March 28, 2024 • 17 mins
On this episode of "Broncos Now," Sydney Jones and Aric DiLalla discuss the new rule changes approved by NFL owners for the 2024 season, the signing of wide receiver Josh Reynolds and more. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, Stitcher or wherever you find your podcasts. Make sure to leave a rating and review.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up, Broncos Country.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Welcome back to the Broncos podcast network and YouTube for
the latest episode of Broncos Now. As always, I'm your
host is Sidney Jones, and coming up on today's episode,
Broncos lead writer Eric Delala joins the show. We'll discuss
some of the new rule changes made at the NFL's
annual league meeting this week and discuss the Broncos news
signing all that more coming up. Joining me here in
(00:24):
the Broncos Podcast studio for today's episode of Broncos Now
is Broncos lead writer Eric Dalala. Eric, thanks for joining me.
Busy week this week. We just got back from Orlando
from the NFL's annual league meetings, so.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I feel like we're both a little more tan. Maybe
maybe that's some.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I didn't really get to lay out and have no
just worked, just worked pretty much.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I got to talk to a lot of great people,
pretty much all of Broncos leadership, and learned a lot
of stuff. There's a lot going on down there, I
said there was.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
It was a fun few days down there, Eric, And
of course a lot of things coming out of those meetings.
All the NFL owners met and passed a few new
rule changes that will be implemented this year.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
I want to start with kind of the main one, honestly.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
One of the most significant changes we've seen in recent years,
and new kickoff rules.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Eric, what did you learn about that?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Yeah, said, Well, the kickoff had become a play that
basically didn't matter much. And you know, we saw Marvin
Mims take one back against the Dolphins, but there were
very few touchdown returns last season. We've seen teams, especially
in Denver, just kicked the ball out of the end zone.
It was a ceremonial play for lack of a better word.
(01:28):
And this is going to make it fun again. It's
going to make it exciting. So it's going to look different.
For sure. They're taking an XFL rule. The kicker is
still going to be way back on the thirty five
yard line on his own side of the field, but
then everybody else on the kicking team is going to
be up at the forty yard line on the other
side of the field. You've got the receiving team in
this landing zone between the thirty and thirty five yard line,
(01:50):
and nobody can move except the kicker and the returner
until the ball's either caught or touches the ground, and
so it's going to be kind of a mad dash
at that point to see who can cover the kick,
who can set up a block, and it'll be fun
to watch, I think. I think the hope is that
it sets up some big returns. Certainly if you watch
some of these XFL plays, there's some kind of trick
(02:12):
plays where a blocker can come back behind and take
a pitch and return the ball. It does sound like
said there's going to be some some strategy type of
things that have to be figured out. You have two
returners back there, because if the ball lands leave between
the twenty and the goal line, it's a live ball,
so anybody who's out the forty can run down and
get it. Right. If you kick it in the end
(02:33):
zone and it lands in the end zone first without
being caught or goes out of the end zone, the
touchback is now at the thirty They talked about the
thirty five, but it is going to be the thirty
yard line, so it's a little more penal in terms of,
you know, if you kick it back there. But some
teams may decide, hey, we're not risking it this week.
But the big thing is one I think I think
it's going to take some time to figure out, you know,
(02:56):
how does this all work? Fans are I think it'll
be a little bit of an adjustment and in terms
of teams figuring out how do we want to cover these,
how do we want to block these? But I do
think it'll be exciting and it certainly puts a big
priority on having a great returner, and the Broncos have
him on and Marvin Mims and so Sean Payne was
asked at the coaches breakfast on Monday, hey, do you
(03:17):
like this rule? And he said he did, and then
he was asked, well, do you like it because you
have Marvin Mims? And he kind of smiled and said, well,
that's a good reason to like it, right. So we'll
see if Marvin Mims gets a few more chances of
return kicks this year, and we'll see if the Broncos
can maybe give their offense some good field position to
work with. We'll say, the other thing from a coverage
standpoint is we saw how big of a stride the
(03:38):
Broncos made under Mike west Up and Kawika Chris Banjo.
It's really going to matter now if you have a
good special teams group, you know, maybe prioritize and roster building,
having some more guys that can cover, having guys that
are able to block there for the return units, and
so having a trusted special teams staff is going to
be critical, and I think a place where the Broncos
(04:01):
might hold.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
An edge definitely. Yeah, are going off of that.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Curious how well on side kicks work then, because it
seems like those will no longer be kind of a surprise.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Yeah, no more surprise on side kicks. So you won't
see what we saw the first play of the season
this last year. You won't see, you know, the successful
play that Sean Payton had in the Super Bowl with
New Orleans. Obviously you've got to declare on side kicks now.
And some people think, hey, is this a precursor to
a change to the on side kick rule? And as
(04:30):
you know, you eventually get to that fourth and twenty
opportunity that several teams have proposed over the last couple
of years. But you're right, so that'll be a change
the squib kick, which we've typically seen. You know, you
try to either maybe pinball it off somebody at the
forty yard line or you just try to waste some
time that you can't do that anymore, either because it's
got a land I believe again past the twenty yard line,
(04:51):
or else it goes out to the forty. So there's
gonna be some some slight changes in terms of strategy,
and that'll be part of especially in the preseason, I think,
think figuring out what works what doesn't. Are there any
kind of unexpected consequences here, but it will be I
think for the first time in a long time, a
really fun and exciting play to watch. And it's no
(05:11):
longer when you go up and get a refill on
pretzels or chips. You gotta stay there and watch the
play and watch, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
I think it would be good. Well, Eric.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
In addition to that, hip drop tackles are now banned.
That was another rule change in the NFL's competition committee
was actually all unanimous on that decision as well, So
that's interesting any change.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Yeah, And that was a kind of a quick thing, right,
I mean, I don't think before last season a lot
of people have even heard about the hip dop tackle,
and now all of a sudden they've eliminated them or
are going to try to eliminate them from the game.
I think it's an important distinction for those people who
maybe are not as familiar with the play. You can
still tackle a guy from behind and drag him down.
(05:53):
The issue is that what they're really focusing on is
a swivel hip drop tackle, and what that is is
where you grab some buddy and then you pull yourself
up off the ground as the tackler and then bring
them down. I believe there were fifteen or so instances
last year where players suffered serious injuries due to that
form of tackling. The NFL found it injures players at
(06:16):
a twenty five times higher rate than a normal tackle,
and so there's certainly a reason to get rid of
this now. The NFLPA was not as big on a
ban here. They think it's going to be too hard
to legislate. And we kind of have heard the same
thing from several coaches at the owner's meetings in that
you know, is this something where it takes some time
(06:38):
to figure out how to call a penalty. Is it
penalized on the field, or is it more of is
it legislated through fines later in the week. I think
it's maybe to be seen how the league, how the
officials go about calling this, and certainly you know when
horse Keck, when horse caller tackles were outlawed, there were
(06:59):
some more concerns about, hey, are you going to be
able to call these in real time? You're already asking
a lot of the officials and generally said, I think
we see people don't tackle like that. Generally, yeah, and
it's rare that you see that. And I think the
hope is that here too, you're going to find a
way to legislate this out of the game, make it
safer for everybody, keep everybody's favorite players out on the field.
(07:23):
But again, it might take some time for officials to
figure it out, for the league to decide, hey, is
this something? Are we seeing three of these calls a game?
Or are we seeing one call and then a couple
of players later in the week are getting fine? I mean,
we'll have to see exactly how that plays out. But again,
you can still tackle guys from behind. It's not about that.
It's about you can't lift yourself up and then bring
(07:45):
them down with your weight on top of their normally
the back of their legs. So that's the distinction is
kind of that lifting off the ground.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yeah, players to safety definitely the priority there. Eric. The
NFL trade deadline is also changing.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
NFL own is approved on Tuesday to push that back
a week, so that will now be after week nine
of games.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah, great move.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
I think I think this is the best went so far.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Yeah. I agree. I think the longer you're able to
push the trade deadline back the better, just because I mean,
even week nine you're still only halfway through the season.
And certainly I think the longer you're able to wait
for the trade deadline, the more teams are likely to
make moves. And certainly you don't always want star players
(08:28):
to go places but or go other places. But I
do think it's exciting for fans when you see, you know,
a player change teams midseason, or your favorite team go
out and get somebody to help for the stretch run.
And if you're a team that's not playing as well,
it gives you a chance to to get back some
draft capital. Obviously, the Broncos definitely, essentially almost every year
(08:50):
except this past when have been very active in recent
years at the trade deadline, and they've gotten some picks
that have made it possible to go out and make moves.
I mean, Sean Payton was acquired because Lebronco has got
a pick for trading Bradley Chubb. And so I do
think it just gives teams more information to work with.
If you're a contender, it gives you one more week
to see, hey, do we need to go get a
(09:13):
star wide receiver for the stretch run. We're gonna be
able to trade a pick here. Or if you're a
team that you know, maybe you enter, you know, week nine,
four and four and you're like, hey, okay, are we
gonna do this or not, and you you lose a
game and you decide, okay, well we're gonna we're gonna
make a decision here, or maybe you win and you
say we're gonna we're gonna see how this plays out.
(09:34):
So I think the longer the trade deadline or the
later the trade deadline is the better for teams, better
for fans. And said, we've seen it move a couple
of times here, I wouldn't be surprised. You know, this
isn't based off anything, but just the trend we've seen
is I wouldn't be surprised if it keeps moving back
gradually now, obviously I don't want it to get too late,
but yeah, I think this is a trend that makes
(09:56):
sense and that definitely people were across the league in
favor of.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Of definitely w'eric a few more changes. I want to highlight.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Christmas Day games have been a huge priority for the
NFL in recent years, and this year the NFL will
hold two games on Christmas Day and that's big solely
because Christmas is on a Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
This year.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
It is yeah, and it'll be uh, there'll be a
lot of football.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
There will be a lot of football that week.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
That week said obviously you got Monday night, you'll now
have Wednesday Thursday night football near Thanksgiving. But I believe
the college football playoffs and you know, are kind of
in that they start to be in that range. So
(10:37):
we'll have to see how the dates all work out exactly.
But in terms of the Christmas Day games, people must
be wondering, Okay, well, how can a team play on
Sunday and then play again Wednesday. And the teams that
play on Christmas Day on Wednesday will play that previous Saturday,
so they're still going to have the same amount of
rest that a Thursday night team would have from a
(10:58):
normal Sunday. You obviously have a one day shorter week
previous week, but it still makes it palatable. The league's
pretty pretty resolute and saying we're not going to play
on a shorter time frame than that. And you know,
this is just from a standpoint of the ratings. It
was a no brainer. And you know, Roger Goodell said,
(11:20):
Wednesday games are not going to be a typical thing
for the league. But when Christmas falls on a Wednesday,
and you know, we'll have to see if you know,
if a Christmas at some point falls on a Tuesday.
When that happens, you know, does a league make a
decision to play then. But they were very intentional about this.
It sounds like they're going to play on two games.
Sounds like they'll be in the afternoon kind of time frame.
(11:43):
They saw last year they had a triple header on
Christmas Day and that that night game, even though it
was Baltimore San Francisco, I believe it had lower ratings
than some of the other games, even though it was
kind of the prime matchup. So they like that those
two afternoon slots.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Everyone's tired, exactly.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Your big Christmas dinner I go to sleep, have a
little eggnog, and so nice to just have it in
the afternoon. And you know, again, it's a ratings move, obviously,
but I think it is good for fans and it's fun,
and you know, I'm certainly not opposed to watching more
NFL football on Christmas. And I don't know if I
(12:23):
want to play on Christmas, but I certainly open to
watching it. And granted the teams that do play on Christmas,
you would think that it'd be like a Thursday night
game where you get that long weekend afterwards. So Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
Sunday you're off anyway, so maybe you get that long weekend,
and you're right, makes it work, makes it worth it,
but it Football is a big business, and playing on
(12:46):
Christmas just seems to just make sense.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Where some major changes regarding injured reserve as well players
plays on IR during the pre season are no longer
automatically season ending injury, so some a big decision there.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah, no question about it. I think that will be
one of the more intriguing things to watch, and it's
going to matter more now in terms of injury timeframes,
rehab that sort of thing for those that need a
little more clarity. Like Tim Patrick obviously got hurt early
in training camp last year, he was placed on IR
(13:21):
that automatically ends his season. Now, he could technically have
come back had the rules been in place like they
will be for this upcoming year. So that's one element
of it, is if a guy has a long term
injury in July, you can put him on IR, save
the roster spot, and then he can come back at
(13:42):
some point. I believe it's too that you can designate
to return later in the season. The other thing that
can be helpful is you know said we've seen like
I believe PJ. Locke was a guy last year, he
was hurt, he was not ready to play one and
so you carry him into the regular season for one
(14:04):
day so that you can then put him on IR
and so that he can be eligible to return, and
then you you essentially are exposing two more players to
either waivers or you'd have to release a VET who
can go out there and sign with somebody else. And
so that's where this could be helpful too, is that
(14:27):
you know, say X player is heard and might be
ready week three or week four, but they're not gonna
be they're definitely not gonna be ready week one. Now
you can just put them on ir you don't have
to worry about the roster mechanics of just carrying them
for one day, and so that will make I would
think the end of preseason roster cut decisions a little
(14:49):
easier for teams and maybe a little more straightforward. Get
your rosters set, just even if that gives you, you know, hey,
we don't have to make a second set of roster moves,
gets your initial ross or set, you can start preparing
for week one and kind of get ready for the
game instead of having to worry about the roster mechanics.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Yeah, makes sense. A lot of good rules heading into
this new season.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Eric.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Outside of that, today, on the Thursday, the Broncos assigned
wide receiver Josh Reynolds to a two year deal.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Spoke with him earlier today.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
He's super excited to be here and really excited to
work with Sean Payan.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Yeah, he's a he's a fun guy to watch quick
I think said that he described it to you as
he's smoothedmoth. Yeah, he finds a seam and he goes
He's you know, not kind of the big body guy
that that Courtland is from a size standpoint, but he
does have the a little bit of height, and uh,
I'm excited to see how he fits with Courtland, with
(15:43):
Marvin Mims, you know exactly Tim. You know, they just
all have slightly different games that seemingly pair well together.
He was the quote unquote number three in Detroit. I
think he showed, you know, six hundred yards five touchdowns
last year, that he's capable of more than that, and
so it'll be fun to watch him and you know,
(16:06):
the Broncos. I think, as as Sean Payton said while
we were down at the annual meeting, said, everybody had
they had like a clear vision for everyone. It was
an exact fit sort of signing. They were very precise
in terms of who they went after. And so there
were some guys that you know, if you're a big
NFL fan, you probably you probably know and you're familiar with.
There's some guys that maybe are ascending players that haven't
(16:28):
had as many the radar, right under the radar, and
this is a guy that you know. And so I
think from that standpoint, just exciting to sign another guy
at wide receiver and see what he can do for
this offense.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah, definitely exciting signing there in a busy week and
exciting week.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Eric going on, so not going on. Yeah, it's nice. Well,
appreciate you joining the show.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
You got it.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Well, that's going to do it for today's episode of
Broncos Now Broncos Country. Thanks so much for tuning in.
Let meed you right back here on the Broncos Podcast
network and YouTube, and next week for another episode.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Well then
What's up, Broncos Country.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Welcome back to the Broncos podcast network and YouTube for
the latest episode of Broncos Now. As always, I'm your
host is Sidney Jones, and coming up on today's episode,
Broncos lead writer Eric Delala joins the show. We'll discuss
some of the new rule changes made at the NFL's
annual league meeting this week and discuss the Broncos news
signing all that more coming up. Joining me here in
(00:24):
the Broncos Podcast studio for today's episode of Broncos Now
is Broncos lead writer Eric Dalala. Eric, thanks for joining me.
Busy week this week. We just got back from Orlando
from the NFL's annual league meetings, so.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
I feel like we're both a little more tan. Maybe
maybe that's some.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I didn't really get to lay out and have no
just worked, just worked pretty much.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I got to talk to a lot of great people,
pretty much all of Broncos leadership, and learned a lot
of stuff. There's a lot going on down there, I
said there was.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
It was a fun few days down there, Eric, And
of course a lot of things coming out of those meetings.
All the NFL owners met and passed a few new
rule changes that will be implemented this year.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
I want to start with kind of the main one, honestly.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
One of the most significant changes we've seen in recent years,
and new kickoff rules.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Eric, what did you learn about that?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Yeah, said, Well, the kickoff had become a play that
basically didn't matter much. And you know, we saw Marvin
Mims take one back against the Dolphins, but there were
very few touchdown returns last season. We've seen teams, especially
in Denver, just kicked the ball out of the end zone.
It was a ceremonial play for lack of a better word.
(01:28):
And this is going to make it fun again. It's
going to make it exciting. So it's going to look different.
For sure. They're taking an XFL rule. The kicker is
still going to be way back on the thirty five
yard line on his own side of the field, but
then everybody else on the kicking team is going to
be up at the forty yard line on the other
side of the field. You've got the receiving team in
this landing zone between the thirty and thirty five yard line,
(01:50):
and nobody can move except the kicker and the returner
until the ball's either caught or touches the ground, and
so it's going to be kind of a mad dash
at that point to see who can cover the kick,
who can set up a block, and it'll be fun
to watch, I think. I think the hope is that
it sets up some big returns. Certainly if you watch
some of these XFL plays, there's some kind of trick
(02:12):
plays where a blocker can come back behind and take
a pitch and return the ball. It does sound like
said there's going to be some some strategy type of
things that have to be figured out. You have two
returners back there, because if the ball lands leave between
the twenty and the goal line, it's a live ball,
so anybody who's out the forty can run down and
get it. Right. If you kick it in the end
(02:33):
zone and it lands in the end zone first without
being caught or goes out of the end zone, the
touchback is now at the thirty They talked about the
thirty five, but it is going to be the thirty
yard line, so it's a little more penal in terms of,
you know, if you kick it back there. But some
teams may decide, hey, we're not risking it this week.
But the big thing is one I think I think
it's going to take some time to figure out, you know,
(02:56):
how does this all work? Fans are I think it'll
be a little bit of an adjustment and in terms
of teams figuring out how do we want to cover these,
how do we want to block these? But I do
think it'll be exciting and it certainly puts a big
priority on having a great returner, and the Broncos have
him on and Marvin Mims and so Sean Payne was
asked at the coaches breakfast on Monday, hey, do you
(03:17):
like this rule? And he said he did, and then
he was asked, well, do you like it because you
have Marvin Mims? And he kind of smiled and said, well,
that's a good reason to like it, right. So we'll
see if Marvin Mims gets a few more chances of
return kicks this year, and we'll see if the Broncos
can maybe give their offense some good field position to
work with. We'll say, the other thing from a coverage
standpoint is we saw how big of a stride the
(03:38):
Broncos made under Mike west Up and Kawika Chris Banjo.
It's really going to matter now if you have a
good special teams group, you know, maybe prioritize and roster building,
having some more guys that can cover, having guys that
are able to block there for the return units, and
so having a trusted special teams staff is going to
be critical, and I think a place where the Broncos
(04:01):
might hold.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
An edge definitely. Yeah, are going off of that.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Curious how well on side kicks work then, because it
seems like those will no longer be kind of a surprise.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Yeah, no more surprise on side kicks. So you won't
see what we saw the first play of the season
this last year. You won't see, you know, the successful
play that Sean Payton had in the Super Bowl with
New Orleans. Obviously you've got to declare on side kicks now.
And some people think, hey, is this a precursor to
a change to the on side kick rule? And as
(04:30):
you know, you eventually get to that fourth and twenty
opportunity that several teams have proposed over the last couple
of years. But you're right, so that'll be a change
the squib kick, which we've typically seen. You know, you
try to either maybe pinball it off somebody at the
forty yard line or you just try to waste some
time that you can't do that anymore, either because it's
got a land I believe again past the twenty yard line,
(04:51):
or else it goes out to the forty. So there's
gonna be some some slight changes in terms of strategy,
and that'll be part of especially in the preseason, I think,
think figuring out what works what doesn't. Are there any
kind of unexpected consequences here, but it will be I
think for the first time in a long time, a
really fun and exciting play to watch. And it's no
(05:11):
longer when you go up and get a refill on
pretzels or chips. You gotta stay there and watch the
play and watch, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
I think it would be good. Well, Eric.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
In addition to that, hip drop tackles are now banned.
That was another rule change in the NFL's competition committee
was actually all unanimous on that decision as well, So
that's interesting any change.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Yeah, And that was a kind of a quick thing, right,
I mean, I don't think before last season a lot
of people have even heard about the hip dop tackle,
and now all of a sudden they've eliminated them or
are going to try to eliminate them from the game.
I think it's an important distinction for those people who
maybe are not as familiar with the play. You can
still tackle a guy from behind and drag him down.
(05:53):
The issue is that what they're really focusing on is
a swivel hip drop tackle, and what that is is
where you grab some buddy and then you pull yourself
up off the ground as the tackler and then bring
them down. I believe there were fifteen or so instances
last year where players suffered serious injuries due to that
form of tackling. The NFL found it injures players at
(06:16):
a twenty five times higher rate than a normal tackle,
and so there's certainly a reason to get rid of
this now. The NFLPA was not as big on a
ban here. They think it's going to be too hard
to legislate. And we kind of have heard the same
thing from several coaches at the owner's meetings in that
you know, is this something where it takes some time
(06:38):
to figure out how to call a penalty. Is it
penalized on the field, or is it more of is
it legislated through fines later in the week. I think
it's maybe to be seen how the league, how the
officials go about calling this, and certainly you know when
horse Keck, when horse caller tackles were outlawed, there were
(06:59):
some more concerns about, hey, are you going to be
able to call these in real time? You're already asking
a lot of the officials and generally said, I think
we see people don't tackle like that. Generally, yeah, and
it's rare that you see that. And I think the
hope is that here too, you're going to find a
way to legislate this out of the game, make it
safer for everybody, keep everybody's favorite players out on the field.
(07:23):
But again, it might take some time for officials to
figure it out, for the league to decide, hey, is
this something? Are we seeing three of these calls a game?
Or are we seeing one call and then a couple
of players later in the week are getting fine? I mean,
we'll have to see exactly how that plays out. But again,
you can still tackle guys from behind. It's not about that.
It's about you can't lift yourself up and then bring
(07:45):
them down with your weight on top of their normally
the back of their legs. So that's the distinction is
kind of that lifting off the ground.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yeah, players to safety definitely the priority there. Eric. The
NFL trade deadline is also changing.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
NFL own is approved on Tuesday to push that back
a week, so that will now be after week nine
of games.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah, great move.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
I think I think this is the best went so far.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Yeah. I agree. I think the longer you're able to
push the trade deadline back the better, just because I mean,
even week nine you're still only halfway through the season.
And certainly I think the longer you're able to wait
for the trade deadline, the more teams are likely to
make moves. And certainly you don't always want star players
(08:28):
to go places but or go other places. But I
do think it's exciting for fans when you see, you know,
a player change teams midseason, or your favorite team go
out and get somebody to help for the stretch run.
And if you're a team that's not playing as well,
it gives you a chance to to get back some
draft capital. Obviously, the Broncos definitely, essentially almost every year
(08:50):
except this past when have been very active in recent
years at the trade deadline, and they've gotten some picks
that have made it possible to go out and make moves.
I mean, Sean Payton was acquired because Lebronco has got
a pick for trading Bradley Chubb. And so I do
think it just gives teams more information to work with.
If you're a contender, it gives you one more week
to see, hey, do we need to go get a
(09:13):
star wide receiver for the stretch run. We're gonna be
able to trade a pick here. Or if you're a
team that you know, maybe you enter, you know, week nine,
four and four and you're like, hey, okay, are we
gonna do this or not, and you you lose a
game and you decide, okay, well we're gonna we're gonna
make a decision here, or maybe you win and you
say we're gonna we're gonna see how this plays out.
(09:34):
So I think the longer the trade deadline or the
later the trade deadline is the better for teams, better
for fans. And said, we've seen it move a couple
of times here, I wouldn't be surprised. You know, this
isn't based off anything, but just the trend we've seen
is I wouldn't be surprised if it keeps moving back
gradually now, obviously I don't want it to get too late,
but yeah, I think this is a trend that makes
(09:56):
sense and that definitely people were across the league in
favor of.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Of definitely w'eric a few more changes. I want to highlight.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Christmas Day games have been a huge priority for the
NFL in recent years, and this year the NFL will
hold two games on Christmas Day and that's big solely
because Christmas is on a Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
This year.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
It is yeah, and it'll be uh, there'll be a
lot of football.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
There will be a lot of football that week.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
That week said obviously you got Monday night, you'll now
have Wednesday Thursday night football near Thanksgiving. But I believe
the college football playoffs and you know, are kind of
in that they start to be in that range. So
(10:37):
we'll have to see how the dates all work out exactly.
But in terms of the Christmas Day games, people must
be wondering, Okay, well, how can a team play on
Sunday and then play again Wednesday. And the teams that
play on Christmas Day on Wednesday will play that previous Saturday,
so they're still going to have the same amount of
rest that a Thursday night team would have from a
(10:58):
normal Sunday. You obviously have a one day shorter week
previous week, but it still makes it palatable. The league's
pretty pretty resolute and saying we're not going to play
on a shorter time frame than that. And you know,
this is just from a standpoint of the ratings. It
was a no brainer. And you know, Roger Goodell said,
(11:20):
Wednesday games are not going to be a typical thing
for the league. But when Christmas falls on a Wednesday,
and you know, we'll have to see if you know,
if a Christmas at some point falls on a Tuesday.
When that happens, you know, does a league make a
decision to play then. But they were very intentional about this.
It sounds like they're going to play on two games.
Sounds like they'll be in the afternoon kind of time frame.
(11:43):
They saw last year they had a triple header on
Christmas Day and that that night game, even though it
was Baltimore San Francisco, I believe it had lower ratings
than some of the other games, even though it was
kind of the prime matchup. So they like that those
two afternoon slots.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Everyone's tired, exactly.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Your big Christmas dinner I go to sleep, have a
little eggnog, and so nice to just have it in
the afternoon. And you know, again, it's a ratings move, obviously,
but I think it is good for fans and it's fun,
and you know, I'm certainly not opposed to watching more
NFL football on Christmas. And I don't know if I
(12:23):
want to play on Christmas, but I certainly open to
watching it. And granted the teams that do play on Christmas,
you would think that it'd be like a Thursday night
game where you get that long weekend afterwards. So Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
Sunday you're off anyway, so maybe you get that long weekend,
and you're right, makes it work, makes it worth it,
but it Football is a big business, and playing on
(12:46):
Christmas just seems to just make sense.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Where some major changes regarding injured reserve as well players
plays on IR during the pre season are no longer
automatically season ending injury, so some a big decision there.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah, no question about it. I think that will be
one of the more intriguing things to watch, and it's
going to matter more now in terms of injury timeframes,
rehab that sort of thing for those that need a
little more clarity. Like Tim Patrick obviously got hurt early
in training camp last year, he was placed on IR
(13:21):
that automatically ends his season. Now, he could technically have
come back had the rules been in place like they
will be for this upcoming year. So that's one element
of it, is if a guy has a long term
injury in July, you can put him on IR, save
the roster spot, and then he can come back at
(13:42):
some point. I believe it's too that you can designate
to return later in the season. The other thing that
can be helpful is you know said we've seen like
I believe PJ. Locke was a guy last year, he
was hurt, he was not ready to play one and
so you carry him into the regular season for one
(14:04):
day so that you can then put him on IR
and so that he can be eligible to return, and
then you you essentially are exposing two more players to
either waivers or you'd have to release a VET who
can go out there and sign with somebody else. And
so that's where this could be helpful too, is that
(14:27):
you know, say X player is heard and might be
ready week three or week four, but they're not gonna
be they're definitely not gonna be ready week one. Now
you can just put them on ir you don't have
to worry about the roster mechanics of just carrying them
for one day, and so that will make I would
think the end of preseason roster cut decisions a little
(14:49):
easier for teams and maybe a little more straightforward. Get
your rosters set, just even if that gives you, you know, hey,
we don't have to make a second set of roster moves,
gets your initial ross or set, you can start preparing
for week one and kind of get ready for the
game instead of having to worry about the roster mechanics.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Yeah, makes sense. A lot of good rules heading into
this new season.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Eric.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Outside of that, today, on the Thursday, the Broncos assigned
wide receiver Josh Reynolds to a two year deal.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Spoke with him earlier today.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
He's super excited to be here and really excited to
work with Sean Payan.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Yeah, he's a he's a fun guy to watch quick
I think said that he described it to you as
he's smoothedmoth. Yeah, he finds a seam and he goes
He's you know, not kind of the big body guy
that that Courtland is from a size standpoint, but he
does have the a little bit of height, and uh,
I'm excited to see how he fits with Courtland, with
(15:43):
Marvin Mims, you know exactly Tim. You know, they just
all have slightly different games that seemingly pair well together.
He was the quote unquote number three in Detroit. I
think he showed, you know, six hundred yards five touchdowns
last year, that he's capable of more than that, and
so it'll be fun to watch him and you know,
(16:06):
the Broncos. I think, as as Sean Payton said while
we were down at the annual meeting, said, everybody had
they had like a clear vision for everyone. It was
an exact fit sort of signing. They were very precise
in terms of who they went after. And so there
were some guys that you know, if you're a big
NFL fan, you probably you probably know and you're familiar with.
There's some guys that maybe are ascending players that haven't
(16:28):
had as many the radar, right under the radar, and
this is a guy that you know. And so I
think from that standpoint, just exciting to sign another guy
at wide receiver and see what he can do for
this offense.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah, definitely exciting signing there in a busy week and
exciting week.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Eric going on, so not going on. Yeah, it's nice. Well,
appreciate you joining the show.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
You got it.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Well, that's going to do it for today's episode of
Broncos Now Broncos Country. Thanks so much for tuning in.
Let meed you right back here on the Broncos Podcast
network and YouTube, and next week for another episode.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Well then
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