05-09-25 Hour 1 of Broncos Country Tonight with Zach Segars

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, everybody and locome to another post Rockies late night
edition of Broncos Country tonight, filling in for Benjamin Albright. Tonight,
you've got Zach Seegers excited to be here talking about
the Denver Broncos and what they've got going on is
rookie camp starts to ramp up here, rookies reported today

(00:21):
for the first day of rookie training camp, everyone had
their eyes on what numbers the rookies we're gonna get today.
Everyone on pins and needles there. Now, of course it
doesn't ultimately impact how those rookies will pan out, but
everyone wants the rookies to look good, have an esthetically
pleasing number, not only, you know, so it looks good
on the field, but so that they can buy cool jerseys.

(00:43):
You know, no one wanted that thirty seven Royce Freeman jersey.
That never looked good to anybody. We're that thirty seven
Riley Moss, right, Those those just look ugly. So you
want your rookies to look cool. I get it, But
I think the maybe more important conversation with these rookies
is what does their path to playing time look like

(01:04):
or their path to a successful rookie season. What does
that look like for you, trookie, because I think that
can be oftentimes more telling than anything about these rookies.
You know, for example, Jeremy Crosshaw laid sixth round pick.
He's gonna have one of the largest impacts of any
Broncos rookie selected because he's got a very clear path
to playing time. His only obstacle is Matt Hawk, who

(01:28):
has been a backup punter each of the last three years.
Jeremy Crosshaw was the consensus top punter in the draft
and a pretty dang good one one expected to go
in about the sixth seventh round. Booming leg good accuracy
with the two. You see him consistently pin opponents inside
the twenty without sending the ball into the end zone.
He should pretty easily win that competition. No other rookie

(01:52):
really has that clear a path. You know, Baron even
is going to have to compete with Jakwan McMillan, and
he'll probably win that competition for the nickel corner job,
but that's a much tougher competition than what cross Shaw's facing.
Caleb Lohner, I think, is another player with a surprisingly
simple and clear path to playing time. Adam Troutman is

(02:15):
entrenched as the team's in line tight end right now.
Evan Ingram of course will play some inline tight end,
but it seems like he'll primarily be lined up in
the slot, and he'll also be more of a pass
catching threat, while Troutman is your all around guy. So
you know those two guys are are set in the room.
Nate Adkins probably makes it right. He brings you some

(02:37):
blocking ability, he plays special teams for you, and does
you know some of that fullback stuff. Maybe you want
to keep him around, especially because Michael Burton keeps getting
up there. He's still on the team, but you know,
another year older after that, though, and this team could
very well keep four tight ends, especially if they only
keep one of Adkins or Burton. Maybe they move on
for Burton and they keep Adkins. That opens up a

(02:57):
spot after Adkins. You get to Lucas crowl Why can't
Loaner beat out Lucas Kroll from day one? You know,
I think when everyone saw that pick, he seems like
an obvious practice squad guy. Right hasn't played football since
the eighth grade, or sorry, the seventh grade, until a
senior year of college and then in the senior year
of college only had nine targets and four receptions, an

(03:18):
incredibly raw prospect still learning how to play the game
of football. Yet, Lucas Kroll is a very raw prospect
in his own right, a receiving first tight end who
probably doesn't offer you a lot as a blocker, but
the hope is he can be a bit of a
mismatch threat. Now it's a different archetype. He's more of
a seam stretcher in that room, where Loaner it does

(03:40):
seem like he moves pretty well for the position, but
he'll be more of a red zone weapon. Nonetheless, I
don't think that fourth tight end has to fit into
a given archetype. You know, it's the fourth tight end
who's most useful, and I think it won't be that
hard to argue Loaner is more useful to the Broncos
than Croll because even though he is raw, you can

(04:02):
see on his college tape that he can be a
nightmare in the red zone with his ability to the post.
Being a former power forward center in the Big twelve,
he knows how to use his body, he knows how
to use his catch radius, and he is excellent at
boxing out defenders. From the catch point, we're coming out
of the box that that athletic ability might give him

(04:23):
more utility than a guy like Kroll, And Kroll's floor
right now is pretty low. Even with Evan Ingram in
the room, he's comfortably the least effective blocker. The receiving
ability was very disappointing last year, And I think another
point in Loner's call him, you're probably not worried about
anyone stealing Kroll off the practice squad. Meanwhile, it's been

(04:44):
heavily reported that some other team was going to take
Caleb Blohoner in the seventh round if the Broncos didn't,
and to avoid him being poached they drafted him. Who's
to say that team doesn't still think highly of Caleb
Blooner and would try to poach him if the Broncos
let him hit the market. So Loner, even though he's
a guy I think everyone wants to write off, I
don't think it'd be surprising necessarily if he ends the

(05:05):
season with a stat line similar to what he had
at Utah. You know, maybe only four or five catches,
but a couple of touchdowns in there, just because he
can be in this match nightmare, and Peyton knows how
to scheme those plays up. R J. Harvey, of course,
also has a very clear path to playing time as
the team's prohibit a favorite to be their starting running back.
Now Estime is going to challenge for that job. He

(05:28):
might even own the starting job out of the gate,
considering Peyton's deference to rookies. But Estima really proved very
little last year. You know, even if they do have
faith going into twenty twenty five with they thought so
little of him at the end of twenty twenty four
that in the playoffs they called Tyler Bidat off the

(05:49):
pup list or the IR activated him off the IR
and despite him only having you know, less than fifteen
carries with the team at that point, they favored him
over Estime. And now at the time it was okay, well,
maybe they see something in this matchup, but he gives
them more speed, maybe a little more receiving ability. But
then they didn't use him at all, so it wasn't
even a we like this guy for this particular matchup.

(06:13):
They just apparently didn't want Estimate in that game at all.
He was a healthy scratch, and that being the last
data point does feel notable. Again, they clearly liked the
guy enough to put him in this heavy position where
he kind of has to be the counterbalance to RJ.
Harvey because there's no clear other alternative. Julia McLoughlin is

(06:34):
a capable back, but he wouldn't be a counterbalance to RJ. Harvey. Right.
Those guys are somewhat redundant skill sets as runners. R J.
Harvey's a better, souped up version of that, but their
traits aren't complimentary. Really, Estimate has a lot of complimentary traits,
and with the Broncos not yet making another addition to
the room, it seems like Estimate is going to have

(06:55):
to be that guy. That said, because he's shown so little,
and because r J. Harvey is such an exciting prospect,
one of the highest running backs Peyton's ever drafted, and
he's drafted a lot of running backs up high, I
think r J. Harvey should be the favorite to get
that starting job. This team needs a guy who can
catch out of the backfield. Harvey. You know, it's a

(07:15):
limited sample there, but it looks incredibly impressive. He can.
He definitely projects to be better in that fascet than
estimate they need an explosive presence. Harvey's that they need
speed and juice on the offense. Harvey provides that estimate
really doesn't now. Jodd A Baron, the Bronco's first pick,
I think has the most interesting path to playing time

(07:35):
to watch because he's going to have competitions at a
myriad of positions. He's going to be battling, of course,
Jakwan McMillan for the starting nickel job, but he's also
going to be battling Moss for the base defense boundary
cornerback job opposite Patrick Sartan base defense. Just for those

(07:58):
who don't know, when you have defensive backs on the
field and seven front seven defenders, you know I can
mix and match it in any number a way. Nickel,
you got five on the back end, six up front.
He'll be that nickel corner very likely, but he will
have to compete with Jaquon for that job. In Jquon
is at least an average starter for that position, so

(08:18):
that'll be a solid competition in camp. I think Baron
should win it. He's a very, very talented prospect, but
right out of the gate he's going to have to
battle a quality NFL starter at the position he's gunning for,
which should make it a fascinating battle to watch this summer.
Same thing goes for Moss, where you're talking about an
above average starter, a plus starter at boundary corner. Baron's

(08:41):
going to have to try and compete for that shop.
He's also going to compete for time at safety. He's
got some safety ability to him, didn't do it a
lot in college, but his high intelligence style of play,
how good he is playing downhill, charging into the line
of fires as a physical presence makes one thing, you know,
and his ball skills makes one think he could be

(09:02):
a good safety, So he'll probably get some look there too,
So he'll probably be competing with PJ. Locksum for that.
But then as a secondary part of that fight or
that camp competition, you're going to have Ufonga and Drew Sanders,
Alex Singleton justin Surnad battling it out to see what

(09:24):
does that second linebacker look like right in that nickel
look which most defenses run as their base look now
typically have two off ball linebackers. Typically we know Dray
Greenlaw is one of those guys. Alex Singleton's probably the other,
but Hufonga played linebacker a good bit for San Francisco

(09:46):
and was very good in that role. Dray Greenlaw kind
of being a downhill presence blowing up the run game.
Now Hufong is that too for a safety, but relative
to linebackers, he's a really great coverage presence. He could
be a great compliment to Dre Greenlaw. Singleton's kind of
of that same market type to green Law, where he
might be the best guy there, but on a third down,

(10:08):
is he the guy you want out there next to
green Law? Maybe not? Maybe Whofong is that guy. Baron
proving some ability at safety will help open up a
potential you know of Fonga utilization and linebacker, and then
Hufonga looking at at linebacker will open an avenue for
Baron to see some playing time at safety next to
Brandon Jone. So those two will kind of help each other.

(10:30):
That's maybe the most complex, but I think as a
result maybe the most interesting. Can't battle to monitor once
the fans get on the burn there and just to
monitor view reports once we get our reporters and Benjamin
Albright and Anthony Rodriguez and Ryan Edwards and hopefully myself
get out there. I think that's something to watch for.
Pat Bryan, similarly, is going to be battling on multiple fronts.

(10:54):
Right He's trying to prove I can be the long
term Courtland Sutton replacement. Maybe they come to a contract extension,
maybe they don't. Seems like Sudden's going to be here
for the twenty twenty five season as of now. Things
could change. As of now, it looks like he's here
for twenty twenty five. Who is the long term X
after twenty twenty five? Maybe he plays again. Maybe it's

(11:16):
he's extended through twenty twenty seven. You'll still have Bryan
and I guess Well will be coming up on a contract.
But you'll have those guys around, and it'll be time
to make decisions on who's the X going forward. Sudden
will be thirty three or thirty two. At that point
you'll need a replacement. Bryan this season is going to
start campaigning for that role, as will Vollet, So those

(11:38):
two are going to kind of be battling each other
as they also battle Sudden. You know, if a contract
extension isn't agreed to before camp, those guys aren't only
battling for a role this year they're trying to show
the team, hey don't worry about and they're not explicitly
doing this, but hey, don't worry about shelling out that
thirty million for sudden. I'm ready to start next year
at that X role for you on on my rookie deal,

(12:01):
and then those guys can maybe carve out a really
meaningful role for themselves in the NFL. So I think
that is one monitor. Of course, he's also going to
be battling for slot snaps now in that kind of
larger slot archetype we saw Peyton utilize a lot last
year with Humphrey and Valay. Josh Reynolds when he was
with the team, did a lot of that. Well, now

(12:22):
you're going to have Ingram, you're going to have lay
still there. Trent Shirfield probably competes for some of those snaps,
and then Pat Bryant, but those aren't the only guys
who operate well out of the slot for the Broncos.
Marvin Mims was best playing out of the slot for
the Broncos, so probably going to have to compete with
him for some snaps there now probably more early down

(12:42):
for Pat Bryant, later down for Mims, but still something
to consider as Bryant tries to get onto the field
to make an impact for the Denver Broncos this year.
Saveon Jones is another guy with a somewhat complicated path
to playing time. The Broncos defensive line as it stands
now is pretty crowded. Now, it was smart to pick Jones.

(13:04):
They have three guys coming up as unrestricted free agents
after this season, so it's smart to plan for the future.
But right now it's a crowded room. Zach Allen, DJ Jones,
John Frankly Myers, those three guys are pretty cemented as starters,
and Malcolm Roach is fairly locked in as that fourth guy.
You got Jordan Jackson, he was the fifth last year,

(13:25):
was a Rik was the sixth. And that's where I
think Jones is going to have to start to break in,
and odds are he will. He's a talented prospect, ninth
in the SEC and pressures last year already can affect
the passer. You see flashes against the run that are
very promising. But that kind of that hybrid edge interior
line roll Laza Rique, despite see being so big, kind

(13:47):
is more of that than a true defensive tackle. That'll
be the first guy Jones has to beat out. We'll
probably do that. I think then he's going to be
competing with Roach and Jackson for snaps in that kind
of three tech role where we've seen DJ Jones play
as well. He's going to get on the field as
a rookie. I think the question is just how much

(14:08):
right Zach Allen played the most snaps per game of
any defensive lineman in the league. DJ Jones was forced
to play a little more outside than he probably ideally
would play a lot last year just because the Broncos
didn't have enough bodies in that three technique spot. Can
Saveeon eat some of those snaps, which allows you to
play DJ Jones inside a little more. You know, the

(14:30):
demand on Zach Allen isn't so heavy. I think that
because he's not trying to win a starting job this year.
He's trying to compete kind of with John Franklin Myers
for the future job. You know, show the team, hey,
you don't have to pay everyone, knowing that you can't
pay everyone on the defensive line. This is a spy.
You can be cheap. I'm ready to fill in and
take over that role on the defensive line. But for

(14:53):
right now, it's just how big of a spot in
the rotation can he carve out? And because he's versa,
he can compete for multiple spots up front. Lastly, here
Q Robinson, and this one's pretty straightforward. He's going to
be a Special teams guys. He will have to compete with,
you know, Drew Sanders maybe, but I bet they keep

(15:14):
both of them on that unit. Maybe a justin Sirnad
for some of those snaps, but he should have a
pretty clear path to playing time on special teams. I
bet Darren Rizzy finds a way to make use of
him there. His real competition will be how can he
find a way into that edge rotation. You know, he
is a different style of pass rusher or edge defender

(15:35):
than Jonathan Cooper or Dodre Tillman, so odds are he's
not really going to be stealing snaps from Cooper or Tillman.
And of course Benito is safe for now too, So
it's going to be how much of Jonah Ellis's playing
time can he eat into because those are kind of
the two similar guys in that room, and Jonah Ellis

(15:57):
was the better prospect of the two coming out. Now,
you Robinson has some of the traits with his burst
off the line, his bend that you just can't teach.
Is that enough to maybe eat into Jonah Ellis's role
some and say to the Broncos, hey, I should be
your long term answer behind Nick Benito, or maybe as
an assurance plan as you try to figure out his contract.

(16:19):
Speaking of that Nick Benito contract, after the break here,
we'll be looking at what else the Broncos have to
wrap up this offseason, you know, some big contract extensions,
maybe some other roster moves, maybe some free agents they
could sign, some trades they could make. Stay tuned for
more Broncos Country Tonight on KOA A fifty am and
ninety four one FM. And welcome back to this shortened

(16:46):
post Rockies edition of Broncos Country Tonight. Once again, I'm
your fill in host Zach Segers, covering tonight's show for
Benjamin Albright and Nick Ferguson last segment, we talked about
what the path to playing time looked like for each
of Denver's rookies in this year's class, and now we're

(17:08):
going to look at what moves they still have to
make on the veteran market to round out this team
and make sure they are ready to compete, ready to
contend in twenty twenty five. But first, the Broncos jersey
numbers were officially released. That makes now the perfect time

(17:29):
for a little jersey number grading slackshit. Now, of course,
this is all very unimportant. Don't worry. If they have
a bad number does not mean they're going to be
a bad player. If they have a great meaning, they're
going to be a Hall of famer. But hey, we've
reached that stage of the offseason. Let's have some fun

(17:49):
with the little morsels of Broncos news we have from
today's start of rookie mini camp. Number one first round pick.
You've got Jodda baron picking the number twelve. This one
seems to be the most divisive from what I can see,
A lot of people are big fans of it. I
think Travis Hunter helped make that number twelve a cool

(18:12):
number for cornerbacks in Colorado. I just outside of Travis Hunter,
I don't know if I've seen a single defensive player.
Actually that's not true with Michael Parson's with eleven. A
single player in the secondary with a number between ten
and nineteen, who's been like a quality NFL player. I'm

(18:32):
scarred by Michael Ojamudia. I always thought the thirteen lead there.
That's what the twelve on Baron reminds me of. I
don't love it. That's a d for me. I know
some people like the symmetry though, of You've got Sirtan
with the two, Riley Moss with twenty one, and then
Baron with twelve, and how that you can kind of
form a triangle with the common numbers there. R J.

(18:54):
Harvey the other one. Now, this one I don't think
is controversial. I think the reaction has been pretty negative.
He gets thirty seven. Now, it should be noted Estimate
got thirty seven before switching to twenty eight or sorry,
twenty three for his rookie campaign. Droyce Freeman went from
thirty seven to twenty eight for his rookie campaign and
the remainder of his time in Denver. R. J. Harvey

(19:17):
could easily follow that same route. You know, this is
clearly not maybe the most esthetically pleasing number. Surprise he
didn't go with the single digit fo there. But I
wonder if maybe we have some swaps in the works.
A Baron war number eight in high school. Maybe that's
a number he'd like to go back to. Four is
what Stidham war before adopting the number eight in Denver,

(19:39):
So maybe keeping that open allows for some switch through.
Who knows. The rest I think are pretty fine. You know,
you've got Pap Bryant with thirteen, Saveon Jones with ninety five,
Kew Robinson with fifty one, Jeremy Crosshaw with thirty nine,
and Caleb Loner with eighty four. The thirteen, I think

(20:00):
everyone's going to be excited about that, just because we've
all been hearing or maybe even talking about the Michael
Thomas comparisons between Brian and Thomas, both larger bodied receivers
who maybe don't have that deep speed but are so
great at the catch point, so clever and some of
their row running sneaky ability after the catch, that they're
still a very effective target. I think that's what the

(20:22):
Broncos are going to hope for there. The number thirteen
maybe makes it a little easier for Broncos Country to
envision that too. The Chiefs aren't the only ones with
a number ninety five Jones now either, as the Broncos
have Savan Jones wearing number ninety five for them. You know,
it's a standard defensive line number, defensive line slash edge number.

(20:44):
I think it fits him well. Really, no notes there,
Hugh Robinson with fifty one. Maybe not the flashiest number,
the most exciting number ever, but it works, you know
for a front seven defender, like an edge or a linebacker.
Fifty one good number. Four maybe not my choice would
have been good number. Jeremy Kroshaw with thirty nine. It's

(21:05):
an ugly number. But here's the thing. Now that the
single digits, the numbers ten through nineteen, are so highly coveted,
I don't want two of them to be reserved for specialists.
Let's have some cool, aesthetically esthetically pleasing jersey combinations as
long as the NFL is pushing for him. And you know,

(21:26):
we don't need kickers wearing three. We don't need punters
wearing five or whatever. Four. Keep that open for a
skill position player. Throw thirty nine on Jeremy Kroshaw. I approve.
You know, who cares about the aesthetics of the punter number.
A bad number should be sacrificed on them. That's my
take there. And then Loaner eighty four. That's just I

(21:47):
feel like a standard tight end number can see him
stretching out in the end zone for a big touchdown
grab wearing that. So no no aesthetic problems there, all right. Now,
with that silliness out of the way, let's look at
what the Broncos maybe still have to address with their
roster as the season approaches. First, there's some extensions they

(22:10):
have to make up their mind on. You've got Zach
Allen coming up after the twenty twenty five season. You
figure the Broncos want to get ahead of that one.
Nick Benito also coming up, Corland Sutton coming up, JFM
coming up, and then you even have some lesser players
that as of now are major contributors on this team,

(22:30):
with Adam Trautman, coach, Luke Wattenberg, and then even the
kicker Will Lutz. Now, most of these guys aren't going
to be extended until after the end of the twenty
twenty five season, if at all, but getting ahead of
some of the more important ones, specifically Allen or Benito.

(22:51):
Ideally Allen, I think most people in Broncos country agree
he's the bigger priority there. But either way, there resigning
Alan or Benito is incredibly important for the Broncos flexibility
going forward. If they're able to lock up one of
those guys, it would leave the franchise tag open as

(23:13):
an option for the other. Same goes for Courtland Sutton.
Of course, I think it's less likely they use it there,
just because we see receiver contracts exceeding thirty million pretty comfortably,
and if they're struggling to get north to twenty five
with Sutton, they probably don't want to go that high
into the thirties with you know what, the franchise tag
would probably require. Same thing goes for Benito. It's trickier

(23:35):
to do it there, but either way, it would allow
them to ensure that a player they really want to
keep around wouldn't be headed out the door because that
possibility exists. You know, if you don't lock up any
of those big three and free agencies coming up, they're

(23:58):
not going to let all three of those guys walk.
If an agreement hasn't been reached, they will franchise tag
one of them at the least, but that will allow
whoever hasn't been locked up to walk in free agency
if they so choose, and more times than not, when
these marquee names hit free agency, they're headed out the door.
So getting a Sutton figured out now or getting a

(24:21):
Nick Benito figured out now makes it that much easier
Zach Allen again being the top priority, but it makes
it that much easier to franchise Zach Allen if necessary,
or you know, non exclusive franchise tag if you want
to bring the cap hit down a little on Benito
or Sutton, allowing them to just extra club in their
bag and maintain a little more roster control. Now, these

(24:48):
contracts are all going to be hefty. All are probably
starting at least at twenty five million. I would assume
that's the ground floor for Sudden And I know there's
been reports about Benito at twenty million plus. I mean,
if that's true, it would be steal of a deal
at this point where when you look at where the
edge market's heading, I know, Benito is a maybe more

(25:11):
limited player than a guy like a Max Crosby or
a Miles Garrett, but at that point you're getting him
for half the price of a Miles Garrett. At that point,
you know, nearly half the price of a Max Crosby.
He's not as good as those players. But at that
point that's a good value. So I struggle to think
it sits at twenty. I think it'll have to climb,
especially with how the CAP's constantly going up. We've got

(25:33):
a new CBA around the corner, new TV deals around
the corner. I think he probably gets north to twenty five.
Allen is also probably in that twenty five to thirty
million range. Now, he's a better player than Sutton and Benito,
at least at this point in their careers, but the
market at defensive tackles lesser. You only have one player

(25:56):
over thirty million right now, and that's Chris Jones, and
there's a big gap between Jones and those behind him.
You know, Milton Williams just became the third highest paid
defensive tackle. He's making twenty six million annually right So
even that twenty five to thirty numbers probably on the
high end of where we could see Zach Allen end up.

(26:16):
Considering his talent, the fact he's done it now over
multiple seasons, I figure it's probably closer to that Chris
Jones deal than the Milton Williams one. But with how
masterful this Bronco's front office has been at re signing
their players to really team friendly deals. I mean, I
wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if it winds up

(26:39):
being closer to that Milton Williams number around that twenty
five range. So ultimately, I think all three of these
contracts will end up being priced pretty similarly, and it's
going to come down to the links will be different,
but it's going to come down to who's the top priority.
Who do you want to chunk off that five million

(27:00):
whatever it might be a year, twenty five to thirty
million a year to pay them, Because it's probably about
the same problem. Who do you want to designate that
money to first? Now an important factor to remember, as
we discussed this next year, the Broncos are done with
Russell Wilson dead cap. That's over thirty million dollars that

(27:23):
they're going to have to build their team that they
don't this year. Not only that, the salary cap is
going to leap by thirty five to forty million dollars.
So right there, we're talking about seventy five, you know,
million dollars that just the Broncos don't have right now,
seventy five additional dollars to build that roster with and

(27:44):
not everyone is going to be demanding new contracts to
take up that excess space. Those lomp sums of money
on their own could be enough for the Broncos to
retain all three of those critical contributors with Sutton, Benito,
and Zach Allen, not only because you know, twenty five

(28:04):
times three, that's of course seventy five, but these deals
are often backloaded, so on the front end they'll probably
be making somewhere between fifteen and twenty million annually that
easily fits under that you know, seventy seventy five million
dollar line, while also leaving some leftover for them to
sign a rookie class to you know, make other upgrades

(28:26):
or additions to the roster. And again they're going to
have more than just that seventy that's the extra that's
being added on to what they already have that they
haven't had in the past. So when you look at
a war chest like that, you look at what Courtland
Sutton does for Bonnix, you look at what Zach Allen
brings to the defense, you look at what Nick Benito
could be if he stays on this track of development.

(28:49):
I think it's worthwhile to lock them all. The cap
will you know, go up one hundred million dollars in
the next couple of years. You know, like it is
growing at an ex potential rate right now. Don't worry
about the thirty million dollar cap hit for Nick Benito.
That's going to be scary. You know, Let's say they
sign him for that number. That'll sound really scary at first,
and for the first two years it'll sound really scary.

(29:13):
It won't wind up being a problem unless he just
totally craters, but you could the cap and these contracts
are going to just skyrocket. We were seeing it a
wide receiver. We're seeing it at quarterback where they're growing
at an exponential rate too. Get it done early and
watch all the other contracts that get signed after that
one surpass it, and all of a sudden, in a

(29:35):
few months, you're looking at a bargain, Sir, Tans deal
never looked overly expensive. I think everyone was happy with
it from day one, But very quickly he went from
oh wow, he's the highest paid corner, but that's a
good number, to being like the fourth highest paid corner
before he even played a game on his new contract.
You know, that's the benefit to not dragging it out.

(29:58):
If Sir Tan signs that today it's thirty million dollars
a year not twenty four, you know, do you want
to play that game with Nick Benito? I think that's
maybe the most interesting one because sudden you want to
lock him up for bo That seems straightforward, Zach Allen,
you know what he is, You know the value to
the defense he brings. That seems like a straightforward one.

(30:19):
Nick Benito is where it gets murky, and just because
the upside. You know, if he is a guy who
gets thirteen sacks a season, that's incredibly valuable. That's worth
an insane amount of money, and you definitely don't let
that walk out the door. But if you invest all
that in a guy and he ends up just being
a designated pass rusher who had a hot year, I
think of Vic Beasley with the Falcons who won season,

(30:39):
led the league in sacks, and then cratered. Has Benido
showed them enough to take that risk? And really, you know,
I think it's also important to remember here there's not
a risky path and a not risky path. Both are risks.
It's a matter of which risk are you more comfortable with?
Are you more scared about paying Benito like ascending young

(31:02):
pass rusher, and he winds up not living up to that,
not continuing on this path of developments that store a
door b he does end up being that, and you're
either forced to let him walk in the upcoming free
agent cycle, or you're forced to pay him, you know,

(31:22):
five to ten to maybe even fifteen million dollars a
year more because of what he's demonstrated now over a
larger sample. Honestly, failing to retain him or extend him
this off season and rolling the dice on his twenty
twenty five production is probably the riskier route. You probably
stand to lose more money than you do even taking

(31:44):
that leap of faith on Nick Bonito and extending him,
because even if he doesn't wind up being a good value,
even if you fall short of that contract, based on
how the Broncos have been structuring these things, they should
be able to move on pretty easily in short order.
You know, they're able to move off of Quinn Miners
or Patrick's or Tan like two or three years into

(32:04):
those deals. You don't think they could get a two
year out in the Nick Benito contract, who was a
much shakier prospect. I think they absolutely could. I also
think we're set to have a really interesting, really tough
conversation about some of the defensive linemen for the Broncos
with John Franklin, Myers and Malcolm Roach. This team made

(32:26):
the playoffs last season, and we're a dominant defense last
season because of the bodies they had on the defensive front,
not just Zach Allen and Nick Benito, not just the
stars of the show. The fact that they went, you know,
we're deep on the interior of their defensive line and
three or four deep with solid contributors at edge, and

(32:46):
the ability to rotate through those guys present different looks
for the offense. That was the key that said, you
probably can't afford to pay everyone. John Franklin, Myers, Zach Allen,
and Malcolm Roach are all un restricted free agents this
offseason this year, and you already just got done paying
DJ Jones. Now, the Broncos drafted Savian Jones this year

(33:09):
to start preparing for what seems like an inevitability with
at least one of those guys leaving, if not both.
But we're still talking about a guy that went at
pick one ten and that a lot of people didn't
even expect to go that early. Will he be ready
to replace John Franklin Myers, who was a critical player

(33:29):
for the Broncos. Will they be ready to replace that
presence with Savion Jones just twelve months from now? It
seems like a tall order. You know, there'll be another
draft and free agency. Maybe they look to address it
there somewhere, but they're in danger of watching, you know,
their defined strength deteriorate into something less special. And you

(33:52):
know that happens to every team in the league. It's
constantly cyclical. What is going to take over for that
defensive front is the secondary? Is that what carries the
way for an elite defense? Maybe we still have to
see it. Anyways, thank you all for joining me. We're
gonna look at some more rookies after the break, talk about,
you know, speaking of Saviian Jones, what does that path

(34:13):
to playing time look like? More Broncos Country tonight on
KOA eight four one FM coming up after this