It’s been nearly 30 years since Ed McCaffrey started up his football camps, which began with his four sons running around in a park and has morphed into a major event.
The three-time Super Bowl champion has gotten great joy connecting with the youth in Colorado, and looks forward to continuing the camps for years to come.
McCaffrey recently sat down with the Escapist to discuss his football camps, his son Luke McCaffrey’s progress with the Commanders, the state of the Denver Broncos, Andrew Luck at Stanford and more.
Question: I’m sure you’ve been doing camps for quite awhile now. Do you still get great enjoyment from giving back and seeing the kids having fun?
Ed McCaffrey: “Oh, yeah. I’ve been hosting football camps since 1998, when I was still playing, so it’s been a really long time. Some of my kids weren’t even born yet. I originally did it with the Broncos, and then when my kids got to about four or five years old, I wanted to do a camp for them, so we rolled the ball out at the city park, for them and some of their friends. It just grew, and grew, and grew. Today we get about 300 campers per year.”
“It’s a lot of fun for me. I’ve seen my kids go through it, kids that I’ve coached have come back and coached at our camps. So they were campers and then they were coaches, and some have gone on to play high school, college and even in the NFL. Some are in the NFL right now. Occasionally I’ll be in a restaurant, or I’ll go get ice cream after dinner, and I’ll run into one of the kids I coached who now has a family and kids themselves. And sometimes their kids go to the camps. It’s so fulfilling for me. I played football, and that’s what I know, so I give that back, and it’s a really fun experience.”
Q: Your sons have busy schedules. Do they ever help coach, and if so, what’s it like having them with you at the camp?
Ed McCaffrey: “They get to my camp every year that they can. Nowadays the NFL has a schedule where it’s all different dates for OTAs and minicamps, so when they can, they come out to the camp. My son Dylan is not in the NFL or college football anymore – he’s actually a fishing guide in South Carolina – so he’s been my camp director for a couple years. Christian’s been there, Max has been there. This year I had to move the camp up a couple weeks because Max was getting married, which was really cool, so they all had OTAs this year during the camp this year.”
Q: You’ve also branched out beyond just football. How is it helping out with other sports?
Ed McCaffrey: “I love coaching, period. It’s just fun for me to do. I was a football, basketball, baseball guy my whole life. I grew up playing little league baseball and it was one of the most run experiences I ever had. I still remember if you got a home run or foul ball, you could turn it in for a free popcorn. So you’d see like 30 kids diving and doing whatever they could do to get this foul ball.
“And then my whole family played basketball. We all had successful high school careers, and I had two brothers and a sister with successful college careers. So that was my sport in high school. I did play football, but a lot of people knew me as a basketball player. So I feel like I’m versed in baseball, though I couldn’t hit a curveball, and pretty versed in basketball. And then obviously I played in the NFL, so football is really my expertise.”
Q: Your son, Luke, has followed in your footsteps as an NFL receiver, and it sounds like he made a nice impression with the Commanders this offseason heading into Year 2. Have you gotten a sense from him about how comfortable he’s feeling?
Ed McCaffrey: “He’s hungry, man. He’s hungry to get on the field, hungry to compete. This is his first NFL offseason. When you’re a senior in college, you go right from being in college to playing in a bowl game, to getting ready for an All-Star game – he played in the Senior Bowl – to getting ready for the Combine and then your Pro Day. You never really have a full offseason of training, and in my experience, it took me a year or two to get an NFL frame, an NFL body.
“I thought he did great last year. He was chomping at the bit to get on the field more and more. He’s going to do the same this year. But man, I can already physically see the difference in him from last year to this year. And he’s very confident. They had him play all five receiver positions last year, so he knows every position on the field. They’ve got Deebo now, which is cool, so we’ll see whether they play him outside or in the slot.
“Physically, he’s ready to go. Mentally, he’s ready to go. Now he’s got to go out and compete. He loves ball and he loves his team. What a blessing to play for the Commanders. Great ownership, great GM, great head coach, great receiver room. He knows Deebo since Deebo played with (Luke’s brother) Christian, so even the newcomers are familiar faces. I’m excited for the Commanders and I’m excited for Luke.”
Q: Kliff Kingsbury does some innovative things offensively and tries to get the ball in the hands of his wide receivers. Does Luke enjoy the offense he’s landed in?
Ed McCaffrey: “Coach Kingsbury did a great job. It’s so important to have the right play-caller with the right quarterback. He’s the perfect play-caller for Jayden Daniels. You couldn’t have picked a better play-caller for Jayden Daniels. That’s where it starts.
“And since it’s an up-tempo offense, there’s been years where he kept his receivers on one side of the field, and he did a little of that at the start of the season. But I think he realized, ‘Hey, we’ve got this guy Terry McLaurin and we might want to move him around a little bit,’ so they did. I thought that was a brilliant move. He went from making sure his quarterback was acclimated to his scheme, his play-calls, his teammates and then he progressed and started to move some pieces around. Terry had a great season, and so did Jayden.
“If you’re on the field as a receiver, you have a chance to get the ball at all times. There’s a lot of opportunity there. It’s fast-paced, up-tempo. There’s a lot of plays in the game. They’ve got a great dual-threat quarterback, a No. 1 in Terry, now Deebo. The wide receiver core is going to be strong, and Luke is looking to contribute and do his part.”
Q: I also wanted to get your thoughts on the Broncos. It feels like expectations could be high based on the way things are coming together.
Ed McCaffrey: “I see a lot of polls with their defense being ranked No. 1 after being top-5 last year. They added those two 49ers, Dre Greenlaw and (Talanoa) Hufanga, so they are only going to get better with those guys. (Nik) Bonitto had such a great year last year, and I think he will pick up where he left off.
“Hopefully they can have some success running the ball, have a lot of balance by running the ball effectively, which would open things up more in the passing game. They added some pieces. Evan Engram was a huge move, and some of those (complementary) receivers like (Marvin) Mims and those guys, they’re going to look for those guys to step up. They continue to grow, continue to evolve and continue to make plays.
“I think they feel pretty good about where they are. Strong defense, improve the running game a bit and a few more explosive plays in the passing game with Bo Nix. He will be more comfortable this year. He’s a great quarterback for Coach Sean Payton, because he sees the field the way Coach Sean Payton sees it. And that’s really important to him. He doesn’t take a lot of sacks, and that’s really important to him. Not a lot of negative plays.
“It’s been a recipe for success for all teams, but especially for the Broncos. You go back in history and the Super Bowls, right? Super Bowl 32, we won with Terrell Davis and the run game. John (Elway) didn’t pass that much. I think he had 123 yards passing. And then Super Bowl 50 with Peyton Manning. It was a lot of running with great defense.
“So you can win a lot of games with a great defense and being able to run the football. But when called upon, when the defense dictates you throw the ball by bringing an extra defender in the box, you have to make it happen. That’s where it will be up to Bo Nix and the receivers to keep teams on their heels a bit by making some explosive plays. Then you can get back to running the ball and the controlled passing game. But you do need more explosives and a better run game to go further than they went a year ago.”
Q: One more, if you don’t mind. I wanted to ask you about Stanford. Andrew Luck is the GM there now, Frank Reich the coach. What are your thoughts on the program, which has had some down years and is trying to return to prominence?
Ed McCaffrey: “I love my Stanford Cardinal. I’ll say that much. I still have friends to this day that I played with in college. It’s a great program. Look, they’re going through what a lot of schools are going through. Football got turned upside-down. They changed the transfer portal rule, and then they allowed for NIL. Then you got the conference realignments. It’s the wild, wild west, and we’re not out of it yet. So they’re going through some major structural changes.
“As far as the football program, Frank Reich is a great coach. We’re lucky to get him. I think everyone took pause when they said it would be a one-year deal, wondering if that would hurt recruiting, but he’s done a phenomenal job.
“I’m banking on Andrew Luck getting it done. I know we have a great alumni base with a great collective, and now schools are allowed to participate in NIL. I’m looking to the quarterback. Who is the quarterback of Stanford football right now? It’s Andrew Luck, and I’m putting my faith in him. What can be done, will be done. It’s not going to be easy, and it’s probably going to take years to get the program back to the level of when (Ed’s son) Christian was playing, when they won the Rose Bowl and were ranked No. 3 in the country. But it can be done, and I think we have the right guy in charge.”
Last Updated On: Jul 9, 2025 1:03 pm CEST