ENGLEWOOD – So what if Jonah Coleman was a yard off?

His point was well made.

Coleman, a running back selected by the Broncos in the fourth round of last month’s NFL draft, was asked after Saturday’s second day of a three-day rookie minicamp at Broncos Park about adjusting to Denver’s high altitude.

“The last time I played here in Boulder, you know, 11 carries, 180 yards,” Coleman said of a November 2023 game for Arizona at Colorado.

In the Wildcats’ 34-31 win, Coleman actually had 11 carries for 179 yards. He then spent the next two seasons at Washington before joining the Broncos.

Coleman said his adjustment to the altitude in his latest trip to Colorado has gone “pretty good.” He will get no argument from Sean Payton.

“He’s in good shape,” the Broncos coach said after Saturday’s practice. “There are certain things you want to, when you’re in this type of drill setting, you want to give him. Then he’s picked it up well. He’s looked really good.”

There was no tackling, of course, in the practice. But Coleman looked explosive in the carries he got.

As for his conditioning, Coleman stressed how he has made a point of keeping it up, including in the two weeks since he was selected April 25 in the draft.

“I’ve been doing a lot of boxing, a lot of cardio, running on the treadmill, doing the little things that I can do,” he said. “It’s tough when you get out of college, you don’t have all those strength coaches and everything they provided you in college, so I was doing the little things going back to when I was in high school. … I knew the altitude was going to be shaky, so just preparing myself. I got the sauna suit. That makes it hard to breathe. Already just preparing myself for the moment that I was going to be living at.”

As for the boxing, Coleman has been doing a lot of pad work lately.

“I had a passion for boxing when I was younger and then I kind of drifted away once I stuck to football,” he said. “So I just got back into it because it really teaches me how to think when you’re tired and you’re exhausted. … It’s all about training your mind to do things that’s going to show when you’re in the fourth quarter, fourth and one.”

Coleman is listed at 5-foot-9 and a rock-solid 220 pounds. He has 4.5 speed in the 40-yard dash and the power to get tough yards. In his final two years at Washington, he rushed for 1,053 yards in 2024 and 758 in an injury-hampered 2025.

But how much Coleman plays as a rookie could depend on how well he does in pass protection. The Broncos already have J.K. Dobbins, who rushed for 772 yards in 10 games in 2025 before being lost for the season with a foot injury, and RJ Harvey, who ran for 540 yards as a rookie and scored 12 total touchdowns.

“(Coleman) had quite a bit of film, but most of the time when you’re drafting or signing a college running back, there’s going to be a learning curve with protections,” Payton said.

Coleman is eager to refine his abilities in pass protection.

“I did a lot of pass pro in college, but I’m not in college anymore,” he said. “I’m in the NFL. There’s a lot of guys who have played football a long time (as opponents). So, it’s just being able to take coaching and take the details on what I need to work on, that’s what it’s all about. Being a sponge.”

Washington running backs coach Scottie Graham is optimistic Coleman will adjust quickly to Denver’s offense.

“I think the structure Sean Payton runs will be something that will be familiar with Jonah,” Graham, a former NFL running back, told The Denver Gazette. “Their schemes are very similar to what we do. We run a pro-style offense (at Washington).”

Graham was also Coleman’s position coach when he played at Arizona from 2022-23. He remembers well that big game he had against the Buffaloes.

“He played like a dude,” Graham said. “Jonah wanted to show up and show out.”

Coleman will look to continue doing that at high altitude.