Their lives were spent in wide-open Colorado countryside, the Ekeler family home a bumpy drive from a town too small to grasp the weight of NFL dreams.
Austin and Wyett Ekeler grew up seven years apart, but accustomed to the same lifestyle in Eaton. They played catch outdoors, indoors. They fished for bass. They rode horses and watched others ride bulls. They wrestled. Austin usually won.
Football, more so, was an afterthought. There were no high expectations, as Austin put it, that he’d ever make the NFL. He was 5-foot-5 as a freshman at Eaton High, and a zero-star recruit out of high school. Yet he simply continued to step into opportunity when it drifted across his doorstep.
Years into Austin’s NFL career, now an All-Pro returner with the Washington Commanders, younger brother Wyett is trying to walk the same path. Both went undrafted: Austin a running back out of Western Colorado in 2017, Wyett a safety out of Wyoming in 2025. Across the past month and a half training together in Virginia, Austin has given his brother the same advice a coach once told him: Don’t let it be something you didn’t do that caused you to fail.
This weekend, Wyett will have the chance to crack the Broncos’ roster at Denver’s rookie minicamp, some hundred miles from that house back in Eaton.
“That would definitely be an epic, kind of fairytale story,” Austin told The Denver Post.
Wyett got more shine than his older brother out of high school, running for 22 touchdowns his senior year as a two-way star at Windsor High. After starting for three years at Wyoming, he’ll have an uphill climb to cracking Denver’s roster due to the Broncos’ depth in the secondary.
But his brother made a way before him. And before Wyett left for Denver on Thursday morning, Austin gave him a final word of resolve: “You’re ready.”
“I really just want to show these guys,” Wyett said, “that I’m here to play.”
A host of Colorado natives beyond the younger Ekeler are looking to find a home with the Broncos this weekend, as Denver hosts its rookie minicamp from May 9-11. In addition to a first look at drafted rookies like Jahdae Barron, RJ Harvey and Pat Bryant, it’s a chance for the Broncos to take a long look at some local talent that slipped through the cracks.
Colorado State safety Henry Blackburn is one of the most recognizable faces invited — a longtime leader in the Rams’ secondary and prolific tackler. Blackburn told the Post he’s been training in Nashville, where he’s been getting a special-teams education from former CSU and Tennessee Titans punter Ryan Stonehouse.
After a tumultuous college career that included an infamous hit on CU’s Travis Hunter in the 2023 Rocky Mountain Showdown — and subsequent peacemaking — Blackburn will have an opportunity to continue a Colorado journey that began at Boulder’s Fairview High.
“It’s just the greatest blessing that I could’ve ever asked for,” Blackburn said of the Broncos’ minicamp invite.
Former CU defensive lineman Shane Cokes and offensive lineman Justin Mayers will also be at camp, along with CSU Pueblo products Makeah Scippio and Taylor Tosches. One-time CSU lineman Cameron Cooper, the son of former Broncos OL Mark Cooper, is another name to watch.
Veterans at camp
The highest-profile name at Broncos Parkway this week is quarterback Desmond Ridder, a 2022 third-round pick who started 13 games for the Atlanta Falcons just two seasons ago. He’ll be a bit of a longshot to make the roster, as Denver carried three quarterbacks on its 53-man roster in 2023 and currently has three signed in Bo Nix, Jarrett Stidham and Sam Ehlinger.
Former Bengals running back Chris Evans is also swinging through the Broncos’ camp. The 2021 sixth-round pick missed all of 2024 with a torn patellar tendon. Sean Payton loves gadget backs, and Evans has some ability to flash out of the backfield with 15 catches back in ’21.
Undrafted rookies to watch
Denver is currently carrying 70 players under contract (really 71, but tight end Thomas Yassmin has an international exception), with seven draftees and 15 undrafted free agents. If they all signed, that’d bring them to 92 on the active roster, over the NFL’s offseason limit of 90. Either the club will need to make cuts or forgo inking a couple of the UDFAs from this class.
Mizzou’s Johnny Walker Jr. is perhaps the most proven name of that preferred free-agent group. He’s a slightly-undersized edge with a great motor who finished fourth in the SEC in sacks in 2024. The most intriguing sleeper of all: receiver Joaquin Davis, who was barely on the NFL radar before busting out at the HBCU combine in February. He’s 6-foot-4, has 4.4 speed and a 40-inch-plus vertical, the exact type of raw-talent flier that Payton loves.
Click here for a total list of Denver’s UDFA signees.
Total confirmed non-roster invites (non-UDFAs, non-rookie signees)
Name Position Height Weight School (previous NFL team) Travis Theis RB 5-11 215 South Dakota Cameron Cooper OL 6-4 291 Lindenwood Henry Blackburn S 6-0 205 CSU Shane Cokes DL 6-3 275 Colorado Max McLeod WR 6-3 200 Colorado School of Mines Makeah Scippio OLB 6-4 235 CSU Pueblo Justin Mayers OL 6-4 320 Colorado Taylor Tosches WR 6-3 220 CSU Pueblo Wyatt Ekeler S 5-11 210 Wyoming Blake Stenestrom QB 6-4 220 Princeton Desmond Ridder QB 6-3 207 Cincinnati (Las Vegas Raiders) Chris Evans RB 5-11 215 Michigan (Cincinnati Bengals) Gabe Clark OL 6-6 320 University of Central Missouri Zach Kennedy DL 6-6 275 UC Davis MJ Sherman OLB 6-3 245 Nebraska Mikey Harrison TE 6-3 220 San Diego State Jordan Turner LB 6-1 231 Michigan State CJ Baskerville S 6-3 210 Texas Tech Read More Details
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