AFC Notes: Broncos, Chargers, Raiders

Broncos

Broncos OC Pat Shurmur said his first impressions of Teddy Bridgewater are that he’s experienced, is a fast learner, and a quick decision-maker. 

“He’s more experienced,” Shurmur said, via Jon Heath of BroncosWire. “He’s been in a couple of different situations since the time we were together — one where he’s the backup and one where he was the starter. I see [it] when he’s out there executing. He’s been able to pick things up very quickly. There’s a lot of similarities to some of the things that we did [along with] some of the new stuff. He picks up quickly and he’s a quick decision-maker.”

Shurmur praised Bridgewater’s ability to read defenses and has improved since their time together with the Vikings in 2016-2017. 

“He determines quickly whether he has what we’re looking for down the field, and then he’ll check it down. This has been a really important time for him, and really for all of us. We’ve got almost a half-season worth of reps in the last few days of OTAs and minicamp. All that work has been really, really good for him. He’s probably a more experienced player than when I was with him. Unfortunately, when I was with him, he got hurt early on in our time in Minnesota.”

Chargers

Chargers RB Austin Ekeler is excited to get to work with new Chargers OC Joe Lombardi, adding that he likes when the pressure is on him to perform.

“I think that’s something that I’ve learned about Joe coming in, this man is going to get his playmakers in space and situations where they can be successful,” Ekeler said, via ProFootballTalk. “I think you see that as far as the running back position with Kamara with the Saints. They would give him the ball any way they could and he was making plays. And it just depends on me, right? If coach is going to trust me with the ball, my hands are going to make sure I make it work, make him right. If I don’t do that, we got a lot of other talent on the team too. So I like it because it’s putting pressure on me. I love that ‘cause now I’m betting on myself to go out there and make plays. I have no doubt about that.”

Raiders

Raiders WR Zay Jones said HC Jon Gruden reinvigorated his passion for the game after feeling burned out earlier in his career. 

“It’s a lot of fun [being coached by Gruden],” Jones said, via the team’s official Twitter. “I’ve said this to many people I’ve talked to, Gruden has kind of reignited that fire and that love, for me, with football again. Football’s something that early on in my career, felt like a job a little bit. But Gruden has brought that passion that’s just like, ‘I enjoy playing this game again. I enjoy being out here.’”

Jones added that Gruden has a creative method of coaching and has the ability to draw comparisons from NFL legends to the modern game. 

“And he brings so much history of the game. He’s someone that can tie in Jerry Rice to Randy Moss to Fred Biletnikoff to someone more modern-day. And he just puts it all in this melting pot of film and it’s just fun. It’s creative. You never know what you’re going to get. It’s laughter, it’s jokes, but you can also get yelled at at the same time. So it’s a mixture of both.”