Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
To some more post Rockies late Friday Night Broncos Country Tonight,
just like last Friday, I'm your fill in host, Zach
Seegers covering for Benjamin Albright feeling a little under the
weather still unfortunately, and Nick Ferguson. Hope we see both
those guys back on Monday, but until then I will
(00:20):
be covering for them. Today we had the first real
day of Bronco's training camp. The first two days were
called acclamation days, and really, although I wasn't there, it
sounds like from talking with Ryan Edwards, they were more
almost like OTA's. There was very little happening. Today we
had our first real taste of training camp action and
(00:41):
it was a good one. You know. I think one
of the first major takeaways, over arching takeaway has to
be how well the defense looked and performed.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
In general.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
The pass rush was all over Bo, Nick, Jared Stidham,
and Sam. I mean, every single wave of rushers the
Broncos brought was tearing it up.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
The edges really stuck out.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
But I mean, Zach Allen had a great day, you know,
John Franklin Myers had multiple pressures, maybe a sack here
there even but the edges really, Nick Benito was all over.
Jonathan Cooper had an amazing day. Ke Robinson he was
a guy I highlighted, I believe last Friday when I
talked about some of the Broncos storylines I really wanted
to watch. Also highlighted it last night with Grant Smith.
(01:29):
You know, what is this guy who is tearing up
OTA's what does he look like as contact begins to
amplify And we're still, you know, not at preseason or
or full pads or anything like that, so still should
be taken with a grain of salt, but he is
still tearing it up. This was my first time out
there getting to watch him, and it took me no
time at all to find him. One, he's a very
(01:52):
large athlete, so he stands out from that respect, but
he's also just a menace. He was giving all the
tackles a hard hard time today, consistently creating pressures. Another
guy who also got some sacks in there. He and
Andre Tillman, I think might have been the standout players
of the day. They were just absolute menaces on the
(02:13):
edge for the Denver Broncos. And again some of that
is the lack of contact, the lack of true blocking,
But if those guys can you know, deliver on the
potential they're showing now at all, if they can be
anything like the players we're seeing out there at training camp,
and again talking with Ryan Edwards some of the other
people out there, it sounds like the pass rush lighting
(02:35):
it up has been a pretty common through line. If
they can keep that up, I mean, this defense becomes
that much scarier. We already know how good the second
area is. It's an absolutely loaded group from you know,
the safety position where you go two hopefully three deep
with PJ Lock to corner where you go you know, four,
(02:56):
maybe even five deep depending on Abrams, strain, and bear.
And it's incredibly hard to find windows to exploit in
this defense. And that was also true today. I mean
normally in training camp you see open receivers like there's
no problem, especially in this period when the contact is lesser.
It's almost more of a seven on seven environment, and receivers,
(03:18):
especially the speedier ones, really thrive there. I it was
a day for the defense all around. I mean the
pass rush was awesome, and again that's going to be
amplified by how good the coverage is, and the coverage
is going to be amplified by how good the pass
rush is. So I just think this Broncos defense, the
potential is sky high this year. I do think the
expectation and it's rare. I think you say this about
(03:39):
a defense because defense is such a high variance unit.
It's rare to see an elite defense carry over from
season to season. You know, you're reliant on the performance
of eleven guys and pretty equally in tanda, actually more
like fourteen to fifteen guys in tandem as opposed to offense,
where your play caller and your quarterback can do so
much of the lifting and the other pieces matter of course,
(04:01):
but if you have that stability with a great play
caller a great quarterback, you'll generally have a pretty good offense.
On defense, you know, it's hard to feel this certain
about it this early, but man, I think the expectation
should be that this defense is elite, you know, no
worse than top three, top four in the league. Again,
the pass rush looked outstanding today, but the coverage too,
(04:26):
and the Broncos receiver is not that it's you know,
some sort of all star amazing squad, but it's a
solid group of receivers in my opinion, and I mean
Bo Stidham, Wilson or Wilson Sorry he's still worry number
four Ellinger. They were all struggling to find quality windows
to exploit against this coverage. And you'd, you know on
(04:46):
reps where I was following more of the receivers instead
of the quarterback, and you you know, watch the routes
disperse downfield and every step of the way they've got
a dude in their hip pocket. You know, Riley Moss
is going every step of the way with Filet sentence there,
every step of the way with Core. You know, Baron
or McMillan are every step of the way.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
With Marvin Mims.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
It was a very impressive display from the defense, I thought,
at every level.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
So I think that's very exciting.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Drilling down on some individual players. Let's stick with the
edge group first, Hugh Robinson again, he really stood out
in a very positive way. Dendre Toeman two. And I
think it's curious, now, how does that edge room come together? Right,
You've got this Nick Benito contract situation looming.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
I think there's.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Risks on either end of it. As we outlined on
here earlier this week, right, you let Nick Benito play
out this contract here and he has another good season, which, again,
the trajectory through the first three seasons of his career
would suggest that this will be another strong season. You're
looking at either letting a very talented eddrusher walk or
(05:55):
paying thirty thirty five, maybe even forty million dollars a
year for him, when right now you could maybe have
him for twenty to twenty five million dollars a year.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
But maybe it's a lot more.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Appealing to let Benito walker or to risk that outcome.
If Andre Tillman is showing out for you in a
major way and you think he might be a real
long term answer, and same goes for Hugh Robinson and
same goes for Jonah Ellis. If they go five deep
at edge rusher and understand that some of those guys
are going to have to walk eventually, you know, considering
(06:28):
how vance Joseph employs his sh rusher edge rushers, it
wouldn't be the craziest thing to think, Hey, maybe we
keep three or four of these more mid level guys
around long term, and you know, this super expensive one
to Benito, we ultimately let walk and collect a third
round compick or whatever, you know, consolation prize we can
in return. Even looking beyond the great pass rushing performances
(06:52):
from the Broncos stable of edge rushers, I thought you
had very strong performances from the back seven. The linebacking
crew impressed me. You know, it was really cool seeing
Drake Greenlaw out there. He definitely brings a noticeable added
juice to that level of the Broncos defense, and I think,
you know, that was probably the weakness they were lacking
last year, as they were a little light and they
(07:15):
didn't quite have enough on the second level of their defense,
and I think green Law is a big step towards
solving both of those. He looked as advertised in this
practice that I was there for. I think the two
big takeaways though at inside linebacker, you know, and Sandors
in Stronat had fine days too, But what really stood
(07:36):
out was Alex Singleton and Lavelle Bailey. This was my
first time getting a glimpse at Alex Singleton since he
had his ACL tear and all the surgery and rehab
process everything connected there, and I thought he looked very
very good.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
You know.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
I was Keyeden primarily on his movement skills, and he
was I thought tracking the ball great, you know when
he had to you know, turn his hips sprint after
the ball. There is a chance where he was chasing
bo Nicks out of the pocket on a scrambled drill
play and he looked plenty fast. It looked like he
hadn't necessarily lost a step. Get a better read for
(08:13):
that in preseason, and the TV camerang won everything because
everything looks so much faster at field level. But I
thought he was moving very well out there, and that's
huge for the Broncos. As you know I highlighted in
my article and on this show last week, inside linebacker
is a very very shallow position for the Denver Broncos.
Where I mean, the proven quality answers they have are
(08:35):
just green Law and Singleton. So if you if Singleton's
really hampered by that injury still and you take him
off the board, you've got some real problematic.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Questions to answer.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
So good that he's looking good, good that it's good
that he's looking healthy and fast and moving well. And
same goes for Drake Greenlaw. I think in a shining
star for today was Lavelle Bailey. He had a few
massive plays in coverage that I thought really stood out.
Some of the biggest highlights of the practice overall came
(09:07):
from Lavell Bailey in that period. On one play, Ellinger
targeted Lucas Kroll out in the flat. Kroll should have
secured the catch cleanly. Frankly, I hit him in the hands.
It was an accurate ball, but he got it in
his two hands, started bobbling it around. Lavell Bailey came
in knock, separates him completely from the ball and secures
(09:29):
the interception. That was a great play, you know, heads
up play from the defender recognizing the situation and quickly
responding to it to make a play that's not only
causing an incompletion but causing a turnover and flipping the field.
You know, something like that, whether it's from Bailey or
sanders Orst or not. Seeing those guys rise up and
(09:51):
really shine and look the part, I think is a
huge thing to monitor over the course of camp and
it'd be a tremendous development for the Broncos if Lavell
Bay he was able to not even sees his starting
job but just sees that primary backup role. You know,
anything they can do to solidify that number three spot
I think would be so so great. PJ Locke speaking
(10:12):
about injuries here with Alex Singleton and whatnot, got eyes
on PJ lock for the first time after his spine injury.
It seems like the Broncos are still viewing him as
a very real option at safety, despite the unprecedented nature
of his rehab. You know, they're not burying him on
(10:32):
the field with Sam Ellinger and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
You know, he's he's.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Playing in meaningful spots with you know, players you expect
to make the roster, not only make the roster, but
have a sizable role on the defense or on the
team in general. And so seeing him there, I thought
it was really good. I didn't get as many clear
views of him, you know, fully moving sprinting out in
space like I did with Singleton, But when I did
(10:58):
key on it or him on a blue or anything,
I thought he was moving pretty well.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
You know.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
That's another one where hey, let's see, as we keep
getting further and further into this process, is it holding up,
you know, as the tests get more difficult or or
more taxing, is is he able to keep his same
level of movement. Again, that's a huge variable for the
Broncos this season in base defense, they're going to have
to find a way to get you know, five safeties
(11:28):
slash linebackers on the field, and that means you've got
to either move Baron back to safety or linebacker in
base defense, or find a third safety or linebacker and
or linebacker you feel really good about. And hopefully that's
like Drew Sanders or Lavelle Bailey, but you know, hey,
to their credits. Jail Skinner was making some big plays
in special teams today. Maybe he can emerge as that
(11:51):
third safety and Dalaren Turner yell first time he's been
out there in a long time. He was hampered all
of last season with injury, or just about all last
season with injury, had a really nice PBu today against
Alan Gary. Ellinger tried to force the ball into a
window I think to Pat Bryan over the middle of
the field he probably shouldn't have tried, and Dty it
(12:12):
came down and laid about as good of a hit
as you can during this stage of the offseason and
separated the receiver from the ball. So nice to see
him out there moving well, looking like he could maybe
be a player on special teams or something.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
The cornerback group interesting to.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Me, and I think this is you know, maybe not
surprising and also a good thing, but it really looks
like they are going to make Jade Baron earn that
starting nickel role or that starting you know, corner roll
opposite Cirtan. Anything he gets, it sounds like he's going
to have to earn. Sean Payton also highlighted during his
press conference he didn't name Baron by named, but named
(12:52):
how they're cross training some of the corners and you know,
you could even see some of.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Them go back to safety.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Again, maybe Baron's not one of those guys, because he
explicitly said earlier in the offseason they weren't looking at
him at safety, but it also just makes so much sense.
I would not give up on the dreams of him
at safety quite yet. But anyways, whatever here he gets
in terms of a role on this defense, he's going
to have to earn. You know, He's he's not just
(13:18):
starting day one like hey, it's Ian Patrick's for tanbuddy,
like you could be if we're crowning you right now. No,
he's going to have to fight past Julie or sorry,
Jay Kwan McMillan. He's going to have to fight past
Riley Moss. You know, he might even have to fight
past Abrams Drain. I thought Abrams Drain had a good
day to day. Now I think you definitely expect him
to do those things. He's a very talented player. I
(13:40):
think he's the best of the bunch, frankly, but you
got to make him earn it. And I think it's
good the staff is making him do that. But you know,
if you come out here as a fan you want
to catch the Broncos at training camp, you should know.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
You know John A.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Barron, He's he's getting looks. You know that that suggests
a larger role in the defense. But he's also going
to have to I think fight his way up that
depth chart. Some Patrick Sartan looked like Patrick's Artan. He
had a really strong day. Riley Moss, you know, because
I think he closed last season pretty poorly, and you know,
off off the mcl injury and everything. It was great
(14:16):
to see him looking like the good old Riley Moss again.
He had a great coverage rep against Cortland Sutton down
the left sideline today. I think it was bo Nix
even throwing the ball, but you know, targeted Cortland deep
down the sideline, whichever quarterback it was, and Riley Moss
just did a great job, you know, using the sideline
as an extra defender, pinching out the route and stopping
(14:38):
the play. I think he looks like the Riley Moss
of the first half of last season, and that is
a game changer for the Denver Broncos. So that kind
of goes through just about every level of the defense
and a few things I was seeing stand out to.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Me, actually really quick.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
One thing that does stand out also with this defense,
the camara they have and the energy and the feel.
It's I can't remember ever seeing something like it at
a training camp before. Where before day near every offensive
playing team period, no matter if it's starters or backups
(15:16):
or third string in there, you've got some assortment of
defensive players out to the side, yelling, talking, trash, hyping up,
hyping up their guys and whatever, you know, respective position group.
You know, Malcolm Roach and Jonathan Cooper being two of
the leaders of that, and that was really fun to see.
And just the energy when the team period started and
(15:37):
all the starters came out there, I don't think it
was pure team.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
It was like kind of seven on seven.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
You had the back seven of the defense and like
a center at quarterback and five weapons. And during that
seven on seven period, like all the starting defenders came
out and they were all like dapping each other up,
and they all had like custom hands handshakes with each other,
like Jake one had a special handshake with Hafanga and
(16:03):
Hufanga had a different handshake with Moss, and Moss had
a different handshake than either of those with this or Tan,
and it was it was cool like when they all
came out onto the field and the linebackers were involved too,
when those seven guys all kind of like exchanged their
their different handshakes and whatnot. So that was fun. But yeah,
great time getting out there. Definitely get out there if
you can as a fan when we come back with
(16:24):
more Broncos Country Tonight. Here we're going to get into
the offense and bo Nix and what I saw from
that side of the ball at training camp.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Today.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
You're listening to Broncos Country Tonight on KOA eight fifty
am ninety four to one FM Post Rockies Late Friday
Night Broncos Country tonight. I hope y'all are staying safe
out there on this Friday night and enjoying a little
bit of a training camp recap with me. I was
(16:55):
out there today in the heat of Dove Valley at
Bronco's Park powered by Common Spirit as it's officially dubbed,
looking at the Broncos offense and defense. It was my
first look at either side of the ball. I hadn't
been able to make it out there for OTA's or
Mini camp or the acclamation period as they were calling
it to start off the week, So I was thrilled
(17:16):
to get out there, stay for the whole period and really,
you know, take in what's happening with the offense, with
the defense. In case you missed it last segment, I
was talking over the defense, kind of went group by
a position group and also talked about a few individual
players that really stuck out to me in a positive way.
I'll do the same with the offense. I'll even try
and get a little you know what, let's get the
(17:38):
special teams talk out of the way off the top
right here, Jeremy Crosshaw, I am very excited to see
in a real game setting. You know, punting is so situational,
and so it's hard to judge it in training camp
when we don't know the exact situation. You know, so
much of it is that the special teams coordinator hallering
(17:58):
out at the punter and the rest of the unit
right before they go, hey, this is the situation, there's
this much time on the clock, and blah blah blah
blah blah, this is what we want to do. And
we can't really pick up on that from a media
setting or from a fan setting. So it's going to
be interesting to see how he executes how well he
backs the opponents up in a game setting. But his
(18:19):
punts today were booming. They were thunderous punts, launching them
away into the sky. I am getting a lot of
distance on them as well. I don't think he was
ever out kicking his coverage though, because of how much
hangtime he was getting on these suckers. I admittedly wish
I got a few more stopwatch times on it so
(18:39):
I could have had a wider sample. Had some technical difficulties,
and also was spinning a few different plates at once,
but ultimately I charted him up three times within a
tenth of a second of a five second long punt,
which would be remarkable hangtime, like near the top of
the league, if not the very top of the NFL.
(19:00):
And I think that'll be so valuable because and I
know Riley Dixon had some bad moments that the Bengals
game was terrible. I think maybe we had a really
rough game against the Chargers one time too. He wasn't
perfect last year, but by any metric, and maybe some
of it was the altitude and elevation and all that,
but by any metric, Riley Dixon was a top ten
(19:21):
bordering on top five punter in the league last year.
So if Krosha doesn't have to be that, but if
he can step in and immediately be an average punter
or a good punter and just minimize the decline you're
seeing from that aspect of the special teams, I think
it would be huge because it gets underrated, but special
teams was a major factor in the Broncos making the playoffs.
(19:43):
You know, it wasn't just the offense, you know, getting
by in the defense being great. Having to lead special
teams to help bolster those two other sides of the
ball was massive in the Broncos success last season. Changing
over the punter changing over the special teams coordinator. I
think you have to worry about some But what I
saw from Crusha today has been feeling a lot more
(20:03):
optimistic that the Broncos third phase will remain pretty strong.
All right, I got that out of the way. Now
we can get into the fun stuff. I know you
guys are all waiting for the quarterbacks, the running backs,
the receivers, you know, And like I said, I think
today was won by the defense. I don't really fault
anyone on the offense for that. You know, the offensive
line you can only do so much blocking right now
(20:25):
when there aren't pads, and then it's not full contact.
You know, they like they lost. There's no way around that.
The pass rush on the defensive line kind of whooped
the O line. But the O lines playing with at
least one hand tied behind their back, you know, So
it's it's hard to get a good judge of that.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
You know.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
If anything stood out really as concerning on the offense,
it's maybe that. But again, I don't know how seriously
you can really take those reps. I think we'll get
a better read it again as contact continue stampify throughout
the period. Bo Nix, though, I like that's the headline,
everyone cares the most about it. I thought he looked really,
really crisp today. I've seen some worry on Twitter and
(21:05):
in my DMS and what not just around online about
him scrambling a lot today. There was definitely some talk about, oh,
he scrambled and had a nice throw to Pat Bryan
or this or that, and he was definitely scrambling a
good bit today, But I don't think it was ever
problematic or over the top. Like last training camp, Bonicks
would have a good number of reps where he held
(21:28):
the ball a little longer or he wasn't seeing anything
and he'd hold it, hold it, hold it. Okay, now
I'm scampering and I'm running, and I'm going to try
and turn this into a positive play something. Also, frankly,
we saw a lot of it during Russell Wilson's training
camps here in Denver, where dropped back, wait, wait, okay,
in a real game setting, you're probably sacked or the
ball's thrown away or the place dead now but wait, wait, okay,
now I'm running or I think something that Bonicks was
(21:51):
a little guilty of last training camp. You know you
dropped back and then now my first option's gone, or
oh there's a little pass rush. I'm talking and running
immediately the first sign of heat or kas and you know,
you don't want to over commit to those opportunities. You
want to hang in the pocket as long as possible.
I thought Bo was doing a pretty good job walking
that balance.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Today.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
You know, again field level sideline view, you're only going
to get such a great feel for the pass rush
and how the quarterback is managing those lanes. But I
felt like, you know, when the pocket called for it,
he was stepping up and delivering a strike. And when
you know things were a little more chaotic, then you'd
see him talk going to creation mode. Where can I
find not even just run necessarily. I don't know if
(22:33):
he saw if I saw a screamble from him pass
the line of scrimmage, but you know he'd tuck.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
He did kind of. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
It looked like a free runner there for a second,
looking like where's the open space? Where can I find
a seam in the offensive line, And then you know,
kind of shoot through a little gap, get into some space,
rear back up and deliver a pass. I felt was
more what I was seeing from him today.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
And I thought he did well.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
I highlighted a Singleton's movement when he was chasing him
down outside the pocket. That was a great play from
Bonnicks where he's running away from Singleton, the pressure is there.
He's pretty darn close to that right sideline, you know,
kind of these these were running right towards it and
getting pretty close, and then kind of throws this fade
away ball to Pat Bryant on a crossing route also
(23:17):
running from the left side of the field to the right.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
And you know, that's a risky throw.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
You're not supposed to throw the ball across your body
like that, across the field like that. You have to
be very careful for hanging defenders and all sorts of
stuff to avoid a turnover. And whether Bo got lucky
or just spotted that, this was a good opportunity to
take either way. Completed it to Pat Bryan instride for
a very big play. Thought that was nice. And then
(23:43):
from a throwing perspective, I thought what really stood out
to me with Boa today was his deep balls. I thought,
you know, and he he did fine throwing deep last year.
I'm not trying to bring up pre draft narratives or anything,
but I never thought of But like Russell Wilson, even
when he was struggling Inver, it was like, Wow, that
guy's got one of the best deep balls in the game.
(24:04):
It is this gorgeous rainbow. And I don't think like
Bo had that awesome throw to Mims towards the end
of the season, but like that wasn't something I really
associated with Bo even during the season last year, definitely
throughout training camp last year. Today, during a drills period,
it was just quarterbacks throwing the receivers. Receivers running one route,
you know, they all cycle through, then they run a
(24:24):
different route, they all cycle through. On the go ball period,
you had these guys, you know, going down the sideline deep.
I got a few good videos of it and posted
it on the KOA Colorado account, So check that out
on Twitter. You can see the videos I'm talking about here.
But I mean, man like perfect balls to Sutton and
to Franklin. Vlai had another good look at one that
(24:46):
he couldn't complete. But just these gorgeous rainbows that you know,
dropped right in the bucket for Mims or Franklin or Sutton.
You know, whoever it was on the given rep, it
looked amazing every time, and I think that's something also
that Bronco's country hasn't gotten to a joy. You know,
you're having a lot more offensive continuity than you've had before,
(25:07):
and as a result, like bo Nix is right on
target with Sutton, and then he throws a deep ball
the very next rep to Franklin, who moves dramatically differently,
and at Boom it's right in the bucket.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
And then right after that it's to Mims.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Who moves differently than either of those two guys in
Boom right in the bucket again.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
So I just I thought that really wowed me.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
With bow, I think the last bo Nicks point I
would have is.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
He seemed to be operating a little more quickly.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Again, hard to get a great read for that in
you know, that live training camp setting, but it seemed like,
you know, just watching his helmet and helmet activity isn't everything,
but seeing you know him, you could see him work
through things, I think faster than he was last season.
There were a couple of dropbacks where I felt and again,
(25:54):
you know, maybe some of these are sacks or pressures
or something, but in this setting, there were plenty of
dropbacks where he dropped back and it looked like he
was getting too you know, third options in the progression,
you know, getting to the checkdown, but not getting to
the checkdown too quick. I think that was one thing
he did as a rookie last year. And that's a
fine answer, you know, is Peyton Manning always preached, you know,
(26:14):
you can't go broke taking a profit, but he would
maybe be and this is a problem. Justin Herbert asked, like,
your quarterbacks have this problem. But it's not the a
dooming knock. But I do think he was a little quick.
Dak Prescott another guy with it to kind of actually
you've been DA's not really that way, more more Justin Herbert,
But work through those reads and maybe be like, ah,
one's not there too, it's not there, boom checkdown, rather
(26:37):
than okay one's not there, let's see okay, yeah, two
isn't there.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Okay, wait, three just popped open. Boom, I'm gonna go there.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Instead of defaulting to that kind of lesser checkdown option.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
He was rushing it a little last year.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Today it felt more intentional, I think would be the
best word for it. It didn't feel That's probably the
best way to describe Nick's performance today last training camp.
It felt very much like like your first day on
the job. You know, not even bad, but just like, Okay,
I'm trying to figure this stuff out. They're throwing responsibilities
and tasks at me. What am I going to do?
(27:09):
You know, how do I do this? How do I
do that? And you know, trying to make the most
of it and maybe even doing a good job on
occasion or even frequently, but not very intentional. Okay, I'm
doing this now, and this is how I do it,
and now there's this process. And I think that's what
stood out to me seeing bo Nix in this practice
(27:29):
as opposed to last year's training camps is it felt
a lot more controlled and intentional with his decision making
it in the plays or his ball placement. I just
thought everything seemed a little more dialed in. And that's
what you want to see from a guy, you know,
getting to work in the same offense for multiple seasons
in a row, and you know, we haven't had that
in Broncos Country for what since twenty fourteen now, So
(27:51):
I think that offensive continuity was something that really shone
through for me. Other elements that stood out. I think
the two pass catchers that really stood out to me
were Troy Franklin and Evan Ingram. I'll start with Troy Franklin.
He was a guy who I have, I think, always
(28:12):
been a little lower on his profile coming out of
the draft was was a little troubling. I think I
was a little less surprised by his fall, but what
he does well has always been tantalizing. There's not many
people with his frame who can move as fast and
just in short areas as quick as he can. You know,
the hands and the lack of strength were the big concerns.
(28:36):
I think he threw caught every single ball thrown his
way today, which again it's practice. Who knows when the
bullets really started firing. But you know a couple of
deep balls from bon Nicks where he was throwing to Franklin,
or maybe Stidham was on one of them. But these
deep balls to Franklin where last year you were kind
of holding your even today practice I was holding my
breath like, oh, come on, man, complete the complete the
(28:56):
pass and he did it looked and a natural one
at that. It wasn't a double clutch or embobbling or anything.
Looked clean, looked a lot smoother. I was very happy
to see that. The other thing I think that really
jumps out to me with Franklin, It's important again considering
the the frame kind of strength concerns that are tied
back into how thin his frame is. It's kind of
(29:18):
how he gets away with being so fast. He looks
just as fast today. It didn't look like he'd lost
any speed, and he was noticeably bul bulkier, And I
heard other writers commenting on it too, so I don't
think it was just me noticing it.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
He looks like more of a six to three guy.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
It's crazy, he's a six to three receiver, but I
think because he's so slight, you think of him as
this smaller guy, and he really isn't he. You know,
he has the potential to really fill out and be
a larger bodied receiver, and I think you saw more
of that now. Not that he's going to be like
some menace in the blocking game or destroying press coverage,
(29:52):
but at the least I think he shouldn't struggle with
those facets of the game nearly to the extent he
did last year and that's huge for Toroy. Frankly, if
he can just clean up those deficiencies, Like, the reason
he didn't get on the field more last year wasn't
because he couldn't do anything well. He had some things
he did very very well, but the deficiencies were so
(30:12):
glaring that the coaching staff struggled to always trust him,
and as a result, he had a smaller role. So
I think if he can round out those areas, you know,
proved to be a more physical presence, proved to be
a more reliable set of hands, you can see him
get a large role in the passing game. And I
was someone who you know, the fan base has been
talking a lot about it, Troy Franklin lead this year,
(30:33):
and I was not buying it. I was like he
might even be cut after Today, I feel a lot
better about his roster chances. And that's probably putting too
much stock into a single practice, but it just it
looked meaningfully different to me. Like it just he does
not look like the same guy. Maybe it's just the
number eleven, but I liked it a lot better today.
Other guys, Oh, I talked about Evan Ingram. It looks
(30:54):
like they are making a concerted effort for Evan Ingram
to be a big part of the offense, you know,
as much as possible, you know, whenever they could find
a little excuse during an individual period or warm ups
or whatever. It seemed like Bo was working with Evan Ingram.
To me, I think building up that chemistry and that
relationship is a point of emphasis from the staff. That's
(31:15):
purely conjecture for me, but that's how it looked watching
practice today like they have been and maybe it's just
them talking to each other, but it looks like there's
been some sort of concerted effort to make sure, let's
get Ingram and Bo working together as much as possible.
And I think that'll pay off because how Ingram moves
out there is different. He large bodies, but he can
just glide across the field. Benny Fowler, I know on
(31:38):
KOA Sports has made this comp before, but kind of
reminded him of Damarius Thomas, and I don't think he's
quite that good of a mover, but that type of
you know, whoa This is a big body who can
really move quite well, and I think you'll make a
pretty big impact this year. I'm still not sure what
the overall production will look like But I think he's
going to be a red zone menace. And I know
(31:59):
Albright disagree with me, and he hasn't done that in
the past, I'm aware, But I think Peyton is gonna
Sean Payton. That is is going to sprinkle a little
Jimmy Graham magic pixie dust on it, and it's gonna
have Evdingram have one of his best years. I think
the last I'll hit you with four quick rookie notes here.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
One. I thought R. J.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Harvey looked good. The quads are ridiculous. I was watching
him run down the field on one rep and you
can see them like bulging out of.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
His legs every step. It is his bonkers.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
I thought he looked good today. He had a solid
performance during a pass protection drill. That's going to matter
and the juice is very apparent there. He moves with
a lot of speed. So excited to see that in
game action. Hard to get much of a read for
the run game in this training camp setting, though the
contact is so limited, you know it's not very real.
Kyries White Slash Kyries rowing. It's on the updated roster
(32:52):
is rowing, and the past it was on the roster
is white. However, you can find his name. He's a
guy I would watch for. I don't know how he
makes the roster receiver because it's so crowded. Like I
just I can't imagine him cracking that rotation quite frankly,
but as like a return specialist, I could see it.
He is lightning quick. I think he's the fastest guy
(33:12):
on the on the team. His speed was different out
there today. It really stuck out like a sore thumb.
I think he could maybe be a camp sleeper to
keep watching.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Pat Bryan had an up and down day.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
I thought he had some really impressive snacks, but you know,
his cleats come out of the turf on one cut
that led to an incompletion, had a couple, had one
definite drop and one that like you know, he had
to go a little outside the strike zone for it,
but you got two hands on it, you know you
that should be a catch.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
So I think he had two drops today.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
That was a little disappointing to see. And then Caleb
Loner was a guy who, like I mentioned in my article,
I was really cute and I'm curious to see how
he looked. He was a lot smoother gliding across the field,
moving a lot better than I thought he would with
his his freaky frame, and that gave me some confidence.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
All Right, that'll do it for me there, But don't worry.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
We're going to be coming right back with some more
training camp coverage talking about all the players that stood
out to me on the defensive side of the ball.
Stay tuned for that more Broncos Country Tonight coming up
on KOA eight p fifty am ninety four to one FM.
To some more post Rockies late Friday Night Broncos Country Tonight,
just like last Friday, I'm your fill in host, Zach
Seegers covering for Benjamin Albright feeling a little under the
weather still unfortunately, and Nick Ferguson. Hope we see both
those guys back on Monday, but until then I will
(00:20):
be covering for them. Today we had the first real
day of Bronco's training camp. The first two days were
called acclamation days, and really, although I wasn't there, it
sounds like from talking with Ryan Edwards, they were more
almost like OTA's. There was very little happening. Today we
had our first real taste of training camp action and
(00:41):
it was a good one. You know. I think one
of the first major takeaways, over arching takeaway has to
be how well the defense looked and performed.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
In general.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
The pass rush was all over Bo, Nick, Jared Stidham,
and Sam. I mean, every single wave of rushers the
Broncos brought was tearing it up.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
The edges really stuck out.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
But I mean, Zach Allen had a great day, you know,
John Franklin Myers had multiple pressures, maybe a sack here
there even but the edges really, Nick Benito was all over.
Jonathan Cooper had an amazing day. Ke Robinson he was
a guy I highlighted, I believe last Friday when I
talked about some of the Broncos storylines I really wanted
to watch. Also highlighted it last night with Grant Smith.
(01:29):
You know, what is this guy who is tearing up
OTA's what does he look like as contact begins to
amplify And we're still, you know, not at preseason or
or full pads or anything like that, so still should
be taken with a grain of salt, but he is
still tearing it up. This was my first time out
there getting to watch him, and it took me no
time at all to find him. One, he's a very
(01:52):
large athlete, so he stands out from that respect, but
he's also just a menace. He was giving all the
tackles a hard hard time today, consistently creating pressures. Another
guy who also got some sacks in there. He and
Andre Tillman, I think might have been the standout players
of the day. They were just absolute menaces on the
(02:13):
edge for the Denver Broncos. And again some of that
is the lack of contact, the lack of true blocking,
But if those guys can you know, deliver on the
potential they're showing now at all, if they can be
anything like the players we're seeing out there at training camp,
and again talking with Ryan Edwards some of the other
people out there, it sounds like the pass rush lighting
(02:35):
it up has been a pretty common through line. If
they can keep that up, I mean, this defense becomes
that much scarier. We already know how good the second
area is. It's an absolutely loaded group from you know,
the safety position where you go two hopefully three deep
with PJ Lock to corner where you go you know, four,
(02:56):
maybe even five deep depending on Abrams, strain, and bear.
And it's incredibly hard to find windows to exploit in
this defense. And that was also true today. I mean
normally in training camp you see open receivers like there's
no problem, especially in this period when the contact is lesser.
It's almost more of a seven on seven environment, and receivers,
(03:18):
especially the speedier ones, really thrive there. I it was
a day for the defense all around. I mean the
pass rush was awesome, and again that's going to be
amplified by how good the coverage is, and the coverage
is going to be amplified by how good the pass
rush is. So I just think this Broncos defense, the
potential is sky high this year. I do think the
expectation and it's rare. I think you say this about
(03:39):
a defense because defense is such a high variance unit.
It's rare to see an elite defense carry over from
season to season. You know, you're reliant on the performance
of eleven guys and pretty equally in tanda, actually more
like fourteen to fifteen guys in tandem as opposed to offense,
where your play caller and your quarterback can do so
much of the lifting and the other pieces matter of course,
(04:01):
but if you have that stability with a great play
caller a great quarterback, you'll generally have a pretty good offense.
On defense, you know, it's hard to feel this certain
about it this early, but man, I think the expectation
should be that this defense is elite, you know, no
worse than top three, top four in the league. Again,
the pass rush looked outstanding today, but the coverage too,
(04:26):
and the Broncos receiver is not that it's you know,
some sort of all star amazing squad, but it's a
solid group of receivers in my opinion, and I mean
Bo Stidham, Wilson or Wilson Sorry he's still worry number
four Ellinger. They were all struggling to find quality windows
to exploit against this coverage. And you'd, you know on
(04:46):
reps where I was following more of the receivers instead
of the quarterback, and you you know, watch the routes
disperse downfield and every step of the way they've got
a dude in their hip pocket. You know, Riley Moss
is going every step of the way with Filet sentence there,
every step of the way with Core. You know, Baron
or McMillan are every step of the way.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
With Marvin Mims.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
It was a very impressive display from the defense, I thought,
at every level.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
So I think that's very exciting.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Drilling down on some individual players. Let's stick with the
edge group first, Hugh Robinson again, he really stood out
in a very positive way. Dendre Toeman two. And I
think it's curious, now, how does that edge room come together? Right,
You've got this Nick Benito contract situation looming.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
I think there's.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Risks on either end of it. As we outlined on
here earlier this week, right, you let Nick Benito play
out this contract here and he has another good season, which, again,
the trajectory through the first three seasons of his career
would suggest that this will be another strong season. You're
looking at either letting a very talented eddrusher walk or
(05:55):
paying thirty thirty five, maybe even forty million dollars a
year for him, when right now you could maybe have
him for twenty to twenty five million dollars a year.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
But maybe it's a lot more.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Appealing to let Benito walker or to risk that outcome.
If Andre Tillman is showing out for you in a
major way and you think he might be a real
long term answer, and same goes for Hugh Robinson and
same goes for Jonah Ellis. If they go five deep
at edge rusher and understand that some of those guys
are going to have to walk eventually, you know, considering
(06:28):
how vance Joseph employs his sh rusher edge rushers, it
wouldn't be the craziest thing to think, Hey, maybe we
keep three or four of these more mid level guys
around long term, and you know, this super expensive one
to Benito, we ultimately let walk and collect a third
round compick or whatever, you know, consolation prize we can
in return. Even looking beyond the great pass rushing performances
(06:52):
from the Broncos stable of edge rushers, I thought you
had very strong performances from the back seven. The linebacking
crew impressed me. You know, it was really cool seeing
Drake Greenlaw out there. He definitely brings a noticeable added
juice to that level of the Broncos defense, and I think,
you know, that was probably the weakness they were lacking
last year, as they were a little light and they
(07:15):
didn't quite have enough on the second level of their defense,
and I think green Law is a big step towards
solving both of those. He looked as advertised in this
practice that I was there for. I think the two
big takeaways though at inside linebacker, you know, and Sandors
in Stronat had fine days too, But what really stood
(07:36):
out was Alex Singleton and Lavelle Bailey. This was my
first time getting a glimpse at Alex Singleton since he
had his ACL tear and all the surgery and rehab
process everything connected there, and I thought he looked very
very good.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
You know.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
I was Keyeden primarily on his movement skills, and he
was I thought tracking the ball great, you know when
he had to you know, turn his hips sprint after
the ball. There is a chance where he was chasing
bo Nicks out of the pocket on a scrambled drill
play and he looked plenty fast. It looked like he
hadn't necessarily lost a step. Get a better read for
(08:13):
that in preseason, and the TV camerang won everything because
everything looks so much faster at field level. But I
thought he was moving very well out there, and that's
huge for the Broncos. As you know I highlighted in
my article and on this show last week, inside linebacker
is a very very shallow position for the Denver Broncos.
Where I mean, the proven quality answers they have are
(08:35):
just green Law and Singleton. So if you if Singleton's
really hampered by that injury still and you take him
off the board, you've got some real problematic.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Questions to answer.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
So good that he's looking good, good that it's good
that he's looking healthy and fast and moving well. And
same goes for Drake Greenlaw. I think in a shining
star for today was Lavelle Bailey. He had a few
massive plays in coverage that I thought really stood out.
Some of the biggest highlights of the practice overall came
(09:07):
from Lavell Bailey in that period. On one play, Ellinger
targeted Lucas Kroll out in the flat. Kroll should have
secured the catch cleanly. Frankly, I hit him in the hands.
It was an accurate ball, but he got it in
his two hands, started bobbling it around. Lavell Bailey came
in knock, separates him completely from the ball and secures
(09:29):
the interception. That was a great play, you know, heads
up play from the defender recognizing the situation and quickly
responding to it to make a play that's not only
causing an incompletion but causing a turnover and flipping the field.
You know, something like that, whether it's from Bailey or
sanders Orst or not. Seeing those guys rise up and
(09:51):
really shine and look the part, I think is a
huge thing to monitor over the course of camp and
it'd be a tremendous development for the Broncos if Lavell
Bay he was able to not even sees his starting
job but just sees that primary backup role. You know,
anything they can do to solidify that number three spot
I think would be so so great. PJ Locke speaking
(10:12):
about injuries here with Alex Singleton and whatnot, got eyes
on PJ lock for the first time after his spine injury.
It seems like the Broncos are still viewing him as
a very real option at safety, despite the unprecedented nature
of his rehab. You know, they're not burying him on
(10:32):
the field with Sam Ellinger and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
You know, he's he's.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Playing in meaningful spots with you know, players you expect
to make the roster, not only make the roster, but
have a sizable role on the defense or on the
team in general. And so seeing him there, I thought
it was really good. I didn't get as many clear
views of him, you know, fully moving sprinting out in
space like I did with Singleton, But when I did
(10:58):
key on it or him on a blue or anything,
I thought he was moving pretty well.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
You know.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
That's another one where hey, let's see, as we keep
getting further and further into this process, is it holding up,
you know, as the tests get more difficult or or
more taxing, is is he able to keep his same
level of movement. Again, that's a huge variable for the
Broncos this season in base defense, they're going to have
to find a way to get you know, five safeties
(11:28):
slash linebackers on the field, and that means you've got
to either move Baron back to safety or linebacker in
base defense, or find a third safety or linebacker and
or linebacker you feel really good about. And hopefully that's
like Drew Sanders or Lavelle Bailey, but you know, hey,
to their credits. Jail Skinner was making some big plays
in special teams today. Maybe he can emerge as that
(11:51):
third safety and Dalaren Turner yell first time he's been
out there in a long time. He was hampered all
of last season with injury, or just about all last
season with injury, had a really nice PBu today against
Alan Gary. Ellinger tried to force the ball into a
window I think to Pat Bryan over the middle of
the field he probably shouldn't have tried, and Dty it
(12:12):
came down and laid about as good of a hit
as you can during this stage of the offseason and
separated the receiver from the ball. So nice to see
him out there moving well, looking like he could maybe
be a player on special teams or something.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
The cornerback group interesting to.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Me, and I think this is you know, maybe not
surprising and also a good thing, but it really looks
like they are going to make Jade Baron earn that
starting nickel role or that starting you know, corner roll
opposite Cirtan. Anything he gets, it sounds like he's going
to have to earn. Sean Payton also highlighted during his
press conference he didn't name Baron by named, but named
(12:52):
how they're cross training some of the corners and you know,
you could even see some of.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Them go back to safety.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Again, maybe Baron's not one of those guys, because he
explicitly said earlier in the offseason they weren't looking at
him at safety, but it also just makes so much sense.
I would not give up on the dreams of him
at safety quite yet. But anyways, whatever here he gets
in terms of a role on this defense, he's going
to have to earn. You know, He's he's not just
(13:18):
starting day one like hey, it's Ian Patrick's for tanbuddy,
like you could be if we're crowning you right now. No,
he's going to have to fight past Julie or sorry,
Jay Kwan McMillan. He's going to have to fight past
Riley Moss. You know, he might even have to fight
past Abrams Drain. I thought Abrams Drain had a good
day to day. Now I think you definitely expect him
to do those things. He's a very talented player. I
(13:40):
think he's the best of the bunch, frankly, but you
got to make him earn it. And I think it's
good the staff is making him do that. But you know,
if you come out here as a fan you want
to catch the Broncos at training camp, you should know.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
You know John A.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Barron, He's he's getting looks. You know that that suggests
a larger role in the defense. But he's also going
to have to I think fight his way up that
depth chart. Some Patrick Sartan looked like Patrick's Artan. He
had a really strong day. Riley Moss, you know, because
I think he closed last season pretty poorly, and you know,
off off the mcl injury and everything. It was great
(14:16):
to see him looking like the good old Riley Moss again.
He had a great coverage rep against Cortland Sutton down
the left sideline today. I think it was bo Nix
even throwing the ball, but you know, targeted Cortland deep
down the sideline, whichever quarterback it was, and Riley Moss
just did a great job, you know, using the sideline
as an extra defender, pinching out the route and stopping
(14:38):
the play. I think he looks like the Riley Moss
of the first half of last season, and that is
a game changer for the Denver Broncos. So that kind
of goes through just about every level of the defense
and a few things I was seeing stand out to.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Me, actually really quick.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
One thing that does stand out also with this defense,
the camara they have and the energy and the feel.
It's I can't remember ever seeing something like it at
a training camp before. Where before day near every offensive
playing team period, no matter if it's starters or backups
(15:16):
or third string in there, you've got some assortment of
defensive players out to the side, yelling, talking, trash, hyping up,
hyping up their guys and whatever, you know, respective position group.
You know, Malcolm Roach and Jonathan Cooper being two of
the leaders of that, and that was really fun to see.
And just the energy when the team period started and
(15:37):
all the starters came out there, I don't think it
was pure team.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
It was like kind of seven on seven.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
You had the back seven of the defense and like
a center at quarterback and five weapons. And during that
seven on seven period, like all the starting defenders came
out and they were all like dapping each other up,
and they all had like custom hands handshakes with each other,
like Jake one had a special handshake with Hafanga and
(16:03):
Hufanga had a different handshake with Moss, and Moss had
a different handshake than either of those with this or Tan,
and it was it was cool like when they all
came out onto the field and the linebackers were involved too,
when those seven guys all kind of like exchanged their
their different handshakes and whatnot. So that was fun. But yeah,
great time getting out there. Definitely get out there if
you can as a fan when we come back with
(16:24):
more Broncos Country Tonight. Here we're going to get into
the offense and bo Nix and what I saw from
that side of the ball at training camp.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Today.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
You're listening to Broncos Country Tonight on KOA eight fifty
am ninety four to one FM Post Rockies Late Friday
Night Broncos Country tonight. I hope y'all are staying safe
out there on this Friday night and enjoying a little
bit of a training camp recap with me. I was
(16:55):
out there today in the heat of Dove Valley at
Bronco's Park powered by Common Spirit as it's officially dubbed,
looking at the Broncos offense and defense. It was my
first look at either side of the ball. I hadn't
been able to make it out there for OTA's or
Mini camp or the acclamation period as they were calling
it to start off the week, So I was thrilled
(17:16):
to get out there, stay for the whole period and really,
you know, take in what's happening with the offense, with
the defense. In case you missed it last segment, I
was talking over the defense, kind of went group by
a position group and also talked about a few individual
players that really stuck out to me in a positive way.
I'll do the same with the offense. I'll even try
and get a little you know what, let's get the
(17:38):
special teams talk out of the way off the top
right here, Jeremy Crosshaw, I am very excited to see
in a real game setting. You know, punting is so situational,
and so it's hard to judge it in training camp
when we don't know the exact situation. You know, so
much of it is that the special teams coordinator hallering
(17:58):
out at the punter and the rest of the unit
right before they go, hey, this is the situation, there's
this much time on the clock, and blah blah blah
blah blah, this is what we want to do. And
we can't really pick up on that from a media
setting or from a fan setting. So it's going to
be interesting to see how he executes how well he
backs the opponents up in a game setting. But his
(18:19):
punts today were booming. They were thunderous punts, launching them
away into the sky. I am getting a lot of
distance on them as well. I don't think he was
ever out kicking his coverage though, because of how much
hangtime he was getting on these suckers. I admittedly wish
I got a few more stopwatch times on it so
(18:39):
I could have had a wider sample. Had some technical difficulties,
and also was spinning a few different plates at once,
but ultimately I charted him up three times within a
tenth of a second of a five second long punt,
which would be remarkable hangtime, like near the top of
the league, if not the very top of the NFL.
(19:00):
And I think that'll be so valuable because and I
know Riley Dixon had some bad moments that the Bengals
game was terrible. I think maybe we had a really
rough game against the Chargers one time too. He wasn't
perfect last year, but by any metric, and maybe some
of it was the altitude and elevation and all that,
but by any metric, Riley Dixon was a top ten
(19:21):
bordering on top five punter in the league last year.
So if Krosha doesn't have to be that, but if
he can step in and immediately be an average punter
or a good punter and just minimize the decline you're
seeing from that aspect of the special teams, I think
it would be huge because it gets underrated, but special
teams was a major factor in the Broncos making the playoffs.
(19:43):
You know, it wasn't just the offense, you know, getting
by in the defense being great. Having to lead special
teams to help bolster those two other sides of the
ball was massive in the Broncos success last season. Changing
over the punter changing over the special teams coordinator. I
think you have to worry about some But what I
saw from Crusha today has been feeling a lot more
(20:03):
optimistic that the Broncos third phase will remain pretty strong.
All right, I got that out of the way. Now
we can get into the fun stuff. I know you
guys are all waiting for the quarterbacks, the running backs,
the receivers, you know, And like I said, I think
today was won by the defense. I don't really fault
anyone on the offense for that. You know, the offensive
line you can only do so much blocking right now
(20:25):
when there aren't pads, and then it's not full contact.
You know, they like they lost. There's no way around that.
The pass rush on the defensive line kind of whooped
the O line. But the O lines playing with at
least one hand tied behind their back, you know, So
it's it's hard to get a good judge of that.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
You know.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
If anything stood out really as concerning on the offense,
it's maybe that. But again, I don't know how seriously
you can really take those reps. I think we'll get
a better read it again as contact continue stampify throughout
the period. Bo Nix, though, I like that's the headline,
everyone cares the most about it. I thought he looked really,
really crisp today. I've seen some worry on Twitter and
(21:05):
in my DMS and what not just around online about
him scrambling a lot today. There was definitely some talk about, oh,
he scrambled and had a nice throw to Pat Bryan
or this or that, and he was definitely scrambling a
good bit today, But I don't think it was ever
problematic or over the top. Like last training camp, Bonicks
would have a good number of reps where he held
(21:28):
the ball a little longer or he wasn't seeing anything
and he'd hold it, hold it, hold it. Okay, now
I'm scampering and I'm running, and I'm going to try
and turn this into a positive play something. Also, frankly,
we saw a lot of it during Russell Wilson's training
camps here in Denver, where dropped back, wait, wait, okay,
in a real game setting, you're probably sacked or the
ball's thrown away or the place dead now but wait, wait, okay,
now I'm running or I think something that Bonicks was
(21:51):
a little guilty of last training camp. You know you
dropped back and then now my first option's gone, or
oh there's a little pass rush. I'm talking and running
immediately the first sign of heat or kas and you know,
you don't want to over commit to those opportunities. You
want to hang in the pocket as long as possible.
I thought Bo was doing a pretty good job walking
that balance.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Today.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
You know, again field level sideline view, you're only going
to get such a great feel for the pass rush
and how the quarterback is managing those lanes. But I
felt like, you know, when the pocket called for it,
he was stepping up and delivering a strike. And when
you know things were a little more chaotic, then you'd
see him talk going to creation mode. Where can I
find not even just run necessarily. I don't know if
(22:33):
he saw if I saw a screamble from him pass
the line of scrimmage, but you know he'd tuck.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
He did kind of. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
It looked like a free runner there for a second,
looking like where's the open space? Where can I find
a seam in the offensive line, And then you know,
kind of shoot through a little gap, get into some space,
rear back up and deliver a pass. I felt was
more what I was seeing from him today.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
And I thought he did well.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
I highlighted a Singleton's movement when he was chasing him
down outside the pocket. That was a great play from
Bonnicks where he's running away from Singleton, the pressure is there.
He's pretty darn close to that right sideline, you know,
kind of these these were running right towards it and
getting pretty close, and then kind of throws this fade
away ball to Pat Bryant on a crossing route also
(23:17):
running from the left side of the field to the right.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
And you know, that's a risky throw.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
You're not supposed to throw the ball across your body
like that, across the field like that. You have to
be very careful for hanging defenders and all sorts of
stuff to avoid a turnover. And whether Bo got lucky
or just spotted that, this was a good opportunity to
take either way. Completed it to Pat Bryan instride for
a very big play. Thought that was nice. And then
(23:43):
from a throwing perspective, I thought what really stood out
to me with Boa today was his deep balls. I thought,
you know, and he he did fine throwing deep last year.
I'm not trying to bring up pre draft narratives or anything,
but I never thought of But like Russell Wilson, even
when he was struggling Inver, it was like, Wow, that
guy's got one of the best deep balls in the game.
(24:04):
It is this gorgeous rainbow. And I don't think like
Bo had that awesome throw to Mims towards the end
of the season, but like that wasn't something I really
associated with Bo even during the season last year, definitely
throughout training camp last year. Today, during a drills period,
it was just quarterbacks throwing the receivers. Receivers running one route,
you know, they all cycle through, then they run a
(24:24):
different route, they all cycle through. On the go ball period,
you had these guys, you know, going down the sideline deep.
I got a few good videos of it and posted
it on the KOA Colorado account, So check that out
on Twitter. You can see the videos I'm talking about here.
But I mean, man like perfect balls to Sutton and
to Franklin. Vlai had another good look at one that
(24:46):
he couldn't complete. But just these gorgeous rainbows that you know,
dropped right in the bucket for Mims or Franklin or Sutton.
You know, whoever it was on the given rep, it
looked amazing every time, and I think that's something also
that Bronco's country hasn't gotten to a joy. You know,
you're having a lot more offensive continuity than you've had before,
(25:07):
and as a result, like bo Nix is right on
target with Sutton, and then he throws a deep ball
the very next rep to Franklin, who moves dramatically differently,
and at Boom it's right in the bucket.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
And then right after that it's to Mims.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Who moves differently than either of those two guys in
Boom right in the bucket again.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
So I just I thought that really wowed me.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
With bow, I think the last bo Nicks point I
would have is.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
He seemed to be operating a little more quickly.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Again, hard to get a great read for that in
you know, that live training camp setting, but it seemed like,
you know, just watching his helmet and helmet activity isn't everything,
but seeing you know him, you could see him work
through things, I think faster than he was last season.
There were a couple of dropbacks where I felt and again,
(25:54):
you know, maybe some of these are sacks or pressures
or something, but in this setting, there were plenty of
dropbacks where he dropped back and it looked like he
was getting too you know, third options in the progression,
you know, getting to the checkdown, but not getting to
the checkdown too quick. I think that was one thing
he did as a rookie last year. And that's a
fine answer, you know, is Peyton Manning always preached, you know,
(26:14):
you can't go broke taking a profit, but he would
maybe be and this is a problem. Justin Herbert asked, like,
your quarterbacks have this problem. But it's not the a
dooming knock. But I do think he was a little quick.
Dak Prescott another guy with it to kind of actually
you've been DA's not really that way, more more Justin Herbert,
But work through those reads and maybe be like, ah,
one's not there too, it's not there, boom checkdown, rather
(26:37):
than okay one's not there, let's see okay, yeah, two
isn't there.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Okay, wait, three just popped open. Boom, I'm gonna go there.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Instead of defaulting to that kind of lesser checkdown option.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
He was rushing it a little last year.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Today it felt more intentional, I think would be the
best word for it. It didn't feel That's probably the
best way to describe Nick's performance today last training camp.
It felt very much like like your first day on
the job. You know, not even bad, but just like, Okay,
I'm trying to figure this stuff out. They're throwing responsibilities
and tasks at me. What am I going to do?
(27:09):
You know, how do I do this? How do I
do that? And you know, trying to make the most
of it and maybe even doing a good job on
occasion or even frequently, but not very intentional. Okay, I'm
doing this now, and this is how I do it,
and now there's this process. And I think that's what
stood out to me seeing bo Nix in this practice
(27:29):
as opposed to last year's training camps is it felt
a lot more controlled and intentional with his decision making
it in the plays or his ball placement. I just
thought everything seemed a little more dialed in. And that's
what you want to see from a guy, you know,
getting to work in the same offense for multiple seasons
in a row, and you know, we haven't had that
in Broncos Country for what since twenty fourteen now, So
(27:51):
I think that offensive continuity was something that really shone
through for me. Other elements that stood out. I think
the two pass catchers that really stood out to me
were Troy Franklin and Evan Ingram. I'll start with Troy Franklin.
He was a guy who I have, I think, always
(28:12):
been a little lower on his profile coming out of
the draft was was a little troubling. I think I
was a little less surprised by his fall, but what
he does well has always been tantalizing. There's not many
people with his frame who can move as fast and
just in short areas as quick as he can. You know,
the hands and the lack of strength were the big concerns.
(28:36):
I think he threw caught every single ball thrown his
way today, which again it's practice. Who knows when the
bullets really started firing. But you know a couple of
deep balls from bon Nicks where he was throwing to Franklin,
or maybe Stidham was on one of them. But these
deep balls to Franklin where last year you were kind
of holding your even today practice I was holding my
breath like, oh, come on, man, complete the complete the
(28:56):
pass and he did it looked and a natural one
at that. It wasn't a double clutch or embobbling or anything.
Looked clean, looked a lot smoother. I was very happy
to see that. The other thing I think that really
jumps out to me with Franklin, It's important again considering
the the frame kind of strength concerns that are tied
back into how thin his frame is. It's kind of
(29:18):
how he gets away with being so fast. He looks
just as fast today. It didn't look like he'd lost
any speed, and he was noticeably bul bulkier, And I
heard other writers commenting on it too, so I don't
think it was just me noticing it.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
He looks like more of a six to three guy.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
It's crazy, he's a six to three receiver, but I
think because he's so slight, you think of him as
this smaller guy, and he really isn't he. You know,
he has the potential to really fill out and be
a larger bodied receiver, and I think you saw more
of that now. Not that he's going to be like
some menace in the blocking game or destroying press coverage,
(29:52):
but at the least I think he shouldn't struggle with
those facets of the game nearly to the extent he
did last year and that's huge for Toroy. Frankly, if
he can just clean up those deficiencies, Like, the reason
he didn't get on the field more last year wasn't
because he couldn't do anything well. He had some things
he did very very well, but the deficiencies were so
(30:12):
glaring that the coaching staff struggled to always trust him,
and as a result, he had a smaller role. So
I think if he can round out those areas, you know,
proved to be a more physical presence, proved to be
a more reliable set of hands, you can see him
get a large role in the passing game. And I
was someone who you know, the fan base has been
talking a lot about it, Troy Franklin lead this year,
(30:33):
and I was not buying it. I was like he
might even be cut after Today, I feel a lot
better about his roster chances. And that's probably putting too
much stock into a single practice, but it just it
looked meaningfully different to me. Like it just he does
not look like the same guy. Maybe it's just the
number eleven, but I liked it a lot better today.
Other guys, Oh, I talked about Evan Ingram. It looks
(30:54):
like they are making a concerted effort for Evan Ingram
to be a big part of the offense, you know,
as much as possible, you know, whenever they could find
a little excuse during an individual period or warm ups
or whatever. It seemed like Bo was working with Evan Ingram.
To me, I think building up that chemistry and that
relationship is a point of emphasis from the staff. That's
(31:15):
purely conjecture for me, but that's how it looked watching
practice today like they have been and maybe it's just
them talking to each other, but it looks like there's
been some sort of concerted effort to make sure, let's
get Ingram and Bo working together as much as possible.
And I think that'll pay off because how Ingram moves
out there is different. He large bodies, but he can
just glide across the field. Benny Fowler, I know on
(31:38):
KOA Sports has made this comp before, but kind of
reminded him of Damarius Thomas, and I don't think he's
quite that good of a mover, but that type of
you know, whoa This is a big body who can
really move quite well, and I think you'll make a
pretty big impact this year. I'm still not sure what
the overall production will look like But I think he's
going to be a red zone menace. And I know
(31:59):
Albright disagree with me, and he hasn't done that in
the past, I'm aware, But I think Peyton is gonna
Sean Payton. That is is going to sprinkle a little
Jimmy Graham magic pixie dust on it, and it's gonna
have Evdingram have one of his best years. I think
the last I'll hit you with four quick rookie notes here.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
One. I thought R. J.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Harvey looked good. The quads are ridiculous. I was watching
him run down the field on one rep and you
can see them like bulging out of.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
His legs every step. It is his bonkers.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
I thought he looked good today. He had a solid
performance during a pass protection drill. That's going to matter
and the juice is very apparent there. He moves with
a lot of speed. So excited to see that in
game action. Hard to get much of a read for
the run game in this training camp setting, though the
contact is so limited, you know it's not very real.
Kyries White Slash Kyries rowing. It's on the updated roster
(32:52):
is rowing, and the past it was on the roster
is white. However, you can find his name. He's a
guy I would watch for. I don't know how he
makes the roster receiver because it's so crowded. Like I
just I can't imagine him cracking that rotation quite frankly,
but as like a return specialist, I could see it.
He is lightning quick. I think he's the fastest guy
(33:12):
on the on the team. His speed was different out
there today. It really stuck out like a sore thumb.
I think he could maybe be a camp sleeper to
keep watching.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Pat Bryan had an up and down day.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
I thought he had some really impressive snacks, but you know,
his cleats come out of the turf on one cut
that led to an incompletion, had a couple, had one
definite drop and one that like you know, he had
to go a little outside the strike zone for it,
but you got two hands on it, you know you
that should be a catch.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
So I think he had two drops today.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
That was a little disappointing to see. And then Caleb
Loner was a guy who, like I mentioned in my article,
I was really cute and I'm curious to see how
he looked. He was a lot smoother gliding across the field,
moving a lot better than I thought he would with
his his freaky frame, and that gave me some confidence.
Speaker 2 (34:03):
All Right, that'll do it for me there, But don't worry.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
We're going to be coming right back with some more
training camp coverage talking about all the players that stood
out to me on the defensive side of the ball.
Stay tuned for that more Broncos Country Tonight coming up
on KOA eight p fifty am ninety four to one FM.
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