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)
WASHINGTON (AP) — South Carolina was selected Friday to once again lead off the Democratic Party’s 2028 presidential nominating schedule, cementing a dramatic break from decades of tradition by leaving Iowa out of the early-state lineup altogether and elevating more racially diverse states.
The decision by the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee will need to be approved by the full organization, which is scheduled to meet in August.
Nevada is expected to follow South Carolina, with New Hampshire, New Mexico, Michigan and Virginia rounding out the early-state calendar. Those states will wield outsized influence in the nominating contest before Super Tuesday, when voters across a large group of states cast presidential primary ballots.
“This calendar will battle test our candidates, ensure our nominee can appeal to broad swaths of the electorate and this calendar will allow voters, not money, but voters to be the ultimate decider,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said after the vote.
The overhaul reflects Democrats’ effort to give greater influence to states that better mirror the party’s diverse coalition, particularly Black and Latino voters, after years of a calendar led by Iowa and New Hampshire, two states with overwhelmingly white electorates.
But hopes of emerging from Friday’s meeting with a party unified around one map were dashed by anger from states that had previously led the process. Rita Hart, chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, said she was disappointed but not surprised by Friday’s calendar vote, which she called “very messy” and a sign that the national party is “out of touch with voters.”
There was more angst in New Hampshire, where the secretary of state is required by law to schedule its presidential primary at least seven days before any other state holds a similar contest, setting up a potential conflict with the DNC calendar.
“The Democratic National Committee’s decision today is wrong for Democrats, wrong for New Hampshire, and wrong for the country,” said a group of congressional leaders in New Hampshire, including Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan.
Democrats opted to lead with South Carolina after President Joe Biden successfully pushed to move the state to the front of Democrats’ 2024 calendar after the state revived his struggling 2020 presidential campaign. South Carolina has long been the first Southern contest and has served as a key test of candidates’ support among Black voters.
Jaime Harrison, a former DNC chair in attendance Friday, told The Associated Press after the vote that keeping his home state first on Democrats’ nominating calendar signaled to Black voters the value they bring to the party, especially after a Supreme Court decision aimed at weakening their voting power.
“I think we needed a strong statement to say to the most loyal members of our party, which are Black voters, that we’re going to stand up with you,” said Harrison, who also chaired South Carolina's Democratic Party. “It was just really important for us to stand up and say, ’We see you, we hear you, but most importantly, we’re gonna fight like hell for you. And your voices are important.'”
Much of Friday's debate stood as a contrast on several fronts. South Carolina proponents argued they had the experience to stand up a lead-off primary, and served as a showcase for the Black voters whose support has become vital for Democrats.
“Black voters didn't just show up for this party in 2020. They saved us,” Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb said, in making her argument for South Carolina. "They saved our entire country from Donald Trump.”
Nevada's supporters, meanwhile, portrayed their state as the party's future, in which they argued Latino voters play a larger and larger role.
“We are the battleground state," said Artie Blanco of Nevada, a DNC vice chair. "We win elections because we leave no voter untouched.”
Republicans still need to do their calendar. They’re expected to stick with their traditional early-state lineup led off by Iowa and New Hampshire.
Iowa has long led both parties' calendars with caucuses. Hart declined to say whether Iowa Democrats will defy the national party in 2028. She said they will wait until after the state’s midterm races when Democrats hope to make recently unattainable gains in the increasingly conservative state.
“We’re going to win elections here, and then we’re going to tell them what we’re going to do,” said Scott Brennan, who formerly represented Iowa on the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee.
New Hampshire Democrats similarly would not commit Friday to following the new calendar.
“This committee’s vote does not change the realities governing New Hampshire’s primary, which are beyond the control of both this committee and our state party,” said New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley.
Asked about some states not committing to the new calendar, Martin said the party will “have to cross that bridge when we get there.”
“We got some time, and the calendar was just set here,” said Martin.
The new map will shape the opening stage of what is expected to be a crowded Democratic presidential primary. Without an incumbent or clear front-runner, the states that vote first could once again play an outsized role in determining which candidates gain momentum, attract donors and emerge as viable contenders.
The calendar decision is one of the first milestones in what's expected to be a tumultuous two-year sprint to the Democratic nomination.
There has not been a truly open Democratic presidential primary — without an incumbent president or a dominant front-runner — in almost two decades.
Holly Ramer in Concord, N.H., and Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed reporting.
Kinnard reported from Columbia, S.C., and can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP
FILE - The U.S. and South Carolina flags hang in the South Carolina statehouse, March 16, 2021, in Columbia, S.C . (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins, File)
FILE - Precinct 68 Iowa Caucus voters seated in the Biden section hold up their first votes of the caucus as they are counted at the Knapp Center on the Drake University campus in Des Moines, Iowa, Feb. 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
FILE - U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., speaks to attendees at the South Carolina Democratic Party's Blue Palmetto Dinner on May 29, 2026, in Columbia S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard, File)
FILE - Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at DNC headquarters, Jan. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert, File)
