The after-the-fact injury admission has become a natural part of spring football workouts.
Players who had a down year often admit, *yes that injury you'd been asking me about all season really did hurt but I couldn't say it at the time. *
Enter Broncos star wideout Demaryius Thomas, who injured his hip in the team's first game and couldn't shake it for the remainder of the season.
"It was bad at times, it got worse sometimes," Thomas said Tuesday, via ESPN.com. "I never thought about surgery. I could get it, but I don't think I need it, I don't really need it. Right now, I feel great. I've been running routes and it hasn't been bothering me. It just depends on how you get hit now. It's basically maintaining the hips."
He added: "It was tough. Sometimes I couldn't stop and sometimes I couldn't run certain routes that I wanted to run. Sometimes I couldn't get off press because I had no power in it. Like you said, it wasn't my excuse. I was out there, going out, trying to help my teammates out and trying not to make it look bad on my part."
Considering Thomas still logged more than 1,000 yards and caught 90 balls in 2016 with a mixture of Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch under center, expectations have to be high for 2017. While most of that dip was attributed to the loss of Peyton Manning and Brock Osweiler, it might say as many good things for Siemian, who still managed to find his big target that many times despite an inability to shake press coverage.
