05-20-24 Hour 1 of Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Well do it Broncos Country tonight,but with all Bride, Dick Ferguson,
Grant Smith, the Hall of Famer, Steve at Water in studio, And
I apologize for the quality of myvoice a little bit tonight as I'm still
getting over some crud. He's tryingto make your voice sound deep. Yeah,
get us up honestly though, likewhen you get sick and it does
do that to your voice. Heyman, all of a sudden, I

(00:22):
don't sound like the white arkle onthe radio anymore. See now you're taking
a page out of Phoebe's book fromyou know, France, because when she
had a sore throat, Yeah,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 say the realistically, I thinkBen is trying to sound a little more

(00:48):
like Rick Lewis. I mean,aren't we all trying to sound a little
bit like got some gold pipes?Man? Blow? I'm just saying,
well, I don't know about allthat but I'm just saying that. I'm
talking about singing. Man, Comeon, Ricky's drummer, I know,
biggest saying too, Kenny, Kenny, I've never heard rick Have you ever
heard rick sing? No? Ihad? Oh well maybe I don't know

(01:08):
drums though his bands like you know, he get drums. How most what
they call people who play musical instrumentsmusicians musicians? Okay, most musicians.
I think they should be the singa little bit. But well that's not
true because if it was, wouldthey would be saying they would be in

(01:30):
front of the fan man like.Some people don't have that personality though.
Once again, that's why I like, there's only one davidly roth R,
right, Simmy Haygary. I meanhe came in, but he was never
davidly Rotha all right. So ifyou cannot play an instrument, you become
a from it. And speaking ofthis, the one person who should know
this well, of all four ofus on the show, it's been because
he was in a boy band.Oh my god, Ryan, it was

(01:53):
an acapella group, all right,boy band, a real band. Yeah,
he did. They played it intruments. We didn't. We didn't play
instruments. See that's he was dancingwith the with the outfits. Yeah,
well yeah, we had all rightall right, though there's there is a

(02:13):
video. Ben has been saying thatthere is film out there, but he's
put it out there, which remindsme, Yeah, for obvious reason.
So my mom is 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
to, you know, I retireall that other the kind of stuff.
And apparently she found some video cassettesfrom high school. So I'm like,

(02:36):
I'm gonna just set those aside,burn them, burn them backup copies.
No need her to show those.But I'm I'm just saying, so she
they're coming down. I think Ithink they closed next week on everything,
so they're coming down on the wayout, I'm gonna drop this stuff off.
So I gotta find I have togo find a v c R,
because who owns one of those anymore? You can find a vc Listen.

(02:59):
I know plays that could turn VCRtapes into DVD. I It's but I'm
just saying, like, I don'thave a VCR anymore, So I gotta
find the VCR to go through allthese tapes because I'm sure someone it's like
graduation or games or whatever, youknow, all that kind of stuff.
So this sounds like an excuse.I'm notifying you that these video causetts are
coming into a major metropolitan It mightbe some good stuff. When her he

(03:21):
wouldn't have told us, well,I think about what he said. They're
coming in by way of his mom. He never said that we will be
able to be actually lay eyes onthat. There's I mean, like it
was like my senior year. Imean I had the Caesar cut, so
it was okay. But prior tothat, man, I was the only
white dude wreck in the high topfade that I you know, I didn't

(03:42):
see it. Like Grant sent mea photo of Grant when Grant had believe
it or not, blonde hair.Okay, yeah, I don't believe this.
Gret. You got the picture too, I did. Yes, I
don't have a picture of grandma blondehair. When did I get a picture
about six years old? You haveblonde hair? Yeah, bond, Yes,

(04:03):
It's like where did they come from? Well, this is okay,
that's like what we're talking about mybrother because he had blonde hair forever,
and then all of a sudden hegot in teenage years and then his hair
turned dark like the rest of us. But yeah, did I really get
that? Am I just losing mymind? There's two things I don't believe.
I don't believe you had blonde hair, and I don't believe you weren't
born without demash. Gret came outthe womb looking like a bigger wolf for

(04:28):
Brittley, talking about diabetes and butterscotch five six six zeros of text that
man, it feels good to beback in front of a microphone. Although
it was a trying weekend in Denversports. The Rockies fell off their winning
streak, the Nuggets and Aves wereeliminated from the playoffs. We got the
news today that Drew Sanders tore hisachilles right before the draft and off season

(04:55):
workouts. It's been a trying weekendin Dever sports. Come on, man,
it's too early. You know,that's the biggest concern that you have
as a coach in the off season. You worry about guys getting injured in
the in your off season program,and some guys trained away right when you're

(05:16):
with with the program because you wantthem up pretty for me. That's the
crazy thing about the off season.It can happen at any time, and
as a coach, you want towrap your players up and boba rap,
but you really can't do that.So to know that this injury took place
right before the draft, it givesa little insight into what the Broncos were

(05:40):
thinking as far as how to maneuverand how to put pieces in place.
But for a guy like Drew Sanders, who I was expecting a lot of
him, I know, Vance Joesub mentioned that he was going to be
moved outside, and I think thatwas 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 to do is likeshow me the quarterback and let me
go get it. Yeah, Iam. Well the Drew thing. It's

(06:04):
it's interesting because I there's a lotof people that are like, what are
we gonna do an inside backer?I'm like, well, Drew had already
been moved outside backer. Yeah,Like the plan for inside backers Cody Barton
and Alex Singleton and Jonas Griffith andyou know all the stuff they got going
on there. Drew Sanders wasn't youknow, George Payton had had they've moved
him. I think it was amid season last year they moved to the

(06:25):
outside, and then you know,he reaffirmed that at the combine this year
when he said Drew was gonna bean outside guy at edge rusher. Yeah.
I think that he has lost hasfelt 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 guys
in there. Coop obviously. Still, I think his his real impact has

(06:48):
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 add that
just for him personally, I knowhe was looking forward to this year,
coming out of the box, uhstrong and being able to ken of redeem

(07:10):
himself. You know, there wasa lot of hype. There was some
little bit of hype behind them lastyear, and I think people were a
little bit disappointed. But you gotto take it, take it for what
it is. He was a rookielast year and sometimes it takes time,
but I know he was looking forwardto taking that next step this year and
having a big season. Man,I know this guy's got some talent.

(07:31):
Man, He's he's built like hercules. Man, he's uh the perfect size
for whether the inside linebacker, outsidelinebacker. I think he could do either
one of those. But I justhate to see this happen to him at
this time. Yeah, you hateto see guys get hurt at any point
in offseason program or even in theregular season. But if there is a
civil lining here early, you didit early. So there's a chance he

(07:55):
could come back later at some point. Where would the team be at at
that point. It's as a recordstandpoint, But this gives opportunity for other
guys and komb Perkins, a lotof those other guys who may have been
like on the bubble, those fringeplayers. It gives those guys an opportunity
to step into a role. Andthis is why having depth is so valuable.

(08:16):
And for me, Steve, Idon't know about for you. I
mean, I got my first opportunityas a safety in the league. What
someone else was injured and I wasforced into the lineup, And man,
plays for a guy like Bill Parcells, who I mean, man, you
got to build your a game allthe time, and trying to walk that
tight rope of being one of thoseguys who are viewed as well. He

(08:41):
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 who ordinarily wouldn'treceive a lot of you know, practice
time and OTAs in training camp,then now I'm going to have that opportunity.
Yeah, income and Ronnie Perkins,some guys got some reps last year,
will probably get you know a littlebit more reps on the outside.
My question, I guess is whotakes over that special team slot due he

(09:07):
was I mean, he was aguy that needed to find a home in
the NFL in terms of what thatposition was. But you know, he
was an edge rusher at Alabama andthen an inside backer at Arkansas, So
it's not like he doesn't have experienceat both. A torn achilles typically about
six months for low impacts, aboutnine months to return to stuff like soccer,
football, things like that. Sohe's probably back, barring setbacks,

(09:28):
he's probably back in December. It'sprobably late in the season. Okay,
I want to say this. I'vealways wondered, like, how difficult it
wasn't being a backup player, knowingthat you had to be just as ready
as the starter and there's a chanceyou wouldn't play, even though you put
in all the work throughout the offseason, and you know during the regular season,

(09:52):
how frustrating was that or how youknow, how was that? It
was really frustrating because you did mostof the things that the start is did.
You may not have received as muchof the starting time as far as
practice because they want to get thestarters the reps. But it was frustrating
because for me, I had toknow both Free andstro and in some systems

(10:13):
they're interchangeable, but in certain othersystems they have certain responsibilities that each guy
need to do, and you haveto know the adjustments for each guy.
And then I had to play specialteams for Mike Westalf and make sure that
I didn't miss a beat at all, right, because you can't say,
well, you know what, they'reconsidering me to play starter in this game,

(10:33):
I could potentially play, so I'mgonna have a drop off of a
special teams no, no, no, no no. Once you build up
that reputation, reputation on special teams, you now have to keep it because
that's the thing that got you theopportunity to play be considered a starting in
the first place. But it wasreally difficult because you're constantly studying all week
and watching film like you're going toplay, but then you watch someone else

(10:56):
play, so it became really frustrating. But the moment that someone got injured
and they sent you in and youplayed, well, now we got a
controversy question. So were you onthe sideline? Was like, oh,
man, let they go down?Boy, No, no, because it's

(11:24):
happened to me a lot of mycareer, especially with you. It's funny
you mentioned John because you know,first it was Canoi and Sam, and
then Sam went down and I camein and I was just like, okay,
I have shown the team and MikeShanahan, I can be the guy.
I'm sitting at Georgia Tech, youknow, going back to finish my
degree. I get a phone call. It's a three or three eergo,

(11:46):
I get up out of class.I walk out. Is David Gibbs on
the phone. He's like, hey, listen, I want to be the
first to tell you that we're makingsome you know, some roster moves.
And I was like, okay,whatever, you know, I'm I'm thinking
I'm going to be a starter now. And he was like, well,
what those Russell Ross's moves we justmade? And I'm like, okay,
well, what is it? Well, we just signed John Lynch and I
was like what He's like, butdon't worry. You guys gonna have an

(12:09):
opportunity to compete, and I waslike, nah, nah man, that's
I was just saying, you tellme the truth. We're not competing for
anything. That's coach speak. Yeah, that's just like, hey, you
know, Ben, you know wewe just brought in Bobby Bones here.
We're gon be for a morning showpetition. No, there's no competition, but

(12:30):
it is kind of deflating as abackup because you never know when that moment
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 Dante Hall is killing people on

(12:52):
Special Team so I'm playing defense andevery special teams kickoff, kickoff return,
pump pump return. I get injuredwhen Kelly Hernder 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. I seetwo people. I see the safety behind
me, and I see Mike Shanahan. Mike doesn't say anything. He just

(13:13):
looks right. He didn't say anything, and I just gave him the thumbs
up, and my brain was like, why did you just tell this man
that you're ready to go when youknow that you're not. The guy who
sat next to me, he wasjust like, hey, Nico, you
gotta go back in the game.I was like, I can't. My
knee is killing me. And Iwas like, this is this is your
opportunity. He was like, ohno, what's going on. I didn't

(13:33):
study, oh, I said?I said, I said, what he's
me? He said, I didn'tstudy, So you have to go back
out there. So I went backout 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. That return wasthe pun. You see the referees in

(13:58):
there watching this happened. Guys getclipped in the back. Willie Middlebrooks is
one of those guys in the restand calling. But if you look on
the sideline fart, you can actuallysee the ref counting the money. But
I told at the time Frank Bushwas our special teams coach, and he
was like, Nick, I needyou to get back out there and being
on the special team so on punting. I was like, man, I

(14:18):
am suffering right now and I needI need one playoff. I just I
just need one. He was like, you can't because you know who that
is back there. So I waslike, look, man, you see
all those offensive players. They're allreserves. None of those guys are starters.
Just think they're asking the game.And then I sat down and I
was like, if you want meto finish this game, I need one
playoff, just one. And Isat down. The next thing I know,

(14:41):
I just saw I just heard thecrowd just this this wild noise,
and I just watched it. Dantejust red blur no. I got the
business that Monday because when they werewatching the film it's like we got guys
pulling themselves out of the game.Now they didn't say who, but everyone.
They were talking about Mike. Ifwe have guys in the game,

(15:03):
maybe this won't happen. I'm like, I just that for one plane.
Hold on, why did you heelanyone playoff? That don't make sense to
me? Because I needed I neededto rest tired. Yes, I have
heard. I was tired and Ihurt my knee. I'm playing through injury
and I'm on all the special teams. You hurt or is you injured?
I was both. I was I'lldecided, and then I just saw him

(15:28):
just running down the sideline. Doyou think, though, that starting out
on special teams gave you better study? Have you talked about that player didn't
study? You think that having todo both maybe made you like more dialed
in as far as like because youdrink it through a fire holes week when
you're on two units. You know, it wasn't just the fact that playing
on special teams and playing defense.It was two names, right in different

(15:50):
years, Bill Parks and Mike West. You had no choice. Yeah,
there were no excuses, right,So so if you want to find a
way to get on the field,you had to make sure that you were
just homed in on everything. Andthat's what happens when you're a backup player.
It is amazing to think that thereare some players who aren't fully prepared.

(16:14):
Most of them are not starters.Obviously, you know start as pretty
much you know what's going on.But I always tell people when whenever the
offense goes in motion, somebody's somebodyon defense is confused. Yeah, somebody,
and then they come across the back. Oh man, they gonna get
emotion, get somebody. That's Imean, that's the one thing you can

(16:34):
control, your level of preparation.See you say that, and it sounds
so eloquent, rolling off your lips, but it's not true. You don't
know how many guys don't prepare forgames because they're thinking, one, I
got it in the bag, oras a backup, they never gonna call
on me. See, I'm notwired like that. I'm just not Oh

(16:56):
man, yeah you see it?Man? Game what what? What?
What do you mean about to getroasted? Yes? Which once again 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.

(17:17):
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 though itdoesn't appear that way, because you're relying
on everyone on the defense to dotheir 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 head thatCPO shuts down. The only thing he

(17:40):
thinks. He's looking at the sideline. How quickly can I get it?
Get there? How quickly can Iget over there? He's tired. I
get it. I mean in yourdecision making matrix, when you you know
when you're depleted, and it justdoes. That's why, uh you know,
we've talked about the advantage you haveat altitude years. If you're in
shape early in the season, youknow, and you can you can kind
of gas people down. The Broncosis only going to get one of those

(18:02):
games in the first quarter against theSteelers, uh Russ. Returning to town,
I had a chance to talk toSteve about that just yet, So
maybe we'll we'll we'll jump into thaton the other side and we get a
chance. But uh, the schedulehas been released in Russell Wilson's return will
be week two. Get a chanceto see that. You're all right now,
you guys. Listen, Broncos CountryNight. Here on KA ninety four

(18:22):
New Sports diabet Us. Welcome backto it, Broncos Country Tonight. Benjamin
ol Brighten, Nick Ferguson, GrantSmith here with you, senior mustache afficionado,
Grant Smith, back there. Ilove 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 a moth? What is that is? It looks

(18:44):
like it's like a salmon. Salmon, dammon, salmon. I thought it
was pink. I mean conno,okay, yeah, okay, that's salmon
color. Yeah. Oh come on, gray, come on, painter orange,
pink Okay, I like it's myphone, Come on, man,
I thought it was an iPhone.Don't do that, Grant, I mean

(19:04):
it's okay, I got some stuff, but what why did you allmatically look
at my bag of chips? Theygot pink on the tea? Like I
want to take soup, Like,what are you? You were in pink
soup before? Yeah you did?Oh my god, I know you were
there. I have some pink conversand the pink broc Yes, I'm a

(19:27):
bust of pink soup. Back outfor you. Don't you know that's happened.
It's happened, started started. Wedon't even need any more Benjamin Albright
particular suit. No, we don'tneed it. I get this. Uh,
I was gonna try and wear itfor the draft. I got here
too late. I get this brandnew sport coats, all white, and
it's got like this gold like birdthing going on. Yes, I feel

(19:48):
like, yeah, it looks likean Oregon duck, you know, for
him almost but like a like alike a blazer. All right, all
right, we got to see it. Break listen to every car you encourage.
Man, just some foolish stuff.He got to express himself. I'm
just saying that the way he expresseditself. Did you think the same thing
when he when he rolled up andyou saw him in a goal suit,

(20:08):
were you thinking he was expressing himself? Yeah, he was expressing about now
when he had the haircut. Thatnow that was express I didn't have.
You know, I worked real hardto make sure I didn't accidentally get like
dirt come upper lip because uh,you know, doing that again it was
bad. We were chopping we werechopping it up over the break, and

(20:32):
you know, I asked the questionto Nick and man, like, what
do you think is going through boNicks's mind when he knows that on the
roster is a player that was takingthe second pick in the draft as the
quarterback? You know, is helooking at this like, Wow, that

(20:53):
guy was picked second. I knowhe was a great player, He's played
years in the league. Is thatis that intimidating or is that kind of
comforting knowing that, hey, thisguy, I know he's gonna be a
good teammate. He's gonna, youknow, help me grow. And I'm
also from this other side. Whatis Hac Wilson thinking? You know,

(21:15):
I think when we traded for him, he was thinking, Hey, new
opportunity, new lease on life.We're going to go in here and show
these guys what I can really do. And it bound quarterback in the first
round. I mean I think thatBonnix was looking at it like, hey,
this quarterback was drafted. I hadall this expectation on him and didn't
pan out. Maybe there's something Ican learn from that, you know.

(21:37):
Uh, that's the way I wouldapproach it. I'm you know, quarterback
is such a and I always hateto use this because this is a stupid
dynamic, but it is like analpha male position you have to be I
mean, you gotta be an halfmail in a league full of of males,
right, and so like it's it'sI don't know if you can look
at it as any other any otherway other than hey, this guy flamed

(21:57):
out, you know, but he'sconfront he's on his last chance. I'm
getting my first chance. He's onhis last chance. I know I'm going
to get the best form that.I don't know, Man, Mayfield Fair
You're a little different there because Baker, I mean Baker took the Browns,
didn't take the playoffs. They werelike, bro, we're good. What

(22:18):
see. I'll see these situations likeone of those episodes of National Geographic.
Well, you get two lions fightingover territory in the Serengetti and it's only
the best will survive. And that'sthe NFL in a nutshell. But when
you are trying to fight for Iguess football superiority and kind of establish yourself

(22:41):
as a quote unquote leader of theteam. You have to serve your dominance,
and regardless of what people may thinkabout Zach Wilson prior to coming to
the Broncos, or what they thinkabout what bow Knick's accomplished in college playing
for the Oregon Ducks, none ofthat matters. You have a good,
right now, clean slate to goout and show your teammates that, guess

(23:02):
what, you can believe in me. Just like when you guys when the
back to back Super Bowls, youbelieved in John Elway anytime, no matter
what the score was, there wasa belief. Now it's up to these
two guys who elevate their level ofplay and assert their dominance and show their
teammates. Either one of us canlead, but come the first game of
the season, one of us willbe the starter. That's how you make

(23:26):
everyone on the team, not justthe quarterback room better. But I think
it can't be a whole lot oftalking though, you know what I'm saying.
I mean the talking, the allof the leadership from the verbal point
of view, comes after you've wonthat position. And I think whoever doesn't

(23:47):
win that position has to Hey,all right, yay, you did it,
and everybody on the team is goingto know. I mean, in
trading cap, you know who theplayers are, well, you should put
those well, especially you put onthe paths. Right now, receivers look
good, quarterbacks throwing accurate passes.But once that pressure starts coming, those
paths get on. His whole differentstory, whole different story. But the

(24:07):
players will know, the coaches willknow most of the time, even the
quarterbacks, and they'll know. Ithink that bo Nick's being a little bit
older and having a little bit moreexperience, I think that helps him out.
I mean, okay, so okay, collegian experience, he's he's been.
I mean both nicks is bon Nicksand Zach Wilson are almost the same

(24:29):
age. Yeah, but but Zachhas played in NFL games. Bow hasn't.
Yeah. And once again, thisis where I feel is though Bow's
going to be the starter based onwhat the how the situation has shaped out.
But this is where Zach Wilson's failurescan actually help bo become a better
player because he can tell him basedon his probably experience. This is what

(24:52):
I went through learning a different systemas a first round draft choice. No,
the Denver market is not in NewYork market. Do you think that's
what it was. You think thathe just didn't know the system. He
didn't well, but Zach didn't havea lot of support. Now, I
mean, Zack has some fundamental issuesof his own, but let's be totally
honest, he didn't really have thesupport system like he needed. Because I
know Mike Lafore was his offensive coordinatorhis first year. Well, yeah,

(25:18):
because Snap got that bicycle act andthat was the player Greg Nap had developed
quarterbacks ready. Yeah, nobody elsein that Jet Stafford ever developed a quarterback,
and so what you got was abunch of young guys in that offensive
room was Zach Wilson. We didn'treally know what they were doing as far
as like trying to develop a guy. I'm not saying that's what did Zach
Wilson in, but I'm saying hedidn't have the best safety in that.
After that happened, you know thatthere's a lot of players in though a

(25:41):
lot of players they go to teamswhere the coach doesn't expect them to be
ready, and they're not ready.They need to be coached, but they
sometimes they don't get it and theyend up having a subpart career because of
it. Yeah. I think ZachWilson's a combination things. I mean,
you had a again, you hada young staff that was inexperienced and uh
in developing a quarter right, nobodyon that Steff had any experience outside of

(26:02):
Nap who passed away. Uh,you put him out there too soon.
He wasn't ready. Well, yeah, Hackey came last year, last year,
Jack Wilson in the leads for years, I know, but I'm just
saying, yeah, it's what youretalking about, Mike Lafleur. You had
Matt Kavanaugh on that stuff. Imean it was a bunch of guys that
he just had a bunch of guysthat have never done it. Yeah,

(26:25):
and even with Hackey being there,I mean, if Aaron Rodgers not orchestrating
the offense, then it's like wehow great was Hackett as an OC?
And then that didn't help out ZachWilson because the fundamental, the fundamentals and
the foundation needs to be in place. So you have to ask a guy
who's coming out of you know,BYU who at that time most people were

(26:48):
like, well, he didn't playenough football coming out to even to evaluate
him in that particular way. Hewas still learning on the job and that's
very tough for a young player.And you had a bad offensive line when
he started in that Jet Sly wasyeah, and so he started seeing ghosts,
you know what I mean. Andhe admitted it to his credit,
you know, out there. Sothat means that we still have not seen
the best of which I'm hoping thatwe'll push Bownicks a little bit in training

(27:12):
him. Yeah, that's the idea. Courtland Sutton not showing up for OTAs
man, I'm not not crazy aboutthat, you know, Courting I think
the world Accordling. I think he'sa great player. I just think last
year it was a solid year forhim. But I don't think he should

(27:33):
have went back in and had thisapproach at this point. You know,
I thought he was building something special, especially with a new head coach.
But hey, same time, it'sa business. Sometimes you gotta do what
you gotta do because teams are gonnado what they're gonna do when when the
time when the time is right,So sometimes that time may be wrong and

(27:56):
you made for you role for youas a as a player, and then
this case is Look, I agreewith you, Steve that as a player
you have to do what's in thebest interest 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'redifferent. And Courtland had an exceptional season.

(28:18):
You know, last year and theyear before with Hackett wasn't so much
from a standpoint, and I knowas a player you only have a small
amount of time to make as muchmoney as you can because, like you
said, if a team makes adecision that they feel as if they want
to move on from you, thatthey can and it's it's it's hardening to

(28:42):
know the situation is the way itis. But it makes you think,
Okay, well, what kind ofadvice is calling receiving and who's giving it
to them? Because sometimes some ofthe worst people are those you think that
love you the most, because they'regonna fill your head with all these things.
Man, you should be making more. You know, your stats should

(29:04):
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 hiscareer and it never was on track after
he left here. So maybe Ibell yes, same, I mean situation
where the Steelers were, they weren'tbudget and I don't know if the Broncos

(29:26):
are in that same position where they'relike, no, no, we're not
We're not doing anything. I thinkCourtland has built his reputation here amongst the
team, out in the community everywherethat he saw that he's dependable and he's
going to be there. And sothis this is is tough. Man,
It's tough. I know it's atough position for him to be and I

(29:48):
know he wants to be out therewith this, with this guys, but
again, sometimes you gotta do whatare your thoughts on have been. I
think that he's only got two milliondollars left in guaranteed money on this on
the steel so obviously he wants to, you know, re up that and
have the team show some faith inhim. I think it's tough when you're
staring down the barrel of a rookiequarterback Zach Wilson or Jared Stidham. After

(30:08):
coming off a ten touchdown plus seasonwith Russ, Wilson throwing you the ball
in a contract here, and Ithink right now he's trying to leverage that
before 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 about playerstrying to get the bag. But at
the same time, I don't thinkhe has any leverage. There's only two
million left owe to you, andthey know, like it's not if you

(30:30):
know it, you know they knowit. So it's just interesting to me.
I will see if there's any kindof attrition, if guys get hurt
during training camp, that kind ofthing, and this starts to change my
mind. But right now, Idon't think Courtland's got any leverage. Yeah,
and we got to do We've gota deep perceiver room. We got
what you got a deeperceiver room,You got young guys that you can get
on the field. And oh,by the way, you've got Tim Patrick
backhealth, you got a little JordanHumprey. Those guys in the aggregate can

(30:52):
theoretically do what what Cortland does.So see, that's the part that makes
it really difficult. And as youknow, being in Courtland's shoes. I
understand his viewpoint, but once again, it gives other players an opportunity to
showcase their ability. And if thoseyounger players start showing up well and build

(31:14):
the confidence and the coaches that listen, they understand the system, they're going
to make the necessary adjustments on thefield, and we trust them and there's
accountability there. Now, it kindof deteriorates a position for Courtland, But
don't I mean, the coaches haveseen what Courtland can do. They've seen
his consistency, they've seen his workethic, they've seen his leadership. So

(31:36):
they know what they have in Courtland. They don't know what they have in
these other young boys. Those dwosgo out there and like you know what
you saw in college. You justhave to see if it's a duplication on
the field when it's against pro competition. If they start to see that,
if it's like a meteor a meter, if you will, Like the position

(31:57):
that Courtland may hold right now maybe high on the green side, those
guys start balling out, that's goingto quickly go down to the red side.
And that is the gamble and rollingof the dice that any player not
just calling, you know, putsthemselves in when they started to bet on
themselves. And you look at theroster and then looked at these receivers.

(32:19):
All these guys can play. Yougot Marvin Mims coming back for year two.
Now he plays a little different positionas far as receiver go. But
yeah, you brought in Josh Reynoldsa free agency. Tim Patrick's coming back
off injury, brought a little JordanHumphord back. You drafted Troy Franklin.
You got Brandon Johnson, by theway, who showed some things that you
know at times when he got onthe field. You drafted de Von Vallet.
You've got Michael Bandy they brought overfrom the Chargers. Yeah, David

(32:43):
Sis a guy who's been standing outin practice. Jalen Virgil, Jalen oh
Man, don't forget about Jalen Burg. Yes, yes, got some wheels
man. So I mean this receiverroom right now, they've they've got a
good twelve guys in that room rightnow, ten of which I think think
reach. You come in piss right, you say, look, here's what

(33:05):
I think that I'm worried that Idon't believe that I'm receiving Okay, I'm
gonna come in. I'm gonna showyou I'm going to be that leader.
I'm not going to be a distractionaway from the team. When you guys
throw me the ball, I'm gonnamake big plays and that's what you want,
and that at the end of theday, after the twenty twenty fourth
season, you can say, listen, I did everything the right way.
I led these young group of widereceivers. Here's what I think that'll work.

(33:28):
I mean, in this situation andI'm not courtling, so I'm not
gonna count as pockets. I thinkthat could be a better way of dealing
with the situation, using your frustrationsto move you forward so that it would
solidify your position. Yeah, that'sright, Sam, Steve. We always
appreciate a book, Say Mary Man, I appreciate you guys. All right
now, Broncos Country Night be backafter this