Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - BRONCOS SQUAD SHOW: Options abound for Denver to improve running back, linebacker

Episode Date: February 20, 2026

The Broncos have a few key positions they are looking to upgrade at this offseason, notably running back and linebacker. Join Aniello Piro, Cody Roark, Sayre Bedinger and Nick Ferguson as they explore the different ways Denver can improve at both of those positions. Plus, additional thoughts ahead of the NFL Combine. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! TurboTax For a limited time, you can have your taxes done by a local TurboTax expert for just $150 — all in, if a TurboTax expert didn’t file for you last year. Just file by February 28. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. FanDuel Use your Profit Boost on an NBA future and get entered for your chance to win a trip to the NBA Finals. Play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started. 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. Zocdoc Stop putting off your doctor’s appointments and get the care you need. Go to http://Zocdoc.com/lockedonnfl to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today. 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 there's a couple of interesting names that the Denver Broncos can target at Linebacker. I'm Cody Rourke, and Linebacker might be the biggest defensive upgrade. I'll also tell you why the Broncos might need to replace JFM with somebody in free agency. I'm Sarah Bedinger. It's time to start reading into the tea leaves of the breadcrumbs and all the juiciness of the offseason. I'm Nick Ferguson. I'm here to tell you why coaching matters and being tough. phone players is not a thing of the pass.

Let's get into it on a Friday edition of the Lockdown Broncos squad show. Here we go, 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. Hereup and squad up. The Broncos squad show starts now.

What is going on? Broncos country. Happy Friday. Hope everyone is doing well out there in and around the Mile High City and across all of Broncos country. We got the full squad here once again today. Anilo Piro, Cody Works, Sarah Bettinger and Nick Ferguson talking all things Denver Broncos as the combine is starting to approach. You've got some defensive targets on the docket for today as well. And the Broncos have also hired a wide receivers coach. So all that more on today's Locked on Bronco squad show. And guys,

today's episode is brought to you by our friends over at Fanduel. Use your profit boost on an NBA future and get entered for your chance to win a trip to the NBA finals, player game with Fandual, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. What's up, fellas?

How we doing? It's Friday. Happy Friday. Let's go, dude. It's a little cold out here in the mile high, but a nice change of pace from what we've had. Yeah, me neither am I. My girlfriend texted me yesterday.

She's like, enjoy the cold. We haven't had it. while and I'm like that's gross I'm not into that we'll have some fun though you know good day sit inside and I guess chill and listen to the lockdown Bronco squad show oh I agree I'm with you I have a question that I want to throw out there I had a debate with my lady this morning you guys like eggs in the morning for breakfast who doesn't like who doesn't like eggs I don't know some people don't Sarah doesn't like eggs hate it hate it I I'm now team hate eggs too man I used to every day bro

And you know this. Like I used to do a three egg omelet every day. I'd alternate between scrambled eggs. Now I'm at the point now. It's like I make eggs. Bro, I can't even stand a taste of it anymore. I don't know if something's changed.

Really? Bro, I'm just like, eh, not my thing. That's interesting. Well, I was going to have a debate.

I have eggs if I go to a diner or something. Wow. Diner eggs are probably the best. I was going to ask and I want to get the chat involved here because my girlfriend and I both like our eggs differently. Like, what is your superior form of egg for breakfast? I'm very curious.

And I will be judging you. based off your answer. I have two. What's your go to? You only get one. Well, that's kind of ridiculous because I alternate it. Fair. Okay.

Well, what's your go? Which one? Do you like one more than the other? I like, it depends on what it happens. You know, I like scrambled. I'm a scrambled guy. But I love OverEasy.

Like if I have like hash brown sausage, you know, bang. OverEasy's the way. So Sarah's not an egg guy. What about you, Nick? Oh, yeah. I'm definitely a guy. I don't know what these guys are talking about. That is so.

un-American not to love eggs. You can fry them over hard and put them on a burger, but I like mine scrambled with a little bit of turkey bacon, put it in there as well with a little hash on the side. So I don't know what these guys are talking about. Maybe they've had it, like Cody said, he's had it so much that he's overrun with that idea. And is that the idea?

The more you have it, the more overrun and disappointed you become with that particular item? I think if you have it like five days in a row, Yeah, probably. And that's what I'm cool, right? Because I'm just like, for me, I'm trying to get protein in, you know? Just trying to get my daily fix on that. And I mean, when I was making my scrambled eggs to Gordon Ramsey way, right,

with some crem fresh, some, you know, chives, chopped up and everything like that. You're so boozy, bro. So thing good. I would have that every day. But you know how long? Like making the Gordon Ramsey scrambled eggs takes like 25, 30 minutes. That's the problem. You take it too long.

See, that's the thing. I don't like burnt eggs, though, man. That's the crazy. That I could understand that. I bring that up because I made my girlfriend some eggs this morning. And she likes her scrambled. I only like scrambled eggs from one place. And that's Waffle House scramble with cheese.

To me, and I got to give a shout out to Brendan in the chat here, what a king. Over medium egg, in my opinion, is the perfect egg out there on a day-to-day base. Because the yolk's like runny, but not too runny.

It's a little dense. My man just muted himself because he was so fired up. Yeah, I was fired. I'm not over medium eggs. I will say, I like it to when I can like, if I have sausage, I can like break the, the yolk and, like, dip the sausage in the yolk. Oh, my God. How do you hate on that, Ferg? Out of everything.

You don't like the yolk like that, Ferg? You're hating on this? No, man. I don't have baked in the side toast where he cut a hole in a piece of toast. No, no, I am not from the UK. I don't want my eggs. Right? I don't like that.

I mean, look, I've seen people have sourdough toast, and they cut, they cut. at the middle of the egg and it's just like running all over top of it. Like a lava pin. I'm like, what is that? That's salmonella to me. Nah, man. It's cooked, my man. It's so good with, it's a gravy, man.

I'm with you, dude. On top, over easy. Bang. Go to a pancake house. Ooh. Oh, I went two weeks ago, bro. Oh, my gosh. It's phenomenal.

Yeah, just, I wanted to bring the conversation from the lady into the equation. I'm really passionate about this, okay? This is, this is a layered discussion. All right. With coffee, which is the number one essential in the morning, there's nothing more disgusting than eggs that's covered in garlic powder, salt, pepper. Tripping. Like, coffee tells eggs is not it.

So it's got to be sweet for breakfast. Eggs are synonymous with two things to me. Number one, brunch. It has to be. past 10.30 a.m. in order to enjoy eggs. But number two, cutting. Like, I don't eat regular eggs because it's, it's not, well, not necessarily never, but like egg whites. I've been, I mean, I've been had so many egg whites over the last two years, you guys. And they just, they just don't go well with sweet stuff at all. I mean, eggs are the perfect ingredient to

add to something like egg whites you put in, you know, you make something higher in protein, but you're making some sort of like sweet thing or something, you know. But I'm just, I just, I can't get on board with if I'm having my coffee, it's got to pair with something sweet because it's the bitter and the sweet, not the bitter and the savory. That's disgusting. That's, that's inhumane way to start the day. Plus then you smell like garlic powder and you smell like your,

your kitchen smells like eggs to start the day. That's just, I don't know. I'm very passionate about this. A little fine. I run up under Sarah today. I don't know. I just, you know, three over medium eggs. I had a little strawberry yogurt with some blueberries on top and I'm ready to go, baby.

You know, that was the breakfast of champions for today. But some fun to start off the program here today. Okay, let's get into some actual Denver Broncos conversation. We'll have some fun, as we always do on Fridays and as we do really just during the course of the off season now. And we'll talk about some defensive targets. So I want to get you guys involved in that conversation as we go throughout the course of the program. but some tangible news that we can actually digest and dissect here a little bit. The Denver Broncos hiring Ronald Curry to be their wide receivers coach.

I believe him in, I don't know if he played for Champagne. He was with New Orleans, but I know they have some sort of relationship. Obviously, one of the handful of vacancies that Denver has had to fill with respect to the coaching department this offseason. And it looks like it'll be Ronald Curry manning the wide receiver room moving forward, Cody. Yeah, I mean, he is a former person. player. He played for the Oakland Raiders at the time. Then he played for the Detroit lines of St. Louis Rams, but then he jumped into coaching. And I'm trying to think, too, obviously, I think his first NFL gig was in San Francisco.

Then from 2016 to 2023, he went and obviously coached with Sean Payton from 2016, obviously to 2021. But he was an offensive assistant. Then he moved the wide receivers coach from 2018 to 2020. Then he was the quarterback's coach and Sean Payton's last year there in New Orleans. And I know one thing, too, he did interview for the Broncos offensive. a coordinator job prior to this. And so a lot of people were wondering, you know,

hey, what is this move potentially going to mean? Could he have a different role? And of course, now we found out he's replacing Kerry Colbert as a wide receiver coach. I think this is a great hire. I think he's a great young coach. I mean, he coached Josh Allen last year. And I'd say for last two seasons. And, you know, arguably Josh Allen had his MVP year, had a really great year this year,

getting a really good coach, I think, on this staff that he's probably going to coach things the way that Sean wants to be coached in terms of how receivers are catching the ball, not baskets, but more so the noose. So, and Nick, feel free to speak to this a little bit. Like, outside of just what Cody kind of described, like, what is the role of the wide receiver coach? Like, how does bringing in a new wide receiver coach impact this Denver Broncos team? Positively, you would think, like, what are some of the dynamics that you look for in a wide receiver coach that then pay off in game. Well, I think what, Cody said it.

The first thing is being familiar with the head coach and being around Sean Payton and multiple roles, that is going to help out because you know exactly what he wants and how he wants it to be coached. And it just seems as though there was a little imbalance between Kerry Colbert and exactly what Sean Payton wanted. So now he gets a guy that is familiar with him and vice versa. I also think that this has a lot to do with, you know, Davis Webb assuming the OC role and we still don't know how much of the offense he's going to call, but that means

that when one guy gets bumped up, someone else follows that. And Logan Kilgore is now the quarterback's coach. And now that means that, you know, Davis Webb will have more responsibility as far as the offense is concerned. And I was thinking, like when Ronald Curry was hired, I'm thinking it not only helps the wide receivers, but as a guy like Cody said, who helped coach Josh Allen in the quarterback room is also going to help Logan Kilgore as well because you need to have your quarterback coach and your wide receiver coach on the same page because we know over the past two years, we haven't really seen this wide receiver group as a whole,

Cortland Sutton included, actually reach the heights that I feel as though they can reach. This is a very talented group. They haven't been utilized the way that they should. And I think the combination of Davis Webb, the OC, Logan Kielgo to quarterback coach, and Ronald Curry, the wide receiver coach, all three of those guys are now the three amigos for the Broncos

offensive side of the ball. Yeah, and I love how you frame it with, it's a really talented group in the wide receiver room. I just don't think we've seen the yield that we've wanted to see from that room on a consistent basis. I still believe in Troy Franklin. Pat Bryan, I think is still up and coming, right? Marvin Mims, I think we're all pounding the table more Marvin Mims, right? So we'll see if Ronald Curry is able to kind of extract some of that talent from that room on a more consistent game in, game out, drive in, drive out type of basis. Sarah, I know you and I were texting a little bit in the group chat this morning. You think that this could also potentially lead to more opportunities for Ronald Curry if all goes well in his first season. Absolutely. I mean,

you got to always be thinking with one eye on the future a little bit at the very least, right? And I think you know, you interviewed him for the O.C. position. If Davis Webb gets a head coaching gig elsewhere beyond this year, he makes a lot of sense to step into that role. He's somebody who knows Sean Peyton well. But nobody, nobody sitting here knows Ronald Curry as well as Nick Furr. I mean, Nick, like, you could give us a straight up scouting report on this guy. He was one of the coolest athletes I ever watched. I mean, I remember I loved North Carolina basketball. Obviously, he played there.

He played quarterback for the Tar Heels. And then he comes to the NFL plays wide receiver. So they had some battles back in the day. And he made some plays, you know, in the AFC West as a receiver. I know that was kind of a surprise development for what he did. But I just, I like that background that he has as sort of, of a dual sport athlete, which he probably could have played anything and been good at it, right? But to be able to play for the tar heels in football and basketball is pretty crazy.

And what he did at the college ranks, coming up to the NFL, acclimating quickly to the wide receiver position, just being a playmaker. And I think there's a lot of the background that he brings to the table that's so valuable to so many different players on this roster, whether you're talking about Bo Nix or whether you're talking about those receivers as well. So I know like, you know, the drops are a problem and he's got to help figure that out. So it's like, okay, as a basketball player and a guy who was just too talented to not have the ball in college, so he put you at quarterback for that guy to be able to make it in the NFL, you know, you can't be dropping passes even when they come your way.

And so for Ronald Curry, I think that's going to be something that he really brings to the table is teaching these receivers how to do all the little things well because if he didn't, he would have never made it to this level. Really quickly, I want to piggyback off of that because I'm glad you brought that up. It's Ronald Curry's basketball background. And when we watch the drills, whenever we get a chance to watch it in this entirety, we're going to see a lot of kind of basketball oriented drills incorporated to the wild receivers. And the reason I say that is because if you look at some of the wide receivers now and

Devonty Adams would be the perfect guy to kind of look at that, slow delay release off the line of scrimmish using someone of a crossover type of move to kind of get the DB to show his hands early. To me, that will benefit a lot of the wide receiver, especially a guy like Troy Franklin, but more importantly for a guy like, you know, Cortland Sutton, who's a big body wide receivers, if you can get that DB to show his hands and flash him early, now you can grab and slap his hands down, grab his elbow, get even with him. And as they say, if we even, he's leaving. Yeah, it's a good point you guys bring up.

I'm excited to the prospect of Ronald Curry, right? I mean, just athletic by nature and to the whiteboard dynamic that Cody put up, hopefully improving the drops category. Now, I'm not sure how much of that necessarily could be on him. Like, he's not the one catching the balls on the field, right? But try to coach these guys up in the right way to get that all figured out. I want to play just a little devil's advocate here just before we hit a quick break. We're talking about how he could be the offensive coordinator in waiting if Davis Webb were to take a job.

following next season. So the Broncos, I believe, ranked 14th in points per game last season. They averaged 23.6. What do you think it's going to take for Davis Webb? And I understand he was a hot commodity this last cycle. So it seems inevitable that he'll probably get a shot sooner rather than later. But what do you guys think is maybe the benchmark that this Broncos offense needs to hit to essentially ensure that Davis Webb is gone being a head coach elsewhere in the upcoming

off season? Who wants to go? Who wants to take it first? Oh, got it. Do they have to be like a top 10 offense? Do they have to be a top five offense? Like what do you think is going to have to happen to have that come to fruition? No, I just think maybe some of these teams.

I mean, once again, he had at least four offers to be a full-time play calling offensive coordinator, you know, if you were to go elsewhere, right? And that would have been a promotion, right? And now we got a promotion here in Denver. You know, I think for him, like he did have serious interest from some teams to be a potential head coaching candidate for some teams, including the Raiders inside the AFC West. Like for me, I'm looking at Davis, their interest is already there. If the Broncos offense is even top 15, I think that interest is going to continue to peak for him.

It's not entirely about, I think, for a lot of these teams, all right, hey, what are the numbers? It's, hey, can this guy lead a building? And I think depending on what type of ownership you certainly have, that is probably going to matter more than anything, right? Because, you know, you probably do want him to have some experience as a play caller if you're going to hire him as a head coach. especially if he is a head coach, he's probably not going to just be a head coach and hire somebody else to call place. He wants to call the place. So there might be this wait and see mode from some teams.

But once again, I think look at what Cleveland just did. Their coaching staff is underwhelming. That roster is very underwhelming at this point. It's like I would put money on it right now today that in two years they're going to have a new head coach that they're going to have. Probably. And you think about all across the NFL, here's where Davis has some competition. all across the entire NFL, what is it?

There's 17 plus new offensive coordinators this season for various teams around the league. I mean, now the competition kind of rises up. So it's like how can Davis kind of position himself to shine in that? I ultimately think my theory is there's a long-term outlook here in Denver for him versus being a head coach for another team. I think it's very much here in Denver. I would agree with that as well. Sarah, Nick, you guys have any thoughts on that?

Let's say the, excuse me, let's say the, excuse me, Let's say the offense jumps up into the top seven this year, right? I mean, who's going to be a hotter candidate next year than Davis Webb? Like, if he's the one calling plays and the offense jumps up into the top seven overall and points scored, Bo Nix continues to progress, the receivers stop dropping passes to a large degree, right? I mean, like, nobody's going to be a hotter name because every NFL team wants the young Wonder kid, you know, and I say Wonder Kid, that's a Ted Lassow joke for anybody who's a fan of the show. But they want the young Wonder Kids at the head coach spot, and they want those football

junkies, the gurus who are like Sean McVeigh, who have photographic memories, and like everybody's trying to copy that move. And so when you have somebody out there who at least even presents the possibility, that's why the Ravens with, you know, Lamar Jackson are interviewing this guy. That's why the bills with Josh Allen are interviewing this guy. That's why the Raiders with the number one pick, who they all know in that organization who that pick is going to be. There's teams with clear vision, clear direction at quarterback,

including MVP players that have wanted this guy. And so for him to come back to Denver, like it has to be to call plays. There's no, I just don't know that there's any other realistic possibility. I can't see it. I can't see him agreeing to come. come back without that responsibility. See, I look at it a little different because guys have become head coaches in this league and they didn't really call plays.

They may have had the title of OC, but they never really called plays. And I'm glad you brought it up. You look at the Sean McVatry, it's happened so many times. So when you look at 2027 and say, well, who's possibly going to be the hottest name out there is going to be Cliff Kingsbury. That's why Kingsbury left Washington to join. Sean McVey in Los Angeles because he's seeing there's about four, five, maybe six guys who was with Sean McVey who are now head coaches in this league.

And that's not to say that, you know, a guy like Davis-Weld won't be in a conversation. And right now, I know we're talking about it's like who's calling plays. It really doesn't matter at this particular point because if this office takes the jump that we all hope that they do, he's going to be in the mix, even if he's not calling the plays because guess what? He has the title of OC and that's all you need. Those are the two ingredients. Have the title of OC even if you don't call plays and then have an offense that is

in the top five, dare I say top three as far as offensive production. And if Bo Nix keeps his touchdown to interception ratio down, guess what happens? Cliff Kingsbury's name is going to come up followed by Davis Webb. Look at Declan Doyle. Yes. You know, and then he. gets poached by Ben Johnson, and now he's, ironically enough, he's with Joel Lombardi and Kerry Colbert in Baltimore.

He's the offensive coordinator now. It's weird. Yeah, it is interesting. And we'll obviously see, but the news of the day, Broncos hiring Ronald Curry as their wide receivers coach. What does that mean for Davis Webb moving forward? Good little conversation there. Feel free to chime in with us here on the YouTube chat.

Okay, let's hit a break. When we come back, let's shift over to the defense. We had a really good whiteboard show on Monday. There's really only one position I think we'll dive into today. We'll do a little defensive line as well. But there's one position of need that being the line backing position for the Denver Broncos. So we'll get those whiteboards out. Who do we want to see with the Denver Broncos come free agency?

We'll talk about that next right here on your lockdown Broncos squad show. All right, y'all, real quick, let me tell you about our friends over at Fanduel, because ever wanted to experience the NBA finals live and in person, fan duel is giving you the chance to turn that dream into a reality with their NBA sweepstakes. Here's how it works. Use your profit boost on any NBA future and you'll automatically be entered for a shot to win an NBA finals trip for two. That's right. Flights, tickets, the whole experience.

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Be sure to check out our friends over at Fandual and let them know that lockdown Broncos sent you. Okay, well, come on back into the squad show. You're fighting for your life for a minute there. I'm kind of in a Friday mood, dude. I can't lie. Like, I'm happy to be doing the show, but I'm going to sushi later, you know. I'm just, I'm ready to, I'm ready to look at too far ahead, brother. You're, you're doing now.

So your performance is getting impacted. I got to be where my feet are. I'll be better. See, here's an example, Codon. I'm glad you brought that up. Instead of looking past this week's opponent, you're looking two weeks down the row. That's where he is right now. A little bit, dude.

I'm going on vacation next week, bro. You know, so I'm just like, keep fighting. I did like two radio shows, three radio shows this week. Like, you know, I'm just looking forward to the weekend. I'll put it that way. But no, seriously, happy to be here, happy to talk some Denver Broncos football. Nonetheless, we got the full squad, AP, Cody, Sarah, and Nick. And if you're watching on YouTube, hit that like button.

Smash that subscribe button. That really helps us out here on the channel. Smash it. Cody hates when I say that. You don't break your screen there. I got to say that for the people out there. Okay, linebacker. We had a pretty spirited conversation.

And Nick, I want to start with you because I go back to the point before we give our name about how you were talking how it's important in your mind for Denver to likely retain one of Alex Singleton or Justin Sernod, simply because of the fact of how complex Vance Joseph defensive schemes are. And so to essentially tear it down and build it back up, maybe putting yourself behind the eight ball a little bit. but I think it's also fair to say that there still needs to be some clear improvement, even if they were to bring back a Singleton or not. Yeah, absolutely. And having some, well, not just one guy or even two, you want to have multitude of guys that you can plug and play at any time.

And that was kind of situation last season over the past two years when Justin Strenard received a lot of playtime because Alex Singleton was out or Jay Greenlaw was out. And just watching, you know, two years ago, Cody Barton and Justin Stranard, to me, You may say that they're not the top tier guys in the NFL at the second level playing the lineback of position, but they did make plays off of one another. So you want to make sure you bring back that type of chemistry. I would love to see both Alex Singleton and Justin Stratt.

And this is no slight towards Drake Greenlaw, but I know this as a player, your availability is so important. And I mean, last season, we didn't see a lot of Drake Greenlaw. He missed a lot of playing time in training camp. He didn't play a lot during the regular season. and then he was someone on a low management pitch count when he did go into a game. So the idea is hopefully they can bring both guys back, but I don't think they're going to do that because Justice Trinard wants to be a starter. He's earned that right to be a starter in this league.

And no longer does he want to take, you know, well, take the one-year deal. You'll be our, you know, guy in waiting. And then if something happens, we'll, no, no one wants to be second fiddle. Every guy on here is in the relationship. And if you tell me your girl wanted to be second fiddle to some other chick, I'll tell you, yeah, that didn't work out. So that's where Justice Trinardt find himself. But there are some veteran guys, but more importantly,

there are some guys in this upcoming draft that I think will fit well in Vance Joseph defense. Yeah, I think Singleton profiles is the guy to take the one-year deal and come back. Like, to your point, I think Sternard is just where he's at in his career, like Singleton a little bit older, like Sternard, I think. And he said as much in his exit interview of like, I want to be a starter, right? And maybe if there's no other options out there, he comes back to Denver. But if it's not in a starting role, I think it's safe to say that Sternat is gone.

He'll go play with his Euro, Ebro. They offered him a contract initially a couple of years ago. Denver convinced him to come back. Yeah, no, he's looking for that. But here's the thing with Sternard, and not Sternard, Singleton, I mean. You know, I've heard something that maybe the number could be around 14 million per year. If that's the case, pass. No, not at all.

Debra cannot pay $14 million a year to Singleton. I know he brings so much from a leadership standpoint in the locker room. Dude plays his tail off on the field. But I would not pay $14 million per for that, even though the salary cap is going to rise. Like, come on. That's too much. If Devers going to spend big or spend big money, do it on a guy like Devin Lloyd, in my opinion. That's kind of where I'm leaning.

Yeah, and it's a good bridge. Here's some free agent running backs out there. I mean, they're not going to sign a Bobby Wagner, right? like he's an unrestricted free agent, but guys in the prime of their career, right? Kenneth Murray, Dallas Cowboys, 27 years old. Cole Holcomb is a free agent. He's 29 years old.

Devin Lloyd, as Cody alluded to, Devin Bush from the Cleveland Browns is 27 years old. So there's a handful of names out there. Singleton's 32 for reference. Quincy Williams, 29 years old. He'll be 30 by the time he gets the next season as well. So there's some names out there for Denver to go and try to sign. So let's get the whiteboards ready.

Oh, there we go. Sarah's already, ready to go. Let's, hold on. Let me try to break this down. Devin Lloyd, Caden Ellis, draft, run it back, cut Drake Greenlaw. Interesting. These are the moods thing. This is the Broncos linebacker mood board right here.

Okay. Well, why don't you explain, break it down for us? Okay, so here's what we got. Any, anybody that's underneath the smiley face, and this is a goofy smile. Like, this is a goofy, like, oh, my gosh, like, we're going to cook at linebacker. type of smile, Devin Lloyd, Caden Ellis, the drafts, Quay Walker, Nacobi Dean, Leo Chenal. What would any of those moves indicate? Any of those moves would indicate this one simple fact that the Broncos know that they have

to upgrade significantly at the linebacker position in terms of the talent department. Now, you're taking a risk, obviously moving on from players who know the defense in that regard, but this is the Super Bowl we're talking about. I mean, there was a lot of guys who knew the defense, under John Fox and Wade Phillips and all these coaches or whatnot who just weren't good enough talent-wise to be able to win the team a Super Bowl like Dominique Rogers Carmardi. The team wants him back. Well, ultimately, the price was substantial enough that they're like, let's just go get

Akeep to leave. That's what we're talking about right here. Go get the Akeep to leave. Go get the DeMarcus wear. Go get the upgrades. Go get the upgrades. In the middle is the Greenlaw and Sternad option, which is kind of just like, Ooh, I don't know.

I mean, is that the right one? Because Sternod, Greenlaw are either of those guys' long-term options. Or Singleton and somebody on this side. Because couldn't you see the Broncos trying to bring back Singleton, sign one of these free agents that are available and tell everybody, hey, look, you know, here we did it. But we also brought back Singleton, who's been the source of so much strife for the fan base.

The one scenario that would tick me off is running it back with Singleton or not and cutting Dre Greenlaw, which I've said it before, but I could see that being the solution. I could see that being what they end up doing. That would, yeah. My whole thing is that whole entire room needs to get revamped. Drew Sanders will come in and I think he'll compete for a spot at training camp, but nothing's guaranteed for him going forward. The athleticism, you know, certainly is there, but the availability factor has definitely been something that's going to count negatively against him. The Broncos haven't been able to rely on him. I mean, what was it? He suffered the injury

in training camp. Sean says north of seven to eight weeks. It ends up being the whole entire season for the most part for, you know, for Drew Sanders there. You got two young guys, obviously the LaVelle Bailey's and the Jordan Turner's who are developing, but you're not asking them to step in and start here this year. If anything, I'd say run it back one more year with Dree Greenlaw. That's my preference. Pair him with another linebacker here. But regardless, like Denver's move isn't just, We're going to sign a linebacker and free agency, and then we're going to be done. Denver needs to draft one or two players, in my opinion this year at that position in the second, third, fourth round areas, in my opinion. Nick, your thoughts.

So here's my list here. Okay. So I have Leo Chanel from Kansas City, Devin Lloyd, Quay Walker, Caden Ellis, Matt Milano, and at the bottom, Ricky draft. I will agree with what Cody is saying is that you're going to have to upgrade this run. That's, you know, word I used last time, and it is true. And there's a possibility that none of these linebackers come back, right? And the Broncos go in a whole different direction because I know we love the aggressiveness of, you know, Drey Greenlaw, but once again, you have to be available.

And Drey hasn't been really healthy over the past couple of years. So going out and maybe, you know, putting a Devin Lloyd with Leo Chanel, it looks different, right? They have to learn a defense. But to me, you just kind of upgraded your defense at the second level on a whole different way. But we do know you need to bring some young blood into this room. You talk about Jordan and LaVelle Bailey. I like those two guys. They're great backup guys, the great guys that add depth.

But you want guys who could step in day one once we start OTAs that you know, you can say, you know what? The Broncos, they didn't bring back Strunard. They didn't bring back Alex Singleton. They didn't bring back, you know, Drey Greenlaw. but I'm happy with what they have because it's only an added addition to what they have from an overall defensive standpoint. Well, I think to just double down on that point, Nick, like it's a win now roster, right? It's a win now mentality, especially with Bo Nick's, you know, not having a contract extension yet that's going to affect this team.

So I think now would be the time for them to be uber aggressive at improving that room. And let's call a spade a spade as well. Linebacker's kind of been a revolving door issue for this team for the last handful of seasons. Like we know where they're at a cornerback. they did a good job at safety with Brandon Jones tandem with Talaoufanga. Defensive line will be good even if they lose Jonathan Franklin Myers. If they can sew up this line backing room, I mean,

you're not going to really find a soft spot on this Broncos defense for the most part. Maybe you point to Riley Moss on the outside, assuming he starts over a J-Qua-McMillan. I'm not sure that's going to be the case. But point being, if you take care of business in the linebacking department, man, the expectation is best defense in the league. Absolutely.

Absolutely. That's why I put, I know it's not a sexy pick, but I put veteran Matt Milano on this list because, you know, you just look at Matt Milano when he played with Buffalo, how well he grooved into that defense. And once again, we go, we're building this whole team out based on Bo Nix. The Broncos have their quarterback. He's on a rookie deal. So you have about two more years, right, to deal with before you have to pay him. So to me, to go out and get some veteran guys who you can plug and play right away, because just like you said, I mean, this is a preheat at 20, you know, 275 or just hit 30 seconds, and this team is ready to go, right? This is not a team that we're saying, you know what, let's kick the can down the road.

They'll be great in four or five years. No, you want to maximize the talent that you have on this roster because we not only know you're going to have to pay both. And there's several other guys on the defensive side that their contracts are going to be expiring. So you want to make sure that you strike while the iron is hot. And you would just like 14 and 3. Just a field goal away from playing in the Super Bowl. I mean, you don't want to mash all that up by saying, you know what, let's go get a whole bunch of young, no, no, no, no. Young guys mixed with veteran guys who can come in and play right now.

And I also think to that point, right, the offense, I think, I guess I'm hopeful when I say this, will take care of itself because we think they're going to invest. They've obviously done that by bringing in Ronald Curry at wide receiver coach, Bo another year stronger, wiser, getting more of that receiver room. We'll see what they do at running back, which we'll talk about in the next segment. But the likelihood that you're facing the New England Patriots and the AFC championship game again next season, I don't know if that's necessarily going to be the case, right? Joe Burrow and the Bengals should be competitive.

The Ravens are going to be there. Kansas City's going to be there. And even just looking at the division, Mike McDaniel with the Chargers, the Holmes and the Chiefs. Like you sure have this defense. I know Cody's shaking his head, but I like the- Come on now.

They're going to be competitive. You think the chiefs are going to be as bad as they were last year? I think they'll be just as bad. You want to do another Chick-fil-A bet on that? I'm up 1-0 already. Chick-fil-A's on the line. I'll play with How's Money now on that one. But point being, like, you saw up that defense, man.

You want to be able to rely on that. The defense was more than good enough to win that AFC championship game if you had some competency out of the quarterback position. So just some food for thought. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section. But let's hit a break. When we come back, let's transition over to the offense. We talked a lot of running back in the last episode,

but there's a couple of names that I think we want to highlight even further here. And we'll do that on the locked on Bronco Squad Show when we come back after this break. All right, you guys, let me tell you about five-hour energy. Welcome to the five-hour energy flavor draft with 18 different flavors to choose from, including new options like confetti craze, fruity rainbow, or cotton candy. There's something for everyone. The board has set. The flavors are ready.

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Going crazy over here. 100%. Welcome on back in to the lockdown Broncos Squad show. Nilo Pirok, Carybrenger, Nick Ferguson, hanging out with you here on this Friday. Okay, so are we all in consensus that the top three free agent running backs are Kenneth Walker, Breece Hall, E.T.N, regardless if they get the tags or not,

that's probably the cream of the crop. I'll say so. And I think you guys were pretty enamored with Breece Hall in the last show. I think Breast Hall would be great for this team. I also think Travis E.T.N. would be a nice fit. See, I don't know if Travis E.N. would be as strong of a fit as Breast. But, I mean, I think it's up for debate. I think the biggest question, too, is like with Travis E. T.N.

is he has a skill set that I think he's a little more polished and similar to RJ Harvey. Do you want to have two guys who are very similar in that stature? I look at him as Paul as more of a guy who can withstand the physicality, right? Can run in between the tackles with ease. Does have that receiving skill set. Like, in my opinion, it's, I think Brees is the best overall well-rounded if you're talking about rushing and past catching ability in free agency right now. But I also think Sean Payton, like, he wants multiple running back.

And we know that RJ Harvey is going to be on this roster, right? But I think Breece Hall, like, profiles is like a throwback, Derek Henry-esque, like, guy that is just a workhorse for you in the backfield. ETN, I believe, is only missed two games in his career as well. I mean, I'm fine with either of them. I agree with you. I think Breeze Hall is probably the cream of the crop, but I think ETN would be a nice option too. Eteen had the same injury that J.K. Dobbins did. Off the hip drop tackle?

Liz Frank. Yeah, Liz Frank injury. Terrible. I want to throw out another name, though. Like, let's say they don't, let's say they swing and miss on those three. And I think Kenneth Walker is going back to Seattle. this debate on radio this week. What about Rico Dowdell from the Carolina Panthers?

A guy with back-to-back thousand-yard seasons. It's kind of had a lot to prove. I don't think he'd be nearly as expensive as the other guys. You could probably get them on a shorter-term contract as well. If you don't get an E.T.N. or a Brees Hall, I would actually be okay with bringing in a RICO Dada. What do you guys think? If you miss out, I feel like on any of the big names, possibly.

I mean, Dowdell's not a bad back. I mean, in fact that he was able to run for 1K in Carolina. I mean, that's impressive. I mean. And entered the season as a backup to Chuba Hubbard. Yeah, he kind of overtook Chuba. And Chuba,

Chuba has some sauce to him too. So, yeah, I mean, I wouldn't feel bad. I mean, if Denver swung and missed on, let's say, Etyn, Walker and Bree Sall, then yeah, I think I'd be okay with that. Is he a true RB1, though? Well, he showed it the last two years. You just said it.

I mean, he was backing up to Chuba Hubbard. Hubbard got injured. RICO Dowell came in and he performed well. Then Hubbard came back. Dave Canell is put him back in. So Rico Donald was pissed off about that. And you would be too as well. So I like that idea. I just backtrack just a little to the Travis E.N.

I mean, I would love Breece Hall to be here, but if you can't, you get a Travis ETN. And I know, Cody, you were saying, well, ETN has a similar skill set to that of RJ Harvey. Very true. but which one of those guys have a more superior skill set? And I would say Travis E.T.N. Because it is familiar with what Sean Payton had several years ago when he had Reggie Bush.

He had Ingram, Alma Camara. He wants to get those guys on the perimeter. We've seen him try to do that in manufacture run plays. And he does that a lot with, you know, Marvin Mims. So why not get a guy who excels in perimeter runs and a guy like Travis E.T.N. Now, I also throw this in it. Not sexy, not sexy, but I think it would work because we're talking about physical bruising running back, AJ Dillon.

And I'm not saying the first couple of weeks in free agency, you go out and try to get this guy, but I would love to see the Broncos add him to the mix because once again, we're talking about downhill running. We're talking about the physicality. We're talking about being able to pick up those third and shorts, fourth and ones. And with that prediction, that means that the Broncos are now inside the red zone, which we haven't really seen them do that often, now you've got someone to punch it in.

So that's my spend on the running back position. I think it's fair. I mean, Rashad White is another name that comes to mind for me that I wouldn't mind here. Again, like this is just kind of going down the list if they swing and miss on the big three.

Javonte Williams, I don't think makes any sense. I mean, I think you make sense on paper, but I don't think Javante would want to come back here if I'm just be honest. I don't know if you agree or disagree with that, Cody. I just,

I know there's a conversation about that. No, I don't think he would either. I mean, ideally initially, when he was set to be a free agent, he wanted to come back to Denver. They didn't pick up, they didn't call, they didn't talk to his agent. So he's like, you know what? All right. That's the answer right there. And he went on to Dallas on a prove it deal.

And man, he did such a damn good job. He even scored against Denver. Me had more touchdowns last year as a member of the Cowboys. You know this AP, Mr. Cowboy guy. He had, didn't anybody else. Like, then he did in Denver in the last two years, I think combined. And also, Vicki. What do you know about downhill running?

That's the Sean Payton comment, man. That's crazy. Was that a Luca Evans special? Yeah. Yeah. That was great. I can't wait. Luca Evans next week at the Combine.

First question. Sean is Davis Webb calling plays? I can't wait. And we're getting nothing. We're getting nothing. Nothing. I think here's what I will say. If there is a comment about calling plays and we hear about it at the Combine,

it'll be Sean saying he's calling the plays himself. I don't think we'll get any information. If Davis Webb is truly going to call plays, we will not find out about that this week. If Sean is adamant about calling plays, that's the only way we hear about it next week, rather, I should say. But think about this too as well, fellas, let's just say we go into this 2026 season and, you know, the Broncos office is doing well, right? I mean, who's going to take credit for that?

I mean, Sean is an, I don't believe that Sean would go to the podium and say, you know what, they play where the Broncos scored in the end zone. well, that was all Davis Webb. That wasn't me. I don't believe that that's going to happen. Do you guys believe that's going to happen? No, no. We'll see.

I mean, so much of this whole thing is very interesting. Like, for me, when we're talking about this running back position in general, two, fellas trying to get back on track here a little bit, I'll go back to what Sean Payton said when he kind of took the Broncos head coaching gig. Remember they're at Radio Row. They're sitting there talking to Josh Jacobs. The Broncos wanted Josh Jacobs bad.

Sean Payton wanted him bad. and unfortunately, like he went to Green Bay, I don't think Sean's going to strike out on that type of player this year. I think he's going to view that as Kenneth Walker, Breece Hall primarily as those one and two guys just like that in that same kind of tier. I think you're going to see that big aggressive swing there. I mean, you could go in the draft this year and get a guy.

I just, once again, you want to throw another rookie into the mix of a complex offense. I just don't know. And you've been quiet in this segment. Yeah, I'm just, I'm listening, I'm taking it in. I've also, you know, I had a multiple times on this show where my voice, which is recovering from the sickness, has failed me. So I'm just listening to taking it in. But here's something I looked up too.

I was looking at this because I wanted to see like Travis E.TN this past year. I felt like, it felt like his overall game really took a step forward. And I think the evidence of that, maybe in what you don't necessarily quantify when you're watching. But last season was the best year that he's had so far in the pros in terms of yards after contact per rushing attempt, but also total touchdown. So I feel like what Liam Cohen really helped do for Travis ETN is sort of unlock the fullness of his game. And I know that the variance isn't quite there when you're talking about ETN versus RJ Harvey, but I think it can also help too when you're talking about teams won't necessarily know what you're doing with either of those

guys out there. It's not a tell to have either one of those guys out there as opposed to somebody who, you know, 65% of the time he's on the field, we run the ball or whatever, you know, like it would be with J.K. Dobbins versus R.J. Harvey, you know, where it's, okay, 75% of the time R.J. Harvey's on the field, we're running the ball, right? So that's what defenses know. But if you have the combination of E.T.N. and Harvey, you don't really give away anything to opposing defenses of what you're doing. And I like the fact that ETN took that step forward in yards after contact per attempt because somebody who's done really well with that throughout the course of his career is obviously David Montgomery, right? I think he's made a killing with the Detroit Lions,

you know, creating yardage after contact, being that physical bruiser. Well, David Montgomery's yards after contact per attempt, the last three seasons in Detroit is only 0.0 or point, yeah, point two better than Travis E.TN. So what he did this past season anyway. So I mean, maybe that does add up a lot over time. But I think when you get that, that, I think back to that comment by Sean Payton, he asked about the running game after the AFC championship loss. And he's like, yeah, I went up to Zach.

And, you know, he was talking about scheme. He's talking about the run game coordinator, not how we didn't have enough variance in size at the running back position. Or I think he equated it back to scheme. And so I think you can get those two backs who might be similar on paper to really effectively fit whatever scheme you want to do in terms of running this offense at its highest form. I think it's well said. I do.

And I think it's going to be a major position of emphasis for the Denver Broncos. It's a good time for us to hit our final break, too, because I heard something on the radio earlier this week from Mike Kliss that I think kind of feeds into the thought process that Denver is once again taking this off season. So we'll do that real quick. We'll come back, put a bow on the show, and it's a closing thoughts here. on the Broncos on this Friday edition of your Lacton Broncos squad show. Oi.

Boy, welcome on back in to the program, bros. We're back. We're back. Sarah Bedinger and Nick Ferguson, hanging out with you here on this Friday, February the 20th. Combine coming up sooner rather than later. Yep, we'll have some. Well, you got to talk about when we're going to do the shows next week.

Oh, maybe we should have done like a full-on combine preview. Why don't we do that for a little fun here? What are you guys expecting from the combine here real quick? a whole lot of tampering. Mench press. 40 yard dash. Did you participate in the combine, Nick? No.

Unfortunately, I didn't get the invite, which for me, this is what I tell kids and parents all the time. It would be great if you were invited, but that's not a prerequisite to a long NFL career. Because there are a lot of guys, and I think this is what Sayre and Cody alluding to, it's a T-shirt and short Olympics. All you're trying to do is check the boxes on what you saw in the regular season

and if the kids kind of measure up. What did they do in the time off that they had? Did they continue to build their body? Did they work on their speed? And here's what we do know. I mean, there's so many of these guru trainers out there that help guys as far as their speeds are concerned. So that puts them further on the board,

but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are better players. I mean, we've seen that happen with guys of all positions. So I think everyone should just kind of pump their brakes a little bit. But I'll say this, man, there's certain guys I'm looking forward to seeing, you know, Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez. I'm looking forward to see how he definitely works out because when we were talking about last segment about the Broncos linebackers and the veteran guys, I think from a draft standpoint, he would be a perfect fit for what Van Zosop wants to do.

This is why you go get the veteran guys. You let him sit and wait. and then now he can go ahead and take over. But I'm interested to see, but also I'll end with this. Cody said something that is really interesting that happens. Like there's this so-called illegal and tampering period. Yeah, a lot of those things take place this time of the year when they sit down at St. Elmo's or wherever they held they eat in Annapolis.

And there's conversation. Hypothetically, Cody, if I was willing to move on from Colin Sutton, I'm just between you and I off the record. What would you be willing to give me for him? How much you think he's worth? Those are the type of conversation that are going to take place next week. I'm going to slide the napkin to you there so we can hang it up when you'll get signed. Yeah.

The crazy thing is, is I feel like trades happen more often late, like these last handful of years, like during this time. I feel like you can't necessarily negotiate with impending free agents, but I feel like these GMs are kind of just like, we can, We can make trades. Like, that's kind of, like, they don't get finalized until March 13th or whatever it is. But, I mean, you can make trades. And so, yeah, get the napkins ready. Get the discussions. I mean, Howie Roseman is probably the most annoying guy at the scouting combine.

He's probably just, like, weaseling his way into every conversation. You know, I feel like he's got spies all around that place just because the Eagles make the most ridiculous trades every year. So I'm the finger of NFL GMs. Yeah. Exactly. All my Game of Thrones people will understand that. I'm actually watching Game of Thrones right now, as I am reading the books, too. I've never seen Game of Thrones, so I have no idea.

Oh, you got to watch, bro. You know, you know what you're going to be way better than you could, bro. Remember when we used to do radio? I was like, I can't read. I do remember that. I do remember that. Yeah, no, we did have good times. No, yeah.

So it's going to be interesting. We'll have some meat on the bone. I would think next week we'll hear from Sean Payton and probably get some breadcrums as it pertains to the Broncos and their offseason vision. And let's end it with this. I heard Mike Cliss on the radio earlier this week. And I don't know if this is a major surprise to Broncos country necessarily, but I know the wide receiver position has been, you know,

a major talking point all offseason about upgrade the room, upgrade the room, right? And Clis was on the radio talking about how he thinks the top three priorities for the Broncos this offseason will be very similar to what they were last off season. In no specific order, linebacker, running back, tight end. Notably not mentioned. wide receiver. I think they're going to be interested in wide receiver, but we're essentially running it back with points of interest for the Denver Broncos. Is that the right way the Broncos should approach this?

Or would you like to see that maybe assert more influence in the wide receiver room, fellas? I'll start with you, sir. I think he's spot on because those are the three positions where your starters are set to hit free agency. I mean, the guys who were your primary, hey, we led the team in snaps at this position, they're potentially going to be gone. J.K. Dobbins, free agent. Adam Trotman, free agent. Singleton and Sternad, free agents. So it makes sense in that regard, you know, that they would be.

And I think like, yes, the upgrade at wide receiver, it feels like it's broken that barrier of like, okay, is it a need or a want or is it a must have? I feel like it's broken into that must have barrier for a lot of fans that watch this team and say, we don't have anybody late in a game, you know, or over the course of a game that we feel like we can trust every single week. Like as many big plays as Cortland Sutton has made, there's been stretches of disappearance from him. I mean, that's just the reality of the situation.

So everybody's looking at, well, you know, AJ Browns and all these different players, Stefan Diggs, that make these crazy tough catches every single week for their QBs. Everybody's kind of longing for that. But I think if you upgrade at tight end and running back, it'd be crazy how different this offense could look, even with the wide receivers that are already on the team. Yeah, and I'll go back to the point that we made it earlier in the show

or rather than Nick made that there's still a lot of talent in that wide receiver room. It's just a matter of extracting that moving forward. Your thoughts. Patience. That's my thing, right? I think it's a good room. You know, you want to make the analogy, you know, is the grass always greener on the other side? Not necessarily.

You know, the grass is green where you water it. And right now the Broncos, they need to give that wide receiver room behind Cortland Sutton. They need to continue to develop these guys. guys, but I will also say this, too. You have to raise the level of competition in that room as well. You know, I know Sean Payton moves guys around, but you can't just be comfortable saying, hey, we're going to run it back exactly how it is. Some things have to change.

Of course, they've made a change at coaching, right? 43 drops collectively last year. And the fact that Bo Nicks, like, Sarah, while I'm talking about this, can you pull up how many passing attempts that he had last year and also give me the completions? And then let's subtract, like, the attempts. with 43 drops and see where it's at because that would have been a ridiculously, I think, pretty efficient completion for Bonnix. If you would at least half of those drops there.

Yeah, 60012, 612 attempts. Oh, 388 completions. Yeah, love the NFL. So 612, do 612 minus 43. Look at us doing the math here. I should be able to do that in my head. I should be able to do that in my head. In my head, I can't do.

Math is not my strong suit. Get out the calculator. I know Casey. That's what I do. Every time I'm at the restaurant, too, I'm like, 20% tip. Don't even get started on that for. If Jordan Beasley was here right now, he would be roasting you. Hey, man.

Hey, look, I tip accordingly. So listen, really quickly, what you said about the wide receiver room, right? Like I said, they have talent. But I listen to what you said. You said that they're a good group. See, you don't need good groups. You need a great group. So that's where the idea should be because the group being great,

it only helps the offense, which now helps the defense. But more importantly, it helps a person that this team is being built around. And that's Bo Nix. You just can't have a bunch of good guys going out there. And I mean that from a play standpoint and a mentality standpoint. I don't want a team full of good guys. No, no, no, no. I need some guys with a little nasty,

to him, right? That's going to go out and dig guys out at the linebacker position. And I don't care who you have at the safety position. We're going to put him on his backside. Those are the type of guys that you need. So while it's okay to have good guys, the idea is that, no, you want great guys. Because great guys increase the level of production for this offense. And we know there was a lopsidedness all season long. We saw it, right? We saw it. So now you get a chance in Sean Paine's third year to kind of change that narrative. And that's no disrespect to any of those wide receivers. If they were sitting right here in front of me right now,

I would have a hard conversation with them. Hey, gentlemen, tell me, are you good or are you great? And if they told me they were great, I was like, let's grab the film and let's go player by player, rep by rep. And let's talk about it because you were not great. You can get to that point. Well, you can be great, but right now you are good. What are you willing to do to help your quarterback out and also help yourself to go from good to great?

Can we argue maybe too as well that at times I also feel like coaching didn't help these guys, like didn't necessarily put these guys in a great position at times. When you're talking about the mass substitutions, which if you do it right, Nick, you know this. If you do the substitutions the right way, it can work. But when you're substituting mass groups of guys in every single play, how do guys get warm? how do guys get into a rhythm? Like that to me is where I'm like, they could be great. Maybe the reason they weren't great is because some things obviously drops for this unit.

But also at the same time, I think coaching has a hand in this as well. Absolutely. Yeah. This is where Davis Webb may be a game changer. He may not call a lot of plays, but he may keep the offense on schedule by not having so many substitutions. Well, I think that's what the Broncos are looking to do. just in general offensively. I think the defense was great last season

for a majority of it, of course. And I think Bo Nix took a really nice step from year one to year two. Now the question is, can the offense level up? We're expecting Bo to be as good, if not better than he was this previous season entering into year three. It's up to Cortland, Troy Franklin, Marvin Mims. Can you be those consistent guys,

along with RJ Harvey taking the leap from year one to year two, right? So these are all questions that will need to be answered once we get to training camp. And of course, the regular season there shortly thereafter. But all right, any closing thoughts before we get out of here, fellas? Man, I don't know. I don't got anything today. I don't have anything witty or anything like that.

Just enjoy your weekend, folks. Eat some eggs. No. I just have one thing. I was so used to Cody drinking coffee before the show, but instead he had so much, so I drink with a lot of ice cubes. Water, man. I'm drinking a lot of what I'm doing.

I'm taking a lot of 15 Mono. So like that's my thing is like drinking just a ton of water feeling great. Trying to have one cup of coffee a day, which I mean, feel like it's criminal. That's hard for you. Like it's very criminal. Yes, absolutely. Okay, I will say, I do have one thing. Did you guys totally off topic, not football related?

You guys see this monkey in Japan that is just getting bullied? I did see that. You said that's a monkey? At the zoo, yeah. You know, I see it, bro. I want to go, I want to throw hands with the other monkeys. Like, leave this poor damn thing alone. He's so adorable.

It's got literally, it's mama. It's mom abandoned it. And so he has like a little stuffed, stuffed like orangutane as like a comfort friend. And these other monkeys are just beaten up on him and bullying him. I hate it. Hey, man,

have you never watched those things on National Geographic? Oh, I have. It's awful. I can't do it, man. Yeah. I mean, that's nature at his finest. It passes you out.

He'll earn his way back in. You know, but it's not in the wild. He's in captivity, though. That's the thing. It shouldn't be happening. Wait, wait, wait, wait. You want a zoology type of HR or something like that? 100%.

Bro, go watch you. I'm telling you. It's going to change your tune. There's pretty sad. It is pretty big going on out there, man. It's, bro, it's heartbreaking. It's so adorable and just, you know, it's mom abandoned it. It's got me fired up and building a motor.

Okay. What does it call? I'm going to look this up. Just, his name is, Punch the monkey. Punch. Just go on Twitter. Who gave him the name Punch the monkey?

I don't know. That's a great good. The zoo, I'm guessing. Well, you know what? Then that means that this is the zoo's fault. What is it not? Like, you said his mother abandoned him. So it's up to them to take him and put him in his own enclosure and then insert him back into the group.

I know. I'm saying, go out to video. It's going to break your heart, man. I can't deal with it. Onch the monkey. Oh my gosh. Have fun with that. I suggest all of Broncos country.

Go check that out if they haven't yet. It is something. It is something. Nature is an interesting place. But all right, good stuff as always today, fellows. We'll be back at it again with a couple episodes next week. Of course,

Combine starting up on Monday. So we'll see what comes from that. And of course, we'll keep our eye on maybe some cap casualties across the league and also some potential free agents for the Denver Broncos. The biggest question of the weekend is, Adams going to interview Sean Peyton at the combine. Didn't you put in the legwork with that, Nick?

Yeah, and I do believe that's going to happen. Yeah. You heard it here first? You heard it here first? Well, that means we'll definitely have some meat on the bone when we do some shows next. There's going to be lattes. There's going to be everything. Love it.

I'm all in. I'm all in. All right. For Cody Roark, Sarah Ben, it's you, Nick Ferguson. I am an I, Anilo Piro. Enjoy your weekend Broncos country. And we'll talk to you guys soon. Peace.

By order the Peaky Blinders.