07-08-25 Hour 1 of Broncos Country Tonight with Ryan Edwards

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Broncos Country Tonight's short show post Rockies edition. I hope
you guys had a good Fourth of July weekend extended
weekend for me, I hope you guys had a good
Fourth of July weekend. Everybody's safe and sound, got some
good food, all that kind of stuff. I kept getting
asked over on social media what I did for the

(00:20):
fourth of July weekend. I didn't do anything. This is
I started staring down the barrel of you know, the
season coming up toward the end of the month. It
really kicks off for us. I mean, I understand the
NFL season doesn't actually start till September, but for those
covering it, it really starts at the end of this
month with training camp and the preseason all that kind
of stuff. And so for me, what I did this

(00:43):
week it was bed rot man. I did not I mean,
I went and worked out, but beyond that, I did
not get out of bed. I watched TV. I went
back and binge watched Firefly in the subsequent movie Sorendity,
one of my all time favorite shows, and it was
I I've forgotten how much I love that show, and
it was it was great. I did almost nothing. It

(01:04):
was all that I hoped it could be, just you know,
had a lot of uh, had a lot of fun,
just kind of relaxing and shutting the world off for
a little while and all that kind of stuff. And
you know, I uh I to those who can do
something like that, I highly recommend it, and I recommend
the show. If you guys never saw Firefly, If you
guys ever watched The Rookie, the guy who plays you know,

(01:25):
the old rookie in that show anything Filly on its
what his kind of first big breaks. She's kind of
the centerpiece of that show. And there's a bunch of
other people in this show. Marina Backern, who you might
recognize as Deadpool's girlfriend and the Deadpool movies, or she
was on Homeland, Uh, she was in The Mentalist, she
was in a couple of a couple of shows. And
then Alan Tudik who's in like everything and is great, uh,

(01:48):
Geena David. There's just there's a ton of people in
that show. It's actually, if I remember correctly, one of
the TV episodes, uh where they do a flashback of
the doctor to his younger self. The kid in that
is zach Efron. I think in his first acting role,
Christina Hendrix is in a couple of episodes. It's just,
you know, it's one of those it's one of those

(02:09):
shows that had a lot of people break out from it,
and you know, I I like it. It's it's a
Western that's set in space. So if that, you know,
doesn't make your eyes crossed right off the bat. It's
got snappy dialogue and it's it's just I don't know,
I thought it was. It's one of my favorite shows.
It was originally intended when they created that show to

(02:29):
be a study on what happened to the losers of
the Civil War, and at the time, Fox, who was
was doing the show, decided they didn't like that, you know,
they didn't want to make it something about it the
former Confederacy with the the you know, the slavery connotations
and all that kind of stuff, and you know, so
they send it back to and and and made them

(02:52):
retool it, and they basically made it a Western set
in space. It's still the losers of a you know,
of a war and all that kind of stuff and
what they do after and everything else. But if you
get a chance anyway, enough for me blathering about to Firefly.
You guys can certainly, I con certainly watch that. I
believe it's on Hulu. And then I'm not sure where
the follow up movie, Serendity is. It's not on Hulu,

(03:12):
but I'm sure it's on one of the other services
I own it. So for me, I just did that.
Let's get into it. Got a couple of things, a
lot of Chiefs stuff coming out today, some Broncos news too.
We'll get to that here just a little bit. But
the Kansas City Chiefs have been embroiled in a battle

(03:34):
to get a new stadium built, and the Chiefs they're
not gonna be leaving Kansas City unless they leave Kansas
City for Kansas City, Kansas, Kansas. The state of Kansas
had had applied a June thirtieth, twenty twenty five deadline
to its offer to build a new stadium for the Chiefs.
The Chiefs requested an extension in this morning. Kansas provided

(03:56):
it via WIBW dot com. The new deadline June thirtieth
or twenty twenty six, and that gives the team nearly
a full year to pick one state of the other.
Of course, it allows them to leverage one against the other.
In the search for the best possible deal, which makes
it the best possible outcome for the Chiefs. Missouri, how

(04:16):
badly do you want to keep the team? Kansas? How
badly do you want to snatch it? And for now
Kansas wants it badly enough to move the prior deadline
by an entire year, knowing full well in the end,
the Chiefs could simply be using Kansas to get the
best deal from Missouri. But beyond playing one governmental partner
against the other, the Chiefs at some point will have

(04:37):
to decide between a renovated Arrowhead Stadium in Missouri or
a new domed stadium in Kansas, which could come with
hosting a Super Bowl. There's a good chance the team
already knows its preference. There's no reason to disclose it.
And however, if there's still a way to get a
better deal from one state, you know, versus the other.
But it's it's interesting, as is the Broncos sort of

(05:01):
eyeball their next stadium situation. Now they're not the Broncos
are not leaving Denver in its surrounding area, but it
is sort of interesting to kind of watch this play
out and what things Broncos ownerships can learn from this
to maximize their own negotiating and leveraged positions as it
comes to either renovating, rebuilding, or relocating to a new

(05:26):
plot of land. In terms of getting a new stadium
for the Broncos, something to keep your eye on there.
There were several moments in recent seasons when it felt
like the Chiefs were short on receiving options for Patrick Mahomes,
but Mahomes, who's given a couple of interviews lately, did

(05:48):
not believe that was going to be an issue this
coming season. The Chiefs have or she writes back from
the last season's knee injury. They re signed Juju Smith
Schuster to go with Xavier Worthy, Hollywood Brown, Skuy Moore.
They selected Jalen Royals out of Utah State the fourth round.
Travis Kelsey came back no Gray returns, Isaiah Pacheco, Kareem Han,
Elijah Mitchell in the running back room, and during an

(06:11):
appearance on Ky Adams Show Up in Adams, Mahomes was
asked if this is the deepest group of weapons he's
had Ronvan Kansas City. He of course said he believes
that it is. The team has to focus on making
the most of everyone's talents, saying quote, I think it's
going to come from everywhere. Obviously, you've got Rashi being back,
he looked great, Exavier Worthy came on strong at the
end of the year, Hollywood Brown healthy again, guys everywhere.

(06:33):
Yet in Travis a Hall of Famer, No, a great
tight end, and everybody that we've added to all those
different rooms. We have so many weapons. Let's go out
there and just maximize it all. It's not gonna be
one person, it's gonna be the entire offense going out
there and showcasing what the Kansas City Chiefs truly are.
Brown and Pacheco joined Rice and missing large stretches of
time with injuries last season. So the makeup of the

(06:54):
group on today, July seventh isn't guaranteed you to be
the same toout the season. But as long as all
hands are on deck, there's gonna be plenty of places
for my homes to go with the ball as long
as he has the time to, you know, make the deliveries.
And I think the thing the kind of eyeball with
that is knowing why the Broncos went with jee baron

(07:16):
early as they could continue to make the commitment to
making sure they have the matchup pieces on defense as
they try to build up this offense in its second
year under bow Nicks. You know, you go back and
you look at the Broncos and Chiefs games last year,

(07:38):
and you can't count the you can't kut a second
game because the Broncos. You know, obviously we're playing the
Chiefs backups in that one. So not really I think
counting that thirty eight nothing win. I mean, we counted.
It's still a dubby. It got it in the playoffs,
But I don't think you're counting that in terms of,

(08:00):
you know, we beat the Chiefs. I think you're looking
at that is the real game from last year to
kind of focus your head on, is the sixteen fourteen
loss at Kansas City back on the number tenth of
last year, And you know, I think if you're the Broncos,
you kind of kind of eyeball on that one. Now
that being said, the Kansas Chiefs scored sixteen points against
the Broncos all last year. Now thirty eight nothing. Obviously

(08:23):
the backups that was a little bit different. But yeah,
I I I think if you're the Broncos, you're just
your eyeball this. You're saying, look, we were close last year.
If we get a little bit more out of the offense,
then you know, we might we might be able to
position ourselves out or near the top of you know,

(08:44):
the division going forward. You know, you look at you
look at that game last year and it took a while,
took into the second quarter for any points to be scored.
It was just a punt fest. Early Broncos really couldn't
get much going. Kansas City had eleven plays drive but
didn't get anything out of it, you know, and then
you get to the second quarter and uh Nix hits

(09:07):
vle A for the touchdown, and then it was you know,
it was kind of off to the off to the
races there in that quarter. Broncos scored both touchdowns in
that quarter. Kansas City got a touchdown a field goal,
and you know, I think, uh, I think if you
of the Broncos, your your eyeball on that, you're saying, Okay,

(09:27):
we sort of got the blueprint, but we need to
make sure that a Kansas City is getting weapons back,
that we have enough to to continue to match up
with that. And so I think that I think that
was part of the other part of the the interview
that aired today was Mahomes noting that he's had thoughts

(09:47):
about what his legacy could be what he's done playing,
but you know, he talked to Tom Brady, who recently
noted that Mahomes has a chance to duplicate some of
Brady's historical impact on the game. Mahomes also Toldkay Adams,
I think legacy is always in the back of your mind,
even from the beginning of my career. But at the

(10:07):
end of the day, it's about taking it a day
at a time and just continuing to do that. That's
something that I've been conscious of, knowing how blessed time
to be in case they have all these great players
around me, and having Tom Tom Brady, a guy like that,
saying that just motivates me even more. I've actually talked
to Tom a good amount this offseason, so it's cool
that he wants to give me advice. Don't have to
be like that. He's such a good dude and I

(10:28):
have much respect for him. I'll take any advice he
gives me. It's fascinating on a couple of levels because
it sort of keeps the Broncos' rivalry alive. As we know,
Peyton Manning has conversed with the Bonnex and conversed with
with Broncos quarterbacks and Brady of course, part owner of
the Raiders, He's given a Chiefs quarterback advice and you know,
it's sort of sort of funny, I think. To kind

(10:51):
of break it down from that angle as far as
what the advice was, Mahomes sort of deferred, saying I've
got to keep secrets. But he always talks about being yourself.
He thinks, which I truly believe too, is that guys
can spot when you're not authentic and you're not putting
in the work. And that's something he did every single day.
That's why guys respected him so much. And that's all
I'm going to do for the rest of my career.

(11:11):
I feel like I've done so far, always myself, no
matter if you like me don't like me, you know,
I'm giving everything I can to win football games. And well,
Malams of Brady can relate a lot of quarterbacks. Brady
status as Raiders minority owner probably raises some questions about
the nature that those kinds of relationships. My Homes the

(11:32):
Chiefs obviously had that bitter defeat, you know, in the
Super Bowl back in February. But Kansas City's expected to
be a serious contender this coming season as well. And
that's the thing. Where do the Broncos fit into this?
Where do where does Denver sort of shake out? You know,

(11:53):
in the realm of the AFC West, The AFC West
probably has the best resume in terms of coaching, the
best coaching pedigree. Andy Reid is obviously Andy Reid. The
is Shue in for the Hall of Fame. You know,
Hardball over there with the Chargers is one everywhere he's been.

(12:16):
You've got Sean Payton here who won a Super Bowl
with the with the Saints, and he's trying to resurrect
their feat because if I don't think he makes a
Hall of Fame unless he wins a Super Bowl with
the Broncos. Uh, then you got Pete Carroll who's probably
a Hall of Famer as well, one at the collegiate
level as well. And so, I you know, the AFC
West obviously has the best coaching pedigree out there. But

(12:39):
where do the Broncos stack up as a team, you
know in all of that? And I think it's a
three way race. There at the time. I think Kansas City,
I think the Chargers, and I think the Broncos. I
think they're They're all three good teams, each bring a
little bit of something different to the table. The question
is who's going to shake out, you know, as the top.
But I think if you're you know, your off season,

(12:59):
everybody's got to rank everything and all that kind of stuff.
I mean, I think you have to rank Kansas City
at the top just by default because of their chokehold
on this division until someone dethrones them. Once that happens,
you know, then then we won't default that way, and
there's probably a better discussion. But I believe the Broncos
can win the division. I believe they can. I believe
they are fully capable of winning the division. But you've

(13:23):
got you've got a tough ask. I mean, Pat Mahomes is,
if not the best quarterback on the planet, certainly up there.
Kansas City's got a pretty good defense, and they're getting
those weapons back that we mentioned earlier. And then you know,
you've got a Chargers team that I think people are
probably sleeping on. I mean, and it's probably it's probably
because the Chargers over hype over the years back when

(13:46):
you have McCoy or Brandon Staley coaching, you know, you
get this kind of Chargers over hype every year. This
is going to be the year. I was never with that,
but I for them, I believe this could be their year. Certainly,
they're year to make some noise. You know in the
AFC West. They've they've added more pieces. They they they
kind of carved out an identity last year as a

(14:08):
smashing mouth football team. They've added pieces. We stole JK.
Dobbins from them, but you know they replaced that with
Naj Harris and and Omarion Hampton. In the draft, they
added Kai Beckton right guard. Uh, and then it continues
to fill out that that offensive line that they've got there,
which is not bad. All of a sudden, you know,
you got Slater and Joe Altis the tackles. That's a
that's a pretty good combination. Zion Johnson, McKai Becked and

(14:30):
Bradley Boseman his guards. That's that's a pretty decent offensive line.
The question for the Chargers was really about the weapons
that they have, and they brought back Mike Williams. Uh,
they added Trey Harris and Keandery Lambert Smith, you know,
in the draft. Of course, they've still got Lad McConkie,
who was an absolute stud last year. They're hoping Quintin
Johnston can it can develop into something, you know, and

(14:54):
then they've got a couple of the down roster guys
hoping to make it Jalen ragor the you know, the
former first rounders on it, uh it is on that team.
So they they're you know, they're they're kind of hoping
that if they built something out on the and the
tight end room, i mean, will just lead Tyler Concklin
and they added around to Gaston Junior. They've they've got
some they've got some talent there and it's gonna be

(15:15):
it's gonna be interesting to see what what overall impact
that has and where they where they shake out. But
don't don't sleep on the charge. Don't just be dismissive
of the Chargers just because we're hoping that the you know,
the Broncos take that next step this year. You know,
you've got to you gotta keep your head on a
swivel about the opponents in your division and not uh
not underestimate them. And that's one of those things I
think the Chargers are gonna be a you know, it's
just a tough, physical football team. Uh. And the way

(15:39):
they're designed, the way Jim Harball likes to play, they're
going to be a tough, physical football team. Their defense
was was very good last year. I honestly, I think
that the second best defense in the in the you know,
in the in the division. I think Kansas City's third.
But uh, you know, it's it's anytime you have a tough,
physical football team like that, you know, you got to

(16:00):
you gotta kind of look at where you play them
in the schedule and and all that kind of stuff.
And you know, they Broncos catch the Chargers in LA early.
That's the September twenty first, that's the game Week three,
and then you've got the course the Bengals to follow
that up with in the Eagles before going to London.
And then you don't get again until the end of
the season after a game at Kansas City. And so

(16:22):
at least in that game, you'll have like a week
and a half off because it's at at Christmas game.
So we come back. I want to tell you about
something the Broncos are looking to focus on this year
they're looking to focus on. They're making an effort. You guys,
listen to Broncos Country to.

Speaker 2 (16:35):
Night right here on KAWA, going back to a Broncos
Country Tonight post Rockies edition joined in studio for a
segment by the Og, the Triple Og Ryan Edwards.

Speaker 3 (16:48):
My man, what's going on Zibers Radio? Yeah, I'm man
excited about training camp on the horizon. We're about two
weeks away. Pretty exciting stuff, it is.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
I found out yesterday and talked about a little bit
of the show that the Broncos are going to have
a renewed focus on starting fast on offense. And what
do you think that means to you?

Speaker 3 (17:07):
Well, I mean it seems like you want to get
your offense in rhythm. I mean, without saying something that's
too obvious, right, I mean, that's the thing is is
like finding the things that that you do well and
then executing them rather quickly rather than sort of waiting
your way into the season. It's interesting I'm watching the
Quarterback Show on Netflix and sort of watching how well
the Atlanta Falcons is a little bit of a different

(17:29):
situation because they got a new quarterback, they got a
new play caller, new offensive coordinator, so there's all a
lot of new but their offense really struggled up front
at the beginning of the season and it wasn't until
a few weeks in that Kirk Cousins finally found his footing,
only to eventually fall off and not be you know,
usable anymore. The Bengals, of course started slow, but their
offense actually started very fast. The defense is the one
that started slow, and then Detroit was just Detroit. They're

(17:51):
just they're just really good. But the point of it
is is is you know, you you want to sort
of maximize what you are rather than what we saw
historically from the Pays in years past, where they used
the first month of the season to kind of tool
everything and figure out who they are and get their footing.
And you know, for them it worked out because the
division was really weak. The Broncos don't have that. They're
not afforded that same option. The AFC in general is

(18:13):
very very strong and their division may be one of
the best, if not the best, in football. So yeah,
the Broncos don't really have that opportunity. And by the way,
on a side note, watching the Bengals lose to the
Patriots in Week one should be a stark reminder that
you couldn't you can in this league lose to literally
anybody still, can it?

Speaker 1 (18:29):
You? Broncos Titans in Week one? M yeah? And they
you know, I think you you look at the first
two weeks this season, you see Titans Colts, You like,
oh ww right, but don't you know, I mean that
Colts game last year was on the vergic going completely
the other direction. If Jonathan Taylor hadn't you know, pulled
the bonehead and move and letting the ball out of
his grasp before crossing the goal line there and then
everything unraveled for the Colts shortly thereafter. But I think

(18:51):
the thing with starting fast and you know, that's the
part that interests me because specifically Sean Payton are you know,
you talked about tailoring everything to what you have and
he's not been particularly known for that. You know, Drew
Brees thrived in that system, but that's sort of what
he was good at. We saw the Russell Wilson thing
where Sean Payton's like, I'm running Sean Payton's offense for

(19:12):
Russ catch up or get out of here, and ultimately
had to get out of there there were times last
year where it felt like that maybe not everything was
tailored to what bo Nicks does specifically. You could put
some of the blame on the run game and the
inability to get that going early, but there were times
where that is Do we expect to see Sean Payton
maybe shift a little bit more to bo Nick's playing

(19:33):
within himself, you know, and those kinds of things, or
do we expect to see maybe more of what we
saw at times last year, which I don't want to
call it desperation, but there were some chunk plays where
it felt like you had to take the shot, you
knew it was coming, and they still executed the Mims
touchdown against Cincinnati, the aforementioned Bengals. As we go, there
is Sean Payton that guy. Is he capable of having

(19:55):
that sort of flexibility? I mean we saw it at
times in New Orleans when Teddy Bridgewater or Taysom Hill
were quarterbacking. Yeah, he changed things. Is he going to
change things to to maximize bow or are we going
to see more of Sean Payton? Hey, this is the
you know, this is my square hole here. Let's see
if you can you can get in there.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
Well I guess to answer it with a hypothetical that
you're asking the hypothetical is I guess iways just say
that it depends on his comfortability to the quarterback, right,
It depends on which.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
We believe he has.

Speaker 3 (20:24):
Which do we believe he has?

Speaker 1 (20:25):
Right?

Speaker 3 (20:25):
He said, and what we saw this offseason, and again
it's not training camp, it's not actual games, but we
saw a much more comfortable process out there.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
Even you saw that. So I don't know.

Speaker 3 (20:36):
It's a good question. I'd say that if you're planning
on getting out out to a quote nquote fast start,
then you're going to want to get the best out
of your players, which means really working to their strengths
more so than operating. What you believe is is, hey,
we are this and this is what we're going to do.
You know, I know that that Sean and the offense
have the expectation to be a better rushing attack this year,

(20:58):
especially in the red zone. You know, we have thatat
that came out over the weekend about the incompletions that
BONICKX had in the red zone, and I like what
your guy Ryan Michael sort of chopped up the equivalent
of thirteen passes apple size. Yeah, I mean the sample
size ends up being like thirteen passes. But again, in
the red zone, you know, that's that's where quarter third
down and red zone, that's where quarterbacks really kind of
make their money. And so you know he needs to

(21:18):
be better there. But also, you know, putting in perspective,
we went and looked last yesterday on KA Sports and
he ended up being top ten in attempts in the
red zone. So is that what you want to be
you know what I'm saying, like or do you want
to see that dial back if you're Sean Payton when
you say, hey, sixty eight passing attempts in the red zone,

(21:39):
I'd like that to be more like fifty to fifty
five by the end of the season rather than the
full sixty eight because we can be better running in
the red zone. And if that's the case, well then
guess what, you're not even putting bonix on the high
dive and then must have those desperation plays because your
rushing attack has already helped that out right, And I.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
Thought it was fairly efficient in the red zone if
you had the most volume. You know, Ryan Michael, I
think went out and showed that you know, yeah, obviously
had one of the most higher attempts sixty eight passes.
I mean that that seems a bit absurd. You're talking
about four red zone passes, you know, per per game.
That's a high number. The average is about two or three.
And you want to get a couple of rushing looks

(22:16):
in there, especially close to the goal one which they
didn't do. They wound up using Nate Adkins a lot
and it worked. But you know, Sean has always been
a guy who has overthrown, you know, has had too
many passing attempts throughout his career. You go back and look,
and there is an argument to be made that they
threw the ball too much during the Drew Berries era
and didn't run it enough and that you know, that
led to certain problems throughout. And that's I think the

(22:40):
question going into this season. I think it's two full One.
You know, now that the league has a year's worth
of tape pro tape on Bonnicks, not the organ stuff
that nobody's run, a year's worth of protape on Bonnicks
and an off season to dissect that. And then two,
is Sean Payton going to contribute to continue being Sean
Payton tendencies or is he going to adjust, you know,

(23:03):
as the season goes forward. I think starting fast and
them wanting that messaging out there certainly says something. I
wonder if that means maybe some uptempo stuff early. I
wonder if that means does that mean literally starting fast?
Does that mean trying to get points quicker? Does that
mean we want to stack wins earlier in the season.
Maybe it means all the aboves.

Speaker 3 (23:20):
Well, it could, and I do think that for Sean Payton,
who you know, like a lot of the coaches in
the league, there's a certain amount of arrogance and that
you're the best at what you do and you want
to show off. And I think part of the show
off though for Sean is that he hand picked this quarterback,
the only first round quarterback he's taken, and he's betting
on bo Nix being that guy. And in year one, hey,

(23:40):
it was good early returns. But as we see in
the NFL, oftentimes that can quickly dissipate, and all those
good feelings about what you are and what you could
be can go very very fast out the door, and
all of a sudden, look you go from looking brilliant
to like you don't know what you're doing in the
game has passed you by, and it's very very fast.
It's a very slippery slope in the NFL, you know,
it's not like, you know, the Raiders, for example, in

(24:01):
Division a lot of people are picking them last. And
I mean, I agree with that sentiment, but it's not
like it's impossible to imagine a scenario where Gino Smith,
along with Ashtroon, Jenny and Brock Bauers end up having
a successful year, especially with better managed overall team, better
managed offense as well with Chip Kelly. So it's just
amazing to me, Like we talk about these things sort
of static in the offseason because there isn't anything else

(24:22):
to do, but then when you get into the season
you start to see these things play out. It's like, boy,
this team wasn't as good as we thought, you know,
Texans for example, the Bengals starting off slow, their defense
being as bad as it was. You know, these teams
weren't as good as we thought, and then some teams
sort of rise above. I think for the Broncos, the
goal is to sort of to maintain status quo and
who you are and who we all think you can
be and then just be playing your best football in December,

(24:45):
but you can't really give away games early on. As
you saw last year. You know, you were able to close,
but you got the benefit of of you know, some
teams that were kind of banged up playing bad. You
know something.

Speaker 1 (24:57):
I mean it took beating the Chiefs backups to get
in the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (24:59):
Yeah, I mean, you know you're playing Jameis Winston who's
throwing all these pick sixes, and you know you're playing
all you know, you're playing injured players, players that are
are teams that are not playing up to their.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
Level that they could.

Speaker 3 (25:09):
You know, you caught obviously the very tail end of
the season, the Cincinnati Bengals and the Chargers, who were
both playing very good football. But I'm just saying like
it was the difference of you playing the Chiefs without
their starters that may have kept you out of the playoffs.
And if the Chiefs needed that game, which by this
coming year, if you want to win the af US,
they will need those games, and you're playing them on
Christmas Day, It's gonna matter. It's gonna matter. So that

(25:31):
that's for me what it is. I guess long winded
is just the they have to be what they expect
to be and then be a notch better. And really,
in the end, I just want to see him playing
their best football in December.

Speaker 1 (25:40):
Yeah, if we go into that Bengals game anything other
than two and oh, how disappointed are you? Oh? Significantly?

Speaker 3 (25:46):
I mean, you know, people are gonna lose their minds
because at that point you think, oh boy, oh and three,
and of course the math is very much against you.
Although the Bengals again could have been one of those teams.
There's been four teams and in the Super Bowl era
that made the playoffs at starting oh and three, and
the Bengal almost made it five. But but the Broncos
don't want to put themselves, obviously in that situation with
those two games and knowing what the rest of the
schedule looks like, especially when you get to that stretch

(26:08):
towards the end of September, end of October, it gets
it gets pretty gnarly. The Bengals are the Bengals are
going to be out for blood. They absolutely are. Watching again,
watching this quarterback show, you just you could feel the
frustration of you know, Joe Burrow having a five touchdown
performance and losing, you know, like in a game that
they absolutely had to have five touchdown performance and losing that.

(26:29):
And they're probably gonna need those all year this year
because and they're have to going to go be back
into it again, you know. So it comes a point
then where the offense does have to carry its weight
and this is a this is a watermark, watershed kind
of year.

Speaker 1 (26:43):
And this is it's the opposite problem for the Broncos.
The offense does have to carry its weight then versus
the Bengals, where you know, they know that they're gonna
have So that's one of those things. It's it's interesting
discussion coming out of the fantasy football sector about the
potential pecking order of the running backs. And you know,
in this offense broncaus of now obviously signed JK. Dobbins,
he figures to have a fairly prominent role. You drafted R. J. Harvey,

(27:06):
who is the third back in this offense? And how
effective can they be? You go back and you look
at the history of Sean Payton and there's really not
a running back one unless it's the Kamara situation. There
really wasn't a running back. Why it's a platoon, it's
a rotation. There's shuffling guys in and out and all
that kind of stuff. I find it fascinating that people
are speaking definitively on this at this juncture when we

(27:27):
haven't even started a snap in training camp yet. I
think it's going to be a heavy rotation, and I
think yes to May is going to squeeze McLoughlin out
of the role. There are other people who have it
the other way around. How do you come down on
this despite not having seen a snap of training camp yet?

Speaker 3 (27:42):
Yeah, I mean, based on what we see in OTA's
I would probably lean towards Jillian McLoughlin being the third guy.
But once we get the training camp it it can
all change. And I know it's not really an answer
because I don't have one, honestly. I mean, it would
be my preference based on what I think could or
should happen. And then what we saw in OTAs and
mandatory mini camp, and what we saw was jillim McLoughlin

(28:04):
seemingly had a more prominent role, especially with the starters
than adrig estime. But but again, you know, Adric s
Ma was a draft pick last year that the Broncos
have said, including Shawn's and hey man, don't start counting,
which it's very early for those kinds of things. And
you know, maybe there's some matchup situations where they feel
like heyn Aldrick Estime is the third guy that gets
us some some goal line, tough yardage stuff that can

(28:26):
eat up. And especially if if JK. Dobbins, who hasn't
been the pednacle of health, does get hurt, well, then
you're gonna want a battering Ram running back, and Adric
Estime is that guy. So I do think that two
Shawn's credit, it's a little early to have those conversations.

Speaker 1 (28:39):
Right, And you go back and you look, and it
has been just a rotation, a ridiculous rotation. Outside of
the Kamara years. I mean, you had Ingram and Pierre
Thomas and Latavius Murray and you sprinkle in the you know,
the darren Sprolls and the Reggie Bushes of the world
and all that kind of stuff. I think if you're
looking for an early fantasy draft pick, you're probably not
looking at this backfield. You're just hoping these guys can

(29:00):
be productive with the touches that they gain.

Speaker 3 (29:02):
Yeah, from a fantasy perspective, and you know, and I
of course we'll host the Fantasy Show again this year,
which is very excited about that. Yeah, from a fantasy perspective,
I imagine RJ. Harvey is being drafted ahead of JK. Dobbins,
but they're probably around the same range, you know, mid
middle of the draft, seventh round, eighth round, And I
think R J. Harvey would have gone a lot higher
if JK. Dobbins wasn't here. But now everybody sees what
they expect will be a complete running back by committee,

(29:25):
which just a little bit of a hint. It was
always going to be that, to your point, it was
ever not going to be that. It just so happened
that they felt like they could upgrade the room. And
by the way, they've been working on JK. Dobbins since
free agency, Like this wasn't a surprise, Like, yeah, I.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
Wanted a veteran in the room. It was going to
be him or chobb and it wound up.

Speaker 3 (29:40):
I got I got so much nonsense out there from
people saying, well, they took a look at R. J.
Harvey and realized they didn't have a complete running back there,
or they saw Oudrick estimey, and they were like, oh God,
we got to go get somebody. They've been working on
this for months. It just so it happened to be
for both parties to wait. It made sense for both
parties to wait till after draft.

Speaker 1 (30:00):
And they believe that this staff in front office believes
in having a veteran in each room, right, and they
did not have that in the running back room. I mean,
yes today McLaughlin if you want to count them as
you know, they're not rookies, but they're not really veterans.
They wanted a veteran with work ethic in the room,
and and and so you know, you knew this was
this was coming all along. Does it concern you at
all that none of the none of the contract renewals

(30:21):
have gotten done yet. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (30:23):
I try not to think about it too much. You
seem to be leading the witness here. Should it concern me?

Speaker 1 (30:29):
I mean, I've I've got this blanket over here that's
been soaking and I just wanted to kind of throw
it in a somewhere. I mean no, not really like.

Speaker 3 (30:36):
What he's John Ayer's like the only one right of
the first rounders or is there two?

Speaker 1 (30:39):
Yeah? There's two uh and then oh yeah, yeah because
of the Cincinnati right and so, and they're waiting on that.
That's you know, I'm it shouldn't concern anybody. It's gonna
get done. The Broncos for their part in this, they
get to save money because they don't have to put
that when you once you do this, any guaranteed money
in the NFL has been put in escar within two weeks,
right and so. And that's the thing. I don't know
that it's not widely known, but it is a thing

(31:02):
that has to do. So they get to keep that
money and make interest on it right now and then
turn around and put the cash in escrow. It'll get signed,
he will be in training camp. Nobody should be worried
about any of that kind of stuff. The concern for
me is more the free agent or the impending free
agent guys. The Nick Benito, Zach Allen, that sort of
stuff that that not being done a little bit is
kind of a little bit of an eyebrow on a

(31:22):
couple of these. I don't expect John Franklin Myers to
necessarily get one, but the Zach Allen thing and the
Nick Benito thing, I feel like those are. And then
of course everybodys looking at Courland Sutton, although I'm not
even sure there's going to be one there. Those two
not being done at this point kind of has me
a little bit, you know, squinting. But maybe maybe they
want to see it in camp a little bit for
a couple of weeks before they before they do that.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
Yeah, and then Reber, they staggered him last year, So
I mean, the past isn't always predictive of the future,
but in this case, because it's the same regime, I'm
betting will get one round training camp and you'll get
another one later in the season. Yeah, and then and
then you know, you'll probably let somebody like John Franklin
Myers test, although you could make an argument that he'd

(32:04):
probably the easiest one to sign right now of all
the of all those guys, he's probably slided in that
eight per range, and that would make a lot of
sense for John Franklin Myers, and he probably has that
kind of value for your team. Like you could probably
make an argument easily that that would be an easy
one to just sort of check off and would keep
everybody happy in that room, because they really do love
John Franklin Myers is an underrated player.

Speaker 1 (32:25):
He had seven sacks last year. Yeah, great, really good player.
I couldn't when when we got him in the trade.
That was the first thing I said to George was like,
hey man, you nailed that one. Like that's going to
be huge. But they they've shown a reluctance to pay him,
and if you look at the distribution and everything, but
if they do pay him, it'd have to be a
very tight deal here, because you're basically going to get

(32:46):
out of all the cash in the first two years
and and Bo's going to be coming up on a
payday here, and you know in two more seasons after
this one, and and at that point in time, you've
got to have the flexibility to be able to pay
him at quarterback market rate versus the rest of them.

Speaker 3 (32:58):
Yeah, but you want to take your swings when you can,
and especially on the rookie contract, you gotta do that, right.
So I'm not talking about like a trade first to
fun Diggs kind of deal like the the Houston Texans
did last year where every thought but I thought that
offense was going to explode because of it and ended
up not really working out for him. I'm talking about
more of calculated risks. They don't have bad contracts right now,
Like I mean, they're getting rid of the Russell Wilson contract. There,

(33:20):
they have a quarterback on his rookie contract. This is
when you want to take some of those swings. Got
the three year windows. So if you're gonna do it,
like do it now, do it.

Speaker 1 (33:26):
With these guys. Yeah, I'm with you on that. I
And that is a thing I worry about. But that
is my in my nature to worry ahead of time
about that kind of stuff, like what's this team going
to look like in three years? Up his imagine area? Well,
let's not imagine are but there is there are certainly
workarounds when you have cash cash wealthy owners, as the
Broncos have the most cash wealthy owners in the lee.

(33:48):
Do you want to take this opportunity to crap on
the Rockies at all? Or are we good?

Speaker 2 (33:51):
No?

Speaker 3 (33:51):
Actually, that's more of your brand than mine, all.

Speaker 1 (33:53):
Right, I mean while we had a few seconds, I
still know if you want to like you know, hopeless again,
hopelessly naive. No, it's gonna turn around next week. It's
just a playoff run.

Speaker 3 (34:03):
It's happening when they sweep one, are the worst teams
in baseball? Next week you're gonna come to me, Well,
next week's the All Star Breakoak.

Speaker 1 (34:09):
When they do sweep and they can't lose on the
All Star break, there theoretically last half full. All right,
thanks for coming in, Man, Broncos Country and Night. We'll
be back after this