The Broncos released a statement from center Casey Wiegmann, who played for Ed Thomas at Aplington-Parkersburg High School. Thomas was shot and killed on Wednesday morning. Here is the text of the statement from Wiegmann:
“I was extremely saddened to hear the news this morning about the passing of Coach Ed Thomas. He was a great Christian man. I learned a lot from him, both as a player and a man. Last year, you could see exactly what the football program means to Aplington-Parkersburg in the way the community pulled together to restore the football field after the tornado. That is a reflection of Coach Thomas. I cannot begin to count the number of lives he affected in this community. I know I carry many of the lessons I learned from him with me every day. My family and I pray for Coach Thomas’ family.”

Sad news from Iowa this morning that Aplington-Parkersburg High School coach Ed Thomas was shot and killed in the school’s weight room. Among the four NFL players Thomas coached was Broncos center Casey Wiegmann.
Thomas was named NFL High School Coach of the Year in 2005. Wiegmann kept a close connection to his hometown of Parkersburg, Iowa, helping the community after a tornado ripped the town apart last year.

Brandon Marshall will get a lot of attention for holding out of a mandatory minicamp practice on Friday, but the question remains: Will he be physically ready for training camp, if he decides to show up? He is recovering from offseason hip surgery.
Broncos coach Josh McDaniels sounded cautiously optimistic about Marshall being ready for the start of training camp.
“I hope so,” McDaniels said. “Again, we have to test that, run routes and do other things. I don’t want to say that and then he’s not out here the first day. We’ll see how he feels and what he can do physically and make that decision as we go.”

Broncos coach Josh McDaniels said there is no more pressure on him to handle receiver Brandon Marshall’s minicamp holdout because of the Jay Cutler fiasco earlier this year, but it certainly can’t be a happy topic for McDaniels as he tries to get his team ready before training camp.
Marshall wasn’t at practice Friday, and McDaniels’ tone was that the Broncos would like to have him, but they would play without him if they have to.
One of McDaniels’ biggest challenges, other than seeing if the two sides can come to a mutual understanding so Marshall can get back to practice, will be making sure the team doesn’t become distracted by the issue, however long it lasts. He said it wasn’t a distraction on Friday.
“We didn’t work any less hard today than we worked the prior 15 practices,” McDaniels said.

On Monday, Broncos safety Brian Dawkins missed a passing camp practice because his family was in the process of moving from Philadelphia to Denver.
Leaving Philadelphia after so many years with the Eagles wasn’t easy, but it’s coming along.
“I’ve been told it takes a year or two to really, really, really settle in, as far as a family is concerned,” Dawkins said. “But we’re settling in as a family.”
Football-wise, Dawkins said the transition has happened a lot quicker.
“I’m a Bronco,” Dawkins said. “Once I got past the fact that I was moving to another place, it’s football now.”

The Sporting News’ daily publication ranked the NFL coaches from 1-32, based on the opinions of RealScouts, a group of former NFL scouts that now work for them.
In last place was Broncos coach Josh McDaniels.
“No head coach, especially a rookie, makes a positive mark by trading the franchise quarterback,” the story said. “McDaniels already is in trouble.”
The ranking is unfair to McDaniels, who hasn’t had a chance to show whether he is good or bad, but someone had to be in 32nd place. The ranking does show that McDaniels is under an unusual amount of pressure for a first-year head coach, after quarterback Jay Cutler was traded to Chicago.
The AFC West didn’t fare well in the poll with three of the four lowest-rated coaches. Kansas City’s Todd Haley was 29th, Oakland’s Tom Cable was 30th and McDaniels was 32nd. San Diego’s Norv Turner was ranked 13th.

Receiver Brandon Marshall hasn’t been at the Broncos’ current three-week passing camp, but coach Josh McDaniels said he expects Marshall to attend the team’s mandatory minicamp from Friday to Sunday.
“We expect Brandon to be here,” McDaniels said. “We expect all of them to be here.”
Marshall can be fined if he isn’t present for the minicamp.

Wearing jersey No. 56, coming from Tennessee, a first-round pick … Robert Ayers is bound to draw plenty of comparisons to former Broncos linebacker Al Wilson.
Ayers, a rookie who was selected 18th overall by Denver, has a lot of respect for Wilson but wants to blaze his own trail.
“I can never be another Al Wilson,” Ayers said. “I am just going to try to be Robert Ayers.”
Ayers asked for No. 91 but was offered No. 56. After he accepted, he called Wilson, who also played at Tennessee and wore No. 56 with the Broncos.
“He said it’s always good to have a guy from Tennessee representing him and that’s what I told him I’m going to do,” Ayers said. “I’m going to try to hold his number down and do the best I can. He wished me luck.”
Ayers has worked in with the starting defense during the team’s current passing camp at outside linebacker, because Elvis Dumervil was excused to tend to a family matter.

Broncos safety Vernon Fox played with Andre Goodman in Detroit earlier in their careers, and was shocked to see how much Goodman has improved since then. Goodman, who is penciled in to start at the cornerback position opposite Champ Bailey, saw his career grow dramatically when he was in Miami.
Fox said he asked Goodman about a week ago what he did to flip the switch since they played together with the Lions.
“He’s nothing like the player he was in Detroit,” Fox said.
Goodman replied that his confidence is higher and he is finally healthy. He called Goodman a quiet leader who is “cat quick,” and will be a good addition to Denver’s secondary.
“You’re not going to get an easy win on him,” Fox said.

Often this offseason the Broncos’ offense has been described as complicated and a challenge to learn, but tight end Jeb Putzier may have finally summed up best what makes Denver’s new offense so much different.
Putzier said under Mike Shanahan, the goal for the receivers on a pass play was speed, getting to a spot as quickly as possible. Under Josh McDaniels, players have to understand what the coverage is and react to it.
Players need to have an understanding of the game. They’re drilled on what defenses might do, based on their tendencies, and also on situations like down and distance.
“They’re putting us in tough situations where you have to think on the move,” Putzier said. “It’s great. It’s quite a challenge.”
Putzier said it has taken some time to get used to reading the defense before every play, but the players are picking it up. Since McDaniels gives the players so much responsibility to read and react during games, that is one reason he insists on drafting and acquiring players who are smart enough to execute his system.
“For some of us it comes a little easier because we’ve been around and we’ve seen most of this, now it’s just understanding why and when it’s going to happen,” Putzier said. “And they’re doing a great job of coaching and putting us in situations where we can read and react.”