Stay or no stay, Brian Dawkins said go.

The Broncos’ veteran safety, player rep and co-captain got his teammates together this morning at South Suburban Sports Dome for an hour-long conditioning workout with trainer Loren Landow of the Steadman-Hawkins Clinic.

It’s the first time in this unsettled NFL offseason that Broncos players have gathered as a group. Broncos coach John Fox and his staff are not allowed to supervise or view the players’ workout during the NFL’s labor lockout.

“This not about one way being the right way or another way is the wrong way,” Dawkins said after the workout. “This is about providing a safe haven for those who want to come out and work.”

Dawkins sent out a mass text/e-mail to his teammates this weekend inviting any player that was in the Denver area to start showing up for regular team workouts Tuesday and Thursday. Despite the short notice, 15 players attended the first session Tuesday. Quarterback Kyle Orton showed up early to throw passes to receiver Eric Decker. More are expected as word spreads for the session Thursday.

Other projected starters who attended were center J.D. Walton, left guard Zane Beadles, defensive tackle Kevin Vickerson, middle linebacker Joe Mays and defensive end Robert Ayers.

And no, quarterback Tim Tebow was not among the group.

“This was not a get-here-at-all-costs type of thing,” said Dawkins, who added many Broncos players are out of town, working out at their local schools.

“It was a good start,” Vickerson said. “It was good to see some of the guys again. It was something where we could pull guys together for camaraderie and unity.”

The league essentially has yet to open the 2011 offseason with the exception of the NFL draft that was held April 28-30. A few other teams, most notably the New Orleans Saints, started player-supervised workouts last week.

Dawkins had wanted to wait until the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis ruled on whether to stay a previous ruling by Minnesota Judge Susan Nelson that the owner-imposed lockout should be lifted. The three-judge panel in St. Louis last week set a court date for June 3 with a temporary stay on Judge Nelson’s ruling, but has yet to announce whether it intends to keep the stay in place until the hearing.

“We’re in the same boat as everybody else,” Dawkins said. “We’re not in the chambers with them. We’re going day to day. That’s one reason why I decided to put this together. Let’s go ahead and start so we can get the kinks out. Guys can get a good work in so when we do start the OTAs, we’ll be ready to go.”

The gathering among Broncos players was for conditioning and camaraderie, not a practice. Although each of the Broncos players were able to receive Fox’s new playbooks on April 29, Dawkins said it would be at least a few more weeks before he felt comfortable running through the plays.

“To us players, this is not a story, it’s what we do,” Dawkins said. “We do this every offseason.”

THE BRIAN BUNCH

Broncos players who attended the first team offseason workout Tuesday at the South Suburban Sports Dome:

Robert Ayers, defensive end



Zane Beadles, guard



Jeff Byers, guard-center



Daniel Coats, tight end



Chris Clark, tackle



Brian Dawkins, safety



Eric Decker, receiver



Dan Gronkowski, tight end



Joe Mays, linebacker



Kyle Orton, quarterback



Lonie Paxton, long snapper



Mitch Unrein, guard



Cassius Vaughn, cornerback



Kevin Vickerson, defensive tackle



J.D. Walton, center

Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com