09-04-24 Hour 1 of Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome in too It Broncos Country Tonight. Benjamin Olbright here
with you. Hope you guys are having a good day.
Short Show again tonight, and we'll have the Short Show
podcast edition most of the week. Friday, we'll have some
live after Rockies. Immediately after the Rockies, so you guys
want to stay tuned for that. Next week, we've got

(00:20):
the presidential debate September tenth here on on Kowa. One
thing I do want to tell you guys about is
this Sunday the eighth, We're doing a new Broncos Brunch.
So immediately following the two shows that I do in
the morning here on k Away, the gambling and fantasy shows,

(00:43):
I'll be heading over this week. It's going to be
at Scooters over an Aurora, but it'll be bouncing around
and it's brought to you by the the people who
do Don Julio tequila and all that kind of stuff.
The Broncos Brunch for a couple of hours. Myself, I
think I'm gonna talk Nick Ferguson into coming on out there.
We'll see if I'm able to swing that, and we'll

(01:06):
be doing that during now. Alan Jojo will be doing
their shows, but we're doing some some live hits from
out there and Broncos Game Day, all that kind of stuff.
So looking forward to that. So if you guys want
to get you guys want to get involved in that,
I will be out there. We'll be out there for
about two hours. I believe it'll be from eleven to one,

(01:27):
just prior to the game, and that'll be Broncos Brunch.
We'll be doing that for all the the road games
right here on right here at KAA, and that'll be
a lot of fun. Not doing it for the for
the home games obviously, but been doing it for the
the road games to get a chance to to meet
with you.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
All, talk with you all.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
I answered your questions, you have, all that kind of stuff.
So that'll be fun. A lot of Broncos news to
get to today. We'll get to that stuff here momentarily.
I think the biggest news of the day was this
morning the announcement of the Patzertan deal. They've been negotiating

(02:06):
for about a week give or take.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
In Earnest.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
The stuff really heated up over the weekend and they
got it done last night and the announcement came today.
Patser Tan will be sticking around in Denver for the
foreseeable future. The signing bonus on it is is fifteen million.
It's a twenty twenty four training camp roster bonus of

(02:31):
two point four to six three million fully guaranteed to
twenty twenty four base salary of one point zero five
to five million fully guaranteed, the twenty twenty five option
bonus of twenty one million fully guaranteed, and that's paid
by March thirty first of twenty twenty five. Twenty twenty
five base salary of one point one seven million fully
guaranteed in the twenty twenty six and option bonus of

(02:54):
ten million guaranteed for injury at signing, fully guaranteed on
the fifth day of the twenty twenty five year. The
twenty twenty five base salary will be seven point sixty
three two million guaranteed for injury at signing, fully guaranteed
fifth day of the twenty twenty five league year. Twenty
twenty seven base salary jumps to seventeen million guaranteed for
injury at signing and fully guaranteed on the fifth day

(03:16):
of the twenty twenty six league year. Twenty twenty eight
base salaries nineteen point four to nine million, two point
one seven nine million of which is guaranteed for injury
at signing, and then one point one seven nine million
of which becomes fully guaranteed on the fifth day of
the twenty twenty six league year, and another million which
becomes fully guaranteed on the fifth day of the twenty

(03:37):
twenty seven league year. In twenty twenty eight, there's a
per game roster bonus of five hundred and ten thousand.
Twenty twenty nine's base salary is twenty three point four
to nine million, and that's not guaranteed. The there's a
ten to twenty twenty eight per game roster bonus of
also another five hundred and ten thousand total. The new

(04:00):
money average on the four year extension twenty four million,
sets a new mark for corners or safeties, which blows
out the prior record for corners by three million dollars
per year in terms of average. The highest paid corner
the league previously was twenty one million per year. There
are seventy seven point five million dollars in total guarantees.

(04:21):
That is the highest for any defensive back in league history.
Thirty nine point five million dollars of the contract is
paid out in the first nine months. Sir Tan, who
had two years left on his rookie deal, through three years,
he'll make more. He'll make what he was doing to
earn plus one year of the projected franchise tag plus

(04:43):
eleven million more. So, most teams like to wait four
years before signing a first round pick to a new deal,
since the fourth year is pretty cheap. The Broncos were
willing to forego that and gets their Tan the four year,
ninety six million dollar exten that he likely would have
taken after the year, given that the market has kind

(05:06):
of mired in the low twenty million dollar range. I
think if you're Denver, you're as a Broncos in the
Broncos front office, you're happy you got this done now
because the Sauce deal, Sauce Guarter deal is gonna exceed
this and you wanted to get yours in before he
blew it out of the water. So I think if
you're if you're the Denver Broncos, you're happy you got

(05:27):
this done. You got it done early. The way that
this money is set up, there's not a lot of
funny money in it. Obviously, the twenty twenty nine year
is sort of funny money, but the rest of this
extension is legitimate money. Then patzer Tann will be a
Bronco till twenty twenty eight unless he were to be
traded between now and then. So your next four years
you're going to have patzer Tan could be beyond that,

(05:48):
but you at least got him for four years as
it sits right now, and you know that this deal
is phenomenal. I think for all parties involved, it gets
hand record setting deal with record setting money the Broncos.
Based on the way that the salary cap has gone up.

(06:08):
While the average per year the apise we talk about
is higher than any other corner in history by three
million per year, the percentage of cap is actually lower.
The percentage of cap at signing is actually lower. It's
less than nine percent, which is which is lower than
the deal that for instance, JayR Alexander signed. So if

(06:28):
you're the never Broncos, even though this money on the
front end raw dollar amounts look like it's a record
setting deal and it is in those terms, it also
is a deal that is a smaller percentage of cap
and more team friendly than those other deals. That were larger,
you know, smaller dollar amounts raw dollar amounts, but larger

(06:50):
percentage of cap that they ate up. So I think
the Broncos, George Payton, Sean Payton, I think they've got
to be pretty happy about it. This was a that
was a long time coming, but the earnest negotiations really
began last week and you know, finally got it to
where they wanted to get it done before the season started.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
They managed to do that.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
I do remember, and thankfully I won't have to answer
Twitter questions anymore about that. Where back during this past offseason,
we had a ton of people suggesting that the Broncos
should trade Pats aer Tan. We had erroneous reports out
there that the Broncos were shopping him to move up
in the draft. I can tell you emphatically that that

(07:37):
was not the case. Ever, at any point, the Broncos
were not shopping Pats Are Tan. There was there were
reports out there from some pretty sketchy websites, but for
whatever reason, people will believe anything they read, and don't
I know that from my personal life, but I will
say that there was no truth whatsoever to the idea
that the Broncos were ever trying to trade pats are Tan,

(07:59):
They weren't trying to move up in the draft. Boonix
was the third quarterback on their board. I saw a
report out there earlier about he was the second quarterback
on the board.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
That's not true.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
It was third, and and I know that from someone
inside the building. And I also know to give that
little credence that inside the building, they didn't list the
quarterbacks in order on their board. They had it mixed
up in case there were internal leaks. So I will
tell you he was third on their board, behind Caleb Williams,
Jane Daniels, and you know, I mean, they seem pretty confident.

(08:30):
They like what they've seen out of him so far.
They made despite everybody coming after them and saying that
the Broncos made a mistake for drafted him at twelve.
And again I wasn't the biggest fan of that, but
you know, they're they're getting their opportunity to prove that
and we'll see, you know what, We'll see where that goes.

(08:54):
The other thing I wanted to get to the Broncos
named their captains today, and there weren't any surprises on
here for me. I talked about it yesterday. Although I
messed up. You go back and pull the audio. I
was looking at a picture of Mike mcglinchee and said
his name instead of Quinn Minerds. Hopefully you guys understand,

(09:16):
but if you want to ding me for that one,
that's fair. The Broncos named six captains six team captains
for the twenty twenty four season, and Sean Payton announced
that earlier today. On offense, wide receiver of Courtland Sutton
talked about him yesterday, guard Quinn Minerts and rookie quarterback
Bo Nix got the nod. We talked about Sutton and Knicks,

(09:36):
and I meant to say minerdsid I said Mike McGlinchey
like an idiot, So let's all make fun of me
for that. On defense, two captains Pats Ertan Alex Singleton
mentioned both those names yesterday on the show as well.
You can pull the audio and then the one that
I did not mention, which would be kicker Will Lutz,
which I should have, but that's on me. Captains were
elected by teammates, so bow Knicks makes a bit of

(10:00):
history here. He is the team's first rookie captain since
Lloyd Floyd Little back in nineteen sixty seven, and it
will also mark the first time Sean Payton has had
a rookie captain on his team ever. Denver's team captains
last year were, of course Courtland Sutton, Russell Wilson, Justin Simmons,

(10:22):
Kareem Jackson, Mike McGlinchey, and punter Riley Dixon. Wilson, Simmons
and Jackson obviously all no longer with the team. Two
years ago, the captains were Russell, Wilson, Cortland, Sutton, Justin Simmons,
outside lambicker Bradley Chubb and kicker Brandon McManus. Of the
team's twenty twenty two captains, obviously, Sutton is the only

(10:43):
one who still remains with the team. This marks Cortland's
fourth straight season as a team captain. Bronco's obviously prepping
for that Week one showdown with the Seahawks on September eight,
Currently listed as a five and a half point road
underdog going into that game, I don't think they already
surprises with the captaincy at all. Certainly would be listening

(11:08):
to you guys' arguments if you think that there is one,
but you know, typically when you get guys that get
the big contracts like that, they tend to be the quarterback,
the defensive leader. And then the guys with the big contracts,
especially teams seven, the guys the big contracts tend to
be sort of who get those captaincy slots. And so
I didn't think that there was anything surprise in Courtland's
but a fixture there for a while, bo Nix as

(11:29):
the quarterback was going to get it. Quinn Minors is
the big money offensive lineman now takes over that spot.
And then on the defensive side, you know, Singleton is
the middle linebacker. Makes a ton of sense, and certand
the big money corner, you know, it makes a ton
of sense. And then Will Lutts obviously again makes a
ton of sense. So I don't there wasn't anything that

(11:53):
jumped out at me as far as that kind of
stuff goes. But uh, if you guys think so, then
and let me know another note that's non broncos. Note
the man who spent years despising the media is now
kind of overexposed to it. After spending years feigning innocence

(12:16):
of social media, Bill Belichick is now in it, making
light of his past feigned ignorance of it. Bill Belichick
is on the gram. Hello everyone, Belichick said in a
video that was a product of at least four different
takes edited.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
Together, surprised to see me here? Well, I am too.

Speaker 1 (12:34):
Over the past few months and not being with the team,
I haven't had the opportunity to express my thoughts at
a moment's notice, and now I'm changing that. I tried
to join snapface, but I couldn't find it. I decided
this was a good place for me to land, so
I can talk to you, share what I'm up to.
There's a lot going on. So here I am Hello, instaface,
see you soon. Belichick is obviously during press conferences and
misidentified social media platforms to create the impression that he

(12:57):
knows nothing about them, and so his media portfolio, I guess,
continues to grow. Most recently, he joined my Tanebom's thirty
third team as a strategic advisor, and making that move
even more probably eyebrow raising is the fact that Tannebaum
was general manager of the New York Jets when the

(13:17):
Jets instigated Spygate seventeen years ago this month.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
So I thought.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
I thought that was fascinating. I do want to get
into this kickoff stuff, so I guess we've got time
for that. Roger Goodell was said it's clear new kickoff
will have longer returns and better field position. NFL Commissioner
Roger Goodell says the preseason is too small a sample
size to make any sweeping judgments about the new kickoff rule.

(13:47):
We've seen enough to know that it's going to be
good for the office. Goodell emphasized an interview with Pat
McAfee that's starting field position for the offense after kickoffs
will surely be higher, both because of longer returns and
because touchbacks now go to the thirty instead of the
twenty five. Preseason, you don't see a lot, so to
make a judgment after three weeks of the preseason is
probably a little questionable because coaches are holding back. Goodell said,

(14:10):
I it's very clear we're going to get more returns,
but it's also very clear that the average drive start
is going to be out five or six yards closer
to the thirty yard line. Good for the offense. I
think we're going to see some longer returns. Those longer returns, however,
might lead coaches to tell their kickers to boot the
ball at the back of the end zone for a touchback,
which goes to the thirty but limits the risk of
a long return. Goodell says if that happens, the NFL

(14:31):
might change the rule again for twenty twenty five. We
put this in for a year, we'll evaluate it for
the entire year, and if we see that type of
circumstance come out, we'll probably evaluate, well the ball goes
out to the thirty five next year and try that
even more than encouraging returns. The reason the NFL changed
the kickoff rules to produce injuries, and Goodell said there
are reasons to think the new rule will help on

(14:52):
that front, saying, quote, the safety part looks good, but
it's too early to tell. We don't want to make
any judgments off the data we have, but that's the
for us. Make this play the exciting play it's always been,
but make it a safer play, closer to the safety
level of a normal scrimmage play. It else said, see
what the new kickoff rules look like and game teams
are actually trying to win. Thursday night, when the Baltimore

(15:12):
Ravens take on the Kansas City chiefs. I'm in favor
of the new kickoff rules. I like the idea, and
I think there's a few tweaks that are needed, but
I don't think that necessarily threatening to move the touchback
to the thirty five solves that.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
I think.

Speaker 1 (15:34):
I think these rules are better. I think it'll make
the play more fun instead of the snooze fest it's been.
I've talked at length to the guy who created these rules,
Sam Swartstein, who created the dynamic kickoff for the XFL,
and it's I believe, second incarnation before the current what

(15:55):
is it, UFL now or whatever, the XFL twenty twenty.
I like what they've I like what they've experimented with
and tried to do. And this is one of those
spring league rules that got moved forward to the NFL,
and I think that it's been I think it's going
to be beneficial. It'll for special teams to think a
little bit more creatively, and I'm looking forward to seeing

(16:18):
what some of these minds have come up with to create,
you know, more exciting, more dynamic returns.

Speaker 2 (16:29):
I love the idea of.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
Reverses on these plays because I think that it will
I think if you've got two fast guys back there,
and if you've got a guy who can break a
tackle and it's got that third gear, it really will
make all the difference in the world. To listen to
Broncos Country Tonight right here on KOA. It's a fifty
AM ninety four one FM News Talk Sports. Welcome back

(16:53):
to it, Broncos Country Tonight. Benjamin Albright here with you.
Short show again obviously post Rockies edition. That's what we
have all a week, although we will have a lengthier
live component on Friday, so you guys want to stay
tuned for that after the Rockies game.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
Looking forward to that.

Speaker 1 (17:12):
Next week, we've got the presidential debate September tenth, so
programming note there, We've got what was it, the Broncos
Brunch coming up. Broncos Brunch coming up Sunday for Broncos
road games, myself possibly Nick Ferguson. We'll see if I'm
talking into It's gonna be out there at various different
locales around the Denver area prior to the game. Do

(17:35):
a little two hour you know, meet and greed, mix
it up, hanging out all that kind of stuff. The
fine folks who do Don Julio tequila will be out
there as well, looking forward to looking forward to that.
This Sunday Broncos Brunch'll be eleven to one over at
Scooters Bar and Grill there in Aurora. I'm gonna be
a little bit late to that one, but be speeding

(17:56):
over there from doing the fantasy and gambling shows here
on KOE that morning, so be a little bit late
to that, but otherwise looking forward to doing that.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
This season.

Speaker 1 (18:05):
New thing we're adding, the pro Pick Them Challenge, of course,
is back up on the website, so go to koclorado
dot com slash contest. I believe the buttons there on
the on the main page. But if you go to
that that url Koclorado dot com, I believe you'll find
it there. The propec Coum Challenge. You want to get
signed up because you know Ravens Chiefs kicks off here
pretty soon and you guys.

Speaker 2 (18:25):
Can win free gas.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
There's cash prizes, weekly prizes, season long prizes, plus you
get to compete against us, and you know, if you
beat us week to week, then you get through a
lot of smack talking, which as you all know, I
live for. So you beat the brakes off me, You
get the talks back to me, THEMS, the rules. I
don't get to talk back. So sign up for the
Propecum Challenge. You ever want to wipe the smug grin
right off my face, there's a chance to do it.

(18:47):
I can pick games better than Ben Christian McCaffrey, who
I drafted number one overall in our iHeart Fantasy League
last night, which I will dominate this year. Suck At
Edwards is closing in on a rare fit. For those
you who don't know, he's closing in on fifty career
rushing touchdowns thirty receiving touchdowns. Next tight he catches a pass,

(19:08):
Niners running back Christian McCaffrey will join an exclusive club,
just the third player in the NFL to achieve that feat.
McCaffrey currently has fifty two rushing touchdowns twenty nine receiving
touchdowns in his NFL career. He catches a touchdown pass
Monday night against the Jets, joined the fifty to fifty club.
It's a really, really small club. The only other players
with at least fifty rushing and thirty receiving touchdowns in

(19:30):
their career are Marshall Fulk and Lenny Moore, both of
whom are in the Pro Football.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
Hall of Fame.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
Falk had one hundred rushing touchdowns thirty six receiving touchdowns
while playing for the Colts and the Rams from ninety
four to two thousand and five. Lenny Moore had sixty
three touchdowns rushing forty eight receiving while playing for the
Baltimore Colts from nineteen fifty six to nineteen sixty seven.

(19:57):
There were a couple of guys that I thought would
have been on that list, but weren't you know, right
off the bat, there was a couple of guys I
really thought would have been, but Ladanian Tomlinson, despite having
one hundred and forty five rushing touchdowns, only had seventeen
receiving touchdowns. For whatever reason, I thought Ladanian Thomlins had

(20:17):
had way more receiving touchdowns than that. I don't And again,
I don't know why I thought that, but I certainly
thought that he had more than seventeen. You would have
gotten me on that when if you were trying to
do a trivia question. The priest Holmes was somebody I
thought might have been in that category. He had eighty
six rushing touchdowns, but Priest Thoms only had eight receiving touchdowns,

(20:41):
and that I mean, as I go back and I
think about it, I'm like, wow, it seems widely disparate
to what I remember out of Priest Holmes, that three
year run where he was absolutely dominant. You know in
the NFL it was two thousand and one to two
thousand and three. I think where he had it was
at fifteen hundred rushing yards every year and he had

(21:04):
fourteen twenty rushing yards at last year. But fifteen hundred
rushing yards and six hundred plus receiving yards every year.
I thought he had. I thought he had more touchdowns
than that, but he but he did not. So that
was how do you guys remember Priest Holmes. I mean,
I know, you know it was Kansas City obviously, and
so people, you know, IM not going to give it

(21:25):
their due. But man, for that that three year run
was something beautiful. I was something to behold watching him,
you know, watching him play, he was just he was
something else. If he'd if he could have gotten going
in that Baltimore backfield, the problem was he was a
little dinged up at times, and then you know he
was playing second fiddle to Jamal Lewis back then, you know,

(21:45):
in that in that Ravens backfield. Once he got the
Kansas City really kind of exploded. But he can get
the Kansas City and be a first time real, you know,
sort of starter until two thousand and one. You know,
in ninety eight he had a chance to start some games.
I think he started thirteen of them, and he played
very well. I mean he but he was really just
something else once he got to uh to Kansas City
and got to get in that offense with that Dick

(22:08):
for Meal offense, Al Saunders and Dick for Meal running
the show there, that was that was something else, and
it was it was just, uh, it was fascinating to
watch back then. You know, Kansas City was terrible on defense,
but they certainly certainly weren't interesting and fun offense at
that at that point in time. So yeah, that was
one of those things that surprised me wh McAffrey would join.

(22:30):
The only other two would be Marshall Falk and Lenny Moore.
You know, I I really thought that there would have
been some other people that were in that club, but
there there aren't.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
There just aren't.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
And so that's fascinating and something that. Uh, he'll get
a chance to you know, he'll get a chance to
do uh. Saints corner Marshawn Lattimore or some speculation here
that the Broncos might be interested in trading for him,
although I was told that was not the case. Dealing
with a hip injury, as fellow teammate linebacker Really Gay
his back injury. Latimore is limited to ten games, was

(23:00):
by ankle injury last season, only played seven games after
last ratings at Kidney in twenty twenty two, part of
the reason his name came up in that trade chat
of this offseason, though Saints didn't move him. He set
to start against the Panthers this Sunday, as long as
he's healthy enough to go, but certainly listed as a
limited participant with a hip injury in that one. The
Saints team that's going to be struggling to get out

(23:22):
of the bottom of the NFC South. Dennis Allen a
little bit on the hot seat this year. They brought
in excuse me, they brought in Kid Kubiak to be
there to be their offensive coordinator. Jettis sitting Pete Carmichael,
who wound up here obviously and wanted to update their offense,
and so they know they updated to that offense, and
we'll see Derek Carr still the quarterback down there, although

(23:42):
they've got an interesting youth movement there between Jake Hayner
and Spencer Ratler, the younger quarterbacks that they have who
kind of showed out in the preseason a little bit,
and it'll be fun to see if either one of
those guys ends up taking over as this season moves
moves along, a lot of talk about the Dallas Cowboys
run game. I had some interesting conversations with some people

(24:03):
down there in Dallas over course of the last week,
and it's interesting Ezekiel Elliots listed as the starter, but
not a lot of belief that he's going to wind
up with the lead in rushing yards when all said
and done. Cowboys currently list Elliott is the starting running
back on the depth chart. Mike McCarthy confirmed that today

(24:26):
when he approved it. But he said today, let's be honest.
You don't just play with eleven on offense or defense,
So I mean usually closer to fourteen guys you would
consider starters. And this thing goes even further than the
depth chart, because when you want to announce an offense
or announce the defense. Teams I've been a part of
you just never announced eleven guys, so I think it's
a product to that. So we'll take more than one
running back too. That's just not the way we want

(24:47):
to play. I don't want to get into rotation. We'll
talk about this more next week, but those guys will
all play. Elliott might not get the most snaps or
touches for the Cowboys, who let Tony Pollard walk in
free agency and replaced him with Ezekiel Elliot and Dalvin Cook,
who they recently signed to the practice squad. Rico Dowdles
said recently expects a bigger role in the offense, and
that likely is the case in the team's running back

(25:08):
by committee. Dowaldll backed up Pollard last season at eighty
nine carries for three hundred and sixty one yards. Cowboys
only running back who has extensive experience as a special
teams players Malik Davis, who's on the practice squad. Dallas
depth chart includes rookies Marius le Fowle, over De Marveon
Overshown at linebacker. Three other rookies will start corner. Kayln

(25:30):
Carson became a starter. After Ron Bland was injured, Senner
Cooper b b left tackle Tyler Geydon won starting jobs.
Cowboys have never started four rookies in the opening game
of a season since the AFL NFL merger. For fantasy owners,
Dan Campbell says Jamiir Gibbs looking really good after returning
from the hamstring injury. Lion's running back Jamir Gibbs has

(25:52):
already declared himself ready to play on Sunday Night's opener
against the Rams after dealing with the hamstring injury. Gibson
turned the issue a little tweet, saying that he's good.
In his press conference today, head coach Dan Campbell said
he's liked what Gibbs has done since we're turning to practice, saying, quote,
he looks really good. I think here's the trick with Gibbs,
and we tell him this. When you can run like
he runs, I mean this guy can run. Then if

(26:13):
you don't touch that speed in practice at least once
or twice a day, you set yourself up for something
to happen on Sunday because you haven't. You're a guy
who runs twenty two miles an hour. You better touch
it because the first time you touch it in a game,
when someone's coming after you, I'm running away. That's where
bad things happen. When you have supreme speed, that's where
you can kind of pull away, and practice you pull away,
you pull away, but you're not. You haven't had to

(26:34):
truly turn it on until you got the game. So
I think the trick is just educating him on that,
making him do that so that he doesn't have a setback.

Speaker 2 (26:39):
So we're on it.

Speaker 1 (26:40):
So he's doing it. We all like where he's at. Gibbs,
who of course was the number twelve overall pick in
last year's draft, accumulated twelve hundred and sixty one yards,
eleven touchdowns and fifteen games as a rookie last year,
rushed for at nine hundred and forty five yards, ten touchdowns,
averaging five point to a carry, caught fifty two passes
for three to sixteen in a touchdown. The Lions will
release their first injury today. But that's an interesting thing

(27:04):
because Greg Dulsich is somebody who said hamstring gets your issues,
and I wonder if not going one hundred ten percent
in practice once or twice to kind of stretch get
that thing to where it, you know, sort of needs
to be. I wonder if that comes back to bite
him in games or has come back to bite him
in games. Dulsa has managed to stay healthy so far
this year. The Broncos expect big things out of him,
So it'll be it'll be fun to, you know, see how,

(27:27):
how and what he's able to do when it comes
to uh comes to this season if he can stay healthy.
Brown's quarterback Deshaun Watson's long wait to get back in
game action is set to end this Sunday against Cowboys.
Watson spent the off season recovering from right shoulder injury
that ended his twenty twenty three season and listening to

(27:48):
questions about whether I'll ever get back to the kind
of play that made the Browns guarantee him two hundred
and thirty million dollars after trading for him in twenty
twenty two. During a press conference today, Watson said he
has no doubt that he still capable of that kind
of production, So it's no problem for him if others
are overlooking what the Browns have gone going on this season.

(28:08):
Watson said, quote, it's fine with us.

Speaker 2 (28:10):
Perfect.

Speaker 1 (28:10):
We're just going to go out of the radar of
workouts all we can do. Watson didn't play in the preseason,
was limited in one training camp practice with arm soreness,
but feels he doesn't have any limitations in terms of
throwing the ball ahead of what everybody with the Browns
hopes will be returned to his previous statistical accomplishments. The

(28:33):
Commanders suspended Vice President of Content rail A Teen. The
Commanders announced on Wednesday they've suspended their VP of content,
rail Ateen, after a video of him discussing the team's
players and fans in a derogatory way was released and
team was shown talking about players using homophobic and said

(28:54):
some of them are dumb as hell. In a video
taken by a hidden camera by notorious hidden camera GUYE
James O'Keefe and O'Keeffe Media during what appeared to be
a date with a woman who works for the company,
and Teen also referred to fans as high school educated
alcoholics and mouth breathers. The language used in the video

(29:14):
runs counter to our values at the Commander's organization. We've
suspended the employee ppending on eternal investigation, and we will
reserve further comment at this time. A team said in
a statement. According to inteen's LinkedIn page, he worked for
the Commander since twenty twenty. He's also worked for the
Jets and the XFL. Jamar Chase returned to Bengals practice Wednesday,

(29:35):
and for now he's back. Multiple reporters on the scenes
he was in uniform or on the field for practice.
A coach Zach Taylor said, we'll see to several inquiries
about Chase and his pre practice press conference. Chase reportedly
went through his usual early practice activity stretch and working
with t Higgins off to the side during special teams
drills during the portion of the session that was open
to the media. Jase has been back at practice before
once again sitting out as part of his apparent hold in,

(29:58):
He's been participating in walk through. If Chase doesn't fully
participate in the season, the Bengals will have to list
him on the injury report, which is due out Wednesday today.

Speaker 2 (30:09):
Chase is currently set.

Speaker 1 (30:09):
To earn one point zero five to five million base
salary the Bengals, exercising his fifth option year in the spring.
He's on the books for twenty one point eight one
six million guaranteed in twenty twenty five. A lot of
predictions out there, division predictions, all that kind of stuff.
Don't know if you guys had a chance. I got
a new podcast we're doing myself and Jake Arians, he's

(30:30):
the son of head coach Bruce Arians. We got into
some of that, so I put that up on the Twitter.
If you've already seen that, you guys want to get
involved in that. That'll be more of an NFL focused
once a week podcast kind of thing in addition to
what I do here on Broncos Country Tonight and be
a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (30:46):
So you are going to check that out.

Speaker 1 (30:48):
And if you want to follow Jake on Twitter at
Jake b Arians, that would be that would be him.
A kicker, Matt Gay may not be available for the
colts Sunday season opener against the Texans. Gay had been
out of practice and head coach Chane Steichen said his
Wednesday presser that the kicker had a hernia. He told
reporters he felt pain last week and at surgery to
repair the issue, so he didn't know if he'd be

(31:09):
able to kick this weekend. So his status is something
to monitor as the week plays out. The Colts have
Spencer Schrader on the practice squad, who was undrafted out
of Notre Dame spent the off season with the Colts
before being released last month. Just a little fantasy news
there for a kicker enthusiasts. Obviously, I love that we

(31:30):
had our fantasy draft, you know, last night with the
iHeart thing and people talking about kickers, and some people
lobbying for the elimination of kickers in the fantasy league,
and I'm sitting there lobbying for the addition of punters,
just because I like to troll.

Speaker 2 (31:43):
So the Bills.

Speaker 1 (31:46):
Announced their captains, and contrary to the Broncos who had
six of them, the Bills will only have two captains
this season, quarterback Josh Allen and middle linebacker to Rolbernard.
Sean McDermott said, our captains this year helping lead our
football team, Josh Allen or Albernard, and around them will
be a leadership group or council of ten other players
who helped lead our team. Last year, the Bills had

(32:06):
eight captains, but this year mcdarbott said it the team
decided to be better off having fewer captains and more
members on the leadership council. Leadership structure is going to
be different every year based on one team over another.
Every team is different, so we felt strongly the leadership
structure we put in place this year is what the
team calls for, what it needs. Allen has been a
captain for six straight years. Bernard a captain for the

(32:27):
first time. Speaking of the Bills, Bill's safety Damar Hamlin
has earned a starting job in Buffalo's secondary Hamlin his
list is one of the two starting safety on the
Bills the official depth chart, and when reporters asked head
coach Sean Paigon about Hamlin's status, he praised what Hamlin
had done in the year and a half since he
went into cardiac arrest on the field in a game
in Cincinnati, Theamar Hamlin will start. McDermott said, what else

(32:51):
can't this young man do? He went through and what
he went through on the field, you guys have written
about it over and over. To come back from that.
It's one thing to come back from an ACL or
broken bone. It's another thing to come back off what
he came back off. Let alone decide to play football
contact football, full pads at the NFL level. I don't
think I seed to say anything more. It's incredible Hamlin
was widely praised last season for being able to return

(33:12):
to the field at all, but last year he only
played in five games, mostly on special teams, never in
the starting lineup. This offseason, Handler's drawn praise for his
continued hard work and now he is the starter. Some
news that may only interest me. I don't know if
you guys saw this the fight between DirecTV and Disney.
Both sides are blaming the situation on the other. DirecTV

(33:33):
has accused Disney of being inflexible and its effort to
force consumers to pay for content they don't want. ESPN
chair Jimmy Pitarrow disputed their claim and said his flat
out falls during appearance on CNBC. Last year's fight between
Disney and Charter was ugly too, and then it ended
the first day of Monday night football.

Speaker 2 (33:49):
Probably where this is headed.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
Right until a deal is done to put ESPN and
ABC back on DirecTV just in time for Jets and
forty nine ers, and that's usually the deadline spur action.
People don't like having their their TV cutoff, and Direct
TV is seeing customers hemorrhage and go over to YouTube TV,
which does have everything and runs as a stream service.

(34:12):
It isn't subject to outages during storms either.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
So not that.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
I endorse any of the above, but I've been using
I personally been using YouTube tv for a while now
and find the product personally to work better for me,
So I appreciate you guys being along for it.

Speaker 2 (34:32):
Looking forward to content the rest of the week, and
of course we've.

Speaker 1 (34:35):
Got the game Sunday, Seahawks Broncos Broncos at Seattle right
here on KOA. Listening to Broncos Country tonight right here
on KOA and say fifty am ninety four one FM
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