05-20-24 Steve Atwater with Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The Hall of Famer Steve at Waterin studio, and I apologize for the
quality of my voice a little bittonight, as I'm still getting over some
crud. He just trying to makeyour voice sound deep. Yeah, yeah,
what's up? Honestly though, likewhen you get sick and it does
do that to your voice. Hey, man, all of a sudden,
I don't sound like the white Arkleon the radio anymore. See now,

(00:20):
you're taking a page out of Phoebe'sbook from you know, friends, because
when she had a sore throat,she could see her smelly cats sound really
well. Right, Well, that'sthat's all of a sudden, Like guess
what happens like you start coughing likecrazy and then you go to a lower
register and all of a sudden,I'm like, this is very white.
We'll realistically, I think Ben istrying to sound a little more like Rick

(00:44):
Lewis. I mean, are weall trying to sound a little bit like
got some gold pipes? Man,I'm just saying, well, I don't
know about all that, but I'mjust saying that I'm talking about singing.
Man, come on, Ricky's drummer, I know, big saying took any
I've never heard Rick. Have youever heard Rick sing? No? I
had, well maybe I don't knowdrums though his bands, like you know,

(01:06):
he drums. How do you getmost what they call people who play
musical instruments musicians? Musicians? Okay, most musicians. I think they should
be the sing a little bit.But well that's not true because if it
would, they would be saying theywould be in front of the fan man
right, like some people don't havethat personality though once. Yeah, that's

(01:30):
why. I like, there's onlyone davidly Row right right, Sammy Haygary.
I mean he came in, buthe was never davidly Row. So
if you cannot play an instrument,you become a from it. And speaking
of this, the one person whoshould know this well, of all four
of us on the show, it'sbeen because he was in a boy band,
my god ry it was an acapellagroup, all right, boy band,

(01:53):
a real band. Yeah he did. They played instruments. We didn't.
We didn't play instrument See that's hewas dancing. Yeah. We had
with the with the outfits. Yeahwell yeah we had all right, all
rights. There is a video thenhas been saying that there is film out
there, but he's put it outthere, which reminds me, Yeah,

(02:14):
for obvious reason. So my momis moving, right, she's she's up
in Montana. They're selling their place. They're moving. They got a place
to lake the Ozarks, you know, retire all that other the kind of
stuff. And apparently she found somevideo cassettes from high school. So I'm
like, I'm gonna just set thoseaside, burn them, burn them backup

(02:35):
copies. No need her to sharethose. But I'm I'm just saying,
so she they're coming down. Ithink I think they closed next week on
everything, so they're coming down.On the way out, I'm gonna drop
this stuff off. So I gottafind I have to go find a v
c R, because who owns oneof those anymore? You can find a
vc Listen, I know a placethat could turn VCR tapes into DVD.

(02:59):
I can go it. Yeah,it's but I'm just saying, like,
I don't have a VCR anymore,So I gotta find the VCR to go
through all these tapes because I'm suresome of it's like graduation or games or
whatever, you know, all thatkind of stuff. So this sounds like
an excuse. I'm notifying you thatthese video causetts are coming into a major
metropolitan It be some good stuff.When her he wouldn't have told us.
Well think about what he said.They're coming in by way of his mom.

(03:23):
He never said that we will beable to be actually lay eyes on
that. There's just I mean,like it was ok like my senior year.
I mean I had the Caesar cut, so it was okay. But
prior to that, man, Iwas the only white dude wreck in the
high top fade that I you know, I didn't see it. Like Grant
sent me a photo of Grant whenGrant had believe it or not, blonde

(03:44):
hair. Okay, yeah, Idon't believe this, Gret. You got
the picture too, I did.Yes, I don't have a picture of
grandma blonde hair. When did Iget a picture about six years old?
You have blonde hair? Yeah,bond. Yeah, it's like, where
did they come from? Well,it's is okay, that's like what we're
talking about my brother because he hadblonde hair forever and then all of a

(04:04):
sudden he got in teenage years andthen his hair turned dark like the rest
of us. But yeah, didI really get that, Am I just
losing my mind? There's two thingsI don't believe. I don't believe you
had blonde hair. I don't believeyou weren't born without that mus Slash Great
came out the womb looking like abigger wolf for Brittley, talking about diabetes

(04:27):
and butterscotch. Five six zeros oftext that. Man, it feels good
to be back in front of amicrophone. Although it was a trying weekend
in Denver sports. The Rockies felloff their winning streak, the Nuggets and
Aves were eliminated from the playoffs,and get the news today that Drew Sanders
tore his achilles right before the draftand off season workouts. It's been a

(04:50):
trying weekend in Dever sports. Comeon, man, it's too early for
that, Drew. You know thatthat's the biggest concerned that you have as
a coach in the offseason. Youworry about guys getting injured in the in
your off season program, and someguys trained away right both of the time

(05:12):
you're with the program because you wantthem up pretty well. For me,
that's the crazy thing about the offseason. It can happen at any time,
and as a coach, you wantto wrap your players up and boba
rap, but you really can't dothat. So to know that this injury
took place right before the draft,it gives a little insight into what the

(05:34):
Broncos were thinking as far as howto maneuver and how to put pieces in
place. But for a guy likeDrew Sanders, who I was expecting a
lot of him, I know,vance Joe sub mentioned that he was going
to be moved outside, and Ithink that was a better position to roll
for him because when you're outside,man, you don't have to do all
that thinking. All you need todo is like show me the quarterback and

(05:56):
let me go get it. Yeah, I am, well the Drew thing.
It's it's interesting because I there's alot of people that are like,
what are we gonna do an insidebacker? I'm like, well, Drew
had already been moved outside backer.Yeah, like the plan for inside backers
Cody Barton and Alex Singleton and JonasGriffith and you know all the stuff they
got going on there. Drew Sanderswasn't you know George Payton had they've moved

(06:18):
him. I think it was amid season last year. They moved to
the outside, and then you know, he reaffirmed that at the Combine this
year when he said Drew was gonnabe an outside guy at edge rusher.
Yeah, I think that his losshas felt more through the drafting of Ellis
as early as they did. Youknow, you look at that room.
You've got Ellis, Bonito, Browning, you know, you got all those

(06:38):
guys in there. Coop obviously.Still, I think his real impact has
felt on special teams because that's wherehe got. You know, he got
about sixty percent of his snaps onspecial teams last year. Yeah, he
made a huge impact on special teams. And I would say in addition to
that, just for him personally,I know he was looking forward to this

(07:00):
year coming out of the box uhstrong and being able to kind of redeem
himself. You know, there wasa lot of hype. There was some
little bit of hype behind him lastyear, and I think people were a
little bit disappointed, But you gotto take it, take it for what
it is. He's he was arookie last year and it sometimes it takes

(07:20):
time, but I know he waslooking forward to taking that next step this
year and having a big season.Man, I know, this guy's got
some talent. Man, He's he'sbuilt like hercules. Man, he's uh
the perfect size for whether the insidelinebacker, outside linebacker. I think he
could do either one of those.But I just hate to see this happen
to him at this time. Yeah, you hate to see guys get hurt

(07:42):
at any point in offseason program oreven in the regular season. But if
there is a civil lining here early, you did it early, So there's
a chance he could come back laterat some point. Where would the team
d at at that point as faras a record standpoint, But this gives
the opportunity for other guys and kombPerkins, a lot of those other guys

(08:03):
who may have been like on thebubble, those fringe players. It gives
those guys an opportunity to step intoa role. And this is why having
depth is so valuable. And forme, Steve, I don't know about
for you. I mean I gotmy first opportunity as a safety in the
league. What someone else got wasinjured and I was forced into the lineup.
And man plays for a guy likeBill Parcells, who I mean,

(08:28):
man, you got to build youra game all the time and trying to
walk that tight rope of being oneof those guys who are viewed as well.
He can play special teams really well. He could be a great backup,
but being considered to be a starter, that's a whole different story.
So a lot of these guys whoordinarily wouldn't receive a lot of you know,
practice time and OTAs in training camp. Then now I'm going to have

(08:50):
that opportunity. Yeah, income andRonnie Perkins. Some guys got some reps
last year. We'll probably get,you know, a little bit more reps
on the outside. I M question, I guess who takes over that special
team slot due he was I mean, he was a guy that needed to
find a home in the NFL interms of what that position was. But
you know, he was an edgerusher at Alabama and then an inside backer

(09:11):
at Arkansas. So it's not likehe doesn't have experience at both. A
torn achilles typically about six months forlow impacts, about nine months to return
to stuff like soccer, football,things like that. So he's probably back,
barring setbacks, he's probably back inDecember. It's probably late in the
season. Okay, I want tosay this. I've always wondered, like

(09:31):
how difficult it wasn't being a backupplayer knowing that you had to be just
as ready as the starter and there'sa chance you wouldn't play, even though
you put in all the work throughoutthe offseason, and you know during the
regular season. How frustrating was thator how you know, how was that?
It was really frustrating because you didmost of the things that the starters

(09:54):
did. You may not have receivedas much of the starting time as far
as practice, because they want toget the start as the reps. But
it was frustrating because for me,I had to know both free Instro and
in some systems they're interchangeable, butin certain other systems they have certain responsibilities

(10:15):
that each guy need to do,and you have to know the adjustments for
each guy. And then I hadto play special teams from Mike Westalf and
make sure that I didn't miss abeat at all, right, because you
can't say, well, you knowwhat, they're considering me to play starter
in this game, I could potentiallyplay, so I'm gonna have a drop
off of a special teams. Nono, no, no no. Once
you build up that reputation reputation onspecial teams, you now have to keep

(10:39):
it because that's the thing that gotyou the opportunity to play be considered a
starting in the first place. Butit was really difficult because you're constantly studying
all week and watching film like you'regoing to play, but then you watch
someone else play, so it becamereally frustrating. But the moment that someone
got injured and they sent you andand you played, well, now we

(11:03):
got a controversy question. So wereyou on the sideline? I was like,
oh, man, want they godown? Boy? No, no,
because it's happened to me a lotof my career, especially with you.
It's funny you mentioned John because youknow, first it was Canoi and

(11:26):
Sam, and then Sam went down. I came in and I was just
like, okay, I have shownthe team and Mike Shanahan, I can
be the guy. I'm sitting atGeorgia Tech, you know, going back
to finish my degree. I geta phone call. It's a three or
three hourgo. I get up outof class. I walk out. Is
David Gibbs on the phone. He'slike, hey, listen, I want
to be the first to tell youthat we're making some you know, some

(11:48):
roster moves. And I was like, okay, whatever, you know,
I'm I'm thinking I'm going to bea starter now. And he was like,
well one of those russe roster moveswe just made. And I'm like,
okay, well, what is it. Well we just signed John Lynch
and I was like what He's like, but don't worry. You guys gonna
have an opportunity to compete. AndI was like, nah, nah man,

(12:09):
that's I was just saying, youas tell me the truth. We're
not competing for anything. That's cospeak. Yeah, that's just like,
hey, you know, Ben,you know we we just brought in Bobby
Bones here we for a morning showtition. No, there's no competition, but
it is kind of deflating as abackup because you never know when that moment

(12:31):
is going to come. And I'veseen some guys who when I became a
starter, who was behind me,they were not ready when put in the
word look real quick, I'll nevertell you who the person is. We're
playing in Kansas City. This iswhen Dante Hall is killing people on special
team. So I'm playing defense andevery special teams kickoff, kickoff return,

(12:52):
pump pump return. I get injuredwhen Kelly Herndon hits me in my my
leg and I'm thinking, I'm done. It's a wrap, it's over.
I get to the sideline, Isee two people. I see the safety
behind me, and I see MikeShanahan. Mike doesn't say anything. He
just looks right. He didn't sayanything, and I just gave him the

(13:13):
thumbs up, and my brain waslike, why did you just tell this
man that you're ready to go whenyou know that you're not. The guy
who sat next to me, hewas just like, hey, Nico,
you gotta go back in the game. I was like, I can't.
My knee is killing me. AndI was like, this is this is
your opportunity. He was like,oh no, what's going on. I
didn't study, oh, I said? I said, I said, what

(13:33):
he's me? He said, Ididn't study, So you have to go
back out there. So I wentback out there and there's a there's a
play you can YouTube it when theywere like four or five Broncos players who
were clipped on one play with DanteHall. That was a play that I
pulled myself out. Then you seethe referees in there watching this happen.

(13:56):
Guys get clipped in the back.Willie Middlebrooks is one of the guys in
the rest and calling. But ifyou look on the sideline fart you can
actually see the ref counting the money. But I told at the time Frank
Bush was our special teams coach,and he was like, Nick, I
need you to get back out thereand be on the special team. So
on punting. I was like,man, I am suffering right now and

(14:16):
I need I need one playoff.I just I just need one. He
was like, you can't because youknow who that is back there. So
I was like, look, man, you see all those offensive players.
They're all reserves. None of thoseguys are starters. Stink they're asking the
game. And then I sat down. I was like, if you want
me to finish this game, Ineed one playoff, just one. And
I sat down. The next thingI know, I just saw I just

(14:37):
heard the crowd just this this wildnoise. And I just watched the Dante
just red you. No. Igot the business that Monday, because when
they were watching the film, it'slike we got guys pulling themselves out of
the game. Now. They didn'tsay who, but everyone. They were
talking about, like if we haveguys in the game, maybe this what

(15:00):
happened. I'm like, I justthat for one plane. Hold on,
why did you anyone playoff? Thatdon't make sense to me? Because I
needed I needed to rest tired.Yes, I was tired, and I
hurt my knee. I'm playing throughinjury and I'm on all the special teams.
You hurt or is you injured?I was both. I was outside

(15:22):
and then I just saw him justrunning down the sideline. Do you think,
though, that starting out on specialteams gave you better study? Have
you talked about that player didn't study? You think that having to do both
maybe made you like more dialed inas far as like because you drink it
through a fire holes week when you'reon two units. You know, it
wasn't just the fact that playing onspecial teams and playing defense. It was

(15:43):
two names, right in different years, Bill Parks and Mike West. You
had no choice. Yeah, therewere no excuses, right, So so
if you wanted to find a wayto get on the field, you had
to make sure that you were homedin on everything. And that's what happens
when you backup player. It isamazing to think that there are some players

(16:07):
who aren't fully prepared. Most ofthem are not starters. Obviously, you
know start as pretty much you knowwhat's going on. But I always tell
people when whenever the offense goes inmotion, somebody's somebody on defense is confused.
Yeah, somebody, and then theycome across the back. Oh man,
they gonna get emotion. Get somebody. That's I mean, that's the

(16:30):
one thing you can control, yourlevel of preparation. See you say that,
and it sounds so eloquent, rollingoff your lips, but it's not
true. You don't know how manyguys don't prepare for games because they're thinking
one, I got it in thebag or as a backup. They never
gonna call them on me. See, I'm not wired like that. I'm

(16:51):
just not Oh man, Yeah yousee it, man, game what I
got? What I got? What? What? What do you mean not
to get roasted? Yes? Whichonce the game you had? This is
why, like, when you thinkabout schematically from a scheme standpoint, it
south and you and I talked aboutthis Saturday during the Broncos rick you minicamp.

(17:12):
When you think about scheme, youthink, man coverage is very difficult,
But it's only difficult from a skillstandpoint, right, But his own
coverage is more difficult, even thoughit doesn't appear that way, because you're
relying on everyone on the defense todo their job and see the same thing.
And I can tell you that's notgonna happen because the moment one guy
gets hired, everything in his headthat CPO shuts down. The only thing

(17:36):
he thinks. He's looking at thesideline. How quickly can I get it?
I get over there? Yes,how quickly can I get over there?
He's tired? I get it.I mean, in your decision making
matrix, when you you know whenyou're depleted others, and it just does.
That's why you know, we've talkedabout the advantage you have at altitude
years. If you're in shape earlyin the season, you know, and
you can you can kind of gaspeople down. The Broncos is only going
to get one of those games inthe first quarter against the Steelers. Uh

(18:00):
Russ returning to town. I hada chance to talk to Steve about that
just yet. So maybe we'll we'llwe'll jump into that on the other side
and we get a chance. Butuh the schedule has been released in Russell
Wilson's return will be week two.Get a chance to see that. You're
all right now, you guys.Listen to Broncos Country Night here on k
N four Talk Sports. Diabet Welcomeback to it, Broncos Country Tonight,

(18:22):
Benjamin ol Bright, Nick Ferguson,Grant Smith here with you, senior mustache
afficionado, Grant Smith, back there. I love the Wolf of Brimley Dropters.
We're going to break diabet us.What color is your head? It's
kind of a what is it amoth? What is that is that looks
like it's like a salmon salmon,damon, yeah, salmon. I thought
it was pink, I mean consokay, yeah, okay, that's salmon

(18:47):
color. Yeah. Oh come on, Gray, come on, don't do
this orange the phone case pink?Okay, that's your wife song, Like
it's my phone. Come on,I thought it was an iPhone. Don't
do that, Grant, It's okay, I got some stuff, but what
what? Why did you allmatically lookat my bag of chips? They got
pink on the two Like I wantto take soup, Like, what are

(19:10):
you? You weren pink soup beforehim? Yeah? You? Oh my god,
I know you were there. Ihave some pink converts and the pink
broccol Yes, I'm a bust ofpink soup back out for you. Don't
you know what's happened, happened startedstarted. We don't even need any more
Benjamin Albright particular suit. No,we don't need it. I get this,

(19:32):
Uh I was gonna try and uhwear it for the draft. I
got here too late. I getthis brand new sports coats, all white,
and it's got like this gold likebird thing going on. Yes,
I feel like, yeah, itlooks like an Oregon duck. YOUTI form
almost but like a like a likea blazer. Al Right, alight,
we got to see it. Listento the every you encourage him just some

(19:55):
foolish stuff. You gotta express himself. I'm just saying that's the way you
expressed. Did you think the samething when he when he rolled up and
you saw him in the goal suit. Were you thinking he was expressing himself?
Yeah, he was expressing about nowwhen he had the haircut. That
now that was express I didn't have. You know, I worked real hard
to make sure I didn't accidentally getlike dirt come upper lip because uh,

(20:18):
you know, I'm not doing thatagain. It was bad. We were
chopping we were chopping it up overthe break, and you know, I
asked the question to Nick and man, like, what do you think is
going through bo Nicks's mind when heknows that on the roster is a player

(20:40):
that was taking the second pick inthe draft as the quarterback? You know,
is he looking at this like,Wow, that guy was picked second.
I know he was a great player, he's played a few years in
the league. Is that is thatintimidating or is that kind of comforting knowing
that, Hey, this guy,I know, he's gonna be a good

(21:02):
teammate. He's gonna, you know, help me grow. And I'm also
from this other side. What isThatac Wilson thinking? You know, I
think when we traded for him,he was thinking, Hey, new opportunity,
new lease on life. I'm gonnago in here and show these guys
what I can really do. Andthey bound quarterback in the first round.

(21:22):
I mean, I think that BONNICKXwas looking at it like, hey,
this quarterback was drafted. I hadall this expectation on him and didn't pan
out. Maybe there's something I canlearn from that, you know, Uh,
that's the way I would approach it. I'm you know, quarterback is
such a and I always hate touse this because this is a stupid dynamic,
but it is like an alpha maleposition you have to be. I
mean, you gotta be an halfmail in a league full of males,

(21:45):
right, and so like it's it'sI don't know if you can look at
it as any other any other wayother than, hey, this guy flamed
out, you know, but he'she's looking for he's on his last chance.
I'm getting my first chance. He'son his last chance. I know
I'm going to get the I don'tknow, man, Mayfield Fair, You're
a little different there because Baker,I mean, Baker took the Browns didn't

(22:07):
take at the playoffs. They're broWe're good. What see, I'll see
the situation like one of those episodesof National Geographic. Well, you get
two lions fighting over territory in theSerengetti and it's only the best will survive.
And that's the NFL in a nutshell. But when you are trying to

(22:30):
fight for I guess football superiority andkind of establish yourself as a quote unquote
leader of the team, you haveto serve your dominance, and regardless of
what people may think about Zach Wilsonprior to coming to the Broncos, or
what they think about what Bo Nick'saccomplished in college playing for the Oregon Ducks,
none of that matters. You havea good right now, cleanse slate

(22:53):
to go out there and show yourteammates that, guess what you can believe
in me. It's like when youguys, when the back to back Super
Bowls, you believed in John Elwayanytime, no matter what the score was,
there was a belief. Now it'sup to these two guys who elevate
their level of play and assert theirdominance and show their teammates. Either one

(23:15):
of us can lead, but comethe first game of the season, one
of us will be the starter.That's how you make everyone on the team,
not just the quarterback room better.But I think it can't be a
whole lot of talking though, youknow what I'm saying. I mean the
talking, the all of the leadershipfrom the verbal point of view, comes

(23:37):
after you've won that position. AndI think whoever doesn't win that position has
to hey, all right, yay, you did it, and everybody on
the team is going to know.I mean, in trading cap you know
who the players are, well,should put those especially you put on the
pass Right now, receivers look good, quarterbacks throwing accurate passes, but once
that pressure starts coming, those passget on. This whole different story,

(24:00):
whole different story. But the playerswill know, the coaches will know most
of the time, even the quarterbacks, and they don't know. I think
that Bo Nick's being a little bitolder and having a little bit more experience,
I think that helps him out.I mean, ok so, okay,
collegian experience. I mean he's he'sbeen. I mean both nicks is

(24:22):
bon Nicks and Zach Wilson are almostthe same age. Yeah, but but
Zach has played in NFL games.Bow hasn't. Yeah. And once again,
this is where I feel is thoughBo's going to be the starter based
on how the situation has shaped out. But this is where Zach Wilson's failures
can actually help Bo become a betterplayer because he can tell him based on

(24:44):
his prior experience. This is whatI went through learning a different system as
a first round draft choice. No, the Denver market is not in New
York market. Do you think that'swhat it was. You think that he
just didn't know the system. Hedidn't. Well, but Zach didn't have
a lot of support. Now Imean Zach some fundamental issues of his own.
Well, let's be totally honest,he didn't really have the support system
like he needed. Because Mike mcforewas his offensive coordinator his first year.

(25:10):
Well, yeah, because Nap gotthat bicycle acts and that was the player.
Great. Napp had developed quarterbacks red. Yeah, and nobody else on
that Jet staff that ever developed aquarterback. And so what you got was
a bunch of young guys in thatoffensive room was Zach Wilson. We didn't
really know what they were doing asfar as like trying to develop a guy.
I'm not saying that's what did ZachWilson in, but I'm saying he

(25:32):
didn't have the best safety in thatafter that happened. You know that there's
a lot of players. In alot of players, they go to teams
where the coach doesn't expect them tobe ready and they're not ready. They
need to be coached, but theysometimes they don't get it and they end
up having a subpart career because ofit. Yeah, I think Zach Wilson's
a combination of things. I mean, you had a again, you had
a young staff that was inexperienced inuh in developing a quarterback. Nobody on

(25:56):
that staff had any experience outside ofNap who passed away. Uh, you
put him out there too soon.He wasn't ready the Well, Yeah,
Hackey came last year, last year, Jack Wilson in the lead for years.
I know, but I'm just saying, yeah, it's what you're talking
about, Micha Lafleur. You hadMatt Cavanaugh on that stuff. I mean
it was a bunch of guys thathe just had a bunch of guys that

(26:18):
have never done it. Yeah,and even with Hackey being there, I
mean, if Aaron Rodgers not orchestratingthe offense, then it's like we how
great was Hackett as an OC?And then that didn't help out Zach Wilson
because the fundamental, the fundamentals andthe foundation needs to be in place.
So you have to ask a guywho's coming out of you know, BYU

(26:40):
who at that time most people werelike, well, he didn't play enough
football coming out to even to evaluatehim in that particular way. He was
still learning on the job, andthat's very tough for a young player.
And you had a bad offensive linewhen he started in That Jets line was
bad. Yeah, and so hestarted seeing ghosts, you know what I
mean. That's and he admitted itto his credit, you know, out
there. So that means that westill have not seen the best of which

(27:04):
I'm hoping that we'll push bow Nicksa little bit in training gap. Yeah,
that's the idea. Courtland Sutton notshowing up for OTAs man, I'm
not not crazy about that, youknow, Courting I think the world accordling.
I think he's a great player.I just think last year it was
a solid year for him. ButI don't think he should have went back

(27:29):
in and had this approach at thispoint. You know, I thought he
was building something special, especially withnew head coach. But hey, same
time, it's a business. Sometimesyou gotta do what you gotta do because
teams are gonna do what they're gonnado when when the time, when the
time is right, So sometimes thattime may be wrong. And you made

(27:52):
for you role for you as aas a player, and then his case
is look, I agree with you, Steve that as a player, you
have to do what's in the bestinterest of you because it's two things.
It's football business and then it's abusiness of football, and those two things
sound the same, but they're different. And Courland had an exceptional season,

(28:12):
you know, last year and ayear before with the Hackett wasn't so much
from a standpoint, and I knowas a player, you only have a
small amount of time to make asmuch money as you can, because,
like you said, if a teammakes a decision that they feel as if
they want to move on from you, that they can and it's it's it's

(28:37):
hardening to know the situation is theway it is, but it makes you
think, Okay, well, whatkind of advice is calling receiving and who's
giving it to them, because sometimessome of the worst people are those you
think that love you the most becausethey're gonna fill your head with all these
things. Man, you should bemaking more, you know, your stats

(28:59):
should have been here and then yeah, you're like, yeah, yeah,
I've seen that happen to a teammateand it just kind of ruined our team
chemistry and it really derailed his careerand it never was on track after he
left here. So maybe I'm bellyes, same. I mean situation where
the Steelers were, they weren't budgetand I don't know if the Broncos are

(29:22):
in that same position where they're like, no, no, we're not we're
not doing anything. I think Cortlandhas built his reputation here amongst the team,
out in the community everywhere that hesaw that he's dependable and he's going
to be there, and so thisthis is is tough. Man, It's
tough. I know it's a toughposition for him to be and I know
he wants to be out there withthis, with this guys, but again,

(29:47):
sometimes you gotta do what are yourthoughts on to been? I think
that he's only got two million dollarsleft in guaranteed money on this on the
steal, so obviously he wants toyou know, re up that and uh
and have the team show some faithin him. I think it's tough when
you're staring down the barrel of arookie quarterback Zach Wilson or Jared Stidham after
coming off a ten touchdown plus seasonwith Russ Wilson throwing you the ball in
a contract here, and I thinkright now he's trying to leverage that before

(30:10):
the season starts, because the productionis likely to go down with those three,
and so I think he's trying totake advantage of that. And more
power to him. I'm all aboutplayers trying to get the bag. But
at the same time, I don'tthink he has any leverage. There's only
two million left owe to you,and they know, like it's not if
you know it, you know theyknow it, yea. So it's just
interesting to me. I will seeif there's any kind of attrition, if
guys get hurt during training camp,that kind of thing, and this starts

(30:33):
to change his mind. But rightnow, I don't think Courtland's got any
leverage. And we got to doWe've got a deep perceiver room. We've
got what I'm saying, you gota deeperceiver room. You got young guys
that you can get on the field. And oh, by the way,
you've got Tim Patrick backhealth, yougot little Jordan Humprey. Those guys in
the aggregate can theoretically do what whatCortland does. So see that's the part
that makes it room as difficult asyou know, being in Courtland's shoes.

(30:56):
I understand his viewpoint, but onceagain, it gives other players an opportunity
to showcase their ability. And ifthose younger players start showing up well and
build the confidence and the coaches thatlisten, they understand the system, they're
going to make the necessary adjustments onthe field, and we trust them and
there's accountability there. Now, itkind of deteriorates a position for Courtland.

(31:21):
But don't I mean, the coacheshave seen what Courtland can do. They've
seen his consistency, they've seen hiswork ethic, they've seen his leadership.
So they know what they have inCourtland. They don't know what they have
in these other young boys. Thosedudes go out there and and like you
know what you saw in college.You just have to see if it's a
duplication on the field when it's againstpro competition. If they start to see

(31:47):
that, if it's like a meteora meter, if you will, Like
the position that Courtland may hold rightnow may be high on the green side,
those guys start balling out, that'sgoing to quickly go down to the
red. And that is the gambleand rolling of the dice that any player
not just calling you know, putsthemselves in. When they started to bet
on themselves. And you look atthe roster and I'm looking at these receivers.

(32:13):
All these guys can play. Yougot Marvin Mims coming back for year
two. Now he plays a littledifferent position as far as receiver goal.
But yeah, you brought in JoshReynolds a free agency. Tim Patrick's coming
back off injury, brought a littleJordan humph back. You drafted Troy Franklin.
You got Brandon Johnson, by theway, who showed some things that
you know at times when he goton the field. You drafted de Von
Vallet. You've got Michael Bandy theybrought over from the Chargers. Yeah,

(32:37):
David Sials, a guy who's beenstanding out in practice, Jalen Virgil,
Dalen oh Man, don't forget aboutJalen Berg. Yes, yes, got
some wheels man. So I meanthis receiver room right now, they've they've
got a good twelve guys in thatroom right now, ten of which I
think are good. Rest You comein piss right, you say, look,

(32:59):
here's what I think that I'm wordthat I don't believe that I'm receiving.
Okay, I'm gonna come in.I'm gonna show you I'm going to
be that leader. I'm not goingto be a distraction away from the team.
When you guys throw me the ball, I'm gonna make big plays and
that's what you want. And atthe end of the day, after the
twenty twenty fourth season, you cansay, listen, I did everything the
right way. I led these younggroup of wide receivers. Here's what I

(33:22):
think that I'll work. I meanin this situation, and I'm not quotling,
so I'm not gonna count as pockets. I think that could be a
better way of dealing with the situation, using your frustrations to move you forward
so that it would solidify your position. Yeah, no, that's right,
Sam, Steve. We always appreciateit. Book say Mary Man, I
appreciate you guys,