March 31, 2025 • 6 mins
Team reporter Elisa Hernandez and lead writer Aric DiLalla take a deep dive into what they learned about free agency, the Broncos’ uniforms and more at the NFL Annual Meeting in Palm Beach, Florida.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here at the NFL Annual Meeting alongside our lead round
deferb Brooks dot Com, Eric Zala, I'm rich reporter and
host elisaid Nan. This a lot of news been kind
of floating around during these meetings, but it's fun to
be down here connecting with ownership and coaching staff and
kind of getting a preview of what's to come for
next season.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
That's right, and it's it's been beautiful all week. At
least it's been sunny. As we're recording this recap, the
rain is starting to come down. So we're gonna tell
everybody what they need to know, but we're gonna do
it quickly as well.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Right, Well, we caught up with general manager George Payton
as well as head coach Sean Payton, specifically about free
agency moves that they had. What can you say about
what they said about Drake green Law as well as
Halenoahafungo's Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
This was the first time we'd heard from Sean Payton
and George Payton since the Broncos kind of big free
agent moves, I would say. Later Greg Penner kind of
described it as an opportunistic free agency period. He said
a couple of years ago, we had to be aggressive
because of the holes on offense and defense, particularly on
the lines, and then last year you're a little more
reserved because of the salary cap situation. This year they
were able to be opportunistic go after some guys, and
(00:58):
like you said, they got Drake green Law line back
from San Francisco and Talanoa Hufunga, the safety from San Francisco,
and what we heard from them was that these are
game changing type players, right that they go all out,
they play with effort, their physical type players. We heard
from Sean Payton's about toalanoho Funga saying that listen, he's
gonna play extremely hard. He's a first responder in terms
(01:20):
of how he gets to the ball, and that's really key,
I think for this defense. Obviously, the Broncos tried to
shore up the middle of the field there on the
defensive side of the ball. I think the other key
in terms of these two guys and Evan Ingram, who
will talk about in a second, is you know they've
struggled with some injuries. There's been some injury concerns. One
of the things Sean Payton says is that he really
(01:40):
thinks that the Broncos with their training staff, the way
that they've been able to have the fewest injuries in
the league the last two years, They're going to take
care of these guys the right way, have them ready
to go for Sundays.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
You've touched on Evan Ingram. Everyone's kind of been saying
that Champagne found that joker player that he needed. Definitely
a big production in the middle of the field.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yeah, that's right. And I asked Shawn in particular, how
does his help Bone Niggs And he said, right, the
interior triangle of the field. When you talk about the
running back, the tight end, that interior receiver, the guy
in the slot, that's critical for attacking a defense. And
with Evan Ingram, the Broncos will be able to do that.
This is a guy that can run well after the catch.
He's athletic. Sean Payton said, he's great when he cut
the football in his hands and he gives you on
(02:19):
third down and in the red zone. I think a
weapon that maybe they haven't had the last few years.
They've been looking for that joker shon excuse me, George
Payton said at the combine, it's like finding a locknest Monster. Well,
maybe they reeled him in with Evan Ingram.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Well, you like to see the matter that they're able
to put out of their hat, and when you look
at what else's team needs, the running back position kind
of seems to linger there.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, we didn't see the Broncos sign a running back
in free agency yet, and Sean Payton said on Monday
that it was kind of a weaker class from their perspective,
but they're excited about this draft. It's a strong class.
George Payton said, from the second round all the way
the sixth round, you can find a running back. I
wonder if you know obviously points out there there's been
a lot of ties to first round connections. He specifically
said second to sixth. I don't know if that rules
(02:58):
anything out in the other two rounds. But there's a
lot of different flavors of running backs, as George Payton said,
whether it's a three down back, you know, power, speed, elusiveness,
lots of different traits the Broncos can look at.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Is definite a lot of gems that you can find,
especially in that late run. In fact, the Broncos are
really good at finding those things. When you look at
what's to come training camp in specifically hike excited. Are
you for that to get going? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
I think that That's one of the things we heard
about from owner and CEO Greg Penner is that because
of the construction at Bronco's Park powered by Common Spirit,
things will look a little bit different, probably expecting around
eight hundred and nine hundred fans at training camp this
one year. They're gonna have to find a way to
make things work as you build this state of the
art facility. Obviously, we heard about the NFLPA survey and
how they're making sure to take care of these kind
(03:40):
of the feedback that they've gotten from players. One of
that is a bigger locker room, right, more space for players. Well,
you've got to build it and so it will impact
training camp a little bit this year. The other thing
we heard from Greg Penner that stood out at LISA
is about the stadium. I know there's a lot of
interest in that. Nothing official yet, right, They're still exploring
all options, still looking at several different sites for a
potential news stadium, looking at the current site in terms
(04:02):
of what they want to do, but nothing official. There
still years left on the lease at in Power Field,
at mile high, so nothing imminent necessarily from a stadium standpoint.
We heard Domani Leach say that as well.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Yeah. When I spoke to Demani Leach is specifically about
Broncos Park, he mentioned that it's about fifteen percent done
and they're excited to see kind of where this goes,
and they're looking to move into that around May of
next year. So that's really exciting to see. Now as
it's starting to drip on us, we have to talk
about the drip of the Broncos. Which is the uniform.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I like it that's away right, Yeah. I think the
biggest news maybe from owners meeting so far, is that
there's a rule change in terms of alternate jerseys, which
includes the throwback jerseys, the Broncos Midnight Navy uniforms. You
can now wear them four times in a season. Previously
been three. So you know, the Broncos wore their throwbacks
against the Raiders and Chiefs last year, they wore the
Navies and that thriller against the Browns. You can add
(04:49):
one more this year and so maybe you wear the
throwbacks three and you do the Navy one time, maybe
you do two and two. We'll have to see how
that all goes. I'm sure that I'll be announced closer
to the season. But for fans of the throwbacks, fans
of the alternates, this is a really big deal. The
one other piece of news from Domani Leitch's media availability
was international game. Nothing is guaranteed, not necessarily a foregone
(05:11):
conclusion that the team will play an international game, but
they have stated a preference to play in Berlin, which
would be against the Indianapolis Colts, or in London against
the Jets. Sounds like Berlin is that kind of top
priority for the Broncos. We know that Sean Payton loves
having a chance for his team to go and Bond
spend some time on the road together. We saw work
last year right at the Greenbriar kind of spurred this
whole playoff run with a two game win streak, so
(05:35):
we'll see what happens there. But yeah, it's been a
great week down here at the Breakers. And it's funny
because it's been lovely all week. Now we get a
little bit of a shower to cool off and too.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Much heat from this analysis. That's why they got the
coolest I think that's it. Well, there you have a
Broncos country. Really excited to see what plays out over
the next couple of months. As always, I'm your treum
reporter and host a Lisa and Nandez, staying alongside my
weatherman over here, Eric Dlahl, who's lost your lead writer
on and Brokens dot com.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
M hmm
Here at the NFL Annual Meeting alongside our lead round
deferb Brooks dot Com, Eric Zala, I'm rich reporter and
host elisaid Nan. This a lot of news been kind
of floating around during these meetings, but it's fun to
be down here connecting with ownership and coaching staff and
kind of getting a preview of what's to come for
next season.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
That's right, and it's it's been beautiful all week. At
least it's been sunny. As we're recording this recap, the
rain is starting to come down. So we're gonna tell
everybody what they need to know, but we're gonna do
it quickly as well.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Right, Well, we caught up with general manager George Payton
as well as head coach Sean Payton, specifically about free
agency moves that they had. What can you say about
what they said about Drake green Law as well as
Halenoahafungo's Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
This was the first time we'd heard from Sean Payton
and George Payton since the Broncos kind of big free
agent moves, I would say. Later Greg Penner kind of
described it as an opportunistic free agency period. He said
a couple of years ago, we had to be aggressive
because of the holes on offense and defense, particularly on
the lines, and then last year you're a little more
reserved because of the salary cap situation. This year they
were able to be opportunistic go after some guys, and
(00:58):
like you said, they got Drake green Law line back
from San Francisco and Talanoa Hufunga, the safety from San Francisco,
and what we heard from them was that these are
game changing type players, right that they go all out,
they play with effort, their physical type players. We heard
from Sean Payton's about toalanoho Funga saying that listen, he's
gonna play extremely hard. He's a first responder in terms
(01:20):
of how he gets to the ball, and that's really key,
I think for this defense. Obviously, the Broncos tried to
shore up the middle of the field there on the
defensive side of the ball. I think the other key
in terms of these two guys and Evan Ingram, who
will talk about in a second, is you know they've
struggled with some injuries. There's been some injury concerns. One
of the things Sean Payton says is that he really
(01:40):
thinks that the Broncos with their training staff, the way
that they've been able to have the fewest injuries in
the league the last two years, They're going to take
care of these guys the right way, have them ready
to go for Sundays.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
You've touched on Evan Ingram. Everyone's kind of been saying
that Champagne found that joker player that he needed. Definitely
a big production in the middle of the field.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yeah, that's right. And I asked Shawn in particular, how
does his help Bone Niggs And he said, right, the
interior triangle of the field. When you talk about the
running back, the tight end, that interior receiver, the guy
in the slot, that's critical for attacking a defense. And
with Evan Ingram, the Broncos will be able to do that.
This is a guy that can run well after the catch.
He's athletic. Sean Payton said, he's great when he cut
the football in his hands and he gives you on
(02:19):
third down and in the red zone. I think a
weapon that maybe they haven't had the last few years.
They've been looking for that joker shon excuse me, George
Payton said at the combine, it's like finding a locknest Monster. Well,
maybe they reeled him in with Evan Ingram.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Well, you like to see the matter that they're able
to put out of their hat, and when you look
at what else's team needs, the running back position kind
of seems to linger there.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah, we didn't see the Broncos sign a running back
in free agency yet, and Sean Payton said on Monday
that it was kind of a weaker class from their perspective,
but they're excited about this draft. It's a strong class.
George Payton said, from the second round all the way
the sixth round, you can find a running back. I
wonder if you know obviously points out there there's been
a lot of ties to first round connections. He specifically
said second to sixth. I don't know if that rules
(02:58):
anything out in the other two rounds. But there's a
lot of different flavors of running backs, as George Payton said,
whether it's a three down back, you know, power, speed, elusiveness,
lots of different traits the Broncos can look at.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Is definite a lot of gems that you can find,
especially in that late run. In fact, the Broncos are
really good at finding those things. When you look at
what's to come training camp in specifically hike excited. Are
you for that to get going? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
I think that That's one of the things we heard
about from owner and CEO Greg Penner is that because
of the construction at Bronco's Park powered by Common Spirit,
things will look a little bit different, probably expecting around
eight hundred and nine hundred fans at training camp this
one year. They're gonna have to find a way to
make things work as you build this state of the
art facility. Obviously, we heard about the NFLPA survey and
how they're making sure to take care of these kind
(03:40):
of the feedback that they've gotten from players. One of
that is a bigger locker room, right, more space for players. Well,
you've got to build it and so it will impact
training camp a little bit this year. The other thing
we heard from Greg Penner that stood out at LISA
is about the stadium. I know there's a lot of
interest in that. Nothing official yet, right, They're still exploring
all options, still looking at several different sites for a
potential news stadium, looking at the current site in terms
(04:02):
of what they want to do, but nothing official. There
still years left on the lease at in Power Field,
at mile high, so nothing imminent necessarily from a stadium standpoint.
We heard Domani Leach say that as well.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Yeah. When I spoke to Demani Leach is specifically about
Broncos Park, he mentioned that it's about fifteen percent done
and they're excited to see kind of where this goes,
and they're looking to move into that around May of
next year. So that's really exciting to see. Now as
it's starting to drip on us, we have to talk
about the drip of the Broncos. Which is the uniform.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I like it that's away right, Yeah. I think the
biggest news maybe from owners meeting so far, is that
there's a rule change in terms of alternate jerseys, which
includes the throwback jerseys, the Broncos Midnight Navy uniforms. You
can now wear them four times in a season. Previously
been three. So you know, the Broncos wore their throwbacks
against the Raiders and Chiefs last year, they wore the
Navies and that thriller against the Browns. You can add
(04:49):
one more this year and so maybe you wear the
throwbacks three and you do the Navy one time, maybe
you do two and two. We'll have to see how
that all goes. I'm sure that I'll be announced closer
to the season. But for fans of the throwbacks, fans
of the alternates, this is a really big deal. The
one other piece of news from Domani Leitch's media availability
was international game. Nothing is guaranteed, not necessarily a foregone
(05:11):
conclusion that the team will play an international game, but
they have stated a preference to play in Berlin, which
would be against the Indianapolis Colts, or in London against
the Jets. Sounds like Berlin is that kind of top
priority for the Broncos. We know that Sean Payton loves
having a chance for his team to go and Bond
spend some time on the road together. We saw work
last year right at the Greenbriar kind of spurred this
whole playoff run with a two game win streak, so
(05:35):
we'll see what happens there. But yeah, it's been a
great week down here at the Breakers. And it's funny
because it's been lovely all week. Now we get a
little bit of a shower to cool off and too.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Much heat from this analysis. That's why they got the
coolest I think that's it. Well, there you have a
Broncos country. Really excited to see what plays out over
the next couple of months. As always, I'm your treum
reporter and host a Lisa and Nandez, staying alongside my
weatherman over here, Eric Dlahl, who's lost your lead writer
on and Brokens dot com.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
M hmm
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