Best week ever for Broncos' Demaryius Thomas

DENVER - It's been a best week ever for the Broncos star receiver Demaryius Thomas.

First, he woke up on Monday to see he'd missed two calls from his mother, Katina Smith, who isserving time at a federal prison in Florida.

"I knew it was something because I've never seen her call me that early," Thomas explained at anews conference Friday at the Broncos' Dove Valley headquarters.

About 10 minutes later, his mom called back with the big news: President Barack Obama wascommuting her sentence along with 45 other drug offenders whose punishment, the president said,didn't fit their crimes.

Smith has been in federal prison since 1999 -- when Demaryius was 12 -- after she and her motherwere busted on drug trafficking charges in Georgia.

Instead of getting out of prison in 2017, she'll be released to a halfway house in Macon, Georgia --the Thomas family's home state -- by the end of this month.

"It was a blessing," he said.

"I look forward to her coming to her first game," the soft-spoken football star added."I know she'llprobably be nervous. She's never flown," he said.

His week got even better on Wednesday, when Thomas signed a $70 million, five-year contract tostay with the Broncos as least through 2019. Thomas will receive $43.5 million in guaranteedmoney.

The deal was signed just hours before a deadline, which would have forced Thomas to play under aone-year franchise tag if no other deal was reached. The franchise tag would have meant Thomasmaking $12.82 million this season instead of the $14 million he'll now earn.

Thomas said he had faith the deal would happen.

"I wasn't worried about it. I knew something was going to get done, so I just let my agent handle it,"he said. "I think my main focus was to be in better shape than I was in last year because I want tohave a better season than I had last year."

While he has skipped off-season team workouts because of the ongoing contract negotiations,Thomas said he's been working hard and practicing running routes with other NFL receivers -- BillsWR Deonte Thompson and Ravens' WR Marlon Brown -- who are familiar with the offensive schemesof new Broncos coach Gary Kubiak.

"I look forward to [training camp] and I think I'll catch on fast," he said.

He said he's ready to hit the ground running when training camp starts.

"I think that I'm a little faster, but I'm trying to play at a smaller weight this year and see how itgoes," he added. Even better, he's finally healed an ankle that he injured in practice last December.

Thomas was asked what it means to be a Bronco -- and a key player in the team's future.

"It means a lot," he said." They took a chance on me when I was coming out. The fans, they love me.Everybody around here loves me. The organization is the best...It's kind of breathtaking because Inever thought I'd be in the situation I am now coming from where I came [from]. I look forward to it.I'm a happy man."

And he has big goals to go with the big money he's making.

"I want to lead the league in yards and touchdowns, basically about everything a receiver can do,"he said. "But yeah, I kind of want to break the NFL record in yards."

That would be Calvin Johnson's mark of 1,964 yards receiving set in 2012.

"There are big plays to be made," he said, figuring anything is possible after a week like this.

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