08-25-26 Hour 2 of Broncos Country Tonight

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to a Broncos country tonight. Benjamin Albright, Nick Ferguson,
post-Rockies edition and getting close to that final preseason game.
Minnesota Vikings almost here. The Broncos did make a move today.
They waved to Keem Butler right over the sky and
Ron Stone. They added more depth to the pass rushing room.

(00:20):
Ron Stone, the UFL phenom. That's where they found Andrea Tillman.
They seem to be combing the UFL a little bit,
looking for players that can play.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Well, wasn't that the purpose of the USFL is to
be somewhat of a feeder pool or launch pad for
those guys seeking to make it on the NFL roster?
And DeAndre Tillman definitely was one of those guys, right?
I mean, if you're a guy that's playing in the USFL,
you've got to look at DeAndre Tillman. There's other guys

(00:49):
who have become mainstays. And the NFL would say, well,
those guys are what I am aiming to attain. They
are the example. And I know people look at the
USFL like, well, those are players who were not telling
enough to play in the NFL. I'll say this, Ben.
People say that about me once because I played in

(01:11):
NFL Europe. and the CFL multiple times but it's about
believing in yourself but also making the most out of
your opportunity so this Friday last game before the cuts
the last opportunity you have to showcase your ability to
the Denver Broncos and oh by the way the other
31 teams so I'm expecting to see a bunch of
guys playing with their hair on fire on Friday.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
And they uh they should be um it really isn't like,
I always hate it when people say they aren't talented
enough to play in the NFL. Cause I know that's,
that's bull. Um, and not just from your own career, right? Um,
Kurt Warner, you know, Kurt Warner was a guy that
sometimes it's not about that. Sometimes it's like giving a
guy a chance just cause they went to a smaller
school or they were, you know, they were different position

(01:55):
or they, they, you know, they had some other, whatever
it was that, that allowed them to slip through the
cracks of the scouting process, which is inherently not perfect.
You know, an opportunity to give those guys a chance.
We've seen Chris Harris here.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
You know, there are a myriad of reasons why somebody
slips through the cracks. In Chris's case, it was his
own coach sabotaging him. But there are... I don't know.
It just frustrates me when I see, well, that guy
wasn't good enough to play in the league. Well, who knows?
We don't know. He didn't get a chance to play
in the league, right? So there are things like that.
And maybe this guy is that dude. Maybe Ron Stone

(02:30):
is that guy who slipped through the cracks, dominated the UFL,
now gets his chance in cracking the NFL.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Well, yeah, but here is the harsh reality of the
game itself. Stone has missed a substantial amount of time
to get himself grooved into the defense. No OTAs. no
mini camp, you're coming in in the final week of
training camp. So the odds that Stone will make a

(02:55):
big enough impression to make this team, I think those
aspirations are pretty low. Now, what he can do is
come in and show, okay, well, he has a decent
grasp of the defense where he can allow his skill
set to shine because maybe there's another team that he
was on their radar, but the Broncos picked him up

(03:17):
and he could be picked up by another team. This
is where the Taylor Rapp thing comes in. And for me,
I'll say this, and you let me know if you agree,
even though Rapp is in that same situation, he has
to figure out some of the nuances of the defense
to be able to go out and play on Friday.
I still think, with that being said about Taylor Rapp,

(03:38):
he is still better than the Broncos reserve safeties, other
than Devin Key. Is that fair to say?

Speaker 1 (03:46):
I would say so. And it was interesting that Vance
Joseph had the comment that he did today about JL
Skinner having a great camp because that's not what my
eyes have told me.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
That's not what my eyes told me either.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
So, you know, maybe Vance was doing the coach thing
and Vance is a very positive person and he never
wants to throw a player under the bus. Right. Right.
So I would expect for him to say JL Skinner
is having a good camp. Now, I also pay attention
to words, Ben. He said good. He didn't say great.
He didn't say exceptional. He didn't say, well, hey, this

(04:19):
guy is going to give us adequate depth because he's
helping Darren Rizzi from a special team standpoint. And oh,
by the way, there are so many other things that
we can do with him. And he's going to give
me the ability to be more creative from a defensive
coordinator standpoint. I didn't hear him say that. Am I
reading too much into that?

Speaker 1 (04:39):
I don't think so. I think he tried to couch
the language the way that he could. He's not going
to be negative and just throw jail Skinner under the bus.
But at the same time, he's not going to pack
on superlatives that he didn't earn. And so I think
that's that's kind of what he did. I think he
said he's having a good camp since, you know, since
he's been back. I wouldn't say that. But at the
same time, I mean. I sort of get on the
scale of coach speak where that, where that lands, you know? So,

(05:04):
you know, I, I don't think, I don't think he
was out of pocket with what he said. I certainly
don't think he went out there. It was way to
like praise jail Skinner, but it's some media are taking
it that way.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
Well, you can take it that way. And maybe this
is Vance, because when we think about coach speak, coaches
can either uplift the player with what they say or,
or they can denigrate a player. Now, I'm going to
look at this several different ways, and this is one
of the ways. This is a way of, I guess,

(05:37):
somewhat putting more pressure on J.O. Skinner because if Vance
has said, oh, he's having a great camp, and people
are going to run with it on social media, well,
Vance Joseph said he was having a great camp, so
what do we expect to see from him on Friday? Okay.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
Well, I mean, if you're JL, you want to come
out there, you want to make every tackle. You'd be
flying around. You want to make every deflection, get some
kind of turnover, knock the ball loose, show your case,
your special teams, where's all that kind of stuff. I
think it's, I think it's tough at this point to
remake a name for yourself. But if you put the
lens of, I'm not, I'm not putting tape out here
for the Denver Broncos coaches. I'm putting tape out here

(06:14):
for every coach. I think that's, I think that's where
you need to be because cut down days coming and
the math ain't mathing. I, I, I, Did myself a
little projected roster today. The defense is already going to
get shorted because the offense is going to eat up
a couple extra plays this year.

Speaker 2 (06:30):
We always get shorted.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
It's not going to be 25 and 25 like that.
There's going to be like 27 on the offense. It's
going to be like 23 on the defense. And that's
going to be a thing. You're going to have to
figure out. There's going to be some belt tightening there.
And that's one of the places. Are you keeping a
JL Skinner around? Because you've got other guys that can
do what he does on special teams and Does he

(06:53):
give you enough in that room? And you've already got
Taylor Rapp and Devin Key and Brennan Jones and Hufanga.
Do you keep it a fifth safety? I don't think so.
And so, you know, when I did that today, he
didn't make the roster.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
Well, usually what happens, Ben, the defense always get the
short end of the stick because they're always keeping an
extra offensive lineman. An offensive lineman who, by the way,
is on special teams with PAT Filgo, but he's like
the third or fourth guy. So he's not really playing.
on special teams. Matter of fact, he's not even running

(07:23):
down on kickoff. So that means that job is given
to a defensive player. So if you're going to do that,
you can't really short your defensive players that much. But
the secondary, more importantly, that's the group that gets screwed
the most, right? So when we look at the Broncos,
are they going to keep five safeties? Odds on, no.

(07:45):
Maybe you keep, was it Scott, maybe on the practice squad? Yeah,
because you're saying, okay, well, that's the guy who's coming in.
He's undrafted.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
Right.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
And no, I didn't know he wasn't on draft. I
think the Broncos got in the six. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:59):
I think there's six rounds. I'm like, yeah, three guy.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
Right. So Skinner was seven. He was six. And you
have to figure, OK, well, Skinner hasn't really shown that
he can. He's ready to take that next step. So
you have to say, well, you give that to Scott.
So I'm thinking that the Broncos keep five. Right. Rap. Key. Funga.
And Jones. That's four. That rounds out your four.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
Right there. And then maybe you kick five corners.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
Yeah, probably. I mean, you're probably on five corners with
one on the practice squad as well, maybe two. And
so that's like the practice squad is going to go
defense heavy because you're going to be offense heavy with
10 offensive linemen, a fullback, four tight ends. You might
short yourself on receivers a little bit with five, but
three quarterbacks.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
We already know that Jordan Humphrey is going to practice squad.

Speaker 1 (08:45):
Yeah, we already know how this whole process works. But yeah,
that's probably what it is. The practice squad probably becomes
defense heavy because you'll keep Sertan, Moss, if you don't
trade him. I don't think they will, but they've got
teams sniffing around. You've got Green Bay calling, Chicago calling,
Cincinnati calling. They've got teams calling. I don't think any

(09:07):
of them are going to give.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
Up what it takes. Smells like team spirit to me.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
Look, I don't think anybody's going to give up what
it would take to move him, but I don't want
to say never say never and then have somebody tweet
at me, you said it was never going to happen.
I'm like, well, okay, it's unlikely to happen and leave
it at that.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
So it's Sertan, Moss..

Speaker 1 (09:23):
So Dan Moss, McMillan, Abrams, Drain, and Barron, that's your
big five, right? And then after that, it's, you know,
as far as corners, I mean, maybe you put Brent
Austin on the practice squad or somebody like that. But, yeah,
I mean, you have one last opportunity here against the
Vikings who are probably going to play a combination of
Carson Wentz and J.J. McCarthy. So you're going to have opportunities.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
That's funny. You slid that in there with a straight face.
And I almost let it go by because you said, well,
you're going to have opportunities, meaning you're not just going
to have opportunities from a rep standpoint. You're going to
have opportunities because the ball is going to be in
the air. right? You're going to have the opportunity to
take the ball away. But also, you still have two
guys who are former first round picks. both guys who

(10:07):
still have something to play for. So as the ball
is going to be thrown in the air from a
volume standpoint, and it's going to be opportunity to take
the ball away. These guys still can really throw the
ball and let it rip to a point where they can,
they can embarrass you too, as well. So you, you get,
you get both spectrums, but at the same time, you're
going to get the best of the best, because when

(10:29):
you look around the league and the final week of preseason,
tell me how many teams out there from a defensive standpoint,
that you can actually say that you have the ability
to hone your skills versus two former first rounders. And
the teams will have an excellent opportunity to evaluate you
during that film.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, it's going to be, I mean, this is, there's
going to be some hurt feelings, I think, as this
roster has gotten better and better. Guys that would normally
have made the Broncos are not going to be making
the Broncos now. And so this is one of those
opportunities where or one of those situations where you need
to sit there and differentiate yourself. At this point, it
doesn't matter where you were drafted. You've got to go
out and outwork them, outshow them, outhustle them, outplay them.
And even then, is that going to be enough? So

(11:12):
we look at Cleveland, for instance. They've got so much
money tied up in Deshaun Watson, and they're not playing
the quarterback that won the quarterback competition, right?

Speaker 2 (11:17):
Right.

Speaker 1 (11:18):
So it's one of those things where it's not fair,
but you've got to go out and make it so
unfair that you get– You get hung around. The coaches
can't let you go.

Speaker 2 (11:30):
It is the Hunger Games for me. During my playing
days really quickly, obviously you develop a lot of these bonds,
and they're forged through OTAs, minicamp, and training camp, and
you get a chance to hang out with guys in
the offseason. But when you get to this time of
the year, Ben, I hate to say it. My rationale

(11:52):
was I don't have any friends. I don't. And I
know that sounds bad, but from a competition standpoint, I'm
trying to eat. I'm trying to feed my family. Like,
we can be dudes, but once we touch the field...
I got to go get it because that's how I'm
being evaluated. They're not going to, you know, do an evaluation. Well,

(12:13):
you know, Ben and Nick were friends and all of this.
They're boys, man.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
It's cool.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
Yeah. It's going to be like, no, which one of
these guys elevated their level of play? So this is
why I like what we see from an NFL standpoint.
And we don't always get it 100%, but at least
from a player, you can go out with the reps
that you were provided and you can try to make
some plays because every player doesn't get an opportunity to shine. Like,

(12:37):
Sam Ellinger. Will he get that chance to sign? Did
he actually get a fair opportunity to compete for the
number two spot? I say no.

Speaker 1 (12:47):
No, I don't think he did. And I think the
other part of that is I think they don't want
him going out there and shining because I think they
wanted to move him through to the practice squad. And
if they do that, if he goes through shots, somebody's
going to go pick him up.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
But is that not... It's helping the team, but hurting
his development because you don't want to showcase him. Like
a couple of years ago, we saw Alburoka Weibunan in
a preseason game. I think it's final preseason game. They
showcased the crap out of him. I mean, every slant route,
vertical route, intermediate route, a deep over, they gave it

(13:17):
to him to showcase him, but he ended up on
the Eagles roster. And I know teams don't want to
do that with certain players. We don't want to show
his ability because we know someone's going to come after him.
And we know there's a lot of teams that are
struggling from a quarterback standpoint. You mentioned Cleveland, right? Who's
to say that they may not be eyeing the situation

(13:37):
that's happening in Denver to see which one of those
guys that the Broncos go, okay, well, this is our
number two, and they go after the number three.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
And that's going to be one of those things. If
there's guys they want to get through to the practice
squad here, that they don't want to showcase because they
don't want teams to get tape and be like, oh, well,
we could use that guy. That guy looks like he
can ball. We could put that guy over here. And
so there are teams that that have gaping roster holes
right now that could use an infusion of talent. The
Miami Dolphins, you don't think they're going to be taking

(14:06):
a whole ton of people off the cut wire?

Speaker 2 (14:09):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
I'm just saying, like, there are teams out there that
are bad. They're going to be looking at that. You
don't think that Darren Mooji, who used to be George
Payton's right-hand man, isn't watching the Broncos? Like, hey, I
remember some of these guys. Some of these guys can play.
Why don't we come on over here? The water's wet.

Speaker 2 (14:21):
You know, it's interesting because let's just say Joe Skinner
doesn't make this team. And I don't project him as
making this team. You know, Chris Banjo, his old special
teams coach, guess where he is? In New Jersey with
the Jets. So if you're a jail scanner, you want
to go out there, you still want to play, and
just know that there's opportunities for someone else to pick

(14:42):
you up. But I want to go back to Sam
Ellinger for a standpoint. Last year he had an opportunity
to go to the Colts, right? But he opted to
stay here. And you would think with him opting to
stay here, you would give him more of an opportunity
to really showcase his ability. I hope, Ben, that that's
not the case where the team is like, well, we
don't want anyone else to see him so we can

(15:04):
throw him back on the practice squad because, once again,
it's stifling his growth and then he would never get
to a point where teams even think of him as
a starting quarterback. He'd just be kind of pushed back
to that Backup quarterback role.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
But you know that kind of stuff happens, man. You
know that kind of stuff happens. Teams, you know, they
don't want to... There comes a point where there becomes
a breaking point when the player realizes what the team
is doing sometimes. But the teams don't want to do that.
They want to do what's best for them. And they're
not in the business of helping other teams get better
by letting talent go there. That's not the job of
George Payton.

Speaker 2 (15:36):
No, no, it's not. And these are the things that
we're talking about as it pertains to the game. A
great game that I love, but every business... has its
good side, and it has its not-so-good side. That part
is called, in this case, when we're talking about football,
the business of football. And sometimes the business of football

(15:58):
can be really ugly, or as they say, it's a
cruel mistress, if you will.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
Yeah, and it is. And I think that's part of
the problem at the end is... You pointed out before
what's best for the player may not be what's best
for the team. And the team has a conflict of
interest in some cases. Sometimes it's with developing guys, sometimes
with saving money on bonuses. You know, there are there
are conflicts of interest, I think, that abound in football.

(16:28):
And that's and that's a bit of a problem. I
want to get into where we think this 53 with
the 53 is going to look like here in the
in the next segment. because I think it's starting to
shape up, and I think we're starting to get an
idea of where this thing is headed. So I want
to get into that. We've got to hit a break.
Broncos country tonight. We'll be back right after this. Welcome

(16:52):
back to Broncos country tonight. Benjamin Albright, Nick Ferguson here
with you. Programming note, same split tomorrow. We'll be on
live after the Rockies, and then Thursday, full live show. Friday,
of course, we've got the game. Nick and I will
be on, what is it, 3 o'clock in the afternoon,
I believe.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
3 o'clock!

Speaker 1 (17:11):
Right here on KOA, taking you up to countdown to
kickoff at 5 p.m., where we'll hand off to Ryan
Edwards and, of course, Dave Logan, Rick Lewis, Susie Wardgen
on the call for the game. Minnesota coming here to
Denver on Friday. Before we hit the break, talking a
little bit about what this 53 could look like, and
I wanted to get into this, because I sort of
did it as an intellectual exercise, looking at who I

(17:34):
thought would make this team and who wouldn't. And I
think some of that has to do with some of
the injuries that we've, you know, that we've seen. Normally
I would say Calvin Throckmorton, probably a practice squad guy,
but right now firmly on the roster. And so that,
that's one of those things. I think that's going to
be interesting because you're probably keeping what you would consider
to be four tight ends. If you include Adkins in

(17:55):
the tight end as an H-back, I don't know what
you consider him. Probably keeping four running backs. Ooh, four
running backs. Yeah, that's the other thing. At least three,
maybe four, we'll see. And it depends on if you
kept the fullback on top of that. So, you know,
a lot of that. I think we're, are we both
in agreement that the Broncos are probably keeping three quarterbacks?

Speaker 2 (18:15):
Well, you know what, Ben? I'm going to say no.
I'm not in agreement. You think they'll waive Ehlinger? Wait,
why is this saying him?

Speaker 1 (18:24):
I knew I could get your goat there.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
I so knew that I could get you. I knew
I could get that. Come on, man. You know, you
know why is because I don't think Sam. has been
given a fair shot. Right. We've seen what Jared Stidham is.
And most people talk about, hey, the Falcons game and
throwing the ball down the field. And I'm like, well,
that was the disappointing part. Because you do that against

(18:48):
a Falcon team who their reserves prove to not be
as good as the Packers' reserves. And looking at Jared Stidham,
how he played in that game, and he had what
he had most of, half of the first quarter, all
of the second quarter, in the third quarter, and still
didn't really do a lot to move the team down
the field and put them in scoring position. So I'm like,

(19:11):
with that being said, you have to give Sam an opportunity,
but someone inside the building or someone's inside the building
feel more comfortable with Jarrett Stidham and what he brings
to the table. And I'm like, look, man, make this
thing fair. Give this kid an opportunity because that's all
anyone wants to say that, You gave them an opportunity.

(19:32):
They had a fair shot. Because if someone beats me out,
I can walk away knowing as though that person was
just that much better than me. But to walk away
knowing as though I could be off this roster or
on and off the roster like Sam was last year.
or place fully in the back of quarterback position, third

(19:54):
team on the depth chart, knowing as though I have
no ability or possibility, rather, to climb and overtake the
guy at number two. You didn't give me a chance.

Speaker 1 (20:04):
And I agree more with you on that. I was
just trying to... They're trying to get you worked up
a little bit there because I know. Here's the thing, though,
and let's look at this from a practical standpoint, because
I am in 100 percent agreement with you on that point.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
Right.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
I absolutely agree. Ellinger, I think in practice was better.
I don't think he's really gotten the opportunity to do
as much on the field and these preseason games. That said,
it is much, much easier to keep Stidham and wave
Ellinger through to the practice squad with the promise that
you'll call him back up. than it is to try

(20:38):
to wave Stidham and bring him back.

Speaker 2 (20:41):
If I am Sam Ellinger, and the team were to
wave me, and another team comes a-calling, hey, peace up,
A-Town down, I'm out. Because you've already seen this movie, right?
And you're thinking that you had a great camp, and
we saw Sam with the twos. So in this game

(21:02):
on Friday, let's say they did give Sam some opportunities,
Look at the guys he's playing with. Will he be
able to say that he's able to showcase his ability
with the guys he's in there playing with? I'm going
to say no. But if I'm Sam, once again, if
you find yourself on the short end of the stick,

(21:23):
and the team waves you, you already know you've seen
this movie before. Do you subject yourself to the same thing?
Because you say, Oh man, I love it here in Denver.
I mean, he could do that. But I, the idea
is that do you, do you want to compete?

Speaker 1 (21:39):
Well, you get, if you get promises from Peyton, uh,
or Peyton, um, saying, look, we're going to put you
on the practice squad for four weeks, use your maximum
number of call-ups, and then bring you back up to
the roster once the injuries settle this roster thingy out.
I sort of get that, right? I get how you
could do that. That said, you know, I don't know.

(22:01):
If my career was on pause for more than a year,
I would probably be getting a little irritated by it.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
See, Promises, Promises. There was an 80s band. I think
Naked Eyes made a song about Promises. Do you want
promises or do you want foolproof results, Ben? Because the
NFL is a result-based business. That's what we're told. So
if you're Sam and you feel as though you're not
getting those results where you're getting an opportunity to compete

(22:30):
for number two, number one, why come back? And it's
not me saying anything to disparage the Denver Broncos, but
just look at it from a player standpoint, right? Everyone, well,
let me take that back. Not everyone wants to play. Right.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
Some guys want to catch that check.

Speaker 2 (22:46):
They just want to catch the check. They just want
to say they have a jersey, have a locker. But
I would like to think maybe there's a competitive spirit
about Sam Ellinger that he wants to have an opportunity
to compete. So let me put you in Sam's position.
If you are in the position he's in, the Broncos
want to release you, right? And another team wanted to

(23:07):
claim you off waivers. Do you go?

Speaker 1 (23:11):
I mean... If I'm getting the opportunity to play somewhere, yeah,
I'm taking it. If I'm getting the opportunity to play,
I'm taking it. But that's how I'm wired. I don't
want to sit back and be, you know.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
The third guy.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
The fourth guy. You know, whatever. You know, that kind
of stuff. Like, I don't want to be. I want
to play. If somebody's picking me up on waivers, yeah,
come get me. Let's go. Somebody wants to invest in me.
Somebody believes I'm ready to go play for it. Come on,
let's go.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
Hey, Dad, did you play in the NFL?

Speaker 1 (23:36):
I was there. Like, how does Chase Daniel answer that question?

Speaker 2 (23:40):
Uh-oh. Hey, hey, hey, hey. I was in the NFL.
I was in the same quarterback room as Drew Brees. Uh-huh.

Speaker 1 (23:50):
And? They paid me a lot of money. And the
30 other quarterbacks he was in the room with because
he was a backup quarterback for like a decade and
a half in the league.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
But he would be able to say that they paid
him a boatload of money and he wore a uniform.

Speaker 1 (24:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (24:02):
He was there. He was in the big game, right? Mm-hmm. But...
For me, man, I want to say more than just
you got money in your bank account. You were in
the room where, you know, or you were in the
room with Hall of Fame players. You played with them.
I want to be able to say that I played
against them. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:20):
Hey, I'm here with you. I picked him off. I
caught a ball over him. You know, whatever. I juked
him out. I broke a tackle off him.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
Even if that means that, yeah, man, you know what? Yeah,
I was in the game and Barry Sanders ran me over, right?
Or Randy Moss caught a pass over me. None of
that stuff happened to me, but I'm just saying. You
would rather say that those things happened to you or
you saw them happen to someone else. That's the way
I will look at it. I just hope every single

(24:49):
player approaches this last game like it's just that. It
is their last game. They go out there and they
put their best foot forward. And I just hope the coaches,
based on how the game is flowing, give these kids
an opportunity to go out there and not only make
this team, but make another NFL roster.

Speaker 1 (25:08):
Yeah, and that's where I'm at. All right, how many,
if we don't... So you think two quarterbacks, not three?

Speaker 2 (25:14):
Two quarterbacks.

Speaker 1 (25:15):
All right. Running backs, let's go there. Obviously, Dobbins, Harvey,
and Jonah Coleman are making this roster. Anybody else making
this roster? Well, I'm going to put Prentice in there
from the fullbacks.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
Do we count him as a running back?

Speaker 1 (25:26):
I'm going to put him in the room just as
a fullback. So there's four there. Do McLaughlin, Beatty, or
Schrader make the roster or the practice squad? Hmm.

Speaker 2 (25:37):
See, I'm thinking... Maybe Jalil and maybe Schrader.

Speaker 1 (25:43):
You think they both make the practice squad?

Speaker 2 (25:46):
I think so. OK.

Speaker 1 (25:47):
Yeah, I think that's I think that's probably the most
likely scenario out of this. I don't think either one
of them are going to make the roster at this point.
So there we go on that. Let's see here. Tight
end room. Troutman, Engram, those two make it. Now, the
question becomes after that. Nate Adkins, I believe he makes it. Jolie,
that's where the questions start. You got Jolie, Kroll, Bentley,

(26:09):
and Caleb Lohner. My guess is that Jolie makes it.
And then after that, I think you probably got Dallin
Bentley on the practice squad. Lohner's been too banged up.
And Kroll, probably his time has probably expired.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
Probably so. But Adkins and Prentice, they're kind of like
the same player in a sense. Don't you think? I mean,
Atkins wants to be kind of have the title as
tight end, but he's basically H-back fullback. Is he not?

Speaker 1 (26:41):
I mean, yeah, Atkins is a sort of move tight end,
but he's an H-back fullback.

Speaker 2 (26:48):
So if that's the case and you have to figure
out DBs, extra tight end, I would go ahead and
just keep Atkins and let Prentice slide.

Speaker 1 (26:59):
I tend to agree with that, but it's just my
gut feeling that both of them are going to be
around at least early on.

Speaker 2 (27:04):
I hate your gut.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
In the season.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
I know, me too.

Speaker 1 (27:06):
It's disgusting. Wide receivers. I say they keep five. Sutton Waddle,
Pat Bryant, Troy Franklin, Marvin Mims, Humphrey to the practice squad,
and then somebody else to the practice squad as well.
Probably Colby Katsas, but But who knows? Why not?

Speaker 2 (27:19):
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Why not Katsas? Because Katsas,
I mean, he plays special teams.

Speaker 1 (27:25):
Yeah, I was going to say Katsas or Cameron Ross.
Maybe you keep two on the practice squad. But I think,
I mean, Humphrey we know will go, like, you know,
do his thing. But one or two of these other
guys out of Kobe Katsas, Dane Key, Michael Bandy, Cameron Ross,
Man Jack, and Kyrie's Rowan.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
Nope, nope, nope. I'm thinking it's going to be Katsas
because you can go out if you're the Denver Broncos
and go get another guy off another roster who's going
to be released.

Speaker 1 (27:50):
Yeah. I mean, yeah. I don't know. I just, when
I look at this, it just feels like we're keeping
five and then we're putting two or three in the
practice squad. Bandy goes to Baltimore where he's always been
destined to go.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
You've been pushing that the whole time.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
He'll wind up as, you know, following Lombardi there because
that's what he does. And then the offensive line, obviously
your starting five is all going to be there. The backups, Pert, Cage, Casey, Palschewski,
and Crum, and Throckmorton all probably make the roster. And
then Forsyth goes on the limited injured. And then you
put the other guys like Ortega and Tyler Miller or whatever,

(28:26):
you know, less than a Smith if you want to
put those guys on the practice squad.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
See, that's the thing. Every team I've ever played on,
they keep an overabundance of offensive linemen. Now, I understood
it playing for the Denver Broncos because you needed those
guys to kind of steer your running game. But we
know here with the Broncos, their running game hasn't really
gotten on track the way that they wanted to. And, yes,
you need to maintain a certain level of depth. But

(28:52):
I don't know. I mean, I look at it like
some of these third-team guys, Miller, Ortega. And I think
the one thing that intrigues me about Ortega, Ortega I
think is kind of a swing guy.

Speaker 1 (29:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:06):
He can do a multitude of different things, and that versatility–
will probably keep him on this roster. They will release
him and then bring him back for practice squad.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
Yeah, and that feels like the most likely scenario there. Defensively,
there's going to have to be some cuts here. You're
going to have to do some belt tightening because that's
27 people on the offense that you're likely keeping. We
already know that Kroshaw, Lutz, and..

Speaker 2 (29:27):
Wait, wait, why don't you just start in the secondary
so we can get this exercise off?

Speaker 1 (29:31):
Well, let me just... Because there's three players you're keeping
for special teams, right? On the 53, kicker, punter, in the,
in the long run. So we could, you know, we
call it big. We'll start at the, as the secondary
work our way back, uh, safeties, you got to Fonga,
Brandon Jones and, and Devin key, who I think are
locks after that, uh, Taylor rap probably. And then maybe
miles Scott on the practice squad, maybe Tyson Anderson on

(29:52):
the practice squad. I don't think jail Skinner sticks around.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
I'm with you on that one. Totally, totally agree.

Speaker 1 (29:58):
On the corners, Riley Moss, Pat Sertan, Jaquan McMillan, Jade Barron,
Abrams Drain, those five make it for sure. After that,
you start looking at Reese Taylor, Brett Austin, Sean Frisch.
I don't think any of those guys make the 53.
Reese Taylor or Austin might make the practice squad.

Speaker 2 (30:13):
See, Reese Taylor's been here for a while. He's been
like a Michael Bandy, you know, Jordan Humphrey type. And
usually when that happens, you think, okay, that's a good thing.
But it may not be so much because they're looking
for you to take the next step and compete, being
as though you've been in the defense for over three
seasons and not taking that next step. That could be problematic.

(30:35):
So I'm going to move out Reese Taylor, and I'm
going to insert Sean Frisch. Okay. Okay. All right.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
I can see that. But practice squad.

Speaker 2 (30:46):
Practice squad. All right.

Speaker 1 (30:48):
We'll go back to the outside linebackers here. Now, this
is going to be interesting because the team is– bracing
themselves for something like a six game suspension for Jonathan
Cooper when that eventually rolls around. That may not even
be this year, but they're bracing for that. So you
got Nick Benito, John Cooper, Ellis. Those three are blocks
from the edge to make it. Q Robinson, I think,
is the fourth guy. That's a lock. Then you get

(31:09):
into Dondre Tillman. Does he make the roster or not?
Drew Sanders, I don't believe will. Johnny Walker, I don't
believe will. Deshaun McCullough, I don't believe will. And then
we had Ron Stone signed today, who's a giant question
mark we don't really know.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
I don't think Stone, I would be surprised if Stone
made the team. That would be overwhelming.

Speaker 1 (31:26):
I mean, this is pretty late to make that red
rush group.

Speaker 2 (31:28):
Pretty late for sure. And then you also, you know,
you got Drew Sanders in there too as well. So
as the team starts to prepare for what could come
down the pike for Jonathan Cooper. So yeah, Jonah Ellis,
Nick Benito. dandre tillman q robinson all those guys make
the team as well so yeah i i'll agree with

(31:50):
that i'm good with that who's to say that johnny
walker may not be reserved to being on the practice squad.

Speaker 1 (31:58):
He might then he might and that's that felt like
a practice squad move anything because i don't think drew
sanders going to be here so i think if you
look at a practice squad Guys, Johnny Walker is probably
that guy, and then one of the other guys in
that question. On the inside linebackers, you're probably keeping three
or four here. Sternod, Singleton, or Lox. Red Murdoch just
continues to make plays, probably in there. Karani Reid, maybe.

(32:20):
I think him, Jordan Turner, and Torrey Newark are all
fighting for the other spot. I think you probably keep
Karani Reid, and you put Torrey Newark on the practice squad.

Speaker 2 (32:28):
Yeah, that sounds about right, because... When you watch Torrey
and York play, you see that there's some ability there,
but not as much where you're thinking that if something
went wrong with the two starting guys, oh, yeah, let's
throw in Torrey and York in. No, that is a
guy that can kind of cut his teeth on the
special teams while he learns the defense.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
Yeah. OK, the defensive line. And this is where it
starts to get tricky, because, again, normally you would keep
six of these bodies around, maybe seven. And this is
a season where you might have five and have some
on the practice squad. Obviously, Malcolm Roach, DJ Jones, Zach
Allen and Owasa Rike are making the squad. Right. What
about Savion Jones? Well, after that, then we I don't

(33:11):
think he is. Honestly, I think we're up against it
here because I think Tyler O'Nedim has to make it
by virtue of him being a rookie. Right. You're not
giving up your top draft pick and weaving them through
the practice squad right away.

Speaker 2 (33:20):
So that makes the fifth.

Speaker 1 (33:22):
Now you're out of room. So you've got Savion Jones
and Jordan Jackson, and then you've got Jordan Miller and
Christian Williams. I don't think either one of those guys
are going to make it. But Jordan Jackson, Savion Jones there,
you've got two guys fighting for zero spots. Both those
guys might wind up on the practice squad.

Speaker 2 (33:38):
You know what, man? I watched this past game against
the Green Bay Packers. Both Jordan Miller and Jordan Jackson,
they had their moments where they looked good, And then
they had their moments where they were being pushed around.
So man, this is going to come down to how
they perform and his final game.

Speaker 1 (33:58):
And that's one of those things. I, like I said,
I think there's going to be some, some, some cuts
here that may be a little bit surprising, like Savion Jones,
just because the math, when you, when you start putting
this thing together, it's not working out the way that, um,
that I think that necessarily that you, that you want
it to, um, as far as the, uh, the rest
of it goes. And then we already talked about special
teams as far as that kind of stuff goes. So, um,

(34:20):
I think we're all in agreement that the three, we're
not going out and get a new punter, kicker, long
snapper at this point. Okay, cool. Well, I thought our
roster construction thing was going to be a little more
contentious than that, but it really wasn't.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
Why? Why would you think that?

Speaker 1 (34:33):
You and I think alike on stuff. You just thought
I was going to be negative.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
I forget. You know what? Whatever. I did not.

Speaker 1 (34:39):
You're captain positivity, but I put the wet blanket away
for this one. So we got to run a break.
Broncos country tonight. Back after this.