After a year away from football, Quinn Meinerz thrilled to begin his Broncos career on the field

[Miles]

"Right now, all I'm really focused on is learning the playbook," Meinerz said. "That's crucial, and not only learning it from one position. So, yeah, I'm definitely trying to learn it from both guards and from center. As an interior offensive lineman, you're kind of expected to know all three of those positions, so you can slide in. And it not only adds value to myself as a player, but it adds value to the team to where I can gain that trust to be able to play all three positions."


Given that reality, Meinerz said he is not focused on possibly pushing for a starting role but simply learning the position, be relied upon as a teammate and contribute when needed.


"That's kind of something to think about that's kind of selfish right now," Meinerz said. "I've got to get myself up to that level of where the vets are and to be able to contribute. So it's not really, 'Hey, I want to be a starter.' It's, 'Hey, I want to be able to contribute to this team and help them win.' When it comes down to when the veterans get here, I want to be a great practice partner for them as well to help them improve their craft. So something like that isn't really on the radar right now. I'm just focused on this rookie minicamp, taking it day by day. You can't worry about those kinds of things."


When the team unites its rookies with the veterans later during the offseason program, it may still be fairly easy to pick out Meinerz on the practice field from afar even without seeing his No. 77 jersey.


As Meinerz heats up during practice, he usually pulls his jersey up a bit to try to cool off. It's something that fans saw during Senior Bowl week, and with the added difficulty Denver's altitude brings, his "Let the belly breathe" mantra probably will stick around, as long as it doesn't become a distraction, he said Saturday.


"The main purpose behind that is when I start getting hot and I'm starting to breathe pretty heavy, I've got to roll up the jersey," Meinerz said. "As you can tell, the jersey fits a little snug. But it just naturally happens."