CENTENNIAL • The opponent will finally be different, but the hope is the quality of work will be the same.

After spending two weeks of training camp preparing exclusively against teammates, the Denver Broncos will get their hands on somebody else Thursday. The Broncos will host the Dallas Cowboys in a joint practice at Uchealth Training Center ahead of Saturday’s preseason opener.

Left tackle Garett Bolles wants to see a continuation of what’s been on display up to this point when the Cowboys come to town.

“We had great OTAS. We had a great offseason. We had a great last two weeks of camp,” Bolles said. “It’s going to be nice to go against somebody else than our own color. Going against them, it just goes to show you where we’re going to be. It’s going to show who our

identity is. We’re just going to go out there, do what we have to do, put the ball in our playmakers’ hands and block our butts off up front.”

Bolles explained that training camp can get tricky against in-house opponents. He said Denver’s defensive line had picked up the offensive line’s calls.

“You know they’re going to jump the snap count,” Bolles said. “Going against a team where they don’t really know who we are, you want to really work on your technique. You want to make sure you put your hands in the right places you need to put your hands and get in front of them.”

Players on the other side of the ball are also excited to face someone else. While a Cowboys offense, headlined by Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott and Ceedee Lamb, poses some obvious threats, the Broncos offense has started to click in recent days, according to safety Justin Simmons.

“The offense, man, it’s been really tough to go against,” Simmons said. “I think what’s really been tough the past few days – now that the offense is really coming together – they’re really doing a good job of matching all of their runs and passes and making it all look the same.”

Coach Nathaniel Hackett was also excited to see where his team measured up when things get more competitive, but he stressed the importance of balancing heightened physicality with trying to avoid unnecessary risk of injury.

“First and foremost, you want to protect the team. You want to protect their team. … They’re a part of our team during that time,” Hackett said.

“We want great competition. We want guys getting after it. It’s always great to go against somebody else instead of your same guys over and over and seeing the same defense. I think that’s going to be great. In the end, we want to get work done.”

Broncos make series of roster moves

The Broncos placed one undrafted rookie on injured reserve, waived another due to injury Wednesday and later added two players to the training camp roster.

Outside linebacker Christopher Allen was placed on the season-ending injured reserve, while running back

Tyreik Mcallister was waived. The Broncos added running backs Stevie Scott and Jaquan Hardy to the roster. Scott, who played collegiately at Indiana, is a bigger back at 6-foot-2, 231 pounds, while Hardy appeared in three games and carried the ball four times for the Cowboys last season, picking up 29 yards as a rookie out of Division II Tiffin University.

Gordon, Hamler held out of practice

Neither running back Melvin Gordon III nor wide receiver KJ Hamler participated in Wednesday’s light practice. Hackett said Gordon is dealing with a foot issue that the team is being cautious with, while Hamler got another day off as he continues his rehab from knee and hip injuries suffered last season.