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Denver, CO

Sean Payton’s New Orleans-to-Denver pipeline could involve a QB in this spring’s draft, too

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Sean Payton’s New Orleans-to-Denver pipeline could involve a QB in this spring’s draft, too


MOBILE, Ala. — Sean Payton’s spent this week continuing to turn Denver into something resembling New Orleans West.

The Broncos made moves this week to hire two long-time Saints in former offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael Jr. and longtime scout Cody Rager.

They join a host of others, from offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi to linebackers coach Joe Vitt to offensive line coach Zach Strief and tight ends coach Declan Doyle to several players on the roster who have ties to the Bayou.

That’s not particularly surprising considering Payton coached there from 2006 to ’21, of course, but it’s notable the additions have barely slowed after the coach’s first year in Denver.

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An interesting potential wrinkle: What if Denver decided to make a run at developing a quarterback from New Orleans, too?

That would be Tulane’s Michael Pratt, a Senior Bowl participant who entered the week projected by most as perhaps a Day 2 or early Day 3 pick in April’s draft.

Pratt’s been steady during the first two practices of the week, makes mostly clean, quick decisions, and said he’s learning a lot.

“The coolest thing is just to be out here with this level of competition, the caliber of guys that are out here and everybody’s got the same goal,” Pratt told The Post. “We’re out here, we’re trying to make each other better. We’re trying to get better and soak in as much of this knowledge and everything we can take out of this. That’s what’s really important.”

Pratt played in 46 games over four years starting at Tulane, threw for 9,611 yards and 90 touchdowns against 26 interceptions and improved his completion percentage each year in college, finishing at 65.3% as a senior this past fall.

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Pratt’s showed a willingness to pull the ball down and run this week — quarterbacks don’t do much of that here overall — and in his career had 447 carries (2.6 per) and 28 touchdowns on the ground.

Mostly, though, he operates from the pocket and has the kind of tool kit Payton and company might be interested in if they don’t take a quarterback early in the draft.

“The biggest thing I’ve been working on is just getting my footwork right,” Pratt said. “Doing the little things that can increase my accuracy and just the little details that I’ve seen on film and wanted to work on the past couple of weeks and throughout training.

“That’s something that translates into what we’re doing out here.”

Players talk with virtually every team over the course of the Senior Bowl week and then again during the NFL Scouting Combine, so it’s not a surprise Pratt confirmed he’d spoken with the Broncos brass this week. He did say, though, that he’s already had more than one conversation with the organization, acknowledging, “a couple of interviews.”

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“They’ve been awesome,” he told reporters Wednesday. “A lot of just background stuff, getting to know the person, support system, all that kind of stuff.”

One thing the Broncos and other teams can see just by looking at Pratt’s history: He helped lift a moribund Tulane program to new heights over his time there.

The Green Wave went 6-6 his first year starting and 2-10 in 2021. The past two seasons, though, the program went 23-5 overall (12-2 in 2022, 11-3 in 2023), a fact Pratt takes pride in.

“I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” he said. “I take a lot of pride in what the whole team did from the time I came in to the time I’m leaving it.”



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Denver, CO

Pedestrian fatally hit by Frontier airplane departing Denver for Los Angeles, flight canceled after

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Pedestrian fatally hit by Frontier airplane departing Denver for Los Angeles, flight canceled after


A Frontier plane fatally struck a pedestrian in Denver as it was taking off for Los Angeles Friday night, according to the airline and Denver International Airport. Authorities say the pedestrian jumped the fence and crossed the active runway where they were pulled into the aircraft’s engine.



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Denver, CO

A Frontier plane hits a pedestrian during takeoff at Denver airport

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A Frontier plane hits a pedestrian during takeoff at Denver airport


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DENVER (AP) — A Frontier Airlines plane hit a pedestrian on the runway of the Denver International Airport during takeoff, airport authorities said, sparking an engine fire and forcing passengers to evacuate.

The plane, on route from Denver to Los Angeles International Airport, “reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at approximately 11:19 p.m. on Friday,” the airport’s official X account wrote.

Neither the airport nor the airline has disclosed the pedestrian’s condition.

“We’re stopping on the runway,” the pilot tells the control tower according to the site ATC.com. “We just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.”

The pilot tells the air traffic controller they have “231 souls” on board and that and “individual was walking across the runway.”

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The air traffic controller responds that they are “rolling the trucks now” before the pilot tells the tower they “have smoke in the aircraft. We are going to evacuate on the runway.”

Frontier Airlines said in a statement flight 4345 was the one involved in the collision and that “smoke was reported in the cabin and the pilots aborted takeoff.” It was not clear whether the smoke was linked to the crash with the pedestrian.

“The Airbus A321 was carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members,” the airline said. “We are investigating this incident and gathering more information in coordination with the airport and other safety authorities.”

Passengers were then evacuated via slides and the emergency crew bused them to the terminal.

Denver Airport said the National Transportation Safety Board had been notified and that runway 17L, where the incident took place, will remain closed while an investigation is conducted.

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Denver’s playoff flop didn’t cost David Adelman. The roster, though, could be wide open

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Denver’s playoff flop didn’t cost David Adelman. The roster, though, could be wide open


The president and governor of the Denver Nuggets said Friday his faith in coach David Adelman remains strong despite the team’s first-round flop in the playoffs but he indicated a roster overhaul could happen just as much as the team running it back largely intact. “I have full faith in Coach Adelman,” Josh Kroenke said at a news conference at Ball Arena. The Nuggets finished third in the Western Conference at 54-38, behind Oklahoma City and San Antonio.



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