DENVER — Super Bowl Sunday was memorable this year, and for me, it came with plenty of reflections about all things NFL after spending a season on the inside. From July training camp to Week 18 in January, I served as the digital media intern for the Denver Broncos, with responsibilities ranging from uploading press conferences and highlights of top plays to the Broncos website to writing articles about the latest developments and game results. Across my 160 days on the job, I wrote 220 articles, covered 20 games and penned eight columns of my content series, Win Column, after the Broncos’ eight wins. As a longtime NFL fan and aspiring sports journalist, the experience of going into an internship each day and being around practices, games and locker room availability sessions for a storied franchise was unique and one where I learned a great deal about how the league and its teams operate. In contrast to previous NFL experiences at the Falcons’ and Bears’ rookie camp sessions, Super Bowl media week and the NFL scouting combine, this internship opened my eyes to what life is like in the NFL and the intensity and dizzying highs and lows that come with each season. And, of course, my wardrobe became a lot more orange in the process, almost matching the purple I’d accumulated from attending college. I was dangerously excited about tackling the challenge of working in an NFL environment in the weeks and months leading up to my move to Denver. The experience certainly proved to be a memorable one.
Though Denver’s campaign ended short of the postseason, I found the 2023 Broncos season to be a fascinating year to be a part of the franchise. Head coach Sean Payton’s hiring in the Mile High City immediately became the most impactful development for the franchise since its Super Bowl title in the 2015 season — the Broncos’ decision to start the season with an onside kick attempt was hilariously fitting — and the pairing of a Super Bowl-winning head coach in Payton and Super Bowl-winning quarterback in Russell Wilson added an undercurrent of intrigue from the first game to the last. The season included the highest of regular season highs in a five-game winning streak and a home win against the Kansas City Chiefs, along with historic lows in a 1-5 start and 70-20 loss to the Miami Dolphins. Following the action for a team that found itself in the playoff chase in December was thrilling, culminating in a memorable (and chilly) Christmas Eve clash against the New England Patriots that turned the whole season upside down. As was the case with a good number of teams this NFL season, there were so many twists and turns that I never fully anticipated what was next, right up until the season-ending press conferences in the Broncos’ fieldhouse facility. Payton’s favorite phrase was that there was ‘a fine line between a groove and a rut,’ and this season proved that statement to be factual in today’s NFL.
I already gave a glimpse inside the fast-paced gameday experience in my Day in the Life article a couple months ago, so today I’ll take a wider perspective and discuss what stood out to me across the entirety of the season, similar to my breakdown of my terrific spring with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution sports desk in 2022. A common thread between these two internship experiences was the variety of insights that I gained about leagues I dreamed of covering for over a decade, and I picked up different nuances about sports media as a member of a team’s digital content department than I did interning with a newspaper sports desk in a major market. Living in mountain time was a novelty in itself, with plenty to do in and around Denver from my arrival in the summer to the freezing temperatures at the start of the new year. These are some of my biggest takeaways, supported or contradicted expectations and most vivid memories from my time in Broncos Country.
Covering the NFL from a team perspective
My expectations: I entered my role as a digital media intern having conducted a thorough amount of background research about working for teams, from talking with team reporters at the Falcons’ and Bears’ practices to calling previous interns and hearing about their experiences to listening to podcasts, and I learned that NFL team staff writers are becoming more respected in the media sphere and have been maximizing opportunities to make unique content from their access. Transitioning into the role, I was interested to see what it was like to give up the critical eye and produce content while not being viewed as public enemy number one from players and the team PR department (a big difference between team media and news outlets).
My experience: NFL teams take varied approaches when it comes to in-house media. Some teams treat their digital content like a newspaper desk, while some publish only a couple of written articles a week and instead emphasize multimedia content. While some team writers are more critical of their employers, others aim to align their perspectives more closely with what coaches and players are saying in press conferences. Departments also vary in the number of writers, amount of content, readership and how good the team is in that season. While my role didn’t include on-screen participation in multimedia content, I was entrusted with the No. 2 beat writer role for the season and stayed plenty busy with the comprehensive coverage of daily developments. At the same time, I made it a priority to make my own imprint on the internship and received the green light to create my own content series, Win Column, that analyzed top plays after each Broncos win. Writing articles after games aligned most closely with my newspaper experience, while the other responsibilities that come with working for a team, such as learning the nuances of the back end of the Broncos website, brought with it more of a learning curve. Interestingly, I learned as much (if not more) about public relations in the NFL as I did for the writing side, and with it I learned about the collaboration that different departments can foster in producing content for a franchise’s fanbase.
Attending the entirety of an NFL team’s training camp practices
My expectations: My first in-person NFL experience came after the 2008 NFL season, when my dad brought me to a Ravens summer training camp session at McDaniel College. I interacted with Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, my two favorite Ravens players, and saw the NFL as more than just a drama that played out on Sundays on TV. I knew the everyday nature of training camp would be grueling, but I looked forward to contributing in any way I could and growing in my understanding of my role before the pressure cooker of the regular season.
My experience: A great deal of sunscreen is required! Once I figured that out with the help of the Broncos’ staff, I became much more comfortable with the everyday grind of training camp and grew more familiar with the roster. A 90-player roster is a lot to keep track of for someone new to the team, but taking attendance by crossing off each player’s number as they ran out proved to accelerate the learning curve. Situational and two-minute drills were the most interesting to me, pulling in players from both sides of the ball, and I think in future years I will know what drills matter more than others in demonstrating meaningful progress. The Broncos’ 2023 training camp was most interesting from a coaching standpoint, as both sides of the ball welcomed in new coordinators and assistants and head coach Sean Payton was in his first months on the job. The days under the sun were definitely tiring though, and I was amazed at the difference in the practice atmosphere on days with and without fans. For me, I enjoyed training camp but looked forward to meaningful football and results.
Watching NFL games from the comfort of a press box
My expectations: The aspect that I was most excited about in taking the role with the Broncos was the chance to work in the press box for a preseason home game and nine regular-season home games at Empower Field at Mile High. Previous interns said this was the greatest thrill of their role, and after attending four NFL games in my life from a fan perspective, I was excited to dress up in suits and work among the NFL media.
My experience: The Empower Field press box view was a definite plus of the game day experience, most notably when the sun went down and the temperatures plummeted in the late-season prime-time games. My in-game duties included sorting through and publishing highlights from each game and taking notes on what was happening, which was an important task but veered from my background in writing during the game. Though I did not attend any away games, I witnessed some spectacular moments from the warmth of the press box: wide receiver Brandon Johnson’s corralled deflection on a Hail Mary attempt, the Broncos’ comeback wins over the Packers and Vikings, wide receiver Courtland Sutton’s jaw dropping catches each week and the Broncos’ first win over the Kansas City Chiefs since 2015. I also found it thrilling to watch the Broncos’ Christmas Eve prime-time battle against the New England Patriots, which ultimately demolished their playoff hopes but was an unexpected development in Denver’s hunt for a playoff bid. Game day press box meals had some bright moments, too, and I enjoyed seeing all sorts of games throughout the day on various TVs and big screens. For me, the biggest thrill (and maybe most stressful part as well) was racing down to the locker room after the game to catch what the players had to say after each game and capturing postgame quotes through my Voice Memos app.
Learning about the ins and outs of a professional team beat
My expectations: I’d covered plenty of teams closely at Northwestern and chipped in for the AJC’s coverage of Atlanta’s various pro and college teams, but spending six months with a team ensured that I would get to know the Broncos pretty well. I hoped that this dynamic would lead to more informative content for our readers and a deeper knowledge of X’s and O’s and football strategies for me as an aspiring football writer.
My experience: By Week 1, I was pretty well-versed on each position group and could name the overwhelming majority of the 53-man roster. Putting names to faces took a bit more time, but that aspect came gradually and proved beneficial when I had to track down various players for initiatives like My Cause, My Cleats. As with the AJC, I found that being so close to the team on a daily basis made keeping perspective on the team relative to the league a challenging task, with my role focused more on coach quotes than analysis or opinions on how the team was doing overall. I didn’t expect a 1-5 start, and I definitely did not see a five-game winning streak coming immediately after that. As a professional journalist covering the team, analysis would be a much more important component and require a more critical eye, but it wasn’t as central to my role with the Broncos. My most important lessons came with navigating a professional media setting, from handling the microphone at post-game locker room availability each afternoon to understanding the role and job of the public relations staff.
Surviving the grind of an NFL season
My expectations: I asked one NFL team staff writer about how he handled the stress of working an entire NFL season, and he joked to me that it took him 30 years to adjust and find a comfort zone. I didn’t have 30 years to adjust, so I gave extra attention to handling the rigors of the NFL season well while knowing that it was a lifestyle with the great inherent potential for becoming unbalanced. While the once-a-week games and 9-to-5 schedules seemed manageable, I was bracing for the worst.
My experience: The NFL season was intense, but compared to leagues with more games like college basketball, the NBA and MLB, the NFL season felt to me to be more manageable, with news coming at normal hours of the day and games only once a week. A huge help for me was incorporating exercise into my schedule, even on weeks where I would be working six days during training camp or working longer shifts to produce more content after wins. Working out at the facility early in the morning before work required discipline, but it set the tone for my day and enhanced my ability to be my most energetic at the start of the day, rather than sleeping in and approaching each day’s responsibilities reactively. By the end of the season, I was opting for the latter option much more often (which was understandable), but I can look back and see a strong correlation between getting in a workout in the morning and feeling my best self throughout the day. The gym also proved to be a great option in making connections with my co-workers and giving me a space to decompress and have autonomy in my workouts. From a content perspective, a great aspect of the NFL was that each week and game felt distinct instead of blending together, and while some content series had similar voices and messages week-to-week, my work felt more dynamic than stale. I ultimately missed the Broncos’ final home game due to catching the flu on New Year’s Eve, but I made it through and completed the internship and a full season in the NFL.
Final Musings
Was my time with the Broncos a success? I think it could be, both in the short- and long-term. In a more immediate sense, I learned a lot about public relations, the role of a team media department and work environment relations and got to pick the brains of some talented and well-versed co-workers. I also developed an understanding of what daily life looks like within the NFL sphere and what is required to excel in these roles, and even the wide range of approaches that different NFL teams have towards in-house media. From a long-term perspective, I feel better prepared to cover the NFL and made a habit of reflecting on how I would have approached situations if I was a media member working for a website or newspaper. Those reflections don’t have as much of a tangible output, but I think the time I spent going through that exercise was a valuable addition to my responsibilities and helped me make the most of my internship.
In comparison to my time at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, my role with the Broncos covered a great deal more ground. Working out of an office was a new experience for me, and the six months I spent in Denver doubled my stay in Atlanta for that internship. As I learned through my time as a digital media intern, writers within NFL media departments typically have much more on their plate in terms of multimedia and other responsibilities than the more specific and content-focused routines of newspaper writers, and with that I developed familiarity with technical aspects of multimedia production that I might not have at a newspaper. I’d say that my role with the AJC aligns more closely with my long-term sports media vision and goals, but covering the NFL proved to be worth the hype I’d built up in my mind and always kept me guessing. And I was always fascinated to see what was next.
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