Along with that success, Garoppolo found himself facing cameras and voice recorders on a regular basis. By his own account, Garoppolo “sucked” at interviews. So his father Tony pointed him in the direction of Jordan, eschewing the YouTube dunk highlights in favor of Jordan press conferences.

“My dad told me, ‘Jordan always takes a second, thinks about the question and then responds, try doing that,'” Garoppolo said. “And he would show me things like that and it was just, he was very, very smooth with everything he did.”

While Garoppolo has not yet met Jordan, he has spent time in his presence. When one of his older brothers played one of Jordan’s sons in basketball, Garoppolo remembers how Jordan walking into the gym altered the entire atmosphere.

“He just had a way, an aura about him that just stood out,” Garoppolo said.

While there was no shortage of Jordan merchandise in the Garoppolo house, shoes were rarely part of the equation. With four boys to buy for and the high cost of Jordans, Garoppolo said he only owned the one pair his uncle bought for him when he was in elementary school.

Now that Garoppolo is part of the Jordan family (and signed one of the most lucrative contracts in NFL history in February), his collection is quickly growing. He counts the Jordan 3’s as his favorite pair so far with the 11’s not far behind.

Should Garoppolo need some guidance on getting up to speed, there are no shortage of experts in the Niners locker room. Wide receiver Marquise Goodwin is one of the team’s biggest collectors, with an extensive stockpile of Jordans. He’s already offered Garoppolo advice on which shoes work and which ones don’t.

“I think he’s got a lot of swag but when it comes to Jordans, he’s not very knowledgeable about these J’s so I have got to put him on game,” Goodwin said. “He needs to get all the exclusives. You cannot be wearing team J’s out here. It’s got to be all retros. As long as it says retro in front of that number then you’re good.”

If Atkins had hit free agency, teams would have been salivating to pick up the defensive tackle, who is second in franchise history with 61 sacks. Dunlap, who himself signed a new three-year, $45 million deal on Tuesday, leads Cincinnati with 64.5 sacks.

“I can’t name too many top-end rushers who have a dominant presence like Geno inside,” Dunlap said. “He don’t say a lot as you know, but he plays big. He lets that speak for himself.”

Atkins has made a career out of embarrassing offensive linemen, even in the preseason. Last Sunday, Atkins bestowed that honor on Buffalo Bills guard Vladimir Ducasse, gaining enough leverage to lift him off his feet and push him into quarterback Josh Allen. The 6-foot-1, 300-pound Atkins is 4 inches shorter and 30 pounds lighter than Ducasse.

“I don’t feel bad because I’m trying to do my job and they’re trying to do their job. So it is what it is,” Atkins said.

For as little as Atkins has to say in public, his competitors have even less to say to him.

“The only thing I kind of hear, more so it’s like, ‘Damn, why you bullin’?’” Atkins said. “Or, ‘Not the bull again,’ or stuff like that. That’s like my No. 1 thing, the bull rush.”

The tandem of Atkins and Dunlap promised one thing when they signed their new deals: They want to get to a Super Bowl. It’s one of many common goals they have despite being so different.

Dunlap is as jovial and chatty and as Atkins is silent. When they held a joint news conference to announce their new deals, Dunlap jokingly pushed all the recorders toward Atkins.

Atkins might go weeks without posting to his social media accounts, fittingly named @genosacks. But he does share small insights into his life, whether it’s a photo of his dog, a video of himself in robes at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, or an announcement that he’ll be a father this year.

“The blessing was my wife being pregnant,” he said. “Signing the contract is icing on the cake. Being blessed to have a boy or a girl is amazing.”

Atkins is thoughtful and insightful when he wants to be, but when asked to give a reason as to why he doesn’t speak, he said others had better stories than him.

“I’m not that interesting to talk to,” he said on Wednesday.

To his teammates, that’s just Geno being Geno. To opposing linemen, the son of former NFL player Gene Atkins is a one-man wrecking ball whose specialty is the bull rush.

“I just think really a bull rush is more so my will against your will, honestly,” he said.

He added: “I do other stuff, but the bull just helps solidify and gets them thinking a little bit — am I going to hit them with power or speed? It gets them guessing a little bit.”

That drive to be the best still pushes Atkins as much at 30 as it did at 22. Atkins knows it would be a feather in another player’s cap to catch him sleeping.

The Broncos also kept three quarterbacks, after Siemian was injured, on the roster for much of last season.

Also, neither Elway nor coach Vance Joseph has ruled out bringing in a veteran quarterback as Keenum’s backup. Elway said when training camp opened he would consider it if neither Kelly nor Lynch showed he was ready. However, Kelly has played so well in the preseason the Broncos would likely now, at minimum, have to keep him as the No. 3 if they did sign another veteran passer because the seventh-round pick, who missed his rookie year in 2017 on injured reserve, might not clear waivers if they tried to get him to the practice squad.

For his part Lynch said he is trying to simply focus on Thursday’s game.

“I’m not worried about anything past the next day, which is (Wednesday), we come out here and have our practice and then travel to Arizona and then have our meetings there,” Lynch said. “That’s what I’m focused on. I’m focused on going out and playing well on Thursday.”

Kelly is 28-of-41 passing in three preseason games (68.3 percent) for 340 yards to go with three touchdowns and an interception. Lynch has struggled much of the time in his three outings — two of those against largely third-string defenses with largely the Broncos’ third-teamers in the formation around him — and is 14-of-29 passing (48.3 percent) for 102 yards to go with one interception.

Lynch was asked after Tuesday’s practice if he would like to remain with the Broncos, even if it meant he was the team’s No. 3.