05-29-25 KOA Sports Hour 1 with Orlando Franklin

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today Ryan Edwards Orlando Franklin in studio with us today.
What's a big o.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
I'm hanging out Ryan man. You know I sat there
and this is the second time I get to see
you today, right, I mean normally I get to walk
in and see you right before three pm. But we
got to hang out today at OTA's. It's right a
Broncos you for covering them and me, you know, covering
my four and a half year old and hanging out
with him. But you know, I'll tell you this, buddy.

(00:26):
You know, today was supposed to be the last day
of school for both of my kids. They both go
to the same school. And my seven year old, he
gets to go to all the fun things. He's been
to Broncos games, he's been back there in the locker room,
he's been different speaking engagements, all different types of things.
And you know, the younger one kind of gets to
the shorter end of the stake all the time. And
I talked to my wife last week and said, I

(00:48):
want to bring Kylo. I want to bring our four
and a half year old. You know, it's his last day,
it's preschool, like the heck with that, Let's bring him
out there. It's going to be awesome.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
What a special occasion.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Yeah, you know, the boys right, just hanging out all day.
I'll tell you what, man, the Broncos had nothing on
Bluie and the iPad that was going on, and it's
had the whole entire time he was there, because that's
all that kid did the whole time. And I thought
that he was so pumped up and so excited. And
we were going to watch the Broncos and talk about
the players all day all the way back home, but

(01:20):
all we talked about was Blue and him watching his iPad.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
You know, it's an interesting thing as a father also
to learn those lessons we were talking right before we
got on.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
We have all sorts of great insights from OTZ today.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
We got some great sound to get to the Cosmetos
is gonna enjoy stafter five o'clock. All sorts of fun
stuff today, So stick around. But on that for a second.
And I told you a story about me taking my
girls to a baseball into a Rockies game. Now again,
they don't know if the Rockies are good or not.
It's just it's a baseball game. You think, hey, this
is pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
This is a cool thing.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
That I, as a kid grow up in New Mexico,
did not get I did not get opportunity to do
anything like this, and I thought it would be cool,
but they were more interested in the snacks and getting
up down and running around the concourse.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
And those kinds of things.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
But I had to remind myself that, and I learned
this many years later that even though it wasn't the
experience I thought it would be for them, it was
still very valuable to them because they still bring it
up today. They still bring up that experience as that
was so much fun going to the baseball game with you,
even though we didn't watch a lick of baseball and

(02:22):
I couldn't tell you what actually happened in the game
because I was so busy being up and down and
moving around with.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Them and everything of your sister.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
That's kind of thing. But years later they bring it
up as a positive experience. So in their mind, this
was a bonding moment with their dad, and they think
about it positively. So I sort of had to remove
myself eventually. It was hard not to in the moment,
but later on I was able to sort of remove myself.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
You know what, what they got out of it was
exactly what I'd hope they'd would.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah, that's dope to hear, because you know, in my mind,
I'm thinking like today was a waste, like I should
have brought like Zaid and pulled him out of school
for the last day and sent Kyle to school. And
and you know, by hearing you and having your girls
think about it as a positive experience with with mom
and dad and just with the family at a baseball
game that you know, we leave some things. Because I

(03:14):
was just thinking Kylo enjoyed Blewi and enjoyed the Chick
fil A, you know, and he got some Chick fil
A sauce for the first time, and his mind was
blown when we were on the way back because they
gave the alumni players that in the parking lot as
we were peeling out. So it's nice to know that, well,
boys are different than girls. So hopefully in a couple

(03:35):
of years, you know, he values today's experience because you know,
as you know, you know, boys and girls, it's a
different way different with how they behaved their self and
just how the things that they value as well.

Speaker 3 (03:47):
And by the way you guys do the alumni, you
guys have you guys have a good deal.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
I'm just gonna let you know.

Speaker 3 (03:53):
You get you get seats, you get chairs out there.
We in the media we ushered into little corrals left
and right. You guys get to be out there a
little bit earlier. You're hanging out, You're next to steamat water.
I mean, it's just it's just cool. This is a
cool gig. Yeah, And honestly, I will say it like this,
and I mean this with all due respect. Why would
you ever want to be a media member out there?

Speaker 1 (04:14):
I would never ever want to be a media member
if I got to be an alumni.

Speaker 3 (04:19):
We were talking to Tyler Columbus who was out there,
and we're like, okay, what are you here for? You
media or He's like media today. I'm like, but you short,
you don't have to be If you just say your alumni,
go sit in the chair. It's a free Chick fil A. Yeah,
you just enjoyed that.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
They didn't read just emails. That's what Tyler didn't do.
You know, you got to read the emails. When Dom
sends out the emails, you gotta Yeah, I'll sign up
for that. If you could be alumni and they send
out an email, tell you where to park. They tell you, Hey,
you know when you we leave, there's going to be
food right here for you. Yes, as well, right, and

(04:51):
exactly what you said. You know, you walk out there
and you sit in a chair. I've always been an alumni.
It doesn't matter. So as soon as I I hired
from the Broncos and I started going back to practices
and stuff, even though I had to wear that media hat,
I was acting like, Yeah, I'm alumni. That's what I
am first and foremost before anything. Because you're roaming around

(05:12):
and you're hanging out and you know coach is coming
up to you after and exactly what you said. When
you're in this media role, it's hey, you got to
be right here, and you could only come out at
this point and now you got to get ushered back inside.
And there's a lot of constraints when you're a part
of that hat. But from day one, but Buddy, I

(05:32):
was just like, yeah, this media hat, take this thing off,
throw it to the side, and let me put on
that alumni hat and let me start walking back and forth.
And you get going to an alumni ten in the
family and friends ten yes, back with all this.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
You get it I'm glad to hear that you get it.

Speaker 3 (05:47):
It's an important thing for me because I'm sitting there
watching the alumni and the ones that are starting. You know,
they've joined the media ranks like yourself. I'm like, man,
if I could wear both hats, I'm alumni every single time,
and I'm going to enjoy the perks of alumni time
because it doesn't always work like that.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
I do think the Broncos have done a really good job.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
We'll get some insights and practice in a second, but
I do think the ownership, this new ownership especially, is
that a really good job embracing the alumni. I don't
know if that's been your experience, but I've talked to Dave,
I've talked to al when he was here.

Speaker 1 (06:18):
I've talked to Nick. He he's talked about it as well.

Speaker 3 (06:21):
They did a good job with the outreach of kind
of hey, if you're part of the alumni, we want
you around, we want you around our building, around our players,
that kind of thing.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah, and it's so effortlessly. I'll tell you that, like,
it's who they are. And that's what makes me smile
when I look at the Broncos. I will always have
a vested interest in the Broncos, and twenty eleven they
took a chance on a kid out of Toronto, Canada,
and they called my name with the forty six to
overall draft pick. So I will always root for the

(06:50):
Denver Broncos and I want to see them succeed. But
exactly kind of what you're to your point, Ryan, I'm
sitting there today and I look up and my son
gets up and he's walking, and all of a sudden
he's talking and it's Carrie and hey, my name's Carrie.

(07:12):
What's your name?

Speaker 1 (07:13):
That's awesome?

Speaker 2 (07:14):
And I'm looking up and I'm like, oh wow, Like
this is a owner that's talking to my four and
a half year old son. Has no idea who I
am or or what I did for the organization, but
you could just tell that that's who she is and
just you know, putting her best foot for it. I
wasn't seeing a kid there and my son had a
little bracelet on and they're talking about the football bracelet

(07:36):
now and I'm just like, yeah, I don't think my
son knows you know, who he was just talking to.
I was like, hey, miss Carry, can I get a job?
I mean, anything, with you guys. I mean, but you know,
it was just nice to see like that, that soft
touch and that it was just so effortlessly and you
could really tell when a person's doing that because it's

(07:59):
who they are, or versus like, oh, I'm doing this
because the alumni's out here today, and I don't get
that feeling with this new ownership group. I get it.
It's like, hey, we care about this organization. We care
about the people that have came before us and have
came through and because you know, they have all had
a part of building this organization and making it into
what it is today.

Speaker 3 (08:19):
A couple of texts here on the KA common spirital
text line, this is really good. My son still remembers
his first Rockies game at four years old, heckling Barry
Bonds from the rock pile.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
It's outstanding.

Speaker 3 (08:28):
Go yeah, Mikes were about that age two, you know,
And like I said, they still bring it up these
they still bring up that experience that took them to
a couple of Rockies games.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
One of the Rockies games it was, it was in
the nineties.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
They were melting down, and I understand that they that's
their memory of that game. But the other one, right,
was just me with the two girls. They remember it
fondly and they talk about it positively. Like I said,
I can't remember anything about the game, but they remember that,
and I honestly, for me late years later, that's what
I remember. I remember sitting with them, watching them enjoy.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
Their hot dog and their iced tea and the.

Speaker 3 (09:03):
Dippin' dots and the cotton candy, like I remembered that
and just how flipping cute they were. And I have
actually that photo of them from the baseball game on
my phone still, yeah, because it was one of my
favorite moments.

Speaker 1 (09:15):
So there's one more here. Guys.

Speaker 3 (09:16):
It may not be the experience you expected, but it's
their experience and they'll treasure it the time with their dad.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
Yeah, and that's really cool. And that's what I've kind
of got out of it from you, Ryan. That's what
I'm getting out of it from the Texter as well.

Speaker 4 (09:28):
Right.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
I mean even though that I thought to myself, and
you know, when you came in a couple minutes before show,
you're like, all right, because you could, I was like,
I'm in my head, all right, and I was thinking
about it, right because you know, I want it to
be this great experience. I wanted to be a memorable moment.
I wanted to be all of these positive things. And
you know, you as a father or just as a parent,

(09:50):
you're constantly you know, thinking about things and maybe second
guessing yourself. And it's just nice to hear this positive
reinsurance from you know, you guys right now that it
it's about the kids and and their memories and and
you know, five years from now, I can't wait to
have a conversation with Kylo and see what he remembers
about his first time going to Broncos practice and see

(10:11):
if it was something positive for him, or see if
he just remembers Bluey and that you know, little could.

Speaker 3 (10:16):
Be that's I doubt it though, you know, because there's
a lot of episodes of Blue Yeah, you know, I've
seen a little bit of it. I imagine that, you know,
being there being pulled out of school for dad, you know,
with dad, and yeah, I mean maybe, And again it's
it's it's unique, right, the young brain and how.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
That sort of processes that information, all.

Speaker 3 (10:33):
Right, five six six night zeros or Ka with comments
spury El text line if you want to interact with
the show or Land of Franklin, Ryan Edwards, what did
you learn?

Speaker 1 (10:40):
I mean, not your son, what did you learn from
practice today?

Speaker 2 (10:44):
I just looked at a football team that there's debt,
and I was watching inside linebackers specifically, right because you know,
you look at like Alex coming back from his injury
and you know just how horrific it was last year,
and there's no knee brace on the knee. And look
at Drake green Law. He's working off to the side
and he's checked in the whole entire time during the

(11:04):
walk through period of it, and he's making calls and
shift and you're just kind of watching it. And that's
what the weaker parts of this football team that I
thought we kind of needed to upgrade. And Alex coming
back from injury is going to help, but bringing in
Drake Greenlaws that's a huge addition as well for that position.
And I just was kind of glued in to that

(11:28):
today and wanted to see. You know, it's a force
of habit as well. Former offensive lineman. You're constantly hitting
these inside linebackers and you know, you want to see
both sides, right, how they're fitting up blocks and coming downhill,
and you know that's what gets me excited about the
game of football. It's you're in a phone booth and
it's hand to hand combat. So I think the Broncos

(11:50):
are a lot deeper at inside linebacker position that we
may have thought. And I can't wait to see kind
of how Vance Joseph deploys those resources this year, because
we know he did a heck of a job last
year deploying those resources. And it was nice to see,
like just Cody Barton and what he did last year
and now he took kind of the next step up.

(12:11):
And you know, a young man from Wake Forest, I'm
blanket on his name right now seeing him out as well,
and what he's done through his career. Yeah, so just
nice to see it all. But I think that that's
going to be the heart and soul of this defense.
If you have a good unit and there you're blitzing

(12:32):
from there, you're you're in coverage. You know, you're shunning
down the middle of the field, you're taking away the
quick passing game. But those guys are so important to
stop and the run and really the identity of your
football team. It's kind of takes on the persona of
those that position. So it was nice to see the
depth today that the Broncos truly have there.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
It's interesting.

Speaker 3 (12:54):
And then that would be the position that I would
have probably been most concerned about, was the inside linebackers.
But you're right, it's good that these guys are getting
those reps. I think it's your point, Drew Sanders and
Justin Sernad getting those reps. Lavelle Bailey is going to
get you know, some opportunities as well. While your top
two guys are out. It's the one position group that
feels like the biggest question mark. But if you can

(13:14):
see the depth performing at the level even today, and
it's OTA's without pads, we can acknowledge that you could
still see the semblance of what it's supposed to look
like and maybe not have the concerns or fears that
at least I have when your top two guys are
currently injured and not available to practice. And once again
it is OTA's right, it's May twenty nights. We have

(13:37):
some time before we need to really think about what
that room looks like. But I thought today was a
good day overall for the defense in a lot of ways,
and especially even on the offensive side of the ball.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
I think It's interesting though, you didn't point to the
offensive line.

Speaker 3 (13:49):
Most of the time when I talk to former offensive linemen,
that's what they tend to focus on. They tend to
spend all their energy like, oh, well, the technique of
this and this and this and seeing you know the
PLA scheme and those kinds of things. It's fascinating that
you started with inside linebacker.

Speaker 1 (14:04):
Yeah, I gotta put on the pads.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
I mean, that's how absolutely nothing was accomplished in my
mind today. You know, today's a mental day for the
offensive line, it's a mental day for the defensive line
until you put on the shoulder pads. There's real work
that gets done once you have the shoulder pads on.
When you're in those little spiders and you're in your
little shelves and you can't fit up a block, you're

(14:27):
not firing off. It's it's take care of your teammate.
I'm going to be It's almost like I'm brother in
law and in situations like this, like I don't want
to come in there and I'm not going to fit
up a block how I would. Now we throw some
shoulder pads on. I'm grinding my teeth that I'm coming
off and I'm going to try to demoralize you. Like

(14:48):
so for me, just looking at the offensive line today,
looking at the defensive line today, it's it's about, you know,
technique and working your hands and who could get their
hand placement right. But there's so much to the game
of football that comes after that initial contact when you
look at the warfare of offensive line and what offensive

(15:09):
lines when's job is that. I looked at guy's body
types today, that was it when they walked out, and
after that, I immediately now you're looking at other things
throughout the day because there's no real work that can
be done today for the offensive line and defensive line.

Speaker 1 (15:28):
I mean, it's fair. It's fair. The same thing with RJ.

Speaker 3 (15:31):
Harvey, right, and in the running backs in general, I
think and I really liked what my stuff from RJ.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
Harvey today. His quickness is his shiftiness.

Speaker 3 (15:39):
I mean, especially when it seemed like he would be
in line for a tackle.

Speaker 1 (15:44):
I think there's a couple that he might.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
Have been able to escape, but you don't know because
it's a running back and there's no pads on, right,
And that's such a significant portion of what those guys
do is being able to function once the pads come
on and defenders get to at least pop them now
tackling to the ground, but at least gets to contact them.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
How do they work through that and what do they
look like then?

Speaker 3 (16:05):
And that that's so difficult to understand because, for example,
like Gelien McLoughlin looks like a revelation last year during
OTAs and we got through manstream in a camp and
even in the training camp were like, dude, Gelim McLoughlin
is going to be so special this year.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
And then he just had kind of an okay year.
It wasn't a bad year.

Speaker 3 (16:23):
I think that the Broncos didn't exactly know what to
do with any of their running backs for the most part.
I mean, Javonte had the biggest role, but each game
they kind of you know, it's Odric and then it
was Jilil, and then it was always Tyler Baday. You know,
they really could settle on anything. I'd like to see
them settle on something. It feels like RJ. Harvey's gonna
have the best chance at that. He looked as complete

(16:46):
as a back that I that I've seen out there
for a bit. But once again, it feels like we
don't really know. It's an incomplete discussion until the pads
come on.

Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah, but I'll tell you this, Ryan, Like, I think
that what you're putting out is the right stuff because
I was watching r j RV as well, and I
think he's going to be a very big part of
this offense moving forward and the success of bow Knicks
as well. And you know what I noticed out there
was his reaction time. And I think that even though
you know, there's a lot of what you're there's a

(17:17):
lot to point at when you do put on the
shoulder pads and defenses allowed to pop you and things
like that. But when a running back, you know, does
he run with patients in time? And does the mesh
point look right with the offensive line as they're running
with vision? You know, you know, there's so many times
that you could overrun something. I think Girl Lindsay was

(17:40):
a heck of a running back. And I just think
that Philip Lindsay, unfortunately with the scheme the Broncos were running,
and that kind of ran him out of the NFL
with just overrunning some things. And it's unfortunate because you
have a guy that's there's so much talent so much
ability and his body still and probably quite possibly still
play this game, but there's no more opportunities where r J.

(18:04):
I'm looking at him even catching the ball out of
the backfield, find two defenders and there's no hesitation with
the trying to split the two. And now you're saying, okay,
the timing of things and just yeah, this young man
gets it. So yeah, I anticipate that he's going to
look just as good when the pads come on and
when he is sore, and when that, you know that

(18:25):
muscle memory stuff continues to kick in for him, and
he's only going to get better and better the more
he's able to run in this scheme and know this
playbook like the back of his head.

Speaker 3 (18:35):
Yeah, we got the chance to see him catching passes
a lot today, which is one thing that I know
we want to see more of.

Speaker 1 (18:41):
And yeah, I get to do a little bit at UCF.

Speaker 3 (18:43):
But even when I had a chance to talk to
him and the night he was drafted, because I asked
him about his hands and he said, well, I haven't
really gotten a chance to do that as much, but
I think I can be that kind of running back
And you know, I know that in this offense. They
need that, They need that dynamic equipment out of the backfield,
and I you would talking about things that you were

(19:05):
missing last year. That's one of them, Like like consistency
if the running game's sure, but even just consistency with Hey,
a guy coming out of the backfield. We know what
he's capable of. We know he can make guys miss
in space. You know that four four speed. That's a big,
big deal, especially when you get him in those opportunities.
So that was what we got to see today. We
got to see the shiftiness, we got to see the burst.

(19:27):
Those are great signs. But once again, to really understand
the running game, we're gonna need a little bit more time.

Speaker 1 (19:34):
We'll need the.

Speaker 3 (19:34):
Pads to come on. We got all sorts of cool
stuff to get to this. So we're gonna have to
talk about R. J. Harvey some more.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
We gotta talk about evviiting Ingram. Liked what I saw
from him as well.

Speaker 3 (19:42):
He's pretty fast, isn't as big as I thought he'd be.
For some reason, I pictured a much more hulking presence
than Again, no pads on, so maybe there's something to that.
But evit Ingram looks great. But the star of the
wide receivers today with the Von Velay, the Von Vley.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
See, he's gonna be pretty good.

Speaker 3 (20:01):
You know, if Dave was sitting here, he would have
immediately hit me what I told you so because he's
been telling me that Devon Veley is in for a
big year. Well, Devonveley looks like he's in for a
big year. So we'll get to that we come back.
It's some thoughts on the defense, gets some thoughts on
obviously the NBA playoffs as well. I love to get
your thoughts on David Adaman now being hired with the Nuggets.
All sorts of great stuff to get here. Get to

(20:22):
here with Orlando Franklin, right Edwards on Kawa one day
this week that we'll get a chance to watch the Broncos.

Speaker 1 (20:32):
We'll still think we.

Speaker 3 (20:33):
Get a day next week as well, and then I
believe it's Bandituary Mini camp right after that. So it's
all coming to an end here this phase of the offseason.

Speaker 1 (20:41):
And then we're on the training camp in July, which
is a.

Speaker 3 (20:44):
Little bit earlier than usual, and uh because the season
starting a little earlier in September.

Speaker 1 (20:49):
So it's all it's all very quick.

Speaker 3 (20:50):
Do you just for a moment, do you ever get
like a little bit of that itch like I mean,
maybe maybe not right now, because I think most of
the time for by the time you're leaving football, you're like, OTAs, oh,
come on, grown really, I mean it's it's great, don't
get me wrong. It's all it all matters. It's all
voluntary also, But then for training him, I mean, do
you ever feel like, oh, man, pads are popping the

(21:13):
smell of the grass, there's a romanticism about it.

Speaker 2 (21:16):
Oh? Absolutely, I mean my whole entire life, Ryan, I
was weaponized from a young age, and I was taught
to be as violent as humanly possible. And there are
some people that shy away from that, and there are
some people that excel in it. I was one of

(21:37):
the people that excelled in it. And you know, you
are taught to go out there and create as much
destruction as possible. And the more violent, the more people
are going to know your name and cheer for you.
And and you know, you can kind of dispense your

(21:59):
own justice. You know, whether a teammate pisses you off,
or you know you're going through it with your girlfriend
or whatever the case may be. But you could go
out there and you could just grab somebody and just
bend them up like a pretzel. And then one day
it goes away, and then you got to learn how
to cope with it. And for me, I got to

(22:22):
walk away from the game, so I got to come
to terms with it. But I know there are guys
that never came to terms with it and they struggle
with it. But I think when you play this barbaric
sport and you get an opportunity to be a part
of the one percent that go through high school that
make it to college and play it in college, and
then the one percent of college athletes that make it

(22:44):
and good to college and now play in pros, you're
at the top of a mountain, and you know then
it just stops one day. So you always are going
to miss it. Even though I'm two twenty five, I
miss it just being able to do it. And you know,
it's funny that you even brought it up, because I'm

(23:05):
sitting out there today at OTAs and and I'm thinking
about it, like, dang, like I missed this game. I
missed the soreness of it. I miss where I would
be right now in the process of things, Yes, and
that's like you know, appen it up each and every
week and getting ready for training camp because you know,
come July, I want to be in the best shape

(23:27):
possible that year. And you know, how did I gang
muscle mass this offseason? And and so I was sitting
there and yeah, you get of course there's a little
piece of judics like thing, it's OTA's coach with me alone.
But then there's a more of a bigger part of
you that's like, hey, it's OTAs, like let's go like,
this is what I do, this is my profession. So

(23:49):
you're always going to miss it.

Speaker 1 (23:50):
I feel like I.

Speaker 3 (23:52):
Can imagine that. You know, I for a musician is
not quite the same. But you know, once in a
while go see a live show and there's a little
bit of that.

Speaker 1 (23:59):
Man, I I miss being on stage. I miss doing that.

Speaker 3 (24:03):
As because now I gets translated a lot of that
performance stuff.

Speaker 1 (24:07):
Into what I do now.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
But there was a void there in between because I
didn't start out right out of music as an on
air host.

Speaker 1 (24:15):
So yeah, I think I can sort of understand that.

Speaker 3 (24:17):
And I guess it's like, to your point, it's about
how you translate that when you move on and whatever
hobby or if he did into sports talk or you know,
whatever you end up doing to find that outlet. This
is an important thing to find that outlet. All right,
So today mentioned a little bit of the offense. I
want want to go to Bonnicks for a second, because

(24:37):
I tell you the thing is, I don't want to
say that I take for granted Bonis being good. But
I kind of took for granted Bonix being good today
and I had to catch myself a couple of times.
This is only his second year, because he just looks confident.
He looks like he's in command. When the first team
offense was out there, it wasn't automatic for me to

(25:00):
be like, okay, let's see how the young player quarterback
does right, Let's see how the placement of the ball
or how he's operating the offense. Because last year that
was the story. Hey man, how did bo Nicks look
out there? Everybody wanted to know what did bow Knicks
look like in his first reps there in OTAs and
you're like, wow, it's OTA's He had a couple of
good Pom points, a little couple of bad points. He

(25:22):
looked great. They looked like they've been doing this for years. Man,
that is the best compliment I could possibly give them.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
I mean, you got to think about it, right, I mean,
Peyton Mann walks out of this building in twenty fifteen
after the Broncos win Super Bowl fifty and yeah, for
nine years, Broncos are looking at quarterback. How does the
quarterback look? There's always questions. Even when Russ gets here,
there's questions, and there's certainly questions after the first year,
because now it's a new head coach, right with Sean Payton,

(25:52):
and so you're even with veteran quarterbacks, you're still had
question marks where now this is the first time in
nine years where if you're a Bronco fan like you
kind of just take for granted, like, oh yeah, you're
not even thinking there's no thought process of a quarterback
because we have our guy, right, and he looked like
he was in control. That's you agree, right, that's my agree.

(26:16):
And with everything that you're saying, like now I think
that o Nicks will have a sophomore slump, that's because yeah,
that's because the whole NFL is watching what you did
last year. Now, and one of the things that you
do good. You know what is our the patterns, and
now how do we take away those things? And that's
just kind of what we see the NFL naturally do.

(26:37):
But I believe also the Bronco got better with the
talent that's around him. So if you can get better now,
you know, maybe they he can be better with his
shorter passing game and can get the ball out of
his hands faster where now you might not see that
slump right where we know he likes to go deep.
We know that there are certain times you like to

(26:58):
take shots right where that might get taken away, something
might get taken away. But at the same time, I
am very confident in this young man because he brings
confidence to this football team, and he brings control, and
he brings a little bit of a It's not like
swagger or a chip on your shoulder, but you just
feel like good knowing that the most important position in

(27:21):
all of sports, it's taken care of for the Denver Broncos,
and it should be taken care of for the next
decade and a half at the very minimum.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
So he was asked today about raised expectations in his
second year. I thought he gave such a great answer
to that, and then I want to get back to
your point about the sophomore slump. But here's what he
said about raised expectations now that LEBRONC has me the
postseason last year, it's a.

Speaker 4 (27:43):
Load of question because each year you start over, Like
I said, nobody really knows what anybody has.

Speaker 1 (27:47):
That's why you got there and played the season.

Speaker 4 (27:50):
You know, if if we were all what people said
we were going to be, we wouldn't play the season.
We would just finish with the final standings of.

Speaker 1 (27:57):
What they said we were going to be.

Speaker 4 (27:58):
So that's why you played the game. That's what you
got there and go through a full season and you know,
we're gonna learn a lot from this time to the season.
We're gonna learn a lot once we get into the
season and go. But you know, it's got a buddy
on the team we talk about all the time is
you know, we tell each other you're still a nobody.
You haven't done anything yet, and so we got a
lot to prove and we've got a lot to go out.

Speaker 1 (28:18):
There and do.

Speaker 4 (28:19):
And you know, it's it's people like that keep you
in check. It's it's guys like you know, teammates that
you know got your back and continue to motivate you.
And because you know he's right, I haven't done anything
up until this point, and I got a lot to prove,
lots of show.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
So you know, every day it's it's working.

Speaker 4 (28:35):
Every day, it's find a way to get better, because
you don't want to get to you know, year or two,
or go down the road and you know all of
a sudden you got stuck and didn't get any better.
So that's my focus right now, is just not even
worried about what people are saying. Just internally, you know,
I know I got a long way to go.

Speaker 3 (28:50):
I dig that because the mentality of the sophomore slump.
I think you're right. Good quarterbacks bad. I mean, it
doesn't really matter. All quarterbacks have some kind of this
is the NFL moment. Some happened maybe in the first year,
and they can survive and they can move on from that.
But the fact is is now you have a lot
more tape on you, more tendencies out there.

Speaker 1 (29:13):
To your point.

Speaker 3 (29:14):
But I like his mentality there because the mentality maybe
that helps a little bit.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
And I don't know, I don't as we sit here
and project it.

Speaker 3 (29:21):
I think he could do better than what he did
last year, like overall through for three three thousand and
seven or seventy five passing yards, twenty nine touchdown, swelve interceptions.
I think he improve on those numbers. I think you
do too, But that's not to say he will. And
more than anything, the mentality of I.

Speaker 1 (29:37):
Have not arrived.

Speaker 3 (29:38):
I still, I mean, I'm a nobody. I still have
a lot to prove. We didn't we got our you know,
what's hand to us against the Buffalo Bills in the postseason.
I sort of think that maybe could help a little bit,
don't you.

Speaker 2 (29:52):
I mean you got to understand, to everybody here in
Broncos country, bo Nicks is the best thing since bread
was invented, right, I mean, and that's what's going to
happen when he walks around and he was spotted outside,
and I mean, I cannot even imagine. I was off
into lineman here. I couldn't go out to eat. I

(30:13):
couldn't go to the gas station. I couldn't buy gas
without signing an autograph and taking pictures. Couldn't go out
to a restaurant without doing the exact same. And I'm
talking multiple pictures in multiple autographs right when you just
want to hang out and relax like Bronco fans are
the best fan base in the entire world, I believe,

(30:33):
And for a guy like bo Nicks to come in
in year one and accomplish all the things that he accomplished,
it's easy to have a different mentality than what he'd
just spoke into that microphone. You're still nobody and I
believe and I believe everything that he just said as well.
But I think that that's what is going to allow

(30:54):
bow Knicks to be great, is that's your thought process.
Because every everybody is telling you how great you are,
and everybody is telling you, you know, basically suiting you
up for the Broncos ringing fame and you know, a
Hall of Fame gold jacket at this point because of
what you did. But if you are focused on getting

(31:15):
a little better each and every day, you once the
season gets wrong, you know you're going to be the
tide that raises all ships and your football team's going
to have to, you know, meet your expectations as well.
And that's why it was so important for the Broncos
to get a guy like Peyton and Deware on the
defensive side, because you don't get those guys, you don't

(31:37):
win Super Bowl fifty.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
Five six six million zeros are Kawe commis burial text
line the Cosmier who was also out of practice.

Speaker 1 (31:48):
It was Journas after five o'clock.

Speaker 3 (31:50):
I got a Banana's stat for you on the Broncos
coming up here in about ten minutes. Now, I don't
want to miss this really really cool stuff, but continue
our conversation on Bonnix and just kind of the reality
of where the offense is, the expectations of a competency
that we have for not only on the practice field
where we don't have to finally tune watch every single

(32:12):
rep of the quarterback and wonder if it was a
good play or a bad play was good. It was
just all good. It was all good decision making. So
that's pretty exciting. You mentioned the sophomore slump your experience, Oh,
I mean, what are some examples of what that tends
to look like, because maybe it's not always the obvious

(32:36):
drop off Like CJ. Strout is one that comes to mind,
right because he won Rookie of the Year his rookie
season with the Texans.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
He was tremendous. He looked like kind of the.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
Next evolution of the elite quarterback, and you just saw
all good things in front of him.

Speaker 1 (32:49):
Now, they still made the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (32:50):
That's partly because of this abilly to bad division, but
Cji Straft took a step back last year. That's a
classic example for me for a lot of people of
the sophomore slump. What does that look like and what
are some ways, in your opinion that the Broncos can
sort of help him avoid some of the pitfalls.

Speaker 2 (33:06):
Yeah. So, you know, the sophomore slum, whether I think
it's because I think it typically happens because guys finally
get that opportunity to step away from it and it's like,
oh man, I can breathe, you know, because a lot
of these guys, you think about, you go into your
last year of college football, whether you are a junior

(33:29):
and you're coming out early or you're a senior, it's
your last goal around. But during that time, you're you're
already focused on, you know, get an agent, getting a
financial advisor, accountant, whatever. So you're doing these interviews during
the season and you're building your team, and then it stops.
Games are over and immediately like you're flowing and whisked

(33:50):
away to in the night, like to a facility, and
this is where you're going to train. And now what's
everything about? It is about the NFL and making you better.
Like Ryan, I showed up to my training facility on
January third, in twenty eleven. I was three hundred and
thirty five pounds. I just had surgery on my knee.

(34:12):
I showed up to the NFL combine a couple months
later in February, like late February, that's when the combine
is right.

Speaker 1 (34:20):
I was three hundred and fifteen pounds. I had lost
twenty pounds.

Speaker 2 (34:23):
Like my diet like changed drastically, And this is me
not being able to run every day in condition, but
I was getting everything. Like my whole entire day was
dialed in, whether it's you know, film work or you
know out there on the field or you know, sitting
down with a specialist and now getting better, being coached

(34:44):
up on how to answer questions the media aspect of it,
or diet stuff for recovery or what all these different things.
My whole day was accounted for, every single day and
like so you know, playing my last college football game,
go into this system. Then you get drafted and now
it's time to play football. And here's an NFL style

(35:05):
playbook where it's you know, five times the size of
a playbook that you've.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
Ever seen before.

Speaker 2 (35:10):
And you know, day one, you're out there, you're starting,
and they're speaking Spanish to you because you've never heard
this terminology before, and you kind of just tread and
water the whole entire time, and then you finish and
all of a sudden, the season's over and there's nothing
for you to do. There's no classes, there's nobody sitting

(35:32):
there saying that, hey you have study hall or you know,
here's your program or your routine. Now you have to
be your own CEO and you have to figure things
out by yourself. So, you know, I think the sophomore
slump ends up coming in because a lot of guys
are like, oh, I get to breathe, you know, and
and it's not they don't really know how to approach

(35:54):
it and get back into it going into that second
year because now you know, ball is your brand and
that's all you do, and it's life, it's every single day.

Speaker 1 (36:06):
So a guy like CG.

Speaker 2 (36:07):
Stroud, you know, I don't know what he did this
past offseason, and I'm sure that you know from year to.

Speaker 1 (36:15):
One to two.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
This offseason looks drastically different from him because he did
have that dip. But I do think a lot of
people struggle on the field because there's so much film
out of there on you. Now there's a full seventeen games,
and there's a lot of tendencies, and you know, couches
sit now and watch other coaches and see how they

(36:37):
had success against you. Everybody's watching Vic Fangiel's defense and
what the Philadelphia Eagles did to Patrick Mahomes and how
you neutralize that offense, and everybody will have somewhat a
solution or a variation of that in their playbook this
year to goal and play Patrick Mahomes and try to
neutralize them and try to kind of even embarrass him

(36:58):
offensively like Vicfangiel was able to in that Super Bowl,
and the Equals win it.