It was love at first flight. Carter Shade had just turned 2 years old the first time he saw Demaryius Thomas run to daylight.
“The number 88 caught his attention, and how fast D.T. ran,” Caley Shade, Carter’s mother, recalled Sunday at the Ring of Fame Plaza just south of Empower Field at Mile High, a few hours before the Broncos hosted the Detroit Lions.
“Carter was a runner. He was, ‘Mommy, fast! Mommy, fast!’ And D.T. was fast, as we all know.”
So they bought him a toddler-sized 88 Broncos jersey. When he grew out of it, they upgraded to a junior version.