Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - BRONCOS SQUAD SHOW: What to expect from Denver at the combine

Episode Date: February 24, 2026

The NFL scouting combine kicks off this week and there is plenty to talk about with the Denver Broncos. Broncos Country will hear from Sean Payton and George Paton this week for the first time since their end-of-season media availability following the AFC Championship game. Join Aniello Piro, Cod Roark, Sayre Bedinger and Nick Ferguson as they break down the latest news and notes around Broncos Country! 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. 5-Hour ENERGY Have your cake & drink it too. Birthday cake-flavor is back, no fork needed. Vanilla-y cakey flavor, caffeinated kick, and no sugar. It's party time. Order Now at 5-hourENERGY.com or Amazon. 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. HomeChef For a limited time, Home Chef is offering my listeners 50% off your first box, free shipping, and free dessert for life. Just go to https://HomeChef.com/LOCKEDON. 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 an I'm anilo Puro, and could a veteran coach be making his way to the Broncos coaching staff? I'm Cody Roark. Could they be going with running back? Wide receiver, tight end. It's the underwear Olympics. I'm Sayer Bedinger. You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. I'm Nick Ferguson and all those viable veteran running backs at the Broncos fans were hoping that they were going to get maybe off the board. We'll break it all down as the combine is underway this week in Indianapolis. Let's dive into it on today's Lockdown Broncos Squat show. 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. The Broncos Squad Show starts now. It is you are Locked on. Broncos squad show right here on your lockdown Broncos YouTube channel and audio feeds. Hope everyone is doing well out there in Broncos country.

Look, Broncos country is vast and wide. So if there's any Broncos fans watching, listening to the show out there on the East Coast, hope you're staying warm and safe with the big snowstorm that's going on out there. And hopefully we can keep you distracted, you know, as we talk a little Denver Broncos football here on this Tuesday, February the 24th. I'm Anilo Piero. We've got the full squad here, Cody Work. Sarah Bedinger and Nick Ferguson.

What's up, boys? Not too much, my friend. Another day, another day. And you know what? We're getting one step closer to free agency here in a couple weeks. There's a lot of maybe bits and pieces, nuggets to be dropped around. And we're going to figure out here at the NFL Combine surrounding everyone's favorite team. So, hey, we're locked in.

I could say we're locked on. Oh, good. Yeah, no, we'll hear from Sean Payton and George Payton for the first time. since their end of season media availability. That was about, what, a month ago now, I want to say, maybe three weeks. Yeah. So it's not like a tremendous amount of time, but it is pretty long. And then after we hear from them today, I don't think we'll hear for them for a while.

And right before the NFL draft, pre-draft press conference or Zoom call, typically. So about a month plus at that point, right? Because the drafts in April. So this will be, you know, for the first time for a long time, I guess you could say that we'll hear from Sean and George. So hopefully we get some good tidbits from them. We'll break that down. And as always, if you're watching on YouTube, we appreciate you. I'll get us involved or go ahead and get involved in the comment section.

I think the big question, why don't we get this one out of the way? Let's have some fun with it. I'd be shocked. It's probably going to be Luca Evans. The first question to Sean Payton today will, do you think, well, let me ask you this. Do you think the first question will be play calling or do you think it'll be clarification on the Bo Nix dynamic? Play calling.

Play calling for sure. For sure. Bo Nix. Bo Nix. Oh, Nix. I mean, that's the situation that has the most controversy. The whole thing with David Webb and as far as Davis Webb and who's going to call plays, I mean, yeah, that's important, but not as important as do we have beef or do we not?

And it's beef for dinner. That's what everyone wants to know, right? Everyone wants to know that. What type of seasoning are we putting on? We're putting that lorries on? Garlic salt. We got to figure it out. You got onion powder, salt, pepper, garlic salt, you know, get the little sizzle going in the pan.

Oh, brother. You ever had a seasoning called Slap your mama? I swear to God, that's what it's called. It makes you want to slap your mom. It is so good. Oh, my gosh. Do we think Sean comes out with an opening statement about I'm not going to address play calling?

I'm not going to address both. Do we think that's happening? I wouldn't be surprised if that. I wouldn't be surprised if he does that. I'm curious the mood we get, Sean. What kind of mood, Sean, is? in today. Like, obviously it gets the combine. We know what happens kind of at night, right? People go to St. Elmo's and they hit the town, right? And that's where kind of the juicy stuff kind of leaks out.

But, you know, is Sean going to be as refined and as sharp? I guess you could say as he typically is at practice and after games before and after. Or is he going to be maybe in a little more of a loose mood? I think that'll kind of dictate how much we get today. I've heard stories of Sean Payton at St. Elmo's. That's all I'm going to say. The lattes are flowing, bro. Yes, exactly. Latte gate, you name it. It's free flowing lately, just like water over there. St. Elmo's. I mean, that's where, here's the thing, folks. So many off the record conversations happen there. But if you're in a place like that and you're having a conversation that's off the record with a group of people, but somebody who's not part of that conversation hears you, is it really off the record for that person? No. They're like, that's an journalistic integrity question. You can't even get in.

Well, you're supposed to double source. I would say those things will be off the table because once again, basically what you're doing, you can't confirm or deny because you're getting third-party information. So basically, you're ear hustling, right? That's what you're doing. You're ear hustling. Cody, you've been through this in the locker room where you're doing an interview and then someone else comes over while you're doing your interview and they try to slide in like someone trying to slide in your DMs, right?

You know, you didn't like it then. So if someone is listening to a conversation you and I having Cody and they just hear something, they're not sure what they heard. So they can't go out with that information and confirm it like I heard last night from NFL sources that blahz-blase-blase-blase. They can't see that because they can't confirm it. Yeah. No, that's a fantastic way to put it.

You know how this industry is. You know, everyone is if it's going to garner clicks, if it's going to get the people on Twitter to get going, I mean, that's what they're going to be doing. I mean, that's what they're going to be doing. Nick, and you said the number one thing that drives me nuts, I don't know how many times I'm having an off-the-record conversation with the player. You know, we're chatting it up. And all of a sudden, you know, everyone with their camera starts coming by and it's like,

hey, yo, come on now. But, I mean, that's the business. I get it. That's when Cody hits the Dap up and. I go talk to the next guy, man. Yeah, that is the way to do it. It's a bit of a war in that locker room sometimes. After games, like, I, oh, my gosh, do that.

I literally will come out of the locker room, like, sweating sometimes, because it's like you got to bounce from one end to the other and it's like the arm is being held up all the time it's different you started the arm holding the camera oh my gosh dude it's actually like I gotta start doing like more lat raises I think I gotta build up my lats for like when it comes like you wouldn't think that like holding a microphone

like is not strenuous but when you do it for like six seven minutes eight minutes at a time right like it's see now that that bleeds into something I said about three years ago when Jordan Beasley was here saying as though Denver needs a media combine, right? 100%. Absolutely.

I would participate. I would participate for sure. Yeah. Oh, I remember that. He was posting like the bench press videos. Yeah, 100%. Jordan, that man's in the gym every day. Yeah.

I hear in Denver. But I think a media combine would be great. I know a lot of people would opt out of it. Well, I'd hella do it. I love making a fool of myself, bro. See, I wouldn't make a fool of myself. Like, I think he would. you do the gauntlet where you know how you have to run in a straight line and you have to

catch this is one way, catch it from the other. Oh, I love that. Let me hit the jugs machine. Let me do like the three cone. I don't know about the 40. I think the 40 yard dash is a great way to pull the hammy, but I mean, I mean, I could, I could prepare for it. You can do a shuttle.

Yeah, you could do that. I mean, yeah. I mean, I haven't ran a 40-yard dash since 2016. That's when I last played, you know, during that season. I mean, that's when I tore my ACL. I was like, man, I'm never going to try to run a 40-yard dash. over again. Fair. I had to do one. The reason why I brought it up, fellas, is that during this time, as though we're talking

about it, there's usually a lot of criticism of a lot of prospects, especially once they go through the on-field activities. And I said, well, this is a way to put the media in the same position of the players that they evaluate and they write and they talk about because now, once you're in that environment, maybe that'll humble you to know that that's more difficult than you think it is. Yeah. You were speaking my language. Like that's my thing. I was like, if we do a media combine,

let the players actually go out there and be the media. Yes. And let them like come up there and film us doing our drills. We do a press conference after the fact. And they had the receipts. Man, I'm telling you. Ah, man. Sign me.

Yes. I'm in. I'd be so down. I need an adjusted media rass. Like we need rass scores for media members to know who's got game and who doesn't right i mean what's your what's your rass score how much was your bench you know like did you opt out of the vertical all these different sorts of things because it yeah if you don't have a high rass score you can't ask questions like you maybe you get certain limitations on what you

can ask these guys i'm five 10 but i have a great wingspan that's one thing i've learned and i have like wide hands so to speak like i can stretch my hands out really really wide just like I that's radius it's not NFL related but the Nuggets did something similar for the media oh god start of last season yeah um we played in a media what it was a game it wasn't really a combine right like yeah but like an activity right we played in a media basketball game against the Nuggets assistant coaches um got dusted huh yeah we lost one 14 to 16 what 1114 to 60. And here's,

and I don't expect, like 20 plus people too. But here's what I will say. I obviously expect them like the assistant coaches to try, but like they're straight up like alley-ooping off the backboard, like using like their pure athleticism. I am five foot six. And you got some former NBA players.

I did try to take a charge at one point though. I will say that. Oh my God. I had one. So you tried. You tried. I tried. You know,

it's like Rodney Billups and like all these assistant coaches. And I'm just like, What am I supposed to do, bro? Like, you know, play pesky defense, I guess. I tried. I try. At least I tried. 100%.

That's a thing. You got to try. You can't do it. If you never try, you'll never know. I will say I was huffing and puffing and like I haven't in a while after that game. Oh, my gosh. How often do you do cardio and you go running and stuff like that? I don't run.

I do like incline tread or stairmaster. So like a different type of car, like, you know, for the lungs. It's different. I did that this morning before the show. After I had my, and then I have my over medium eggs right now. You know what I heard. I heard something. I talked to our boy DB, man. He was telling me something along the lines of our, you know, we have a sponsorship, so to speak, with DAC. It's like, uh-oh. Actually, I think Enel is still using those benefits. Hey, I can't confirm her than I. Can't confirm her. First source. First source. Yeah. What are you guys just thoughts, though, initially here on what we call the underwear Olympics? We'll obviously talk about the combine here today. But then the myths that come out of the combine about players and about prospects.

I think is always interesting. The number one thing most people look for is 40-yard dash. In my opinion, some instances, okay, there might be some value in that. To me, it doesn't matter because really in the NFL, it's so simple. You're never going to really be in a situation where you're going to be straight line unless you get up the sideline and then you're going, right? Maybe that's what comes in. But ideally, 40-yard dash, especially for wide receivers, doesn't really indicate they're going to be good if they can't run routes. Yeah, 100%.

I mean, you even think like the running back position, like you're running on an angle. Like it's very rare that you're just running straight up the middle and going. And if you are, you're probably getting clobbered along the way. So I understand it from the perspective of like you want to see a player's raw ability and intangibles. Like I think it does make sense. But to your point, Cody, that doesn't always paint the full picture, right? Like the bench press stuff too.

Like I like watching it on TV, but it's like, okay. That's good for alignment, I feel like. I think from the line and D line, it showcases straight. When you're alignment, you're going like, I guess it is. is a similar emotion. There's a tack in there to shed blocks, you know, so speak, don't ever gift that somebody. I'll be so mad.

You know what? You guys have gone to an amusement park and they have that little thing that you can punch and it shows the amount of power. I mean, maybe there is something with all the technology where you get a bag in front of an offensive lineman or a defensive lineman and you use that instead of a bench for us to show the amount of punch that a person has and the square edge because think about it.

When we look at offensive talent, Like you want those guys to have long arms. And if you get a tackle like Robert Gallery a couple of years ago was drafted by the Raiders, he was a tackle, but he had short arms. And usually short-armed guys, you kick him inside and you let them play guard. But maybe once again with the technology, they come up with some type of device where you can actually punch and they can kind of see the amount of power per punch that you have per square inch.

Is that why they also do like the grip test strength now just to see like what your grip strength is? Why? I mean, was that mean that you can hold better or something? Maybe. I was thinking out. I think what's more valuable, I think the three cone is great because what's, what's so important today's game, change of direction. Yeah. I think that's probably going to be more valuable than I think your 40 yard dash time. I think there's value in the bench rest. I think you're vertical. I think is, I think that's definitely important for certain positions. But outside of that, it's like a lot of the, a lot of players just opt out of doing these tests now. Like, at one point it's like what really helps you versus like you go out there and you don't do well what hurts you so to speak right i feel like there's a lot of that conversation especially when it comes to quarterbacks and thankfully we're not in a position when we're talking about quarterbacks this is nice i think the other dynamic of it is too is like you also have your pro day right like where you're going to be doing a lot of these same drills and concepts and all that kind of stuff in the comfort of your own training facility and building of course so like like for nando mendoza i don't think it's participating in the common i and he's essentially going to be the number one overall pick, right? So, yeah, to your point, like, it seems like it's more, the combine is less about the actual work that's on the field. And it's more so about the conversations that happen around the combine between coaches, executives, agents, all alike in that way, sir.

Yeah, I think that definitely too. I do look at, I know we joked about it, but like the RAS score is, it's not just interesting, but it kind of gives you an idea, too, of, all right, if this guy, we saw flashes on tape over the last. two, three years and he posts a 9.8 on the Rast scale, you know, we could say, hey, we might take a risk on this guy at some point and say, we want to work with somebody who's got those kinds of physical skills. Or let's say like a Pat Bryant, for example, I can't remember the exact rankings of where he was, but we know for a fact that Pat had one of the worst 40 yard dash times at the wide receiver position. I was a big talking point when he was drafted, but he also, I think, had one of the top four or five on field, you know, GPS, like tracking in terms of miles per hour

that he ran on the field when he was running drills. And so to me, you get those types of data points from the combine where you can see, all right, here's how this guy's maybe testing in terms of, you know, he worked on his explosiveness. He worked on his vertical. He worked on his 40. But then here's how this other guy works out on the field and how fast can he actually play. Like how fast can he move through the gauntlet? How fast? How fast can he move through the gauntlet? How fast is he doing these drills on the field. I think those are really important things. And then like Cody mentioned, that three cone time, it weighs so much more heavily now. I think for the overall evaluation, because change of direction is such an important aspect of

every position at this point in the NFL. And for these guys to be able to, I mean, what was, I think it was like a six point. I don't know, something is the threshold for certain skill position players. But it's, it's gotten absurd these days from these players who are running in the 6.4 range or 6.5 range in the three cones. So yeah, I think there's a lot of different things that are fun to watch. And it's almost cooler to look back after the fact. Like when guys get drafted, you kind of know, hey, this is how they're producing in the NFL. And you go back and you watch their combine and you're like, oh, like I guess we should have all seen that coming with the way that they worked out. They just look like naturals out there.

Yeah. Do they still do that? Or go ahead, Cody. No, I was going to say that's what I, when I got film initially after the Broncos drafted, Pat, and I was watching it. I was like, okay, people were talking about his 40, but I watched this guy stop on a dime and shake a defender because of that, right? If a defender is on his hit and he can suddenly stop and that defender over pursues, like, he's very good at finding those soft spots because he settles quickly. He can stop and change direction on the dime. I think that's inherently more valuable than just being able to have that 40-yard dash speed, so to speak. So, yeah, yeah, 100% agree. Yeah, no, I'm with you guys 100%.

real quick before we hit a break do they still do that mental acuity test i forget what it's called but isn't that the one that like jerry judy scored terribly on i don't think they do anymore because i think it was detrimental the wonder lick there you go they used to do the wonder lick and then they moved to something called i think it's called a two or s2 that was the one that cj shroud took a couple years ago when he was coming out and he didn't do too well on those and and once again we got to understand why all of these tests have come about? Because I think it was Paul Brown, the owner for the Cleveland Browns,

I mean, the Cincinnati Bengals and I guess the Cleveland Browns, who came up with this evaluation process years ago because he needed a way to evaluate players. And it's kind of expanding to this whole narrative where I always tell people, when you think about the combine, it's great to see it on television, the league is kind of branding and making money off of it.

But all it does is it's built to, like the weaknesses of a player. It's not built to establish, hey, this guy is great at this because when you establish all those great things, his value goes up. That's more money. So this whole T-shirt and Short Olympics that Cody was talking about,

it's only in place to kind of break players down. Why do you think they do those interviews? And those interviews are like speed dating and they happen late at night. So think about it, you've had an exhaustive day, right? Both physically and mentally. And someone is asking you a question, about what type of ice cream do you prefer,

Rocky Rhodes or Vanilla Bean. And based on what you say, you know, you could be wrong. And they'd be like, nah, no, no, we want the Rocky Road guys. Like, what the hell does that have to do with anything? Yeah. Right. So they're just trying to break down players and see how vulnerable players are.

But I always felt as though those acuity tests, I thought they were flawed because they were built to try to determine how do players react under pressure? And I don't know about you guys, but there are certain people who excel and test-taking forms are the people who don't. They're not great test-taking,

especially under pressure. So that was never a defining moment if a player didn't score well on the Wunderlich test. What bothered me is that those scores would get leaked, so to speak. And teams that one of that player would leak them so they could drop that value to have a chance to get them.

I think it's a, I felt like there was always a shady practice in that, in that regard. Yeah, the Combine kind of feels like the hunger games. Like, you know, like when they get all the tributes together and they get to like show off their skills. Like it's kind of like the game within the game, right? And it's like it's turned into this. I don't even know if it's turned into it. It's kind of always just been like this dog and pony show. So I understand why players are reluctant to do it, why they maybe only do certain things and all that kind of stuff.

And ultimately, I think the best tape will be what you saw at the college level, right? Like actual game footage and game tape and reaper. and all that good stuff. And then, of course, you have the pro day to show up any questions or thoughts that you might. Private workouts. The private workouts are what matters. And that's how the Broncos landed Bo Necks. Exactly.

Exactly. So it's like a made for TV event these days. But okay, let's go next really quick. Thank goodness he never ran the 40 yard dash because he might not be on the Broncos right now. If he did. True. That man's got some wheels on him. Yeah, he does.

Okay. Let's hit our first break when we come back. Let's dive into a little Sean Payton, George Payton preview. What position groups do we think the Broncos might be interested in at the Combine? And what do we expect to hear from the leadership of the Denver Broncos out there in Indianapolis? We'll do that next right here on your locked on Broncos squad show. All right, you guys, real quick, let me tell you about our friends over at home, chef. As the new year gets going, a lot of people are trying to simplify their routines.

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Atilo Piro, Cuddy Warc, Sarah Beninger and Nick Ferguson, we are your Locked-on Broncos Squad show. Appreciate each and every one of you out there in Broncos country. If you're on YouTube, make sure to hit that like button and smash that subscribe button. It really helps us out here on the channel. And let's dive right on into it, fellas. Do we know if Sean or Georgia speaking first?

I'm assuming they'll be back to back. Okay, so Sean first. 15-minute increments, Sean, then George. So have any of you been to a combine before? No. It would be nice. Certainly would be nice. I'm just, I'm curious as to like, if for Sean, like, is it going to be basically all local media or will it be a mix of local and national?

Oh, it's a mix. It's a mix of, you know, for example, like they'll have different, you know, interviews with other coaches and GMs going on the same exact time, right? So it just depends on who wants to go there. You'll get a blend of some national guys in. You'll get some independent outlets. But, you know, the local media will be there as well, which once again, I'm salty as hell because I should be there. Like, that's my literal number one thing. But that's another conversation for another day. Yeah, well, like the picture that I'm trying to paint here is if it's, if it's the local guys, right? If it's 80% of the people that go to practices and games and all that kind of stuff, like obviously there's going to be some draft questions asked. But I think draft is probably the third, you know, highlighted talking point that I would think would be in the hearts and minds of media members alike, right? Like you'd want to know about Bo Nicks and just kind of the rebuttal comments from that situation.

You want to know about play calling. And when you have the 30th pick in the draft and what is considered to be a weaker draft, at least from what I've heard, Like those questions will be asked, but I'm just curious, like, in those 15 minutes, how many draft questions do we get versus how much do we get about the AFC championship and just the season as a whole? Probably no AFC championship questions, I would assume. I would imagine play calling the Bo Nicks question. I imagine them asking like a head of free agency teams plan, what positions are, you know,

they feel like are the biggest needs, which I'm sure Sean's not going to give that here. I'm sure he's going to give that to K Adams, which Nick, if you can figure out, Hey, that's taking place, my man. I know it is expected to happen. But yeah, I think draft stuff will really kind of be kind of the back end stuff for the most part. I think you'll hear about maybe coaching staff changes, just things like that. I mean, whether or not I'm sure some people ask if they're looking at trading for any players, we'll hear that.

But it is primarily going to be the local guys. And then a couple of the national guys sprinkle in here and there. And maybe some guys on other beats. They may want to know, like, if there's Bill's reporters wanting to know about Jim Leonard, you know, things like that. You may get both guys coming over there too. So. Yeah. And it'll be interesting, right?

And I'm sure we'll get some questions about the coaching staff, of course. But I think what I'm most interested to see is how Sean handles the Bo Nicks stuff. Because I think that was a little blown out of proportion. Like, I understand Bo was probably rightfully, I don't know if upset is the right word, but maybe just a little bit of that. Yeah, yeah, exactly. but like I just wonder now that like you know what's the old saying like cooler heads prevail like I wonder if it's like a unified approach like if what we hear from Sean today is also what we hear from Bo the next time we get the year from him of course when you think about that conversation it's going to be hey listen you know Bo and I are fine right and someone's going to continue to try to ask a follow up and the answer is going to be the same Bo and I are fine because you don't want to start out something at the combine kind of bleeding over to a conversation that took place between two different individuals to close out the season to kind of lead you into 2026. So I'm thinking that's how Sean is going to leave it. Now,

after that point, I don't know who's going to be that bold to double down or even triple down and ask that question and rephrase it differently. I can think of a few. Right now on that one. But that's going to be his answer. And it's going to be some questions far as Sean Payton's concerned about personnel. And you, had to figure when George Payton, you know, takes the podium, one of the bigger questions, okay, well, what's going on with your contract extension? Obviously, we saw what the Minnesota Vikings were doing, you know, is there a possibility that you could go back, you would go back, how close are you guys are discussing your extension and will there be an extension? And George

we're probably trying not to answer, you know, that question and answered in a very diplomatic way. But those are the questions that are going to be asking. I'll add this. Who's to say that they make, Cody, you brought up trades. Who would say that there's not a personnel questions that asked that, is there a player currently on your roster that you might be looking to trade and better that position group? And I

think that's a legitimate question to ask. And I hope that question is asked. And Coach Payton talks about the wide receiver room because that's a room I feel needs to be upgraded. I think George Payton would probably give more of an answer on that one than maybe Sean. But you know

what we're going to say? Like let's play a game right now. Real quick, I'm George Payton. Here's what I'm going to say probably in today's guarantee. Well, we're going to look at every option. We're going to be measured. We're going to try to be aggressive if we can. So on and so forth. Those keywords right there.

Yeah. That's what we're going to hear. I would love a definition of opportunistically aggressive from George Payton, because I know Greg Penner is the one who said that with respect to what they might do this off season. Like I'd love to get a bit of an idea. of what that necessarily means. Like if that is free agency, if that is aggressive in resigning our own guys,

like could Marvin Mims get a contract extension? Like, you know, what do they do? We know Dobbins is a free agent, but like maybe it's JFN, right? Like maybe that's their version of opportunistically aggressive is like trying to keep some in-house guys. So I like to define that as well.

I also think, Sarah, I bet you Sean and George will both be asked about Tident too because I think that, like I agree with Nick about receiver, but if we're going to take what Mike Cliss put out on the radio last week at kind of face value, it sounds like the same three positions they targeted last offseason will be the three main

positions they try to target again this off season that being tight end inside linebacker and running back and i think tight end is probably the one that maybe broncos fans are i don't know i think they're all pretty curious about all three positions but tight end seems like the most glaring right because lineback you have options you can bring back singleton and strad not running back you can fall back on jk daubman's like do you want to fall back on evan ingram like that's the position group, I think I'm most interested to see if we get any information about. Yeah, same here. And I think just even getting their perspective on the current players on the roster as well

as what's available, right? Because, I mean, we talked about last year's tight end class in the draft. It was really a missed opportunity by the Broncos. I know that they could, you know, they could sit there and say, hey, we did draft one. We drafted Caleb Loner. But I think for all intents and purposes, I mean, they basically didn't draft a tight end last year in a really talented class where all you had to do was throw a dart at somebody. Gunner helm, a fourth round pick for the Titans looked really good last year.

It looks like a future starter. They're going to let their starting tight end leave in free agency because of him. So I think that it's just you have to throw those darts. And that's kind of some of what I want to hear from George and Sean is, okay, you are in a different position now than you have been at any other point. I mean, last year, you guys believed in turn. that you could be a really good team. You believe that you could be a Super Bowl team.

But now you've actually proven, like, you hosted the AFC championship. There's now, like, Super Bowl expectations on this team from everyone, not just within, not just on the walls in the wait room, not just, you know, what you're telling to the media and trying to hype up the team. Like, people are going to be talking about Super Bowl and Denver Broncos for the first time since you guys have been together. And how are you going to approach the offseason accordingly? That has to change these scenarios where you've said,

well, we like what we have. Or, you know, I don't know. I mean, there's no more excuse to the Russell Wilson dead cap. Or it's no longer a wait and see thing with Bo Nix. Like he is your franchise quarterback. So how does that change your approach to the entire off season, whether it's a tight end, running back, receiver, linebacker, like that urgency has to change what they do.

And so I just think, and not what they do, but how they, how aggressively they go about it. Because like you said, Aniloh, the phrasing is opportunistically aggressive, right? So what does that, what does that mean in terms of, okay, you have to combine that with the urgency to win a Super Bowl? You're in a window. So what does that mean about how they're not going to give away like, oh, we're going to trade for A.J. Brown. I'm glad you guys asked, you know, or they're not going to say, yeah, we're going to try to sign Kenneth Walker. But I think what they can give us is philosophically, like your approach to the off season. How is that going to change now that the expectations are no longer just internal, but you've proven you can get to that mountain top.

So how do you seal the deal? Yeah, and maybe there is a big swing at any of those three positions, right? But you use the word philosophically. And that's kind of what I keep thinking about is philosophically. I don't think this team is going to change, right? Just because like Sean Payton is Sean Payton. Like maybe it does a little bit if he gives up play calling, but I think the main thing will still be the main thing.

You guys just see what Luca tweeted this while we're doing this, but he asked Bill's GM Brandon Bean about Davis Webb. And I felt like he gave him a really good quote. He said here he told Webb the advice of keep building. And then he said, and he's going to get an opportunity, I believe, to call plays now, which will only help his resume. Hmm.

He might have spilled the beans. There's that combine tea. You see what I did there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was clever. That was it, was it, was it Buffalo or was it Las Vegas that he interviewed for, or no, no, he interviewed for the head coaching gig for Buffalo.

But Denver interviewed Joe Brady under the thought that if he were to bring him in. They didn't interview him. They didn't talk to him on the phone. Oh, talk to him. Right. Conversation with Joe Brady, but I know that the conversation included that of play calling. So if we're going to take that comment at face value that Luca just tweeted out,

like maybe, again, this is pure T leaves and speculation here. Maybe there is some assurance or expectation, rather, that Davis Well will either call plays completely or at least have some big say in the game plan as a whole. Yeah, I don't think Davis Webb is going to call be the main signal caller for this team. And it's experience as Sean is. And Sean's been doing it for a while.

It's hard to relinquish those duties. Probably to get Davis Webb back into the fold. That was somewhat of a promise, but it wasn't fully guaranteed that you're going to call all the plays. Because like Cody said, to move guys who go from quarterback coach to officer coordinator, even if it's by title, owners want to see that you've actually had a role in the game plan. And did you actually call plays?

So who's to say that, you know, the calling plays for Davis Webb, and I'm giving you air quotes here, can't not just be, well, you let him call all of the preseason, right? And I think that's a great thing for coaching development. I wish more coaches decided to do that. That's an opportunity to allow your second tier, your third tier coaches to get that experience.

So once they get into an interview room with an owner, and that question is asked, have you ever called plays before? You can say yes, even though it's 20%. So we may see the 80-20 rule play out. for the Denver Broncos and that 20% taking the place in the preseason. Well, let me say this too, like whether it's preseason or regular season, like I would want an all or nothing approach, at least if Davis Webb was calling the

place, like I don't want an alternation of series like Sean gets one series, Davis gets another, Sean gets first down, Davis gets second and third, right? Like I think Denver needs to go all in, what were you saying, Cody? I said that would be a terrible approach. I agree. And here's my thing. Like, let's say that like they hand the keys over to. to Davis Webb. And let's say, you know, there's three and one after four games with the offense maybe looks a lot of the same, right? You can always give the play calling back to Sean

Peyton or rather he can take control of that. I just think if you're going to allow Davis to call plays, you should just set him free. I think trying to handicap him a little bit saying it's just preseason or just drives or just games or halves or whatever it might be. I just don't know if that's the right way to do it. I'm curious to get your opinion. Look, I agree. I don't think you need to like place a limit on him. I think if you're going to let him call plays, let him call plays Here's the thing, like the benefit that Sean has in this situation, final say on everything, decision making, whatever may be. But at the same time, you know, Sarah and I were talking about this, it's, hey, if Davis is calling

the play and let's say he calls a play on third down, Sean's, as soon as he calls it, Sean said, hey, why did you call this? Like, Sean can have that feedback there. I very much think, like, I know as hard as it is to believe and to think that Sean would give something up like that. I know a lot of people think that. I know that's probably maybe where he's leaning. But I think there was too many instances of him last year being very reflective of how he's evolved as a play caller as he's gotten older.

And the different analogies that he's made to where I think he is considering that. When has he ever in the preseason allowed other coaches to call plays? He let Joe Lombardi call it in one game. He let Davis Webb call it in another. Like to me, it's like, is this where he can now focus on managing the entire aspect of the game? having his hand on offense, defense, and special teams, so to speak, where he does have final, say, final authority. I'm very curious to see what ultimately comes out of this, right?

Will we find out today? I pray and I hope so. Do I think we will? No. No, no. I said it on the last show. I think if we get any confirmation about play calling, it'll be Sean saying he's calling plays. If it is going to be Davis Webb, we're not going to hear that today.

You know what I think? I think as I was sitting here, I was like, maybe we are looking at this entirely wrong, because here's what can happen. Now, you talk about Sean, you know, being long and in a tooth as a coach and had, you know, his setting ways is how he likes to do things. And we've seen a lot of young coordinators get hired for their way of thinking, their level of creativity. So could we see this for Davis Webb? I still go back to my 80-20 rule, but we could possibly see David Webb have a more or larger impact

and play design and creativity and give it to Sean to call more of the plays. But the play design is coming from a younger coach who has played the game, even though as a backup, but he's been a quarterback coach and he's had Russell,

he's had Stidham, and he's had Boe Nix, because now that guy's more connected to the quarterback than a coordinator would be. So I would think that that would be a great idea. Let Davis Webb have more an input than he's had over the past two years with the play design and creativity, handed to Sean and say, hey, listen, I work with Bo.

These are the types of plays that he likes to have called in these particular moments, and Sean calls the plays. Here's my question on that. Johnny Moe was just named as a past game coordinator, bringing him back in that mix, another established guy that Sean trusts. Like, how does Johnny Moes return to the role in which he left for the OC job in Detroit, how does that impact now the promotion of Davis Webb as the offensive coordinator, so to speak, right?

Like, who is Sean going to give a little bit more input to? That's where I'm kind of like questioning. It's web. It should be. It 100% should be web, but for Johnny Moe to return to the same role, like past game coordinator offensively, in which I'll say a lot of Broncos players did not like Johnny Moe. But Cody, think about this.

Johnny Moe was with another team. He got, he, his play calling duties were taken away. Yep. And Dan Camel had to assume that role. So you can't come in like he did late in the cycle, rejoined the Denver Broncos. And also, you're going to leapfrog Davis Webb when Davis Webb was here. No way. No, I'm sure that that was part of the conversation between Sean and Davis Webb.

You want me to come back. You brought your boy Johnny Moe back. But this is what I want. And Sean say, you know what? We want to set you up for success. because we want you to be the next guy that get the coaching, head coaching job in 2027. And the only way you can do that by having more involvement, but to have a guy who was stripped of his play calling duties have more saved than I have,

that's a problem. It would be a huge problem. Yeah, we'll see. I truly think that is the bigger question this offseason, that of the relationship between Sean and Bo. I think that'll smooth itself out. I think the play calling dynamic has legitimate impact on the team entering into this next season. Okay, let's hit a quick break.

When we come back, let's continue along with the Combine conversation. Let's get into this maybe position groups that we want to see Denver take a look at here. They're at the course of the Combine. Of course, they have the 30th overall picking a draft. So we're not going to do any mock drafts or anything like that. We'll save that for March and April, of course. But maybe just kind of a blanket preview of like, hey, here's a group, there's a group that we'd like to see Denver maybe target here a little bit during the Combine.

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go ahead and get that action in on Fanduel, and you might just find yourself at the NBA finals. All right, well, come on back into the program. Anilo Pirokuddy works here, Bedinger, and Nick Ferguson, hanging out with you here on the Lockedon Broncos Squad Show. Okay, so we know that it looks like, I would say I know Clisk gave three,

but it looks like there's four major positions. groups that I think we're all in agreement with that the Broncos should be looking into. Wide receiver, tight end, running back, linebacker. I'll open it up to any one of you that want to take it. What position group do you think they try to target with the 30th pick? Trade. I was going to say the same thing. I was going to say the same thing.

But what is the 30th overall pick in this year's draft even worth? Sorry, that's a separate conversation. It could be worth Jalen Waddle. I mean, you never know. I just think you don't see a ton of first round pick. just traded straight up for players these days. I mean, it still happens, but it's way, way less frequent, I think, now than it used to be. But if you're at pick number 30, I mean, you have no clue who's going to be there.

Like, there's no. And even if even if you have an idea of 10, 15 guys that are going to be there, where do they realistically rank in terms of your overall grades that you give to players? Because this is a draft where you might have eight, nine guys that have that blue chip grade. So you're talking about pick number 30 is not going to be much different to you than whoever you get at pick number 62, right? So then I think there's degrees of, okay, yeah, maybe at different positions, blah, blah, blah. I think positionally, linebacker and running back and maybe tight end, depending on if Sadiq is there from Oregon at pick number 30 is where I'd be looking at that at that pick slot or wide receiver.

I mean, I just don't think you can go wrong taking a premium position. But guys, I can't be the only one that likes the idea of offensive line or defensive line in that pick slot. I think just if you take a big man in the first round, if you don't trade that pick for a proven player, taking a big man makes so much sense to me because that's the bread and butter of this Broncos team. That's the first thing Sean Payton fixed when he got to the organization. He's like, we're paying for Mike McGlinchie. We're paying for Ben Powers. We're getting Garrett Bulls right.

You know, that was his number one investment. We're bringing in Zach Streif and the defensive line was quick to follow, right? It was all the investments that they made to bring in guys like Zach Allen. I mean, Malcolm Roach. You could name it. Whoever, DJ re-signing DJ Jones bringing in all these guys, John Franklin Myers trade. So just to me, go for a big man in that pick slot. When was the last time the Broncos drafted an offensive tackle?

It was 2017 when they took Bowls in the first round. That was the last offensive tackle. they drafted. So I think you need to take offensive line or defensive line if you stay in that slot and somebody's not just an absolute. But even the no-brainers. Like last year, Jaudei Barron was a no-brainer, wasn't he? I mean, oh, he's the best player on the board. And then he doesn't play. I don't like that. I mean, if you're going to take somebody who doesn't play, then take somebody who could start for you at least in the future because, you know, that's the thing that I think right now, Ben Powers might not be on the team.

after this year. Mike McGlenshy, Garrett Bowles, those guys are both over 30 years old. So to me, offensive line or defensive line would be the, maybe the best course of action with that pick. Can I answer that really quickly with Sarah said as far as drafting a play in the first round? Usually when the guy is selected in the first round, most fans think, okay, that guy is a plug and play guy right away. And usually that guy that most fans rally behind is the quarterback, because the league has kind of made it in that way. But I can tell you this, not all first round pigs, no matter what they do in college,

are ready for what that's going to look like once they get to the NFL level. And sometimes you've got to bring guys alone slowly because think about it this way. If you play high school football, what was it like in your freshman year when you first took the field? It was very trying for you.

Think about what it was like for you as a freshman in college. Yeah, you were that dude in high school. school, but guess what? You're now amongst a lot of dudes. The same could be said once you get to the NFL level. So Jody not playing right away. That's not an indictment on him. It was the fact of, hey, listen, our defensive scheme is kind of complex in the verbiage. We want to make sure that we work you into the framework because that's how you destroy a guy mentally. You throw him in too fast and it's baptism by fire. Now, everything that he worked up to get to to that point is now and destroyed because his confidence is wrecked.

So we've seen cases where quarterbacks and other players had to sit and wait and then they gradually kind of went into. But it is this whole thing with leagues thinking that, hey, once you draft the guy in the first round, hey, now he needs to play right away. And I'm going to tell you, not everyone is ready for that, man, because that is tough as hell. It is. It is very, very hard. And I would say, like, the last time the Broncos have been in this position that kind of pick in

the 30s granted, after they won Super Bowl 50s, they traded up to like what, 26 to get Paxton Lynch. Oh, yeah. We saw how that all went. He wasn't ready. No, he wasn't ready. And then 2014, it was Bradley Robey, who ended up actually kind of very unique situation, right? Being ready to play as a rookie and helping them win a Super Bowl as a rookie.

Like to me, I look at all those things. I'm like, all right, they have, I don't know, he wasn't a rookie there. They have all the pieces there like that after Super Bowl 48 when they lost to Seattle. He was like, hey, first round pick, we're getting Bradley Robey to pair up with the secondary and then when they signed guys. Like, I think the combination here is very similar to what Denver should do. Look at positions that they need. Don't be afraid to sign a guy and go out there and draft a guy at that same position to bolster not only starting impact, but also the depth of that position as well. And that's where Denver's got to be in this situation. I think, like for me,

I'm okay if they trade their first round pick this year. I'm on board with saying that. However, if Kenyon Sadiq is there, I would be happy if they took him. If there's a, you know, an elite level wide receiver, I'm okay with them doing that. They want to trade just to get somebody. I'm okay with that. I just think that they have to be sound here in free agency. I really do. Just because your hit rate at picking in the 30s isn't necessarily going to be like this

high level of confidence once you come out of the draft saying, hey, here we are. We pick 30th overall. We got this guy. Our confidence level is like 75% he's going to hit. We don't know. like it's always a gamble at that point. It really is because a lot of people view it as like, hey, it's essentially a high, I mean,

late first round, early second round type of player. It's like, are you getting a first round player in that situation? Are you getting a second round player late in the first? Like, I don't know. To me, that's the dilemma is. Wasn't Lamar Jackson kind of a late first round pick? Yeah, he was. I think he was a final pick, yeah.

Be really careful because it's not that often. It's not like, Hit rate is probably not as likely. Like we went through and talked about it, I think a couple weeks ago, like the 30th overall pick over the last handful of years, I think the more prominent name as of late was George Karloftus. Now Karloftus, after he got his extension, it's kind of went a little bit downhill there. I just think a part of this whole thing is that the Broncos, they can't be married to the idea of just taking the top player on their board regardless of position.

I don't think that's, I think that you have to shift philosophy a little bit towards drafting for need because the urgency right now is to go win a Super Bowl. It's not you're not rebuilding the roster. It's not 2023 anymore. You're not starting from scratch. You've you've had opportunities to now build this team up. So you can't just say, well, you know, like first round picks don't always contribute. Therefore, we can take Jada Baron.

I mean, you can't tell me that last year the Broncos wouldn't have been better if they didn't have Trevion Henderson down the stretch last season. like or even quidshan judkins yeah if they had been able to move up for colston loveland or any i mean there's any number of examples that you could give from just last year a mecca abuca would have been i mean so you look at all these different what ifs and it's it's not it's not hindsight is 2020 either because we all did mock drafts leading up to the draft we all talked about who's the ideal picks for the Broncos. Cody and I did like 10 episodes saying just freaking take an Ohio State running back and you'll be good. Like that's, that's great. Do that. And they got and they got J.K. Davins over the summer and they're

like, see, we got you in Ohio State right. But that's not what we were talking about. But no, you can't tell me that in the AFC championship game. I know that Quinn Sean Judkins got hurt late in the year for the Browns and things like that. But you can't tell me that in the AFC championship game, if they had been able to turn around and hand the ball off to Judkins, that they wouldn't have beaten the Patriots. But, Sarah, you're playing the if game, and we can look all of last year, and we can go back to five years and say,

well, if this team had selected this guy, the outcome would have been different, and that's the gamble with the draft. You never really know. You never know how a player is going to elevate or he's going to fall back. You just hope that in your evaluation, and looking at what you need, you hit on the right guy,

the development is there, you have that guy as in a rotational piece or he becomes a main guy at whatever position that you draft him and you just cross your fingers and you hope because it's not a perfect science. I know we want to think that it's a perfect science, but it's not because there's so much that goes into it because we've seen in years past,

guys look great on film, right? They get to the combine, they have a great workout, and then teams are just clamoring and slobbing for this player he's drafted really high. You insert him into the lineup. And then it's just like, what the hell is this? Now it's mince me. Did he somehow, oh, where did we go wrong?

Right? And now you start to reevaluate your evaluation process. So the idea, and I think you're right, okay, look at what you need, right? What is our positions of need? And what you talked about is the Broncos offensive linemen. You have Garibos, Mike McGlitchie, and Ben Powers. You're going to need to make some changes there. So do you decide, hey, listen, if there is a swing.

guy at that position at 30th when you're picking, do you go out and you select him? And we know that in Sean Spaden's past, he selected, you know, Mark Ingram, Reggie Bush in the first round, Ramchak in the first round, the offensive lineman. So we know that he has no issues with that. Now, what he does have an issue with that, and that can change this year, taking a wide receiver in the first round. And if he does that, he's going to show every wide receiver in the room in that group. Hey, I spoke very highly of you guys in the offseason and right after we lost to the Patriots and I say, well, I love the wide receiver room.

But after further evaluation, I'm not comfortable with it. So I want to put all you guys on notice. I can see a situation where that's taking place to as well. Well, we've got plenty of time to have the conversation and debate what the Broncos might do in the draft and maybe we get some breadcrumbs here at the combine this week. Okay, let's hit our final break. When we come back, a bit of news in the coaching world, the veteran guy, apparently there's mutual interest between the Broncos and Mike Zimmer.

We'll give our reaction to that. Quick thoughts when we come back right here on your locked on, Bronco Squat show. All right, well, come on back into the program. Good Combine conversation. We'll hear from Sean Payton and George Payton a little bit later on in the afternoon. But to kind of round out the show, Mike Kless put this out. It was either yesterday or today.

He's reporting that the Broncos recently met with Mike Zimmer, who of course was the former head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. They're talking to him about a senior coaching assistant position on the Bronco staff. It doesn't sound like anything is imminent, but apparently there's mutual interest between these two. Sean and Zimmer were both on the Dallas Cowboys staff together a while back. Zimmer also has some familiarity with the Colorado area. He was on Dion Sanders staff over at CU as an assistant or an analyst, I believe.

in the 2020 season. So Mike Zimmer, Broncos, some dots starting to connect. You guys have any thoughts on that? Nothing of significance, so to speak. I think it's also a who you know type of situation. They competed against each other in that division. I mean, like they've had not in that conference, they've had conference championship matchups,

divisional round matchups against each other there. So I know Sean's very familiar with them. I also know George Payton's very familiar with Zimmer as well. Yep. My opinion, this is more of a question that I have is, does this mean that Joe Vitt, who's kind of in that role that they're talking about? Is he retiring? Is he, are they adding another position? Very similar to that.

Like, I just don't, like, what is the role? What is the envision, like perspective a year or two down the road for Zimmer here in Denver? Is it a, hey, advanced Joseph gets a job next year. Now we're going to put Zimmer as the D.C. Like, I would like that. Zimmer's 69 years. old. So, like, I don't know.

Dick LeBowell was what, late 70s? Yeah, true. But, like, I think you bring in Zimmer, if you do bring him in, because you lost Jim Leonard and you just want another voice who's respected on the defensive side of the ball. I don't know if that's a defensive coordinator and waiting type of hire. I just think it's, you lost a good guy in Jim Leonard and, you know, Sean and George, to your point, Cody, have a relationship with this guy.

He's always been considered a very, very bright, innovative defensive mind that I think it's just kind of adding to that coaching staff. How does this work, though? Like I'm curious for your thoughts on this. Like Vance Joseph oversees the whole defense. Shouldn't you have a say as to who's on the defensive staff? Well, that's not how that works, Cody. I understand it.

But I think that's where the waters get a little murky there. Well, I think about it. When Vance was the head coach, he didn't get a chance to really pick his own staff, let alone get his draft picks. So, I mean, Sean Payton is the head coach. And like you talked about it, it's all about relationships. If there's a relationship there and Zemps, is a proven coach in this league, a veteran coach,

then you want to bring him in because, I mean, you lost Addison Lynch and you lost Jim Leonard. So bringing in a guy like, you know, Mike Zimmer, yeah. I mean, you said it. Everything you laid out, Anilo, is exactly why, if it happens, while you bring him in, because, you know, things didn't look great in 2026 for Vance to kind of get a head coaching job. 2027 could look a lot different.

So in preparation for that, you want to make. sure that you are prepared for. Because think about what we're seeing from the staff. So you lose a guy like Jim Leonard. So now you need to be prepared for that just in case Vance leaves. So you're trying to set up Davis Webb. So if Davis Webb leaves, that's why you have Ronald Curry. And that's the one thing I learned from, you know, Mike Shanahan talking about coaching. You have to be prepared to develop your coaches, but you also have to be prepared for when they depart. Someone else has to be willing to take over.

Sorry. I asked the question. Who is the coach that, who would have taken over had Vance got a head coach gig and Jim Leonard would have left anyway? Like that would be my question right there because that was a plausible scenario at one point, wasn't it?

It was the idea that Vance gets a head coaching job. Jim Leonard goes for another defensive coordinator job. The Broncos opening up that. can of worms to potentially having somebody brand new coming in. I mean, that, that to me is, I don't think with Mike Zimmer, he, he just had a chance with the Dallas defense in 2024. Well, that completely tanked. And so I think that it's just at this point, like, he's kind of in, I would say, the,

the coaching equivalent of what certain former starting quarterbacks get into when they become like, you know, not necessarily with Kirk Cousins, but you get what I'm saying, like a Joe Flacco type of situation or Andy Dalton, where it's like, man, that guy was a really great starter for a long time or a really solid starter for a long time. But now he kind of just is like, he just, he holds a clipboard and he's valuable to the team in that way. Like to me, Mike Zimmer is the coaching equivalent of that, where it's like, he was a really good head coach for a really long time and called a great defense. The Vikings had many really great defenses. So is he now more a coach of the coaches than anything else?

Because I just can't see a world in which 2027 Mike Zimmer at 70 years old, having not coordinated a defense since 2024 is the actual DC of a Super Bowl caliber team. But that's how you work you in. So the idea is you bring a guy in. He gets his feet wet. He's familiar with the way that Vance is doing things. he gets the chance to know the players. You tried to mesh what Zimmer knows with what Vance was doing.

And you say, okay, well, now when Vance leaves, usually coaches take other players or other coaches on their staff with him. Now you have a guy in place. Now, earlier you say, well, if we lost Jim Lennard and they lost Vance, who was going to be the next guy? I mean, I couldn't help but think about Dennis Allen because Allen had some familiarity with Sean Payton. We've seen a lot of coaches from the new.

and Saints, you know, end up here in Denver. But I think it's kind of a good job if you're thinking in futures, if that were to happen, and I know that Zimmer is up there in age, but the whole idea is that you have to prepare your staff because you know if the Broncos are projected to duplicate anything close to what they did this season, you're going to lose coaches. I think it's fairly younger than older there, like, in that regard. Just because I think for some coaches, the game, it can pass you by. very quickly. And look, I even think being out of the league for a year, you lose out on so much.

Like the game changes. And look, Vic Fangio's on the precipice of retiring. He'll probably be done after this year. He almost thought about it this year. And it's like at some point, the game does pass you by a little bit. Yeah. I like the suggestion that Darien threw out in the chat, why not go and get someone from the Mike McDonald coaching tree or the Jesse Minter coaching tree eventually there, just from a defensive philosophy standpoint. I, to me, you got to go younger. I mean, especially because offenses are being more innovative now, defenses as we've seen have grown to be more innovative. I don't think there's anybody outside of Mike McDonald right now that is as innovative defensively, you know, than him. And then I think is Vance Joseph. I think those are the two guys right now

that innovate the defensive side of the ball relatively well. Vance obviously has not gotten a head coaching job, which is an atrocity, in my opinion. You got to find a way to to go younger there. I think... Cody, ages. Boys club sucks, man. Ages. I know, but that's ageism that you're talking about.

Let's take these old coaches and put them out the pasture. Let them go. Let them go write books and enjoy retirement or, like, be a consultant. But, like, coordinating now. Like, some guys lose their touch. Like, how you coach guys in today's game has changed so much. Like, true. You know, there are going to be tough hard-nosed coaches,

but you know what you have to have. You have to have relationship, You can't just come in and rule with an iron pits without building some of that relationship stuff. That's why it works with Sean Payton. Sean came in and said like, hey, how things were done here is not going to take place, but I need to get to know you guys. Like, you can't just, yeah, in my opinion. That's a lot of sensitivity training right there you're talking about.

You have to in today's NFL. Look, and I'm kind of mad that the report cards are now going behind, you know, not being released to the public. That's soft. That's just showcases how soft. We'll get some leaks. We'll get some leaks. We'll see there.

But before we go, I feel like we should definitely talk about the Rondale Moore situation for a little bit. Young player. And I think it's a great reminder. Like, you know, we all have platforms, obviously, so to speak. Never know what like Rondale was going through here. But, you know, I talk to players all the time. And in the season, they try to stay off social media. Some guys don't.

But some guys see the stuff that has said about them, right? And that's where I feel like media can certainly be a lot better. I'm curious for your guys' thoughts on this. how we frame things, right? How can we make our analysis like less personal, so to speak, less of a personal attack versus more so, hey, like, this guy had a bad game, this game.

It's all right. Like, we could talk about it that way, but man, I see it all the time on Twitter. I think so often about taking a break from that side just because of how toxic it truly is. But I think NFL teams have to do a better job. And Nick, I'm curious for your thought as a former player on this, even after they're done playing, to being able to provide support to former players,

two current players versus us just having this conversation after something tragic happened, say, man, we all should have done more for him versus no. Like, how do we do this? I'm curious for your guys' thoughts on the subject. Well, I'll say the idea is that you got to stay glued to players.

That's the whole idea of, you know, having that connective tissue of being in the locker room. What happened to Rondell and so many other guys should never happen. but we know how this is and you don't have to be a professional athlete to know this. There's a certain macho bavito

about us as men. We don't tell other men when we have areas where we're sensitive, where we're struggling. That's not a macho thing. And because we think, okay, well,

why am I going to tell my dude what I'm going through? It's not, you know, masculine. So I'm going to introvert. I'm going to hold it to myself and try to manage it. And what we're seeing, guys are not doing a great job of managing, but here's the other part to it as well, Cody,

you've gone through this. When you get injured, what is that like when you get injured? I remember when KJ. Hamler was here, he and I had a real in-depth conversation because we were essentially in the same boat. You get injured. You're trying to mentally fight through that. And then you're isolated and you pushed away from the team. Oh, by the way, there's something that happens in your life tragically to someone you

know. For him, it was his grandmother. For me, I lost two teammates, Darren Williams and Damon Nash. So try to process all of that while you're trying to rehab and you're struggling with rehab. And Cody, you've gone through it, you know, just as well as I did. There are some dark days where you, where you just kind of like, you don't want to do it. And then, you know, like when I was a kid, they said the idle mind is the devil's playground. When you in that situation where things are dark and you contemplating your career and all this is going on,

you start thinking things that you should never ever think. And if you don't have someone to grab you and pull you out, you go so deep, they can't pull you out of it. And then what Ron Dell, the situation, Rondell, that's your only way out. You start to think that that is my only way out because it's not just about you. It's about all those other people who now, you know,

somehow depend on you. Now you're the one in the family in the neighborhood that made it. Now you get injured and everything that you thought was there, is no longer there. I'm going to tell you, man, because I was there myself, all this stuff start entering into your mind, and it's a dark, damn place. And if you don't have the right people around you,

you see the situation with Rondale and other players, that's what happens. And I don't like it. This thing right here, I think, also makes things worse in today's age. You know, this wasn't probably as big of an issue, social media, Nick, when you were playing, so to speak. It wasn't as, like, prevalent and front-facing as it is now. I think it's a huge issue.

The stuff we see on a day-to-day basis on this thing, I think is a huge problem as well. But, I mean, there is that. There's the identity crisis of, can I get back to being the player that I was after this injury? My livelihood depends on this. I think of so many players that I know in Denver that I built relationships with that kind of happened to.

KJ. Hamler, more recently, probably a great example of that here in Denver, man. And I just hope we can get to a point where, you know, this doesn't become a problem. them consistently because it is. I mean, right now it's a societal issue and it doesn't, no amount of money, I think, and that's the other thing. Like, it doesn't matter what a guy's getting paid as an athlete. That doesn't make them, you know, like, oh, you have this much money, you should be subjected to harsher criticism, so to speak, or like being dehumanized. That's the one thing I just can't stand about the social media game at times. But Cody, let me add this one thing

to a two. Keep this in mind. We're talking about the combine and that's kind of been the topic of conversation on this episode. You know what happens when, you know, in our society, it's all about labels. And as a player, you get injured and then you get it, you get labeled, you know, maybe injury prone, right? And sometimes when you're going through something from a mental standpoint, because you know that, you're not trying to tell them, the moment you tell them, hey, man, you know, I'm a little off here and I've had these kind of thoughts. I didn't do anything, but this thought passed through my mind. You know what they do? They take that little pen and they write that down. Right? Now you're a guy that have some mental issues. So when they're coming to

deciding who we're going to keep in the room, guess what comes up again? That thing that you talked about. And that's why guys don't want to talk about it. So we have to make sure the guys now have a safe environment where they can tell you this. And it's not used against them because if you use it against them, they're not telling. Yeah, I think it's all well said. Sir, you got any thoughts on the topic. Yeah, I mean, it's obviously really heavy stuff. You know, it's, uh, feel terrible for him to have felt that way and, you know, to get to that point of feeling like that was the only way out for his family, for his friends, for anybody who obviously, you know, loved him and loves him and spent their, you know, spent time with him, things like, I mean,

I just, the fallout of it is as tragic as the event itself because it's the, I mean, you're, you leaving behind you know that that that's the memory that people all live with and that's uh it's it's what they'll associate whatever they were going through in this season in this time of life and i mean it's just so much and i think that you know just to just piggyback off what you guys are saying i mean you need we need people around us like you can't do life alone even if it's just somebody that you can call at any point in time be like dude i just having a terrible day um you know even if it's just that you need people like that in your life because there's a major difference between you know spending intentional time and solitude versus being isolated and when you're isolated you start to believe

lies as as truth and when you start to believe lies as truth and i mean it affects everything that you do that you say that you think about yourself and so i'm not an expert in that subject matter by any means, but I will say that even as somebody who has a foundation of faith, I have a family, I have kids, like I have a wife. I've been married for over 15 years at this point. Like, you would think that that type of stuff, like stability in that way really prevents whatever, you know, thoughts from creeping in. But like, I think everybody, no matter what you're going through, if it's an injury in football, if it's kind of just a questioning of identity, because you thought that you were supposed to be this and you didn't end up being that. I mean, it affects all of us,

those dark thoughts, those ideas that creep into your mind of like, man, I'm not, I'm not good enough or I'm not worthy of even the position that I've been given or I'm always going to be a failure, just those doubts and those thoughts that creep in. It's imperative that you have somebody to talk that through with and have people in your corner who will not only encourage you and build you up, but also tell you what you need to hear, not just what you want to hear. Yeah, no, I mean, I think it's all, like I said, very well said. And it's a crisis, right? I mean, not just in professional sports, but just like day-to-day life.

Like, you know, we all probably deal with different things and different scenarios and the listeners as well. And it's a much larger conversation that I think needs to be ever more present just in the hearts and the minds of the people that we interact with on a day-to-day basis. And I think you guys really something that up perfectly, man. And like, it's okay to not be okay. Like I know that's kind of become a generic saying, but I really do think that it carries some weight. And it's okay to, you know, let yourself feel and work yourself through these emotions

and know that you have the proper resources and people in place to help support you through some of these battles that we go through on a daily day in and day out basis. So, yeah, I mean, it's tragic. I mean, I forget, you know, you saw the Cowboys player earlier this year as well. I mean, it's unfortunately become ever present, right? in our lives of sports fans and family members and all that kind of stuff as well. So it's okay to not be okay, everyone out there.

We appreciate each and every one of you in Broncos country. And if you're ever dealing with something, man, like talk to someone, reach out to someone. It'll all be okay, man. It'll all be okay. I'll say like one thing too, like Ron in the chat said something. Like people worry too much about other people think social media has made it that way. I'll be very honest. Bro, I worry and spend way too much time thinking about that, right?

Like there are people who don't know me that, you know, have a lot to say about me. Like you'll see it in the comments. You'll see it on Twitter. And in my head, it's like, why do I feel like me personally, I have to try to change my how they feel. Like I have that pressure and that drives me and it's like, wait, like these people don't know me. And it's like, why am I trying to exhaust myself to try to change this perspective that somebody has? Obviously, they're very ill informed. They do not know me, so to speak.

But I also think that's the thing is like in this, we also see a lot of criticism ourselves for a take. that we have, a perspective that we may have, and a lot of times it can get very toxic in that sense. I've got to do a better job of that. Like, that's my thing. I got to figure out how to just not respond with stuff like that. But it's crazy. You know, I think in this world, we all just want to be liked. And at the end of the day, I think that's dangerous because not everybody's going to like you. So it's fair. stinks. What a world we live in. That's life, though. That's life, though. Somebody once said, if you live by the applause of man, you'll die by his criticism. And I think that's a huge thing when it comes to hearing that negativity.

It's like, man, you could be the most secure person in the world, but you'll remember the one negative comment out of 100 positive encouragements because, wait, that person was critical in me. And then when people start taking it to another level of making it personal and like taking digs at you, that's tough to, I mean, think about like Justin Bieber. That dude is like the most famous person ever almost, right? I mean, at least in terms of now what we're talking about, he has every reason to not care what people think. And yet what people said about him, the way that people thought about him drove him to a place of like breakdown.

You know, so like it does matter what people say. It's easy to just say, well, don't worry about what anyone says. But when it's coming at you all the time, it's impossible not to hear it. So yeah, you need people in your life that you can be like, hey, just like talk to me. This is what I'm feeling. You know what I'm saying? Well, I'll say this is the way that I've always handled criticism. The idea is that I want to make people choke on their words, right?

And other than that, I give them the middle finger. Because like Cody said, these people have no say in your life. Because we're on social media and everyone has a phone, now everyone has an input. Everyone has an opinion. And they have an opinion about you. That doesn't make it right. So I tell those people go to hell, right? And I'd say, you know, middle finger to you too, sir.

Yeah, no, it's all good advice and it's honestly a conversation that probably needs to be happened more so than it already does. Absolutely. Good stuff on Cody and good thoughts from all of you guys as well. And on a brighter note, Broncos country, you guys are the absolute best. We appreciate each and every one of you. Enjoy the news and notes that come out of the combine. We'll be back at it again later this week. bit of meat on the bone that we can dissect and break into here a little bit, or break down,

rather, excuse me. But until then, enjoy your Tuesday afternoon and we'll talk to you guys later in the week. Thanks for tuning in to the lockdown Bronco Squat show.