Place the ball on the tee. If the season opener against the Baltimore Ravens were moved up from Sept. 5 to today, the Broncos would be ready.

No more is the offseason for healing sore bones and building beer bellies. Contact is forbidden, but the Broncos not only had 10 organized team activities (OTAs) and three minicamp sessions, they practiced at full game speed.

The Broncos are not a perfect team. Elvis Dumervil is gone and can’t be faxed back. Ryan Clady hopes satisfactory numbers are transmitted before training camp begins July 24. The competition for the starting middle linebacker job remains unsettled, and there is some personnel experimentation going on at both safety positions.

But the offseason has done nothing to douse the Broncos’ Super Bowl aspirations. A look at the five most significant surprises during the team’s offseason program that concluded Thursday:

1. David Bruton with first-team defense. The starting safeties last season were Rahim Moore and Mike Adams. Bruton and Quentin Jammer are posing legitimate threats for those spots this year.

Jammer is somewhat of a hired gun, but Bruton primarily played special teams in his first four seasons. Defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio, back for a — get this — second consecutive season, has given Bruton’s size and athleticism a long look during the offseason. Where Bruton needed improvement at safety was in his angles taken both in coverage and tackling.

“Football is a game of angles and I worked on that this year,” Bruton said. “It’s not just breaking to the ball, it’s taking a peek at the receiver so you take the proper angle and play the ball after that. I still have work to do and I’ll continue to do that these next five weeks and when we get back.”

2. Julius Thomas with first-team offense. A former basketball player at Portland State, Thomas received some “next Antonio Gates” hype during his 2011 rookie season. Just as quickly, he suffered the high-ankle sprain from Hades.

Thomas finally was healthy in the second half of last season and though he wasn’t seen on the game-day roster, he started impressing coaches in practice.

His opportunity came this spring. The potential of adding a tight end freak to Demaryius Thomas, Wes Welker and Eric Decker would give quarterback Peyton Manning arguably the most lethal reception group of his career.

“This was just the start,” Thomas said. “I have to approach the next five weeks with a relentless attitude. And then I need the same thing once training camp starts and then in the games. By no means do I think I’ve accomplished anything so far.”

3. Ronnie Hillman. There was more question about Hillman, who struggled as a rookie running back last year, than there was with Montee Ball, a rookie this season who came with workhorse credentials.

Hillman had been viewed as a third-down and speed back, but he put on 15 pounds of muscle before OTAs and never lost his place atop the offseason depth chart.

4. Eric Decker, Demaryius Thomas. It’s not just the guys near the bottom of the roster who improve. It’s more difficult to go from good to very good than from average to decent.

During the OTA and minicamp practices, Manning was noticeably sharp with his returning receiving duo of Thomas and Decker, who last season combined for 179 receptions, 2,498 yards and 23 touchdowns.

“I think in terms of football intelligence, I’m more mature this year,” Decker said. “My route-running ability has improved as far as knowing how to not give away certain routes.”

5. Adam Gase, Peyton Manning and the high-speed offense. This was the No. 1 story of the offseason, but the topic has been circulating since Gase replaced Mike McCoy as offensive coordinator. Manning altered the NFL in 2002 when with the Indianapolis Colts he called nearly every play from scrimmage. But that involved hand signals, arm waves and shouts into his teammates’ helmet holes.

Now 37 and entering his 16th pro season, Manning is learning to direct the offense at a faster pace.

Mike Klis: 303-954-1055, mklis@denverpost.com or twitter.com/mikeklis