08-15-25 Hour 1 of Broncos Country Tonight with Zach Segars

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everyone, and welcome right back to some Broncos Country Tonight,
some late night post Rockies Broncos Country Night. And that's right,
it's your man, Zach Segers filling back in for Benjamin
Albright and Nick Ferguson. Happy to be back joining you all,
especially with so much Broncos news and happenings going on.

(00:23):
Had the big joint practice yesterday, lots of takeaways from that.
Got into some of that yesterday, and then of course
we got the preseason game. No starters, only only backups,
but still lots of guys with a lot on the line.
Just talked about that in the last segment here, I
want to turn to you guys the viewers put out

(00:45):
the bat signal earlier today asking for some viewer questions
or listener questions, I should say, and got some really,
really good ones. So I thought it'd be fun to
go through a bit of a mail bag here, you know, Friday,
end of the week, cover whatever we weren't able to
otherwise cover during the first four days. So without further ado,

(01:09):
let's get right into it here. Fantastic Dak on Twitter
asks the Broncos have a track record of signing UFAs
or having udfas make the roster, which udfas have a
real shot to make the fifty three man roster for
the Denver Broncos. I really don't think there's that many,
you know, I think that's kind of the upside of

(01:30):
how much more talented this Broncos roster is than past iterations.
And really don't think there's even that many candidates. Looking
up and down the roster really quick to make sure
I'm not forgetting anybody. I think Caden Priestcorn is probably
the heavy favorite right now. You know that tight end
room is really wide open with Lucas Kroll, and you

(01:53):
know now Nate Adkins is dealing with an injury on
the back end. Neither of those guys are overly impressive.
Caleb Lohner is competing for a roster spot, certainly, but
pre Scorn talked about this on in the last segment.
His skill set overlaps a lot with Nate Adkins, and
we're seeing his utilization in practice in the games overlap

(02:14):
a lot with Adkins where he's being utilized like this
tight end full back hybrid piece, which you know a
lot of those snaps have gone to Adkins in recent years.
I think because of that, and because of Adkins' injury
where he could miss the first month of the season,
I think it makes pre Scoring by far the most

(02:35):
likely undrafted free agent to make the roster. I think
next up, maybe you look at Xavier Trusts or Clay Webb.
You know, some guys with five star pedigree coming out
of high school. On the interior offensive line. Broncos don't
have a lot of exciting youth bodies there. You know,
they've got Frank Crumb and Powchwski, but those are udfis

(02:57):
in their udfas in their own right, excuse me, so
they're not cemented into anything. They could certainly lose their
roster spot if they're out competed by one of the
young guns. They probably have the next best chance of
making it. But I think they are a good bit
behind Caden pre Scorn as the heavy favorite to keep

(03:19):
that Bronco's UDFA streak alive. If I had to guess, though,
I bet the UDFA and I know it came to
an end a while ago, and it's only like thirteen
or fourteen years or whatever. Now, I think it's going
to have another skipped here. I don't think a UDFA
makes it. If I had to guess, the pre score
does have a real chance without Adkins injury. Zen at

(03:40):
ZENB twenty one on Twitter asks, in light of the
Garrett bull scare, you know you had the asthma scare yesterday,
went over to the ambulance, didn't return to practice. Should
be okay for the season and everything, but something we're
monitoring in light of the bull scare? How much confidence
would you have with Matt Parrott at left tackle for
an entire season? And who else would you have faith

(04:02):
in to play left tackle at a high level? Would
you consider flipping Mike McGlinchey. I don't think I would
flip McGlinchey. You know, he's been at right tackle his
entire NFL career, I believe, if I'm remembering correctly, he
played left tackle some for Notre Dame in college. But
you know, we're coming up on nearly a decade in
the league for Mike McGlinchey. Now I'm rounding up a

(04:24):
good bit there, But what six seven years in the
league for Mike McGlinchey, Now that would be a very
hard transition to make. And they say, you know, flipping
from left side of the line to right side of
the line is such a difficult ask. You know, it's
like you're having to write with a different hand or
throw a football with a different hand because your whole
all your muscle memory gets reversed. So I really don't

(04:47):
think it'd be that route. I also question, if you know,
considering how extreme that that transition would be, if you'd
even be getting that good of a version of Mike
mcglinchy to me, and I don't think the Bronc have
many great options. They might have to look at some
free agents or something, because I think the only quality

(05:08):
depth options they have that you know they'd feel good
about at left tackle would be Matt Parrett and then
maybe Powcheski. I think they like keeping Poucheski on the
right side to fill in it right guard and right tackle,
and Parrett to fill in on the left side at
left tackle and left guard, rather than having a swing
tackle who's cross training on both sides, probably because of
what I was just discussing with how difficult it is

(05:30):
to to swap from left to right. So you know
that those are probably their answers. I don't know who else,
because even the guys I mentioned in the UDFA question,
like those are more guard types Calvin Throckmorton. Maybe like
in a real jam, but if it would probably be Parrot.
If Parrott went really bad, they'd probably turned to Powcheski.

(05:52):
If Poucewski wasn't up to the task, they would be
they would be up a creek without a paddle. You know.
Jedrick Wills is still out there, but he's a He's
been a career right tackle. He's played some left tackle.
George Fant out there, but he's primarily been a right tackle.
Isaiah Win former first round pick. I mean, he hasn't

(06:15):
been great and he's got a lot of injury concerns.
But maybe signing a guy like that off the street.
Quinn Bailey is unsigned. Actually I wonder if they'd kick
the tires on Quinn Bailey. But yeah, there's you know,
that gear of Bull situation yesterday was a real scare
because the Broncos don't have great depth behind him. That's

(06:35):
what happens when you don't you know, draft to tackle
in you know, nine years of drafting now, eight years
of drafting now. I hope that changes next season. They
have to start injecting some youth into that room. But
even just for insurance purposes like this, you don't have
to force mcglinche or Bowls out the door right now,
but start getting that next wave ready so they are

(06:57):
ready to go when it is time, rather than having
to scramble once it's time. Because you know, quarterbacks are
more important, maybe even harder to cultivate. I think you
could really argue that tackle is the hardest position to
cultivate in the league in terms of we see so
many draft picks at the position go bust. We see

(07:19):
very very few free agent signings at the position pan out.
You know, they're almost always kept in house if you
have a good tackle, and then if you want to
draft one, you really got to draft one high in
the first round. You know, maybe you can get like
a developmental option in the twenties, but like Bulls, Bulls

(07:39):
was really raw, and that's the type of tackle you're
getting at pick twenty and beyond. So I think, you know,
they really need to start drafting some exciting developmental options
there to start preparing for the future so they're not
caught with their pants down. Ryan on Twitter, not Ryan Edwards,
but Ryan at Noomdog says, what positions have the receivers

(08:02):
outside of Sutton lined up at? You know, I think
I have seen just about every Broncos receiver. I'm trying
to run through it in my head really quick, but
I'm pretty sure I've seen every single Broncos receiver line
up at every single receiver position, that being X, Y,
Z or X slot Z. Excuse me not the why

(08:23):
no receivers lining up at the LIE don't worry anybody
but the X and Z and then in the slot
You're seeing a lot of receivers cycling through. I've seen
Pat Bryan on the outside and inside isolated, you know,
and with people in terms of being the xer the Z.
I've seen Devon Valet same thing, move all around that spectrum,

(08:45):
Troy Franklin all around that spectrum, Marvin Mims all around
that spectrum. And I think the takeaway there is two
through six for the Denver Broncos receivers are going to
be incredibly interchangeable. I think that means in terms of role. Now,
you know, there's some differences there. Mims isn't going to
do what Pat Bryant does and vice versa. But Pat

(09:06):
Bryant's going to do a lot of what Devon Valet does,
who will do a lot of what Trent Sherfield does,
who will do a lot of what Pat Bryant does.
And then I think you have Nims and Franklin kind
of over lapping and spelling each other some. And I
really think outside of Courtland Sutton, the other five guys
in this room are going to be very interchangeable. And
even Sutton I've seen move around some, even though he's

(09:29):
been more cemented at decks. I think it's just it
is wide open in a good way. You know, maybe
it is you know, if you have two quarterbacks you
have zero. Hey, maybe if you have five secondary pass
catching options you have zero. Maybe that's a problem we're
going to confront come week one. But right now it

(09:50):
just feels like, no, They've got five really intriguing, really
exciting and in many cases young depth targets for Bone
to look at. There. Brian also asks who is primarily
at the Z and in the slot with Sutton and
eleven person kind of talked about, I mean primarily it's
probably the lay in the slot and Mims outside in

(10:15):
that Z spot, which receivers have been on the field
in two wide receivers sets, lots of rotation there again,
opposite of Sutton, seen lots of Mims, seen lots of lay.
I don't think I've seen a ton of Pat Bryant,
seen a lot of Troy Franklin, even some some surefield
and that makes sense, you know, Pat Bryant, if you're

(10:36):
in those two receiver sets. Pat Bryant and Sutton is
kind of a weird combination, a little maybe too redundant
in terms of skill set. But you know, again, I
think it's going to be really even. Lots of rotating
Tyler Coff t coff underscore nfl asks here Crowle had

(10:56):
a big day of practice yesterday. Yes, flash in the
pan or a real step forward for Krull. I think
it's a flash in the pan. In the last segment,
I was going through the tight ends and I accidentally
completely failed to mention Lucas Scroll. And I think it's
a bit of a Freudian slip on my part because
I just I struggle to see him on the roster,

(11:19):
and I feel like he probably makes it. Admittedly, I
think Sean Payton likes him, but just from a logistics perspective,
I don't know how you get him on that roster.
You aren't going to carry more than four tight ends,
and with Evan Ingram, I mean you've already got one

(11:40):
of those spots taken up by a guy who's pretty
much receiver only, and adding Lucas Croll is another one.
Like Lucas Kroll was by far the worst blocking tight
end on the Broncos last year. I think he's comfortably
a less impressive blocker than Evan Ingram. I think he's
a lesser blocker than a little joor and I think

(12:00):
Trent Sherfield will probably bring more as a blocker this season,
maybe even Pat Bryant than what you get from Lucas Krall.
So that's a big problem, and we know that's typically
a big problem for Sean Payton. I also don't think
he's that exciting of this mismatch receiver type, right. Evan
Ingram's better than that. And even if your things, like

(12:21):
well Lucas Kroll can develop into blah blah blah, Caleb
Lohner is a more exciting option there, and an option
you have more invested in in terms of draft capital
late rounds eventh but still that's more than they have
invested in Kroll. So I just I don't know how
that works out. I just you know, he had a

(12:41):
good preseason game, had a good joint practice. I just
can't imagine again he might make the roster, but even
that would be a move I don't really love from
the Broncos. Let's get into this next one here. I
think last one of the segment, probably at Trevor underscore,
Burrows asks how much faith do we have in Sean

(13:03):
Payton committing to the run game. I'm worried I'm going
to be yelling run the dang ball again this season.
I think refusing to establish the run will cost this team. Now,
I don't want to pick on Trevor at all here.
I'm very grateful for the question. And this is a
common sentiment I see around Broncos country, and I'm really
not sure why that is. If you look back since

(13:28):
twenty twenty, that's about when Drew Brees' arm really started
to drop off. That was also the year Teddy Bridgewater
played a lot for the Saints. Taysom Hill played a
lot for the Saints that season. So I think it's
a good line in the sand because that's when he
didn't have Drew Brees anymore. You would hope an offensive
play caller calls in offense one way when he has

(13:49):
Drew Brees, in a different way when he has Jamis
Winston in Teddy Bridgewater, right, you probably want to throw
the ball more with Drew Brees, run the ball more
with the other guys. So using that as the line
in the sand, and like he had a Hall of
Fame quarterback, he didn't since twenty twenty, and you look
at neutral situations, you know, not looking at a winning

(14:09):
team is going to run the ball a lot more
than a losing team because they're up, they've got the lead,
they were in run friendly situations. So if you level
the playing field, only look at neutral situations, early downs,
you know game is up for grabs. What does the
run rate look like? In twenty twenty he was the
eleventh most run heavy coach. In twenty twenty one, he

(14:33):
was the fourteenth most run heavy coach. Twenty twenty two,
he takes the year off. Does media twenty twenty three
shows up in Denver ninth most run heavy coach, and
then last year it drops to seventeenth, which is the
lowest of the bunch, also the year when he had
comfortably the worst run game of any of those years.

(14:54):
And as we just discussed with you know, hey, hopefully
you throw the ball more with Drew Brees, and throw
the ball when you don't have Drew Brees, Hopefully you
run the ball a little less when you've got the
backfield the Broncos had last year, which was woeful for
the entire season, incredibly disappointing, and I think that can
justify a little bit lower run rate. But even then,

(15:17):
even then we're talking about seventeenth as you know, in
the middle as you could get right, sixteenth highest pass rate,
seventeenth highest run rate. That's the most balanced offensive attack
in the league. And it was in a season when
he had almost no run game and bo Nicks was
a very exciting commodity in the passing game, a guy

(15:38):
who clearly Sean Payton loves and just gushes over. And
yet still it was an incredibly balanced attack. If the
run game is good this year, I think it's probably
closer to that twenty twenty or sorry, twenty twenty three
number where the Broncos you're yeah, the Broncos had the
ninth most run heavy offensive play calling in the league.

(15:59):
I think it looks a lot more like that. Sean
Payton has talked all offseason about how, hey, the weapon
we got bo Nicks this offseason is a run game
to support him. I think he's going to want to
show off that weapon early and often this season. Preseason
game right around the corner, that's going to be tomorrow night.
I'm gonna be on the pregame show with Benjamin Albright.

(16:21):
Make sure you tune into that at four pm tomorrow.
Coming up next, gonna preview that preseason game some and
who has the most on the line when the Cardinals
come to town. Coming up next on Broncos Country Tonight
right here on KOA, Hello Broncos Country, and welcome back

(16:45):
to another edition of Broncos Country Tonight, another post Rockies
late night edition at that once again filling in for
Benjamin Albright and Nick Ferguson, it is Zach Segers. Find
me over on Twitter at Zach Underscore Seekers and some
of my writing up on the KOWA website right now.

(17:09):
It's exciting. We're in the thick of it now. You know,
we got joint practice second, Broncos Joint Practice is now
behind us. Second preseason game will be tomorrow and then
that'll you know, kind of lead us. Right, We've got
the third preseason game and then just like that, you're
in the regular season. So excited for all of that.

(17:29):
Got some updates on some Broncos news yesterday. We talked
about the Garrett Bulls situation, the Nick Benito situation. Bulls
turns out he was taken out of practice with asthma
related issues. Talked about how, you know is that a
concern heading into Week one? You know, he's played at

(17:50):
elevation in his whole career. Why is this suddenly a
problem now? Maybe it's the poor air quality as a
result of the forest fires. Are those fires still raging
come week one? You know, Bowl's performance in the grand
scheme of things is a very unimportant consequence as a
result of those forest fires. But I do think it's

(18:11):
something for Broncos fans to keep an eye on, at
least as Week one approaches. Nick Benito injury got an
update there on his foot injury. Thankfully, it seems like
it's pretty minor and shouldn't impact the regular season any
or impact his contract negotiations any He had a procedure

(18:35):
already to remove the bone spur. They're keeping him out
as a precautionary measure, but he should be all ready
to go regular season Week one. That is music to
the ears of Broncos country. Benito looked like a man
possessed in that preseason game. If he's able to perform
as he did last year, or maybe even take another

(18:56):
step in his development, you know, he'll be one one
of the very most valuable defenders in the entire league.
So making sure that that's not, you know, some sort
of planner Fasha issue or some sort of broken bone
or ligament or whatever. It's just the bone spur that
they've had removed now and he should be all ready

(19:16):
to go. That shouldn't hamper him throughout the season. Really
the best case scenario there for the Broncos. Some more
injury news on the Broncos front. Nate Adkins had been
missing practice ever since that San Francisco forty nine Ers game,
but we hadn't really gotten any clarification. Finally got some yesterday.

(19:41):
Adkins has had a tightrope surgery to repair a high
ankle sprain, assuming he suffered that against the forty nine Ers,
But you know, I think this is this actually does
have a bit of an impact on the rest of
the roster. Nate Adkins, you know, kind of that that

(20:01):
full back tight end hybrid situation, and he's done pretty
solid in that job. He's probably the best blocking tight
end on the roster, honestly, But I think this injury
opens the door now for Caleb Loner and Caden Priestcorn.

(20:24):
I think this is a huge opportunity for both of
those guys. Nate Adkins, you know, kind of the back
end of this tight end room. He's going to miss
some regular season time as a result of this high
ankle sprain or the surgery fixing it. We're not sure
how much time he's going to miss, but he is
going to miss some time, and that opens up opportunity.

(20:47):
Like Nate Adkins played for the Broncos last year, he
had multiple touchdown receptions, and with him out of the lineup,
you know, early on this season, I think it's a
huge opportunity for Caleb or sorry, Cayden pre Scorn even
more so than Caleb Loher. Pre Squen's a beautfa the
Broncos got after he was cut by the Lions. I
believe Meanwhile, obviously they drafted Caleb Loner, but Loner can't

(21:13):
really do what Adkins does, right, He's got no full
back ability, The blocking is very limited with him. He's
a very exciting athlete, and you know, the visions of
turning him into some sort of Jimmy Graham esque matchup nightmare,
you know, I think that's a real vision for him.
And you know, maybe not the heights of Jimmy Graham,

(21:33):
but creating some sort of useful weapon there's very attainable
for him. That's just a very different skill set than
what Nate Adkins brings to the table. And that's why
I think it's big for Caden Priestcorn, who we've seen
used in a lot of ways similar to what we
see from Nate Adkins. He's lining up as a full
back or as a wing back in practice, in the

(21:56):
preseason game, we saw it. And you know, if he's
able to be an upgrade on Nate Adkins, and really
who knows at this point which way that would go.
Nate Adkins might not even get his job back, you know,
considering the nature of rookie tight ends translating into the
game a little more slowly than what we see at

(22:17):
other positions. I'd expect that Nate Adkins holds it down
and maybe pre Scorn you know, winds up on the
practice squad or something once Adkins returns. But he's probably
going to make the final fifty three man roster now,
which you know, that's that's a great accomplishment. He's especially
likely to make the ross the fifty three man roster

(22:38):
if Nate Adkins opens the season on short term IR,
which seems like a possibility that would keep him out
the first four weeks of the season. And pre Scorn also,
I think, offers a little more receiving ability than Adkins.
I don't know how he compares to Adkins as a blocker,
which is probably more important considering Ingram and Loner are
already kind of receiving only tight ends for you and

(23:01):
they've got those bases covered. But still, I think it's
exciting to watch pre scoring over these next two preseason
games and then into the regular season, because that's going
to be his audition for our best spot on the
fifty three man roster, and he's absolutely going to be
pushing Nate Adkins for that spot. Finally, the biggest news

(23:26):
from yesterday the starters won't be playing at all on
either team, either the Cardinals or the Broncos in tomorrow
night's preseason game. I think this is really interesting because
you know, yesterday talked a little about the value of
joint practice versus the value of the preseason. You know,

(23:48):
if you ask most coaches now, they'll say, joint practice
is when the work gets done. And you know, with
that in mind, how important really is the preseason game?
You know, if the Broncos won the joint practice against
the Cardinals yesterday, right offense won their day defense a
little more up and down, but they won their Day two,

(24:12):
you know, so how important is it if you know,
the Broncos come out, let's say the starters were playing
and lay another egg kind of like they did against
the forty nine ers, when you know, when the coaches
were calling all their play calls, they weren't hiding specific
players or concepts or whatever from the TV broadcast. The
Broncos cleaned up against the forty nine ers and cleaned

(24:33):
up against the Cardinals. So at that point, how important
do these preseason games become? When you're seeing backups or
third string players, you're seeing playbooks that are dramatically paired
down from what you will see in the regular season,
and you know, guys kind of playing on easy mode,
especially as as you know, defensive coverages and defensive looks

(24:54):
are concerned and I think, you know, the joint practice
is probably a good bit more important at this point,
and so I think it's nice to hear at the
joint practice bo Nicks. Now, I don't think it was
his best practice of training camp, but I'm in the
minority there. It seems like most people believe that was
the best he's looked all camp, and that's you know,

(25:16):
this is as real as it gets in this point
of the season. It's great to see bo Nix checking
that box. You had Mac Wilson raving about the development
he's seen from bo Nicks between last year to this year,
talking about how he was making no look passes during
the game. I think that's very exciting. The other angle, now,

(25:37):
with their not being started in the game, it becomes
a much more important game for some guys towards the
bottom of the roster, right They're gonna backups and third
stringers are going to be playing this entire game, and
as a result, winning and losing roster spots or at
least positioning themselves for that last preseason game to cement

(26:00):
roster spot. And we're talking about a lot of players
here that have a lot at stake this week. Let's
just start right there with those aforementioned tight ends, Cayden
preest Corn and Caleb Loner, both of them fighting for
a roster spot. You've got Troutman and Evdingram at the
top of the room. You figure Nate Adkins is the

(26:21):
third guy and those two right behind him. How many
tight ends are the Broncos going to carry? Especially when
we might see a crowded running back room. They're also
one of the few teams that carries a true fullback,
right with all those skill position roster spots eating up,
how many tight ends do they really want to carry?
It might just be three, in which case you know

(26:43):
it is Adkins on IR because that would open up
that third spot short term, that IR, that is, if
he's not. You know, can Caleb Loner and pre Scorn
do enough over these next two games that the Broncos go, Wow, no,
we do have to roster these guys. We can't sneak
and buy on the practice squad and call them up

(27:03):
those first three weeks of the season when Adkins is
injured or whatever. No, we need to make sure we
have pre scorer or loner or whoever on rosters so
they don't get poached from us. I think these next
two weeks are big for both of those tight ends
in that regard. The running backs obviously talked about how
that room could be very crowded, and that's because right

(27:24):
now it seems like such an even competition for the
most part among the running backs three through six, and
who knows how many they're going to carry. They almost
certainly won't carry more than four. They might only carry
as many as three. And you know JK. Dobbins and RJ.
Harve are on the roster that their roster spots are

(27:48):
practically cemented, right, So that leaves it to Blake Watson
to Julia McLoughlin, to Tyler Bidet and Audric Estimate to
fight it out in a battle royale for one roster
spot and maybe two, but it could just be one.

(28:10):
And I think that's the mentality all these guys have
to have coming into it. I'd say Adric Estimate is
the least likely to make the final roster at this
juncture talked about, you know, even yesterday, the power rushing
doesn't look that impressive to me, and I don't think
he brings you much outside of the power component, which

(28:31):
again seems to be lacking relative to the pre draft expectations.
What a lot of people wanted to see from him, Watson,
and then you got Juliel on the other end of
the spectrum. I guess I should say who he's the
known commodity. He was the number two running back last year.
He's the incumbent. But also it's no secret the Moronco's

(28:55):
running backs last year really disappointed, and maybe Tyler Badat
now being healthy or a Blake Watson blossoming in year
two stealing that role from Julia McLoughlin. Upgrading the room
could be a positive, and there are strong cases for now.
Sean Payton obviously very much loves Julia McLoughlin, but McLoughlin's

(29:15):
really limited as a pass protector. He's an underwhelming wide
receiver and he does not play special teams. That could
maybe change this year if he becomes the top kick
returner or punt returner on the team, But we're not
seeing many signs of anything trending that way. So really
he's a good pure runner, but that's all he's given

(29:36):
you at the running back position with his other limitations. Meanwhile,
Tyler Biday is very well rounded. He can play special
teams for you. He's a serviceable pass protector. He might
be the second best pass protector on the team right now. Finally, Dobbins,
he's a serviceable receiver at least on par, if not
better than McLoughlin. And the running ability doesn't seem to

(29:58):
be that much lesser than mcloffin Lynn, So I think
that dials up the heat a lot on Julie. Then
alongside the day, you know, you've got Blake Watson. His
argument for what he could bring the offense is also
pretty clear. You know, I think he's got a little
more returner upside than McLoughlin, So that special team's ability

(30:19):
is there, and he's focused so much on special teams
with these you know, third, fourth running backs because that's
how they're getting on the field. You can't have a
sixth corner or a fourth running back or a sixth
wide receiver that just can't take special team snaps for you,
because that's going to be their primary role if they're
this far on the depth chart and Blake Watson having

(30:40):
a little more Now he's limited like McLoughlin, but I
think he's got a little more returner upside to help
him check that box and then what will really set
him apart? Right, McLoughlin's a good runner of the football,
but R. J. Harvey's probably better. JK. Dobbins is on
par maybe better, right, So he's not really Philly the

(31:00):
niche that the Broncos otherwise wouldn't have filled. Watson, on
the other hand, he is the best pass catcher of
the bunch. He's the best suited for a joker type role,
considering his route running ability, his knowledge of how to
operate as a wide receiver considering that was his primary
position in college before making the lead to running back.

(31:22):
I think Blake Watson, it's very easy to imagine what
he adds to that running back room. It's much harder
to image or to figure out what Julia McLaughlin adds
to the running back room that they don't already have.
You know, Jade Baron, that's a big one. On defense,

(31:43):
I think defense in particular, it's huge for them. These
next couple preseason games, right because Jette Baron he's still
with the twos, and you know, Sean Payton makes his
guys earn their starting role. We know that we've seen
that during his two seasons here in Denver already, so
there's no surprise there. I don't think there's any need

(32:06):
to panic about Jada looked. He looked unreal in the
preseason game. He's been very good, especially the last couple
of weeks at practice. But you know, is he going
to be a Week one starter? I think that question
is up in the air right now because Jay Kuwan
is doing a great job of holding him up. Ja
Quon might have been the defensive star of yesterday's joint practice.

(32:29):
So you know, now that we're coming down the stretch here,
is Jaquon getting to play in the game or is
he sitting because he's deemed a starter. In that case,
this is an incredible runway for Jade Baron to make
his case. Linebacker two. Of course, you know the Singleton
in Green loss situation seems healthier now. But Lavelle Bailey,

(32:49):
Justin Reid even or sorry Justice or not even kareein
Reid who had that interception last game, they're going to
be battling out for those depth linebacker spots. I think
really two of those those three will will make the roster,
probably still not in Bailey, but even then, who's that
next man up? If Singleton or green Lag go down.
They're kind of jocking against each other for that responsibility.

(33:12):
And then Reid, you know, if he has another great
preseason game, he might even steal a roster spot. And
of course, I mean the defensive backfield is so so
so crowded tomorrow mathis seems like a likely cut. And
then you've got four or sorry five safeties Devon Key,
Keydron Smith, J L. Skinner, dt Y, and Sam Franklin

(33:35):
the free agent signing this year, all battling for probably
one safety spot, maybe two. Like that's a very interesting battle.
You know, Key, the staff clearly touches him, but Kedron
Smith keeps making big plays. J. L. Skinner is a
special team's ace. Sam Franklin really good special teams player,
brings you something on defense. D T Y a homegrown
guy that this UH front office drafted, and you know

(33:58):
it is finally back from injury. So that's another great battle.
Time for us to take a break got a lot
of Broncos to talk about. Next segment, I took your
questions on Twitter about the upcoming preseason game, the joint practice,
and a whole lot more that's coming up next on
Broncos Country Tonight right here on KOA