ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- In his first weeks as the Denver Broncos coach, Vance Joseph reviewed each game of the team's 2016 season. Over and over he went through the plays that made up a 9-7 finish and the Broncos' first playoff miss since 2010.

And among the conclusions he reached in those hours of review was that wide receiver Demaryius Thomas has been one of the league's elite receivers with the Broncos. Yet, Joseph believes Thomas can still be better.

"I want '88' -- that's what I call him -- I want him to be a dominant player all the time," Joseph said at the league meetings this week. "I don't want him to ease into games ... I want him to step out and be a guy. It's time. He's a great player. He can take over a game, but I want his mindset every game to be every game we play to walk on the field and take over the game."

Thomas, who signed a $70 million deal with the Broncos just before training camp in 2015, has had five consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons and hasn't missed a game since 2011.

He's been a team captain and the former first-round pick has been a mild-mannered, steadying presence in the locker room and in the offense. But Joseph, like Gary Kubiak, John Fox and Josh McDaniels before him, believes Thomas couldn't consistently suit up for games and practices while rarely missing time and while battling though injuries with the dedication Thomas has if a fire didn't burn hotter on the inside than he shows on the outside.

Joseph doesn't want Thomas to be anything other than the person he is, but he would like to see a little more of that fire on the field.

"I want him to win every one-on-one," Joseph said. "I want him to become a leader of our football team."

Thomas' teammates point to his fire on a play against the New Orleans Saints last season. It was one of five touchdowns in 2016, his lowest scoring output since 2011 when Tim Tebow and Kyle Orton were the Broncos' quarterbacks and the team led the league in rushing. But on the play in the Superdome last November, Thomas truly revealed his talents. He jumped, reaching high to rip the ball away from New Orleans cornerback Delvin Breaux for a touchdown. Thomas then glared at Breaux and spiked the ball, almost defiantly.

Broncos quarterback Trevor Siemian joked after the game that he believed the ball was going to "explode" when Thomas slammed it to the ground. It was exactly what people want to see from Thomas, but in a year when the Broncos could neither consistently protect the passer nor run the ball very well, it also turned out to be Thomas' last touchdown catch of the season.

He went the final five games of the year without a touchdown and wore a heavy wrap on his hand following the season finale after battling a sore hip for much of the year. Thomas also had a six-game stretch in 2015 when he didn't catch a touchdown pass and those are the kinds of stretches Joseph wants to avoid. As the season drew to a close, Thomas repeatedly said "I haven't made enough plays, the kind I know I could make for this team."

Joseph has said if the Broncos' can run the ball better than they did in 2016 -- they were 27th in the league in rushing with one 100-yard rushing game from a back all season-- it would force defenses to play toward the line of scrimmage more and loosen some things up in coverage for Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders. Joseph has tossed out the idea of moving Thomas around the formation a little more in Mike McCoy's offense.

McCoy was the Broncos' offensive coordinator in Thomas' first three years in the league.

"We have a guy like D.T., I think moving him around from outside to the inside, putting him in motion, it definitely helps him," Joseph said. "He has the ability to do those things. He can play the slot and he can play outside. He's a great runner with the football with wide receiver screens. That has been his trademark for years. Catch the screen and go 60 and 70 yards ... having more variety in the offense will help him play better."