Nathaniel Hackett did not play Denver Broncos starters during preseason last summer, citing risk of injury.
New coach Sean Payton plans to do the opposite in 2023.
“Yeah, I haven’t shelled it out yet, but they’re going to play,” Payton said on Aug. 5 when asked if starters will play in preseason. “We’ll figure out how many snaps. We typically break a game into three phases — first, second, third phase — and then special teams, we might just do two phases, but we’ll have a plan, especially as we get into next week.
“I’ve got a few notes written down. I don’t have a pitch count. I don’t have an exclusion list if someone’s got a light injury that we back — but we can expect our guys play a little bit.”
This should not come as a surprise — Payton said at the NFL owners’ meetings in April that he planned to play starters in preseason.
The Broncos will face the Arizona Cardinals in their preseason opener on Friday. After that, Denver will travel to play the San Francisco 49ers, then the Broncos will host the Los Angeles Rams in their preseason finale (full schedule).
Exactly how much playing time the starters will get remains to be seen, but they’ll definitely get reps over the next few weeks.
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