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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. —** Omar Bolden's mindset for expanding his culinary skills is much like his mindset for returning kicks: "It's not about where you start. It's about where you finish."

His start, a roughly decorated cupcake, definitely wasn't pretty even though it probably tasted much like the others. But where he ended up showed much progress as he deftly put together a French macaroon with the help of pastry chef Kelly McGeehan at his side.

Bolden was joined by teammates Von Miller, Louis Vasquez and DeMarcus Ware to help some of Denver's top chefs prepare a small sample of what to expect at the Taste of the Broncos event coming up on June 16, and all with the benefit of helping the Food Bank of the Rockies feed the hungry.

The event offers a foodie's tailgating paradise with chefs each bringing unique tastes of their restaurants, each of which with a bit different fare or ingredients.

On Wednesday, Miller was with Chef Mark Dym of Marco's Coal-Fired Pizza as they prepared multiple pies, including a pistachio pesto pizza. Vasquez helped Justin Brunson of Old Major on a hanger steak with a kale, carrot and radish slaw all on a edamame hummus. Ware was with Troy Guard of the TAG Restaurant Group cooking up Thai chicken sliders with daikon radish, jalapeños, fried shallots, cucumber and peanut toppings.

"We tried to do something a little fresh, healthy and also flavorful," Guard said, as Ware ate one of their samples and showed his approval of the culinary delights. "...he loves the grilled chicken marinated overnight, lots of flavor and then we put anything between a bun or tortilla or on pizza like this magician over here and it tastes great."

Ware, who describes himself as a bit of an adventurer with cuisine (save for shellfish, to which he's allergic), said being able to try many different flavors and meet the people behind them is a major benefit of Taste of the Broncos.

"That's what this ultimate tailgate party is about," Ware added. "Bringing in 30 chefs here and having an opportunity to meet those guys and see how you can eat healthy, how you can have small meals and it tastes well because usually people say when you eat healthy the taste goes out of the door but that's not true. And that's a testament to Troy and what he's been doing."

Guard's goal from the outset when he spearheaded the culinary side was to bring together Denver's top cooking talent and the Broncos will add the top football talent to make for a fun event to spark the senses.

"They asked me to spearhead it and I said OK, I'm going to call the best guys and Linger will be there, you think of a great chef and they're there," Guard said. "It was awesome that the community of guys came together to help the Food Bank of the Rockies and the Broncos came together and we're going to bring a lot of money to Denver Food Bank of the Rockies, which there is a lot of hungry people out there all the time."

For tickets and general event information, please visit DenverBroncos.com/taste