Englewood, Colo. ? With just a little room to run during red zone drills Wednesday, Denver Broncos wide receiver Eddie Royal bolted past one defender and used a nifty move to slip by another. An instant later, he was in the clear in the end zone where quarterback Kyle Orton hit him with a 10-yard dart for the touchdown.

That type of scene has become a familiar one during the Broncos training camp, where the second-year wideout is being groomed as an offensive centerpiece after a breakout rookie campaign a year ago.

“He sticks out every day,” said coach Josh McDaniels. “Eddie is a very talented player, a lot of ability, very smart, versatile. We move him all over the field. He’s very unselfish; wants to do what’s best for the team. He’s accepted his role and he’s doing a great job with it so far.”

The 5-foot-10, 180-pound Royal provided a vivid demonstration of his capabilities last season. He set team rookie records for receptions (91), yards receiving (980) and touchdown receptions (five) while becoming the first player since the 1970 NFL merger to post his team’s longest run (71 yards), reception (93 yards), kickoff return (95 yards), and punt return (36 yards) in the same season. Royal finished with four games in which he had nine or more receptions, including a club rookie record 11 catches in a season-ending loss to the San Diego Chargers.

For his part, Royal is less impressed by those numbers than the opportunity to build on them, by improving his play as an individual and contributing to any overall improvement as an offense.

“I’m just coming out here and trying to get better every day,” said Royal, who broke into the league as a second-round pick out of Virginia Tech. “It’s not about individual stats at all. It’s about winning. We want to win and we want to get to the playoffs.”

The Broncos haven’t done that for three consecutive seasons. The drought fueled a tumultuous offseason that saw the firing of two-time Super Bowl winning coach Mike Shanahan and the trading away of Pro Bowl quarterback Jay Cutler to the Chicago Bears.

Now that Cutler’s gone, Royal has been catching passes from Kyle Orton and backup Chris Simms. Royal said his working relationship with Orton and Simms is getting better by the day.

“They’re both really good quarterbacks,” Royal said. “They’re accurate. They’re getting better with their reads and they’re getting the ball to us quickly, so I’m excited about it.”