05-12-25 Hour 1 of Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to it, Broncos Country Tonight Short Show post Rockies edition.

(00:05):
It's been all right here with you, first post Bud
Black era short show for the Rockies. So we're off
and running here. We got on the air yesterday on
KOA talk a little bit about that and how I
think you know, Bud Black. I mean, it's there's a

(00:27):
twofold thing there one. I mean, you kind of had
to make that decision because you know you're sort of
pot committed to this team not living up to whatever
expectation you set. That said, I think everybody almost universally
is in agreement that Bud Black is not the problem. Certainly,

(00:50):
he has proven himself to be a capable manager at
multiple stops along the way. I mean, he took the
San Diego Padres to a ninety win season, He's taken
the Color Rockies before to a ninety win season. But
Black is certainly a capable manager in Major League Baseball.
But there was a quote I did yesterday. Somebody else

(01:11):
kind of riffed on that quote last night about Casey
Stangle not being able to take this team to to
the five hundred, and that's sort of that's sort of
where that's at So you know, I mean, on the
one hand, I get it, like you got to do
something here. You're you're an absolutely atrocious baseball team at

(01:31):
this point. But the problem isn't the management, at least
not the on field management. The problem means the the
lack of talent and the way that ownership has dissembled
a disassembled rather a competitive baseball team. You know, back
when they had guys like Cargo and Tulo and you know,
Aaron Otto, and you know that that that team and Black,

(01:54):
that team was at least competitive. Uh, this team is
assembled is not competitive. I understand you have sort of
a youth movement, but really you've got you know, four
guys hitting two fifty or better. Uh, and you know
more people that are hitting below two hundred and and
And the pitching has not been great either. I mean,
outside of Jake Byrd, I don't think any of these
pitchers is really showing great stuff this season. And and

(02:15):
and you know Bird in the in the pen has
been good, but not you know, not not had the opportunities.
I think, you know, as far as it goes, So,
I you know, the Rockies, I mean, where do you
go from here? I think you got to. I mean,
with all due respect to Bill Schmidt, I think you
got to. You got to clean house. This has sort
of been the problem with the Colorado Rockies and under

(02:36):
under Monford's ownership, is that there's almost too much loyalty.
You keep players beyond where you should. You keep a
front office personnel and reshuffle the deck chairs, and this
is one of those situations where that hasn't worked. It's
gotten worse, and you need to kind of you need
to find a vision, you need to find people that

(02:57):
can execute that vision, and you need to clean house
and put those people in there that are all in alignment.
I talked a little bit of yesterday to Jason Hirsch
and we were talking about, you know, kind of the
Rockies farm system and everything. And I don't think the
problem has been scouting. Uh, they are able to pick

(03:17):
out players that are good players. The problem has been
in development. And that suggests an organizational misalignment that guys
are not getting the proper training from the moment they
enter the organization to the to the moment that they
get to the majors. There's there is some conflict in
that process or pipeline, and that needs to be evaluated.
That needs to be assessed. Uh and and they're gonna

(03:40):
have to figure that out otherwise. I mean, you're you're
a mid market team. You are. That's that's just a reality.
It's not like you're poor. I mean, the payroll has
been okay, but you've made bad investments, and you've you've
chased those bad investments with other bad investments. The Chris
Bryant think is bizarre to me. I have no idea,
and I said it at the time. You had two

(04:02):
teams that that couldn't wait to get rid of Chris Bryant,
and then you swooped in and offered him money that
could have kept Nolan Aronado and allowed you to continue
around him. I just you know, it's frustrating to watch
because you have the ability to make an exciting and
fun and competitive baseball team here and it just has
not been the direction for a while. The ballpark is fun,

(04:26):
the atmosphere is fun, which is why they continue to
draw crowds of you know, thirty five thousand plus despite
being on a historically bad trajectory. But end of the day,
what all said and done, if you want to continue that,
you're going to have to feel a competitive product, and
they're going to have to get there. So all that

(04:46):
to say, I'm hoping that they clean house, and I'm
hoping that they find people good baseball people, not that
getting rid of some of these guys aren't good baseball people.
I mean, Bud Black's revered run the league, but you're
going to have to find people that have a vision
for this franchise and understand what it takes to do

(05:07):
what it is you need to do to be successful,
and it just does not feel like that's in place
right now, and you're going to have to make some
hard decisions to get rid of people organizationally that are
holding you back, and the monforts have been reluctant to do. So.
I hope that if they are within the sound of
my voice on this, that they take those words to heart.
I'm not that guy. I'm not smart enough to be

(05:29):
that guy. I'm a you know, I'm a dummy with
a microphone, but I know enough to know enough. I've
never been a chef, but I know what bad food
tastes like, just because I never played pro ball, and
I mean I know what you know, I don't know
what bad baseball looks like, and you know, there are
challenges to to to pitching at coursefield. I get that,
but there are ways that you can you can work

(05:50):
around that, and you've got to work smarter because this
isn't a league that has a salary cap, so you're
already to disadvantage as a mid market team. You're gonna
have to work smarter to be able to make that work.
And I hope they were able to do that pivot
a little bit here talk about the uh the Denver
Broncos Broncos Mini camp was over the weekend and they

(06:15):
did sign some of those mini camp players. They waived
inside linebacker kJ Cloyd, tight end Thomas y Asman, corner
Kendall Bowler, and defensive tackle Christian Dowell, and that made
room for them to sign tight ends Cole Fartheringham fathering Ham,

(06:37):
excuse me, long snapper Zac Triner, which is interesting, inside
linebacker Jordan Turner, and wide receiver Kyriese White. Fathering Ham
for those who UH were wondering was out there. He
was out there making place This weekend certainly opens my eye.

(06:57):
So that was one of those things where they were like,
all right, and we gotta gotta try and give this guy, uh,
give this guy a chance. And so clearly the Broncos
like what they saw there. Uh. Kyrie White's the wide
receiver out of Utah State for those wondering. Jordan Turner
linebacker at Michigan State. So uh. And then the long
snappers at Triner. Mitch Favoni's off season rehab has has

(07:21):
been a little slow, and so I think getting another
long snapper out there is just was was probably smart,
you know, for them too, for them to do so, uh.
End of the day, you know, mini camp, I guess successful.
None of the pro tryouts that Ian books, none of
those guys you know, obviously signed by the Broncos, but

(07:41):
that they did do that, and we'll see, I mean,
the guys that look like they were heading shoulders above
everybody else, exactly who you'd expect. And so I'm looking
forward to seeing these guys out there in camp, you know,
about the end of July, uh NFL schedule week this week,

(08:02):
and so we're starting to get some of those leaks
out there. I think, uh, the one that everybody has
sort of glommed onto. I put a little teaser out
there about the international game. If you can figure that out.

(08:23):
I mean, I'm not gonna say it. You know, I'm not. Uh,
I'm not. I'm not actually embargoed on the schedule because
I get it a different way. But you know, I
sort of promised the Broncos is a favor to them.
They want to do the schedule release video and had
the fun and the anticipation and all that. So h
but I will say, uh, I'll give you guys a
couple of little, you know, little tidbits and and go

(08:45):
from there. I do believe that we're going to play
on Christmas. Uh well, a Thursday night football game on Christmas,
and that will probably probably be against a hated division rival.
And I believe we are opening with a home game
this year. There are there are two potential opponents, that's there.

(09:08):
One would be a fantastic shootout, you know, opportunity from
last year. One would be the return of a quarterback
that perhaps the fan base hates. So I think we're
gonna get one of those two is a home opener,
and we'll you know, we'll see, we'll see how that goes.

(09:31):
So overall, though, you know, I mean going international, I
look forward to that kind of stuff. I just look
forward to the international travel. But some fans like it,
some fans don't. I know. One of the things I
will say is a hardworking producer here, Grant Smith has
to get up stupid early in the morning to to
be able to facilitate those games because it's you know,

(09:52):
I mean, obviously they start around seven thirty our time,
but there's seven o'clock in the morning our time. But
but you know, the broadcast this is obviously much much earlier.
And so you know, for us, it's a lot of work.
And then of course working on Christmas, you know, this year,
this coming year, so that's gonna be something that that
we're gonna have to do. And I know there's a
lot of people that don't boo, who you gotta work

(10:13):
on Christmas? You know whatever, And I don't particularly care,
like it doesn't bother me, But you know, we've got
a lot of guys here to have families and they
want to spend those you know, with the spend those
days with their families. Then you don't get the opportunity
to do that, you know, and you got to be
gone all day and you know, so I can understand
the frustration of people on that. I talked to one

(10:35):
of my friends in that market earlier today, and you
know he was he was sort of saying the same thing.
He's like, I hate the Christmas Day games. You know,
let the NFL and the broadcast aff have a holiday,
and you know, I get it, but the NFL also
wants to capture and you know those audiences those days.
There's a lot of money in it, so you get

(10:57):
a bit of a forward and back trade off, you know,
as far as that stuff goes. But I don't know,
I'm fine with it on a personal level, but I
understand the people that you know that have families and
are going to have to you know, adjust in order
to you know, celebrate their holidays with that kind of stuff.

(11:20):
And UH and go from there. Broncos UH head coach
Sean Payton, who knows a thing or two about star
running backs, have been as struggle to sort of find
a a workhorse over the first couple of seasons here
in Denver. I don't know if you guys saw the
pictures of new Quadzilla R J. Harvey out there, but

(11:45):
he believes he's got the talent to rectify that issue.
And you know, after a couple of days of rookie
mini camp and and everything. He says that he wants
to be like two of the Saints greats that played
under Sean Payton, Al Kamara and Darren Sproles was saying quoted,
definitely want to be like those guys like Sprolls. He
went crazy with the Saints. Kamar two. I want to
be better than those guys. I'm more work every day

(12:06):
to get better, just to prove myself to all the
vets and the coaches. I want to make an immediate
impact on this league. Sprolls made three Pro Bowls obviously,
and was selected to the twenty ten O Decade Team.
Kamara five time Pro bowler with the eleven five hundred
plus yards from scrimmage in a career that's still going obviously,

(12:26):
you know that's years down the road type stuff. To
be better than them. But his direct competition this season,
estimate McLaughlin, Baty and Watson, you know, rounding out the
room right now. May had a veteran voice. Little later.
We'll see, We'll see how that goes. The running operation
has has been rather middling the last two years. Jamonte

(12:47):
Williams led the last two years as the only runner
to eclipse five hundred yards and he's of course now
in Dallas, so that'll be, uh be interesting to see Harvey,
who's five foot eight, call him short, but don't call
him small. You know, kind of divides the line between
the five six Sprolls and the five to ten. Kamara

(13:10):
four four forty ran for fourteen hundred and sixteen yards
sixteen touchdowns as a red shirt junior at Central Florida
and followed that up with fifteen hundred and seventy seven
yards and twenty two touchdowns as a senior this past year.
He catches the ball well. The Broncos had him out there,
you know, working the choice routes and they want to see,

(13:33):
you know, what he's capable of. For those that don't know,
Harvey was a red shirt quarterback back in twenty nineteen
with Virginia before traveling to Central Florida and changing positions,
and he has said that his you know, his experience
has helped benefit his vision and reading a defense, which
is which has been good for him. Peyton Sean Payton

(13:55):
said they plan to use him on all three downs,
saying quite well, he's going to play on third down,
but he could play on third down right where the
tight end is in protection opposite. There's a lot we
can do relative to really suit his strengths. If you
watch his stature, he's put together really well, and that
reference is back what I've said. He's short, but he's
not small. He's built stocky. So it'd be interesting to
see the impact that r. J. Harvey can have this year.

(14:18):
I believe he could be an immediate impact player. Believe
both he and Jeanne Barron can be immediate impact players.
I don't think the rest of these guys, I mean,
Crosshaf probably just because by virtue of being a punter,
but I don't believe that the rest of these guys
are probably immediate high impact players. You'll rotate some of

(14:41):
them through Pat Brian will get some reps, you know
that kind of stuff. But the rest of these guys
that the drafted and to bringing in, these are guys
that you see something with. You want to get him
some reps year one, but you really expect the impact
from him in year two. And that's you know, we
talk about that every year. That's sort of the expectation.
If you go back and look at the guys we're
drafted last year, they got Troy Franklin reps, but they

(15:02):
didn't really expect him to make an impact until this season.
With Marvin Millhams when they drafted him, you know, they
got reps with him in the first year, but they
didn't expect him start making an impact till year two,
and he did. I mean, you saw Marvin Mimims get
better every game last year. Literally literally look at the
stat lines. He got better every game. So I think
that's I think that's something to keep in mind. You know,
as we watch these players and we're all excited about

(15:25):
draft classes and all that kind of stuff, but some
some guys are meant to be plugged in fairly immediately,
and some guys are meant to be you know, hey,
we're going to tune this guy up for a year
and then we're going to throw him out there. And
I think a large portion of the class this year
is probably that Kee Robinson will contribute on special teams.
But what his role is beyond that, the scope of that,
we'll have to see. Sevian Jones, you know, it's a

(15:46):
guy who probably replaces John frankly Meyer's long term. How
many reps does he get this year, you know, how
does he get up to speed, How strong is he?
How's he able to do that? That's that's the question.
And then we've talked about Pat Bryant, Noo, the guy
you know, you you work into the rotation, but probably
not a guy that you're expecting more than you know,
three or four hundred yards out of if that over

(16:06):
the course of the season, unless you know, injury happens
and you're forced to to accelerate him. If if something
happens in Pat Bryant's going for you know, six eight
hundred yards, either he is on a tear and undeniable,
or something went drastically wrong in which they had to
use him a lot more than they expected. But you know,
we'll see, we'll see how those things shake out. Got
our eye on that and certainly looking forward to to seeing,

(16:32):
you know, at the end of the day, how many
of these rookies are able to make an impact. I think,
like I said, I think Barrett Harvey are gonna be
the impact players, and the rest of those guys are
mostly Year two contributors outside of you know, Cross Shawby
and the punter and stuff. So we'll see Broncos Country
tonight will be back right after this. Welcome back to it,

(16:52):
Broncos Country Tonight. Benjamin Albright here with you post Rockies. Addition,
we are going to have short shows tomorrow and Wednesday. Now,
Wednesday we're gonna have the schedule release show that'll be
over on k Howe, but I think we're gonna use
that here as well on Wednesday night, So if you

(17:13):
miss it, you know, obviously you have a chance to
get that here. Thursday we'll have a full live show myself,
Nick Ferguson. I think we're gonna be joined by Justin Adams.
We'll see uh. And then Friday I will be on
ka WA Sports, Zach and Grant will do the Rockies
post short show. So just a little programming update for

(17:40):
you guys there as well. Five six six nine zero
is the text line I wanted to uh. I don't
know if you guys remember the chiefs Aholic storyline, but
I wanted to get into that one real quick. Kennisey

(18:00):
Chiefs fan Xavier Bubakar, known as Chiefs a Hulic today
was sentenced to even more time in prison for his
bank robbery spree. Boobcar used to be fairly prominent on
Twitter as a part of the Chiefs fan base, but

(18:23):
in Oklahoma court room today he was sentenced to thirty
two years in prison. He's already serving seventeen and a
half year federal sentence for robbing banks in seven states
from twenty twenty two to twenty twenty three. Tulsa County
distric Attorney's office sought a life sentence, but the sentence
will be concurrent, so he'll serve an additional fourteen and

(18:44):
a half years in an Oklahoma penitentiary after he finishes
his federal time. But guilty and March to robbery with
a firearm, assault wall masted or disguised, and removing an
electronic monitoring device in connection with a December sixteenth, twenty
twenty two armed robbery in the Tulsa Teachers Credit Union.
In twenty twenty four, he pled guilty to money laundering,

(19:07):
transporting stolen property across state lines, and bank robbery and
was sentenced to seventeen and a half years in prison
in a federal courthouse in Kansas City. As part of
his plea deal in the Western District of Missouri Federal court,
he admitted to robbing more than eight hundred thousand dollars
across seven states and laundered the proceeds through casinos. Initially,

(19:28):
he was sent to a SuperMac security prison here in Colorado,
but has been in the Tulsa County Jail since January
while awaiting court proceedings. He was the Chief super Fan,
known for dressing in the gray Wolf suit and calling
himself chiefs a hulick. That ties in with the news
today the never Broncos will probably be playing in Kansas

(19:51):
City on Thursday, December twenty fifth. That'll be an Amazon
Prime Thursday night football games. So guess we guess we
get to work on Christmas as it is a lot
of stuff going on around the league. We talked about
the players of Broncos signed to cut earlier for four

(20:12):
guys from rookie tryout camp they decided to keep around.
Want to get another eye on. One of the guys
I liked during the twenty twenty draft is Terrell Burgess
played the college ball of Utah. It was kind of
a corner safety hybrid. Saints announced today they signed him

(20:32):
to the ninety man roster. Confirmed. The Saints also confirmed
they previously reported edition of wide receiver Donovan People's Jones,
who tried a mini camp. Burgess, who was a Rams
third round pick back in twenty twenty, laid thirty games
for the team before moving on to the Giants during
the twenty twenty two season, played one game for the
NFC East team, and then played twelve games for Washington

(20:54):
and the Commanders. Last year, Burgess had fifty four tackles
across those stops. The Saints also safety Millard Bradford and
running back Jordan Mims in order to round out those moves.
Baltimore Ravens and out three signings to their ninety man
roster today, including the previously reported signing of kicker John Hoyland. Hoyland,

(21:17):
offensive tackle Lucas Scott, and defensive back Keyon Martin Ole
tried out for the team during the rookie mini camp
early this month. Hoyland joins six round pick Tyler Loop
as the kickers and the roster in the wake of
Justin Tucker's release. Scott's on time at guard and tackle
while playing an army for head coach Jeff Munkin. Monkin's
cousin is Todd Munkin, who's the Ravens offensive coordinator. Martin

(21:40):
had fifty six tackles two interceptions during his final season
at Louisiana Lafayette. We had some other schedule announcements out there,
non Broncos schedule announcements. The NFL put two NFC Divisional
matchups on the schedule for a Saturday in week sixty.

(22:01):
The Philadelphia Eagles are going to take on the Washington
Commanders in Washington, and that'll be followed by the Packers
facing the Bears in Chicago. Both those games Saturday, December twentieth.
Fox will air both those games and made the announcement
this afternoon. And although the NFL has not said which
teams will play on Christmas this season, it would make

(22:23):
sense for Eagles, Commanders, Packers, and Bears to be on
the Christmas schedule, playing on Saturday instead of Sunday the
week before Christmas, we give you an extra day of
short work. The NFL will be playing three games on
Christmas Day, which of course is a Thursday, so the
league is announcing select games this week is lead up

(22:44):
to it. And obviously, again we've had leaks out there
about Kansas City hosting the Broncos on Thursday Night football,
so that'd be the night game for that stuff. So far,
the Broncos had not been announced for that Saturday slate. Obviously,
we have the two games there on Fox. That would
suggest that the Broncos possibly get an extra day of
rest off that Thursday night football game going into the

(23:06):
following week, where you get I mean, excuse me, may
be on short week rather as they would be playing
on December twenty first and then again on December twenty fifth,
unless the bye week is that late. But I don't
believe that's going to be the case, So we'll see
how ultimately all that works out. Seattle Seahawks signed their

(23:29):
first round pick Gray zabel. It's fully guaranteed, four year
deal worth eighteen point four to seven one million dollars.
Zabels offensive lineman, was the number eighteen overall pick in
the draft. Two time SCS national champ North Dakota State,
so not surprising there. As they continue to get these
deals done, Frigid wide receiver Gabe Davis is visiting the

(23:53):
forty nine Ers. Davis, who was released by the Jaguars
last week, is being hosted by the Niners. According to
Jordan Schultz of Fox Sports, Jaguars officially released Davis with
a failed physical designation after a tour his meniscus in November,
but he is ready to go for Week one. Are
expected to be the twenty six year old Davis was
a twenty twenty fourth round pick of the Bills. Played
four seasons in Buffalo for sunning in Jacksonville last season.

(24:15):
Solid member of the Bills receiving Corps for four years,
but had his least productive season across the board of
the Jags. If he's healthy and then in the right offense,
he could be a solid contributor. Don't think that he
is a candidate here. In Denver, Falcons made a couple
of moves, signing linebacker veteran linebacker Caleb Johnson, they announced today,

(24:36):
and in a corresponding move, Falcons released wide receiver Philip Dorsett.
He formerly of the Denver Broncos or set thirty two,
spent part of the last season on the Falcons practice squad,
so I had a futures contract after the season. He
has not played in a regular season game since twenty
twenty three. He played games for the Colts, Patriots, jack Seahawks, Texans,

(24:58):
and Broncos hundred and fifty interceptions, twenty one yards twelve
touchdowns over the course of his career. Cowboys still don't
have an extension with edge rusher Michaeh Parsons, but they're
working towards that. Apparently. Parsons, who's twenty five, became ineligible

(25:20):
for an extension after the twenty twenty three season and
he is now in the final year of his contract,
scheduled to make twenty four million on the fifth year option.
Parsons has intimated that he won't do any on field
work and till he has a new contract, so whenever
that will be. Cowboys Executive VP Stephen Jones was asked
on Serious XM's Mad Dog Sports radio channel on Monday,

(25:43):
said quote, I've never been one to crystal ball when
contracts get done. I mean, you could be close, you
think you're right around the corner, and then they get
pushed out. There's extenuating circumstances to why they or their
agent don't want to pull the trigger. So you know
this is a work in progress. It's never easy to
comment on them, but you really don't know where you
are until both sides are ready to go. Obviously, our
goal is to and we've visited times with Micah, and

(26:05):
our goal is to get him here. I think Michael
wants to be a cowboy, and we want him to
be a cowboy long term. The Bengals are paying wide
receiver Jamar Chase forty point two million dollars annually on
a deal he signed this offseason. That is the highest
annual average for a non quarterback, a number that Parsons
will surpass after fifty two and a half sacks in

(26:25):
his first four seasons. Other former Broncos in the news today,
the Giants made a few roster moves New York at Houlse.
The club has a re signed receiver litl Jordan Humphrey
and signed corner TJ. Moore. Moore, at ten of the
giants rookie mini camp on a tryout basis, went undrafted
out of Mercer, and he was a runner up for

(26:46):
the Buck mccannon Award, which is given to the national
defensive player of the year at the FCS level. The
Giants had released Little Jordan Humphrey late last week. As
corresponding moves, they waved defensive backs Tommy mccorik and R. J.
Delancey in re signing Little Jordan Humphrey The Browns had
a busy day today, making nine roster moves. Signed veterans

(27:09):
safety Rayshawn Jenkins and Demonta Kazee. Previously reported, it's the
signing of the undrafted free agent Luke Floria. The Browns
also signed wide receivers Keishawn Johnson spelled k I s
a n and Kate McDonald after successful tryouts to the
team mini camp. To make room for the signings, the

(27:30):
Browns wave safety trade Dean, defensive end Marcus Haynes, wide
receiver jes seem Reed, and fullback Eli Wilson. Reid was
let go without an injury does excuse me Leo with
an injury designation. Johnson, the aforementioned Keishawn spelled differently, is
a rookie out of Western Kentucky. Appeared in forty seven
games with Western Kentucky and Alabama State over his college career,
total one hundred and seventy nine receptions, twenty four hundred

(27:52):
twelve yards eighteen touchdowns. In twenty twenty four, led the
Hilltoppers with nine hundred twenty five receiving yards seven touchdowns
on seventy five five interceptions. Minnesota Vikings signed outside linebacker
Matt Harmon, and they have an international exemption for Australian
punter Oscar Chapman added to the roster as well. The

(28:18):
Browns also sorry I missed this one, placed linebacker Jeremiah
Owusu Corra Mora on the reserve pup list. That means
he will miss the twenty twenty five season with a
neck injury. Originally injured his neck week eight of the
twenty twenty four season when he collided with Ravens running
back Dereck Henry, was carted off the field was taken
to a local hospital for further evaluation. Missed the rest

(28:38):
of the season. He was at the practice facility to
start the off season program, but we'll miss this season.
He put out a note today saying thank you for
your patients in my silence in day one, you embraced
me as more than a player, also as a brother
and a young man with purpose. I'm grateful of Brown's
organization for their full support, and the world class doctor
is guiding me through recovery suit up this season. I'm

(29:01):
focused on what I control, my healing, my mindset, my faith.
The body may rest, but the calling never sleeps. We
talked earlier about the Broncos. Of course, they're adding a
pair of tryout players to the roster. The Broncos signed
linebacker Jordan Turner and receiver Kyries White. Both players participated
in the club's mini camp. Turner plays college ball in

(29:23):
Michigan State, White, of course Utah State. And then the
Broncos resigned long snappers act trainer after releasing him on Friday.
The club needed the roster spot for rookie mini camp
and the other long snapper, Mitchell for Bony, is working
his way back through a through a back issue. So
that's been you know that. That's why the roster gymnastics

(29:45):
there on that one. Same thing similarly with with the
Giants and cutting little Jordan Humphrey. They needed the spot
for rookie mini camp and then they brought him. They
were never a chance he was actually leaving the New
York Giants as far as that went. So the Cowboys
trade for wide receiver George Pickens gives the team accompliment
to ceedeelamb They've been missing Pickens more of a deep

(30:06):
ball guy. Ceede lambwork's middlefield. But word from the team
is they see Pickens as just a running mate for
eighty eight Executive EP Stephen Jones delivered that message multiple
times since the deal became official last week. The Cowboys
think of Pickens as more than a number two, and
elaborated on that point to Albert Breer of SI dot Com, saying, quote,

(30:28):
he's just a dynamic receiver. Everybody says we're looking for
a two. George can be a one. He's got that
type of talent. He's got unbelievable ball tracking ability, plenty
of juice, and a fiery competitor. And we love that
he plays with an edge, and we think he'd be
a good fit for our team. Pickens said he's not
looking for a contract extension right now. I'm playing like
a number one. White out would obviously make his eventual

(30:49):
deal in Dallas or elsewhere much much larger. Would also
make stopping the Cowboys offense materially more difficult. It it'll
be some time before we find out if Dallas's hope
and reality come together. A couple other news and notes here,
Chris Berman signed a contract extension that will run through
ESPN's fiftieth anniversary. Berman joined ESPN during its first year

(31:14):
of existence and will be there for the fiftieth anniversary.
In twenty twenty nine, Berman signed a multi year contract
extension we'll run through the milestone and also ensures that Berman,
who turned seventy this year, will be part of the
ESPN's Super Bowl broadcast in February of twenty twenty seven.
Berman says he came to ESPN at twenty four years
young for the for his first full time TV job,

(31:34):
had a head full of hair, was wet behind the ears,
and never in my wildest dreams could I have imagine
turning seventy and still being here at our network, which
long ago became an icon of sports broadcasting, and getting
close to its very first Super Bowl. Berman anchored Super
Bowl pregame shows for ABC in two thousand, two thousand
and three in two thousand and six. Two thousand and

(31:54):
six game broadcast was the last produced by ABC Sports,
and the twenty twenty seven game, which will be simulcast
on NBC, will be the first under the actual ESPN banner.
As offseason programs continue across the league, the twenty twenty
four sack leader remains unhappy with his current team. The
statement issued to ESPN's Adam Schefter defensive en Trey Hendrickson

(32:17):
said he and the Bengals remained in an impass when
it comes to his contract. No commutation, no communication has
taken place between my camp and the organization. Post draft.
Hendrickson said, the offers prior to the draft did not
reflect the vision we shared and we're promised last off
season and if I continue to play at a high level.
Coaches are aware of these past conversations, and rather than
using collaboration to get us to a point to bring

(32:38):
me home with the team, they are no longer communicating.
Emphasis from Hendrickson, I have been eagerly awaiting resolution to
this situation. That's hard to do, and there's no discussion
and an evident lack of interest in reaching mutual goals.
Hendricks CID, who is entering the last year of his
contract with the Bengals, is slated to make fifteen point
eight million in base salary and has been pushing for
a new contract from Cincinnati, but to this point, the

(32:59):
organization has not made him a satisfactory offer. Bengals executive
vice president Katie Blackburn has said quote it's on Hendrickson
to be happy at some point, and that Hendrickson should
quote should be happy at certain rates that maybe he
doesn't think he'd be happy at end quote. Hendrickson later
called those comments disappointing and frustrating. Hendrickson signed with Cincinnati

(33:22):
in twenty twenty one after spending the first four seasons
with the Saints. He's recorded seventeen and a half sacks
in each of the last two seasons, leading the league
in the category in twenty twenty four. And that situation
seems bizarre. I mean, the Bengals are in a jam
because they paid all the offensive players and can't really

(33:42):
afford to pay Hendrick something they need to. But he's
also the only reliable defensive player that they have. As
they transition to a new defensive coordinator in a new
style of defense this coming season. It seems bizarre to
me that they can't figure something out with him and
just leaving leaving him to guess what that may be

(34:03):
because they are unable to reach a contract agreement instead
of working towards that or figuring out what it is
that they can do to facilitate him finding a new home.
I sort of understand Trey Henderson's frustration here, you know,
I mean, you put it all in the field the
last two years and they told you you were going

(34:24):
to reward you, and then they go out and make
a wide receiver the highest paid non quarterback in the league.
You know, I get it. I get the frustration there.
I would be upset too. And I think that Bengals team,
I don't know, man, I'm worried they're gonna have problems.
We'll see Broncos Country tonight right here on K