08 07 25 Former Bronco Nick Ferguson talks about standout players at training camp

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Denver Broncos traveling to the Bay Area for joint practices
in a preseason game with the San Francisco forty nine ers.
What have we learned from Broncos camp thus far and
who will play in the preseason game.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Joining us now on the ka Common Spirit Health Hotline,
former Bronco and host of Broncos Country Tonight, it's Nick Ferguson. Nick,
thank you so much for joining us today.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
Thank you guys. How's it going this morning?

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Doing well?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Doing well? Hey, I know there's a lot of days
to talk about when we're talking Broncos training camp so far,
but if you had to boil them all down, what
or who has really stood out to you at camp?

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Well, for me, it's Troy Franklin. And the reason I
say Troy Franklin because all odds are on him because
of his relationship with Bo, but also last season he
didn't really live up to expectations. He had a couple
opportunities to haul us some big catchers that would have
really put his names on the marquee, but he didn't
come through. So there was a lot of pressure on

(00:52):
him coming into this season and see what he's going
to do in his second season and that first year
as a rookie. What are you talking about bow, Troy Franklin,
anyone else. Your head's spinning with all the information that's
coming through. I don't know if you guys have ever
heard Sean Payton spit out a play, but it's like
fourteen words and sometimes it's really hard to digest. And
if you're trying to learn your routes and then coaches

(01:14):
are yelling and screaming at you, it makes it really difficult.
But this off season, I mean, he's come in and
he's looked great and I'm looking forward to seeing what
he's going to do against the forty nine ers this weekend.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
Nick, from your perch, does it look like the Broncos,
based on camp have addressed their needs with the draft
and signings And if not, where do those holes still exist?

Speaker 3 (01:35):
Well, you still have your issues at the linebacker position
because it's about depth because Drew Sanders was supposed to
compete and provide that depth, but he got an injury.
He'll be back, but you're still wondering, Okay, well, can
some of the other guys step up into that rope?
But I will say this, when you think about Sean
Payton and what they did in the off season and

(01:55):
in the draft, A lot of that was tilted towards
the defensive side of the ball. They realized was that
that's the true strength of this Broncos team. I know
we talk about Bow and bo is very talented and
I'm expecting him to do some great things, but the
strength of this team is on the defensive side. If
I could take you guys back for just a second,
go back to twenty fifteen. If you remember what happened

(02:16):
in twenty fifteen, the Broncos went to the Super Bowl?
Why because of their defense And as much as people
praise the quarterback position, they never win games by themselves.
And putting all this emphasis into the defense, it will
give Bowl and Sean Payton opportunity to really show how
brilliant they are from a skills standpoint. From Bowl and

(02:36):
the brilliant state of Sean Payton, because that means you're
going to get more possessions as defense takes the ball away.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
You mentioned Super Bowl as a former player. Do you
read much into the word super Bowl already being tossed around?
Are we getting a little too excited? Does that energize
the team. What's your serial overall reaction to people already
talking about Super Bowl competitions.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
I like it and we should love it in Broncos country.
And the reason I like it because that was kind
of the word or the day, that was the narrative
with every team I played on, whether we got there
or not, because that was the standard. The standard wasn't hey,
let's just win enough games to be relevant. It wasn't hey,
let's just win the first playoff game and they celebrate that. No,

(03:20):
it was about winning the whole damn thing. And to
hear and see that now nationally people are talking about
the Broncos in that way. To me, it's kind of
nostalgic and everyone should embrace it.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
Well, it gets started with the preseason game coming up,
I believe on Saturdays. So Nick, who and who is
not going to play in that preseason game with the
forty nine ers.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
Well, see, that all depends on the coaches. Some guys
are different. I don't know how the Broncos up there
going on approach it. Are they going to play their starters?
Are they going to sit their starters? But I'll say this,
it's going to be a competitive game and it's going
to start even before the game actually takes place, because
it's going to start in the joint practices. As a
guy who's quite familiar with Robert solid the defensive coordinated
for this AAN Francisco forty nine ers, and head coach

(04:02):
Kyle Shanahan, they're going to bring a lot of jews
and those joint progresses. And I have to tell you this,
these joint practices are more intense than the preseason game.
So here's what's going to happen. They're going to take
their stars, They're going to put them out there. If
those guys perform well on those joint practices, they're going
to hold them out of this this kind of Saturday
preseason game. Because now you get a lot of those

(04:24):
younger guys opportunity to play. And it's important that those
guys get a lot of playing time because it gives
the coaches more film to evaluate, but it gives those
young players more experiences as well, So we may see
more of RJ. Harvey in this game opposed to JK.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Dobbins, former bronco hosts to Broncos Country Tonight, it's Nick Ferguson.
Thanks Nick, appreciate you guys are KOA. Broncos game day
coverage will begin at three pm Saturday, with kickoff at
six point thirty. You're on KOA