Red River rivals Malcolm Roach, Marvin Mims Jr. add spice to Broncos camp with good-natured barbs

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Usually if there's any chirping going on at sweltering NFL training camps, it's between the massive offensive and defensive linemen who are pounding into each other or the wide receivers and cornerbacks fighting for 50-50 passes.

The biggest beef at the Denver Broncos' training camp this summer is between 6-foot-3, 290-pound defensive tackle Malcolm Roach, a notorious smack talker, and 5-11, 184-pound receiver Marvin Mims Jr., the NFL's reigning All-Pro punt returner.

Asked about the chirping back and forth at a spirited practice this week, Mims replied, “Yeah, I mean, it’s just Malcolm Roach. I mean, I sit next to him in the locker room, guy doesn’t shut up. He’s talking crap to receivers. It’s like, ‘Dude, like, you’re a fat guy. Like, go worry about that. Leave me alone.’”

They then took their “beef” to social media, jawing online.

Roach stepped up to the podium Friday knowing the first question would be about his good-natured bickering with Mims.

“Y'all think I really worry about 19?” Roach said. “I see him every day in the locker right by mine. Y'all think I talk? He really talks more than me. But I ain't worried about Marvin. Marvin knows he's not about to cut that ball back across the middle. That's all I have to say about that.”

Of course, Roach did have more to say.

“I can lose this weight,” Roach said. “He can't lose them looks.”

When coach Sean Payton was asked about the back-and-forth, he expressed surprise at the combatants.

“Malcolm, you hear him before you see him, and I like that energy about him," Payton said. "But, yeah, I wouldn't have picked Mims and Roach. I would have picked so many other combos."

Maybe it has roots in the Red River Rivalry. Roach went to the University of Texas; Mims hails from the University of Oklahoma.

Bo Nix finally threw his first interception of training camp, and it was a doozy. Safety Talanoa Hufanga made a leaping grab near the line of scrimmage for a pick-6 during team drills Friday.

“The interception, it was an RPO (run/pass option) and if you look at his distance from the throw I bet it was like eight yards,” Payton said. "And so to be able to go up and catch that with a crowded look in front of him? I'm anxious to seek it on film. I saw it from behind the line of scrimmage.”

That's the kind of play the Broncos are counting on this season from the free agent who left the San Francisco 49ers along with inside linebacker Dre Greenlaw to come to Denver last spring.

“You know, if I asked you to give us the best safeties that are in the Hall of Fame, the traits are always instincts and football smarts,” Payton said. "Some are faster than others, but it's hard to be real effective at that position if you don't have those football instincts. And certainly he brings that. I made a comment in the offseason: there's certain players the ball finds them, and he's one of those guys.

“So, that play was sick.”

Construction of the Broncos' $175 million training facility hit a milestone Friday with a “ topping out ” ceremony to commemorate the final beam being lifted into place.

Team owner Carrie Walton Penner signed the timber before a giant crane lifted the structural beam from the north side of the construction site to the south facade.

The Broncos broke ground last year on the 205,000-square-foot facility that will combine their football and business operations under one roof for the first time in franchise history. It's scheduled for completion in May.

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Denver Broncos safety Talanoa Hufanga talks to teammates as they warm up at an NFL football training practice Monday, July 28, 2025, in Centennial, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Denver Broncos defensive tackle Malcolm Roach, center, raises his arms to acknowledge the applause of fans while warming up between defensive end Zach Allen, front, and defensive tackle Jordan Miller during an NFL football practice Friday, July 25, 2025, in Centennial, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Germany's troubled economy returned to modest growth last year after two years of falling output, official figures showed, as hopes rise that government spending on bridges, rail lines and defense may help end years of stagnation.

The expansion in gross domestic product of 0.2% for 2025 was fueled by stronger consumer and government spending while exports sagged under the weight of more restrictive U.S. trade policy under President Donald Trump, the German Federal Statistical Office said on Thursday.

That follows shrinkage of 0.5% in 2024 and 0.9% in 2023.

“Germany’s export business faced strong headwinds owing to higher U.S. tariffs, the appreciation of the euro and increased competition from China,” statistical office head Ruth Brand said in a statement accompanying the statistical release.

Expectations have risen for Germany to finally see stronger growth this year as the government under Chancellor Friedrich Merz implements plans to increase spending on infrastructure to make up for years of underinvestment. Meanwhile defense spending is rising due to a perceived higher level of threat from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.

Germany has endured a period of extended stagnation following the COVID-19 pandemic. Higher energy costs following the war in Ukraine and increasing competition from China in key German specialties such as autos and industrial machinery have held back an economy that is heavily focused on exports. Then came Trump's imposition of higher tariffs, or import taxes, on goods from the European Union. The slow growth has also exposed long-term structural issues such as excessive bureaucracy and lack of skilled labor. A stronger euro has also made exports less competitive on price.

A group of leading economists has predicted 0.9% growth for this year but said that forecast could be at risk if the increase in government spending is unleashed more slowly than expected.

The German economy grew 0.2% in the last three months of 2025, according to available preliminary data.

FILE - Containers are piled up in the harbor in Hamburg, Germany, on Oct. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, file)