08-20-25 Hour 1 of Broncos Country Tonight with Zach Segars

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, Broncos Country, and welcome back to some more post
Colorado Rockies Broncos Country tonight late night post Rockies Broncos
Country tonight at that filling in for Benjamin Albright and
Nick Ferguson, it is once again Zach Seeger's here for you, man.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
We are in the thick of the preseason. Now, last
preseason game is right around the corner here in just
a few days, pretty early on Saturday. We'll be covering
that just about all day here on Saturday on KOA,
So make sure you're tuning in for that. We're getting
rolling at eight am and going till six pm. So

(00:44):
all the preseason coverage you'd want before that two week break.
And as a result of that, you know, the Broncos
roster is starting to come into focus. I want to
talk about that and I think we'll you know, maybe
do a little early fifty three man roster projection even
But first, there's some big Denver Broncos news out there

(01:08):
right now, particularly as it relates to the team building
side of things, starting with I think the biggest news
yesterday after practice, Nick Benito, while talking to media, said
that he believes an extension with the Denver Broncos will

(01:29):
be done before the start of the season. This echoes
sentiment that Mike Cliss shared on the preseason game broadcast
live on nine News. He said he believes that the
Broncos will get a deal done with Nick Benito before
the start of the season. And having those two sides
echo each other is huge because Mike Cliss is very

(01:53):
tight into the Broncos organization. I'm sure he has good
relationship with agents around the league, but how he gets
the lot of his information is through sourcing inside the
Broncos organization. Right Nick Benito is coming from the player's
side of things. So you have Mike Cliss on the

(02:13):
team end saying there's a lot of optimism a deal
will get done. You have Nick Benito on the player
end saying that there's a lot of optimism that a
deal will get done. And you know, understandably, I think
that's incredibly promising for Broncos country. It's also a bit
of a surprising development because you know, the last few weeks,

(02:36):
the discussion, and understandably so, has been well. The Broncos
are trying to get it done, but you know Nick
Benito is going to hold out and wait for the
Trey Hendrickson and Micah Parsons situations to resolve themselves. And
that's smart frankly. You know, when Micah Parsons gets signed,
he'll become the highest paid edge rusher in the league.

(02:57):
Trey Hendrickson will probably get signed for north of thirty
five million, and that will change the average salary or
the average, yeah, the average salary of the top five highest.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
Paid edge rushers.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Now that's important because that's how the franchise tag is calculated,
the average of the top five salaries at a given
position in a given year. That's huge because the franchise
tag will effectively be the floor in the Nick Benito negotiations.
He knows, at worst the Broncos will give him the

(03:34):
franchise tag at the end of this year, bar in
an injury or something very extreme. He's too good of
a player to just let walk for maybe a third
round compensatory. Broncos also figure to be active in free agency,
so who knows if they'd even get that right. They're
going to keep him around. The question is how big
is how much does it cost? Do they maybe eventually

(03:55):
trade him? I mean that's a possibility, but They're not
just going to let him walk. So he knows the
floor of his value is whatever that franchise tag number is. Yet,
in spite of that knowledge, knowing that number is going
to be very, very high, the Broncos are making progress.
In Both Benito and the Broncos appear confident that a

(04:19):
deal will get done here soon, maybe even before the
Hendrickson and Parsons deals. So why what could possibly change that? Well,
the Broncos probably offered a lot more guarantees or up
to the annual salary a good bit, right, that has to.

Speaker 3 (04:35):
Be the solution in my opinion.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
We've heard discussions really ranging anywhere between twenty and thirty,
low twenties, twenty five maybe up to thirty. When Mike Miles,
Garrett and TJ. Watts signed that really reset things to
maybe we were talking upper twenties, maybe even up to thirty,
and that's when things were in this holding pattern. I
think the Broncos probably are north of thirty right now,

(05:02):
and looking into some of the salaries right now at
the position, and you know when they were signed, accounting
for cap inflation and whatnot, I think you know, thirty
two thirty three million dollars annually is a fair.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
Number to expect.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
That would put him right behind the Nick Bosas the
you know, if you want to talk about, you know,
the average value of these contracts, that would put him
right behind Nick Bosa, Max Crosby, daneil Hunter, Miles Garrett,
and TJ.

Speaker 3 (05:37):
Watt, which I think is fair.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
That's maybe a tier of elite edge he doesn't belong
in yet. It would be a good jump up from
the Josh Heinz Allen Brian Burns tier. At face value,
they're right around twenty eight million.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
But when you just when you.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
Adjust for inflation, which is really important to do, especially
now with the cap jumping up, you know, twenty million
dollars every year, if not more, it's and it's only
going up exponentially because it goes up based on a
percentage of the prior year's cap value. So as the
cap gets bigger, that percentage inherently, or the hard number

(06:20):
that that percentage equates to, is going to keep getting
larger and larger, and so it's going to climb at
an exponential, ever growing rate. And with that in mind,
you know, in two years time, teams are going to
be working with you know, thirty million dollars of surplus
because of just cap inflation. You know, the cap went
up thirty million, forty million dollars this offseason, so we

(06:42):
have all that extra money to work with. That's why
teams like the Eagles and you know, the Saints have
kind of screwed themselves. They maybe went a little too
far with it, but they kept kicking the problem down
the road because they know, hey, those numbers are going
up so dramatically in the future that it'll bail us out.
And they're not wrong in thinking that. So anyways, it's
important to account for that cap inflation. And if you

(07:07):
do that, when Brian Burns and Josh Allen Josh Heinz
Allen signed their deals at Edge, it was worth eleven
percent of the cap. When Nick Benito starts playing on
his extension in twenty twenty six, eleven percent of the
cap will be thirty three million dollars just about. So

(07:30):
with that in mind, signing him, I think that's just
in line. Even if you admit, hey, you know, let's
look at the problems with Nick video because I know
there's some people that push back on the idea of
paying this guy like an elite edge. Right, the big
knocks are, well, we've only seen one year of high
end elite production befitting of a contract like this. Another

(07:55):
big knock, well, he's not the run defender you want
to see from a very high paged edge, and both
those knocks have some merit. But when you look a
little closer, right, let's start with the production one. Yes,
he only has one year of high end sack production.
But when you look at the advanced analytics, things like

(08:17):
pass rush productivity score, which is a great metric, looks
at sacks, quarterback, hits, pressures, weights, those end results. You
know appropriately sacks, most valuable, pressures, least valuable boils. You
know how frequently you're creating those on a person at
basis to one boils? It down to one easily digestible number. Right,

(08:39):
that's past rush productivity score and then pass rush win rate.
What at what frequency are you beating your blocker in
under two and a half seconds, which is roughly the
average NFL time to throw. Okay, you look at those,
he is an elite top eight edge rusher in twenty
twenty three as well as twenty twenty four. When you

(09:00):
look at those more advanced analytics. He just wasn't playing
a super high snap count in twenty twenty three, so
you didn't have the crazy sack production. But on a
person that basis, it was actually there. He was producing
at a very similar level to what he did in
twenty twenty four. He just got to play more in
twenty twenty four. And so with that in mind, it's

(09:22):
more likely, if anything, I think he continues to build
on that in twenty twenty five than it is that
it was just a flash in the pan, right, and
if he builds on that, that level of pass preussure
a twelve thirteen, fourteen Sack of Year guy is absolutely
someone you would pay, you know, a top ten and
talked about how it would be just the head of heinz

(09:44):
Allen and Burns. I'd be a top six edge contract,
you know, and next guy up is always going to
rank maybe.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
A little higher than he should.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
You know, he'll be signed, Parsons and Hendrickson will be signed,
and then he'd drop right back down to eighth, you know.

Speaker 3 (09:58):
So that seems about right.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
The complaints about his run defense are also fair, you know,
I really think there's no way around that. I think
you know, just looking at his size, not to say
there's not room to improve.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
I think there is.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
He's taken steps even throughout his first three years and
gotten better in run defense, and that's why he was
able to play more snaps in twenty twenty four than
he was in twenty twenty three because he had improved
in that facet. Still, he'll probably always be limited there,
and I get the well, you know, Miles Garrett and TJ.
Watt are great run defenders and agreed, that's why you're

(10:34):
not paying him forty million. But Josh heinz Alan and
Brian Burns, they're solid run defenders. They're better than Benito
is now, but they're also kind of those lighter bodies
guys who Nick Benito could aspire to be as a
run defender. Like, that's well within the realm of possibility.

(10:56):
And that's more again, that eleven percent of the cap R,
that's more where you would expect him to slot in.
So I think that's actually, you know, a pretty fair
deal something the Broncos should should look to do, and
I think fans should celebrate if they sign him on
that deal. Let's just imagine that happens, sign him to

(11:17):
a thirty two million dollars a year deal. I'll project predict.
I have no sourcing total conjecture. Let's say it comes
in at thirty two million a year, four five years one.
I don't think you should be too concerned because the
Broncos have demonstrated that they are excellent at building in
protections against these contracts going south. If they manage to

(11:41):
build in a way to get out of the Quinn
Miners contract or the patricks Ertan contract or the Courtland
Sutton contract, guys with much more proven track records than
Nick Benito, why wouldn't they be able to negotiate those
protections into Nick Benito's contract. I'm fairly confident they'll be
able to. You know, we don't know for certain, but

(12:04):
they'll likely be able to get out of it after
a couple of years if things really go south. So
if it goes bad, no big deal. But let's say,
let's just imagine it goes well, like the Miners deal,
like the Cooper deal, like the pets er Ten deal. Right,
they're on a pretty nice hot streak right now. Let's
say it goes well and Benito has you know, let's

(12:27):
say he even takes a step back.

Speaker 3 (12:28):
Let's be reasonable. He has a ten sax season, you.

Speaker 2 (12:32):
Know, is about the same level of run defender as
he'd otherwise be. It'll still look like a great deal
in a year's time because by the time he's actually
playing on it, which again will be the twenty twenty
sixth season, you'll look at his comparables. They'll be making
thirty five or thirty four million, and he'll still be

(12:52):
at thirty two. And then in you know, a year
or two after that, his comparables are going to be
making forty maybe probably not forty five, up to forty
and you'll be going, wow, that's eight million dollars we
saved this year.

Speaker 3 (13:06):
Eight million dollars.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
That can be a high end backup quarterback, that can
be a great depth player at a different position, that
can be even a starter. A passable Brandon Jones is
making seven million dollars a year, and look at how
valuable he is for the defense. So those savings add up,
and that's way more likely the reality that Benito continues

(13:29):
to be a very productive pass rusher. That's far more
likely than him just cratering to the point he doesn't
live up to that contract, because again, yes, the run
deficiencies are there to an extent, great pass rushers or
even players that just thrive the one specific thing get
paid that high, high rate. Trey Hendrickson, by the way,

(13:52):
the guy we're talking about throughout this whole conversation, is
going to get paid north of thirty five million dollars
a year just as if not a worse run defender
than Nick Benito. Right, he's just more proven as a
pass rusher, but he's probably on the back nine, whereas
Nick Benito still in as sending talent. So I just

(14:12):
I would not get hung up on that deal. I
would definitely hope the Broncos get it done before the
season starts. One other thing I want to dive into,
and we'll talk about this a little bit more in
the next segment when we get into the entire Broncos
fifty three man roster. How that's shaking out. Devon Valet
lots of talk among Broncos country fans about whether or

(14:35):
not he could be on the trade block.

Speaker 3 (14:39):
Now.

Speaker 2 (14:39):
Our own Benjamin Albright is strongly opposed to this idea,
but I think the possibility is there now. Albright thinks
he might be the number two, number three receiver in
this offense. Maybe even fill into that LJH role, well,
John Humphrey role we saw last year.

Speaker 3 (14:59):
I'm not so oh sure. And here's why.

Speaker 2 (15:03):
In the one preseason game when we saw everyone play,
when we saw the starters play, who were those three
starting receivers, Marvin Mims, Courtland Sudden, Troy Franklin.

Speaker 3 (15:15):
Right.

Speaker 2 (15:15):
Not only that, not only was it hey, well, they
just happened to call a play where they like Franklin
for better for it than Lay. But Franklin played more
snaps in that preseason game with the first team with
bo Nicks than Vlay did. Not only that, Valay remained
in the game later than Troy Franklin did. Now, he

(15:35):
didn't play in the second preseason game, but he has
been dealing with a knee injury all camp long. Maybe
that was just a precaution, right. It wasn't just hard
and fast. Starters aren't playing backups? Are We saw have
an ingram out there if you were looking to shop
a guy, and we see this in other sports where
you know the play isn't weekly, and you know there
are games going on more frequently, you'll hold him out

(15:57):
because you don't want to injury to blow up a
potential trade. So I don't think the fact that he
was held out necessarily excuses the trade possibility. And so
if we just allow ourselves to imagine, what if Devon
Vlay isn't one of the top three receivers on this team.
What if it is Troy Franklin or Pat Bryan and

(16:18):
he's a backup, his fit on the roster might get
very awkward. More on that, A closer look on that
coming up in the next segment right here on Bronco's
Country Tonight on KOA News Talk Sports. Hello, Broncos Country,

(16:42):
and welcome back to another late night edition of Broncos
Country Tonight. And man, do we have some action to
talk about this time around? Last segment talked about the
Nick Benito contract, but this time we got to talk
about the big news of the day, Devon Valley going

(17:04):
to the New Orleans Saints in exchange for a fourth
and a seventh round selection. What a deal for the
Denver Broncos. I think this is a home run deal
for Peyton and Peyton I mean they've They've done it again.

(17:24):
This is a masterful trade al right, pointed out on Twitter,
this is a better haul than the team got for
Jerry Judy, which is ridiculous. Fourth round pick comes this year,
seventh round pick comes next year. I don't think that
even matters all that much. Valay was a potential obstacle

(17:44):
on this roster to Pat Bryant, to Troy Franklin. Right,
we know the top six Cortland, Sutton, Marvin Mimms formerly
Devon Valet, Pat Bryant, Troy Franklin, and Trent Sherfield. With
those six making the roster the Broncos, we're going to
have to decide who is inactive on game day, right,
And it's not gonna be sudden. It's not going to

(18:06):
be mems Surefield is your special team's ace, it can't
be him.

Speaker 3 (18:12):
Okay, So it's going to.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
Be Valay or one of your two young, incredibly promising
receivers Pat Brian and Troy Franklin.

Speaker 3 (18:20):
So the options were.

Speaker 2 (18:21):
Valay is either inactive on game day and therefore not
really contributing much to the team unless there's an injury.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
Or.

Speaker 2 (18:33):
He is active on game day and as a result,
you're not able to give snaps to one of Franklin
or Bryant, and therefore further their development. You know, in
Valat's age isn't the end of the world, but the
fact he's twenty eight does mean it's way less likely
he develops into a high end receiver than it is
that either Pat Bryant or Troy Franklin developed it to

(18:55):
that high end receiver. So it's important to get those
guys the reps. The problem with letting him wrought on
the roster as an inactive player, Well, he's good enough
to be a top three to four receiver for the Saints.
He could have been wide receiver too for the Jets. Right.
Why let a guy who's so clearly a useful asset

(19:17):
to so many other teams in the league but just
happens to not be useful to you go to waste.
It's not sensible. It's not what Howie Roseman, the GM
of the Eagles, would do, right. He's all about turning
over every stone imaginable to try and find talent to
try and upgrade the overall roster.

Speaker 3 (19:40):
Right.

Speaker 2 (19:41):
Trading a guy like v La for capital is a
method to that. Thomas Booker a good defensive tackle for
the Eagles, right, a defensive line play. We know how valuable.
That is, they needed a cornerback. So what does he do?
He trades Thomas Booker guy would have been buried on
their depth chart to a team that could use them,
the Las Vegas Raiders, and they get the Raiders' best

(20:03):
corner from a year ago. Much like that, Valley would
have gone to waste on the Broncos roster or would
have harmed the development of their young players. They flip
them into two young, cost controlled players going forward. They
now have four cost controlled years of a fourth round
pick instead of having Valay rought away for three years.

(20:25):
I mean, that is an incredible job by the Broncos
front office. I think they also did a great job
of drumming up this value. It seems higher than it
should be. And I think because they played their cards right,
their actions holding Valley out of that second preseason game
when only starters were playing, right, all the buzz we've
heard throughout training camp and whatnot about Valet being a

(20:47):
key cog in this offense, their actions and words kind
of suggested, Hey, maybe maybe we really likeful. I don't
even know if we want to trade this guy. We're
we're going to need a pretty appealing offer to move
on from this guy, and then next thing you know,
he's gone. Right, So I think that's a great job
by Peyton and Peyton putting out the smoke signals that no,

(21:10):
we need this guy, he's an important piece of the offense.
And then pave draft picks come along. Boop, there he
goes he's gone. Clearly, it wasn't that important, right because
if if the Saints called up and offered that for
Troy Franklin right now, do you think the Broncos take it?

Speaker 3 (21:26):
I don't, right.

Speaker 2 (21:29):
If they call up and offer that for Pat Bryant,
do you think the Broncos take it? I don't, right,
So why Devon Valay Because they didn't have the plans
for Devon Valet that they have for Pat Bryant or
Troy Franklin. They didn't see the future for Devon Valley
that they see for Pat Bryant or Troy Franklin. So
I think this is a masterstroke, honestly, And now it

(21:50):
makes the Broncos final fifty three man roster come into
clearer view. I teased it in the first segment. Want
to get to it here. Let's look at now with
the Devon Valais move finalized. What that Denver Bronco's final
fifty three man roster is currently shaping up to be Okay.

Speaker 3 (22:16):
Start at quarterback.

Speaker 2 (22:17):
Here, I think you're gonna have Bo Nicks, Jarrett Stidham,
and Sam Ellinger. No real surprises there except maybe Sam Ellinger.
I don't know if Ellinger will be on the initial
fifty three because who's gonna poach a third string quarterback
that doesn't know your offense? Right you Broncos can probably
cut him, sneak him through, and then sign him back
to the fifty three later. But I do think he

(22:39):
will be on the game day fifty three man roster
because he has to be in order for the Broncos
to use him as their emergency quarterback.

Speaker 3 (22:48):
And I think they want to do that.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
Because that effectively gives you an extra active roster spot.
So you have the fifty three man roster, only forty
six of those guys get activated on game day. This
keeping the quarterback ground gives you an extra spot. That
third quarterback lets you use an extra spot. You can't
call him up from the practice squad though, to use

(23:11):
that spot. So I do think he'll make the final
roster at running back. No.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
Surprises at the top. JK. Dobbins, R. J.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
Harvey Understandably, that's everyone's expectation behind them.

Speaker 3 (23:24):
Rounding out the room.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
I think you're going to have Tyler Badet and Jaleel McLoughlin. Ultimately,
they're just Sean Peyton guys, and I think that's going
to be a big theme.

Speaker 3 (23:36):
Has been a big thing in these past two years.

Speaker 2 (23:37):
I think it'll continue to be a big theme as
Peyton builds these rosters. We've heard him gush about Tyler Biday,
We've heard him gush about Juliel McLoughlin. I think he
really really loves these guys.

Speaker 3 (23:48):
He's hes clear roles for them in the offense.

Speaker 2 (23:50):
And then in the case of Jaliel, I think part
of it is, Hey, Jaliel's a guy who does this
the right way. He practices hard, he's a great locker
room presence, he works hard in the film room, and
having that veteran presence around is a good tone setter.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
Good this is how you're supposed to do the job.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
To impart, I don't know that leadership modeling by example
to the younger players on the roster. I think Peyton
really values that aspect of McLoughlin. Now, I think he
also really likes Blake Watson. I think Watson can maybe
beat out McLoughlin or day. I expect him to be
on the practice squad. But he's the best pass catcher

(24:30):
on the roster. He's a better pass protector than McLoughlin
and I think even Harvey right now, and I think
he has a clear niche he'd provide the roster what
he can do in the passing game. I don't think
anyone else on this roster has that combined pass catching
pass blocking ability right now. They also rostered him last year,

(24:51):
so I think he's a name to definitely watch out
for over this last week or so of the preseason.
That is, fullback, I think Michael Burton makes it. You know,
maybe this ends up going to Cayden pre Scorn. I
think that's well within the rama possibility. They didn't roster
Burton last year. But I know he's gonna be active

(25:13):
on game day because Sean Payton loves his full back,
whether it's him or pre Scor, and it's going to
be someone or Adam Prentiss that is you know, maybe
it is Adam Prentis holding onto that roster spot, but
I bet some fullback makes the final fifty three tight
end is another interesting one, right Evan Ingram locked into

(25:34):
a spot, Adam Trautman locked into a spot. After that,
it gets messy. You've got Lucas Kroll, you know, Nate Adkins,
Caden pre Scoring, Caleb Lohner, all battling for one, maybe
two spots, and some of those guys are injured. I
think Adkins winds up on ir. I think Kroll makes

(25:56):
the roster. I'm surprised, but I keep the Broncos are
using him often in training camp, early in these preseason games.
I think they have a much higher opinion of Lucas
Croll than I do, and I think he'll make the
final roster, which is probably bad news for a guy
like Caleb Lohner, who you know, kind of receiving only

(26:17):
not a great blocker.

Speaker 3 (26:18):
He fits a similar.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
Role that Lucas Skroll does, except he's a lot more underdeveloped. Now,
I don't think the Broncos have to worry about someone
stealing him because he is that underdeveloped. Who else is
going to want to adopt this project part way through
Sight Unseen? I don't think anyone will so they he
probably sticks around on the practice squad, but he is

(26:43):
so raw it probably means he won't make the roster.

Speaker 3 (26:47):
Again. Pre Scord and I could see making it.

Speaker 2 (26:50):
I think that that fumble in the last preseason game
is going to loom large for him, though. But depending
on how Nate Adkins's injury progresses and maybe how pre
Scorn play in this final preseason game, he's gonna have
a chance to not only steal adkins spot at the
start of the season, but maybe long term. If he
does well in that role, it's not out of the question.
The Broncos move on from Adkins, and you know, pre

(27:13):
scorns their new guy for that responsibility.

Speaker 3 (27:17):
Wide receiver talked about it.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
A lot already with the Devon Valat situation, with the
Ley gone, I think the guy who slots in is
another starter is Troy Franklin. I think it's gonna be
Corland Sutt and Troy Franklin and Marvin Mims starting.

Speaker 3 (27:33):
It's going to be.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
Almost aid Davon Valley, Pat Bryant and Trent Sherfield backing
those guys up. Both the first two years Sean Payton
has been the coach in Denver. He's only carried five receivers.
I think Courtney Jackson has a great chance to make
the final roster now with the full back tight end uncertainty.
I wasn't able to make the numbers work though, so
I don't have a UDFA making it, none of the

(27:58):
UDFA receivers. But I wouldn't be surprised at all if
they do offensive line. Here you got the five starting
offensive linemen of course, no surprises there, Garrett Bowles, Mike mcglinchy,
Ben Powers, Quinn Miners and alc Or Sorry, Luke Wattenberg
Bind Luke Wattenberg. You've got Alex Forsyth. Behind the tackles,

(28:18):
you've got Alex paul Chesky and Matt part I think
both those guys, along with being the backups at tackle,
will also be the backups at guard in a pinch.
We've seen Matt Parrett play left tackle, left guard. We've
seen Powcheske play right tackle and right guard. When there
were injuries. Last year we saw Powcheski play some guard,

(28:40):
multiple bodies down on the right side, Parrett became the
right tackle and they had pouch of their at right guard.
If memory serves now, I do think they keep throck
Morton as an additional depth offensive lineman, but I think
there's a very good chance it's not him, and rather
it's part or Pouch coming into the action. If Ben

(29:02):
Powers or Quinn Miners goes down, heaven forbid flipping over
to special teams really quick. This is also going to
be a quick and easy one. Will Let's it kicker,
no surprises there. Jeremy Crashaw's struggling at punter. I think
he'll be the punter ultimately on that fifty three man roster,
and then for Bony the long snapper, no challenges their

(29:25):
challengers there, so he'll hold on to that job barring
an extreme surprise onto the defense. Now, I think that
starting defensive line is a little interesting. On the back end,
the top five won't surprise anyone though, Zach Allen, John Franklin, Myers,
DJ Jones, Malcolm Roach, Saveon Jones the rookie, and now

(29:49):
those five, like I said, won't surprise anybody rounding out
the room though, I think Jasa Rique Emmy Jaza Rique
ends up being that sixth man. He is, I think
the biggest player on the team brings a size element,
at least on defense that no one else brings, and
I think they need that. You saw how they were

(30:10):
bullied by the Baltimore Ravens by the Buffalo Bills last season.
Juasa Rica, you know, he's not playing up to that
size and his draft pedigree yet, but I think there
is still hope inside the Broncos building that he can
be that missing piece in terms of a size presence
along that defensive line that's so great at creating penetration,

(30:33):
creating those splash plays in the backfield. But outside of
DJ Jones, they don't have that big body up front,
and even DJ Jones is smaller than a lot of
nose tackles. That's why I think a Juasrique ends up
being the sixth man there.

Speaker 3 (30:50):
In the edge group.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
I think they keep five because man, they've got five
awesome players.

Speaker 3 (30:56):
They really excited about all five of these guys.

Speaker 2 (30:58):
I hope all five are active and seeing defensive snaps
on a regular basis. Nick Benito and Jonathan Cooper the
two starters of course, Jonah Ellis and Dedre Tilman, who
have had amazing summer's camp in preseason. Hugh Robinson, the rookie,
also having amazing summer, excited to see what he can
bring once the regular season starts. Linebacker's pretty interesting because

(31:23):
you've got I think Jordan Turner on the outside looking in.
He could mix things up. I don't think he'll make
the roster, but again, always potential for him to throw
some chaos into the mix. I expected to be Dre Greenlaw,
Alex Singleton, Lavelle Bailey, and Justin Sternad. And then at cornerback,
I think you're going to have Patzertan, of course, Pat

(31:45):
Sertann and Riley Moss. A little interesting quirk, I think
Jaquon McMillan is going to be the day one starter
in the Nickel. Nothing to do with Baron really, but
McMillan is a solid starter. He's had an awesome camp,
a strong and vance Joseph famously, if you look back
at his history now, even going back to when he

(32:05):
was a head coach or you know, the DC in Arizona,
he has not really trusted rookies with playing time early,
and so I think you have a really quality starter
and a rookie and Jade Baron. I think that's why
McMillan's going to end up getting that day one starting job. Jade, though,
will of course make the roster along with Chris Abrams Drain.

(32:28):
So those five corners are going to be your three
starters from last year Abrams, Strain and Jade Baron. And
then rounding things out here, we have this safety room,
which I think has been one of the more exciting
battles here so far. Brandon Jones and Tano hufanngas starting
won't surprise anybody. PJ Locke as the third man won't

(32:48):
surprise anybody. Rounding out the room though, I think Devon
Key's going to hold onto the fourth safety job. I
think a lot of Broncos Country was hoping to see
someone surpass him after how rough Devon Key looked in
those moments last year. But based on what we've seen
in preseason in training camp in terms of utilization and whatnot,

(33:09):
it doesn't seem like that's going to happen. And then finally,
I think Jl Skinner makes it. I think he's the
closest to challenging Devon Key for that fourth safety spot,
and he is a monster on special teams, such a
valuable player there. Kedron Smith maybe could be a bit

(33:30):
of a sleeper again get in the mix, but I
wouldn't bet on it right now, but man, this roster
is shaping up to be very good. I think they've
got depth almost everywhere. You know, even positions we thought
were going to be more shallow liked running back, like
tight end, wide receiver, maybe even inside linebacker, have become

(33:51):
very interesting through the course of preseason and training camp.
Another interesting development, one of the Broncos big stars might
be in line for a big payday. We have media
people saying it, we have the player himself saying it.
Sounds like that's trending in a positive direction.

Speaker 3 (34:08):
Who am I talking about? Will he be signed?

Speaker 2 (34:11):
Let's talk about that next right after this break, coming
up on Broncos Country tonight, right here on KOA