His recovery went as scheduled, and when training camp begins, Paradis is expected to be in uniform and ready to go, although Head Coach Vance Joseph said he expects to "work him in slow" to get him up to speed.

Nevertheless, if there is any player on the offense who can miss an entire offseason of repetitions and still hit the ground running in a new scheme, it is Paradis.

"The mental side of the playbook, he's got it locked down already," guard Max Garcia said in May.

Although the Broncos are moving away from a pure zone-based blocking scheme, the change should not hurt Paradis. The Broncos will use many concepts they utilized in 2014, when they drafted him in the sixth round.

It's just a question of how he holds up after two surgeries -- and how quickly he finds chemistry with a line that could include three starters who were not on the team last year if first-round pick Garett Bolles beats out Ty Sambrailo for the left tackle position.

The changes up front -- with Ron Leary at one guard spot and Menelik Watson expected to work at right tackle -- make it essential that Paradis quickly gets back up to speed.