06-24-24 Lance Sanderson with Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Then I need you to do threethings here. Three things, okay,
three things today. First things,First, I need you to get your
picture taken next to Gwyneth Paltrow ata cold Play concert wearing a gold suit
made of rich Corinthian leather and atop gun v neck tshirt. Then I
need you to link up with ChrisBaron Spin Doctors write a song about Broncos

(00:25):
country tonight called state Sponsored. Okay, you need to pair up with Stetson
cologne. Oh God, create yourown blend. If you get all three
of those things done, you havea sevent chance of getting back on the

(00:46):
Taking It for Granted podcast. Wow, you got like every reference for the
last five years and there that iswell done. Certain wells a boss.
Yeah, that's that was phenomenal.Absolutely crushed it last time. And I
got to call myself out here aminute, but we'll get to that a
Second's go to the kn't wait commSparrel hotline and bring out our buddy Lance
Sanderson for mile hio huddle. Lance, how you do this evening? Good

(01:07):
Dan. It's always fun to beon with the guy that has the best
fashion sense in all of Denver media. That being, you know, Grant
Smith with the mustache and the beardcombination. But I would say the same
thing about you. But you've gotthat diet Sterling Archer vibe all about you
right now. That's you. Ican give you too many compliments. Diet
Sterling Archer is still in the toppoint one percent of the one percent of

(01:32):
fashion icons, so I'll take it. I accidentally, before we hit the
brake, for those of you expecting, the basketball player for the Iowa Wolves
suggested that Lance Stevenson was coming onbecause I was looking at a meme of
him blowing in Lebron's ear, andso I accidentally called you Lance Stevenson.
So I am. I'm glad thatwe were able to give our audience something

(01:52):
better than the mean guy who blewin Lebron's ear. Well, you know
what, if I could be atleast halfway as famous as Ryan Stevenson.
I think I'm doing all right formyself anyways, buddy, but it's always
fun to beyond. Man. Howyou doing, I'm doing built pretty well,
man doing pretty well. I'm gladwe got to play that clip because
that was at all time cram asmany references in moment, and Nick and

(02:12):
I I certainly appreciated that we gotthe you know over in the middle of
the Broncos off season, and ithas been an interesting off season so far,
interesting in the sense that it's beenmostly quiet, despite the fact that
the Denver Broncos have moved on froma major quarterback and drafted a quarterback in
the first round for the uh,you know, for the first time in
a long time. It's it's it'ssort of fascinating to watch this evolution of

(02:38):
Sean Payton as well, because Idon't know if you've seen it, but
Sean Payton appears to be a guywho has refound his joy. I think
a big part of it, andwe're talking about a little bit about it
with stink On earlier. I didn'ttouch before conversation, but just the the
toxic positivity that you have coined hereon Broncos Country and going around in that

(03:00):
building, you know, where everything'sbutterflies and rainbows. We've got the film
crewing around the YadA YadA yad ofthe whole Nathaniel Hackett, just a backle
of that era, cleansing the buildingof that building, your own culture and
getting a guy in there that apparentlyyou have grown to come and love in.
Bo Nixon really was the guy thathe were gonna be trying to move
forward with this franchise. I mean, getting the people that you trust in

(03:23):
the building, getting the people atthe toxic positivity. The people don't really
don't mess well with what you wantto do, not only within the building,
but out on the field. Imean, running the offense is as
it's written up, you know,playing within the structure of the offense,
throwing the ball with timing, anticipation, rhythm, accuracy, stuff like that,
all those things that Russell Wilson reallydidn't do last season. This year,

(03:44):
I think we're kind of seeing SeanPayton take a little bit of a
step back, understanding the situation alittle bit better, knowing that he has
a quarterback that he can trust togo out there and at least try to
operate this offense in the way thatit was designed. I'm gonna fall out
and say it, I do expectbo Nicks to be the day once and
I think that because of what hedoes on the football field, Sean Payton
is kind of a little bit giddywith himself right now and like you said,

(04:06):
refound his love for the game offootball. It felt like last year
in a lot of times he waskind of sour. We saw that relationship
with Russell Wilson, especially with theapex of it feeling like the explosion there
on the sideline in Detroit. Butyeah, all right, he is kind
of more jovial than he has been, less mercurial, and sort of seems

(04:30):
like that he's enjoying himself. Andmaybe that is the byproduct of the Bonix
thing, which you know, Ithink everybody's sort of the organizationally hopes that
that will be QB one on dayone. Whether or not that that comes
to fruition remains to be seen.But as we look around this roster and
George Peyton has been somebody that isthat has been much maligned. He has

(04:50):
his missteps, I mean the RaddyGregory signing, you know, et cetera.
But I think that if we're beinghonest, the talent level top to
bottom on the Broncos now is betterthan it was when George Payden got here.
Do you agree, Yeah, Iwould agree with that. It helps
that you hit on your number oneoverall draft pick. Well, I guess

(05:11):
number nine overall, the first pickyou ever made and Land the number one
cornerback in the NFL and patser ten. That definitely helps a lot there.
But I think a big thing is, well, I agree that it is
better than what it was, it'sstill not quite exactly what it needs to
be to be successful moving forward,because especially at the skill position right now,
you've got so many injuries that youjust don't know exactly how these players

(05:31):
are going to come back. Whetherit's Javonte Williams coming back from that knee
injury again from last season, theway that he kind of slowed down towards
the tail end of the year lastyear. You've got Tim Patrick coming off
of the torn acl the torn achillesand back to back seasons. You've got
Greg Dolt that you seemingly cannot finda piece of wet tissue paper that is
stronger than his hamstring. Right now, there's so much talent here, but

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the problem is it's all potential.It's all unrealized potential, and less we
can see these guys really step upon the field and put it all together
on a down in down out,game in game out basis, you really
just don't know exactly what this teamis going to look like, specifically on
the offensive side of the football.Defensively, though, I really do think
that the Broncos has some key piecesto work with here, and I know

(06:15):
that Baron Browning again a player witha bunch of injuries, he flashes a
lot when he's out there on thefield. Nick Benito took a big step
last year, even though there wassome unblocked playmaking potential out of Nick Padido
last year that you've got again,Pats or can you hit on? Jawan
McMillan. PJ Locke really took anotherbig step forward last year at such move
on from Justin Simmons. But Ithink the Broncos are in good hands at

(06:39):
least offensively, and then just tocontinue to build up that cornerback room with
a guy like Chris Abrastraint, whoI really like out in Missouri. You
go get Levi Wallace to upgrave FavianMoreau. I do think that this team
is going in the right direction.But again, you got to go back
to just being healthy, seeing theseguys out there for an entire season,
and getting away from that potential word, because I mean, yes, it's

(07:00):
nice to have players like a CourtlandSutton who's a very underappreciated wide receiver across
the NFL. But like Tim Patrick, you know, you've got Marvin Mims,
who really needs to take a stepback a big step forward this year.
You've got Troy Franklin and I'm actuallywatching the tape up as we're talking
right now. I got a filmbreakdown coming on him here soon. There's
a lot of potential there. Whatdoes it actually look like with all in

(07:21):
sync on the field. That's thebiggest question for me right now. All
I got from that was that yousaid the word in saying can you're looking
forward to a reunion tour? I'mgetting I agree with you, and I
think the the you know, theobvious thing here is the potential energy to
kinetic energy sort of thing. Here. You go from being all this potential
into becoming consistent players, and Ithink that's a part of what this coaching

(07:42):
staff is tasked with doing. There'sa collection of talent here, now turn
it into a successful football team.And that'll be the question as to how
quickly it is able to gel.I want to go back to something you
said, it's easy to it's easyto sort of build those something we need.
Your first draft pick right, butthe media was all saying that he
was wrong. The media was allsaying that why would you take a corner
there when a quarterback like Justin Fieldswas available. In fact, the media

(08:05):
was eviscerating Peyton from the beginning fornot taking Justin Fields when in hindsight it
was the correct call along to draftPasser Tan. Yes it was. And
I was one of those people thatwas not necessarily a huge fan of the
Passer Tan picket. A big partof it was because of Justin Fields,
but also because I didn't necessarily knowthe ability of Patser Tan to really kind

(08:26):
of mold his way into the VicFangiel defense playing off the ball, playing
off more zone coverage when that massquarters cover four kind of scheme that Vicdangel
liked to do. Then Vicdangiel kindof switched it around, ran some more
two man, put Passer Tan inpress, and it turned out to be
one of the greatest marriages that we'veseen for the Broncos in the past what
half decade or so. So tome, I always will go back to
the process and then you and notgone back and forth on this on Twitter

(08:48):
a handful of different times to me, the process at that particular point would
have been to take Justin Fields.But again, in hindsight, you've got
the best quarterback in the NFL.He's going to get a massive pay day,
hopefully here in Denver. Hopefully theycan figure out the way to relay
the message that this team is buildingin a correct direction and not to go
chase that money somewhere else, youknow, because that was absolutely the correct

(09:11):
pick, at least at this particularpoint in hindsight. Well, right,
and I think that you know thisthis team has been a bit hamstrong obviously
with the trades of or four RussellWilson and Sean Payton. Know, we
finally are getting back, you know, we're back to having all our draft
picks. Did you find it atall interesting that the team hired David Shaw?
I did. Actually, that wassomething that I was kind of hoping

(09:33):
the Broncos would do in this lastcoaching search. Was really kind of give
David Shall a little bit more ofa run. And I know that he
really didn't want to take that nextleap right there, that the opportunity wasn't
quite right, But he's a verytrusted member. At least was a trusted
member of Sean Payton's coaching staff,if I remember correctly, back in New
Orleans or even in I believe inNew York as well. But no,

(09:54):
that was that was something that wasvery noteworthy to me to see a guy
that has not only cold stivated Andrewluck is one of the best quarterback prospects
we've ever seen, but multiple differentfirst round picks, Andrews Steep, a
handful of other different players twenty eightI believe total drafted players across his tenure
as the head coach of the StanfordCardinal. There a very widened respected football

(10:16):
man. And it just kind ofit brings another kind of questions here on
what is the future of George Peyton. And I know that we just got
done talking about how George Payton hasdone a really good job of kind of
building this team with some talent,But this is a Sean Payton hier.
This is a guy that Sean Paytontrusts, he knows is going to have
the right vision. He gave hima title that doesn't necessarily mean anything,
but he gets them inside the building. And I think that to me is

(10:37):
a really big noteworthy thing about thathiring. Yeah, and David Shaw worked
together with Sean Payton back at theEagles. Back in ninety seven, he
was under John Gruden at the Raidersand was tasked with helping to elevate Rich
Gannon at quarterback, and then wenton to the you know, the Ravens
as the quarterbacks receivers coach, beforeultimately winding up at Stanford a little later

(10:58):
on Hardball staff. Yeah, itwas interesting to me the senior personnel executive
title, little nebulous, you know, kind of wondering what exactly that means
and what role that he's going toUh, he's going to take over.
But it's but it is sort offascinating. I think you brought in Cody
Ragor before you bring in him.Sean Payton's getting his guys in the building.
As far as that goes and heat, you know, I don't know

(11:18):
if that's a direct kind of reasonthat he looks as sort of comfortable as
he does now, but it certainlycan't hurt. What is the what is
the biggest storyline for you as wehead into training camp? Yeah, it's
obviously the quarterback position, but quitehonestly, I want to see what this
I kind of alluded to it.What do these skill positions look like going

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forward? What does the running backroom look like? Is Yvonte Williams still
going to be at Denver Bronco obviouslygoing into a contract year this year,
coming off of a season where hedid wear down late down the stretch.
You have some am JP Ryan whois probably the most trusted third down back
on this roster right now in termsof pass protection and ability out of the
backfield to just be kind of thatsafety net, that safety blanket for a

(12:01):
young quarterback in bon Nick. Thenyou've got Julil McLoughlin and then Blake Watson
who's a very intriguing player coming outof out of Memphis. Like the way
that this this and Audrey guess inthere as well, the way this running
back room, how that's going toshape out is a very big storyline to
me. I think that we couldsee a surprise release here, maybe even
a trade, a potential trade ofa Javonte Williams or a sama J.

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P. Ryan. And then thebig thing to me is what does this
wide receiver room look like? Howexactly are they going to go about constructing
this thing, because they again they'vegot a lot of potential. They've got
a lot of talent there. They'vegot some injuries they've got to work their
way through. But I mean Courtland'sSutton contract here, he's he's looking like
he's going to be poised for abig time season this year. You've got
Marvin Mims, who I think isgoing to explode in a Brandon Cooks kind

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of a role, running a bunchof crossing routes because his linear speed just
does so much to stress the field, not only vertically but horizontally. Kind
of going towards that. The MiamiDolphins here, if you will for just
a second. Here, they've gotall that speed, and they've got Tyreek
Hill, They've got Jalen Waddell.You know, they can stretch the field
vertically, but they do so wellstretching the field horizontally as well to open

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up a bunch of gigantic throwing windowsand create a bunch of explosive plays.
I think Sean Payton. When you'vegot a guy like Roy Flanklin, when
you've got a guy like Marvin Nim's, you've got Corton Sutton who can take
the top off a little bit interms of a contestants catch kind of a
guy, and if Greg Dolfisch doesstay healthy, dude like I was,
it's almost like a dream of mineto go back. I know that this
is going to sound crazy, butthe one game, maybe really one half

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that Nathaniel Hackett was in his bagas a play caller was when he had
Greg Dolfich and kJ Handler lined upon the same side of the field running
Swisch release verticals and they were actuallyable to exploit the Jacksonville Jaguars in London
a couple of years ago. Soif you can get those guys healthy,
realize those potentials, you can reallysee this offense take a big step forward.
And obviously you've got a young quarterback. You don't know exactly the way

(13:52):
that that's going to play out,but getting easy, open throwing windows for
a guy with a little bit lesserarm talent in terms of ballville coming off
of his hand, it's gonna bea huge storyline moving forward. I'm looking
forward to Atlance. Where's my Lasagna? I knew we were gonna do.

(14:13):
My garden's growing. I've got likesix cherry tomato plants. We've got a
whole bunch of stuff going on.Out there. Our rosemary is not doing
too great this year, unfortunately,but I've got fresh Italian sausage. I've
got elk meat for burger. We'regonna make some noodles. We're gonna do
our own marinara sauce. I've gotfresh mozzarella and fresh cheddar tea this year.
My father in laws making some cheddarsees. So we'll do as a

(14:35):
good fresh lazagnia as soon as wecan. Hopefully I'm gonna be down there
for the Mile Highuddle Meet and Greek. Just a shameless plug here. Week
two, the Steelers game. MileHighuddle will be doing the meet and greet
as we do every single year,so I'm hoping to be down there that
weekend. Get ready to start anew job, so I'm not quite sure
exactly how that's gonna work out,but yeah, one of these days we
need to do a lasagna. Ineed to burn the steaks for you and
let's just have fun and have abeer. All right, must do it,

(14:58):
man, I'm looking forward to it. And he is Lance Sanderson from
Mile High Huddle. We always appreciateyou coming on, Bud. It's always
great to have to just be ableto come on, man, and I
try to say this to everybody wheneverI get an opportunity to go on another
show. Just having a collaborative mediaenvironment, man like going on as many
shows and having as many different peopletalking with each other open up some different

(15:18):
perspectives. It is always great.Not only for me, I have a
grime doing it, but I thinkit helps edify our fan base. We've
got a great fan base out herein Broncos Country, and just to have
a collaborative media environment makes everybody smarterand everybody better man. So thanks for
having me. I appreciate it absolutely. I totally agree with you and appreciate
the time. Is always have tohave you on again soon