Broncos
Broncos S Brandon Jones signed on with Denver last season and put together the best year of his career with 115 tackles, three interceptions, and 10 pass defenses. Jones is looking to “grow in every aspect” and continue to prove his versatility.
“Overall, I want to grow in every aspect,” Jones said, via Aric DiLalla of the team’s site. “I don’t think you can ever be too good at one thing. I was glad I was able to show that I can be more versatile, especially being labeled early on in my career as one thing. I’m just excited to continue to do what I can do and be a great teammate and leader for this defense.”
Broncos HC Sean Payton said Jones is a great communicator and brings a veteran presence to their defense.
“[He’s a] communicator,” Payton said. “Very important and an important guy for us a year ago when we signed him. A veteran presence and someone who’s smart.”
Jones is set to play alongside recently signed S Talanoa Hufanga. Jones thinks they are both good at “multitasking,” which will give them freedom on the field.
“I would say both of us are really good at multitasking,” Jones said. “We can do a lot of different things, whatever is asked of us. We can just have a lot of freedom and feel comfortable with whoever goes down in certain situations. We have a lot of faith and trust in each other. I think that goes a long way.”
Chiefs
Kansas City retained RB Kareem Hunt and signed RB Elijah Mitchell, but still used a seventh-round pick on RB Brashard Smith. Chiefs HC Andy Reid praised Smith’s speed and receiving ability following the conclusion of offseason workouts.
“I like what he (Brashard Smith) does. He’s got good speed and (he’s a) good route runner,” Reid said, via Ed Easton Jr. of the Chiefs Wire. “That part of his game – for running backs and linebackers, these are kind of tough camps, so we’ll just see how things go once we get to (training) camp, but with what we’ve asked him to do, he’s done a good job with it.”
Raiders
Raiders second-year C Jackson Powers-Johnson highly praised fourth-round WR Dont’e Thornton, saying the rookie is making a big impact in minicamp.
“I mean, we’ve talked about [Ashton] Jeanty. Dont’e Thornton is another huge one,” Powers-Johnson said, via RaidersWire. “Everyone’s talking about him. I recruited him to Oregon, so I’ll take a little bit of that (credit), but he’s a baller.”
Raiders WR Jakobi Meyers added that Thornton is proving to have “some real receiver capabilities,” and he’s excited to help him develop.
“I like him a lot,” Meyers said. “I didn’t know much about him coming out, but now that he’s here, just seeing the different parts of his game, he’s not just a guy that can run fast. He’s got some real receiver capabilities to him. So, I’m excited to kind of help groom him and help push him along and just see what he could do on the field when the pads come on.”
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