ENGLEWOOD, Colo. —The 90 men on the Broncos' roster entered the team meeting room on Thursday expecting to learn the schedule for their final minicamp practice.
Instead, Head Coach Vic Fangio alerted the team that the Broncos would forego their final on-field session for a field day.
"I was shocked," cornerback Chris Harris Jr. said. "I was ready to come to work for sure and continue working. But this is something that we need, just to build that connection with everybody and have fun together."
For nearly three hours on Thursday morning, the Broncos split up into 12 teams to compete in events that included a football toss, home-run derby, basketball shootout and chipping competition.
The Broncos also got the chance to dunk several team employees, including President of Football Operations/General Manager John Elway.
"I can't remember the last time we did something like this here, but it's fun," Harris said. "It's something that will just help to build the team together. It's still competitive — you still want to win — but it's just fun to build that connection."
After an offseason program that pushed the team to improve after back-to-back losing campaigns, the players seemed to enjoy a slight break before the summer.
"It was really cool because we've been working our butts off," wide receiver Courtland Sutton said. "There's always work to do, but working smart and making sure everyone stays healthy to come back in training camp, I'm pretty sure that's something they were thinking about.
"We got a lot of really good work and a lot of really good stuff on film, and I think the coaches are happy with where we are and excited to get into regular training camp."