07-15-24 Nick Kosmider with Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Go out to the Kia Coms stillhotline and bring on Nick Cosmider, Nick,
how you know this evening? I'mgood, guys, didn't. Wasn't
Alonzo the guy that won it inDenver? Yeah, he's one of a
couple of times. Yeah. Yeah, and then he apparently was afterwards,
as you mentioned his dad throwing tohim. I think they were like partying
at the ice house for like hoursafterwards, taking pictures of the fans.

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So that's that's always my like ptAlonzo thing that pops into my head.
Yeah. Okay, well, Imean, feel good story. But Pops
has got to retire the arm becauseit ain't. It ain't happen today.
Yeah. I think he cracked tenof homers I think, and that was
about it is about half the totallyneeded to advance. So not great.
Talking to Nick Cosmider for in theAthletic twenty twenty three Colorado Sports Writer of
the Year. By the way,so you that did not know that.

(00:45):
I did not know that, Nick, but now I do, and I
feel educated. We we need yourexpert opinion. We've been talking about the
KCP sized hole of the starting lineupfor the Denver Nuggets. I put forth
at Strawther's has shown the probably tothe offensive prowess maybe that the Nuggets need.
Nick has said that Christian Brown hasearned the role, you know,

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and it has earned the opportunity totake over there. What Look, do
you think that the Nuggets should do? Uh to round out the starting five?
Yeah, you know, I thinkit will be Christian Brown who certainly
gets the first crack at it.I mean, he's a third year player,
and he played a pretty key roleon the championship team of two years
ago. It was was really goodin the playoffs, had a couple of
really nice games obviously in the finals, and and and so he has that

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experience of playing with those guys.And if you look at some of the
advanced numbers, I was peeking aroundit this the other day, but but
if you look at just the twoman numbers, he and Nicole Jokic have
that highest net rating of a twoman duo on that team. And so
you and that's obviously a small samplesize because Jokic doesn't play a ton with

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that second unit, right, theyusually stagger that so that Jamal Murray's playing
more with that group. So sothat's a limited ample size. But but
I think he's going to be thekind of player. He's a little bit
better in you know, in transition, he's better at cutting off the ball,
so he'll give you those things.His defense, you know, again,
a lot of people internally on thatteam believe that he can be every

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bit the defender that CACP can be. The question is going to be just
where is his steeling at offensively andif it's if it's not much higher than
what we've seen through his first threeyears, I'm sorry for his first two
years. Then you know, thenhow much is that going to hurt them?
How much are they going to haveto put other people into that role?
Because again, with this team,you need guys that can hit the
three, especially open corner threes.That's what KCP did so well really the

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last two years, but especially lastyear. So that's where Ron has to
be in the gym able to hitthat shot on a consistent basis. If
he can get that up to like, you know, thirty eight thirty nine
percent with all the other stuff thathe gives you, you know you'll be
in shape. But then again,you put him in the starting lineup and
the question becomes, all right,now, what what does your bench look
like a bench that was already havingissues, you know, how do you

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kind of round that out? ButNick doesn't this like open or should open
more opportunities with the exit of KCPfor guys like Peyton Watson. And I
know Peyton hasn't really received a lotof acclaim in a lot of minutes,
but in the limited time he's beenplaying and in certain moments in the game,

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he showed that, man, he'sgot a defensive progress, He's got
a lot of that energy, andthat is something that coach Malone definitely needs
and always talks about when it comesto this Nuggets team. Yeah, I
think this this early, especially inthis season, the first half of it
is going to be a really interestingstudy and how how willing Michael Malone is
to to let some of these playersdevelop. I think that you saw a

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lot at the end of the seasonabout how, you know, Calvin Boose
really start going into that year thatit was all going to be about for
them, how they allowed these youngguys, Peyton Watson, Christian Brown,
Julian Strawther, you know, evenJalen Pickett to it to a smaller degree,
to get in there, get theirget the live reps, get the
opportunities to you know, to grow, so that come playoff time, you
could be considered as part of thatrotation. And it really just never panned

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out for any of those guys outsideof Brown. So again, that is
going to be something that they haveto continue to do. You're absolutely right,
and Nick Peyton Watson should step intoyou know, should step into a
far bigger role then you mentioned offthe top. I'm with you in terms
of what Julians Strathler can bring offensively, it's just you know, we hear
vance Joseph's favorite phrase, time ontask. That's what these guys have to

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have for the Nuggets, Like theyneed to play a lot early in this
season, and they have to bewilling to. Michael Malone has to be
willing to say, gosh, youknow, right now we're in we're in
sixth place in the West. We'rein seventh place in the West three weeks
in. But hey, we're startingto get these guys. We're starting to
see them develop a little bit andplay that long game, I think more
than they were willing to do lastyear. Switching gears a little bit.

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Talking with Nick Cosmider, of theathletic Colorado in the news sort of again,
as Paul Finebaum comes out and declares, see, you call it me
irrelevant, which is interesting to mebecause if you're talking about them on a
national sports talk show, then theycan't be irrelevant. And maybe that's a
semantics game, but I would Iwould have I would have sort of been

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with fine mom if he said theyhaven't done anything yet, but going with
their irrelevant. Colorado is sort ofthe mecca of college football right now,
whether they're winning or not. Therecertainly aren't a destination, and they certainly
do get eyeballs and they still getit, certainly do get attention. So
irrelevant seems like the wrong word tome. Yeah, you definitely have to
you have to be more specific inhow you're phrasing that word. Now,

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if you're saying, are they goingto be relevant to the conference race?
You know that that might be athing that you could say with you know,
with a little more clarity and morepeople sort of be with you.
But I mean, this is athis is a team that makes headlines when
these guys play video games and andcritique the the video game version of the

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offensive line, like you know,in a joking matter that turns in the
headlines like that's what Colorado is.They are the most They are I think
probably the most like online team incollege football right now, and that hasn't
changed despite despite only winning four gamesa year ago. You know, again,
I get what's what Paul's looking athere in just terms of these conferences

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that are all coming together, theamount of competition that they're going to have
and everything else that comes with that, not to mention the stage that the
targets that they have on their back. It is going to be tough for
them to catapult themselves standings wise,over what they did a year ago.
But yeah, to say I reallyhave nothing more to happen, do at
the nail on the headbend like theyare as relevant as it gets in terms

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of just people talking about you.That that to me is always what what
relevant means. But when it comesto the season, I think that's what
Paul was trying to get at.It's funny that a team that is perceived
to be irrelevant is still being talkedabout despite going four and eight. So
I'll ask you this, do youthink all this negative rhetoric coming into prime

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second year well find a way tomaybe, I don't know, light a
fire on the Humans team where theyplayed better this year in the second year.
Yeah, you know, I thinkthere's so many guys on that team
that are playing for for a numberof things. Obviously, they there's there's
the pride factor that you're talking about, right, Like, you know that
they know that they that they cantalk, they carry themselves with a certain

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level of swagger. That's just that'sjust their identity, that's what they are.
But but yeah, I think there'sthere's a humbling deal to you know,
losing to the degree that they dida year ago. I think that
in itself, if that doesn't getyou going, then you know, then
you got to kind of check yourpulse. But the other part of this
is you've got a lot of guys, you know, Shador Sanders, Travis

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Hunter, kind of go down thatlist of players who believe that they should
be you know, first round draftpicks, top ten draft picks. You
know that that that is where it'sit's not just going to come because you
have you know, you have theattention, you have the social media impressions
and all the like. They gotto perform m you know, they all
have questions answered. You know,can Travis under stay healthy playing as much

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as he does. Can Shador Sandersstay healthy? You know, playing the
style that he does in which he'syou know, taken a lot of hits,
avoiding the mistakes interception wide, butperhaps being too willing to stand in
there and and take the number ofsacks that he does. You know,
certainly NFL teams that that's something theycontinue to go away from the city to
Why you get a guy drafted InvoNicks at twelfth and then have Sean Payton

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come out and say, you know, sacks for us or we're one of
the biggest killers. We really likeBo's ability to not do that again,
that's something that Sanders has to show. So I think it's a collection of
those motivations. Nick, like whatpeople are saying, where you finished and
what it is that you're trying toapprove from an individual level as well.
Looking ahead to the Denver Broncos iswe get closer and closer to training camp,

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what is the what is the outlookof the expectation? Vegas doesn't seem
to think very highly of this footballteam. Uh, I've seen everybody pretty
much put him in last I sawsomebody put him third in the division,
uh the the day. But mostmost people don't seem to have high expectations.
I look at this team and I'mlike, they can't be worse than
they were last year? Can they? Yeah? You know, it's it's
interesting right that that it's just sortof fallen off of a cliff in terms

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of the expectations. And you alwayslook at first, Okay, where where
does that come from? It generallystarts at the quarterback position. You got
rid of a guy in Russell Wilsonwho has been in the league twelve years,
you know, has all these prioraccolades that that folks in Pittsburgh now
are using to kind of, youknow, get people excited about the Russell
Wilson era there. But the realityis, internally this team believes that it

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can have better quarterback play than itdid a year ago. That doesn't mean
that the that the individual stats mightbe what Russell Wilson put together, because
when you look at it from araw statistical perspective, he had a pretty
nice year. But the reality isSean Payton has always viewed the quarterback's job
is to get the team, uh, in the end zone. Not to
put too broad a points on it, but he views the the the the

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job of the quarter is performing inthe red zone, performing near the goal
line. And I'll never forget thislast year, guys, I can't remember
what game is, maybe after thePackers game and at that point, Russell
Wilson, I think he had maybeseventeen red zone touchdowns and you know,
one interception or maybe zero interceptions.And Sean Payton was asked, Hey,

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you know, like what Russ isset in the world on fire? You
know, what do you think aboutthe way he's performing in the red zone?
And he said, listen, guys, we are ranked twentieth in red
zone efficiency, twenty second in redzone efficiency whatever. It was like,
We're not going to give out flowersto a unit that is not collectively putting
the ball in the end zone.And so I think that that's really what

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it comes down to is I thinkthis team believes it can be more efficient.
Some of that's going to come withthe continuity that I think some people
when you're evaluating the team, you'rejust evaluating the roster top to bottom.
That's where I think some of itgets missed. They believe they're going to
be better because guys are more comfortable, they know what they're trying to do.
You have a little bit more ofthat everybody pulling on the same rote

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mentality than you did a year ago, just simply because you're more comfortable with
what you're doing and philosophically the offensemakes sense now. It's something that the
bigger picture you're starting to see andthen all the other little stuff can fall
into place. That's the internal viewof where they are. But yeah,
they still have they still have bigquestions about some of the talent. How
much better can they be at runningback after struggling there a little bit last

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year? How much does Jerry Judy'sabsence hurt them? Do they have enough
guys that can kind of step intoa playmaker role? Does having a new
center, you know, kind ofthrow off some of that offensive line continuity
they were starting to build. Soand that to say nothing of a defense.
It's going to feature a lot ofnew faces after you lose a guy
like Justin Simmons, Kareem Jackson,Josie Jewels from the real leaders on your
defense. So all the questions arevalid, But I'm with you Ben.

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I don't see this being a worseteam because I just don't think they lost
as much from a pure roster perspectiveas it's kind of I think widely viewed
just because of the number of youngplayers they have ready to play those roles,
and the and then the continuity.I've been I've been paying that drum
for a while. I think it'sI think it's real. I think we
saw some of that during the offseason program. But again, I guess

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that could still mean you go eightto nine like you did a year ago,
and you know you finished last oryou finish third. You know you're
you're gonna have to win some tough, close games. But but yeah,
I don't see this as a youknow, the four or five win football
team. Now, the biggest topicof conversation with question Mark coming into Trening
camp is a quarterback position. Thereare three guys currently on the roster,

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and one of those guys is ZachWilson. Has more playing experience than anyone
on the roster at that particular position. Do you see a scenario where the
Broncos keep all three players on theroster and all three quarterbacks I'm talking about,
Yeah, I think it's possible,Nick, I don't think that's the
most likely scenario, just because it'snot been Teams don't do it a ton

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anymore, and it's not something SeanPayton has done a lot, although I
do think there was a year therewhere he rostered three quarterbacks for most of
the season. It's possible. Andthe way that you would see that is
if if you're just getting kind ofa you know, a high level performance
from from all three of those guysand in training camp and even in the
preseason, and you say, listen, I still think we have something here

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with say Zach Wilson in terms ofhis age, you know, the ability
to kind of still work with anddevelop him. We want to guard against,
you know, having one of ourguys get get injured early in the
season. That's the scenario in whichI think it could. It could happen.
But but again it comes down tothat, to that roster mass,
to what else you're trying to accomplishwith the composition of the fifty three,

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to whether you can say, yeah, we have this extra room, let's
go ahead and keep all three ofthese guys, continue to develop them.
But again with with you mentioned ZachWilson has more experience. And if you
they say, if you have twoquarterbacks, you don't have one, Well,
what is if you have three?What does that mean? How?
How how much does that create adistraction having all three in the building if

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if you still always view it assomething of a close, you know,
competition internally, that would be kindof a tricky dance that you would have
to do. That's why I don'tthink it's likely, but it definitely is
possible because again, they might justsee, hey, this is this is
where we think our talent lies.We want to continue to develop it.
Talk with a cosmier of the athleticNick, We'll get you out of here
on this. Which team is morelikely to finish above five hundred? See

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you football or Denver Broncos. OhMan, put me on spot. I
think I think the Broncos, Ireally do. And I think the reason
is part of it's the schedule,you know, with see you moving to
the Big twelve and all that comeswith that, you know, I think
it's going to be a little bitof a tougher league for them. And
again with what we talked about withwith the Broncos, there's a possibility to

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me that they are better just basedon what they have around them, where
they made those key editions. Ididn't touch on it before, but I
think the fact that they're going tobe better running against the run, I
think that's the one area you canlook at and say they've clearly gotten better
as a sort of defensive front.And when you have that component place,
a lot, a lot of positivecan cascade around that because now you're taking

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teams out of what they want todo, you're winning the ball, you
know, ball control game a littlebit more. That's a really great question,
and I don't feel super confident inthat answer, but I'll say I'll
lean towards the Broncos Nick Cosmider,the athletic. We appreciate you as always,
sir. Yeah, well thanks,I appreciate it. Take care,
take care,