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Broncos Ring of Famers are defensive about NFL’s player-protection rules

Four former hard-hitting Broncos — each enshrined in the Ring of Fame — had choice words for the NFL’s competition committee Monday night before Denver hosted Kansas City.

Former Denver linebacker Karl Mecklenburg, defensive ends Simon Fletcher and Rich Jackson and safety Dennis Smith are among the Broncos’ all-time greatest defensive players. But they each said they wouldn’t have been the same player in today’s game, where falling on the quarterback after making a sack now draws a 15-yard penalty.

“If I was playing today, they’d lock me up,” said Jackson, who went by “Tombstone” during his playing days.