When DeMarcus Ware and Demaryius Thomas were teammates on the Broncos during their Super Bowl 50 winning season of 2015, they would sing the national anthem together on the sidelines. 

Ware, an accomplished singer, called that the primary reason he opted to perform the anthem before the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game on Aug. 3, 2023. Two days later, the hard-hitting outside linebacker was inducted into the Canton, Ohio, shrine. 

Ware will be on hand for Sunday’s game between the Broncos and the New York Giants at Empower Field at Mile High, when the 2015 team is recognized at a 10-year reunion during Alumni Weekend. And Thomas, a Denver receiver from 2010-18 who died in 2021, will be inducted into the Broncos Ring of Fame. 

Did Ware consider also singing the national anthem Sunday? 

“I would not be able to because if I’m holding onto any tears, the notes will not come out like they need to be,’’ Ware said in an interview with The Denver Gazette. 

Seconds after that, Ware choked up when discussing Thomas. He had to pause for 45 seconds before continuing to talk about him. 

“Demaryius was like my brother, and he was like a brother to a lot of guys on the team,’’ Ware said of Thomas, whose death at age 33 was believed to be due to a seizure. “He was the heartbeat of the team.” 

Ware said it will be “bittersweet” when the Broncos get together this weekend, a decade after they went 12-4 in the regular season and went on to manhandle the Carolina Panthers 24-10 in Super Bowl 50. There will be tears shed for Thomas, but there also will be plenty of happy memories flowing from the team that won the third Super Bowl in team history. 

The Broncos in 2015 were ranked No. 1 in the NFL in total defense, which remains the only time in team history that has been done. The defense was led by ferocious outside linebacker Von Miller, the MVP of Super Bowl 50, who is still playing with Washington, Ware and the No-Fly Zone secondary. 

“I think that was one of the best defenses ever to play in the National Football League,’’ said Ware, who played in the NFL from 2005-16, including 2014-16 with the Broncos. “Just the dominance of the players we had and the team camaraderie.” 

The offense wasn’t too shabby either, even though Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning, playing the last of his 17 NFL seasons, wasn’t the same player he once was. During an injury-riddled season, Manning missed six games and didn’t start seven. But backup Brock Osweiler filled in well and went 5-2 as a starter. 

Denver’s offense featured Thomas, who caught 105 passes for 1,304 yards, wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, who had 76 receptions for 1,135 yards, and running back C.J. Anderson. Anderson rushed for 720 yards during the regular season and was the Broncos’ offensive star in the Super Bowl, piling up 90 yards and scoring their only offensive touchdown. 

“Our defense was so good that I remember in the first couple of weeks of training camp, as an offense, I didn’t know if we could get a first down,’’ said tackle Ryan Harris, who played in the NFL from 2007-16, including with the Broncos from 2007-10 and in 2015. “Then they let some of the veterans have a day off from practice, and we scored like 10 touchdowns. That day, we knew we had a good offense, too.” 

How important is this reunion for Harris? He is in his eighth season as Notre Dame’s radio analyst and has only missed one previous game, that during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. But he informed his bosses before the season, he needed to miss the Fighting Irish’s home game against USC on Saturday night. 

“I told them, ‘Hey, we have a reunion,’ and everybody understands how rare it is (to win a Super Bowl),’’ Harris said. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” 

More than 40 players from 2015 as well as a good number of coaches and front-office members from the team are on hand this weekend. There is a record number of about 170 total Broncos alumni having returned.

Four players from the 2015 team are still active in the NFL in Miller, Green Bay kicker Brandon McManus, Tennessee quarterback Trevor Siemian, and Arizona long snapper Aaron Brewer. In addition to Thomas, among the deceased from the team are owner Pat Bowlen, director of player personnel Tom Heckert Jr., quarterbacks coach Greg Knapp, and running back Ronnie Hillman, who rushed for a team-high 863 yards in the regular season before having a reduced role behind Anderson in the playoffs. 

The head coach of the 2015 Broncos was Gary Kubiak, who was a backup quarterback for them from 1983-91 and won Super Bowl rings as their offensive coordinator in the 1997 and 1998 seasons. He added a third ring to his collection in his first season as Broncos head coach before stepping down after the following season due to health reasons. 

“The ownership in Denver has done a great job to put this together for a weekend for us to get together,’’ Kubiak said. “It’s amazing how time flies. But it’s a chance for us to get together and see what everybody is up to nowadays and share a few memories and a few laughs. Obviously, it was a great football team.” 

Kubiak said he’s “not a big ring guy.” But he has been known to wear his Super Bowl 50 ring at speaking functions. 

“Every now and then, I’ll stop by the bank safety deposit box and look at (his three rings) and smile a bit,’’ said Kubiak, who is retired in Plantersville, Texas, near where he attended Texas A&M in College Station. “They’re all special and that one (from Super Bowl 50) will always be extremely special.” 

While Kubiak directed the offense, he brought in as defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, who was 68 at the time and is now 78. Phillips has served in the spring leagues, XFL and UFL for the past three seasons, making him the oldest head coach in pro football history. 

The highly experienced Phillips had been an NFL head and assistant coach since 1976, which included previous stints as Denver’s defensive coordinator from 1989-92 and head coach from 1993-94. He helped put together the legendary defense of 2015. 

“I’m excited I get to see the guys again,’’ Phillips said. “It’s a special, special group, and to win a Super Bowl, it’s the ultimate in our profession. We led the league in almost every defensive category. Von was at the height of his career, and DeMarcus could still really rush the passer then. And when we forced them to throw it, our strength was pass defense.” 

Miller that season had 11 sacks while making the Pro Bowl and being first-team All-Pro and Ware had 7.5 sacks while also making the Pro Bowl. The Broncos had three Pro Bowl selections in the No-Fly Zone secondary in cornerbacks Aqib Talib and Chris Harris Jr. and safety T.J. Ward. 

Armed with plenty of talent, the Broncos got off to a 7-0 start, the final win in the run being a 29-10 dismantling of then 6-0 Green Bay on Sunday Night Football on Nov. 1 at home. Manning that night threw for 340 yards, which turned out to be the last 300-yard game of his career. 

The Broncos soon had to go for a good while without the legendary Manning. He threw for 281 yards at Indianapolis, his former team, the following week, but the Broncos lost 27-24 to fall from the unbeaten ranks. The week after that, they lost again, 29-13 at home to Kansas City, as Manning completed just 5 of 20 passes and threw four interceptions, and then was lost with a foot injury. 

That meant Osweiler had to take over, and he kept the Broncos afloat. The biggest win during the stretch was 30-24 over defending champion New England in overtime at home on Sunday Night Football on Nov. 29, when Osweiler threw for 270 yards and Anderson scored the winning points early in the extra period on a 48-yard run. 

“I think about Brock going 5-2 and how crucial that was,’’ said Ryan Harris. “And I think about how hard Peyton worked to (get back) and what he brought to the fold as a leader.” 

Manning relieved Osweiler in the second half of the regular-season finale, a 27-20 home win over the San Diego Chargers that clinched homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. That put him in a position to be the starter throughout the postseason. 

Manning didn’t put up big numbers in the playoffs, and the Broncos relied plenty on their defense. They defeated Pittsburgh 23-16 in the divisional round and the Patriots 20-18 in the AFC Championship Game to advance to the Super Bowl. 

The game against the Patriots was memorable for what Ware did the night before at the team hotel. He first had to get permission to do it from then general manager John Elway, the Hall of Fame quarterback who had led the Broncos to their first two Super Bowl wins. 

“I say, ‘Hey, Elway, is there any way I can get one of the Super Bowl trophies and bring it to the meeting room?’’’ Ware said. “He looked at me and said, ‘Yeah, if that’s what you want, let’s do it.”’ 

So, Ware slipped the Super Bowl XXXII trophy from the 1997 season into a backpack and brought it to a players meeting. He said he wanted to say a few words to the team. 

“Guys were looking at me like, ‘What is DeMarcus going to say?’’’ Ware said. “I unzipped the backup and put (the Vince Lombardi Trophy) on the table. I said, ‘This symbolizes everything that we’ve worked for. The Patriots are trying to come in here and steal what we built. All the hard work, sweat and tears.’ When I put the trophy down, there was total silence. You could have heard a pin drop. It was like a quiet sharpening of a sword, and I knew we were ready after that.” 

Were the Broncos ever ready. They hit Patriots star quarterback Tom Brady an astounding 17 times, including sacking him four times, and forced him into two interceptions. Miller had four quarterback hits, including 2.5 sacks, and an interception, and Ware had seven quarterback hits, including half a sack. 

“It’s one of the greatest games I’ve ever played in,’’ Ware said. 

Next up was Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 7, 2016, against Carolina, which had gone 15-1 during the regular season and had just crushed Arizona 49-15 in the NFC Championship Game. The Panthers were a 5.5-point favorite and that irked the Broncos. 

“We never talked about the spread as players, but when we heard we were the underdogs (by that much), we just thought that was tremendously disrespectful, and we proved it,’’ said Ryan Harris. 

The Broncos sure did. The defense had another impressive game, having 13 quarterback hits and seven sacks of Panthers quarterback Cam Newton. Miller had 2.5 sacks and Ware had 2.0. Denver moved out to a 10-0 lead midway through the first quarter when Miller had a strip sack of Newton, and Malik Jackson recovered the fumble in the end zone. 

“Our defense was best in the playoffs against three top quarterbacks,’’ Phillips said. “We played (Ben) Roethlisberger (of Pittsburgh), Brady and Cam was the MVP that season. “To play as good as we did against those people was astounding.” 

In the Super Bowl, the Broncos had four takeaways to two for the Panthers, which really helped Denver’s offense. The Broncos were outgained 315-194, and Manning completed a pedestrian 13 of 23 passes for 145 yards with an interception. 

But Anderson sure helped matters with his 90 yards on the ground. His 2-yard touchdown run and a Manning two-point conversion pass to Bennie Fowler with 3:08 left gave the Broncos a 24-10 lead that all but sealed the win. Anderson grew up in Vallejo, Calif., which also is in the San Francisco Bay Area and is 65 miles north of Levi’s Stadium. 

“Obviously, winning a Super Bowl after coming in as an undrafted kid (was a career highlight),’’ said Anderson, who was undrafted out of California in 2013. “And to do it not far from my hometown was awesome.” 

Anderson is now head football coach at Benicia High School, which is near Vallejo. He came to Denver for the reunion after the Panthers’ game Friday night. 

“I haven’t been back to Denver since I was cut,’’ said Anderson, released by the Broncos in April 2018 in a salary-related move after rushing for a career-high 1,007 yards in 2017. “But I do know from when it comes to social media, the fans can’t wait to see me coming back. And just to see some of my old teammates, it will be cool.” 

Anderson, though, agreed with Ware that the reunion will be a “bittersweet” with Thomas being inducted into the Ring of Fame. During his five seasons as his teammate, Anderson developed a close relationship with the receiver. 

“He took me under his wing,’’ Anderson said. “I spent a lot of time at his house. We used to play FIFA (video soccer) and we played pool. He was a quiet guy, but I got to see a different side of him with the jokes and his smile.” 

Ryan Harris also was very close to Anderson. He said Thomas “always was smiling” and he called him the “least selfish teammate I ever had.” 

As for Ware, he expects members of the Broncos’ last Super Bowl winning team and many others to become emotional when the placard is unveiled at Empower Field showing No. 88 as a member of the Broncos Ring of Fame. 

“There are going to be a lot of tears shed because of what he meant to all of us but also what he meant to Broncos Country,’’ Ware said. “He was one of the best Denver Broncos ever.”