Broncos have "frustration" with slow process of getting new stadium b…

Several teams are building and/or trying to build new stadiums. The Broncos are in the "trying to build" category. cat-cross.com

And the key word is "trying."

"It’s been almost a year since we announced Burnham Yard as our preferred site," Broncos president Damani Leech told reporters on Sunday. "It remains our preferred site. We’re laser focused on delivering it by 2031. It’s been a great effort by ownership, ourselves, the staff, the city.

"I’ve got to be honest, I wish we were further along in some areas than we are now. I think areas where we do control, particularly real estate, you mentioned Burnham Yard, real estate, engaging with the community, we’ve done site tours of the location, the design of the stadium continues to evolve, the master plan continues to evolve. All of those things are moving along really, really well, but we also understand that we can’t do this alone.

"There are certain things we don’t control. I think as an example, the community benefits process is something that we can’t control. We’ve had a lot of initial great discussions with community representatives. More recently here, it’s been on more of a staff level. We’re eager to engage with those community members directly, understand what they’re looking for, what needs and interests they have on the development. Things like that, we have to continue to progress. We said many months ago, this is an ambitious timeline, so for that to happen, we need everybody to be involved. We can’t do it alone in order to get to 2031.”

Leech said opening the stadium by 2031 is "still achievable for sure," but that "everybody has to be involved."

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Is there frustration with the process?

"I’ll be honest, there are days when I have concern," Leech said, "there are days when I have frustration because you can’t control it all, so I think that’s fair.”

On one hand, five years is forever. On the other hand, it'll fly by. Regardless of where it goes from here, it's clear that it hasn't gone the way the Broncos would like.

Veteran defensive lineman Calais Campbell is on the field at Ravens camp for the first time this summer on Monday.

Campbell was not placed on any injury list to open camp, but the team gave him time off to open camp as he worked his way back from a family tragedy. Campbell's mother was killed in late June and his brother was arrested for murder on July 1.

"From a preparation standpoint, that took up a lot of his time and his mental focus and energy. . . . We're here for Calais, to get ready at the rate he can get ready at," Ravens head coach Jesse Minter said last week, via the team's website. "It's different than a 25-year-old that played only a year or two. This guy's got so many banked reps of experience of getting himself ready in camp. We're going to work with Calais to have a great plan, to have him ready for September, December, January and February."

Campbell wasn't the only Ravens defensive lineman making his first appearance of the summer. John Jenkins is off the physically unable to perform list and practicing with the team as well.

Not long ago, the arrival of August 3 was a reminder that Tom Brady was stretching the quarterback rubber band farther than anyone has.

Four years removed from what was his final NFL season, the boyhood 49ers fan (that changed after they picked Giovanni Carmazzi instead) is now 49.

Brady still has the arm, as anyone who watched the flag-football thing in March saw. It was enough to get him to drop a hint or two about returning to play, even if he'd have to sell the piece of the Raiders he purchased at a well-below-market rate.

Obviously, Brady isn't coming back to play. He's now flirting with a potential pro-wrestling run, regardless of whether it's a mid-life crisis run amok or a strategic effort to fashion a base for a turn to presidential politics.

Brady has spread himself very thin in his post-football life, even as he has lamented in a newsletter the importance of "balance." The sooner he finds one thing on which he can focus his attention — broadcasting or ownership — the better off he'll be.

Indeed, it's impossible to be the best he can be at both by actively doing both. He nevertheless seems to be intent on continuing to do both, and plenty more, indefinitely.

That's his prerogative. And it's our prerogative to say he would seem to be less tormented if he found the one thing that gives him maximum satisfaction.

The simple answer could be that it was playing football, and that nothing else comes close to filling that void. And so it could be that Brady isn't doing a bunch of different things for the sake of doing a bunch of different things. He could be simply turning over rocks in an effort to find something that resonates with him the way that playing did.