Game, but the rest of the division is hard at work now.

The AFC West and the rest of the league all began training camp this past week, and now new storylines are being generated as players get injured, signed or shine in practice.

Let’s take a spin around the AFC West to see what the competition is up to.

***

Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs got a big scare earlier in the week when star wide receiver had to be carted off the practice field. ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter was quick to assuage the fear of Chiefs Kingdom.

In fact, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid believes Hill might be back at practice on Friday. Even if he does return at the end of this week, Hill should be limited with this injury so there are no setbacks. Hill won’t get much work in the preseason as the team prepares him for the start of the regular season.

However, Hill may get a new contract in the near future. His agent, Drew Rosenhaus, was spotted at Chiefs camp where he is having talks about a new contract for his client. The framework is in place for Hill to be one of the highest paid receivers in the league, and he may get a deal that approaches the record-setting deal Michael Thomas got from the Saints ($100 million with $61 million guaranteed).

Hill’s off-field issues are going to keep him from getting that type of money without protection for the team, but the numbers should be close – and the team may be close to getting a deal done.

***

Los Angeles Chargers

The holdout of Chargers running back Melvin Gordon is looking uglier by the minute. Gordon’s agent, Damarius Bilbo, has requested that the Chargers explore trading the veteran running back. General manager Tom Telesco told Bilbo that Gordon is still highly valued by the Chargers and the agent was not given permission to seek any trade partners.

Rumblings about this situation have surfaced which indicate the Chargers are willing to give Gordon a deal that pays him around $10 million annually. This would be a big pay raise for Gordon who is set to make $5.6 million in 2019, but it falls short of the deals that running backs like Todd Gurley, Le’Veon Bell and David Johnson.

Sources tell me the two sides may be around $2-3 million apart in terms of annual average salary. In the meantime, Austin Ekeler and Justin Jackson are getting first-team work with the offense in training camp as the team is preparing to move on without Gordon for now.

***

Oakland Raiders

The Raiders have opened up training camp and everyone is waiting to see them on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” starting next week. They’ve already dealt with some drama with superstar wide receiver , which may be featured on the show.

Brown began training camp on the Active/NFI list with an undisclosed injury. He was on that list for two days, then was activated and started practicing, but the Raiders are not talking about what the injury was.

They do have a potential playmaker in rookie wide receiver Hunter Renfrow from Clemson. Renfrow has been a stand out during the first few days of training camp due to his route-running and hands.

“We’re really excited,” said offensive coordinator Greg Olson.

I watched Renfrow shine during the week of practice for the Reese’s Senior Bowl earlier this year and he always has reminded me of former Broncos wide receiver Brandon Stokley. We’ll see if Renfrow can win the job as the Raiders No. 3 receiver behind Brown and Tyrell Williams.

Cheers and Jeers: Vic Fangio is a beast, the Hall makes a gaff and the Rockies stand pat By Johnny Hart 104.3 The Fan August 3, 2019

Football is finally back. And, yes, most of this week’s “Cheers and Jeers” reside with the Denver Broncos.

But we didn’t forget the Colorado Rockies, who made about as much noise at the MLB trade deadline as a silent movie.

Here is the best, and worst, of the sports world this week:

Cheers | Vic Fangio

Imagine after four decades as a professional football coach you finally got to make your head coaching debut. Now, imagine you got to do that on the biggest stage of the preseason, the Hall of Fame game, wherein all hungry football-consuming eyes focused upon you and your team.

And not only do you win your debut, but you do it just hours after being hospitalized to treat a kidney stone.

Coach Fangio, you’re old school.

Jeers | Pro Football Hall of Fame

Everybody makes mistakes. We are all human and are deserving of mercy from time to time.

But, come on. If you’re the Pro Football Hall of Fame with a weekend of festivities dedicated to a class of exceptional athletes and football minds, you really need to not overlook the small details like Champ Bailey not having played in Super Bowl 50.

In Bailey’s Hall of Fame locker sits a Super Bowl 50 commemorative football. Only thing, Bailey retired midway through the 2014 season, more than a year before the Broncos secured its third world championship.

No doubt Bailey is deserving of a Super Bowl ring, but this wasn’t exactly what we had in mind.

Cheers | Khalifani Muhammad

Yes, it’s just one game, but the young running back certainly made it hard on the Denver Broncos coaching staff in terms of who to keep on the 53-man roster at the running back position.

Muhammad had the longest gain of the Hall of Fame Game (31 yards), the first touchdown of the NFL season and not only the most rushing yards (50) in the game for Denver but also the most receiving (24 yards). Jeers | Rockies front office

It’s been a disappointing year for the Colorado Rockies. That much is not in doubt.

Heading into the month of August, the club’s 7.5 games in the wild card chase, hopes of their first National League West crown far in their rear-view mirror.

But being sellers at the MLB trade deadline doesn’t have to mean a team’s rebuilding, just being realistic about its chances.

Yet, Colorado essentially stood pat, making only minor moves while trade assets like Charlie Blackmon, Wade Davis, Daniel Murphy and Ian Desmond remain on the roster.

Pass Interference Was Challenged, and the World Kept Turning By Conor Orr MMQB August 3, 2019

Did you see it?

The pass from Falcons quarterback Kurt Benkert sailed up the Atlanta sideline with 3:23 remaining in the second quarter of last night’s Hall of Fame Game.

Wideout Russell Gage was knocked slightly off his trajectory by Broncos cornerback Linden Stevens, and a flag was tossed for pass interference. But this time, thanks to a deeply motivated Sean Payton, who was burned by a disastrous call in the NFC Championship Game, the ruling could be challenged. Vic Fangio, in his first game as Broncos head coach, made history.

It felt important enough that the broadcast cut away from a nostalgic interview with Ed Reed about his sterling career to go to the field for an official explanation. That’s when we started the timer on our stopwatch.

And there we were, 1:18:28 later with a confirmation that there was, indeed, pass interference. The Broncos were charged a timeout, and Michele Tafoya was back with Reed.

The fear, of course, is that these little moments will continue to dig into our viewing experience. For the lay fan, a game will more frequently feel like a reciting of municipal code and less like the streamlined football they remember on the boxed televisions of their youth. I wrote about the impossibility of officiating perfection after the championship game, though it’s difficult to tell if Thursday’s milestone event was a harbinger of more chaos to come, or an injection of oddly satisfying common sense.

The good news is that coaches still have a finite number of challenges and will probably be more judicious when the games actually count, given just how many different aspects of a play they need to be concerned about. It will be fascinating to see exactly how many pass interference calls are challenged after this offseason of intense politicking.

For now, we can safely report that the game ended with no further incidents and (thankfully) did not require the use of overtime. At the moment, the Earth is still rotating on its axis, and some people as insane as me still managed to make it all the way through the game without any major philosophical breakdowns. Will it stay that way in a game with three or four PI challenges?

Drew Lock: There’s a lot for me to learn By Josh Alper Pro Football Talk August 3, 2019

Earlier this week, Broncos rookie quarterback Drew Lock said that he saw the Hall of Fame Game as a learning opportunity and that remained his focus after going 7-of-11 for 34 yards against the Falcons on Thursday night.

Kevin Hogan started the game and Lock took over in the second quarter and played into the second half in his first game action as an NFL player. Broncos head coach Vic Fangio said after the game that he was hoping for more from the second-round pick, but said rough patches were to be expected at this point in the calendar.

Lock had a similar perspective and said it will be good to review the performance so he can continue to grow as a player.

“I’ll rate it as a learning game,” Lock said, via the team’s website. “There’s definitely things I’ll learn there, but I’m excited that I’m sitting here and that was the first time ever stepping out on the field. It was the Hall of Fame game. It wasn’t the Super Bowl, it wasn’t the playoffs — so there’s a lot of things for me to learn, a lot of things for me to look forward to, to progress a little bit.”

Lock said the “days are going to go by slow” until next week’s game against the Seahawks offers him a chance to show what he learned in his first time running the Denver offense.

Champ Bailey: No one from Washington called until three days ago By Michael David Smith Pro Football Talk August 3, 2019

Champ Bailey will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame tomorrow night, and one of the teams he played for has done a lot to honor him. The other team he played for has not.

Bailey played his first five seasons in Washington and then played 10 seasons in Denver, but he said today that only the Broncos congratulated him when he was voted in.

“Nobody from Washington had called me until three days ago. Nobody,” Bailey said.

Bailey loved spending a decade in Denver and is thrilled to be enshrined in Canton alongside longtime Broncos owner Pat Bowlen.

“I’m traded and I get to Denver, great organization,” Bailey said. “I think my Hall of Fame career really started with the Bowlens. To have Pat go in with me is unbelievable.”

Bailey appears to have much warmer memories of his time in Denver than of his time in Washington.