Broncos

Broncos HC Sean Payton spoke about the importance of keeping their core special-teams unit intact.

“We felt like it was important,” Payton said of addressing special teams, via Broncos Wire. “After the 2023 season, one quick way to improve your team — we were near the bottom of the league in 2022 in special teams. So very quickly [during] the last two years, it’s been the opposite. That emphasis — it’s easy to say, ‘We want to get better in the kicking game,’ but you have to commit to that. I’ve worked with Darren [Rizzi] before, and that will still be a priority for us.”

“I say this — the quickest way [to the 53-man roster] is special teams,” Payton added. “It’s hard to be safety [number] three or four and not be a contributor [on special teams]. So I think that will be really important.”

Chargers

Chargers LB Daiyan Henley spoke about his plan to improve and reach his goals and expectations for the upcoming season.

“It’s a process, and I’m not ever trying to be stagnant,” Henley said Thursday, per the team’s website. “Last year was last year, it is what it is. I can improve. There’s so much more for me out there. I think the biggest thing about expectations like that is that they have to start within. It’s not something that people should bestow upon you, you have to want that for yourself to go get it. That’s always been my goal and aspirations, to be that type of player [in] this league for years to come. Whether it’s this year, next year, that’s something I’m continuously working for. I got goals and expectations for sure, but I’m going to keep them to myself because it’s something I’m continuously saying, something I’m continuously working for. We’ll leave it like that. Just going to get to it and see where I land.”

Chiefs

Chiefs OC Matt Nagy said that he hopes to generate more big plays for QB Patrick Mahomes and the offense as a whole.

“Talk is cheap, right?” Nagy said, via ESPN. “You can’t [just] talk about it. You’ve got to be able to do it. So I think it’s a mentality of every day in practice trying to make sure you stress not only the importance of talking about it but then doing it in practice. It’s our job as coaches to emphasize it more and then let these guys go out there, and then their mindset, too, is cutting it loose every now and then and not every one is going to be perfect [or] complete, but … so far up to this point it’s been beautiful with the attack mindset.”

Mahomes said that the team has looked to get back to taking deep shots down the field with the personnel that they have on the perimeter.

“We’re fast,” Mahomes said of the wide receivers. “I think that’s probably the thing that stands out the most. We have guys that can roll. Our job is to test the defenses down the field and we have to get back to doing that if we want to open up other guys underneath. Coach Reid has challenged me this offseason to push the ball down the field, let guys have chances to make plays and then once we get that back to where we want to be in our standard that we believe we should have, then we can come back to the underneath stuff.”

Kansas City hopes to open up WR Xavier Worthy‘s game, in particular his ability to stretch the field.

“He’s not just fast,” Mahomes said. “He can make plays. You saw that with some of the contested catches that he made kind of towards the end of the season, if you think back to the Bills game or even the last catch he had in the Super Bowl. He’s someone that will go up and make a play on the football and so my job is to give him more opportunities. Even when he’s running with someone and it’s one-on-one, throw the ball, let him go up there and make a play. I think adding Hollywood being healthier and then having Rashee back out there is going to give him more and more opportunities to stretch the field.“

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