Draftee Risner’s boots are made for rockin’
The boots on his feet are beat to snot, but every crack in the faded leather reveals more about Dalton Risner than all the tests at the NFL combine ever could. He’s the steal of the draft, the best pick John Elway made for the Broncos in 2019.
This big farm boy from Wiggins isn’t coming to Denver to dance under the bright lights and live the fast life. Risner is here to grunt and sweat, then study video until a 6-foot-5, 312-pound rookie learns all the steps and moves move down the line stronger than the beat of a Kenny Chesney song.
I’ll guarantee you this: Risner will get down and dirty, do whatever it takes, to help the Broncos get back to the Super Bowl.
“These are my work boots right here,” said Risner, taking
stock of the tattered boots sticking out from under his dress slacks like a cowboy at a cotillion. “These are the boots I’m going to be wearing into this complex. I’m showing up here for work. This isn’t a vacation. This is work, man.”
When Risner arrived at team headquarters last weekend after being selected 41st overall in the draft, he was dressed to kill and look the part on television. His beard was freshly trimmed. His suit was a serious business shade of gray. His tie was sharp,
adorned with 100 bright and sunny C’s of the Colorado state flag that Risner couldn’t stop talking about, because a kid who grew up toiling on a dairy farm and adoring the Broncos was here to represent all 886 of his neighbors back in Wiggins.
But I wanted to ask about his scruffy boots.
“What about them?” said Risner, eyes dropping to the floor as proud smile lit up his face.
I needed to hear the history behind the hardworking footwear that had obviously been through everything from snow to manure, although from the looks of all those scars and cracks in the leather, they had probably never seen a single tin of polish.
“These are the boots I’m wearing in the corral, the boots I’m wearing to feed cattle,” said Risner, standing in the huge theater that serves as the Broncos’ primary team-meeting room. “These boots are just kind of who I am. I’m not going to show up here with these pretty …”
Penny loafers that would look all wrong on Risner. And once you find a good pair of boots, why give them up until your toes fall out the bottom?
“I’ve worn these suckers for probably three or four years now,” Risner said. “I don’t know if it’s because I want to get ’em worn out, or because size 18 boots are pretty dang hard to find. You’ve got to go kill a whole cow to get all that leather, man.”
If you trust boots to tell the truth about a man, we know Risner is tough as cowhide and as unaffected as his warm smile. What’s more, there’s something behind the rookie’s easy grin, something essential to an offensive lineman capable of making it big at the pro level: brains.
Yes, Risner is strong enough to knock a refrigerator door off its hinges. But he’s also smart enough to not regularly get caught for a 15-yard penalty when wrestling a defensive lineman in the trenches.
“I think that attracts coaches,” Risner said. “I think they like an offensive lineman that might not just be some big, mean nasty guy that blocks left and blocks right, but a guy that’s smart and understands the game of football.”
Tell you what. No offense to tight end Noah Fant or the defiant quarterback from Missouri with a stack on Pringles on his shoulder, but I’m willing to wager Risner will be the best player in Denver’s 2019 draft class.
Ask fellow rookie Drew Lock what he thinks of Risner, and the Denver’s future starting QB gushes: “Dalton is a fiery human being.” But my hunch of how good the big offensive lineman will be in the NFL is based on more than the allconference recognition he earned at Kansas State or the 23 times Risner hoisted the bar during the bench press at the combine.
Why am I so certain? Check out those beat-to-snot boots on his feet. Those size 18’s were built to kick some …