Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - BRONCOS SQUAD SHOW: Can the Broncos Trust Their RB Room in 2026?

Episode Date: June 30, 2026

Running back is one of the more compelling position groups for the Denver Broncos heading into the season. On today’s Locked On Broncos Squad Show, the fellas continue their season preview series, and take an in-depth look at Denver's backfield featuring JK Dobbins, RJ Harvey, and rookie Jonah Coleman. On paper, this group has plenty of talent, but is it enough to carry the offense over the course of the entire season? There are questions about the health of Dobbins along with the growth of Harvey for the season. Plus, how will rookie Jonah Coleman work his way into the mix? Where is your confidence level in the Broncos RB room heading into the season? Join Aniello Piro, Cody Roark, Sayre Bedinger and Nick Ferguson as they preview the room on today’s show! Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. From the opening whistle to the final kick, Let There Be Goals on FanDuel. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started now. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I'm Anilo Piro, and I am honestly fascinated to see how the run game changes and hopefully improves with the influence of Davis Webb. Cody, or a mile high sports. The Broncos run game should be better in 2026. Sayre Bedinger predominantly orange. The Broncos run game kind of killed their season last year, but what if I told you they had the best running back room in the entire AFC West? I'm Nick Ferguson.

And it's a forbidden word to say the Broncos are. running it back, but they're going to need some running backs to get this offense on track. Love it. A little running back preview on today's Lockdown Broncos squad show. Let's get into it, fellas. From the South stands, it's the Broncos squad. Everything Denver Broncos every week. Covering all the big hits and game-changing plays from the Mile High City,

the way only the Lockdown podcast network can. Gear up and squad up. Broncos squad show starts now. It is your Lockdown Broncos Squat Show right here on your Lockdown Broncos YouTube channel and audio feed. Hope everyone is doing well out there on this Tuesday before the 4th of July. One of my personal favorite holidays of the year. Kickback, relax, have some barbecue, and away we go. Our positional preview here on the squad show will roll along.

We did linebackers last week, which is a great conversation. Be sure to check that one out if you missed it last week. And today we'll switch over to the offensive side of the ball. where we will preview the running back room. Of course, J.K. Dobbins back in the mix, RJ Harvey, another year older and wiser, and rookie Jonah Coleman added to the running back room. So we'll have some fun with that position,

and away we go. We got the full squad here today. Cody works here, Beninger, Nick Ferguson. What's up, fellas? How we live in? Another day, another day. The off season, summer's here. Football is right around the corner. Training camp dates have been announced for the fans that want to attend.

So let's get rocking and rolling. I love it. I'm looking forward to it. What's the new information about training camp that was just dropped on Tuesday, Cody? I don't know if there was something about the fans and practices at the Broncos release. If it's just the days that fans can come. But anytime that email hits the inbox, I mean, you know, like, hey, the Broncos, they're announcing training camp dates. They're giving fans information.

Like, this is where, like, Madden gets released. I've been buying football cards, guys. Like, I'm ready. I am ready. I've been ripping some pack. I ripped a pretty good one, too. I'll have to tell you guys about it. Well, don't end up like me who invested heavily in Jerry Judy rookie cards when the Broncos.

Oh, no. This is my new bookmarkers. That's what I use my bad sports cards. I just use bookmarkers. But, you know, can't win them all. Can't win them all. No, yeah. I mean, football is around the corner.

And, you know, I saw the Broncos. a couple of days ago. Like, I think they posted like the Quinn Miners post. And it was like 77 days away from the kickoff, like of the regular season. And I was like Monday night. Yeah, I was like 77 days. Like we are coming up against it, man. And look, there's never really an offseason for football these days.

Like where we're at currently, like end of June, early portion of July. Like that's about as slow as it gets. But like once we get to training camp and preseason, it'll be, you know, all systems ago ramping up for this regular season, which is obviously one of the more highly anticipated regular seasons for the Broncos in quite some time. But I think, like I said, we did linebackers last week. Let's kind of start the show here today with an assessment of the running back room as a whole. And then we can hone in on Dobbins, Harvey Coleman, their specific roles and outlooks in individual segments throughout the course of the program. But, I mean, bringing back J.K. Dobbins, I'd say is a relatively popular move from the fan base.

Like I know there were some different names that all of us were kind of looking at that like, hey, could they upgrade this position? but I think I don't want to call it a fallback plan, but that is kind of like what it was. And JK, when he was healthy last year, but it was very effective for this Broncos team. Let's start there. I mean, J.K. Dobbins, back in the mix, along with Jonah Coleman and R.J. Harvey,

Dobbins, essentially, R.B.1. You got to hope the production that you got from him last year when he was healthy, he can mirror that if not exceed it and try to play a few more games, fellas. I mean, that's the goal, right, is to stay healthy. And he has come out and he said, this is going to be the year he does it. There's, you know, no injuries. He's going to play every game. And look, he was a,

on a really great pace. I mean, he's been the best Broncos running back that they've had, really, I'd say since when. I got Philip Lindsay. I'd have to say since Phil. You know, Phil ran for over 1,000. J.K. was on pace for 1,300 last year before he had an injury. He played 51% of the offensive snaps through 10 games. 5.0 yard per carry average for him. He was very productive. And he was kind of the little bit of a spark plug for Denver's offense. Even though at times last year in the beginning, the first 10 games, they went through some ups and They went through some low moments. J.K. was kind of a get started and really kind of began, I would say, in that Chargers game

against L.A. He got going a little bit as well in week three against the Colts. But, man, he really kind of sprung Denver back into that game there early on in week two last season. And it just fun player to watch, contagious energy. And Sean Payton says it, you hear him before you see him, which is always a great thing. J.K. Dobbins, I think if I, I'm trying to think of how to articulate this. I'm going to try. So just workshop with me here. I think the Broncos last off season went about J.K. Dobbins backwards, right? So when they signed JK, it was in the month of June, I believe. And when they signed him, he was kind of like a cherry on top of everything else that they had done. You draft R.J. Harvey. You kind of plan on those guys being there that you.

young players and then you bring in the veteran jk daubbins all of a sudden he kind of vaults to the top of your depth chart but you don't have the same level of insurance plan that you really needed going into a year with jk. Dobbins which the broncos kind of found out the hard way right this way they went about it in the correct order of operations in my opinion you resign jk. daven's early in free agency and then you're able to build the conclusion plan that you want that's like your plan A along the way, as opposed to scrambling in the middle of the year. Oh, trade deadlines just passed. J.K. just hurt his foot.

Now we need to scramble and figure out what we can do with the guys that we have in-house, although nobody's ready for this role. And Broncos found that out the hard way. And that was something that I think shaped the way that they approached this offseason. So I'm excited for J.K. Dobbins to be back. I mean, Cody touched on it, five yards per carry. That was fifth or that was top five in the NFL last year. I mean, he had 21, express.

explosive runs of 10 plus yards. That was tied for the fourth in the NFL. He was, I mean, constantly facing a loaded box. Next-gen stats says 36.6% of the time, eight plus players in the box for J.K. Dobbins. That was the third highest rate of eight-plus players in the box of any running back in the league last year, right behind Quinchon Judkins and Derek Henry. So when you talk about his efficiency, five yards per carry facing a loaded box the majority

of the time, I mean, this guy, he's the real deal. So it's not like, oh, Broncos took a flyer on J.K. Dobbins. I think he's genuinely one of the best running backs in the NFL. It's just we don't get to see him for 17 games. Well, I mean, obviously, when you talk about running backs or any player at any position, your availability is really important. Now, I do think that J.K. Dobbins, there's some value there, but I would not say that he is one of the better backs in the NFL.

I mean, I would have to look to the Detroit Lions and Jemir Gibbs. because watching that young guy run the ball, every time he touches it, you think it's going to be explosive play. Can J.K. Dobbins be that type of back? We don't know. Like you said, it goes back to him playing a full season.

If he has a full body of work, and I'm talking about, you know, 17 plus games, now the Broncos are in great shape. But if he doesn't, I still think the Broncos are, you know, in good shape. You have, you know, R.J. Harvey, who came off of what I can.

consider a good season as far as his touchdowns inside the red zone. I think the guy that's going to surprise so many people is going to be Jonah Coleman, right? His level of explosiveness, the ability to catch the ball out of the backfill and his durability, because at the end of the day, that's what it comes down to. What is your level of durability? And here's the other aspect of it. What type of run scheme will Davis Webb employ? I can tell you personally, the outside stretch zone, it works to perfection.

How do I know? I've seen it work. How do I know? I've practiced against it. And I noticed something that the Broncos have been trying to do, but they were not as successful trying to implement that scheme. So that is going to determine how well this running back room actually performs this season as far as what Davis Webb's plan for actually deploying each one of these backs. Yeah. And I think part of the reason why I think everyone is satisfied to a certain degree with bringing back J.K. Dobbins is, because of kind of where the room's at as a whole. Like right after last year, R.J. Harvey was kind of a question, or after R.J. Harvey, excuse me, it was kind of a question mark. And look, let's be fair.

I think we're all high on Jonah Coleman, but we don't know what Jonah Coleman is going to be quite yet in the NFL. He could turn out to be a very effective running back. This guy could be R.B. 1 of the future for the Denver Broncos for all we know, but that's still kind of an unknown factor at this point. But I think when you pair JK, right, like let's just say JK is going to play, you know, a little bit more than half the games. And again, we'll dive into kind of his role and all that kind of stuff here. little bit, but like you have a nice little one-two combo behind him now that if

JK were to miss five, six, seven games or something like that, you feel confident in R.J. Harvey being another year older and wiser and you like the youth and athleticism that you're going to get from a guy like Jonah Coleman. So I think part of the reason why bringing back J.K. Dobbins is it going to be effective is because you have proper depth behind him outside of like last year, right? It was like RJ Harvey Harvey, and then it was kind of like a hodgepodge of guys. you feel confident you should have three pretty effective running backs on this roster. Well, I think primarily too, the reason they also got Jonah Coleman is that insurance in the event J.K. Dobbins goes down. Last year, RJ Harvey, I mean, RJ had a specific role.

And that's how this running back room is designed. JK is your primary first down ball carrier. And aside from that, he's not going to be used as much in the past catching department. R.J. Harvey is the explosive runner, the also guy you can isolate in one-on-one matchups in the passing game. He is that prototypical Joker role as Sean Peyton always talks about. R.J. Harvey had that. I mean, what was it? 12 total touchdowns for him last season. I think he had the most in terms of receptions. I think it was seven receiving touchdowns, if I'm not mistaken. And now you go into Jonah Coleman. Jonah, I think offers a little bit more than maybe JK does out of the past

catching department. He's one of the more explosive yard after the catch runners last season in the passing game at Washington. And then on top of that, I think the physicality standpoint of what he brings to the table with his bill, 510, 225 pounds. This guy is going to be able to get those one to two yards that maybe on third down, you were just having Bo Nix, QB, sneak it, because that was the only way you were confident you were going to pick it up. I think that changes with Jonah Coleman. I think Jonah's role right now, early projection is to be that third down role that

Tyler Badee essentially played last year. And I'm not opposed to that. Third, you know, past protection situations, third down, two minute goal line. I like our, I like RJ in that situation there, especially in the match us, but I also like Jonah Coleman in that as well. I think that this is going to change. prototypically, Sean has been, you know, he's been on record of saying, you know, you can only feed two. You can have three, but you can only feed two. Well, now that Davis Webb is calling the play. There might be ways you can actually feed three a little bit more. And I'm curious,

that's the big mystery. We don't know what that's going to look like. See, for me, once again, when Sean said that, I said, man, that that's an isolated point of view based on where Sean's coming from. Because wait a minute, you're telling me you can only feed one. That's not true. I've watched Mike Shanahan feed one, two, three, maybe before running backs. So it all comes down to how you're trying to deploy those guys, but also understanding Sean's system. Sean passes to run the ball. Mike Shanahan ran the ball to pass it. And this is why getting those running backs involved, both in the running game and the past the game, is so important. But when I look at this Broncos team.

It's not just about Davis Webb and his play call. It's not just about the running backs. It's about the offensive line. But more importantly, a key part of the running back or the run game, excuse me, is the quarterback. And say, well, how does Bow Nix factor in this?

Well, you can't run the damn ball if your quarterback is constantly in the shotgun, right? Because you tell the defense, hey, here's what they're about to do. The only thing they can do is throw a screen or maybe a delay. handoff. If Bo Nix finds himself under center, 80% of the time, it's going to help the run game because as a defense, we have no idea what you're going to run. So those are the kind of the four

factors that play into whether this run game actually starts to pick up because if it doesn't, that's going to put an immense amount of pressure as we've seen in years past on Van Gogh's defense. Yeah, it really comes back to the Broncos not disguising what they're doing with personnel, right? I mean, when you're bringing Mercedes-Lewis and Frank Crumb out onto the field, what does that tell everybody that you're doing? Hey, they're going to try to run the ball. And if they try to throw it,

there's going to be nowhere to throw the ball. So that's really what I think Davis Webb's impact has to be is figuring out better ways to disguise what they're doing with personnel, with pre-snap motion, and getting that run scheme to a place where they're

confident that that can be a bread and butter for them. Because I think they would, run the ball as Sean has written on his play sheet that we've seen on TV multiple times. I think they would do it if he felt like it could be a bread and butter. It's just like it's just like anything else that you just, you're not confident it's going to work before it starts. And so you kind of revert back to, hey, this is what I know.

This is what I'm good at. This is where I feel like is my wheelhouse. So that's where I'm going to stay. That's where I'm going to live. That's why Bowenicks led the NFL in past attempts last season. And it wasn't good. I mean, not to say Bo wasn't good, but it wasn't good balance offensively to be first and past attempts, 19th and rushing attempts.

You're facing loaded boxes. Teams are daring you to throw over the top of them and you don't have time to do it because they're sending extra guys. You can't run the ball because they're reading what you're doing and reading your personnel and you're giving it away. So I just think that that's the one thing that Davis kind of has to clear the deck a little bit because it's not just about running back personnel it's Sean said it after the season right he said i'm going to go talk to Zach about you know the run game essentially and Zach's street we know is the

run game coordinator and that's to me the root of the issue here is it's not the offensive line offensive line has five highly paid stars basically at their positions pro bowl caliber players you know left and right literally and then you have running backs givante williams leaves succeeds. I mean, there's plenty of evidence out there to show that it starts with the scheme and to Nick's point, maybe getting under center a little bit more. Yeah, I would agree with all those points. And ultimately, we'll see how Davis Webb influences this offense and hopefully tries to raise the floor of this Broncos rushing attack. Let's hit a quick break. When we come back, let's keep it with J.K. Dobbins. I got a point that I want to

make off of what Cody said and kind of what he was talking about with Sean. and you can only feed to kind of feeds into the insurance and all that kind of stuff with the other running backs in the room. And just how many games do we think J.K. Dobbins will play for the Denver Broncos this season. All that and more when we come back right here on your locked on Broncos squad show. Today's episode of your locked on Broncos squad show is brought to you by our friends over at Indeed. Workplace chaos, it can show up fast. That's where Indeed sponsor jobs comes in. Indeed, sponsor jobs helps you reach candidates who actually fit what you're looking for based on skills.

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Over at Indeed, guys, and let them know that Lockedon Broncos sent you. All right, well, come on back into the program. It is your Lockdown Broncos Squad Show AP. Cody worked, Sarah Beninger, and Nick Ferguson hanging out with you guys here on this Tuesday. And Cody, now is a good time

to let the fine folks know about the work you and Sarah do with the Everydayer Club. The Everydayer Club is just an easy way for you to get an ad-free version of the show. your Debra Broncos coverage completely uninterrupted. Love that. Be sure to check out the Everydayer Club. It's for all you diehards out there and everything else that comes with it.

I cannot recommend the Everydayer Club enough. Cody and Sarah do an excellent job with that. And regular season is coming up, training camp, all that good stuff. So I encourage you guys to check that out. Okay. Back to J.K. Dobbins to the point I wanted to make with what Sean was talking about, you can only feed two. And I tend to agree with Nick that it's like a very specific way of looking at things.

But the reality situation is the Broncos might only need to feed two throughout the course of the season if J.K. Dobbins isn't healthy for every single game, right? So like I think in the beginning, it'll probably be a heavy dose of J.K. Dobbins and a heavy dose of R.J. Harvey. Like we didn't really see R.J. Harvey really kind of start to take on this role, just kind of as an all purpose back until J.K. Dobbins went down. So I think like the, I don't, I want J.K. Dobbins to be healthy for every single game, the playoffs and the Super Bowl. Like, right? But history has told us he's probably. going to miss a handful of games here or there, which will then open up the opportunities for RJ Harvey Harvey's potential to leadback, followed by Jonah Coleman. So that's the thought in general about, okay, like maybe it's an interesting kind of construction of feeding two on the outset. But once JK, if JK goes down, you're going to be right back in that position of like you got two guys that you could be able to trust in RJ and Jonah Coleman. Yeah, I think with JK, I mean, look, obviously he's never played a full season in his NFL career. I'm going to, I'm going to bang the table and I'll say this the first year happens.

I'm going to be on the record of saying. I understand they're skepticism. I think it's fair to be skeptical considering history and what we have seen. But then again, people can always reinvent themselves, rewrite it. The thing with JK, his injuries have been kind of catastrophic. They've been these freak injuries. They haven't necessarily been like, oh, you have all these soft tissue injuries piling up. You know, you have a hamstring that caused you to miss four weeks. Oh, you've got another hamstring.

It's not like what the Broncos experienced with Greg Dulcich. So I have confidence in JK's ability. And I think maybe part of it too is maybe keeping them healthy is balancing out maybe the rotation at the position. Now, look, here's the thing. I think a stat that says it all, even after J.K. Dobbins went down, R.J. Harvey played only 42% of Denver's offensive snaps last season in 17 games. So there is that kind of ideal when you look at it. He has a specific role the Broncos want. They tried giving him some of the looks that obviously J.K. would get.

And he didn't have a lot of success. But, man, he still was so impactful. he broke off that big run against the Jaguars for a touchdown. That was obviously, you know, showcases what type of talent he has. But man, I think he's a special type of player to the point where how you can use him as a pass catcher. That is the ultimate advantage.

I mean, I look at it. It is that Alvin Camara roll. Camara has never had over a thousand yards rushing in a season in the NFL as long as he's been around, even with Sean Payton. But he has been a thousand yard all purpose back in terms of 500 plus rush yards, 500 plus receiving yards. I think that is what RJ's vision is for him, whereas I think the Broncos belief is, you need a guy who could be the primary ball carrier.

That's where JK is right now. And I think Jonah Coleman will eventually step into that role. But if something were to happen to JK, I think that role now goes to Jonah versus RJ, so they can keep RJ in a position where they don't have to change too much for him. And I'm also excited to see maybe how RJ tackles another year of learning this offense. And I think that with RJ, you're getting somebody who's got. that ability who we see what does Sean say all the time confidence is born out of demonstrated ability or something like that you know he showed last season that he can make clutch plays that's

that was one thing that I think gets kind of overlooked with RJ Harvey is okay yeah the yards per carry 3.7 and it was a low volume unlike ashton gentie for example with the raiders and you know you're playing behind what's supposed to be a top five o line so I get it like the disappointment for him as a runner was obvious and then we find out that he was injured. Wasn't it for the Patriots game in the AFC championship? I believe the Broncos said he was injured or had something go on there. So I think that what we saw from him, though, was that the clutch plays.

I mean, how many of his receiving touchdowns last year, how many plays he made in the passing game where he created something out of nothing that ultimately, I don't want to be too dramatic and say save the season, but might have flipped the W from a loss? I mean, I don't know. Houston. Houston was a huge one. I mean, you think about Buffalo in the divisional round. Like, there's so many examples of times that he came through with what makes him great, what makes him awesome, quickness, the ability to make people in space. This is not the type of back that you hand him the ball and you say, hey, we're going to give it to you 25 times on the ground, go grind out, you know, five yards of carry for us. He's not that type of player. He wasn't drafted to be that type of player. I mean, he has to eventually be able to.

to carry the ball out of a greater clip than we saw 3.7 last year. But certainly a rookie is afforded some patience. You know what I mean? So I know the stakes are high for the Broncos, but like I think it was Aniloh said, another year older, another year wiser for R.J. Harvey. Maybe he can become sort of that. You see more teams, just like you said, guys,

specialists at the running back position. Unless you're Christian McCaffrey, Bejohn Robinson, you need players like Kenneth Gainwell as much as you need guys like, you know, Derek Henry. I mean, you need two different types of players to do different types of things in your offense. Yeah, you're right. You do need complementary pieces. But I still go back to the same point.

It's how those players are deployed. When you think about some of the guys that you name, you think about Pierre Thomas, Deuce McAllister, Ingram. You think about Darren Sproes, right? Reggie Bush, Alvin Camaro, all these guys were utilized by Sean Payton in different ways

because, you know, and the Broncos try to do that, but instead of using a running back, they use Marvin Mims. And the idea is that we're using our running backs or we're throwing a ball to them, right? And most people are like, well, they're actually using their runnerbacks.

No, you're not using the runnerbacks as the position is defined, running the damn ball. And I go back to the point of Sean when he thinks about down here, running. What does that mean to him? That means inside zone, right? That means kind of gap scheme. But once again, I go back to the Broncos need to find a way to add outside zone to your scheme because it works. And the reason why it works, because when we think about football,

it comes down to numbers, right? When you see a center, he's calling out protection. He's calling out the number of guys in the box. Even when Peyton Manning was a quarterback for the Denver Bronco, he's calling out 49's the Mike. Why is he doing that? Because he's given the blocking assignments to the offensive linemen. And we talk about pure numbers. I know

that there are less guys outside than there are guys inside. And if you use what we've seen Sean McBade use, we've seen Kyle Shanahan use. And I'm using these names because that's right. They come off a tree of Mike Shanahan. And they're

running games have worked effectively because by numbers, by position, they put their wide receivers and tight ends in position to get a seal block or reach block on the second level linebacker or safety creeping down. And that's what it is at the end of the day. When a defense put eight men in the box, can you still run the damn ball? And I go back to R.J. Harvey and where he was spectacular last year, but also where he was criticized, right? go back to the first preseason game we watched and play against the San Francisco 49ers.

People were complaining, well, why is he bouncing to play? Well, hell, that was in his mind. He goes back to college. There's less guys outside. So if he starts to run, the lane is clogged. He's thinking, let me get outside. And you go back to watch the game against the Dallas Cowboys, right? It was off the left side, if I'm not mistaken.

I think Quinn Miners got like two guys on the same damn play. Right. Where did that play go? Outside. The Broncos have not had a lot of successful plays running the inside zone. And they've been really successful. Even J.K. Dobbins and as patient as he is doing what? Running outside.

It's just like I understand how they don't get this. Well, they tried to implement in the outside zone scheme last year. And I'll tell you, a handful of players said it was, it was hard. I think you have to have the right personnel. You have to have certain prototypes on your offensive line. Denver's got, Denver's got some guys who, are very smart, right? They have some guys who are very physical, but do they have guys who are also ultra physical, ultra athletic? I mean, I think that's a valid question to have there. But so much of the

outside zone scheme is based on getting to a landmark. It's, hey, we got to get to this point here to block or to seal this guy to spring things through. But then all of a sudden now, especially with nickel defenses emerging a little bit more, that changes the pathway on those outside runs just because now you have an extra guy you have to account for. Now when they see you're in a heavy run formation, And now they start to bring that safety down a little bit. So now you have a safety walk into the box plus the nickel, plus the corner, plus you have an edge rusher. At that at that point, it's like, man, like where do we go?

You have to hope that you can at least, if you're going to extend it wide and those guys are going to try to take the outside away, you've got to hope that your cutback game is very good. So they struggled with it. They struggled with it last year. And the players were even, like I said, players told me it was hard for them to do all around collectively. See, once again, this speaks to the genius, once again,

Mike Shanahan, right? And all those teams are these coaches and all these other coaches who are running the scheme that he's run. I can tell you, he showed me where they were playing against Minnesota. And this was San Francisco. And they decided to get in the bear front. What is a bear front? Every guy's gaped out across the board. And they do, they run a barefront because they say, well, you can't run a ball against the bearfront.

Guess what? San Francisco ran the ball against the bear front, right? because the ideas you use pre-step motion to move guys in the place. And like you said, it's about hitting a landmark. They may be a defensive player who may be bigger than your offensive linemen, but you're able to cut him off because you're able to get the corner in the edge. And with this offensive line that the Broncos have, to me, man, I would love to see them run that outside zone because Quinn Miners,

as big as he is, getting the edge and sending him get out on the perimeter, man, D.Bs don't want to see that, man. I'm going to tell you right now. They don't want to see that. But if the Broncos don't implement it because the player's saying it's too damn hard, it's professional football. It is your job. If you learn it, it takes your offensive scheme to a whole different level.

So, I mean, do you want to be mediocre or do you want to be freaking great? That's what it boils down to me. And having the players say, well, man, it's too hard. imagine telling Mike Shanahan that Bill Parcells or Mike Westoff. Oh, it's too difficult. Well, give me another damn player. Those days of the NFL are gone, I think, to a certain extent, Nick. You know this.

I mean, think about it. What's changed? Furg, you know this. These guys don't spend a lot of time blocking each other, blocking actual bodies. They're blocking these handshields. You know as well as I do, man. Hitting these damn handshields don't do, it doesn't do anything. It's terrible.

It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, saying, hey, we're going to take away contact because of the CBA, but it doesn't actually help us, like, actually get hands on and move because you, you touch that freaking bag. It's just going to cave in or upward. It drives me nuts. Okay, okay. So what's the purpose of having Zach Streif if he can't do that, right? Yeah.

Because it's two hands, two feet. We stand there and we watch the office of line at practice, right? We watch them at practice. You're telling me you can't teach them the fundamentals of cutting guys off. off, right? It's about angles. This whole game is about angles. And you're telling me as athletic,

as we say this offensive line group is for the Denver Broncos, you can't teach them that. Ben Powers can't do that. He can't get a guy on the corner. He can't take that first jab step and cut a guy a three technique off. If you can't do that, you don't deserve to be playing an NFL. I think they can do it.

I just think the challenges in practice, you can't really simulate that as much with, if you have to hit these freaking handshions. I brought the handshields. Don't even get them to start. I'm sick of it. Like that you can't simulate because really, what do offensive linemen do best?

What is the one thing as a defensive player you hated? You hated when an offensive lineman would actually be able to put two hands on you inside your frame and grab you. Because then if they're lower and they're moving, they grab you, they can control you, right? You can't control that with a bag. Like you don't get the actual simulation, like the in-game simulation consistently enough with that. That's my only main gripe with it is that maybe that is.

Maybe that is why, like, when we watch practice and we see the defense whooping ass, it's because of the fact that, you know, hey, these guys are actually moving. They're actually grabbing. They're clubbing. They're ripping, swim. They're doing all this stuff. It's like, wait a minute. We don't get that simulation when it comes to us getting to our angles and hitting the bags.

They're telling them, put them damn bags down. I know. CBA, though. CBA for you know how it is. Okay, you can use other bodies, right? There's a way that you can practice against bodies and not bags. You first start with the bags, right? It's almost like teaching guys how to tackle, right?

We're going to go through baby steps. Okay, here's where I want you to place your head. I want your head on the outside. Your hands should be here, your feet here. That's what you use the bag for. Then you use other offensive linemen to say, okay, well, we want to give you a real look, look at it. Then once you get to Team Drill, now you start working that,

even if you don't have pads on, but if you don't start working that and you don't start working those techniques, you're going to constantly say, well, what's not possible? And if the Broncos don't figure this out, right? And we talk about the running back room. If they don't figure this out, guess what? It's not going to be the playoffs. No one needs to talk about the damn Super Bowl because you can't master these small,

fundamental, intricate part things of what you're supposed to do from an offensive line standpoint, right? You need to go over there because once we get the training camp, I mean, it's for a board. And guess what? The Broncos are not even having any in a squad scrimand. against anyone, right? They're not doing that. I think they're doing themselves a disservice by not being able to do that too as well. Yeah, the joint practice seems to be, you know, the most competitive that you could be, you know, leading up to the season, right? I guess outside of preseason,

like, but it's like an opportunity to just get in there against some fresh blood that, you know, does things functionally differently than you do as an organization. But I think to your point about run scheme and blocking and everything that kind of comes with that, that's where I'm fascinated to see how Davis Webb kind of, you know, dodged into his bag of tricks. Like, what's he going to bake this cake, right? Like, what's he going to do? See, you know, you said the operative word, right?

You said tricks. I can tell you this. If a team, they're doing a lot of tricks and gadget plays, to me, that tells me right away there's a lot of deficiencies. Right? A lot of deficiencies, and you don't really truly believe in your scheme because when it comes to where the rubber meets the role, you need to line

up and say, you know, my guy's good on good. We're going to beat you, right? We don't beat you. Good on good. You put eight in the box. We don't care. We still running the damn ball.

You have to prove that you can do that. All those gidget and gadget, it may sell that you are creative, but it don't show you playing tough man football. Yeah. No, I think you make some good points. You really do. And ultimately, we'll see how this kind of run game kind of in scheme comes to fruition here over the course of training camp preseason and all that good stuff.

You guys got don't fired up, man. I love it. I love it. Let's hit a quick break. When we come back, let's talk. let's talk about Jonah Coleman and RJ Harvey. I kind of want to run with some of the thoughts that Cody was thrown out there is that Alvin Camara kind of prototype that we saw from RJ last year.

What does his role look like in this upcoming season? And what can we expect from rookie running back Jonah Coleman? All that more when we come back right here on your Locked-on Broncos squad show. All right, we're going back into the program. We've got the whole squad here today at Elopiro. Cody works here, Bedinger, and Nick Ferguson. If you're watching on YouTube, we really, really appreciate you guys. do us a favor hit that like button smash that

subscribe button and get that chat going as you guys always do. It really helps us out here on the channel and for all of our audio listeners. We love you guys as well, whether you're listening at that work, listening at the gym, whatever it might be. Thank you guys for making the Lockdown Bronco Squad show a part of your day.

Okay, good conversation on JK Dobbins. I think we all know what to expect from JK and I love the optimistic thinking from Cody and kind of stamping that JK will be healthy for a full season. and I mean, he played 10 games last year. So I think if you can get to like that teens range,

like if he had 13, 14, what games out of J.K. Dobbins, that to me is a win in my book. Obviously anything more than 10 would be a win as well, assuming he's effective. So that's definitely something to consider. But beyond J.K. Dobbins, we know kind of got a glimpse of what R.J. Harvey was becoming last year. And then Jonah Coleman, who I think is a bit of a wild card

and an interesting kind of guy in this running back room as well. Let's start with R.J. Harvey and Cody. I know you talked about it a little bit earlier. but like RJ is a guy that has a lot of different skill sets, right? Like he can play true running back to a certain extent, but he's really effective as a wide receiver out of the back field with the yak action, the yards after the catch. I mean, from year one where we kind of saw some glimpses of R.J. Harvey,

what's kind of the forecast for RJ in year two? Is it building off of what he did in year one or going back to the Davis Webb conversation we just had? Is there maybe some new concepts and utilization we'll see from RJ here in year two? I mean, I'm sure there are probably going to be some new thing. that the Broncos do with RJ now that he's another year into the system. And obviously the system, it's the Broncos offense. That's what Sean Payne said.

It's not Sean's offense. It's the Broncos offense. So we'll see what the Broncos offense looks like here. But I think a lot of it is still using RJ in the same exact role that they did last year. I felt like when JK was healthy, they only did this in two games. And I felt like we saw the benefits of it where you were kind of going with the high and you're going on a series to series rotation. You know, JK had one series against the Bengals.

He was on fire. Next series, RJ comes in. He's on fire. And then it's just going through and not like when a guy is hot, it's not taking him off the field. I think that was something that we saw. You know, certainly defenses, anytime RJ was in the game,

they're saying, hey, we're not going to let this guy run at the outside because he is explosive. If he's going to have an explosive play, he's going to have to do it on the inside. Well, he did that. You know, the Jaguar's game is a great example. But the outside run game with him really struggled last season

because defense is not. new coming into it on the scouting report. Hey, this guy, if they can get him out in space, they like what he can do. So that was their goal was to take that away. But his ability out of the backfield and past catching situations. I mean, we talk about the wheel route touchdown against the Houston Texans. That was such a big play for them that they needed to ultimately win that game because they were down in that game early on.

It was one of the comeback wins that they had in the Buffalo Bills game where, what was it? I think it was on the game winning drive that Bo Nix had. I think it was third down or third down in 10 or something like that or second and well, was one of the others. And he makes a catch out in the flat and makes a guy miss. Then he gets 13, 14 yards, picks up the first down. I mean, his just ability after he gets the ball in his hands, he knows how to make guys miss.

I think now for him, and he even said this last year, he didn't fully have a full grasp of the offense last year. You know, he had to be forced fed a lot, especially after JK's injury. Now he's a lot more comfortable with it. He's fully healthy after having shoulder surgery. He had a laborum tear that he had operated on. And so now he's all good to go.

He's full go going into training camp. I just think a lot of it is building on what he did last year and maybe adding a couple of new things here and there based on what the Broncos believe he can do. I think it's interesting that a guy has 12 touchdowns as a rookie. And I mean, I'm just speaking from what I see and what I've read out there, but I don't think that it's possible to score 12 touchdowns as a rookie and have a fan base be lower on you than the Broncos fan base is on R.J. Harvey.

I think that there's just. just a total ceiling on the level of optimism for what he can be within this offense. Because everybody in the Broncos fan base, and I say everybody, I don't mean 100% of people. You get what I'm saying. I'm just kind of making statements here. But I mean, pretty much everybody's sick of hearing talk about the Joker because, well, what does that even mean? Like some people are like, is it a gadget player in the offense?

What even is that? And RJ, he showed it at times last year. but even Sean's like we haven't given him his wings just yet. So it's like we're all waiting for this anticipated role like the the punchline of a joke that hasn't yet to come. And we're kind of just like, okay, this is no longer funny anymore. Like I'm not interested in whatever the punchline for your joke is going to be. I'm no longer interested. So the joker thing has kind of run its course.

And the running game fell off an absolute cliff when J.K. Dobbins went down last year. So despite the fact that he had 12, total. total touchdowns. And if you include the playoffs, he had well over a thousand yards from scrimmage. The fan base seems to be very skeptical that RJ Harvey is going to amount to anything. I hear more stuff about Jonah Coleman becoming the future running back two or even running back one than I do about RJ Harvey taking that next step. And once again, I mean, Ashton Gentie last year, 17 games, just over 1,300 yards, 10 total touchdowns. The optimism for Genti with Clint Kubiak calling the plays is through the roof. I mean, people are talking about like, this is going

to be, he's going to be the next bejean, basically, right? But for RJ Harvey to have about 1100 yards from scrimmage, roughly, 12 total touchdowns, same yards for carry, maybe even more effectiveness as a receiver overall, nobody's talking about him being that guy. Nobody's even remotely considering him in that category. So I just think the discussion about Harvey's really fascinating because it seems like he's bordering on afterthought and like, oh, well, last year was kind of an experimental year. Touchdowns, great. Yards from scrimmage.

Great. Doesn't matter. Jonah Coleman's the new guy. J.K. Dobbins, we want him to stay healthy. We don't, it almost feels like, and I'm putting words in people's mouths, I realize, it almost feels like people don't want to see R.J. Harvey become that guy for whatever reason. Well, Sarah, the reason that individuals don't want to see R.

Harvey become that guy is because they're so sold on J.K. Dobbins being the guy. And, you know, we've said it. We've heard it said countless times. He could definitely be that guy if he is healthy, but he hasn't been really healthy. And when J.K. Dobbins went down last year, everyone lost their mind and said, the running game just kind of went to hell in the handbasket. Well, the reason of run game went to hell in the hand basket because they gave up on it. They lost confidence. And you said it yourself. When you talk about Ashton Jente, we know what Ashton Jente was at Boise. We know he showed signs of it last year and everyone is so optimistic about him this year because of Clint Kubiak is there.

Why? It's the same damn running back, but you just change the head coach and you bring in a different philosophy. And that's the biggest thing. We're talking about Ashton Jenty having Bijan numbers. Why? Because we know Clint Kubiak is going to focus. on running the ball at all cost. Even if the running back,

Ashton Genty we're talking about, takes minus plays. Guess what he's going to continue to do? Run the ball. He's not going to abandon running the ball. And that's where the Broncos run game has felt because they would abandon a run game. I'll take you guys back to the Bronco was on a row

against the commanders, right? And watching social media, so many people were down on RJ Harvey. He can't see the hole. And I'm like, okay, let's track this back. Let's watch this game. And you watch the level penetration, the commanders were able to get against the Broncos' offensive line

where R.J. Harvey had nowhere to run. Right. But people kept blaming him. Well, the running game can't get on track. Well, guess what? If you can't stop the immediate penetration, I don't care if you Barry Sanders and Emmett Smith. You're not getting anywhere, right?

But once again, when the Broncos sustained those negative runs, Did they go back to the run? No, they didn't because the idea was that, well, the commanders figured it out. We can't run that play anymore. You know what Clint Kubiak's going to do? He's going to do the same thing, Sean McVeigh, Zach Taylor, right, Kevin O'Connell, and Mike Shanahan would do. Guess what?

We're going to run it again because at some point it's going to break. The dam is going to break. And that has been the difference. Like, last year really quickly, I still. out there training can. And I try not to ear hustle, but I hear a lot of people standing behind me talking. And people are talking about Javonte Williams, right?

And how the Broncos had to get rid of him. He lost to step his injury. And this is before we saw anything of Javante doing what he did in Dallas. I said, well, I turned around and say, so all the run game roles, if I'm not mistaken, listening to you, was all on Javante. Yes. I say, man, get the hell out of here.

That tells me you really don't know a lot about the football that you're watching just to blame that one runnerback and say that it's his fault. So it's a culmination of so many things that determine whether your run game is going to be successful. Now, having a dog of a running back like a bejean, hey, look, man, that dude is just that dude. But it helps if you have a tight end that can stretch the field, a Drake London that can kind of draw the attention of the secondary. now that creates, you know, run spaces for Bijon or Tyler Arjir, right? This is where the Broncos have to change their philosophical approach. They don't change it.

And it's still, well, we're going to keep swapping guys out. And if we sustain negative plays, we're just going to kill the play. We don't even have the word. We don't even need to talk about running backs. Don't even talk about Jonah Coleman. I'm talking about J.K. Dobbins. And damn show don't talk about RJ Harvey, and they love with success.

If they can't think past what they're seeing, and negative plays because you can flip a negative into positive. I've seen Andy Reid do it multiple times. Yeah. And look, I think R.J. Harvey is one of the more compelling players on the team, right? Because, like, I hear what Sarah saying, like, I'm personally very high on R.J. Harvey. Like, I wonder, I hope my buddies aren't listening. Like, I'm going to probably try to draft R.J. Harvey in my fantasy league because the guy's a

touchdown machine. And, I mean, this is a guy who was a year one player who was effective in certain aspects of the game. It has room to grow in others. And I think everything you lay out as well, Nick. is spot on, right? But like I almost look at it the other way where it's like obviously like I'm happy that J.K. Dobbins is back. But I love the prospect of how Denver's offense can grow and mature and develop with guys

like R.J. Harvey and Jonah Coleman just because of their runway with the team in the organization. Like J.K. Dobbins might be here for another year or two. He's why I think 27, 28 years old, right? Like we know what the expiration date is for running backs. The future of the position is R.J. Harvey and Jonah Coleman. So again, I'm thrilled that J.Ks back. But I think this year is about kind of.

kind of laying the foundation for what the run game can look like for years to come with those two guys, but also under the command of offensive coordinator Davis Webb and kind of implementing and installing his schemes. And ultimately, like that, I think like the running back conversation and we'll do wide receiver preview, we'll do some quarterback preview, tight end preview, leaning at the training camp, but all roads lead back to Davis Webb. And is how much is Davis Webb going to change this offense fundamentally or insert some new looks and flavors and all that kind of stuff compared to what we've seen to the first hand

of years with shop paid ultimately we shall see all right let's hit our final break when we come back let's talk about the rook jonah coleman how much jonah coleman can we expect to see out of the gate for the denver broncos all that more when we come back right here on your locked on broncos squad show all right well come on back in winding down here final segment on your lockdown bronco squad show appreciate you guys for rocking with us here today i'll start with you sarah about jonah coleman i mean what's kind of your expectation for Jonah. Like I think he's clearly going to, he'll get some opportunities, but I clearly think it's J.K. Dobbins, R.J. Harvey draw a line than Jonah. And I like what Cody had to say about

Jonah, maybe we try to fill in that JK role if you were to get hurt. But like rookie running back, what's kind of your vibe check here on Jonah Coleman in year one? I think that the Broncos really, I mean, in my opinion, trust him a lot. I know he hasn't proven anything, but I think that when you talk about him as the insurance policy for J.K. Dobbins and what we all saw transpire in the second half of last season, the fact that even if J.K. Dobbins could have come onto the field for that one fourth down play and given the Broncos one carry, that the whole narrative of last season could have been shifted to the Broncos being AFC champions instead of just hosting the AFC championship game, what we've seen now in their off-season approach is that Jonah Coleman is the answer to the question of,

how are you going to supplement losing J.K. Dobbins, if it happens again, Jonah Coleman is the answer. But at the same time, like Cody alluded to earlier as well, the Tyler Badegh role should be wide open, because every time Tyler Badee came onto the field, the Broncos really telegraphed what they were doing. And with Jonah Coleman, you don't have to necessarily think that way, right? if you're a defense, you can't think that way because Jonah Coleman is number one in this class in terms of yards after contact per rushing attempt. He's number one in this class in terms of yards after the catch per reception at the running back position. The guy's outstanding in pass protection. The guy had one drop on like 123 targets at Washington. So what you what you have

is somebody that I think this team and coaching staff trusts already to do the little things. He was coached up by Jed Fish at Arizona and then at Washington where he finished out his college career. Jed Fish once was hired by Mike Shanahan in 2008, his last year with the Denver Broncos. Jed Fish brings all of those pro style things to the table when it comes to the way that he coaches up his players. So if you're talking about Jonah Coleman, he's already coming to the NFL with an understanding of what's my, what's my job on this play? And I'm going to get. give it everything that I've got because I understand that if I do my job on third and long and I have to knock somebody in the chin in pass protection, that I'm going to get the ball

on third and short when we're close to the goal line. I'm going to get to score me some touchdown. So that's what happened for him at college all of his years that he played there. So I just think that that's the number one thing to me that he brings to the table is a trustworthy player that the Broncos feel maybe they've drafted somebody who, yes, he'll be a rookie by name, but I think the way that he plays is going to bring more of a veteran

style of game. Well, last year, the Broncos rushing offense. They were one of the best in terms of yards before contact. Last year, they were a top 10 rushing offense and yards before contact. They were bottom two. They were 31st in the NFL in yards after contact

last season. Jonah Coleman comes in stylistically, he changes that from how he played at Washington, what he brings the name. If it translates overwhelmed, Here's the thing at Washington. I went through when I watched all of the tape from his season last year, their offensive line was not the O line that we saw of old. You know, there.

So we saw all that. He made a lot of mountains out of, you know, mole hills, you know, from what he ran to last year. There were times where he's getting hit in the backfield, you know, as soon as he's touching it. But then he's making a guy miss. He's running through contact, you know, he'd make Marshall Unlech proud by running through someone's face at that point.

But to me, that's where Jonah's going to come. come in and instantly upgrade his team. Sarah, you mentioned this as well. All the targets he's had only one drop. Tyler Badegh had four drops last season for the Broncos. RJ Harvey at running back had seven drops last season for them. He's going to come in and provide some semblance of security in this. And on top of that, he doesn't fumble the ball. I believe what? One career fumble, Sarah, out of how many touches, 600 plus touches in his college career, Broncos will take that. Sean Payton, ball security is so important. And Jonah's going to improve those categories for him. It's real simple. And I think.

think, Miley Cyrus said it best, when you look at Jonah Coleman, and what we're projecting is running back room to look. I came in like a wrecking ball. That's exactly what you want, right? Because when you get guys coming downhill, and I mentioned it before,

whether you're a safety of your corner, man, those one-on-one tackles are so difficult to make. And if a guy is running low behind his pads, I can tell you, man, As a former guy that played the position coming from 12 to 14, it is very hard because guess what? It's momentum. That guy now has momentum.

His shoulders now are not parallel to the line of scrimmage. They're straight on head and they're coming down here. This is why guys have so much, you know, a hard time trying to tackle Derek Henry because the momentum, you got to get that guy before he starts. And then here's the other element. I know when you look at the Broncos running backs, They don't have 6-2 Latavius Murray-type guys, right? Deuce McAllister.

No, a lot of these guys are short in stature, but they are stocky, right? They're built like a bowling ball. And when they come downhill, I mean, man, they can run you over. I don't know if you guys are He-Man's fans, but I remember growing up, they had this character called Ram Man, and he was really short. So the character has a toy, you just smash him down, and he would just project out. this is what you want these running backs to do. You want to get them on the edge where they can see the defender coming

and then they can lower their pads and run him the hell over. This is where you get those extra yards. This is where you get the yards out after contact. But this also requires something that we haven't often seen the Broncos do well. Once again, we're talking about all the elements that come together for a successful running game. We need to see the tight ends block better.

We need to see the wide receivers block better, right? But Jordan Humphrey, come on, man. You what, 6-4-220? Man, put that big body to work. Get in there, get in on the DB, get your hands inside, and put his little ass on the ground. That's what I want to see, right? That's how you take this run game to a whole different level.

And as you guys can tell, I'm a little animated today because we're talking about the aspect of the game that I love so much. It's the run game, right? Everyone talks about the passing game and the quarterbacks. Nah, man. No quarterback is who he is without an effect of run game. Because guess what? He now has play action as his ally.

And trust me, I've seen it happen. I've seen Peyton Manning outside stretch zone to Joseph Badi. Right, Edron James, you think it's a run play, right? You go, yeah, mama, I'm about to make this tackle. Oh, no, you're not. not because he just pulled it out and Reggie Wayne just ran right past you. Could you imagine that element added with a Jalen Waddle, the number of explosive plays that we can see here in Broncos country, man, sign me up for it.

That's exactly what this team needs. And I think what it goes back to in kind of the heart of this whole discussion is just ultimately physicality from the guys who aren't going to be carrying the ball. because I think what we've seen from the Broncos, Jonah Coleman's fourth round pick. Yes, you need to upgrade your depth at running back. But the fact that they didn't really shuffle the top of the running back death chart or even there are other players that are responsible for helping the run game get going,

indicates that they believe that it does come down to maybe something that is more tangible than simply swapping out a player. It's a physical mindset. It's really getting to your landmarks like we've been talking about. It's being that guy who's going to put the DB in the dirt or being that player that's going to say, you know what? Like, if it's up to me, this run is going to be busted off for a 55-yard touchdown, like, because I'm going to make sure that my guy's in the ground. It appears as though the Broncos have taken that approach because we saw them, they fired their wide receiver coach because they led the league in drops over the last two seasons. So they fire the receiver coach.

They fired the defensive backs coach after Riley Moss leads the league in penalty yardage. they don't fire the offensive line guys. They don't fire the tight end guys. They don't fire the tight ends themselves. They brought everybody back. They brought all the running backs back. They brought all the offensive linemen back. So what does that indicate?

It indicates that they think that their issues are solvable with something other than just swapping out a coach, swapping out the players, cleaning house. That to me is indicative of, hey, self-awareness, probably to the highest degree that we've seen from this team at any other position on the roster. Yeah, no. I'm so fascinated to see just what this room looks like. And I think to kind of put a bow on the show today, guys, I think I know the answer for all of you guys, but it sounds like we trust the Broncos running back room a lot more

this year. I obviously, I think there's some scheme stuff and some blocking stuff that we want to see them improve upon. But I think if you look at the Broncos running back room from the start of last year to what it's projected to be at the start of this year, assuming everyone knock on wood, right? is healthy in training camp. Like they made some necessary upgrades, right? And I think some of that's internal, the growth of R.J. Harvey, bringing back

J.K. Dobbins, but also just adding that depth with a guy like Jonah Coleman as well. And ultimately, we'll see what happened to some of the other guys that are going to be fighting for training camp spots and roster spots and practice squad spots and everything that comes with that. But it sounds like the Broncos running back room is in better shape than it was a year ago. Yeah. No, I think it's fair to say that. And I think that they believe in that group a lot. I mean, to bring everybody back when Sean Payton told us. verbatim after the AFC title game. We're going to look at personnel.

We're going to look at scheme while the same personnel's back. So that means that they're changing up the scheme a little bit. I'm curious to see what it's going to look like. And they can embrace those roots of getting back to being physically dominating, pulling Quinn Miners, pulling Garrett Bulls, you know, seeing more guard, guard tackle pull, seeing more power, more counter. I want to see all that. That's what this offensive line could be able to do really well because it opens everything on.

And Ben Powers, too. Ben Powers, I don't think, gets as much love, I think, as he should. The Broncos, when he was in at starting guard before his injury, they were averaging 140.6 rushing yards per game. That was third in the NFL. That dropped to about 103 after he was out. And that dropped to probably like, what, 16th or something in the NFL. So there's something to be said with who they have, the additions that they've made,

and maybe some philosophical changes that could help them be even more better and more efficient this upcoming season. Usually we hear this phrase, less, it's more. And more people kind of gravitate towards that. I think that is a bunch of cow chips, if you ask me. Because the idea is that you want to be multifaceted. Like when we look at other sports, I mean, that's the way we look at it. Basketball.

You look at hockey, right? In the avalanche, the Denver Broncos, you want to be multifaceted. You want to be able to throw an array of different things at your opponent. See, that's where I feel as though the Broncos defense have matured to. Whether you want to talk, and we talked the last time about linebackers, regardless of what you think about the two linebackers, it is just having an array of different things that you can do if you advance Joseph. If you want to run quarters, you want to cover four zone,

or you want to run fire zone. You have the ability to do that because you now have the personnel and you're working every aspect of that personnel. And we always hear this term Swiss Army knife. This guy is a Swiss Army knife. What's the use of having a Swiss Army knife? If you never do, you never use it. So the Broncos, with bringing everyone back,

they have the opportunity to pull out your Swiss Army knife, but you have to freaking use it. There's a multitude of things that they can do. And just being kind of restrained to just running one part of your scheme, to me, you're doing yourself a disservice because there are some brilliant defensive coordinators out here. They're going to watch the film. They put in 40 plus hours.

They're going to figure out your personnel. They're going to figure out your scheme. The idea is that, okay, when they figure it out, we're throwing something else out there, right? And I'll leave you with this. Playing against, like, you know, you had Andy Reid and so many of these coaches, they will show you something, right? And then they will run an abbreviation of an officer. offense off of the same look because you're thinking, guess what, we stopped the previous play.

Here it is coming again. Nope, we got you. This is what this offense has the ability to evolve into. I'm just going to be watching during training camp to see what is that evolution. What does it actually look like? Yeah, I'm with you. It's going to be fascinating, man. It really is.

And I think, again, we start with linebackers. I think running back is another interesting position to kind of project. and a forecast for what this Broncos team is going to look like come the regular season. So we shall see that is going to do it for us, though, on today's Locked-on Broncos Squad show. We appreciate each and every one of you guys for tuning in. As always, if you can do us a favor on your way out of the door, like button, subscribe button, hit both of those. Drop a comment as well, leave of a review on the audio platform you're listening on to. It really helps us out here on the program.

But all right, the preview series will continue on. episode we'll kind of get together huddle up and let's talk about what position group we want to do I mean there's tight ends there's wide receivers there's quarterback there's secondary there's defensive line offensive line a lot of things should talk about between now and the start of training camp Cody works Sarah Bedager Nick Ferguson and myself will have you cover until then enjoy their 4th of July weekend folks and we'll talk to you guys later peace out y'all