Derek Wolfe had been there twice before, with a new head coach and inevitably some semblance of a new scheme. He had been there as teammates speak glowingly of renewed hope and a changed “culture.” So in April, three months after Vic Fangio was hired as the Broncos’ head coach, Wolfe made a pronouncement befitting a seven-year NFL veteran who had been there to help the Broncos win a Super Bowl and had been there to watch it all fall apart.



“A lot of people have been talking about how everybody’s five minutes early to meetings, and that happens every year whenever you first show up,” Wolfe said. “Everybody shows up five minutes early the first couple weeks. But what happens in Week 16 when everybody’s beat to hell and nobody feels like being around this building and we’re all sick and tired of each other? Are you still showing up five minutes early? That’s when it counts.”



That’s where the Broncos...