Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Bo Nix FINISHES STRONG, Denver Broncos OL's CONCERNING Trends An Issue

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Denver Broncos end their preseason undefeated, but their biggest strength might be their biggest concern going into the regular season. We'll share our thoughts on that more here on today's Locked on Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. The Denver Broncos end the preseason undefeated. Broncos country. Now the regular season is fast upon us here. Welcome to a brand new episode, Lockdown Broncos, Your Daily Denver Broncos podcast. part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

Starting point is 00:00:38 For all your Broncos news, content coverage analysis and more, make sure you become an every day. If you're not one already, hit that subscriber, that follow button, wherever you get your podcast. And a special thank you to everyone for making us your first listen. However, you choose to do so. And today we're going to go through, obviously, the Broncos final preseason game where they ended it on a high note,

Starting point is 00:00:56 winning against the New Orleans Saints. We'll go through. But the Bronco's starting offensive line has a couple of trends that are growing a little concerning. And now you have to wait until the regular season to see if those things, things get fixed. We'll also talk about Lucas Crowell, Adrick Estimate, those players big days and maybe even some players who are on the roster bubble who made a case for themselves, whether it be for the Broncos, another team, or as practice squad candidates,

Starting point is 00:01:17 will recap all the action on today's episode of the show. I'm Cody Rourke. Broncos reporter from Mile High Sports, joined, as always by Sarah Bedinger, site expert of their predominantly orange.com. Sarah, look, it's always nice to end the preseason, you know, on a winning note, undefeated at the end of the day. Preseason wins don't matter, though Sean Payton has acknowledged and has said. We want to win at everything that we do. And I love the mentality.

Starting point is 00:01:38 I love the mindset here. We got a chance here. Saturday's preseason finale. The main theme was, what do the Broncos starters look like offensively is? We got to see Bo Nix and that starting offensive line and the starting group of guys there minus a couple of names here and there. Get a chance to get on the field one last time before the regular season.

Starting point is 00:01:55 Yeah, it didn't start off too great for those guys, right? Obviously, and especially in the running game where the first unit in three series, Cody, five carries for four yards. it's not what we want to see from the starting offense in terms of that running game. Once again, we did not see J.K. Dobbins out there. I know that he's probably obviously just being kind of put on ice. Like he's one of those guys that Sean Payton talked about.

Starting point is 00:02:17 You know, they'll watch like, I guess he didn't want to say load management, but we'll say load management. You don't want to necessarily put a guy out there who's got a lengthy history of injuries in the preseason and risk not having him when you get to the regular season. So R.J. Harvey was out there, though, for the Denver Broncos in this game. Unfortunately, what did we see? Three carries for four yards. And that wasn't all on the offensive line.

Starting point is 00:02:40 But I mean, shoot, Cody, we want to see better from that particular unit when it comes to running the football. And I think that's kind of the source of maybe some concern right now is the performance of the offensive line, which was said to be, you know, number one in run block win rate, number one in past block win rate. It's supposed to be the best O line in the game, right? Where have these guys been here in the preseason? Yeah, I think that's a valid question.

Starting point is 00:03:04 because all the reports and look and all the conversations in the national media have been that this is the biggest strength of the Broncos is their offensive line. And so far, and we understand they're transitioning to a new run blocking scheme. You know, it's still very much. You know, we're implementing the outside wide zone. But your zone blocking principles that you had from last year are still prevalent,

Starting point is 00:03:24 especially when you have to run some inside zone stuff, which the Broncos and Sean Payton have said it really depends on the type of front that they're facing granted. You know, they didn't come into this week, game planning against what type of. defense, New Orleans was going to run. But it is, I agree with you, a concern to see them not get those springy runs necessarily that you want to see from a unit that's supposed to have an improved

Starting point is 00:03:45 offensive line in terms of production and improved run game. You know, that stat line, five rushing attempts for four yards is very reminiscent of what we saw when Giovante was a Bronco last year. You know, for me, I mean, this is our raw reaction following the game. And of course, we're going to wait for the All-22 film to come out. I'll have a film breakdown over a mile high sports on that. that'll kind of tell us a little bit more here. But it did seem like when the Broncos were trying to run the football to the outside,

Starting point is 00:04:10 Sarah, it seemed like backside penetration got inside. And so when you're trying to make that cut back, there's nothing there. You try to get to the outside and everything gets clogged up a little bit. You have a holding penalty on Adam Troutman. They backs you up to a second and 20. So for me, it just was not ideal circumstances for the Broncos trying to run the ball in this game here too. but also I will say just on my official first watch of the game, definitely feel like there was some concern here,

Starting point is 00:04:37 not for Bo Nix, but I talk about pass protection. It seemed like there was a little too much pressure inside and a couple of times where the pocket was bowed around, Boe at that point where he made an impressive play, kind of falling forward, side-arming it to Tyler Badegh for a big time catch and run on third down. I was a little concerned about the offensive line pass protection there because it didn't seem like you had to,

Starting point is 00:05:00 a lot of time to throw within a clean pocket or they didn't have a clean enough pocket there if you are, Bo Nix. Yeah, it just doesn't feel like those guys are on point yet. And I know that it's the preseason. And I know that, man, everybody wants to diminish that one way or the other or they want to prop it up one way. I mean, it's so funny, Cody, if we say something good about the preseason, it's just preseason. If we say something bad, it's like chill out. It's just preseason, you know, so interesting either way. But yeah, I think the offensive line performance has left something to be desired. And certainly when you're seeing Bo Nix get hit after he throws a pass, like, I don't want to see that. I don't want to see that in a preseason game. I know that

Starting point is 00:05:37 quarterbacks are going to get hit, but man, this is a unit that I don't know if it's the change in the philosophy or what it's, you know, what it is. What's the source of it? Are they thinking things out there? Are they just getting beat? Because I know the Saints have good players on the defensive line. There's no question about it. Like, that's one of the reasons why, you know, I've talked with our good friend Ross Jackson, have been like, I don't think. the Saints are going to be as bad as people say. They've got some players on that defensive line, and that's going to help you in a lot of games.

Starting point is 00:06:05 But shoot, I mean, even if their defensive line has some good pieces, you expect your O line to perform better than it did, especially when you're out there trying to execute, maybe some of your more basic stuff. So to me, I think the offensive line left plenty to be desired. And thankfully, Bo Nix was able to overcome that by making,

Starting point is 00:06:23 showing what he does best. He makes plays, Cody, I think to kind of flip this conversation is that Bo Nix, he really does look like he has that command of the offense that you and many others have talked about. Like he went out there after the slow start for the offense and he just took the bull by the horns and started making plays. I think really kind of starting with that pass to Tyler Bade that you just mentioned. Yeah, there was that. I thought the back shoulder on fourth down to Cortland Sutton was a nice play. And then, I mean, Bo had a beautiful dot on a bootleg rollout to his left where it just perfectly played.

Starting point is 00:06:56 throw for, what was it, a 43-yard gain or something like that to Cortland Sutton down the field. And then obviously, you cap it off with a very impressive final third series where Bo went four of four for 71 yards and one touchdown there, throwing against the blitz, right, because they had a nickel defender or the outside linebacker was kind of walked up in a little bit wide. But then they either brought the safety or the nickel guy and they blitzed him and Bo saw that it was coming here. He kind of threw it off of his back foot a little off platform. You don't want that to become too much of a habit. but Bo is also shown he can make those throws. You find Cortland Sutton at a perfect spot there for a little bit of a touchdown.

Starting point is 00:07:32 The offense was able to finish on a strong note here. But, you know, if you had to go on a scale of one to 10 right now, and granted, look, this is another opportunity for them to get tape on this game. You can look at what the Saints are doing defensively. I'm sure that the Tennessee Titans are going to obviously bring their scheme, but they may look to see what some of these teams have done or how they've aligned at Denver to stop the run or to make things hard on Bo Nix and two preseason games

Starting point is 00:07:55 that we've seen so far, they may try to throw some wrinkles in there. They got Devonre Sweat, who's a big dog on the inside of that D line. And obviously, Jeffrey Simmons, that's going to be a tough task. And so this Broncos offensive line, you got a couple of weeks, but you have to shore up some of these issues. Where are you at right now in terms of concern with the O line on a scale of 1 to 10? I'm at about maybe like a 6 and a half right now because I have been at practice. I've seen the offensive line do well against Denver's. I've expected more from them here in the preseason.

Starting point is 00:08:23 Yeah, I would say about a five or so. I want to see them go with extended snaps because that's the other thing is like, you know, going into a game, you're playing, you know, a dozen or so snaps or whatever they ended up playing in the teens or something like that. You know that you're not playing a full game. I think over the course of a full game, and we want to see these guys start hot because that was a problem last year for the Broncos offense was starting slow. So they need to start better and they need to figure that out. But I think over the course of a game, when you're playing 50 plus snaps or whatever, you know, 60 something snaps, you're going to get a. a chance to really sort of get into a groove, so to speak, as opposed to, hey, this was our first handful of plays. We're not even running like a script or I don't know what they're doing out

Starting point is 00:09:04 there. So I don't know if it's necessarily scripted or what they're trying to do, but I do feel like it could be a different, the different circumstance is going to dictate maybe a different mindset and mentality towards those guys approach. And so right now, maybe they're trying to work some things out or whatever it may be, but less thinking, more playing. I think that's what we need to see from everyone. and that's kind of maybe been overthinking things on this team when the starters are on the field. Yeah, and that's the mystery of the preseason. You never know because I can tell you this. When you're going into a preseason matchup,

Starting point is 00:09:34 you're not looking at 49ers, Cardinals or Saints film and saying, all right, they're going to run this against us. We're going to game plan to do this because when they come on this look, we're going to just kill it and we're going to run this. Everything is base foundational right now. They're keeping a lot of the stuff they're going to run the regular season, kind of in that back pocket there. But now the effort, once you're going to run,

Starting point is 00:09:54 focus on Tennessee, Sarah is going to be more concerted on. This is the front that the Tennessee Titans defense runs. This is what we're going to do to try to counteract that in some of their better players. So now you get like a week and a half, two weeks of game planning here before it has to carry over into week one where everything the Broncos do going forward, it matters. And the stakes are high every single week here. Broncos country. We still got a lot to talk about here.

Starting point is 00:10:16 Follow the Broncos undefeated preseason campaign here in Saturday's win against the Saints here. Lucas Crowell and a couple of other players. made a case for the 53-man roster will highlight whether or not they did enough here on today's episode of the show. This episode is presented by Yahoo Fantasy. It's the best time of year. NFL kickoff. It's almost here.

Starting point is 00:10:35 And that means fantasy football season is back in full swing. And this year, Yahoo Fantasy is turning things up with a fantasy football experience like never before. And myself, Cody Rourke, we are playing on Yahoo Fantasy. And you should too, whether you're a first-timer or a veteran making your millionth league. Well, to celebrate 28 years of fantasy football, football greatness. Yahoo Fantasy is dropping 28. Big new features over 28 days throughout August. To kick it off, they just dropped Yahoo Fantasy Guia Teen Leagues, a killer new way to play

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Starting point is 00:11:35 That's what we're going to discuss up next on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos, as we prepare for the frenzy that is roster cuts, getting down from 90 or 91 players in the Broncos case down to 53. We'll see if there's any trades, any surprise cuts, things like that. but these guys had one last shot to get the job done. And Cody, I'm excited to talk about it, but I just want to say quickly thank you to all the listeners for making Lockdown Broncos,

Starting point is 00:12:00 our first listen of the day every single day. If you haven't done so already, get us at the top of your feed where you listen to podcasts. Hit subscribe on YouTube as well. You don't want to miss a single episode, especially as we get here towards roster cuts where we'll be reacting to every single move. So who's going to be part of those roster cuts,

Starting point is 00:12:19 though, Cody? That's what we're all wondering now, after the preseason has finally reached its conclusion. Lucas Kroll is one of those players who I would say is very firmly on the roster bubble. And with the injury to Nate Adkins, maybe that pushes him a little bit more towards the 53. But I would say over the last couple of weeks, it's been more so his on-field performance rather than any injuries to other players. That's making his case the strongest.

Starting point is 00:12:43 Yeah, whether we're talking about practice or preseason, Krull has had a quietly impressive offseason after really kind of having a slow start to mandatory minicamp OTAs. We didn't hear his name being talked about as much this year as we did last year around that time of OTAs and minicamp and the Sean Payton press conferences about best players. You know, we heard all that stuff here. But I like the offseason that Lucas has had.

Starting point is 00:13:07 And really, he's been streamed together consistent practices as a pass catcher has been a reliable target attacking vertically and over the middle of the field for Boe Knicks. In practice, we've seen that consistently here. I feel like for me, when you look at the numbers, game two. I feel like you have to carry three tight ends on your active roster at least at this position. And that's not even factoring in your hybrid fullback tight end Nate Atkins, who we know is going to be a roster lock here on the 53. So you're going to have four guys

Starting point is 00:13:35 at this position. And I think out of everybody in that room right now, I felt like Crowell has made the strongest case for himself, whereas guys like Kate and Prescruin, who had an impressive couple of stretches of preseason games, didn't do anything in the preseason finale against the Saints here will be the pre-season. perfect practice squad candidate, Caleb Loner, some raw talent that still needs to be worked on a little bit. I think we'll end up on the practice squad here for Sean Peyton. But Crowell, I felt like did enough. That catch he had on that two-minute drill right up the seam. That's a fantastic play. Those are the types of plays you've wanted to see a guy like Crowell make since he came

Starting point is 00:14:08 onto the roster initially just a couple years ago. Ironically enough, after the Saints wrapped up their preseason, their third and final game, the Broncos, they snagged Crowell on the waiver wire and they brought him to Denver. So your thoughts on the case that he made here because I think you need that security blanket option here. You know, in the event something happens to Troutman or maybe Crowell can do something a little more for you. Evan Ingram, he did have a drop in this game as well. And he has had a couple of drops and some practices. I'm not worried about that just yet. But I think that the tight end positioning in as many bodies as you can here. Yeah, you need guys with that dynamic skill set as well if you can get them. And Lucas Crowell has that, right? He

Starting point is 00:14:46 has the ability to go up and make plays. I mean, we saw more so in 2023 when he was taking advantage of some shots downfield where he was making those plays that kind of inspired maybe the confidence to give him an increased role last year, where we did see him lead the group in catches, but it was only 19, right? So nobody who led the Broncos really tight end position in any category last year is going to be writing home about those stats anytime soon. But Lucas, I think, like you said, he picked things up as the offseason progressed, as a the preseason progressed. He showed things that really no other tight end has shown in the preseason. I mean, after the catch stuff, going up and high pointing the ball, making plays in the red zone,

Starting point is 00:15:28 like he cashed in on the opportunities that he was given. And so I just think, especially with Nate Adkins dealing with the tightrope surgery, you've got to keep Lucas Crowell. Caleb Loner was, we'll talk about him more so going down the line, but you mentioned Caden pre-scorn as well. I just think Lucas Crowe outplayed both of those guys big time this off season. Yeah, and he'll play quite a bit of special teams. He did last year for the Broncos, and I imagine that role is probably going to stay the same for him as the team gets ready to make roster cuts on Tuesday.

Starting point is 00:15:56 We know that tough decision is always going to be something to look at. roster cuts will be around 2 p.m. Mountain time, 4 o'clock Eastern time on Tuesday. That's the deadline there, and we have complete coverage over here, locked on Broncos. I felt like really kind of the opening jump here in the first quarter, I felt like Tyler Badegh kind of showcased why he's going to win a 53 man spot on this roster here. And it isn't necessarily because of like what he did in the rushing game.

Starting point is 00:16:21 He had some nice, solid small runs here and there, but it was what he did on third down. I mean, proven working with that first team offense, what was his theme here? It was the third down back essentially in this game against the Saints. He catches that pass and has a nice 17-yard catch and run. Great reliability, great hands right there out of the backfield. But also it's the special teams aspect there where he can help you, there in four different ways, right? Pass catching, past protection, rushing.

Starting point is 00:16:47 And he can also help you in the kick return game. He had a 47-yard kick return to get the Broncos, the ball near midfield. That's anytime you can do that, it just kind of helps solidify. And it kind of goes with the stance. I'm like, all right, it's going to be Tyler Badee next to Marvin. Minim's when teams try to kick away from Marvin, I like what Bade can do in the return game. 100%. I mean, he showed he's got that juice in the return game.

Starting point is 00:17:09 You mentioned the play to Bo Nix where he caught a pass and ran up. field for a bunch of yards and then also two pass protection reps in a row, Cody, where the Broncos asked him to protect for Sam Ellinger in this game. Like, I mean, he not only just threw his body in there, but he made some really good plays in terms of past protection. So that blitz pick up or just being able to slide and read where that free defender is coming from. Like, we saw that in this game. And it confirmed what Sean Payton has already said, which is that he's one of their more trustworthy the backs in pass protection, which we did not see much of that from R.J. Harvey in the preseason, didn't see a lot of that from Blake Watson that I can recall. And obviously, J.K. Dobbins can do it,

Starting point is 00:17:49 but he hasn't really played much. And so Bade is the guy who's really shown that he can pass protect. And so I think he's not only a lock for the 53. I think he's won that third running back spot. And we might see him on the field more than people are expecting because he's trustworthy right now. He's proven. When you give him those opportunities, he's going to take advantage of them. So I don't know. Is he going to get more action than we thought?

Starting point is 00:18:15 I just think I've been really impressed what we've seen from him in the preseason. I feel like we will see quite a bit of him in the regular season. If things stick, he does make the 53. I would be shocked if he doesn't. I'll be very honest with you. I'll be shocked based on everything that we've seen this offseason. He has worked his way up because initially the primary touches were going to RJ Harvey Harvey and it was going to Jalil,

Starting point is 00:18:36 and then you would see kind of him getting those reps, you know, kind of in front of Blake Watson. There was a time where Blake Watson was getting reps in front of him, but then that really started to change. And that's where I think the dog days of training camp, the long grueling practices, you know, you can have a couple of good days here and there, but can you stack consistency?

Starting point is 00:18:52 That's where Tyler Badea, I felt like has emerged at this position more so than anybody else. He's been that consistent guy. He was mad last year. He didn't make the 53-man roster. He felt like he should have. And I agree. He had a great argument.

Starting point is 00:19:03 but ultimately it was the numbers game that really impacted that. And of course they wanted to protect one of their younger guys in Watson. And there was just a lot of different things going on with the Broncos last year. But now they have some tough decisions to make here once again as the roster deadline is approaching us very, very quickly here. And one of the players who had one of the more standout performances in Saturday's preseason win might have just auditioned himself to be traded to another team. Or could he somehow end up on the Broncos due to an injury? that we saw in Saturday's preaching game. We'll talk about Audrake Estime and his roster outlook here on today's episode,

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Starting point is 00:20:48 and might have played himself into a roster spot somewhere else. Or could there be a chance he still stays in the Mahi High City? We'll debate and discuss some of the players that were on the roster bubble coming into Saturday's game and what they did here on today's episode of the show. So Sarah, let's kick things off here with Audric Estime. Obviously, the Broncos, they've shown that they're not afraid to make trades if they get good value. Obviously, you're sending Devon Bailey to New Orleans early on in the week here. Adric Estime, because of the Broncos overall running back depth right now with J.K. Dobbins, R.J. Harvey,

Starting point is 00:21:18 and the guy we talked about in Tyler Badegh, and it seems like Jolulu McLaughlin's got a spot on the 53 based on what Sean Payton said. Post game, we'll get to that minute. Adric Estimate put forth his best overall performance, over 40 yards rushing on eight carries, five yards per carry average for him, a rushing touchdown. And also, I thought he did a really good job when he got a chance to catch a pass out of the backfield here. Quite arguably, his strongest showcase yet, but Blake Watson left the game with a knee injury, did not return.

Starting point is 00:21:46 In your opinion, does this change how the Broncos may or may not approach the Audrick estimate situation? Where do you stand on this? It doesn't really feel like it, does it? I mean, I know I have my personal preference, Cody, and I'll get into that. But, I mean, Audric was the last back up, the last. last couple of weeks. I know that he couldn't literally be the sixth back up this week because the Broncos didn't play all six guys, but he was the last guy last week against the Cardinals,

Starting point is 00:22:11 and he was the last guy this week against the Saints. And like you said, he did play his best game yet. And to me, as we've been evaluating this whole picture, and we've been talking about it all offseason, and we've been discussing the possibilities, right? To me, Audric Estime offers you a variance at the position that you just lack if you don't have him on the roster, right? Not that you need two big backs because I'm no there's no written rule anywhere that says well you got to have two big backs and you got to have two smaller backs you got to have two change of pace like there's no written rules anywhere but if jk dobbins does get hurt at some point this season and history tells us that there's a chance that could happen like audrick is the only guy that i think you would

Starting point is 00:22:51 really trust between the tackles right now i mean that's obviously been a pronounced issue with r j harvey that people have brought up a number of times i even saw some people saying oh wow, he actually ran between the tackles on that touchdown run that he had against the Cardinals. I mean, that's something that he's obviously got to work on or do better or whatever the case. Not to mention the O line struggling, you know, in that way. But then also, Jolilil McLaughlin is a smaller, what Sean Peyton said, change of pace back who is, I mean, I think he's had his third back role kind of taken away by Tyler Bade. So you're talking about now adding a little bit of variance into this and Audrick can run between the tackles.

Starting point is 00:23:31 He can create yards after contact. He had the really nice touchdown run against New Orleans. We saw it last year, too, against the Kansas City Chiefs. I just don't think he got a great opportunity this offseason with the better offensive lines than what he played with, Cody. And I'm not saying that it's a make or break thing in terms of like, I'm going to be mad if the Broncos cut him. I get it.

Starting point is 00:23:51 He was a fifth rounder last year. You've had a competition. You decided it went a certain way. But it just doesn't feel like he got the fairest shake overall. Yeah. No, I agree with you. I think there's a valid claim. to be made and maybe that's by design and maybe there is stuff going on behind the scenes that

Starting point is 00:24:06 we simply don't know about. I just, I also find it so weird. He's your youngest player on your roster and specifically at running back there. And he's the last guy getting touches on two consecutive weeks of the preseason. Though it felt like more today, there was a concerted effort to actually showcase him a little bit. I would love to see him get some run here with the first team offensive line because to your point, the downhill running aspect was present when he was in the game here on Saturday. I felt like last week against the Cardinals, I mean, it definitely seemed like they were trying to run him outside a little bit more so than downhill. And nothing was there last week for him on a consistent basis. So what is it? The truth has got to be somewhere in the

Starting point is 00:24:45 middle here. But obviously the Broncos, I mean, I think it's a testament to just where they're at from a roster standpoint now compared to where they were last year. And did Audra get the fairish shake? I think you can look at it objectively and say, no, he probably didn't. But for them to go out there and bring in two new running backs here this off season draft with a premium pick, it kind of puts the writing on the wall that it's just maybe Sean Payton doesn't have trust in estimate. And that may be for a reason we don't know. We may never end up knowing unless Estimate goes elsewhere and does a tell all. But I don't think that he's going to do that. He's a humble young man who works hard. I'll say that about Estimate. It was put out earlier in camp that,

Starting point is 00:25:24 you know, he's pouting. He's got a bad attitude. And I don't agree with that. I haven't seen that from estimate. I just see a guy who's just, he looks mad all the time, which isn't a bad thing because he runs like it, too. And so the truth has to be somewhere in the middle. But we're obviously going to wait to hear what happens with Blake Watson, left the game with the knee injury. We hope that he's okay. He was walking off the field gingerly. He was quickly ruled out. And I think the good sign was that the cart didn't come out, but that could be something that ends up bringing up some things where maybe he ends up on IR or something like that. I don't know, because we know Nate Adkins, of all people, is not going on IR and that he'll make the

Starting point is 00:25:59 53-man roster. So I imagine Drew Sanders could be one of those spots. And maybe at this point, too, Blake Watson might be able to kind of sneak through a little bit on IR at this point. That might be a saving grace. And, you know, hopefully he's not hurt or it's not a severe injury. But from a roster building standpoint, if you wanted to keep him on your practice squad, this is the perfect opportunity to kind of go through and activate his window whenever

Starting point is 00:26:21 the time comes in the regular season. But it's a lot of speculation. We don't like to do that too much here. So we'll wait for the official report coming out here in the next couple of days here on Blake Watson. Anybody else catch your eye in this game? I feel like there were a couple of players who stood out. I mean, the player that I had selected to watch,

Starting point is 00:26:37 Joaquin Davis didn't seem like he got featured in any way, shape, or form in this game. I don't know if that was by design or whatnot, but the Broncos seemed to try to get Caleb Loner involved a little bit here. Some athleticism that you could see from him, but once again, still very much raw at this point from what we saw in the preseason finale. Yeah, 100%. I think Caleb Loner kind of proved what we were asking a question about going into this game is that is he more of a practice squad candidate or is he somebody that you,

Starting point is 00:27:04 for lack of a better term, burn a 53 man roster spot on and kind of just keep developing him and prevent other teams from taking him. I think now what we've seen, I don't know that the Broncos would be uncomfortable subjecting him to waivers. I think that that's certainly something that they would have to discuss internally because they did draft him. They did use the seventh round pick. It was just a seventh rounder, but we've seen those seventh round picks, those lottery tickets hit for the Denver Broncos in recent years. Obviously, I mean, Jonathan Cooper has been great.

Starting point is 00:27:33 Devon Vailay turned out to be something and then you added future assets with him. So I'm not just saying the Broncos would just throw it away because, you know, say, oh, well, he was just a seventh rounder. But yeah, he looks really raw out there, Cody. And obviously we saw that it kind of at a number of different junctures here in the preseason. I was really interested as well by the performance of, I think we've got to shout him out,

Starting point is 00:27:54 Kyrice Rowan. I mean, on that game ceiling drive. he made some really nice plays there. And that guy's got some serious speed, too. So I would be shocked if he wasn't a practice squad guy. I know his name has come up a number of times as well throughout training camp. So he's somebody that I think deserves to be highlighted.

Starting point is 00:28:12 But I was kind of surprised as you. I know we saw our first, we got our first AT Perry signing as our siting as well out there, wearing number 87 for the Broncos against his former team. So he didn't make really any plays. But he was targeted, I think, one time. And we saw him out there on the field. So that was a nice thing to see as well. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:28:29 Hey, we got our first look at Q Robinson. You know, the nice bend on a strip sack that he had against the Saints. I loved just kind of seeing his stab moving. Look, Nick Benito gave him a lot of praise early on this past week, said he's a bulldozer. We saw that because he kind of strong armed, the offensive tackle, pushed him back, but also brought his arm out, which pretty good extension for him there to knock the football away. Forces the strip sack. You love that.

Starting point is 00:28:55 The depth, I think, is in a great spot. I mean, Q's spot is not in question. I also feel like Damari Mathis did pretty good too and what could have been a showcase for him in this final game. Saw some action. The passing game had a nice pass break up there. Came up and run support. Had a couple of passes covered there. Really, I think Denver's depth guys, they kind of closed it out there.

Starting point is 00:29:13 I'd say for the offensive line in this game particular, from the starters, second string, third string. I didn't feel like it was the offensive line's best product that we've seen so far in the preseason. You saw Sam Allen draft to escape pressure quite a big. he got hit a few times, took some pretty nice shots there. And yeah, what were your thoughts overall in these kind of final pieces here before we wrap up today's postgame show? Yeah, I agree with you. I think despite all that, I think Sam played a good game.

Starting point is 00:29:39 I was really impressed by what he did. I was interested that Jared Stidham wasn't out there. You and I have talked about the fact that he doesn't really need to do anything else, right? I mean, he obviously dominated in the games that he showed and he's proven his value as QB2 of this team. but of course, anytime anybody is held out of a preseason game, especially those who are not starters, just like with Devon Bailey,

Starting point is 00:30:00 we ask the question, like, why? Now, why would they do that? Right? You know, those sorts of things.

Starting point is 00:30:05 So the tin foil hats are always on when roster moves are about to be made, but very impressed with Sam and the game that he played, especially late sealing the victory with that drive that he had. And guys made plays, Cody, the Broncos flexed their depth big time this preseason. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:30:20 And it looks like that Stidham is going to be kind of a lock mainstay there and Sean Payton said in his post game presser. They saw what Stidham could do in the plan all along. Apparently was to play Sam right after Bow got on the field there. I think Sam will, he's a vested guy. He'll be brought back onto the practice squad here at this point. I think there'll be a handful of other guys. Adam Prentice will keep an eye on it as a vested guy that will probably be brought back

Starting point is 00:30:42 onto the practice squad. A few names as Denver is going to go through trying to formulate their 53-man roster. But Broncos Country on Monday's episode of the show, Sarah and I, we're going to play GM. We're going to give you our final 50, three-man roster prediction. Who makes it on offense? Who makes it on defense? How many positions at running back,

Starting point is 00:31:00 wide receiver, and other ones? We'll go through all that. On Monday's brand new episode, Locked on Broncos. We'll see you next time.

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