As teddy bears ago, Dalton Risner bites.

Bryce Ford witnessed the beast that drives the Broncos’ rookie guard firsthand a few years back when the former Wiggins High baseball standout and Risner family friend paid a call to the Kansas State campus.

It was a victorious Saturday for the Wildcats, and as Aggieville danced, Ford sashayed into Dalton’s living room, expecting to join the family in celebration mode. Instead, he found Risner and his father, Mitch, still wearing game faces, still hashing out the game, blow by blow. Still grinding.

“They’re talking about the playbook and how they can improve the playbook, just thinking, overall, about how to get better,” Ford recalls. “They never settle. They’re never content with what they have. They always want to be the best. They’re always striving to be great.

“It’s a great attitude to take, a winner’s attitude. Dalton has always aspired for greatness.”

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If this was after a win, Heaven help you after a loss.

“He is really competitive in that regard,” explains Charlie Dickey, Risner’s former offensive line coach at K-State. “And that’s what separates him. I’ve had some great players, and he’s the best I’ve ever had at just playing with that edge. Not that the other guys didn’t, but he just carried it over. He just took it to another level.”

As teddy bears go, Risner is us, only elevated.

In the cynical darkness of 2019, he’s a shaft of light, a reminder that no dream is too big, no check too large for your talent to cash, once you’ve invested enough sweat, enough blood, enough tears.

Risner, who grew up in Wiggins, 65 miles northeast of the Broncos’ Ring of Fame, is slated to start at left guard for Denver on Monday in the team’s preseason home debut against San Francisco. It’s pinch-me stuff, a childhood dream fulfilled, the kid who used to sit in the stands at Broncos Stadium growing up to run out of the tunnel himself.

Meanwhile, the kid is having none of it.

“I’m nowhere (near) where I need to be,” Dalton says. “(I’m) very happy with how I’ve progressed and happy with the coaching that I’ve gotten from (offensive line coach Mike) Munchak. But I have a lot of work to go to be ready for what I think I need to be (for Week 1), playing the Raiders.”

Colorado proud. Colorado poise. Colorado pushing.

Greatness isn’t a wish.

It’s a process.

“The first day of pads on, man, (Risner) was all over the place,” Munchak chuckles. “Because he was just like, ‘Whoa, things are happening fast, here,’ but in a fun way. Then, all of a sudden, now he’s finding his way. Denver Broncos More Broncos news

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“And he’s dealing with guys like Shelby (Harris) and Von (Miller) and he’s seeing things that happen fast that he never saw in college. And you know, college guys need to see all this stuff, so the preseason will be really important to him.”

Munchak isn’t the gushing kind. A Hall of Fame guard with a teaching pedigree to match, he’s seen everything about five times over. Hyperbole is for the kids. But drop Risner’s name into the convo, and it’s Gush City.

“He’s confident, he’s versatile, he’s a communicator, which is what we needed,” says Munchak, who joined the Broncos over the winter to help shore up a pocket that surrendered 34 sacks in 2018, tied for 10th-most in the NFL. “And (I) just thought he’d be a great fit next to (left tackle) Garett (Bolles), (two) guys that can work together for a long period of time. He’s a work-in-progress, obviously. But he has all the skills that you want: he’s got long arms, he’s got the great size, he’s a competitor.

“You know it’s important to him, he’s into it, he respects the game. When he came for the visits, it’s like, ‘Yeah, this guy would fit us perfect.’ (I) watched him on tape, yeah, he looked good at right tackle (in college). You feel good about him when you brought him in, you meet the guy, he takes over the room a little bit. And those are the kind of guys you want on your team. Every level, it’s fun watching him. Because you didn’t know how the first couple days were going to go, and he figured out the technique and he’s done really well.”

How well? Over the Broncos’ first two preseason games only one offensive player on the Denver roster cracked Pro Football Focus’ top 3 game grades in both contests: Risner, as the rookie scored a 72.5 against Atlanta, and a 68.3 for his efforts in Seattle.

Over 15 pass-blocking snaps, PFF has yet to charge the rookie with surrendering a sack, a hit — or even so much as a hurry.

“It’s a very small sample size, but still impressive that he’s yet to concede a pressure,” PFF senior manager Gordon McGuinness says. “It’s nitpicking because his run-blocking has been fine, but he just hasn’t dominated there yet. He has only played 14 snaps as a run-blocker so far, though, so that should come in time.”

Greatness isn’t given.

It’s forged.

“He’s doing well,” first-year Broncos coach Vic Fangio says. “A credit to him and the program where he’s come from, his hometown, (that) he’s more NFL ready than most players at this stage of their career. I wouldn’t give him his union card yet as an NFL guard, but he’s well on his way.”

As teddy bears ago, No. 66 mashes.

For all the children’s books, the charitable work, the heart of gold, the DaltonMania, it’s the edge — pass-blocking, passion, competitive juice — that McGuinness and his PFF cohorts have adored in Risner’s game ever since he began laying waste to the Big 12 four years ago.

“He’ll have competition to be the steal of the (second) round, at least in the eyes of many,” McGuinness says. “However, it wouldn’t be a shock at all to see him being the steal of the round in terms of PFF grades, that’s for sure. He was the highest-ranked player the Broncos drafted on our big board, and we would have thought it was a perfectly good pick if the Broncos had taken him in Round 1, so to get him in Round 2 was great.”

What’s the comp? The ceiling? Dan Neil? Mark Schlereth? Louis Vasquez? Higher?

“You don’t want to go overboard, but in terms of ceiling he has all the tools to be one of the best offensive linemen in the NFL,” McGuinness replies. “Moving inside is something we’ve seen from plenty of offensive linemen, and one that sticks out is Baltimore Ravens guard Marshal Yanda. He even spent his rookie season at right tackle in Baltimore, and was one of the best right tackles in the NFL, but moving inside allowed him to dominate at a level that should see him in the Hall of Fame one day.

“Hall-of-Fame level is an unfair expectation on any rookie, especially one with fewer than 30 preseason snaps under his belt, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves here with Risner. But if you’re looking for the blueprint for a player who wasn’t a first-round draft pick, moved inside, and dominated at guard, Yanda should be the modern benchmark.”

Even for a plugger who’s always aspired for greatness, that’s an awfully high bar. And the kid’s still having none of it. Related Articles Broncos Briefs: Phillip Lindsay doubtful to play Sunday, but progressing from toe injury

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“Really? Oh, wow,” Risner laughs. “I haven’t seen any PFF (write-ups). I’m worried about what Munchak thinks, bro.

“Yeah, I could care less what anyone else thinks. (It’s) Munchak, Ron Leary, Ja’Wuan James, Garett Bolles, Connor McGovern — those are the people I care about. Vic Fangio. (John) Elway.”

Greatness isn’t assumed.

It’s earned.

“Some guys don’t know how to do it,” Dickey says. “He knows how to turn it on and turn it off, and how to be a regular human being off the field. That’s what makes him so special.”

Just not the only thing. Not by a long shot.