CENTENNIAL — Reuben Droughns gathered with Broncos alumni last week to bridge the gap between generations of former players.

About a dozen retired Broncos and their families met up on Sunday at the Sporty Pickle Bar & Grill for a TV watch party against the Ravens. Droughns, 46, played three NFL seasons (2002-04) in Denver over an eight-year career between five teams. Droughns explained his motivation to connect with former players.

“Being able to talk smack with a lot of these older guys. It’s kind of like that locker room camaraderie that we don’t get (anymore),” Droughns told The Denver Gazette. “Just keeping the family alive.”

Le-Lo Lang is a former Broncos defensive back (1990-93) who now serves as president of the team’s alumni council. Lang organized the most recent TV watch party. It doesn’t happen every road game, though he regularly schedules events to keep Broncos alumni together.

“We just want to keep the guys involved and knowing that you still have a brotherhood,” Lang said. “That’s what it’s all about.”

Conversation flowed during a lopsided Broncos road loss in Baltimore with players reminiscing about their favorite teammates, toughest opponents and NFL career highlights while in Denver.

Mike Harden played Broncos defensive back from 1980-88 and was a team captain.

“I loved playing against the Raiders. We always felt like if we beat them, we had a good shot of winning our division and winning our conference,” Harden said. “Probably one of the toughest, but one of the nicest guys I ever met, was (Bears running back) Walter Payton. He was like the Michael Jordan of pro football.”

Ron Egloff played Broncos tight end over seven NFL seasons (1977-83) and joined old teammates for the TV watch party.

“These guys get tired of hearing the same old stories. But for me, my rookie year, we went to the Super Bowl,” Egloff said.

Egloff enjoys their alumni events. He would like to see one thing change.

“We don’t have any young guys,” Egloff said.

Droughns was the only Broncos player in attendance who appeared in an NFL game within the last 30 years. Others were hopeful to continue growing younger membership of retired players at TV watch parties and similar alumni functions.

“The younger guys, when they get retired, it takes about seven years before they want to be around,” said Wade Manning, a former Broncos wide receiver and return specialist (1981-82). “They might be waiting for the phone to ring, for somebody to ask them to play again. But it’s hard. … We would love to see them, so that they could learn from us. We don’t even have to talk football. We can just talk life.”

Several ex-Broncos players expressed optimism over the current team’s direction under second-year coach Sean Payton and rookie quarterback Bo Nix.

“I love this team. I’m an Oregon Duck and they’ve got three Oregon guys on the team,” Droughns said. “I just think these guys are surprising a lot of us as Broncos fans for what they’re doing this year.”

Quiet trade deadline

The NFL trade deadline expired at 2 p.m. Tuesday with the Broncos not making any additional moves.

On Monday, general manager George Paton traded outside linebacker Baron Browning to the Arizona Cardinals for a 2025 sixth-round draft pick. The Broncos also signed outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper to a four-year contract extension.