Player attendance

Did not prac­tice: Tight end Austin Fort (knee, sixth missed prac­tice), TE Nick Van­nett (con­cus­sion pro­to­col, sec­ond missed prac­tice) and WR KJ Ham­ler (ham­string, first missed practice).

Returned to prac­tice: TE Noah Fant (ill­ness) and CB Davon­tae Har­ris (knee contusion).

New injuries

WR KJ Ham­ler (ham­string) has been shut down for a “cou­ple of weeks” accord­ing to coach Vic Fangio.

ILB Todd Davis sus­tained a calf injury late in 11-on-11 work and was helped off the field.

OLB Von Miller (elbow) and RB Melvin Gor­don (ribs) were tak­en out of prac­tice as a precaution.

Top play

The Bron­cos fin­ished prac­tice with their best play. On a red zone pass from QB Jeff Driskel, rook­ie TE Albert Okwueg­bunam made a leap­ing touch­down catch in the back cor­ner of the end zone and was able to stay inbounds.

Thumbs up

DE Jur­rell Casey vs. LG Dal­ton Ris­ner. The wily vet­er­an (Casey) against the up-and-com­er (Ris­ner) in 1‑on‑1 drills has been a good bat­tle dur­ing camp.

WR Court­land Sut­ton. The defense has yet to find an answer for him in camp.

S Kareem Jackson’s enthu­si­asm. When he’s on the field, he’s chirp­ing. When he’s off the field, he always posi­tions him­self inside the white lines and is chirp­ing. It’s enter­tain­ing and breaks up the monot­o­ny of camp.

Thumbs down

Goal-line exe­cu­tion. The Bron­cos ran plays from their 1‑yard line for the first time this train­ing camp and it didn’t go well. Dur­ing QB Drew Lock’s first series, the offense had three false starts in a span of five plays, includ­ing FB Andrew Beck (which was called) and RB Phillip Lind­say (which wasn’t called).

Injuries. They are bound to hap­pen in a ful­ly-padded prac­tice, but the Bron­cos were for­tu­nate up until Thurs­day. But WR KJ Ham­ler was shut down after Wednesday’s prac­tice, ILB Todd Davis was helped off the field and OLB Von Miller and RB Melvin Gor­don were tak­en out of practice.

Odds and ends

• The Bron­cos prac­ticed in full pads Thurs­day (67 snaps of 11-on-11 work).
• First peri­od of 11-on-11: In the red zone, QB Drew Lock threw a dart-of-a-touch­down to WR Court­land Sut­ton (CB Issac Yiadom in cov­er­age) and also threw a TD to WR Jer­ry Jeudy. DE Shel­by Har­ris beat RT Eli­jah Wilkin­son for a “sack.” QB Jeff Driskel threw a touch­down to TE Albert Okwueg­bunam and was “sacked” by OLB Jere­mi­ah Attaochu.
• Sec­ond peri­od of 11-on-11: Lock com­plet­ed a pass to Jeudy on a deep over route behind S Justin Sim­mons. ILB Justin Str­nad stormed through a gap to stop RB Royce Free­man behind the line of scrimmage.
• Third peri­od of 11-on-11: This one was a backed-up sit­u­a­tion from the Bron­cos’ 1‑yard line. Driskel’s series began with a false start on OT Jake Rodgers, but three com­ple­tions. Ryp­i­en threw a nice pass to WR Tyrie Cleve­land on a come­back route.
• Fourth peri­od of 11-on-11: Lock com­plet­ed a pass to Sut­ton and his final throw was a touch­down to Jeudy against CB Bryce Calla­han. One of Lock’s pass­es was bat­ted down by DL McTelvin Agim. Driskel’s first pass was dropped by WR Dion­tae Spencer, but Spencer rebound­ed on the next play with a lung­ing catch against Yiadom. Driskel’s series end­ed with a nice tip-of-the-fin­gers catch by WR Dae­Sean Hamilton.
• High­lights from 7‑on‑7 for Lock: He com­plet­ed three pass­es in each of his two series, find­ing five dif­fer­ent play­ers, includ­ing Sut­ton for a cou­ple of big gains and RB Phillip Lind­say for a long play on a swing pass out of the back­field. Lock was inter­cept­ed by CB A.J. Bouye on an under­thrown down­field pass intend­ed for WR Tim Patrick.
• High­lights from 7‑on‑7 for Driskel and Ryp­i­en: Driskel had a rough first series in 7‑on‑7, which includ­ed a drop by WR Trin­i­ty Ben­son. TE Jake Butt also had a drop on Driskel’s sec­ond series, in which he com­plet­ed three pass­es. Ryp­i­en had a sol­id day in the drill, includ­ing com­pe­ti­tions down the field to WR Dae­Sean Hamil­ton and WR Fred Brown.
• The Bron­cos ran 35 reps of 1‑on‑1 pass rush/protection. At one point, the offen­sive line won five con­sec­u­tive matchups. A good duel was RT Demar Dot­son vs. Attaochu. Dot­son went 2–1. LB Malik Car­ney used a spin move to beat rook­ie LT Hunter Watts, but Watts also beat OLB Der­rek Tusz­ka. LT Garett Bolles got the advan­tage on OLB Justin Hollins even though Hollins jumped off­side. DE Shel­by Har­ris and C Lloyd Cushen­ber­ry split two matchups.

Friday’s schedule

Prac­tice.

Staff writer Kyle New­man con­tributed to this report.