Second-year defensive backs Davontae Harris and Duke Dawson emerging as critical components in Broncos’ secondary (Kyle Newman, The Denver Post)

For both players, the bumpy road to their first bona fide NFL opportunity was worth it.

Broncos Briefs: Von Miller on Emmanuel Sanders trade — “We want people who want to be Broncos” (Ryan O'Halloran, The Denver Post)

"It's part of the business," Miller said before practice Thursday. "It was best for Emmanuel and it was best for the team. We're going through a tough patch here (at 2-5). We want to get it right. We want people that want to get it right with us."

Broncos' Courtland Sutton always believed he was WR1 (Jeff Legwold, ESPN)

"You can't go into a game and have one or two catches. You have to go into a game and be 'that guy' every day. That is something that I know, and I accept that role. I'm looking forward to being ... a guy that gets the seven- or eight-plus targets going into the game and knowing that I'm getting those -- being able to make seven or eight-plus catches at minimum, hopefully going into the game and being that guy."

Broncos’ DeMarcus Walker living up to his billing in Year 3 (Arnie Stapleton, Associated Press)

Walker saw Joseph's firing and Fangio's hiring last winter as a chance to kick-start his career, and he's done just that, playing in every game for Denver (2-5) so far, making his first career start against Jacksonville last month and collecting 17 tackles and a pass breakup.

'You can only imagine how I feel': Von Miller opens up about lack of sacks, his attitude moving forward (Aric DiLalla, DenverBroncos.com)

Through seven games, Miller has recorded just 2.5 sacks. He's never had a slower start to a season in his NFL career; his previous low came in 2015 when he recorded four sacks through the season's first seven games. This drought also represents the second-lowest sack total across any seven-game stretch in his NFL career.