Broncos Training Camp Dates Announced—What Fans Need to Know

The Denver Broncos' training camp dates have been announced. NFL Media's Ian Rapoport broke the news on Monday morning.

Broncos Training Camp Dates

Rookies report: July 22
Veterans report: July 28

From there, the Broncos will have a couple of intensive weeks of practice before their first preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons on August 14. Notably absent from the Broncos' training camp schedule this year are any joint practices with a preseason opponent.

Because the Broncos competed deep into January this past season, head coach Sean Payton has been very cognizant of balancing the offseason and training camp calendar. Instead of going against an opponent in a joint practice, the Broncos will still hold that scrimmage-type session, but it'll be against themselves, which is also nothing new.

One of the benefits of skipping joint-practice sessions this year is that the Broncos won't lose any days of training camp to preparing for an outside opponent. Payton plans to make up for skipping a joint practice this year with plenty of field work.

"One of the reasons of not having the joint practice is to keep getting these ‘A’ schedule practice day schedules, in that, when you have one, then you have the day before where it’s prep for the team," Payton said last week. "You lose a couple of days, so that’s all. I think that there will be a lot of good field work to get those reps.”

Per his tradition as head coach, Payton also plans on the Broncos' starters seeing the field in the preseason. How many snaps quarterback Bo Nix gets after returning from his costly ankle injury remains to be seen.

“I think you’ll see our starters play the same," Payton said of the preseason. "The ‘no joint practice’ is really one. We’ll have the same practice with our defense rather than an opponent’s defense. To your point, up until training camp, you’ll see these guys with the 20 snap count early on, increase that the second preseason game and then maybe...”

Fan Info to Come

The Broncos will soon announce all the relevant fan information for attending training camp. By then, the team will have fully moved into its brand-new facility, so this will be a new format for Broncos fans looking to attend training camp this time around.

We'll pass on that info as soon as the Broncos drop the press release. Even though fans will be sitting in the temporary bleachers this summer, team president Damani Leech expects there to be twice as much seating.

"We expect capacity to be almost twice what we had last year," Leech said back in March. "We’ll be in those temporary bleachers from a fan perspective this season. Then shortly after camp ends, we’ll start to build the berm back up and be more similar to what fans are used to.”

Jonathon Cooper Watch

Cooper's legal issues could conflict with the Broncos' training camp start dates. After being arrested on domestic violence and criminal mischief charges on June 5, his initial trial was set for July 22.

However, that trial date was scrapped after Cooper was arrested a second time within one week of the initial charges. He is expected to have a disposition hearing on July 24, right before he'd be scheduled to report to training camp.

The Broncos excused Cooper from mandatory minicamp last week, creating some distance between the team and the beleaguered outside linebacker. We don't yet know what the team plans to do with him regarding training camp, and whether he'll be excused for any specific dates.

The Broncos may want to stay in this holding pattern until Cooper's legal process plays out, which has now been rolled into a single felony assault case, as reported by The Denver Post's Luca Evans. Regardless of whether Cooper is convicted of any of these charges, the NFL is likely to take disciplinary action and hand down a suspension under the Personal Conduct Policy.

The good news is that Denver's outside linebacker depth has never been stronger. Jonah Elliss and Que Robinson looked very good in minicamp, while Dondrea Tillman enters his third year as a proven commodity. Drew Sanders has earned some praise from Payton, too, so the Broncos aren't exactly desperate.

The Broncos are staying focused on the task at hand, and are hoping to avoid, as much as possible, Cooper's legal troubles becoming a distraction that takes away from the team's training camp imperatives. The Broncos came within spitting distance of a Super Bowl berth last year, and with a first-place schedule this time around, they have to be single-minded in their approach to the 2026 campaign.

Roster Battles

The Broncos have some serious position battles that will take shape in training camp. From backup quarterback, to wide receiver, tight end, running back, defensive line, linebacker, and safety, there's no shortage of competitive intrigue this time around.

When the pads go on in training camp, we'll begin to see the separation in these position battles. Some of them won't be decided until the end of August, with the preseason games factoring in greatly into the roster math.

But it all begins to pop off on July 28 when the veterans report. The cleats will hit the grass soon after, and we'll be off to the 2026 races.

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