Pat Surtain’s defense beat’s Bo Nix’s offense again in final open Broncos practice before preseason

**Henry Chisholm** (0:00)
Today on the DNVR Broncos Podcast, we have a lot to talk about.

**Andre Simone** (0:03)
Tell them, Hanky.

**Henry Chisholm** (0:04)
Practice number 10 The Broncos are out of centers, which is a big issue, because they're the guys who snap the football. Lot going on on the field, and what could be one of our last looks at the Broncos before they finally play a preseason game. So we're going to give it about 30 seconds and break it all down.
This is the DNVR Broncos Podcast.

**Andre Simone** (0:29)
Let's go.

**Henry Chisholm** (0:31)
The Broncos don't have any centers. Michael Deiter carted off.
No Luke Wattenberg, no Alex Forsythe, no Michael Deiter.

**Andre Simone** (0:39)
Yeah, but already, it's merely an inconvenience for practice. Well, if you were down your top two, you'd just be picking someone up off the waiver. Right.

**Henry Chisholm** (0:48)
But they do have that game on Friday.

**Andre Simone** (0:50)
Yeah.

**Henry Chisholm** (0:52)
Somebody has to go snap the ball. We're going to talk about that and all sorts of other stuff. But we're going to start with our friend, Zac Stevens, who's still out at the Broncos practice facility on the Xfinity Mobile Call In Line. How's it going, Zac? What was that?

**Zac Stevens** (1:06)
Let's go. I'm hyping you up, hyping the crowd up, hyping the centers up. The Denver Broncos need some help there. You said no Luke Wattenberg, no Alex Forsythe, no Michael Deiter. What I say to that, Henry, is no problem according to Sean Payton. I asked Sean after practice, are you concerned? What do you do at center now that you're out with your top three guys?
Sean Payton said, we're going to be good. We're going to be fine. I think I pissed Sean off asking the question. Good for you, man. We're going to be good. We're going to be fine.
Broncos going to be fine without their top three centers. But Henry, just like you, a game in three days from now where you're likely putting Bo Nix out there with maybe his fourth center that he's worked with in just a week right now. Yeah, that's a little concerning right there. So is it Quinn Miners? Because we saw Quinn Miners practicing some snaps on the field. While he didn't take any reps, it does not seem like the Broncos are going to use Quinn at center this week or really moving forward at all. They really want to avoid doing that. But Quinn told us after practice that he still keeps his center tools sharp. Every single year he works on them. But the last time he played center in a game was his preseason rookie year with Teddy Bridgewater as the quarterback. When you think about how long ago that is, you think about Teddy Bridgewater being the Broncos quarterback. That seems like ages ago. So Broncos hopefully will not have to use Quinn. Calvin Throckmorton, get used to that name, because he might be the Broncos starting center this Friday night.

**Henry Chisholm** (2:38)
Yeah.

**Andre Simone** (2:38)
How many Oregon or Washington centers are on this team?

**Henry Chisholm** (2:42)
A whole bunch.

**Andre Simone** (2:43)
Throckmorton, Forsyth, Waddy?

**Henry Chisholm** (2:45)
Yeah.

**Andre Simone** (2:46)
What about Cage Casey? We alluded to maybe Cage Casey, because the thing is Quinn, it's great that he's available. He's not playing more than one series.

**Henry Chisholm** (2:55)
Quinn's job is not to eat snaps. What are your odds it's Cage Casey?

**Zac Stevens** (3:00)
That will be a tough thing for him to do since they've really been working on a guard.
That he can play center, but that will be tough to just throw him in there for a game this early. I would assume that if no one else gets healthy, that it will be Calvin Throckmorton. And I'd be shocked if it's Luke Wattenberg since he still has not practiced.
Maybe Alex Forsythe can get back by them, but this is just not the depth that you want to be testing week one of preseason. The good thing is, is I do expect Luke Wattenberg to be better for week one of the regular season. And that's what really matters here. But it also is important if you're putting Bo Nix out there on Friday, that you do want to have competent center play.

**Henry Chisholm** (3:38)
Yeah, makes you wonder if maybe they don't even play Bo. If you're putting him behind a backup center.

**Andre Simone** (3:44)
Honestly, not the worst.

**Henry Chisholm** (3:46)
Maybe we'll dig a little bit deeper into these starters later. Unless, Zac, do we have any updates?

**Andre Simone** (3:51)
Wasn't Top 3 in the center rotation?