Broncos Super Bowl Trophies Moved Into Locker Room

By Mark Haas

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (CBS4) - As the Broncos prepare for this stretch run of 2016, they had a little blast from the past on Wednesday. Peyton Manning was spotted at a Broncos practice for the first time (at least publicly) since he retired back in March.

"Yeah that was him," head coach Gary Kubiak said after practice. "I told all the rookies to go and introduce yourself and we had a lot of guys line up. It was good to see him."

Trevor Siemian agreed it was good to see the quarterback he replaced.

"Me and Austin (Davis) were running and I told (Manning) I know you got some shorts on under there, come join us. But he wasn't having it," Siemian said.

But while Peyton's appearance was brief, the Broncos will now see another part of their past on a daily basis, as the team's three Super Bowl trophies have been moved to a display case front and center in the middle of the locker room.

"It is great to see what we are working towards," said safety T.J. Ward. "Great to see it in front of you, not just a picture but here in the flesh, especially for guys that didn't get to hold it last year. Hopefully it motivates some of the players."

"This team is about winning," said cornerback Bradley Roby. "It is about winning Super Bowls and I think that was the message they wanted to send by putting it in the locker room. They wanted to show that this is what we are about."

But if the trophies were meant to send a message to the team, it wasn't a message from the head coach.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Kubiak said when asked about the new position of the trophies.

After he was told about their new location in the locker room, he joked "well it's good that there are some (trophies) in this building."

"That's a good thing, but those things don't do you any good right now."

So while it's unclear who made the decision to move the trophies, one thing that would help the Broncos right now: a win on Sunday vs. Kansas City.

A loss, and the team's path to a 4th Lombardi Trophy would most likely include playoff games on the road.

Mark Haas is a sports anchor/reporter for CBS4. Read his bio or follow him on Twitter @markhaastv or on Facebook.