ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- When Demaryius Thomas scans the practice field, he can see the power of change.

Now in his ninth season with the Denver Broncos -- and with the aches to prove it -- he knows how he has to approach being the longest-tenured player with the team.

“If I go out and bust my a** I think the rest of the guys will see me and do the same thing," Thomas said.

In short, Thomas has been the Broncos' No. 1 receiver for as long as any of his teammates can remember. And he intends to show any and all interested parties he's still deserving of that title, especially if it leads to the kind of games he wants to play in.

"I’m always going to think of myself at that No. 1 guy," Thomas said.

"Playoffs, win another championship, that's always the goal, that's it ... I don't always talk about individual things because I feel like personal goals aren't the top thing. But I want to be the best at what I do and have a better year than the year before. That's how I think every year, if that's get back up over 1,200 yards or whatever, just as long as I'm helping us do what we need to do and I push as hard as I can to be better."

Best of NFL Nation • Jones vs. Kamara a big SNF matchup

• Urschel goes from NFL to MIT

• Belichick: Waller will be a challenge

• Bolder Kyler Murray still humble

• McCarthy might have Cowboys moment

Now that he is a 30-year-old, however, he is in the gray-hair territory of his football career. Thomas is, after all, the only player left on the roster from the Broncos' 2010 draft class, just as Von Miller is the only one left from the 2011 draft class. And as the Broncos work through yet another remake on offense and Case Keenum becomes the seventh different starting quarterback who will throw to him, Thomas still believes there's plenty to his game despite what a struggle 2017 looked like at times.

His totals last season -- 83 catches for 949 yards -- were his lowest since 2011, when the Broncos gave Tim Tebow an option-based offense to run for much of that season. Thomas has battled hip troubles to go with a rather lengthy list of bruises, strains and twinges he has accumulated by not missing a game since that 2011 season.

Much like last spring, Thomas has looked refreshed in recent weeks as he has worked to find a rhythm in the offense with Keenum.

"Physically, I can say I've felt my best since I've been in the league," Thomas said. "I have been dealing with hip problems my whole career. Now it really doesn't bother me anymore. So physically I feel the best, mentally as well."

Thomas has felt much the same way in recent Junes on the way to the regular season. But in the 2016 regular-season opener he took a direct hit to his hip and the injury bothered him for the remainder of that season, even as he played in every game.

Last season, a few of the aches and pains cost him some practices, but it was Denver’s struggles at quarterback -- the Broncos went through two cycles of Trevor Siemian, Brock Osweiler and Paxton Lynch at quarterback -- that largely kept Thomas under the 1,000-yard mark.

This offseason, as the Broncos signed Keenum as the centerpiece of their free-agency efforts and offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave re-tooled the playbook, Thomas has been asked to do his part. John Elway mentioned him by name, as well as fellow wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, earlier this offseason when Elway was listing players the team needed more from in 2018.

Thomas is ready to respond.

“You don’t want to be that guy they look at and say ‘that guy sucked,’ I don’t want to be that guy, because people are going to see it when you’re that guy," Thomas said. “I don’t want people to say ‘d***, Demaryius ain’t got it no more,’ I don’t want to be that guy and I don’t want the Broncos to be that team. We’re better than that, we’ve got too much talent for that and we need to work like that.’’