07-11-24 Ryan Michael with Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
We could go right to the kaCommon Sparrel hotline and bring out our guy
Ryan Michael, Ryan, how's itgoing, Buddy? Doing well? Man?
Nick? How are you guys tonight? Doing pretty well? We had
an interesting start to the show.Presidential comments sort of derailed the beginning there
that we had going on. Butwe think we've hit our stride here and

(00:20):
it's good to hear your voice backto go a little bit inside the numbers.
And I want to know what youwant to start with tonight. Well,
you know, I think we leftoff last week. We're just talking
about what the expectations should be forthe twenty and twenty four draft class.
And I've said this number of timesand I'll say it again. I'm very

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high on the twenty twenty four draftclass for two reasons. Essentially. The
first is given the salary cap falloutfrom letting Russell Wilson go, we're obviously
fighting with one arm tied behind ourback and without having a second round draft
selection. You know, we wentinto the draft itself without a lot of

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ammunition. And when I look atthe players that we took in the draft,
for me, fit is always oneof the most important things. I'm
not of the mindset to take aguy just for the sake of taking the
guy. You want to get somebodywho shits your system and fits the need
that you have. So you know, bo Nicks was the second highest rated

(01:25):
quarterback on my board after Caleb Williams, and I understand that I was in
the minority for seeing him that way. But time will tell. We'll see
if that's a good caller or not. But what I especially appreciate about bow
is that his strengths fits on Peytonstrength. We're coming in as a team
where under Russell Wilson, tintished twentyseventh in sack percentage. That seemed to

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be one of the biggest points ofcontention, and so we draft the quarterback
who set the NCAA single season completionpercentage mark, but he was also the
least side quarterback in college football atone point one percent of his dropbacks.
I looked at our defense as aunit that struggled to generate pressure, so
we bring in Joan Allis, whowas seventh in all of college football in

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zacks, a second amongst defensive playerstaken to the draft. I look at
our team. We finished twenty eighthin rushing touchdowns. Last year, we
didn't produce on the ground. Soyou get Audrick Estimat in the fifth round,
and he's a guy who rushed foreighteen touchdowns last year, eleven of
them. We're in the final fivegames. So if you look at the

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players that we got at the spotsthat we got, not only do I
think that they were a fantastic fitfor the systems that we're going to be
running on both offense and defense,but I think we got tremendous value because
we got the second best quarterback inthe draft on paper, just my own
personal opinion, at the twelfth spot, and I think Joe Allis is easily

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a second round caliber draft prospect,perhaps even first round. When helping you
can't really ask for anything better onpaper than that then, and that's really
all that we can talk about untilthe preseason gets ripped up, all right,
right, I'm glad that you ledoff with that, because what we've
seen since George Paydon has been hereas GM, a lot of his draft
picks play early, and they playin key rows and are very productive.

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Of the guys you just listed rightnow, just doing a little forecasting,
I know we haven't seen, youknow, any practices yet or any preseason
games. But who would you forecastis probably at the start of the season.
Let's go small samba size week four, right. That's enough one right
there that you think will make alarger impact with the Broncos early on in

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the season. That's a great question. And when I look at the players
that we drafted, I'm still ofthe mindset that I feel bone Knicks will
start being one. I don't thinkit's a sure thing. I do think
he will be the eventual starter.So is it possible that Jared Sidham gets
us going week one? It's possible. I think Jared as a short term
solution. We all know what thefuture is going to be. So Bonnicks

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if he does play Week one,and I don't expect for him to light
the league up. That's not hisstyle of football. I think he's the
kind of player that once he getsacclimated to Sean's system, we're eventually going
to see that efficiency down the line, perhaps at the end of season one,
maybe towards the beginning of season two. I'll tell you, if Jonah
Ellis can be healthy, I thinkthat he might be an early contender for

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Defensive Lookie of the Year. I'mvery excited to see what he's going to
be able to do in advanced Josephsystem. And he was just one of
the most explosive edge rushers on tapeof any player in the drop, one
of the most explosive players that we'veseed in years. So if I had
to pick one specific player to makean early impact, I would go to
John Allis if he's healthy. Oneof the things that you brought up there,

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I want to go back to withbo Nicks because what you described the
quarterback that's efficient doesn't necessarily like theWorld on Fire, gets in Sean Payton's
system and sort of succeeds, describesa quarterback that Broncos fans have already seen.
What's the difference between bo Nicks andTeddy bri The difference between Bonix and
Teddy Bridgewater is Teddy was very proficientat doing the simple things with consistency.

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And I know that bow has beenknocked quite a bit for his alleged lack
of ability to be proficient in thedepassing game. And if you look at
a lot of the Pro Football focusmarks that we've talked about, over the
past few weeks, you'll see thatin the intermediate game, Bell is arguably
the most efficient quarterback in college football, and tearing him obviously with Troy Franklin,

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I suspect to see them stretch thefield, not down in, down
out, but I do see themconnecting here and there in a way that
you wouldn't have seen out of TeddyBridgewater. So Bridgewater brought the experience,
and you could make the argument thatif we could take Teddy Bridgewater in a
time machine from his opening days asa Denver Bronco and paired him up with
Donicks, he might even get similarresults in the first few games. Bownix

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is a long term investment, nowa short term investment. I believe his
ceiling was quite high. Well,Ryan, where did you stand on this
idea that a quarterback throwing the checkdown? Because the idea when I played was
you can't go broke taking a profit. But with the I guess everyone leaning
more towards exposed to plays. Itjust seems as though everyone has fallen away

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from taking the six yard five yardcheckdown and putting the ball in your best
player's hands. Once again, wheredo you come down on that? Viewpoint,
I would say that if you havea quarterback who is at the very
top of the league in terms ofefficiency in executing the quick game, this
is what Drew Brees was the greatestof all time in doing so. If

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he looked at his final season intwenty twenty, he had arguably the weakest
farm strength of any starting quarterback I'veseen in over a decade. But he's
still completed routinely nearly seventy five percentof his passes. Now, I don't
believe that Bonix is Drew Brees.I've affectionately referred to him as as Drew
Brees white with a little bit ofdeals, But I do think that he

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has the ceiling potential over time todevelop in a similar in a similar vein
to what Drew Brees did the moretime he had in Sean Payton's system.
So if he can reach even apoor man's version of that level, and
he can complete with any kind ofregularity sixty nine to seventy seventy one percent
of his passes, it's a verydifferent style of football than the quarterbacks who

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are taking the checkdowns just because they'renot capable of doing anything else. It's
a matter of muscle memory, andit's a matter of experience within the system.
And I think that if he startsweek one or starts early by week
four, as you had mentioned,that that's going to give him a significant
advantage heading into the year two.That's when I think we're going to start
to see the biggest results coming outfrom his development. Talking with Ryan Michael

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at the Ryan Michael on Twitter,everybody, fans are always excited about their
draft classes, a top to bottom. We got all our guys. These
guys are all going to be stars, are all going to be start You
know, there's been some recent articlesabout Aldic tom fifth round or one hundred
and forty seventh pick, that hecould maybe even make a play for the
starting job, you know, thingslike that. But how realistic is that

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when we look for when we lookback at history, what are some historical
comps for players taking kind of atthe same position in the same spot in
the draft. Well as high asI am on audrich Sma, I see
him as more of a red zonethreat, a guy who may produce rushing
touchdowns similar to what Legarrett Blunt didin the Patriot system with Tom Brady.

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Bear in mind, bone Nicks isnot Tom Brady, and our system is
not exactly the system that New Englandran with such efficiency for so long.
We have to work all way towardsthat. So when I look at a
number of the players taken in thedraft this year, and we took Jay
Cutler at number eleven in two thousandand six, so that's the closest spot
in terms of a comparison to boneNicks and Jake Cutler, for whatever happened

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later in his career in Chicago,actually played fairly efficient football during his first
three years, and we started tosee him take off in year three,
setting a Bronco's single season record forpassing yards. While Alzado in terms of
an edge rusher, he has takenseventy nine in nineteen eighty five, so
we have join Alice taken at seventysix. If he can perform anywhere close

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to the level that Alzato did,that would be a very nice ceiling.
The reality is, statistically, atall of the positions, especially quarterback,
a percentage of these draft picks arenot going to work out. So as
much as it's easy to point toone specific statistic and say a running back
like audric estimate fills a hole here, let's just start him in RB one.

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Is it possible. It's certainly possible, But history tells us that a
percentage of these draft picks are notgoing to be long term solutions. In
terms of starting players playing at ahigh level, it's just a matter of
who's going to be the boom,who's going to be the bust. Now,
you say boom and buzz is alwayshigh risk, high reward. But

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when you look at the the ideaof starting a rookie quarterback, what would
you say to the listening audience asfar as what are your rewards or what
do you can see the risk mightbe at this time? And once again
speaking and say both Nicks is thestarter for the Denver Broncos. That's a
great question. I would say.The benefits for starting early if you are

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a quarterback who has it in yourfabric to develop into the kind of quarterback
you hope to get. Taking aguy in the twelve spot, the benefits
are you have exposure to the system, You're acquiring knowledge, You're growing greater
familiarity, the muscle memory, evenathletic muscle memory. In terms of getting
those game time reps, as youknow, is very different from just the

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reps in practice, the spatial awareness, the on field visual familiarity in terms
of what's happening at the next level, I think it would be impossible to
overstate just how important that is.The downside this double edged sword, the
risk that comes with that is ifyou're a team that isn't prepared to surround
your starting quarterbacks with success the waythat the Chiefs did for Paunt Mahomes in

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twenty eighteen, you're running the riskof your quarterback losing their confidence from on
field failure. I think of DavidCarr, I think of Josh Rosen as
two great examples of quarterbacks who onpaper had the potential to be really good
quarterbacks in the NFL and never quitereach that potential, especially in the case
of Josh Rosen. And I alsothink that people sometimes underestimate just how much

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of a step up it is.In terms of conditioning. You have to
bulk up and condition your body totake hits at the level. So if
you're not prepared and you're forced intothe starting role too early, you're running
the risk of injury and the lossof confidence. So that's a decision that
I'm sure quick Stayton is going tomake in the best interest of the team,
and I'm confident that Boonicks is thequarterback who is ready for that kind

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of challenge. I'll think about quarterbacksin the NFL, we always talk about
developing them, but you can kindof tell pretty early if a guy sort
of got it or doesn't got it. You know, we look over the
history of the game in the modernera and we can sort of tell quarterbacks
tend to make a super Bowl prettyyoung when they win or to lose.
They tend to make a super Bowlpretty young if they're going to be if

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they're going to be dominant, youknow, down the line, and they
can continue to make them as theyget older. But it's very rare that
someone comes in and is very oldwhen they finally make their first super Bowl.
There are occasions of that, butit's really more rare than anything else,
especially the playoffs. Too young quarterbacksthey make the playoffs quicker they tend
not to, and then they becomesort of sort of journeyman. We look
at booms and busts among rookie quarterbackswho started early in recent years. Who

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stands out to you in either oneof those categories. Well, I would
say the two that stand out tome who would be the closest comps for
boneecks and they're not perfect comparisons,would be Peyton Manning and Matt Ryan.
Matt Ryan was excellent as a rookiequarterback in Atlanta. Peyton Manning. Everyone
talks about the twenty eight perceptions thathe threw, but they talk a little

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bit less about the fact that heled the as in passing, He was
top five in touchdown passes and reallyfound his fitting towards the end of the
year. So I think for quarterbackswho are with their strengths are pocket presence,
quick release, information processing, accuracy, this certainly falls in line with
both mixes fields they can be positionedfor success over the long run. And

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then you also have quarterbacks who boomedearly who are dual threats Russell Wilson RG
three and who look was a littlebit of bolth Cam Newton, and so
quarterbacks like that give defensive coordinators nightmareswhen there isn't a lot of tape to
study on them, and they usuallykind of come back down to earth in
the following years. What separates thegood ones from the great ones or the

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ones who can continue to reinvent themselvesand succeed in spite of that. That's
really been the case for Russell Wilsonfor over a decade. When you look
at some of the boss do yousee busts who are pocket pasthers. You
see busts who are dual threats likeZach Wilson and Justin Fields. What they
typically have in common, outside ofa skill set that might not exactly cater

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itself to the next level, isthe fact that they were surrounded by very
tough situations. If you don't surroundyour quarterback that support early on, it's
going to be a nightmare for almosteverybody. So with the Broncos, I
think need to focus on more thananything that's building the team around Box and
that's for Sean Payton to feel outwhether or not it's the best move to

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put him in week one, weekfour, or perhaps towards the end of
year one. Yeah. I wastalking with Ryan Edwards yesterday and I said,
lok Bonux is either going to comeout and take the job, or
it's going to be a situation whereyou're running with with Jared Stidham or or
Zach Wilson, whomever, until you'reeliminating for the playoffs, and then you've
got to see which is This yearis about finding out. What bot Nick
says as a first round of Ryan, we always appreciate the time, man.

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Look forward to talking to you againnext week. Sounds good, Ben,
Thanks for having me on. TakeCare. That's Ryan Michael at the
Ryan Michael on Twitter