07-30-25 Hour 2 of Broncos Country Tonight with Zach Segars and Mario Vetanze

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
More Broncos Country tonight. Thank you very much for Brie
Masis I believe in Broncos, for joining me in the
last segment and talking about her training camp observations today.
But now it's time to go right back out to
the KOA Common Spirit Health hotline and talk with Mario
the Tansy at Ftanzi Therapy on Twitter and of the

(00:22):
Altitude Adjustment Podcast. Mario, I know you were at training
camp also today. What did you see out there?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Man? First of all, thank you so much for having me, Zach,
and it's fantastic to hear you on the airwaves. You're
such an immensely talented guy and they really couldn't have
anybody better in that seat right now. I just wanted
to get that out of the way.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
Zach.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Also, you're very handsome, but people can't tell because you're
on the radio, so I'd figure I just throw that
out there.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
First thing that I want to say, Zach, I.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Am becoming the biggest Lavelle Bailey fan I think in
Broncos Country. I know a lot of fans were worse
when Singleton went down and when Drew Sanders went down,
and you know, the linebacker position was you know, probably
the biggest weakness on this team last season, you know,
a defense that was otherwise very good, and man, Lavelle

(01:15):
Bailey has stepped up in an absolutely massive way. And
you know we've seen time and time again in this league, Zach,
that you know, losing your starting position from an injury
is a very real thing if the guy behind you
outperforms you. I mean, arguably the greatest quarterback of all time,

(01:36):
Tom Brady can tell you exactly how that works. And
I think what we're seeing out of Lavelle Bailey is
is incredible.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
And I know it's in a small sample.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Size, but he balled out last year during the preseason,
and it seems like he picked up right where he
left off. And I think, Zach, what you have to
look for in these situations where you know your supposed
starters go down, Like I think you could say Alex
Singleton was probably penciled in as the starter going into camp,
he goes down Lavelle Bailey. Not only does the level

(02:08):
of play not decrease when Bailey is out there in
place of Singleton, in place of Sanders, one could argue
right now that it's being elevated. So Bailey absolutely on
my watch list.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
He was tremendous at camp today and he's really been
tremendous hall training camp long. I remember the first day
I was out there, he had two really impressive PBUs,
the first of which turned into an interception on Lucas Croule.
I think he's been very impressive out there. Do you
think he's by just what you're seeing, not necessarily where
they're playing in the depth chart or whatever, but do

(02:43):
you think he deserves to be ahead of Justin Sternot
at this point in that kind of depth pecking order
at linebacker?

Speaker 2 (02:52):
I think as I mean, as of now, he is.
Back when I was out there today, it was it
was Lavelle Bailey and Drake Greenlaw. They they were the
two starting linebackers on first team. Snad was running with
the two. So like as it stands right now, I
think that he is the starter, and the team seems
to agree with that sentiment. Now we've got a few

(03:15):
preseason games to play, and no, there's really no better
measuring stick for situations like this, because camp is only
going to show you so much. You know, we as
fans can only see so much, even you as the
media can only see so much. It's like what you
are allowed to see. We don't see the things happening
behind closed doors, So you can't necessarily like make these

(03:37):
determinations at this point. But again, like, if Bailey can
play as well as he did last preseason in this
upcoming preseason, I just don't see a scenario where he's
not beating Sternad out.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah, I mean, I think that would be a boon
for the Broncos. You already know what Sternaud is. He's
kind of that floor raising option there. If Bailey can
replace him, that would be a good sign for this
Broncos defense, where that really is kind of, like you said,
the remaining weakness. I'm talking with Mario the Tansy of
the Altitude Adjustment podcast.

Speaker 4 (04:13):
Mario on the other side of the ball.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
It was such a run heavy day, which allowed us
to get a great glimpse at the linebackers. Also gave
us our first quality glimpse at the running backs. Did
any of them stand out to you for either positive
or negative reasons.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
I wouldn't say there were any negatives per se, Zach,
but from what I saw, especially in the first team
period where they really focus on, you know, focused on.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
The run game.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
Three or four straight plays from the very beginning were
blown up. You know, it was it was Malcolm Roach,
a few times it was John Franklin Myers, it was
Zach Allen. I mean, these guys were living in the
backfield and Malcolm Roach made.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
Two absolutely incredible plays.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
And I'm sure if you haven't heard, you have to
go check it out. Marvin Mims was being interviewed and
they kind of asked him about Malcolm Roach because after
these two plays, like Roach completely blew up these run plays,
Like as soon as the running back was handed the ball,
Roach is meeting him right then and there, like beat
his man immediately off the snap.

Speaker 3 (05:16):
Two plays in a row, Ritz his helmet off.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
He's getting the defense hype. He's John at the offensive guys,
and I know, like he and Dobbins were kind of John.
And then Nick Benito gets involved until Marvin Mimms's ass
about that, you know, he called him a fat man.
Of course, it's all in good fun, but it's hard
to say that there were any negatives really with the
running backs, because what happened was the defense just they

(05:42):
put their foot down and they dominated. I saw a
couple of really good runs from JK. Dobbins. He had
a phenomenal cut on one of his later runs where
put his foot in the dirt. Change of direction was great.
Brandon Jones kind of olayed. Now I will say this,
they're not really allowed to hit right, so it's difficult
to get a sense of like was it really a mistackle?

(06:04):
You know, is he maybe not breaking down the same
way as if it's full contact. But I really like
seeing that.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
Out of Dobbins, who you know, we know has had.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
A hard time staying healthy, and you make a hard
cut like that and you're getting that initial burst that
can be rough on your knees and on your ankles.
Didn't seem to bother him at all, which is a
really good sign. RJ. Harvey really has some serious juice.
You're going to keep hearing that over and over and
over again. But really, the guy that I think arguably
had some of the best runs of the day was

(06:35):
Blake Watson. And he seems to be like the forgotten
guy on this depth chart, and he's a long shot
to make the team Zach, but you know, if he
has a phenomenal preseason, there's no saying, like, how high
that he could climb on this depth chart. You know,
there's been some mixed opinions about audric estimate. He's been

(06:55):
getting a little bit better, but you know, perhaps some
conflicting reports from certain individuals about how he should be perceived.
We're very familiar with Jelil McLoughlin. I think he's fine,
but you kind of know what you're getting out of him.
It's not gonna be anything special. It'll be solid. You'll
get birsty fun runs every once in a while, you know,

(07:17):
the swing passes to the outside. Maybe he can make
something happen, But inherently, like Blake Watson is arguably the
best receiving back in that group. You know, it wasn't
something that Rgie Harvey was necessarily asked to do a
ton in terms of like a route. Tree Domains has
a little.

Speaker 3 (07:35):
Bit more experience with.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
That, but Blake Watson has a little bit of wide
receiver in him. So he really kind of surprised and
impressed me today. So when we're talking about this running
back room and you know who's going to be like
the third and fourth guy in line, I'd be remiss
to say that. That'd be remiss if I said that
Blake Watson didn't have a real shot. Man.

Speaker 4 (07:56):
This is music to my ears, Mario.

Speaker 1 (07:59):
I came on here earlier and with singing Blake Watson's praises,
I fully agree. I think he looks like the most
natural receiver of the bunch. He had probably the best
few carries of the day, gashed the defense multiple times.
Now he is going against the guys further down the
depth chart.

Speaker 4 (08:15):
But you know, so is bidet so is odric.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
Estimate on some of these carries, and I don't think
they are popping the same way Blake Watson is.

Speaker 4 (08:23):
You know, if it's not with the Broncos, I.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
Think he catches on with some.

Speaker 4 (08:27):
NFL roster elsewhere.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
Sticking in the backfield though, and once again, everybody, this
is Mario Vatansi. If you don't recognize the voice of
the Altitude Adjustment podcast, Mario is sticking in the backfield there.
Bo Nix is what this Bronco season ultimately is going
to come down to. And you know how far can
they go? In everything supporting cast seems really good around him.

(08:49):
What have you seen so far from him in camp?
And do you think there's any early signs of a
potential year two.

Speaker 4 (08:54):
Leap or slump.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
I think the most important thing to keep him mind
here with bow and you know the supposed sophomore slump,
it's kind of two sided. Like on one end, the
sophomore slump is well documented. I mean, we sought out
a guy out of a guy like c. J. Stroud,
who was the rookie of the year his rookie year,
had a pretty significant drop off in year two. Now
that can be attributed to, you know, the issue that

(09:18):
offensive coordinator and the offensive line and so on and
so forth. But I think what benefits bo the most
is having the same head coach, having the same offensive
play caller. For correct me if I'm wrong, Zach, But
wasn't he saying that this is the first time that
he's had like the same offensive play caller and the
same head coach for two years in a row in

(09:40):
like the last six years or something like that. So
that's not well for Bou. And I think the other
thing to keep in mind is the trajectory that you
saw last year I think is ideal, Like that's exactly
what you want to see out of your rookie quarterback.
His struggles early on in the season were very well documented.
You know, didn't throw a touchdown pass until week four

(10:03):
of the season and still finished. Was it like third
all time in rookie touchdown passes. And the thing that
I kept saying on my podcast with Patrick keyoti altitude
adjustment going into last season, to fans like, don't be
so concerned with the wins, be more concerned with is

(10:25):
bow nicks the guy? Does he progress from week to
week if he.

Speaker 3 (10:28):
Makes you know, he made plenty of mistakes.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
The first several weeks in the season, Zach. You know,
those first four weeks were a little bit tumultuous. But
what I loved out of Bow is he's such a
student of the game and he's so smart and he's
so committed to his craft that he is improving steadily
throughout the season. And I know you and I had
personally talked about, you know, his footwork and forcing balls

(10:51):
and not making the best decisions and maybe escape in
the pocket too early instead of stepping up in it.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
Those are the things.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
That you want to see corrected as the season goes on,
and that's exactly what he did. So that leads me
to believe that he'll be able to avoid the sophomore slump.
Now again looking on the other side of the coin.
Typically the reason that we'll see this slump is because
guys have film on you. Sometimes it's a little bit
difficult to, like specifically, game plan for rookie signal callers.

Speaker 3 (11:20):
Because they're kind of all over the place. You don't
know what to expect.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
There's not a lot of film on them, there's not tendencies,
and you can't implement tendency breakers for those guys. So
not only is there much more footage on bow Nick's
heading in the next year, but if you ask me,
their upcoming schedule much more difficult, much more of a
gauntlet than what.

Speaker 3 (11:43):
Bo had to face last year.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
And so I'm not going to completely right off the
idea that he could have a sophomore slump.

Speaker 3 (11:50):
I think it's more realistic to say he'll.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
Have a few games where he struggles, you know, kind
of like the Indianapolis game. Not his best game statistically,
really bad first half. I think he threw three interceptions
in that game. But when it's all said and done,
are you able to rise to the occasion when you
need to and are you then able to learn from
those mistakes and That's what gives me confidence that ultimately,

(12:15):
if you look at season two as a whole for Bo,
he will have been able to avoid that sophomore slump
because of his propensity to correct his own mistakes.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
Speaking with Mario Vitanzi of the Altitude Adjustment podcast, now
I Know your co host aforementioned Patrick Keioti was disappointed
with what he saw from Troy Franklin last year. Franklin
has obviously been one of the biggest, if not the
biggest story of Broncos camp so far. Mario, when you
were out there today, do you think he's living up
to all the hype you were seeing on social media?

Speaker 4 (12:47):
What did you think about Troy Franklin.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
Well, today was not a good measuring stick for I
mean really for any of the wide receivers. Like we
had mentioned earlier, it was a really run heavy practice
for the offense. And then in the full teen period,
you know a lot of it was kind of short
to intermediate stuff. But man Zach like the defensive line
and these edge rushers like Jonathan Cooper and Nick Benito

(13:13):
were living in the backfield. Dack Allen blew up multiple plays.
DJ Jones blew up multiple plays. Even the second team,
John Ellis had a fantastic game. Dendre Tillman absolutely dominating
out there. As a matter of fact, real quick, quick,
little sidebar. It looked like Andre Tillman has cut some weighty.
It looks like he's he's cut off about fifteen to

(13:34):
twenty pounds, but he looks more muscular, and he looks
much quicker and like he has much better lateral movement.
So if you remember when they brought him in last year,
during his time in the UFL, he was mostly a
defensive end, Broncos bring him in last year that he's
kind of one of these tweeners, like he was too
small to play end in the NFL and he wasn't

(13:55):
quite like quick enough to play the edge. But we
said that and then he ended up being one of
the most productive per snap edge rushers in the league
last year, as you know what was technically a rookie
even though that was like his fourth season of professional football.
I'm really excited to see what Dendre Tillman does from
here on out because now he has the body of

(14:17):
an edge rusher. He's bigger, stronger, and faster, So I'm
excited to see his development and he has completely dominated
all of camp. But I digress de Troy franklin hype.
I mean, I didn't get to see any of it
on display today because again it was it was kind
of and they were put in a box a little
bit with what the offense wanted to do. There was

(14:38):
really only one throw that really went downfield and Bow
tried to air it out to Courtland Sutton.

Speaker 3 (14:43):
Sertan was in coverage, He was right on his hit.

Speaker 2 (14:45):
The whole time. Ball was a little bit out of
his grass. It was one of those situations where you
put it there really far deep, maybe give Courtland a
chance to go get it, but put it in a
place where certain can't.

Speaker 3 (14:57):
Pick it off. Aside from that, there were.

Speaker 2 (14:59):
No fireworks from the offense from like throwing the ball standpoint.
And I don't want people to worry because these are
the things that they're working on right These are the
things that they're working through and this was just not
the practice that they decided to open up the passing game.

Speaker 3 (15:15):
And that's fine. No, what I will say about Troy Franklin.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
My biggest gripe with him and my co is Patrick
Keyoti's biggest gripe with them, who, by the way, is
a huge Oregon fan, so I thought he would be
thrilled about Troy Franklin the fact that he doesn't just
didn't have a lot of mass on his frame, and
that's something that he seems to have remedied. And then
after that, Zach like his separation percentage was amongst the

(15:40):
best in the league. But at some point you have
to turn that into productivity. So it's like you're getting
open and you're creating, you know, one to two to
three yards of separation. If that's among the best in
the league, then you have to convert those those opportunities.
And obviously we saw time and time again Bo.

Speaker 3 (15:59):
And Troy just couldn't hook up.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
They just couldn't seem to get it right until that
playoff game, when you know, it was the most exciting
play in Broncos history in the last ten years. And
then you know, the rest of the game is a
little bit forgettable. But I need to see that in
the game.

Speaker 3 (16:13):
With Troy Franklin.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
Troy Franklin really Zach is built to be a stud
preseason training camp kind of.

Speaker 3 (16:22):
Guy because he's one of the fastest dudes.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
Out there, and and you know it. Let his game
lends itself to limited amounts of contact. So once we
start getting into the game, situation like are we going
to see that increased level of physicality out of Troy
Franklin and are we going to see him be able
to come down with the.

Speaker 3 (16:40):
Ball, you know, more consistently, because.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
That was those are the biggest problems with him last year.
He got open just fine, and then everything after that
just kind of all fell apart. Now will tell you this.
I spoke with Tim Patrick kind of shortly after the season.
He's a buddy of mine, so I was just checking
in with him, and it was asking about the draft class,
like the two wide receivers that they had taken, especially

(17:04):
because everyone compared Tim Patrick to Devon Vley and Troy
Franklin's biggest fan has got to be Tim Patrick. He
was absolutely raving about him. Says he has the chance
and the skill set to be one of the best
wide receivers in the league if he can put it

(17:24):
all together. Said the best thing about him is that
he is coachable. That he would routinely get chewed out
by coaches just like every other wide receiver because that's
how their wide receiver coach Operates. He said he never pouted,
he never threw a fit, he never got down on himself.
It just pushed him to work harder. And so because
of that, and because of the ringing endorsement from Tim Patrick,

(17:46):
I am all aboard the Troy Franklin hype train and
I think that there will be certain games where he
is the preferred target this season.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
He's Mario Vittanzi of the Altitude Adjustment Podcast on Twitter
as at the Tansy Therapy. Make sure you are catching
him every Tuesday night. He has a great, really fun
show with Patrick Keyoti. Mario, thank you so much for
joining me tonight and hope to see you out of
camp again soon.

Speaker 3 (18:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
I'm planning on going next Tuesday, and so you know,
as long as I don't get kicked out for filming,
I'll try to put together a nice little threat of practice.

Speaker 1 (18:24):
Well, thank you very much, Mario. I appreciate you taking
the mantle for me.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
Anything for you, Zach.

Speaker 4 (18:29):
Have a great night, brother, you too, Mario.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
Once again Mario Vitanzi with the Altitude Adjustment Podcast. He
is such a fun voice in Broncos Country. Always brings
a lot of energy, to the discussion and you need
people like him to keep all bright on the straight
and narrow. And welcome back to yet again some more

(18:52):
Broncos country tonight after the Colorado Rockies. I want to
thank very much Mario Vitanzi and b excuse me Premasis
for joining.

Speaker 4 (19:03):
Me tonight once again.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
You can find Mario Vitanzi every Tuesday night on Altitude
Adjustment Podcast, and you can find bre masis or sorry.
Also you can find Mario Vitansi on Twitter at Fantansi
Therapy and bre Masdas over at Believe in Broncos podcast
and at pre Masdas three oh three on Twitter. Thank
you to both of them for joining me and giving
me some of their camp insights. Thought it'd be fun

(19:31):
to share some of my camp insights now.

Speaker 4 (19:38):
And man I.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
Today was fascinating, not only because of all the intensity
that was out there, which I think they did a
great practice. Got a credit Malcolm Roach and Jonathan Cooper
for infusing so much energy into everything they're they're trash.
Talk's funny and it's it's fun to listen to his
members of the media and everything, and it's all you know,
in good fun, but it also you know, inject some

(20:01):
more competition and heat into the training camp proceedings, which
is very, very.

Speaker 4 (20:07):
Fun to watch. JK.

Speaker 1 (20:10):
Dobbins, You know, JK Dobbins and RJ. Harvey really this
running back room. I think I'm starting to feel a
little less nervous about them. I think they're going to
be pretty solid this year. At the very least, I
think they'll be a meaningful upgrade on what the Broncos
had in the backfield last season. Dobbins, I think brings

(20:33):
a floor raising element that wasn't in that backfield last year.
His ability to see find what's blocked for him as
kind of the more veteran back The Broncos didn't have
that last year. They didn't they weren't always getting the
yards that were blocked for them. And JK Dobbins, you know,
after all the injuries, he doesn't have a great top

(20:54):
gear anymore. He's not going to get all too many
explosive carries for you over the course of the season.
But I think he's very consistently going to get the
Broncos whatsever blocked for him and maybe you know, a
couple yards extra on occasion, which isn't the most exciting thing.
But if you're you know, replacing a lot of those

(21:14):
second and tens or second and elevens with second and six,
is it just dramatically changes the menu have plays the
offense has at their disposal. It makes the demands and
life on bow Nicks much easier. It keeps defenses from
throwing really exotic pressure packages and coverage packages at him
because they still have to respect the run from those

(21:36):
downs and distances.

Speaker 4 (21:37):
Even more so.

Speaker 1 (21:38):
Yet again, if it is a better ground game with
more threatening running backs and along with Dobbins, not only
do you have the guy that's going to keep you
on schedule there, but you also have the explosive element
with R. J. Harvey that I think is going to
give you a lot more than Juliel did last year.

Speaker 4 (21:55):
Very similar burst and.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
I think like shiftiness, vision to work through the tight spaces.
But sorry, what Harvey has that McLoughlin hasn't during his
NFL tenure is contact balance.

Speaker 4 (22:09):
I mean, he had a great carry today where.

Speaker 1 (22:13):
He was hit low and kind of spun off it
and kept his metum traveling downfield for what was ultimately
an explosive carry. With Julia McLoughlin last year, he's tackled
right there, and it's not going for an explosive clay.
It's a healthy gain of seven eight yards. But that's
a lot different than twenty five thirty yards, and I
think you're going to see a lot more of that

(22:34):
this season. From the run game, Mario really hammered this
point home. But Blake Watson I thought was a standout
in that running back room. I don't know how he
fights his way onto the roster. You know, those top
two spots are already taken. Burton probably sticks around as

(22:55):
the fullback that gives you three guys in the backfield.
You probably only keep one more, and estimated McLoughlin are
probably the favorites there. But I wouldn't sleep on Blake Watson.
He's had a very strong camp so far. I think
he carries the ball really well. He's like smoke through
a key hole, you know, has some really nice vision.

(23:16):
Think he can give you a lot of what McLoughlin
has given the offense over these past few seasons. But
I think he's a much more dynamic receiver.

Speaker 4 (23:24):
Julia.

Speaker 1 (23:25):
McLoughlin, being you know, the smaller body, kind of fast, shifty,
looks like a great pass catching back, the stereotype, the
archetype of what we have in our minds of the
pass catching back. Same problem, kind of to Philip Lindsay,
where they look the part, but they don't execute that
role all too well. Blake Watson is a very natural

(23:45):
catcher of the football. I think has the best rout
tree and the best route running prowess of the bunch,
and that pass catching ability I think is plenty more
than enough to separate him from the other running backs
in this room. As this battle heats up. We got
to see it in preseason. I think we're going to

(24:07):
get a great read on it then. But right now,
based on what I've seen in the limited contact training
camp practices, so take it with a grain of salt,
But I would have Dobbins, you know, kind of as
the stabilizing probably the starter right now, just as R. J.
Harvey continues to adjust to the NFL game, Harvey right
behind him in a pretty split backfield, and then I
think I'd have Watson as my number three guys as

(24:29):
kind of that third down back receiving specialist because he
can't offer you so much there and we know that
screen game is going to be a large part of
the Broncos offense. That said, he's going to have to
be able to prove himself on special teams to earn
that role. Speaking of special teams, Jade Baron is standing

(24:50):
out there and anywhere else he gets on the field
for the Denver Broncos. He is such a smart player
and is just in my opinion, going to hit.

Speaker 4 (24:58):
The ground running this season.

Speaker 1 (25:03):
You know, it's just jumped off the film during his
time in Texas and he was asked to do so
much by that defense.

Speaker 4 (25:08):
I think that's going.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
To serve him well as he enters the league.

Speaker 4 (25:13):
He was coached up.

Speaker 1 (25:14):
His DB's coach in Texas is the brother of Vance Joseph.
I'm sure they have some similar terminologies, philosophies, coaching techniques.
It certainly isn't going to hurt his transition to the
pro game any and you can already see it paying
dividends in practice.

Speaker 4 (25:30):
I mean.

Speaker 1 (25:33):
Chasing guys all over the field. He so naturally flows
to the ball. You know, Alex Singleton, I've given him
a hard time for, you know, missing tackles and all that,
but he's always around the ball. And Baron is a
guy who has that same skill to him where every
single play he is in the thick of it, you know,
unless it's just like a throat to the opposite ash
and he's just, you know, by the nature of the play,

(25:55):
completely out of it. Whether it's a run, you know,
he's chasing it down. You know, he's always finding himself
in the action. He's setting the edge in the run game,
which you just don't see often from corners, especially not
rookie cornerbacks, especially not rookie first round cornerbacks who come
in with a certain level of prestige that you know,
like Deon Sanders kind of overlooked, tackled, and he was

(26:17):
maybe the best ever do it. I think some of
those great corners can have a tendency to maybe not
take those physical aspects of the position as seriously.

Speaker 4 (26:26):
Jah de barn is not that guy.

Speaker 1 (26:28):
He is an incredibly physical presence, and I think you
had him, you had green light. You ad Uvanga to
the mix. And this defense has some attitude. I mean
Malcolm Roach in particular, stir in the pot heaton things up.

Speaker 4 (26:42):
He had some attitude. He was he was firing up
the running backs. He had one comment that got a
reaction from the media.

Speaker 1 (26:52):
I got some chuckles from the media regarding Adri Guestimy
and he had another I couldn't quite hear what he
was saying to JK Dobbins, but Jake Dobbins and him
were not getting into it.

Speaker 4 (27:02):
It wasn't a fight or anything. But after the.

Speaker 1 (27:03):
Play, Dobbins ran over to the Malcolm Roached portion of
the sideline and was definitely exchanging some words with him,
and I just think, you know, it's all in good fun.

Speaker 4 (27:13):
I don't think this is causing any locker room problems.

Speaker 1 (27:15):
That having that competitive atmosphere is something that serves the Bronx.
It will serve the Broncos well this season. You know,
it's one of the big changes we've seen Sean Payton
make since taking over as head coach. And I mean,
compare these Broncos teams to what you saw under Hackett,
and it's it's night and day in terms of how

(27:36):
ready they are coming out of the gate, how sharp
they look as a team, how dialed in they are,
the attention to detail, and I think that's largely coaching
and them taking it seriously during this portion of the
offseason as well. One thing I am curious that started

(27:56):
to come to mind to me today, who exactly is
going to be blocking for this team at tight end.

Speaker 4 (28:04):
You know, you've got.

Speaker 1 (28:07):
Evan Ingram as the guy getting a really big role.
Lucas Kroll has had a really large role so far
in training camp.

Speaker 4 (28:15):
It surprised me.

Speaker 1 (28:17):
He's been such a mainstay, you know, working with bo
Nix and the like that I would almost be surprised
to see him cut at this point, and heading into
training camp, I thought he was almost certainly going to
be cut. Loner looks really good in camp. I don't
think you're going to be able to hide him on
the practice squad. I think you're going to have to
roster him, and that gives you three tight ends position

(28:39):
group where you probably only keep four, maybe they keep five,
and three of those guys are way below average as blockers.
They're kind of receiving specialists. And then the blockers you
have in the room, you know, the troutman probably gets
that last spot. Maybe they also keep Adkins to make
it a five man room passable. But they're not exceptional

(29:02):
blocking tight ends. You know, if you were to rate
them on a one to ten, one being the very
worst blocking tight end in the league the ten being
the very best they're you know, Trautman and Atkins are
probably five six maybe on their best day of seven.
And then you know Evan Ingram, Caleb Loner and Lucas Croll.

(29:22):
None of those guys are better than a three. So
I just I don't know how that's going to bounce
out because we know Payden cares about blocking from his
skill position guys, He's going to want to use some
heavy personnel that asks the tight ends to be a
larger part of the run game.

Speaker 4 (29:38):
We know how many.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
Blocking specialists he has in the receiver room. I'm just
curious how's that going to sorted itself out, because I
think that could be a bit of a mess. Last
thing I'll leave you with though on the camp takeaways,
I just am feeling very optimistic about what we're seeing
from bow Nicks and his maturity in the system, listening

(30:00):
to his comments on NFL Network Today with Diana Racini
had to say about her conversation with Bonix when she
was on the Rich Eisen Show yesterday I believe might
have been this morning. It just backs up everything we're
seeing in camp in terms of him looking so much

(30:20):
more mentally advanced as a quarterback, and I think that's
going to be the secret to him that in some
offensive line health is going to be the secret tim
staving off rookie regression and that dreaded sophomore slump. You know,
a Broncos country got very defensive of bo Nicks last
year when everyone was talking about how many trauma many

(30:41):
training wheels were on that offense, and that was very simplified.
They weren't asking a lot of bo Nicks, and as
a result, maybe how much credit you could give bo
Nix for the offense was limited. And you know, I
get the defensiveness, but what seemed like a huge negative
it might end up serving the Broncos well. Now, bo Knicks,

(31:04):
because they were running all these more simplistic offensive looks,
they have a lot of room to go past the RPOs,
past some of these more simplified easy reads that Burnicks
lived on last year, and instead they can transition to
something more complex, more straight, drop back passing stuff.

Speaker 4 (31:24):
Stuff we haven't seen bow Knicks do.

Speaker 1 (31:28):
And instead of having to ask bo Knicks to find
a way to have success playing left handed.

Speaker 4 (31:34):
Like we've seen CJ. Strout and other quarterbacks having to do.
The Broncos can

Speaker 1 (31:37):
See bo Nicks take that leap by just expanding the offense,
assuming he's ready for it.