06-24-24 Cody Roark with Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The text line apparently does not likemy opinion on pumpkin pie. I'm sorry
that you all are wrong and havepoor taste. Oh, I'm sorry that
you're wrong and true American I lovespumpkin pie. I never wrong. I'm
trying to cut your mic off rightnow. I don't have that button.
Only I have control. You havethat kind of power. And I said
Osa's rubarb pie is worse. Pumpkinis king as long as it's not a
spice lattee. Greetings from London.Greetings from London, England. I'm on

(00:21):
vacations to listen to me all.This is super awesome. iHeart radio app
There you go, uh seven too. Oh hey, Grant Ben is totally
wrong. A fresh cooks pumpkin piewith some fresh whip cream is great.
Oh is great. Pumpkin pie isnasty crap. So I don't know,
uh you know what. I'm sorrythat you pours have terrible taste. So
whatever, I'm here to educate him. But Kwy comes but on the hot

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line and bring on my guy,Cody Rourke. We know he's not a
poort hates pumpkin pie. Isn't thatright? Cody? Hey, you know
pumpkin pie is pretty good. Hangup on it, hang up on it'schy,
preachy, But I like I likeguinea pie on cherry pies my favorite.
You know, Peach Cobbler loved that. I mean, you can't go
wrong with some pumpkin pie. ThoughI don't prefer It's not my first preference.

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Yeah, I don't. I justdon't like it. Maybe maybe I've
had the wrong stuff my whole life, but every pumpkin pie had a terrible
pumpkin spice. Lottes are terrible.Pumpkins are for carving. That is my
stance. I'm getting made in aT shirt. This is this is what
we're doing with things, Cody.It's been an interesting off season. We're
starting to see the Pittsburgh Steelers mediastart to beef with Denver media. A

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little bit about the Russell Wilson situation. Uh, you know, that's that's
one that'll obviously play itself out.I suppose what is the off season storyline
that you've most had your eye on? Well, you know, I think
a lot of it is how isthe quarterback competition going to go? Well?
And to be honest with you,I mean I think we all think
it's gonna be Bonnicks. I mean, there's a reason Sean drafted him,

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and I think the early returns ofwhat we've seen in OTA's in Minikap,
you know, a good indication ofwhat bol can do here in a Broncos
uniform. Now, when the pathcome on, I think the evaluation will
be a little bit different, andI'm excited to see how he was.
But I think really the overall storylineis what do the Broncos look like in
Sean Payton's second year with a rookiequarterback potentially and a younger roster. And

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I to be honest with you,Ben, I've been very surprised with what
I've seen early on from the Broncosat OTA's, especially with a lot of
young guys getting in the mix.Yeah, and there's been a couple that
has sort of stood out. Youknow, Steve Atwater was in studio here
a little bit earlier and we weretalking about some of that stuff. Devon
Valley, who I mean, Imean, granted, he's a twenty six
year old rookie, but he lookedlike a rookie. You know, out

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there there's a lot of young guysthat are that are kind of in the
mix. One thing that has jumpedout at me, though more so than
even the ute movement, as itwere, that's Jana Ellis slash Devon Vallet
slash my cousin Vinnie Joke. Isthe Sean Payton that we've seen so far
this year seems wildly different than theSean Payton we saw last year. Yeah,

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No, drastically. I think yousee a change in demeanor. I
think that the team is a reallywith how he wants. I mean,
granted, when he came on asa head coach last year was it was
February is right before the Super Bowl, So I mean, I wouldn't say
it was a true Sean Payton offseason last year for Denver, and he
just kind of had to jump inon the fly and look that there was
no no getting around the whole RussellWilson thing. It was, Hey,

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you know, Russ is going tobe the quarterback this year regardless. And
I feel like this year and obviouslySean and Luto he said that, you
know, he did a lot ofpeeing on trees last year. He just
seems more relaxed. I don't knowif he's litting more candibles inside his office.
But he seems like he's actually justenjoying life now, which I mean
after a win. He said thathe was driving around the parking lot trying
to find a place to park,going to East Sushi, which he hates

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sushi, and he's just trying tothink theself, we just want a game.
Why why can't I be happy?Like that was a sax last year.
So I'm glad he's found piece alittle bit. He does seem like
he's in a much better mood thisyear. He seems like he's got a
team around him, a young teamthat he can build with that I feel
like he likes, and you know, I'm kind of excited about it as
well. It was Sean Payton's firstlosing season as a head coach in twenty

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sixteen overall losing season, sixth nonwinning season in the NFL, and that
is in sixteen years, so obviouslynormally used to winning and doing things,
you know, sort of sort ofseeing things out at least the right way
as far as this stuff goes.It's going to be interesting though, because
you did, you moved on fromRussell Wilson. You've got jared'stead of you
got Bonecks, you got Zach Wilson. You've got a quarterback competition which I

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think you're probably hoping bow Nix wins, but organizationally anyway, But Jared's did
them, you know, kind ofin the in the driver's seat right now
is the guy who's been at thisoffense for a year. But you look
around at the other positions and it'snot just a quarterback competition. You've got
a competition at corner. You've gotcompetition at safety. You've got competition at

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the edge, competition on the defensiveline, competition at the center position,
wide receiver, running back, allover this roster. I talked to Steve
Atwater about this for a second,and I want to get your take on
it because George Payton has been landbased in the media here locally. Yeah,
I mean, if you listen toyou know, every hack with a
microphone that say, you know,this guy doesn't even belong in football.
But at the end of the day, the roster depth on the Denver Broncos

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is better now than when George Peytongot here. And look, I think
if it wasn't for the depth thatthey had, they don't get out of
that one in five hole that theywere in last season, and look,
they made a lot of personnel changesup to the Miami game. We understand
that, and obviously George deserves somecriticism for some things. I mean,
obviously the higher Nathaniel Hacket. Imean, there was a lot of different

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things behind the scenes going on withthat, but I mean there was no
ownership in process or in place there. So you put a lot of responsibility
on a guy who's sole purposes to, you know, help assemble and build
a roster with this personnel staff.You had to deflect from that a little
bit. You know, a lotof people are saying, well, the
Russell Wilson trade at the at thetime then I think everyone could agree at
the time it was the right moveon paper. We didn't know how it

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was going to go, you knowultimately, you know, I know people
say I were like, oh,we knew it the whole long, you
know how long you know what itwould look like for Russ. But the
reality is on paper. I rememberthe moment that that trade went through.
I remember seeing everyone saying, builda statue of George Payton outside of the
empower field of Male High. Andso obviously it didn't work out the way
you wanted to. You lost allthe draft capital, you had to give
up some guys to do that.That was the pain point there. But

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I think Denver's actually found a wayto get out of that. I mean,
obviously they're eating fifty two million thisyear though fifty three though eat thirty
two next year. But Denver's ina good spot with a lot of cap
space coming up. And I tellyou what, like the way that they've
navigated this offseason with the Russell Wilsonrelease. Of course, you know the
one casualty that's stunk about it wasjustin Simmons. They are in a better
position right now than I think theywere last year, and they got a

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lot of as you mentioned, competitionaround the board. The depth on this
team is very good. I'm excitedabout it, Ben, And look,
if everyone stay healthy, these competitionswill be very very exciting here in July
and August. If I were toask you right now, without looking what
Denver Bronco has the highest ap yin terms of salary, who would you

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think that was well on the currentroster right now? Yeah, I'm trying
to think now, is it?Uh Stock cortlandt or Tim No is it?
Uh? Is it? Mike mcglechi, Zach Allen, Oh that was
big, Zach. Wow. Mostpeople, I don't think would think that
the money is distributed fairly evenly overthe over the over the course of the

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roster, which I find fascinating.It's uh, usually you have a tilt
and I'm sure it will get tiltedagain once you know, Stan gets a
deal, the four guys that areset to be free agents, right too,
right, right, And that's gonnabe part of it. But plus,
you know, you get the Russcontract hanging out. You know,
there's still still there hanging like analbatross. But and that will change once
once Patrick Artanget's a contract as well. But you know, it's just sort

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of sort of something that's that's fascinatingto me. One of the more interesting
things. And I talked about this, I've about this a couple of times
now is this And I can't,for the life of me figure out where
this originated. But there is somereport out here that Javonte Williams is washed
and about to be cut, andthat Jaliel mcglough it is set to be
running back one here in Denver,which you and I have been there for

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a viewing sessions. I don't knowhow someone would come to that conclusion when
nobody's wearing pads. But apparently thisreport is out there in the ether somewhere.
It doesn't match what my eyes haveseen. Am I the crazy one?
No, you're not. And lookJelil McLoughlin, I will say it,
probably out of all the backs,probably has looked the most impressive,
especially with his speed. I mean, he by and lark. He's the

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fastest guy you know at that positionroom right now. Davante is not a
Javante was never a fast guy.And I think you know there have been
some times during practice I'm like,you know, Gavant, there's no pads,
right, you're not running through guys. Javanty can't do the things he's
accustomed doing because you can't run overguys, and obviously you're not being tackled
by guys. I think some peopleare confusing that Javonte looks slower than everybody,

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like the guy like Jalil as thatannoun says. I think, to
be honest, if you've benef Ihad to do an early prediction. Right
now, we're going through this serieson Lockdown Broncos in the next week or
so. I think there are twolocks for running back right now on this
so I think they're gonna be Gavonteand Joe will and I think everything else
between everybody else at that position isgoing to be up for grabs. And
I'm excize he out plays out.Gavonte obviously had a career row year for

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him in terms of the yards percarry, but he still managed somehow to
crack over a thousand yards from scrimmage. I think you're going to see a
more bi committee approach this year,but I think you're gonna see a fresher
Gavonte, a more ingrained blocking schemehere for Denver, and I think if
you have a balanced run game ina passing game, it's gonna allow guys
to thrive. I mean last yearthen you saw it as well. Defenses
were daring Denver to try to throwthe football last year and that was what

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got the Broncos in some of thoseholes that they found themselves in. So
I think it'll be a Revampa Yet, No, Gavonte will still be running
back one. I think jellel willbe RB two. I think there's no
question about that. Yah. Yeah, that's the way I'm looking at this
thing too. You drafted estimate,You've got Blake Watson, who's probably a
kick returner, an emergency back.To me, the odd man out here
is some magic p Ryan who youknow, if you look at them finance,
this makes the most sense. Andthen all by the way, he

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was a little bit of a fumblerlast year. It's meant opportunity times and
I feel like that that he's probablyon the outside looking in this point.
I mean, injuries could change allthat obviously, but if you if you've
invested what you've invested in the draft, pick at estimate and and and the
money that they they invested in UnifaBlake wattson that those guys figure to be
on uh figure to be on theroster relatively speaking. Some of the more

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interesting battles that are out there.Obviously, the center position is up for
grabs, whether that's going to bethe Baltimore transplant, Mustifer, whether it's
going to be Forsyth, you know, whomever, Wattenburg, whoever it takes
over that role. That's gonna bethe I think for me, the interesting
camp battle. And then on thedefensive side of the ball. Uh,
you know kind of who is goingto be the the the other corner opposite

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Sartin. We don't mcmiller, it'llbe on the slot. We know Stan
is gonna be CB one. Thequestion is who's going to be that other
corner? Was Is there researches forTomorray Matthis, Will Riley Moss take the
job? Whomever they signed leave byWallace free agent? Who who is going
to step into that role? Thoseare the two most interesting battles to me.
Is there anything else that that jumpsout at you as is more interesting
than those? Yeah? No,I think I like the depth a corner

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And obviously I think the Denver isgoing to be very different this year with
how they use guys. I thinkthere's gonna be a lot more versatility,
and that's something we've seen under newdefensive backs coach and passing game Cornator.
That important time of right there forJim Leonard important to know for people.
You're seeing guys that play on theinside learning how to play on the outside.
Guys playing on the outside playing insidelike Levi Wallace, the outside cornerback
was working on the inside at timesJakwan McMillan, who we know excelled and

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thrived and came out of the scenelast year. On the nickel, he's
been playing reps on the outside.Ben This might be a little bit of
a bolt take, but I thinkthe Dever's depth of corner is pretty solid
this year. But I do thinkI think Jakwan McMillan is gonna emerge as
a starter on the outside of theDenver goes their base, and let's say
it's not a base nickel, right, Let's just say they go base.
I think Jakuwan is going to bethat other guy on the outside, and
we saw him play outside in thisfirst game in the NFL a couple of

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years ago against Mike Williams, heldhis own, did a really good job
in that game, got robbed ofan interception. I think it'll be Jakuan,
and then I think when Dever goesto their nickel, I think you
can see maybe Jaquan slide into theslot there. He can even be on
the outside. I think it's goingto be dependent on matchup who you're going
against, but then you're gonna seeguys come in, like you know,
I think Theamary Mathis or Riley Mossor LeVar Walls, like they've been rotating
all these guys in. I thinkthat you're going to see a rotation of

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guys to keep guys fresh, andit should open up opportunities. But then
when Dever goes to the dime,I mean, they could move guys around
everywhere. I mean, Ben,they could essentially have that they wanted to
Jaqua mcmill and Pats er Can inthe slot that there's a good matchup there,
let's say against the Raiders and theytry to spread them out a little
bit, and then you could havea guy like Damary Mathis or Riley Moss
on the outside. There's so muchthat they can do. And Jim Leonard

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told me. I asked him rightbefore we got out of this break here.
I asked him about and he said, you can't hide, like if
you can't move your guys in betweenthe numbers. Now, like you can't
hide defensively because teams just gonna puttheir best player on the slot and run
away from you. So there's gonnabe an emphasis on that. And you
know me, I'm a defensive Backskuyalongside a good friend Steve Allwott. It
might be a little biased in thatdepartment, but that's what I'm the most
excited about. I think Jaquan mcmillis gonna be a name to watch to

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win that other job outside of patThat'd be interesting. I would I would
love to see that. I'd loveto see him, you know, kind
of be that guy. I mean, he's so good inside, you know,
in carrying that torch from UH froma good friend Chris Harris that you
know, you kind of feel likethat that that's his home. But yeah,
I mean if they do go now, I don't know how much base
they'll run. You go back andyou look at what dvance Joseph typically does
a lot of ye uh four twofive two four five type type looks heavy

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nickel type stuff. Instead of goingto the dime. They kind of bring
another safety in a lot of thosesituations. It's it really is interesting because
they've gone out and they've gotten UH. They went and got Brandon Jones,
who's who's more of a box safetythan UH than than we've had in recent
years. We had a lot ofhigh safeties. He's more of a box
guy. I know Kareem was athumper, but he went in a box
safety. I mean he's he was. He was more of a two high

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guy. You know, You've You'vegot you got PJ. Lock, who's
probably his best as a as asingle high, and then you've got Cayden
Stearns, who is a you know, a remnant too high guy who you
know, you kind of hope becomessomething. It gonna be interesting to see
how the safety rotation works out whenyou've got uh guys behind them like Key
and and Skinner uh that that arelooking to crack this lineup as well.

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Even Tanner McAllister's good out a littlebit and he was making some plaise during
OTAs and I was like, oh, it was different because obviously Kayden had
the number of changes like, ohman, Kayden looks, Kate looks shorter.
No, that's not that's twa mcallis, that's not case Sterns there.
But Kiten obviously. Then you know, as we've seen a sample size of
him. When he's on the field, he's a ballhawk. He can take
the football away. He did ata high rate when Vic Fangio was the
DC. He did obviously at twentytwenty two when a girod Evro was there

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and unfortunately, you know, theinjuries kind of piled up on him a
little bit, and he's expected tobe ready for the start a training camp
from what I know, So that'llbe an exciting sign to see from him.
But they have so many different optionshere then that they could just move
guys around. I like the luxuriesthat you have there. I know Steve
is keeping it on that safety competitionthat they're having, you know, going
on there. And then I eventhink maybe a young guy who stood out

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to me a little bit is ChrisAbrams Drain. I like the technique,
he demonstrated the ability like he's good. He looks comfortable playing off ball covers,
he looks comfortable playing for us.He think he does a really good
job mirror receivers off the line ofscrimmage, getting in phase, getting in
that hip pocket. He's a smartyoung guy. But you know, the
question is like, well he playeda lot early on. I don't think
so. I think he'll play alot of special teams. But I wouldn't

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be surprised to see him crack therotation this year defensively as well. Yeah,
I certainly would be for it.He's more of a ball hawk type.
It'll be interesting to see how fasthe gets up to speed on on
some things, you know, insidethis defense, I think we're going to
see, and we got about twominutes left here, I think we're going
to see a lot more of whatVance Joseph has traditionally run, you know
Vance. Obviously with the continuity lastyear, the verbiage, they tried to

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sort of keep a lot of theconcepts from from Vic and a Gerald Rivero,
you know, tight front quarters match, that kind of stuff. Now,
I think you're going to see apivot towards a lot more something that
represents or reminds you of what WadePhillips used to do as defensive coordinator,
and obviously he's Vance's mentor. Yeah, and a lot of guys that could

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play man coverage, you know.I think that's a benefit that allows that.
Zach Allen had said it right beforebreak too, that the defensive line
of share of the mentality is alittle bit more attacking than you know,
I think under Jamar Kaine, whichlast year was more read and react under
Marcus Dixon, which you know,part of me is like, maybe there's
a reason why Sean Payton allowed himto go elsewhere. You know, maybe
he had a different plan, adifferent vision, But I do think we

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will see that more aggressive style ofdefense this year. And I think we're
gonna see situations where it's you know, no longer going to be third and
three and you got passer Tan playingoff ball coverage on the outside is seven
yards off there, trying to makea play on there, Like that was
some mind boggling to me. Ithink you'll see better continuity. That's why
Jim lenn Is coming in to coachthe secondary and this kind of lineup for
Advance wants to do from an aggressiveattack standpoint and kind of place to Advance

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had some success with when he wasa coordinator at Miami. So I think
we'll see, you know, someexciting developments happened your camp. My biggest
hope then, and obviously I knowI'll see you out there. I just
hope the guy, you know,everyone can stay healthy this year. He
never has had some stories where they'vehad some guys emerge, but then an
injury pops up and you're like,man, like, what could have been?
I hope that's not the case thisyear. Yeah, same here,
and you know our guy, TimPatricks looked pretty good out there. I'd

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love to see the great comeback storythere. Yep, he could be a
comeback player of the Year if he. You know, I like the article
that just came out on the websitethat he you know, he did an
interview with So it's going to bea new hymn this year. He looks
good, he runs routes crisply.You're like, you know, a guy
who's confident. You know, Iwouldn't have the confidence he did if I
formed my Aco, my Achilles andback to back years didn't look like it

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was bothering him at all. Loveto see that from Tim. Hopefully a
good season to come here for theBroncos. Yeah, I wouldn't have the
confidence even if I didn't do allthat. So appreciate you joining us,
Cody. Look for seeing you outthere. Brother all right, Ben,
appreciate you have a good one.Yep. Take care, Cody Roarke,
Mile High Sports