If training camp is a race between young players for roster spots — Broncos coach Sean Payton’s preferred metaphor lately — then the first preseason game equals the near turn on the track.
The Broncos are around the turn and on the back stretch this week.
Payton and his staff have game film to examine now — a concrete guide to provide “bubble” players a new sense of direction for refinement in the space between preseason games. The race will only condense and become more details-based between now and the Aug. 29 (2 p.m. MT) deadline for NFL teams to cut their rosters to 53.