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May 29, 2025 • 15 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Orlando, Franklin, Ryan Edwards, Dave Logan off today five six
six nine zeros or Kwak Common Spirit Heal text line.
We're spending a lot of time today cutting up to
all the things we learned out at broncos OTAs, and
to help us continue that conversation, we head out to
the Kawe Common Spirit Health highline. I'm bringing out a
very good friend of the program, the one and only
Nick Cosmider from the Athletic Nick, thank you so much

(00:20):
for the time, my friend. How are you?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
I'm great, guys, been listening for the last hour, great conversation,
so pumped to be joining it.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Well, I appreciate it, man, And so okay, we'll start there.
I mean, is there things you agreed with or disagreed
with to me? Obviously we covered a lot of ground.
We talked about Bonix, we talked about the offense, we
talked about continuity. We also talked about the defense. So
what are some things that shoot out to you today
based on your observations?

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah, I think you know, the familiarity part was going
to be interesting to me going into this right of Bonix.
You know, we've talked about this a little bit and
written about it extensively about just how rare this has
been for him throughout, you know, the bulk of his
college and an early NFL career of getting to go
into a situation where you look around and everything's familiar.

(01:08):
You know. He called it weird in a good way,
that having their first offensive install and he knows the verbiage.
He's almost looking around like, wait, am I supposed to
be learning something new here? Why?

Speaker 3 (01:19):
You know?

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Why does all this already make sense? And then you
could get out there and you see it just the
way that he's kind of, you know, in command directing
guys in a way like really being able to be
I think a little bit more detailed in saying, hey,
you know, you know, run this route here, you know,
kind of cut cut that off there, I need you
in this spot. You could you can kind of see
him directing traffic in that way. And that's certainly obviously

(01:42):
not something that we saw at this time last year,
through no fault of his own. But you're not only
arriving as a rookie trying to digest it all, but
you're in a three way competition for the starting job,
and so as Sean Payton said, it's just entirely different
this year, and so I think we finally got a chance,
you know, a glimpse of it anyway, to kind of
see what that looks like.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
Nick, when you look at the Broncos, specifically the twenty
twenty five or you could even call it the twenty
twenty four Broncos because you know, you talked about listening
that pass hour Bronco's retaining eighty six percent of other guys.
But you know what excites you about this team, You know,
you got to get eyes on them for the first
time today. What excites you about the twenty twenty five Broncos.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah, well, it's a couple of things, but I think
it starts where, you know, kind of a conversation after
practice with talanoa Hufanga began in which he was asked,
you know, sort of what were the key determining factors
in him choosing to have Denver be the next destination
in his career, and he basically said, like, this defense
is incredible, and you know, this is a guy obviously

(02:47):
who knows what that looks like, having played on some
very good ones in San Francisco, and he says, look
at every spot, look at every level, and you've just
got players, and I think it's you know, year over
year defense, the variants can be higher. They're more voluable
there than it is on offense. Right, Like you know,
putting all the pieces together year over year can be challenging.

(03:09):
But I think the thing that's different with his team
to your point, Orlando, is how much they're bringing back
on that end. And then you look at the two
marquee editions that they did make, are big upgrades at
positions that were you know, not weak points, but certainly
areas where they needed to get better. And now the
players who played in those spots last year, when you
look at a Justin Sternat who looked very comfortable out

(03:30):
there today or PJ Luck, now those guys are coming
in if you need them as very experienced players. So
I just think across the board, this defense has a
chance to be really special for them this year.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
I completely agree, And I really thought Jade barn specifically
looked good. I mean, he looked like he belonged at
all of it. It's early, no pads were on all
those kinds of things, but honestly, between him and Tellano,
Hufonga talked about a little bit earlier. I love the
way that VJ was able to mix and match and
move guys. I state the secondary this year is really

(04:03):
does have a chance to be really special.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, and I think Hufanga as a communicator that's gonna
be kind of, I think a force multiplier for this
defense that you know, and that's nothing against Brandon Jones
or our PJ loss, but I just think the way
that that Hufanga carries himself and communicates, like you heard
him out there, you know, like right away. I think
the second play of their you know, eleven on eleven stuff,

(04:27):
you know, kind of calling out pass, you know, right
away as they're coming up to the line, and just
sort of being able to direct traffic around him. I
think that's something that is going to be a value
add for a team that again already has really good
leaders particularly upfront. You know, when you look at that
defensive front with guys like Zach Allen and Jonathan Cooper,
and now you get that kind of leadership value in

(04:50):
the back end of the defense, you know, in an
upgraded way. I think his presence is going to be
really really huge in that aspect. To say nothing of
just the way that he plays, you know, kind of
the the almost inspirational way that he plays in terms
of his aggressiveness and getting downhill and all those kinds
of things.

Speaker 3 (05:07):
Nick, when you hear a young bo Knicks going into
year two talking about, you know, having a buddy on
the team and you know mine to nurse each other
that you still haven't done and his thing or your
you're nobody, what does that do for you? Does that
excite you? Does that do anything for you? But what
does that tell you about bo Nicks askevin't covered them

(05:28):
this past year and just your expectations for him going
into year two?

Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah, well, I think that you know the line I
use this is who needs enemies when you have friends
like bow Nicks has, right? And I think that's important
because you know, here's a guy that you know, we
all saw. You know, you get this glimpse of a
player's you know, off season, off the field life through
through social media now more days than you probably ever do,
and you get these glimpses of a guy who is

(05:53):
kind of like the crown Prince of Denver right now,
right like anywhere he goes, he's feeling the love, he's
getting kind of that feedback of hey man, you've you're
the guy that we've been, that we've been looking for
all these years. He's the He's the biggest reason there's
this real kind of I think, refreshed energy among the
fan base about what this team can be and where
it can get back to. But he's also been He's

(06:15):
had that his whole life. I mean, he's a guy
whose dad was a star quarterback at Auburn, and he
could see from the time he was a kid, like
what what it took to excel in that position, not
only on the field, but handling all that came with that.
And so I think that it's it's nothing new for him.
But again, you get to the league and it can
be you know, again, everything is multiplied in terms of

(06:37):
the attention and and and the love you're getting in
all that kind of thing. So you know, when he
brings up right away like, look, I haven't done anything yet,
Like we didn't win a playoff game, our season ended
before it should have, and he's got a long way
to go, I think that that kind of tells you
where he's at and and and his awareness of what
it's going to take to take the next level in

(06:59):
a printed in division with great teams and great players
that they'll face every week.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
Nick Cosmetter from the Athletic joining us here on Kawa.
Of course, some other players that stood out to you
today at practice, well.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
I mentioned Sterna. I mean, the inside linebacker position is
interesting because you know, obviously Alex Hingleton, good to see
him out there, but not participating in the team stuff
just yet Greenlaw the same way. And so we looked
at this offseason program as a way that some of
these young guys were going to get a lot of opportunity,
and Sternad's opportunity came last year right for the first
time really since his first season. He got to play

(07:34):
defense and did some good things for Vance Joseph's group,
and so that that was why they came back and
re signed him to a one year deal. He you know,
he kind of looks comfortable in there starting off the
season in a way that you like to see for
a guy that's going to be a valuable death piece.
I thought, Chris Abrams, Drain, you know, all this talk
at the cornerback you guys mentioned Baron. You know, I

(07:55):
think a lot of people believe Riightley Moss is going
to be in line to take a you know, a
developmental leap in his second full season as a starter
out there. But but Abram Strain is a guy that
got thrown into the fire a little bit last year,
had the interception in the in the Thursday night game
against the Chargers, and I think they like where he's
at developmentally after something of a slow start to his

(08:17):
rookie year. He looks comfortable out there to me. So
those were a couple of guys that that caught my
eye a little bit.

Speaker 3 (08:23):
You talked about a couple of guys catching your eyes.
If you had to put your finger on a nick
who won the day? Was it the offense or the defense?

Speaker 1 (08:30):
No trade carefully here, because you have an offensive player here.
It takes a very personal I'm just.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
To say that.

Speaker 3 (08:35):
No, no, no, never personal.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
Well, you know, I like, look, I mean I think
the the the offense won the day in terms of
when you're talking the splash plays, whether it was you know,
Michael Bandy had had a great kind of crossing route
where Sidham hit him on a dime. You had Cortland
Sutton going up and looking like you know, the twenty
twenty three version when he had about you know, five
toe tap touchdown catches and added a couple more last year,

(08:58):
Like we know that's what he does here, you are
seeing it at the end of May. You know, I
thought those were kind of some of the things. And look,
it's it's gonna be hard, as Orlando Well knows, to
evaluate their running game in any meaningful way with there's
no football pads on. But you know, a guy like R. J.
Harvey kind of getting some of some of the early
I thought heavy work, you know, both in the running game,

(09:20):
in the passing game, and certainly from a size perspective,
looks like he belongs. You know, he's gonna be a
guy that's gonna continue to be fun to watch. And
thought kind of got off to a good start today too.

Speaker 1 (09:31):
I came away from this practice Nick with the realization
that I really didn't feel like I had to spend
all my efforts studying the quarterback. And it was a
relief for the first time in like a decade where
we didn't have to come off practice. And the entire narrative,
the entire conversation is centered around how did our young
quarterback or whoever it was, look out there because I

(09:55):
felt like they were just good, Like the offense looked good,
he looked good, they looked calm. There's a core competency
to their approach. It didn't look like things were you know,
really just you know, truncated and they couldn't figure it out.
Did you agree with that sentiment?

Speaker 2 (10:11):
Well, and Sean Payton mentioned that right, like there wasn't
any of this, like there was no sending the offense
back into the huddle to get things right. I think
there was one whistle before a play I think with
a third team or you know that like kind of
second or third group where you had one of the
undrafted rooky wide receivers and Peyton was trying to just
get him I think a little bit closer in the alignment.

(10:33):
But outside of that, you had no kind of interruptions
in the in the in the kind of huddle to
rely on a scrimmage to snap sort of process. And
that was something that was obviously a little bit different
from where they were at this time last year. And
I agree with you right from from the perspective of
like what we do in covering this team, like you know,
you you have to give the quarterback oxygen when there's

(10:54):
any kind of doubt or mystery about what that position
is going to be, and it'll continue to be a
you know, really interesting storyline about just where bo Nicks's
development comes, where his biggest opportunities for growth are what
he really improves on, and all those other things. But
you know, you can spend this off season digging into
some other stories and kind of you know, giving oxygen

(11:17):
to other parts of the roster in a way that
it's it's hard to do when that quarterback position demands
so much of your at tension. So I'm in total
alignment with you that I think that's going to make,
you know, obviously this off season and then into training camp,
you know, kind of fund and monitor Nick.

Speaker 3 (11:32):
Earlier on the show, I believe Brian said that when
we were talking about Javonte Williams catches, I think you
said fifty two. Yeah, yeah, so yeah, there was fifty
two catches, right. I mean, do you think those go
all to the young the young Buck, the UCF or
do you think you know that now gets split up
between the tight end position and the running back position
as far as just production wise for bo Nicks and

(11:54):
having you know, another option coming out of the backfield
for this year.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
Yeah, it's a it's a great question. I think some
of those will. I look at some of those as
Evan Ingram catches now, just because of how how close
he's going to be in a lot of times, especially
on third down, to the line of scrimmage, like operating
out of that slot, finding the space that he needs
to get to to give Bonix a window to, you know,
to pick up you know, maybe it's maybe it's pick

(12:19):
up four yards on first down so that you're in
a more manageable position, or maybe it's making the contested
grab on third down, you know, to keep to keep
the possession alive. That's where I kind of see some
of those going. But I also, you know, there's a
lot of talk, obviously and necessarily about r. J. Harvey
and his sort of growth as a pass catcher, what

(12:41):
that's going to look like, because we just didn't get
to see it a lot at Central Florida. I believe
he'll be a significant part of the passing game from
year one, you know. But but I think Joel McLoughlin
is kind of the forgotten guy in terms of they're
still going to have three running backs that they use now.
I think the goal would be to not have those
three be sore of as you know, kind of vallatle

(13:01):
in terms of who's getting the most carries as it
was a year ago. But but you want maybe that
third guy to be a little bit more specialized. And
so I think Joel McLaughlin continuing to grow as a
receiver will also be a part of where some of
some of Williams's production gets dispersed this year.

Speaker 1 (13:19):
Nick, last one, I half for you. Always great to
catch up with you, my friend, and I like talking
basketball with you for just a moment. I do want
to get your thoughts on the David Adelman Higher. Are
you of the opinion that they should have gone with
the GM first? Do you like the Higher? Do you
like the messaging so far from the Nuggets, which sounds
a lot like we're running it back next year with

(13:40):
some additions and depths.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yeah, you know, I think in some ways this is
a team that's been I don't want to say painted
into a corner, but they are in a position where,
you know, with with the new CBA and the way
that that works with it, you know, the second apron
and all that, the lifting of their roster movement, you know,
is kind of in place. And I think if you're

(14:05):
gonna have a team that that is operating largely the
same way that they have before, you know, Adaman makes
sense to me for a couple of reasons. Number one
is what he just did. And and you know Josh
Cronky's description of saying, you know, I think the way
that this plane was headed had I not made those
moves was being in the play in and exiting the
play in. You know, I don't know that Nicole Yoakich

(14:25):
is letting them lose a play in game, but but
that aside, it was it was clearly a really strong
job by Adalman to to win the final three, get
them the home seed, beat Ty Lou, a great head coach,
in a seven game series, and take a Thunder team
that clearly is the best team in the NBA and
it is kind of the odds on favorite to win
the championship to a seventh game. I think that, you know,

(14:48):
the the respect internally that that earned made sense to me.
And and again, he's a guy that's been around, has
had head coaching opportunities or at least interview opportunities in
the last couple of years and was gonna be on
that get again. So I think for a lot of
those reasons it makes sense. And now, you know what,
what does he bring differently from the development standpoint that
I think is That's why I think it makes sense

(15:09):
to go ahead and get him in place now, because
that is going to be central to what they do,
is how can you get these guys that are gonna
have to be larger impact guys? How do you how
do you turn a Julian Strawther game like he had
in in Game four against the Thunder, Game five against
the Thunder into a you know, more consistent piece of
production for you and you know, getting more out of

(15:31):
Jamal Murray from the start of the season. That that's
Battleman's task. And so that's why I think it made
sense to get him in place, establish what his his
role is really with this squad and give him a
chance to hit the ground running with that.

Speaker 1 (15:43):
Nick always appreciate the time, my friend, Thank you so
much for joining us.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
Man.

Speaker 1 (15:47):
Thank you, thanks, Nick.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
Yeah, I appreciate it, fellows.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
We well talking all right. Nick Cosmier from The Athletic,
one of my favorite writers
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