February 20, 2024 • 12 mins
On this episode of "Broncos Now," Sydney Jones is joined by Aric DiLalla to discuss the NFL’s franchise tag window, what to expect at the NFL Combine next week 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 a Broncos Country. Welcome back to the Broncos podcast
network and YouTube for the latest episode of Broncos Now
as Always Ever hosted Sidney Jones and coming up on
today's episode at Broncos lead writer Eric Delala joins the show.
We'll look ahead to the NFL Combine in Indianapolis next
week and discuss the Broncos franchise tag options all that
more coming out. Joining me here inside the Broncos podcast
(00:24):
studio for today's episode of Broncos Now is Broncos lead
writer Eric Delali. Eric, thanks for joining me. How's it going.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
It's going well, said, How are you and enjoy your
long weekend? I did. It was nice. Links got away
a little bit, yeah, and but nice to be back.
We're getting close here, said to now some exciting stuff.
The league years just a few weeks away and it's
gonna start heating up around here. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Well, exciting stuff coming up, Eric, Like you said most
timely news. Today, NFL teams can start to place franchise
tags on their unrestricted free agents. Each team has two
weeks to do so. No, there's not a ton of
unrestricted free agent options with the Broncos, right now, But
do you think there's anyone that the Broncos could potentially
place a franchise tag on this year?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, it's a good question. Said. Typically you see it
with younger guys coming off their first contract, which you
would look at like a Lloyd Cushion Berry there as
a guy who's going to be a free agent coming
off that rookie deal. I don't know. You never say
never with this sort of thing, and maybe the Broncos
value a guy more than maybe what the public perception
might be. And we heard Sean Payton talk at the
(01:28):
Super Bowl about how you've got to make your own
decisions and you can't listen to what the NFL says
in terms of that NFL kind of train of thought
as he called it. But that being said, I'd be
surprised it doesn't seem like a year where the franchise
tag will be in play. Obviously, we've seen the Broncos
use it before on Justin Simmons for example. They placed
(01:50):
it on a Von Miller back in the day at
Tamarius Thomas didn't end up having to use it, they
signed long term deals. But from that standpoint, it doesn't
necessarily seem like were headed in that direction, and again
you never say never. Maybe there's maybe a surprise candidate,
but just based on the cost of that and where
the Broncos sit right now in terms of the salary
(02:13):
cap and where you know, if they do decide to
make a move here coming up, where they would be
salary cap wise, George Peyton kind of went ahead and
said a few weeks ago, we're not going to be
as active in that first wave of free agency. You
can't beat that every year. We know a couple of
years ago they viewed the Justin Simmons re signing as
(02:33):
one of their prime free acquisitions in a way, and
so just kind of the way he talked about free
agency as kind of sitting back, taking a step back
from that first wave, I'd be surprised if the franchise
tag was in play for the Broncos.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yeah, like you mentioned Justin Simmons, was that the last
time the Broncos placed a franchise tag on someone two
years back to back I believe twenty twenty and then
twenty twenty one, So it's been you know, only a
few years since they've used it.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, and listen, there's it's normally that star type player
or a near top of the market guy that gets
that franchise tag. And so, you know, it's a good
problem to have sometimes because it means you have good
football players that you don't want to lose, but it
(03:21):
doesn't always kind of dependent on the position and you
want to use it for the right guy. And it's
not to say that the Broncos don't have valuable free
agents that they could bring back, and you know what,
we'll just have to see kind of George Peyton talks
about this sometimes where there's a value and you've got
to make it worth, make it work for both sides.
(03:42):
So I'm not saying that there's not free agents the
Broncos have that could be good to have back. It
just doesn't necessarily always fit with what the franchise tag
is intended for.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I don't know if a lot of people know this, Eric,
but Pat Bowland and John Elway were actually the ones
to kind of introduce this idea of a franchise tag
back in nineteen ninety three. Wow, if I don't.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Know if you know that all, I didn't know that either.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Said yeah, so mister b was afraid of letting go
of John, so they kind of made this. It was
originally called the Lway Rule, which kind of formed now
into the franchise tag, so kind of fun. Yeah, you
are a fun little connection.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Nice little tidbit there.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Yeah, well, Eric, and other news, we will be heading
to Indianapolis next week for the NFL Combine. Exciting stuff,
will be there all week. What are you looking forward
to next week?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, I think it's one Typically we tend to hear
from the head coach and general manager. As far back
as I can remember, since I've been covering the team,
we've heard from those guys, So hopefully that'll that'll take
place next week, and it's just it's always interesting to
hear kind of what they say what they don't say,
both about free agents, certainly Russell Wilson, if John Payton
(04:50):
and George Peyton are available, will be a topic of conversation, I imagine.
Definitely some of these rookie quarterbacks. What you look for
and a young guy, I'm sure will be a question
that's posed again if we hear from them, and that's
just you kind of get to start to hear a
little bit more info and it's kind of like that
(05:11):
first taste of what can you expect for this offseason
and how this team is going to attack things, because
now they've had a chance to do film review and
look back at this past season and evaluate players and
coaches and themselves. And you know, we've seen a couple
of coaches move on, We've seen a couple of coaches
be hired here, and so I'm interested to hear Sean
(05:33):
Payton if he's speaking kind of those thoughts on you know,
adding Pete Carmichael, adding Jim Leonard, right, that stands out
to me. And just you know, every coach has to
kind of play at koy this time of year. General
managers too, of who are you going to take? What
do you want to do? What's the strong area of
the draft? And I think the more you spend time
(05:54):
around these guys, the more that maybe you feel like
at least, who is there a little nugget there, like
a little bit of truth among the smoke screen. And
then kind of trying to piece all those little bits
of information together to form the puzzle of the off
season is interesting. So that's one element. And then just
(06:14):
I think the the ability to see some of these quarterbacks.
I mean, obviously there's more positions the Broncos could target.
We don't know yet what the plan is going to
be with Russell Wilson, but if they do choose to
target a young guy or at least consider a young quarterback,
you know, what do they look like out on the field,
how do they sound when they talk to the media?
(06:34):
Kind of what is their their their command? You know,
we think you see a lot of quarterbacks have that
commanding presence in the locker room. You know, what do
they say when they're asked tough questions? How do they
throw the ball that? How do they do? You know,
from like a Michael PENNOCKX perspective, what are the medicals?
(06:55):
There's a lot of pieces of information again that you
get on these guys, and any time it's quarterback related,
it's always a little bit more exciting just because it's
such a prominent position, so toally got a little taste
at the Senior Bowl and now this is kind of
the next big step and then from there it's just
kind of nothing really happens after that, right like free
(07:17):
agency happens and it maybe changes your needs, but there's
pro days that can adjust things a little bit. But
this draft order is going to start to get more
and more firm. We know that at the Combine sometimes
deals get talked about in terms of, you know, guys
being sent around the league, or you know, Draft day,
(07:38):
you know, or draft related trades, those sorts of things.
So it all starts to happen in Indianapolis, and it'll excite,
It'll be exciting to be there and kind of get
this off season kicked off.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
I think so too. It's always an exciting time in
the year. I always enjoy going to the Combine every year. Eric,
you mentioned some of the you know, rookie quarterbacks. Is
there anyone specific, any specific prospect that you're looking forward to.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Hearing from, hearing from, you know, I just maybe like
a JJ McCarthy just in terms of or a bon Nix,
a you know, Michael Pennix kind of guys in that
that second tier maybe, but I'm I'm more excited to
see him throw and compete. And sure, you know, sometimes
(08:21):
a guy or two will say I'm not throwing, I'm
gonna wait to my pro date. I'm always intrigued by
who chooses to throw who doesn't. And it feels like
because there's that cluster in that second group, at least
as it's being talked about nationally. You know, do all
the do all three of those guys feel like they
have to throw or you know, just so that they
(08:44):
don't kind of get left behind in this competition. And
then you know, if you're a team and you you
love one of these guys, do you you know, you've
looked at the film already and you say, hey, this
is our guy. Do you hope he doesn't have such
a great performance this week so that he doesn't get
taken before you have a chance to go get them.
So it's just a lot of against smoke screens mind games. Yeah,
(09:06):
you know, you look at all these mock drafts and
there's dozens of them already, and each one has the
Broncos taking a different guy, and it'll change fifteen more
times by the time we get to April. But it's
part of the fun of this time of year is
that you're not sure what the team's going to do.
There's tons of possibilities and it makes it exciting.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Definitely. Yeah, Eric lasswin for you, what do you think
is the value in seeing some of these guys in
person at the combine then versus you know, their pro
days when you have chemistry with their receivers and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yeah, well, I think one it shows the competitiveness, right of, Hey,
I'm going to go out there, no matter who it's with,
I'm going to find a way to throw the ball,
get completions, show off my skill set. When you have
them all in this kind of the same environment, there's
a control for some of the things like weather or yeah,
are their pro day receivers a little bit better than
(09:56):
the other guy. They get to a chance to work
with the coaches there. But you know, I think the
on field stuff is obviously just a part of it.
It's the meetings with the teams. You know, how do
they do on the whiteboard drying up plays or discussing
coverages or talking about their backgrounds, their character, that sort
of thing. It is the media element, it's the medical element.
(10:17):
And then the biggest thing. And I think we for
good reason cover this and it's exciting and it's fun,
but the big, the big thing is what they did
on a field the last however many years, right, And
so you don't want to, I think forget that. And
you know, fans maybe fall in love with the way
somebody performs at the combine these scouts, these coaches, they
(10:39):
know that what happened on the field is what matters most,
and so this is just additional information you try to
use to make a decision. And when you're selecting a quarterback,
obviously obviously it's a huge decision, and so you want
to make sure you have all the information you can
possibly have to make an informed decision and hope that
that guy can lead you forward. And we'll see if
(11:00):
the Broncos decide to go in that direction. There's obviously
a lot of different ways they could go. We've seen
edge rusher, we've seen defensive linemen, we've seen tight end receiver, corners, corners.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Ye.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
People have basically mocked every position imaginable to the Broncos.
And I think when you haven't had a first round
pick in a couple of years, you need that top
end talent and so I don't think the Broncos can
go wrong. And that's another reason so I'm excited for
the combine is that the Broncos haven't had a first
round pick in a couple of years. They've got a
(11:34):
chance to add a real difference maker to this roster.
This gives you a chance to go find him.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Well, like I said, Eric and I will be at
the combine and next week, so we'll have a lot
of content on mo Broncos dot com in the social
media channel, so everyone be on the lookout for that. Eric,
appreciate you joining the show today. Got it so well,
that's going to do it for today's episode of Broncos
Now Broncos Country. Thanks so much for tuning in. I
need you right back here on the Broncos Podcast Network
in YouTube next week for another episode. I will see
you all done.
What's a Broncos Country. Welcome back to the Broncos podcast
network and YouTube for the latest episode of Broncos Now
as Always Ever hosted Sidney Jones and coming up on
today's episode at Broncos lead writer Eric Delala joins the show.
We'll look ahead to the NFL Combine in Indianapolis next
week and discuss the Broncos franchise tag options all that
more coming out. Joining me here inside the Broncos podcast
(00:24):
studio for today's episode of Broncos Now is Broncos lead
writer Eric Delali. Eric, thanks for joining me. How's it going.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
It's going well, said, How are you and enjoy your
long weekend? I did. It was nice. Links got away
a little bit, yeah, and but nice to be back.
We're getting close here, said to now some exciting stuff.
The league years just a few weeks away and it's
gonna start heating up around here. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Well, exciting stuff coming up, Eric, Like you said most
timely news. Today, NFL teams can start to place franchise
tags on their unrestricted free agents. Each team has two
weeks to do so. No, there's not a ton of
unrestricted free agent options with the Broncos, right now, But
do you think there's anyone that the Broncos could potentially
place a franchise tag on this year?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, it's a good question. Said. Typically you see it
with younger guys coming off their first contract, which you
would look at like a Lloyd Cushion Berry there as
a guy who's going to be a free agent coming
off that rookie deal. I don't know. You never say
never with this sort of thing, and maybe the Broncos
value a guy more than maybe what the public perception
might be. And we heard Sean Payton talk at the
(01:28):
Super Bowl about how you've got to make your own
decisions and you can't listen to what the NFL says
in terms of that NFL kind of train of thought
as he called it. But that being said, I'd be
surprised it doesn't seem like a year where the franchise
tag will be in play. Obviously, we've seen the Broncos
use it before on Justin Simmons for example. They placed
(01:50):
it on a Von Miller back in the day at
Tamarius Thomas didn't end up having to use it, they
signed long term deals. But from that standpoint, it doesn't
necessarily seem like were headed in that direction, and again
you never say never. Maybe there's maybe a surprise candidate,
but just based on the cost of that and where
the Broncos sit right now in terms of the salary
(02:13):
cap and where you know, if they do decide to
make a move here coming up, where they would be
salary cap wise, George Peyton kind of went ahead and
said a few weeks ago, we're not going to be
as active in that first wave of free agency. You
can't beat that every year. We know a couple of
years ago they viewed the Justin Simmons re signing as
(02:33):
one of their prime free acquisitions in a way, and
so just kind of the way he talked about free
agency as kind of sitting back, taking a step back
from that first wave, I'd be surprised if the franchise
tag was in play for the Broncos.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Yeah, like you mentioned Justin Simmons, was that the last
time the Broncos placed a franchise tag on someone two
years back to back I believe twenty twenty and then
twenty twenty one, So it's been you know, only a
few years since they've used it.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, and listen, there's it's normally that star type player
or a near top of the market guy that gets
that franchise tag. And so, you know, it's a good
problem to have sometimes because it means you have good
football players that you don't want to lose, but it
(03:21):
doesn't always kind of dependent on the position and you
want to use it for the right guy. And it's
not to say that the Broncos don't have valuable free
agents that they could bring back, and you know what,
we'll just have to see kind of George Peyton talks
about this sometimes where there's a value and you've got
to make it worth, make it work for both sides.
(03:42):
So I'm not saying that there's not free agents the
Broncos have that could be good to have back. It
just doesn't necessarily always fit with what the franchise tag
is intended for.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I don't know if a lot of people know this, Eric,
but Pat Bowland and John Elway were actually the ones
to kind of introduce this idea of a franchise tag
back in nineteen ninety three. Wow, if I don't.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Know if you know that all, I didn't know that either.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Said yeah, so mister b was afraid of letting go
of John, so they kind of made this. It was
originally called the Lway Rule, which kind of formed now
into the franchise tag, so kind of fun. Yeah, you
are a fun little connection.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Nice little tidbit there.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Yeah, well, Eric, and other news, we will be heading
to Indianapolis next week for the NFL Combine. Exciting stuff,
will be there all week. What are you looking forward
to next week?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, I think it's one Typically we tend to hear
from the head coach and general manager. As far back
as I can remember, since I've been covering the team,
we've heard from those guys, So hopefully that'll that'll take
place next week, and it's just it's always interesting to
hear kind of what they say what they don't say,
both about free agents, certainly Russell Wilson, if John Payton
(04:50):
and George Peyton are available, will be a topic of conversation, I imagine.
Definitely some of these rookie quarterbacks. What you look for
and a young guy, I'm sure will be a question
that's posed again if we hear from them, and that's
just you kind of get to start to hear a
little bit more info and it's kind of like that
(05:11):
first taste of what can you expect for this offseason
and how this team is going to attack things, because
now they've had a chance to do film review and
look back at this past season and evaluate players and
coaches and themselves. And you know, we've seen a couple
of coaches move on, We've seen a couple of coaches
be hired here, and so I'm interested to hear Sean
(05:33):
Payton if he's speaking kind of those thoughts on you know,
adding Pete Carmichael, adding Jim Leonard, right, that stands out
to me. And just you know, every coach has to
kind of play at koy this time of year. General
managers too, of who are you going to take? What
do you want to do? What's the strong area of
the draft? And I think the more you spend time
(05:54):
around these guys, the more that maybe you feel like
at least, who is there a little nugget there, like
a little bit of truth among the smoke screen. And
then kind of trying to piece all those little bits
of information together to form the puzzle of the off
season is interesting. So that's one element. And then just
(06:14):
I think the the ability to see some of these quarterbacks.
I mean, obviously there's more positions the Broncos could target.
We don't know yet what the plan is going to
be with Russell Wilson, but if they do choose to
target a young guy or at least consider a young quarterback,
you know, what do they look like out on the field,
how do they sound when they talk to the media?
(06:34):
Kind of what is their their their command? You know,
we think you see a lot of quarterbacks have that
commanding presence in the locker room. You know, what do
they say when they're asked tough questions? How do they
throw the ball that? How do they do? You know,
from like a Michael PENNOCKX perspective, what are the medicals?
(06:55):
There's a lot of pieces of information again that you
get on these guys, and any time it's quarterback related,
it's always a little bit more exciting just because it's
such a prominent position, so toally got a little taste
at the Senior Bowl and now this is kind of
the next big step and then from there it's just
kind of nothing really happens after that, right like free
(07:17):
agency happens and it maybe changes your needs, but there's
pro days that can adjust things a little bit. But
this draft order is going to start to get more
and more firm. We know that at the Combine sometimes
deals get talked about in terms of, you know, guys
being sent around the league, or you know, Draft day,
(07:38):
you know, or draft related trades, those sorts of things.
So it all starts to happen in Indianapolis, and it'll excite,
It'll be exciting to be there and kind of get
this off season kicked off.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
I think so too. It's always an exciting time in
the year. I always enjoy going to the Combine every year. Eric,
you mentioned some of the you know, rookie quarterbacks. Is
there anyone specific, any specific prospect that you're looking forward to.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Hearing from, hearing from, you know, I just maybe like
a JJ McCarthy just in terms of or a bon Nix,
a you know, Michael Pennix kind of guys in that
that second tier maybe, but I'm I'm more excited to
see him throw and compete. And sure, you know, sometimes
(08:21):
a guy or two will say I'm not throwing, I'm
gonna wait to my pro date. I'm always intrigued by
who chooses to throw who doesn't. And it feels like
because there's that cluster in that second group, at least
as it's being talked about nationally. You know, do all
the do all three of those guys feel like they
have to throw or you know, just so that they
(08:44):
don't kind of get left behind in this competition. And
then you know, if you're a team and you you
love one of these guys, do you you know, you've
looked at the film already and you say, hey, this
is our guy. Do you hope he doesn't have such
a great performance this week so that he doesn't get
taken before you have a chance to go get them.
So it's just a lot of against smoke screens mind games. Yeah,
(09:06):
you know, you look at all these mock drafts and
there's dozens of them already, and each one has the
Broncos taking a different guy, and it'll change fifteen more
times by the time we get to April. But it's
part of the fun of this time of year is
that you're not sure what the team's going to do.
There's tons of possibilities and it makes it exciting.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Definitely. Yeah, Eric lasswin for you, what do you think
is the value in seeing some of these guys in
person at the combine then versus you know, their pro
days when you have chemistry with their receivers and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yeah, well, I think one it shows the competitiveness, right of, Hey,
I'm going to go out there, no matter who it's with,
I'm going to find a way to throw the ball,
get completions, show off my skill set. When you have
them all in this kind of the same environment, there's
a control for some of the things like weather or yeah,
are their pro day receivers a little bit better than
(09:56):
the other guy. They get to a chance to work
with the coaches there. But you know, I think the
on field stuff is obviously just a part of it.
It's the meetings with the teams. You know, how do
they do on the whiteboard drying up plays or discussing
coverages or talking about their backgrounds, their character, that sort
of thing. It is the media element, it's the medical element.
(10:17):
And then the biggest thing. And I think we for
good reason cover this and it's exciting and it's fun,
but the big, the big thing is what they did
on a field the last however many years, right, And
so you don't want to, I think forget that. And
you know, fans maybe fall in love with the way
somebody performs at the combine these scouts, these coaches, they
(10:39):
know that what happened on the field is what matters most,
and so this is just additional information you try to
use to make a decision. And when you're selecting a quarterback,
obviously obviously it's a huge decision, and so you want
to make sure you have all the information you can
possibly have to make an informed decision and hope that
that guy can lead you forward. And we'll see if
(11:00):
the Broncos decide to go in that direction. There's obviously
a lot of different ways they could go. We've seen
edge rusher, we've seen defensive linemen, we've seen tight end receiver, corners, corners.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Ye.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
People have basically mocked every position imaginable to the Broncos.
And I think when you haven't had a first round
pick in a couple of years, you need that top
end talent and so I don't think the Broncos can
go wrong. And that's another reason so I'm excited for
the combine is that the Broncos haven't had a first
round pick in a couple of years. They've got a
(11:34):
chance to add a real difference maker to this roster.
This gives you a chance to go find him.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Well, like I said, Eric and I will be at
the combine and next week, so we'll have a lot
of content on mo Broncos dot com in the social
media channel, so everyone be on the lookout for that. Eric,
appreciate you joining the show today. Got it so well,
that's going to do it for today's episode of Broncos
Now Broncos Country. Thanks so much for tuning in. I
need you right back here on the Broncos Podcast Network
in YouTube next week for another episode. I will see
you all done.
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