08-25-26 Hour 1 of Broncos Country Tonight with Zach Segars

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Is Broncos country tonight. Now, Benjamin Albright and Nick Ferguson.
On the official home of the Broncos, KOA.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Welcome to Dear Broncos Country tonight. Benjamin Albright, Nick Ferguson,
Zach Seegers here with you. 56690, the text line as always.
Rockies getting the win 3-1 over the Washington Nationals. Hunter
Goodman gets in there, gets his 35th home run of
the season. You had a couple other players here. Norby

(00:45):
got an RBI out of that one. And it was
not exactly a light-em-up, Performance from the Rockies hitting, but
the pitching coming through big time. Adams, four innings pitched,
three hits, one run, one earned, three walks, five strikeouts.
You got an inning out of Manfredi, an inning out
of Hurget, an inning out of Hill, an inning out

(01:07):
of Bernardino, an inning out of Romano, none of which
allowed a run. Only Manfredi and Bernardino even allowed hits
in that one. Romano allowed a walk as the relief
came on strong for the Rockies today.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
Well, you know what, that's a testament to the team
because you thought after the butt whooping they received yesterday
by the Nationals that they would fold. And looking at
the trend with the Rockies, I mean, you avoid a
nine-game slide. So for the Rockies, it was great to
see them battle back to say, okay, well, you know,

(01:42):
things didn't work out yesterday for us, but we have
an opportunity to battle back and take the win, so
good for them.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, it's, you know, just when everybody starts counting the
Rockies out, they come back and get a big win
there and go from there. I mean, they're not going
to be competing for the playoffs or anything, so to say,
count them out, I mean, being a little hyperbolic. But,
you know, this was a team that was kind of
competitive throughout the meat of the season. Then all of
a sudden, August had been brutally bad to them, and
now they're back on pace to be a 100-loss baseball team.

(02:11):
But hopefully they can pull out of that, and, you know,
I'd like to see them get to 60 wins.

Speaker 4 (02:15):
Well, of course. I mean, that's kind of the goal.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
And remind me, You know, you and Grant made somewhat
of a gentleman's wager.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
I'm going to win that one very, very bigly.

Speaker 4 (02:26):
What did Grant say? 80 wins.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
I even gave him 80.

Speaker 4 (02:31):
Okay, obviously they're not going to get to that point.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
But if you are the Rockies, what you're preaching in
the clubhouse is like, look, obviously there's still some positives
that we can get out of the remaining part of
the schedule. And it's just go out there and compete.
Make sure that we are in every single game. And
in a game like this, like they play today, you know,

(02:54):
the pitching is not always, I would say, this good
and this clean. But it should give them a certain
level of confidence as far as what they're capable of because..

Speaker 4 (03:04):
Ben, have you ever been in a fight before?

Speaker 3 (03:06):
I have.

Speaker 4 (03:06):
Have you ever been punched in the face? I have. Yeah,
it hurts, right?

Speaker 2 (03:10):
It can, depending on who's punching you.

Speaker 4 (03:11):
Right.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
But the idea is that, do you punch back? And
for me, that's all I want to see from the
Rockies down the stretch.

Speaker 4 (03:20):
Punch, counterpunch. Punch back. Make that other.

Speaker 3 (03:24):
Team know that, hey, listen, they've been in one hell
of a game. Don't make it an easy win. And
what we've seen, I guess, in the game today is,
that the Rockies can do, and they've had some games
this season, right?

Speaker 4 (03:37):
Obviously, the series against the Dodgers.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
Continue to kind of stack days, stack games, where you
can go out there and build a certain level of
confidence that that can roll over into the 2027 season.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yeah, I think, I'm hoping that that's the case. There
you go with hope again. Well, I mean, that's, I
can't sit here and just say, I can't predict the future.
I'm not Karnak. I just, you know, that's one of
those things you hope it does. You hope that they've
been building on something this season that they can carry forward.
I like the direction that it's looked. Paul DiPedesta appears

(04:11):
to be doing the right thing. He's had some hits.
He's had some misses. The players that he's brought in,
I think, on the hitting side of things, look to
have all been pretty good. On the pitching side of things,
you've had some hits. Michigano looks good, but Lorenzen has
really not been what they were looking for. Quintana got hurt,
you know, so that kind of affected that. And it's

(04:31):
just been, you know, it's been a mixed bag, I think.
I mean, pitching here is such a mixed bag anyway.
You know, it's tough to find pitchers that want to
come here to begin with.

Speaker 4 (04:42):
Can I say this?

Speaker 3 (04:42):
When I look at the Rockies, man, it's consistency. It's
building that certain level of consistency, which in turn builds
a culture within the team. And sometimes it becomes really
difficult as an athlete. The moment you think that you're
getting ahead, something happens to derail you, right?

Speaker 4 (05:05):
And just kind of takes you off of that mark.

Speaker 3 (05:07):
You lose a little off of your fastball mentally, and
you start to self-doubt of what you're capable of doing
from an individual standpoint and from a team standpoint. So
for me, this team, just like any other person, any
other player, it is lacking confidence that they can win
games when they're out ahead. They can come back when

(05:29):
they are down a couple of runs, right? Because yesterday
they had runners. I mean, the bases were full, and
they had an opportunity to get back in the game,
but they didn't really do it. But having a game
like this, showing as though you can bounce back, that helps. Now,
this is still a three-game series, so they got a
game tomorrow. Now they have to prove, okay, listen, can

(05:50):
we build– on the 3-1 victory today to still another
one on the Nationals field. That is where I want
to see the Rockies start to improve down the stretch.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
Me too. You know, you want to see, you want
to see, especially in the bullpen, you want to see
that tighten it up. You want to see guys put
in quality innings. You're going to give up some here
or there, but you want to see the hitting get
to the point where It's consistent. It doesn't come in waves.
In one game, you'll have an offensive explosion. Then you
go three games where you get a run. You want
to see the consistency. You want to see that even out.

(06:23):
I want to see some junkyard dog type mentality. I
want to see that too. I mean, it's baseball, so
you don't really get that.

Speaker 3 (06:29):
Well, I mean, in the sense of fight, like real grit,
real fight. And I'm not saying that these guys don't
fight every single time that they're out there. I know
they're trying their hardest. but it's all about trying to
take the game to a whole different level. That's the
evolution for the Rockies team moving forward.

Speaker 4 (06:48):
Can you take.

Speaker 3 (06:49):
Your game, whatever flaws that you have, can you take
it to a certain level? And also the strengths that
you have too.

Speaker 4 (06:56):
Can you do something more? Because everyone always wants you
to do more, not less. They always want you to
do more.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah, and that's the way that's going to be. We've
got a lot of stuff to get to. First of all,
shout out to RIP to Dolly Parton.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
Passed away today.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
I got that news around noon, I guess. And that
was that was just kind of one of those things.
Dolly Parton was one of those universally. I don't think
there was anybody that disliked Dolly Parton.

Speaker 4 (07:19):
No, I don't think so. Well, you know what?

Speaker 3 (07:22):
Here's one person who might have disliked Dolly Parton because
when she passed, I started looking up, you know, other
things about Dolly Parton that I didn't know.

Speaker 4 (07:31):
And I did not know this.

Speaker 3 (07:33):
Now, Elvis Presley wanted to sing Dolly Parton's song, I
Will Always Love You. Like, most people know, come to know, like, oh,
that was Whitney Houston. It's like, no, Dolly did that before.
Dolly Parton wrote, I Will Always Love You.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Matter of fact, she wrote I Will Always Love You
and Jolene in the same 24-hour period.

Speaker 4 (07:50):
That's talent.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
That is, I want to know what preceded that 24-hour period.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
I don't like the state of mind that she was in,
but Elvis' manager, I think his name was Colonel Tom Parker. Yep.

Speaker 4 (08:01):
He told..

Speaker 3 (08:04):
He told Dolly Parton, hey, say, listen, Elvis wants to
record your song. And she was flattered by it. But
Kerner took it a step further, said, well, we want
to split the credit on the song. And she's like,
I wrote the song. Well, we're not going to give
you half of the credit or whatever.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
Zero of the work.

Speaker 3 (08:21):
Right. So I'm glad that she didn't do that. But
that was kind of one of the early stages of
artists starting to stand up for herself. And just think
about it. She's a woman in the country music business.
If she doesn't do that for herself, I mean, she
wrecks her future and so many other people coming after her.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
Right, she did things her way, but universally beloved. I mean,
there's just not anybody, I mean, maybe Elvis, whatever, but
there's nobody alive right now.

Speaker 4 (08:45):
I don't even think Elvis would, you know. Probably not.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
And there's just nobody, I don't think, it didn't matter
what side of the political aisle you were on, what
genre of music. I mean, even Eminem is putting out tributes, like,
you know, she sent him, she's randomly wrote him a
letter when he got elected. She's like, I don't really
know anything about rap music, but I told you the best.
I watched your performance and it was great. You know,
that kind of stuff. I mean, she was just one
of those genuinely always nice people. Didn't care about the spotlight.

(09:08):
Didn't care about the brand.

Speaker 3 (09:10):
No.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
You know, that kind of stuff. Had people for that.
Wanted to live a private life with her husband, who
most people don't even know who that was, to her husband.
You know, most people couldn't name her husband without looking
it up. You know, those kinds of things. Genuinely, it
was just a genuine person. And that's what we're going
to miss.

Speaker 3 (09:23):
We always talk about icons as far as movie stars
and music. Dolly Parton was truly an icon. And you
know you're an icon because... you transcend genres. Like I
never would have thought in a million years, I see
Dolly Parton performing with Beyonce, right? I mean, that's how
much that she was beloved and her music kind of

(09:46):
talks to different people. Doesn't make a difference what walk
of life that you're from, but yeah, you know, we're
going to miss Dolly Parton.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah, we definitely are. And that's that's one of those
things that just really I was it was kind of
a gut punch today. I woke up today. A friend
of mine lost her dog and it was that sucked.
And then, you know, woke up at noon and you
had the Dolly Parton news. But the Rockies have come back,
got a win. And that helps make it.

Speaker 4 (10:09):
You know what?

Speaker 3 (10:09):
I really had to check to make sure the news
was actually correct. Because you know how sometimes people put
out news about someone passing and it's fake?

Speaker 4 (10:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
No, this came off the KOA account pretty early. So
I was like, oh, okay, our newsroom's confirming it. Then
it's legitimate. That was the only concert I ever went
and watched with my grandmother.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
Really?

Speaker 2 (10:29):
Dolly Parton. She went to see Dolly Parton and Dolly
would come in concert. Gosh, my grandma had to have
been 60 or 70 years old at that point. And yeah,
so I took my grandma to see Dolly. Dolly Parton.

Speaker 4 (10:40):
That's dope, man. That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
Yeah, so a lasting memory I have. May she rest
in peace as well. We're off and running here on
Broncos Country tonight. We've got to hit a break.

Speaker 4 (10:51):
We'll be back.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
Post-Rockies edition. Benjamin Albright, Nick Ferguson, Zach Seegers here with you. 56690,
the text line. Appreciate all of you chiming in there.
I saw Brian on there earlier. With that, let's get
to the NFL Six Pack.

Speaker 1 (11:07):
It's time for the NFL six pack insight and inside information.
You can't find anywhere else. The top six NFL headlines.

Speaker 5 (11:23):
ESPN's Bill Barnwell, NFL six pack regular lists. The Denver
Broncos is one of five NFL teams most likely to
decline or regress this upcoming season. The Bears, Jaguars, Panthers
and Patriots are the other four. Barnwell lists the Broncos
record in one score games, which was nine and two
last year, and a late season drop off by the

(11:46):
defense among the lead reasons for Denver's likely regression. What
do you make of Barnwell's prediction for the Broncos? And
of those five teams listed again, the Broncos, Bears, Jaguars,
Panthers and Patriots, who's the most likely to regress and
who's the least likely to regress?

Speaker 2 (12:01):
Oh, that's tough. I'm assuming we're saying regresses and win totals.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (12:06):
And in the Patriots outcome, it's pretty, I'll do win
totals because you could easily say, yeah, they're not making
the Superbowl again.

Speaker 4 (12:11):
So let's do wins.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
Cause I mean, that doesn't make like, I don't know. That's,
it's just weird to me because that feels, I.

Speaker 3 (12:20):
Don't know.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
Anyway, uh, as far as the least likely to regress,
I mean, Denver's going to have a pretty good team.
I think Jags have pretty good team bears. Uh, You know,
the Panthers, they only won nine games.

Speaker 3 (12:32):
Eight.

Speaker 2 (12:32):
They were playing. It was eight.

Speaker 1 (12:33):
It was eight and nine. That's right.

Speaker 4 (12:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
So they won eight games. I mean, to regress from
that would be difficult, at least in a far expanse region.
The Patriots and the Broncos probably take a step back
in terms of win total and still both make the
playoffs and are very good teams. Just by virtue of
how many games they won there down the stretch against
teams that, you know, the Chiefs weren't trying with the Lutakun.

(12:56):
You know, you had the Chargers weren't trying with Trey Lance.
You had, you know, there were wins that they got
added to the stack. They may not have won otherwise.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
Teams that probably regress a little bit or don't regress.
I think the Eagles are probably a team that's going
to still be pretty good. The Bears are probably a
team that's going to be pretty good. And the Broncos
and the Patriots, I don't think they're going to regress much,
but a little bit's fine.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
Every single year, every quarterback, every team that was superior
in their own regards to the year before, there's always
a slot. The reason is that you set the bar
so high. So you're going to come down to earth
just a little. Will the Broncos come down to earth
just a little?

Speaker 4 (13:40):
Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (13:41):
You're going to see one thing about the Broncos come down.
That could be maybe passing yards from Bo Nix. But
then the joy of that is the rushing yards may
go up. But as we look and answer the question,
which one of these teams on the list could we
see have a major slide? I'm going to say the
Jacksonville Jaguars.

Speaker 1 (14:00):
Why?

Speaker 3 (14:01):
No Travis A-chain, or as I'll call him, as is
by his own name, ETN, who's now with the New
Orleans Saints. And then Devin Lloyd, who was a huge
impact on the defensive side of the ball for the Jags.

Speaker 4 (14:12):
He's no longer with them.

Speaker 3 (14:14):
So the Jags, if any of these teams, that's the
team that I think that could take the biggest slot.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
One of the biggest things to look at is turnover
differential because it's not sticky year to year like that.
If you look at that, the Bears were plus 22
last year. The Jags were plus 13 last year. On
the flip side of that, three teams that are probably
going to improve this year that were bad last year,
the Commanders at minus 13, the Vikings at minus nine,
the Cowboys at minus nine. So those are those are
some teams to be on the lookout for.

Speaker 5 (14:39):
And I'd also highlight the Broncos had terrible turnover luck
last year.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
Minus three.

Speaker 5 (14:44):
If you want to look at a reason why that
defense might stay elite, even though you're losing John Franklin Myers,
you're losing PJ Locke. Better turnover luck is a point
I keep pointing to.

Speaker 2 (14:53):
Yeah, I think the Broncos are going to be a
better football team this year, whether the record indicates it
or not. But yeah, like you said, the Bears, Jags,
those are two teams that benefited hugely off differential last year,
while teams like the Commanders, Vikings and Cowboys had injuries
and did not benefit. And they'll probably be teams that
bounce back this year.

Speaker 5 (15:09):
Yeah, turnover luck and brutal schedule are why I think
the Bears are the team to slide back there. Next
up here in the NFL's top 100 players list, Pat
Sertan II came in at number 10. Pat Sertan II
came in at number 10. He ranks just ahead of

(15:30):
Trey McBride at 13, Will Anderson Jr. at 12, and
Drake May at 11, while ranking just behind Jameer Gibbs
at 9. He's the highest ranked Bronco and the highest
ranked defensive back on the list. What do you make
of the Broncos' representation on this year's top 100 list?
For everyone's memory, Zach Allen made the list at 73,
Cortland Sutton at 68, Bo Nix at 59, Bowles at 42,

(15:54):
and Benito at 32. And would you rank PS2 higher
than 10? And if so, who would you rank him over?
We do know the nine players he's ranked behind. That's
Jameer Gibbs, Bijan Robinson, Christian McCaffrey, Josh Allen, Matthew Stafford,
Jackson Smith and Jigba, Puka Nakua, Micah Parsons, and Miles Garrett.

Speaker 4 (16:12):
Well, I'll say this.

Speaker 3 (16:14):
PS2 is severely low on this ranking. I would say
the same thing for Will Anderson, Jameer Gibbs, and Trey McBride.
That just tells you that they don't really get these
things right all of the time. And what were the
other guys that he was ranked behind? You know what?
I would say other than Myles Garrett being number one,

(16:37):
that's by far number one, PS2 should have been the
second guy.

Speaker 4 (16:41):
Based on what he's done.

Speaker 3 (16:43):
And when teams are afraid to throw your way, that
says a lot about what your ability is. And with
the Broncos showing of Zach, Cortland, Bo, Garrett Bowes, Nick Benito,
and PSU, that is saying a lot about the team
and where they have come from, but more importantly, where
they're striving to get to.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
Yeah, I'm with you on that. I think the very
latest I would have had, Pat Sertan, would have been
behind Parsons and Garrett. And Jigba, Stafford, and Allen. So
that's what, 6'7, somewhere in there would have been roughly
the latest I would have had him. I certainly would
have had him over the running backs. I would have
had him over to Kua. Smith and Jigba, man, that's
a whole different animal, man. They didn't have anybody else

(17:26):
on the opposite him over there. And they triple covered him,
and he was still making plays last year. Yeah, turn
the mic on. There we go.

Speaker 4 (17:34):
Yeah, it was on.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
It was on for a minute.

Speaker 3 (17:35):
Oh, wait.

Speaker 4 (17:36):
Here's what it is that we do know.

Speaker 1 (17:38):
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 3 (17:38):
Defense wins championships. So I would like to think as
great as Jackson Smith and Jigba was, and he was amazing.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
Seattle doesn't win without the defense at all. I'm just saying, like,
if I'm taking these people and isolating them in a bubble, like, man,
Smith and Jigba was something else last year.

Speaker 4 (17:54):
So Miles, PSU, and Jackson Smith and Jigba at three.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
Yeah, I'd have Parsons in there because he was something
else until he got hurt.

Speaker 4 (18:03):
But he got hurt.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
I mean, depending on how you look at that, I
try not to do the injury thing too much. But anyway, yeah,
that's that's roughly. And Garrett Bowles was at 42 is weird.
He didn't allow a single sack.

Speaker 5 (18:14):
Quinn Miners did not make the list, which I think
is probably the biggest Broncos.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah, that's kind of crazy. Miners not making the list.
Bowles was was probably a little late.

Speaker 4 (18:22):
There's a little early.

Speaker 2 (18:24):
They both probably should have been 59. Probably should have
been closer to the 90s. You know, that kind of stuff.
But at the end of the day, quarterbacks get pushed up.

Speaker 3 (18:29):
So.

Speaker 5 (18:30):
Also, really quick, here's what Josh McDaniels had to say
to Pat Sertan after the AFC Championship game. This was
part of Sertan's Top 100 unveiling.

Speaker 4 (18:39):
You're the best one in the league.

Speaker 1 (18:41):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (18:42):
I've seen them all, and I'm just telling you right now,
you're the best one. I appreciate that, man.

Speaker 1 (18:46):
Three.

Speaker 4 (18:48):
That leads into this.

Speaker 5 (18:50):
Patriots GM said that there's no deadline in place regarding
star cornerback Christian Gonzalez looming contract extension. and underlined the
team's desire to have him long-term. When do you think
the situation will be resolved? How much will Gonzalez sign for?
And do you think he'll be miffed at all here
and Josh McDaniel say PS2 is the best corner in
the league?

Speaker 2 (19:08):
No, I think at the end of the day, I
think there's acknowledgement of who is what. I think if
you're Gonzalez, I think you've hit the, quote, frustrated portion
of the contract negotiations. But you'll get it worked out.
He's too good a corner not to. They're not going
to blow this one. I do believe he'll set the market.
And I do believe he'll get that deal. They'll get
that deal done. But you're at the point in the

(19:30):
contract negotiations where both sides are a little frustrated.

Speaker 4 (19:33):
We're far apart.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
We're starting to leak stuff to media a little bit.
Put a little pressure on each other. And then you
go from there.

Speaker 3 (19:39):
Josh McDaniels was writing a statement posting the New England
game to PS2. He is one, if not the best
corner in the league. And he sees Christian Gonzalez every day.

Speaker 4 (19:49):
It's not a disrespect. to Christian Gonzalez.

Speaker 3 (19:51):
Gonzalez is a darn good corner in his own right.
He's just not at the PS2 level. Like we saw
in the game, Javis Stidham over Christian Gonzalez to Marvin Mims.
That says a lot within itself. Like if you're a
top corner, you never let a guy get on top
of you like that. And if he does, you break
that play up, something that Christian didn't do. So PS2

(20:11):
is a top corner. As far as Christian Gonzalez is
concerned and getting paid, both he and Devin Witherspoon, they
have the same agent. So, you know, if that agent
was working really hard for Devin Witherspoon, he's going to
work duly as hard for Christian Gonzalez. So I have
no doubt that the Patriots will get this deal done.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
Where do you think it comes in at?

Speaker 5 (20:30):
He'll probably be the highest paid corner in the league,
but Witherspoon's at 33 now. Where does he reset that
market to?

Speaker 3 (20:36):
Listen, I don't even think he resets the market. He
gets close to it. He may surpass it, maybe based
on incentive latent deals, but I don't think that you're
going to pay Christian Gonzalez that top dollar when he
is not the top.

Speaker 4 (20:53):
Corner, period.

Speaker 3 (20:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (20:54):
But, I mean, you wouldn't say Witherspoon's the top corner
and he just got.

Speaker 2 (20:57):
That top dollar.

Speaker 4 (20:58):
Well, listen, Witherspoon, let's be totally honest.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
He's a dog.

Speaker 4 (21:02):
He's a dog.

Speaker 3 (21:02):
He balled out and he hit the market at the
right time and his team won the Super Bowl.

Speaker 4 (21:07):
All those things swing in his favor. Not the same
for Gonzalez.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
Four.

Speaker 5 (21:15):
The Big Ten has announced that it will ban NFL
cuts from returning to play football for.

Speaker 2 (21:19):
One of its member schools.

Speaker 5 (21:21):
Obviously, earlier in this week, we had the Daquan Wright
joining LSU story. The Big Ten's not having that. What
do you make of that ruling? And which conferences do
you think we'll see follow suit? If any, who's taking
the Big Ten model? Who's taking the SEC model?

Speaker 3 (21:36):
Well, there's going to be so many teams that try
to take the model, but there's not much that they
can really do about the situation because it is kind
of what it is at this particular point. So, look,
we can't get mad at these kids for taking advantage
of the system the way that it's been carved out.
I just wish that it was retroactive and I could
do something about it as well. But, I mean, what

(21:57):
can you do if you are, what, the Big 10,
the Big 12? Nothing.

Speaker 4 (22:02):
This is college football.

Speaker 3 (22:03):
And this is only for a couple of players, not
every single player in college football.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
Well, also, the SEC took the SEC route on this
the other way. And they're barring Lane Kiffin and all
these players from going. The SEC put out... The SEC
put out an explanation a couple hours ago saying teams
are not permitted to have an athlete on its roster
who was previously declared for the NFL, NBA, or WNBA
draft and did not appropriately withdraw. If you've signed a

(22:28):
contract with an NFL or any other professional league, the NBA,
G League, or WNBA, if you've been listed on an NFL, NBA,
G League, or WNBA roster, you are not allowed to...
And they've gone out there basically with the Big Ten
model and saying they'll suspend coaches half the season. The
players aren't allowed to play. You will forfeit wins, all

(22:49):
that kind of stuff. So the SEC is right there
in line with the Big Ten on this one. Yeah,
then I.

Speaker 5 (22:53):
Imagine everyone's going to follow suit if the two big
boys are.

Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yeah, the Big 12, they had athletic directors meet today,
and they're going to meet again tomorrow, and they're expected
to follow suit on this as well. Yeah, that'll do it.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
Five.

Speaker 3 (23:05):
Five.

Speaker 5 (23:08):
Star Chargers linebacker Diane Henley told the media this week
that he sees no ceiling to what the Chargers can
accomplish this season. Do you agree with Henley that the
Bulls could win it all this year? And if not,
what is their ceiling?

Speaker 2 (23:24):
Yeah, I mean, I think the Chargers are the biggest
threat to the Broncos and the AFC West. I think
the offense, if they can stay healthy... That is, I think,
the biggest concern overall. Defensively, there's continuity there. The new
defensive coordinator, while he hasn't been a defensive coordinator before,
has certainly come up in this defense. He's been under
Jesse Minter a long time. He knows this compressed quarters.

(23:45):
defense that they run and knows how to transition that
um on the offensive side how quickly do they adapt
going from greg roman to mike mcdaniel and and and
what that offense looks like coming off of that um
i think i think they're absolutely a contender this year
i do and i again i believe they're the biggest
threat to the broncos in the afc west.

Speaker 3 (24:05):
I will concur and support that here's the biggest issue
we saw the the chargers kind of excelled a lot
even when they had injuries at the offensive line position,
they are now being bitten by the same bug and
having issues with the offensive line. Now, that may be
they're thinking we did it once. Maybe we can overcome

(24:25):
it again. But I believe Justin Herbert with having Mike
McDaniels in the phone, this team is going to look
a lot different offensively.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
Agreed.

Speaker 5 (24:32):
I think this team is, I'm with you, Ben, the
biggest threat to the Broncos in the AFC West. That said,
I think losing Biotis, the center, is going to be
a big loss for him. An underrated element of the
whole Mike McDaniel experience in Miami. He had an elite
center with Aaron Brewer. That guy was nominated for Protector
of the Year last season alongside Garrett Bowles and the
ultimate winner, Joe Tooney. You're going from that to whoever

(24:55):
the Chargers backup center is when that was a rough
position for them last year before signing Biotash. It's going
to be the rookie Jake Slaughter, I'm assuming. that's a
big downgrade from what Mike McDaniels used to in.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
His run game. Well, I would say that goes both ways.
Aaron Brewer wasn't Aaron Brewer until Mike McDaniels made him
Aaron Brewer. So be careful on that thinking. They drafted
Slaughter to be the left guard. Kiyoti Owosika just played
his way into that left guard spot. So Slaughter now
comes available, goes back to playing center. We'll see what

(25:27):
we'll see what that's able to do. But, you know,
three fifths of that line are really good. You know,
always because somebody that we'll see a left guard and
he's played his way into the spot and then slaughter
that line is still even if the tackles are just
the guys as much improved from last year.

Speaker 1 (25:43):
Six.

Speaker 4 (25:45):
Pretty crazy.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
Omarion Hampton stat this week.

Speaker 5 (25:48):
Do you know how many snaps he's played in his
career with Joe Alt and Rashawn Slater both on the field?

Speaker 1 (25:52):
Zero. Zero.

Speaker 4 (25:53):
Yep.

Speaker 5 (25:55):
In response to Jaden Higgins' season-ending injury, the Texans are
sending safety Jalen Reed and a 2028 sixth-round pick to
the Patriots in exchange for wide receiver Kayshaun Booty. Who
got the better end of this deal, and how will
Booty fit in with the Texans' wide receiver group?

Speaker 3 (26:10):
We're not going to know exactly who got the better
end of this deal to midway in the season, let's
be totally honest. Obviously, with Higgins being out, that puts
a lot of pressure on C.J. Stroud, who himself, the
team has not given him a new deal yet. But
I will say this, when you look at their wide
receiver core, they have Tank Dale coming back off of injury,
and they also added two veteran wide receivers, Zay Jones

(26:32):
and Sterling Shepard. That combination of those guys should definitely
help out C.J. Stroud because Stroud should have some more
space in the passing game with David Montgomery toting the
rock for the Houston Texans.

Speaker 4 (26:48):
There we go.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
I got to turn the mic on. That's how that goes.
To be honest with you, I think the Texans got
the better of this deal. I mean, I get the
Patriots needed safety, and they got the draft pick. But, dude,
this guy either gets a first down or a touchdown
every time he touches the ball. It's an incredibly impressive

(27:08):
stat that he has there, and I feel like they
got the better of the deal there on that one.
Just my two cents.

Speaker 4 (27:13):
I agree.

Speaker 5 (27:14):
I think he's a really talented receiver, and you can
plug him right in for a Higgins. Day one, he
might be better than what they were going to get
out of Higgins.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
C.J.

Speaker 4 (27:22):
Stroud is hoping to say, booty, booty, booty, booty rockin' everywhere.

Speaker 1 (27:26):
Booty, booty, booty, booty rockin' everywhere.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
Broncos country tonight. Got to hit a break.