ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Usually if there's any chirping going on at sweltering NFL training camps, it's between the massive offensive and defensive linemen who are pounding into each other or the wide receivers and cornerbacks fighting for 50-50 passes.
The biggest beef at the Denver Broncos' training camp this summer is between 6-foot-3, 290-pound defensive tackle Malcolm Roach, a notorious smack talker, and 5-11, 184-pound receiver Marvin Mims Jr., the NFL's reigning All-Pro punt returner.
Asked about the chirping back and forth at a spirited practice this week, Mims replied, “Yeah, I mean, it’s just Malcolm Roach. I mean, I sit next to him in the locker room, guy doesn’t shut up. He’s talking crap to receivers. It’s like, ‘Dude, like, you’re a fat guy. Like, go worry about that. Leave me alone.’”
They then took their “beef” to social media, jawing online.
Roach stepped up to the podium Friday knowing the first question would be about his good-natured bickering with Mims.
“Y'all think I really worry about 19?” Roach said. “I see him every day in the locker right by mine. Y'all think I talk? He really talks more than me. But I ain't worried about Marvin. Marvin knows he's not about to cut that ball back across the middle. That's all I have to say about that.”
Of course, Roach did have more to say.
“I can lose this weight,” Roach said. “He can't lose them looks.”
When coach Sean Payton was asked about the back-and-forth, he expressed surprise at the combatants.
“Malcolm, you hear him before you see him, and I like that energy about him," Payton said. "But, yeah, I wouldn't have picked Mims and Roach. I would have picked so many other combos."
Maybe it has roots in the Red River Rivalry. Roach went to the University of Texas; Mims hails from the University of Oklahoma.
First pick
Bo Nix finally threw his first interception of training camp, and it was a doozy. Safety Talanoa Hufanga made a leaping grab near the line of scrimmage for a pick-6 during team drills Friday.
“The interception, it was an RPO (run/pass option) and if you look at his distance from the throw I bet it was like eight yards,” Payton said. "And so to be able to go up and catch that with a crowded look in front of him? I'm anxious to seek it on film. I saw it from behind the line of scrimmage.”
That's the kind of play the Broncos are counting on this season from the free agent who left the San Francisco 49ers along with inside linebacker Dre Greenlaw to come to Denver last spring.
“You know, if I asked you to give us the best safeties that are in the Hall of Fame, the traits are always instincts and football smarts,” Payton said. "Some are faster than others, but it's hard to be real effective at that position if you don't have those football instincts. And certainly he brings that. I made a comment in the offseason: there's certain players the ball finds them, and he's one of those guys.
“So, that play was sick.”
Under construction
Construction of the Broncos' $175 million training facility hit a milestone Friday with a “ topping out ” ceremony to commemorate the final beam being lifted into place.
Team owner Carrie Walton Penner signed the timber before a giant crane lifted the structural beam from the north side of the construction site to the south facade.
The Broncos broke ground last year on the 205,000-square-foot facility that will combine their football and business operations under one roof for the first time in franchise history. It's scheduled for completion in May.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Arnie Stapleton, The Associated Press
