"Knowshon Moreno lifted his chin over the pull-up bar for his final repetition - of 45 - and collapsed into a sweaty, out-of-breath heap on the floor of the CrossFit Verve gym in North Denver.

Moreno, the Broncos' third-year running back, had just cranked out 45 "thrusters" - an overhead press with a 95-pound bar - and those 45 pull-ups - broken up into sets of 21, 15 then 9, all in 3 minutes, 39 seconds. That time is considered elite by CrossFit standards, and shows an improvement of 4 1/2 minutes from when he first did this fitness test six weeks ago.

"I want to come into the season in the best shape I can be. I want my body to be in great shape so I can go out there and practice hard, practice

to the best of my ability," Moreno said.

Little has gone as planned for Moreno in the past two seasons since the Broncos drafted him at No. 12 overall. He suffered a knee injury during his rookie training camp and dealt with two serious hamstring injuries last year. On the field, he has yet to live up to the hype that comes with being a first-round pick. Moreno has not yet had a 1,000-yard season, nor has he emerged as a big-play threat, with only three runs of more than 20 yards last season."