INDIANAPOLIS -- The NFL Scouting Combine, which kicked off Thursday, is all about measurables.
And while Head Coach John Fox said a player's body of work throughout college is the first place teams look, how players perform this week can affect their draft stock.
"The bigger, stronger, faster ones go earlier than the other ones," Fox said. "It's not rocket science."
Ultimately the Broncos -- just like the other 31 teams -- are simply looking to find good football players. The combine is just another step in the process, which is headed up by Executive Vice President of Football Operations John Elway and Director of Player Personnel Matt Russell.
Elway "understands what a football player looks like maybe better than anybody," Fox said, and the fact that Russell played the game before working his way up the scouting ranks has served him well.
"They're well-organized, they do a terrific job evaluating, and really, this game's about people, and those two guys are as good as they get," he said.
NFL Network's Mike Mayock said this year's draft has perhaps the best depth in the past decade, but Fox said it's still too early in the evaluation process to determine exactly where that depth lies.
Regardless, he said the team will take the best player available.
"We're in that process of trying to improve our football team," he said. "Whether it is college guys that we're going to have a good look at this week or whether it is on the pro side (via free agency), the process is starting."
And that process is aimed at accomplishing one goal.
"We want to hoist that trophy," Fox said. "That's what every single thing we do is aspiring to do."
DEALING WITH SCARS
The feeling of losing to the eventual Super Bowl champions won't soon go away for the Broncos.
Fox confirmed that on Thursday, saying that any loss sticks with you -- "scars, I might say."
Elway predicted it might even serve as a "battle cry" for the team next season.
But the club isn't letting it get in the way of preparing for the 2013 campaign.
"It was a disappointing loss, no doubt, but we're going to spit that taste out and get on to this season," Fox said.
"After the Super Bowl, I think the reality is that everybody is 0-0."
'WE WANT RYAN'
Early in his press conference, Fox addressed the contract situation of tackle Ryan Clady, one of 10 Broncos set to become an unrestricted free agent.
"There's two parts of the NFL: there's business and there's football," Fox said. "That's the business side; I don't really get too much involved with that. I know we want Ryan, and that Ryan wants to be a Denver Bronco. The business part will work itself out one way or another, and we'll see where that goes moving forward."
