Broncos WR Eddie Royal

Kickoff Return and blocking drills start the practice off. The Scout team dons the red socks over their helmets. Coach Priefer calls out the return plays and blocking assignments from the end zone area and they run through a variation of returns. Coach Keith Burns is up on the front lines giving detailed instructions and encouragement to his players. Perrish Cox is back at the Returner position. They run four or five plays and switch to the 2nd Team. Eddie Royal takes over as the KR. HORN.

The Defense travels to the far field and the Offense goes against the Scouts at half speed. They start out of the huddle a little shaky so Offensive Coordinator Mike McCoy makes them huddle up again. They drill on running plays with an emphasis on the blocking scheme. I see some new formations and wrinkles that I didn't see last year. They walk through a few plays and Coach McCoy thoroughly explains what he wants to see and also covers the what-if scenarios. I am liking this attention to detail. HORN.

"Sweet Home Alabama" plays over the air as the players assemble at the goal line on the far field to loosen up their legs with some light 20 yard jogs. This morphs into a back pedal and then the Hop, Skip and Jump routine. "Ball and Chain" by Social Distortion is blaring loud and clear over the PA system as the players spread out to stretch. The Ball boys are setting up a set of hand-held blocking pads for the Offensive Linemen and the "Running Lane" mat for the Running Backs. "Fishin in the Dark" by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is playing now and Coach Tuten is putting the players through their paces. They break off and the Running Backs run through the hurdle pylons. HORN.

Players assemble for their individual position drills following an established routine. The QB's warm up passing to a ball boy, the Receivers are catching intermediate length passes from a coach and the RB's are running through a gauntlet of blocking pads. The Tight Ends are hitting the stationary blocking sled. This goes on for about 5 minutes. HORN.

The Quarterbacks start passing drills with the Wide Receivers. I see a 3 on 3 line blocking drill with 3 O-Line players and 2 D-Linemen and a Linebacker. I see Decker slip while planting on a break in his route and he doesn't show any ill effects from his injury (sigh of relief). The QB's passes look better than yesterday. Spirals are tightening and the passes are a little more crisp. There are still some that are improperly read, a few that are thrown in the ground at the Receivers feet, and some that sail, but I still see some improvement. HORN.

Royal looks to be slated for the slot position for the Eddie Royal Broncos heading in to the season, which should enable him to use his speed on some mismatches against DBs. However, don't expect to see a return of those great numbers Eddie put up in '08. While he should be back in the end zone at least a couple times, you've got to wonder what the future holds for Royal after the Broncos took two WRs in the first three rounds of this year's draft. He is not worth a fantasy roster spot heading in to the regular season

Under Mike Shanahan, Royal had a spectacular rookie season, finishing with 91 receptions and five TDs. The speedy, third-year pro showed signs of that first year success in Week 5 last season versus the Patriots, in which he had 10 grabs for 90 yards. Even though he started 12 games in '09, Eddie's biggest impact of the season came on special teams, where he returned two kicks at San Diego in Week 6.

Was it the coaching change or the sophomore slump that Eddie Royal caused Eddie to have such a quiet campaign? With Josh McDaniels in charge, the 5' 10" Royal totaled just 37 catches and no scores last season. And, he had more than three receptions in a game only three times last season.