ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Bradley Chubb had a good OTA Monday. Might have had a couple sacks.
Which would mean absolutely nothing except Chubb ordinarily hasn’t been healthy enough to participate in OTAs (organized team activities), much less have a dominant performance. Good health and OTAs was such a foreign concept to Chubb, he didn’t know how to act.
“The beginning of it was challenging for me,’’ said Chubb, who has been battling knee and ankle injuries since his 12-sack rookie year, the last time he was fully healthy. “It was my first time in this position where I wasn’t worried about recovering from an injury or worried about this or that. For the first couple weeks, I was trying to figure out what makes me, me. What things can I do to make me feel good and come into different workouts feeling my best?
“I got that formula, and I’ve been sticking with it ever since. I’ve been feeling good coming out here to practice with these guys, and it’s been fun. People say, 'be a pro' and 'have that schedule.' I feel like I finally have that down.”
Funny how it works. Chubb has most matured as a pro in a year when he went back to college. He actually attended two classes at North Carolina State during the spring semester. He said he’s going to keep taking classes, too, until he gets his degree in sociology.
“I’m not going to lie to you, when I first got there, I had that football mentality,’’ he said. “I’m here for football. I’m not going to go to school. I saw my grades drop. And it wasn’t well for me on the football field my first year.’’
Indeed, he was primarily limited to special teams as a true freshman.
“When I started taking the school part serious, I saw my grades start to get better,’’ Chubb said. “Seeing the progress of going from one of the worst students on the team to being kind of like one of the better students. I feel like it would be huge [to graduate] because that’s what they teach – you come here for a 40-year decision, not a four-year decision. It’ll be huge to go back and walk across the stage. Hopefully that’ll be coming up soon. Until then I’m going to keep working those books and make sure I’m doing the right thing.”
Jeudy has groin injury
It was during position drills early in practice Monday when receiver Jerry Jeudy pulled up with what a source said was a groin injury. Jeudy went into the locker room for evaluation and later reappeared in sweats, but carrying a noticeable limp. Given the injury, Jeudy may miss the final one and a half weeks of OTAs and minicamp – although head coach Nathaniel Hackett thought Jeudy would be back for minicamp next week.
“We were just being a little precautionary,’’ Hackett said.
Wilson to Patrick
Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson threw a deep completion to Tim Patrick, who got a step on cornerback Michael Ojemudia. The long completion had Hackett jumping for joy. Literally, jumping and shouting and high-fiving.
“It was funny. We changed the script a bit and called something different,’’ Hackett said later. “We wanted to throw the ball a little bit because [defensive coordinator] Ejiro [Evero] was starting to pressure us some. It was great because it was a little check on that play. It wasn’t just the play that it was, but it was also the check that Russell got to. He was pretty sneaky too, so I didn’t know that it was coming. I was a little nervous and thought that he was going to go through progressions. Then I looked up and the ball was going and Tim ran a beautiful route. That was awesome.”
Ownership candidates
The Broncos’ four ownership candidates met with general manager George Paton during their visits to team headquarters. Most also met with head coach Nathaniel Hackett and shook hands with Wilson, too.
“After talking with everybody, I think they all have an amazing passion and want to be part of this league,’’ Hackett said. “And want to be part of a team. I think that’s something that’s really beautiful. They want to come to win and they want to do something great here. So whoever it is, we’re going to be very grateful.”
Glasgow recovery
On the last play of the first half in the Broncos’ big upset win at Dallas last season, right guard Graham Glasgow suffered a break in the leg area near the ankle and also needed two ankle ligaments surgically repaired. He said he’s now 85% recovered and was able to take his first 11 on 11 snaps Monday.
A starter his first six NFL seasons, Glasgow is now a veteran, coming off major surgery, and competing against the young talented likes of Quinn Meinerz and Netane Muti to get his starting job back.
“I’m no stranger to competition,’’ Glasgow said. “I’ve competed in the past and I’ve competed for starting jobs in the past. This whole offseason, I’ve been competing with myself to get better in my rehab stuff. If I’m healthy, I’m just going to go out there and do what I can and do what I do. We’ll see what comes out of that.”
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Sports