Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - BRONCOS SQUAD SHOW: Which In-House Free Agents Should Denver Retain?

Episode Date: February 13, 2026

The Denver Broncos have a number of players set to hit the free agent market. Notable names such as John Franklin-Myers, Alex Singelton, Justin Strnad and J.K. Dobbins are pending free agents. Join Aniello Piro, Cody Roark, Sayre Bedinger and Nick Ferguson as they break down Denver's internal free agents. The fellas debate which players the Broncos should prioritize keeping in Denver. 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 The Winter Games are on. And there’s no better way to follow them than with a bet on FanDuel. FanDuel - Play your game. 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/lockedonnfl. 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 the Denver Broncos have some questions they have to ask themselves about which players they want to retain from last year's squad. I'm Cody Rourke, and before you go water, wait a minute, I'm Cody Rourke. Before you go out and purchase sod from somebody else's farm, you've got to water your own grass. That was pretty good. I'm Sarah Beninger, what he said. I'm Nick Ferguson, and it is time for free agency. Let's go. Let's break it all down on today's Lockdown Broncos Squad 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. What is up, Broncos Country? It is your Lockdown Broncos Squad show right here on your Lockdown Broncos Squad show,

right here on your lockdown Broncos YouTube channel and audio feed. We got the whole crew here once again today. Cody work in his goofy mood as always. We've got Sarah Beniger doing his thing as well as Nick Ferguson and get ready to break down impending free agents for the Denver Broncos. So a lot to get into today on the program. But it is Friday, Broncos country. You made it through another week of the offseason.

You made it through another week of work. And we'll get you home here on this Friday. February the 13th. Cody, what's the well, I talk, you know, the fans that are at work still and, you know, all that kind of stuff. Yeah, I mean, there's nothing better than, you know, I'm glad I don't work in an office anymore because that's all I used to do is like, get me through Friday, get me through 2 o'clock PM and I'm ready to rock and roll.

But I'm good, man. I'm good, refresh. You know, I love their fans. I love this show here. We'd have a lot of fun, right? And not to say that Sarah and I on the regular lockdown Broncos don't have fun. We have plenty of fun. We're more buttoned up on that, right?

This is just, we're viving, man. It's fun. And no, folks, I do not consume any gummies or anything like that the way people keep saying that I do. It's ridiculous. Really? People, yeah, people like, they're coming at you? Oh, yeah, they're saying that in the comments.

I'm like, no. Like, you can ask AP. AP knows. AP knows. I think maybe one of two times. I'm straight edge. I don't drink. I don't do none of that nonsense.

This is true. This is true. We were at the media party in Phoenix, and I was trying to, like, give a nudge. I'm like, bro, like, let's get a drink. Let's get a drink. Nah, no, bro, but I respect it. It is. I'm good. Is that your, that's a Cody impression? That's not just a situation. You're doing a full on impression. Oh, I used to do radio with this kid for like two years, bro. And then I've known Cody for four or five years now. And so we've had some fun. We've had some good times.

So if you ever done that impression and somebody's like, you sound like Adam Schaefter. Oh, I haven't got the Schaefter one from him. He kind of gets annoyed at me sometimes. but I feel like when I do it, like, I don't talk about that. I'm not like this. Blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, yes, you are, bro. But I have fun with it. And the Denver Broncos are lucked on by who's blood show.

To Cody's point, we have fun out here. Nick, what's going on, brother? Another must, man. I know people were talking about maybe Cody and his gummies or whatever. And while that might not be the case, maybe it's what's in his coffee cup. Yeah, it's a little jazzed up. Before the show, you guys missed it. I was showing Sarah because I was just pouring my latte art.

I literally almost just dumped all my coffee on the keyboard. That would have been devastating. It would have been just. Are you an expert in the ways of latte art? No, but I like to make some abstract stuff and think it's art. So it is. It's not just the latte art. It's the way that the milk comes out.

Like if you've got the milk right, It don't matter what the art looks like. That's what you want. You want that smooth, that rich. That's what you're. So I saw what you had going on there, Cody. I saw how easy it poured in there. I mean, you nailed it, man.

Yeah, no, I appreciate it. I mean, like I said, I always do the coffee machine. So the IRS knows. Hey, I use this for like, this is business purposes. But yeah, we have a real quick in the chat. Daryan's asking about to be the GM simulator. I want to address this because a lot, like, I think it's an awesome tool.

We would love to do that on a show, but we are actually prohibited network-wise of being able to do that because it's got logos of the teams in there. So that would violate some things there or else we totally would. Maybe that might be an everyday or all-access thing kind of behind the scenes of the all-access club. But I agree, Dary. I think it's a great tool. I've seen that going around this offseason. That is a pretty cool tool. I got to check it out myself.

It kind of feeds into our conversation today with one dynamic of it being the impending free agents. We'll do a segment on the offense. We'll do a segment on the defense. and Broncos Country, for all of you guys watching live, you want to hear from you. Let us know which offensive and defensive free agents in-house guys. So we're talking like J.K. Dobbins, John Franklin Myers. We're not talking pickings or anything like that right now. Which are the guys that were on the team last season?

Would you like to see the Broncos retain? And who are you maybe okay with if they cut loose with here a little bit? But before we do that real quick, especially locally here for the Bronco fan. Cody, you were out at the stadium press conference thing. that the Broncos held last night. Obviously, we know the new location will be in that Burnham Yards, which if you're familiar with Denver,

it's essentially wedged in between I-25 and 6th Avenue. Did we learn anything that the listeners might want to know about the Broncos new stadium? Yeah, well, yesterday we obviously went to the event there, kind of an open community forum at the La Alma, Lincoln Park, the recreational center down there. It's next to Burnham Yard. Obviously, Burnham Yard is the preferred site

that the Broncos want to build a new stadium. now I think we have to preface it by saying and the Broncos made this very clear last night too this has not been approved yet like there is not like this is all in the talking stages preliminary elements of that where it's like nothing is set in stone they're doing a lot of community feedback you have to do a bunch of feasibility sustainability test as well to make sure you know it's not going to uproot the community you know people that are living there next to burn them yard so there were there were a lot of there were a lot of there were a lot of Broncos fans but there were also a lot of citizens there that had questions about what it would look like.

If they built the new stadium over there in Burnham Yard, what would that mean for property taxes, for residents that have been living there forever? The Broncos made it very clear. They don't want to necessarily uproot anybody, so to speak. So there's all these things that have to go deep into like the legalities, the city planning, state approval. There's so much going on behind the scenes with this.

But I mean, there's no renderings. First force. Shout out to Patrick Smyth for that. That's great. I'm just saying, you know, hey, there is going to be no renderings. That process right here,

I have a little pamphlet. I can't show it because it's got the thing. But really, like the entitlements and the designs, like the design process is expected to take all the way up to maybe quarter four of 2026. So they have some loops that they got to jump through, you know,

and go through it right now before they can even render. They haven't even hired an architect company yet to even put a rendering together. because they want to get some things in place. They want to be able to say like, hey, okay, hey, we're in a spot where it could be made official at this point. We are going to build it. This is where it's going to go. Once that happens, then things I think are going to move quickly.

But the estimated construction start, if approved, would be quarter one of 2027. So January of 2027 would be that according to sources. And that would lead all the way through 2028, 2029, 2030. The estimated completion would be. like the start of quarter three of 2031. So 2031 season would certainly probably be like if approved, that season would be when the new stadium would be up and running. There's so much that they're going to have to go through before.

Yeah. So in layman's terms, we're essentially a year or so away from them even breaking ground, which you would think in theory is at least six-ish months away from seeing a rendering potentially. So we got a lot of work to do on that front. There's so many hurdles to clear two before they can do that. Like, yeah, Nick, there's so much. You obviously, you played at, what was it, sports authority?

Sports authority or Invesco when you were playing? Invesque. Right. So I'm always going to be interested to see what they do with that site. You know, the mayor's been pretty adamant that it's, it's, you just get like this new land that you kind of have the ability to do something with. But I don't know if I really asked you like your opinion of the Broncos moving the stadium but keeping it within downtown.

Or I guess the Denver area. Well, yeah, listen, man, I know how this works, man. This is the business of football. And you have new ownership. They want to come in and they want to do things the way that they want to do it. I'm all for that. And we see it happens when a new coach comes in. He wants to bring in his own staff.

So I'm cool with that now. When you start to look at, you know, uprooting the stadium from where it is, you know, it will affect the downtown area from an economic standpoint. And, you know, what Cody was talking about is if you are the residents around that Burnham Yard area, that's something that you have to look at. And when these stadiums go up, that's a lot. lot of that is overlooked when it comes to the people who live in those particular areas, right? Because think about a SoFi stadium.

And I lived in California. And I know that Inglewood area well, when that stadium came in, it elevated the area itself aesthetically from a monetary standpoint. But it pushed a lot of people out because they couldn't afford the property taxes. And that's kind of what happens. When you bring in a new stadium, it's great because like, oh, my God, it's a new stadium, new toys. But at the same time, it's like, okay, well, those people who live there who've lived there for so many years, they've enjoyed some luxuries. Now, those luxuries are now going to change for them because you no longer can afford a house that you stayed in for the past 20 years. In some of those cases, let's just say there was a home that was passed down from generation.

Now the property taxes go up and you are faced with a choice. Either you pay those taxes or you sell out and you sell your home to someone else. And in Englewood, that's kind of what would happen. And a lot of people were approaching that Englewood so-so-fi situation where they say, hey, listen, I know you've been living here for a lot of years. We want to offer you $2 million for your home. So you go like, wow, that's an enormous amount of money. But you got to think about it.

If they're willing to offer you $2 million for your home, how much more is that land actually work? So this is where politics and sports intertwine, and I know most people don't want sports and politics to intertwine, but they're always going to intertwine. This is just nature of the business. So it's going to be interesting to see how this actually works out in the end. What did it cost?

Everything. Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how it plays out for sure. And, you know, I think that's, I don't want to call it a drawback, but these are the hurdles that you have to navigate when you're building within the city limits, right? It's not like they're going out towards DIA, where there's just like open land after open land, right. I know there was a thought like could they just build like Bronco land like out there and all that open space. I would be so mad if they did that. That would be the dumbest thing ever. Yeah, I think I'd probably agree with you. My trivia question, I think I've given it out before,

but Denver will, well, I guess I spoiled one of the answers, but there's four cities in America where all four major sports teams. So MLB, NFL, NHL, and NBA all play in the downtown vicinity. Denver is obviously one of them. So they'll maintain that integrity. If anyone in the audience wants to have some fun with that. Yes. So, like, for example, like Dallas would not be one because the Cowboys play in Arlington or Irving, whatever it is. Like, New York would not be one because the Giants and Jets both play in New Jersey.

Yes, good job. Wow. That's like my all-time favorite trivia question. I heard it from a bartender one time. It's a great one. Yeah. Another two. I'll give it out at the end if the audience wants to have some fun as we go throughout the course

of the program. But, yeah, Sarah, you have any thoughts? I know you don't live in Denver, but I'm sure. you've obviously, you know, been to training camp. We talked about that previously with Nick. You know, I'm sure your family, all that kind of stuff, would love to come to Broncos games as often as possible out here. Any thoughts just on the stadium development from maybe an outsider's perspective?

Well, I like the idea of a Bronco land because to get me to come to a Broncos game and to bring my family, which I have four kids, like, it's going to cost me a Disney World trip. So if you want me to come see the Broncos in person, you're saying, you basically are telling me, hey, you got to trade Disney World. So I'm all for the Bronco land type of deal because it is already expensive to go to games. And just to make that part of the fan experience, right? That's what I've always loved about going to Denver.

You drive through downtown. You can see the stadium as you're driving in. And it's like that thing that no matter how many times I made that trip with my family, I always have my phone ready to take a video. It's like I'm watching the same thing that I've seen a number of times. and yet it's like I'm seeing it again for the first time. And so I think it's, I mean, I'm sure this ownership group and there's obviously going to be pros and cons to anything that you decide to do, whether it's something like you think, hey, we're changing the uniforms. That should be a net positive.

But there's going to be a lot of negatives to that. But especially with a stadium coming into the mix, like it is going to be tough. It's going to be a tough decision where you have to say, all right, we've waited. the pros and the cons. We're going to try to make this because the Walton-N-Penter ownership group, we're going to try to make it as positive as it possibly can be for the community. We know how passionate Kerry Walton-Penner is about that. So I think from my outside perspective,

that sort of unspoken trust has kind of just always been there, that the best interests of everybody would be in mind as much as they possibly can be. And Nick, I think you could speak to that. We've talked before about your relationship and conversations you've had with the ownership group. It really does seem like they care, not just about the fans, but the people in the Denver proper area and that represent Broncos country as a whole. Yeah, they do. And I can't say a lot of ownership actually think of things in that way because once again,

we just go back to what it is, you know, it's the business of football. But they understand what they're walking into. And they're taking over from, you know, Mike Shanahan and that legacy and Pat Bowlin. and they want to continue that. That was one of the reasons why they sought out this particular team. I mean, they spent a lot of time during research. A lot of the minority owners have a lot of interest in this team. And when you think about Conalisa Rice and her story about her and her father and, you know,

loving this team. So they love this team. They love this city. And it's all about trying to do the right thing. But also, you're trying to better the product. You're trying to make it better than what, was. So it's taking things to a whole different level. And there's going to be a lot of difficult things and challenges that come up along the way, but you just have to be willing to meet them.

And I feel as though they are willing to meet them, but trying to overcome this and try to make everyone happy. And you guys know this. I mean, Cody, you know, you got a wife, girlfriend, Sarah, you understand this. And Anilo, you know, you understand this as well, man. You can't make everyone happy. You try to do the best that you can and hope that, you know what, those people who are unhappy, maybe eventually later on, they come along and they understand the process and what's going on. But I like what the ownership is trying to do. I like where they're trying to take this team. And I like the things that they're doing outside in the community as well. Yeah, no, I'm with you 100%. And just the other side of the coin here, you know, Josh and Stan Cronkey, who of course

own the Nuggets, the Avalanche, Arsenal, the Rapids, right? I know they're all kind of connected with the Walton Penners, you know, through familial stuff. But I don't know if you guys know this. Like Stan Cronkey was a native and born in the St. Louis area. And obviously he's the one that took essentially his team that played in the area in which he grew up in and moved him to Los Angeles. So it's like we've seen one side of the coin and now we're seeing the other side of the coin here. Stan Cronkey's first name I also believe is Enos. And I believe that's named after Enos Slaughter, who's an old time major league baseball player. So he was kind of, you know, just from a namesake and where he grew up in the St. Louis area, he had the cold bloodness to rip the St. Louis Rams out.

and move into Los Angeles. So the Broncos have one of, if not the best ownership group in all of major professional sports. And one thing I'd say as well is whatever they end up with the stadium is probably going to be Burnham Yard, right? It's going to be world class. Like my expectation for the new stadium is best in class, maybe the best stadium out there for its time when it's built. So I cannot wait to see how that shakes out. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section if you guys got some thoughts and perspective on the new stadium. But okay, let's hit our first break. When we come back, all results, brother. I was going to do it at the end of the show for the trivia.

Yeah, just do it now since, you know, we're here. Sarah got three of them. So, okay, the question was. Darian got one right. Yeah, Darien got one right. The question was there's four major cities in America where all four major professional sports teams play in the downtown metros, like within the city limits.

So, like, for example, like Los Angeles would not be one as Nick was talking about with Englewood, right? New York would not be one, as I mentioned, with the Giants and Jets both playing in New Jersey. So Denver's one, Chicago's two. What am I missing here? Phillies three, as Cody mentioned. And the one that always trips people up because this one isn't to more recently is Detroit. Because the Pistons used to play up there at Auburn Hills, and now they play at the Little Caesars Arena along the Detroit Red Wings.

So Detroit's kind of a newcomer to the list. So those are your four with respect to the question. So Denver's staying is one of those four. which I think is really cool because you think about it, right? You can get from Coors Field to Empower Field to Ball Arena, you know, within a 20-minute walk of each other for the most part, you know, a five-minute Uber ride depending on the traffic. So love that for our sports cities or love that for the city with respect to the sports fan.

And I will have some fun with that. But okay, let's sit a break. We'll come back, continue along with the conversation. Let's start with the offense. In pending free agents for the Denver Broncos. We'll do a little whiteboard session here. We'll go name by name by name and give our take if they should keep them. or if they should let them go.

All that more when we come back right here on your locked on Bronco squad show. All right, you guys. Let me tell you about our friends over at Fanduel because the winter games are officially here. And if you're anything like us, you're locking in for events. You can only get to see on the biggest stage every four years. And that's why following the winter games on Fandual just makes sense. From metal counts to individual events to finding your angle on the sports you care about most,

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Fandual, play your game. Be sure to check out our friends who are a fan duel and let them know that locked on Broncos sent show. Okay, well, come on back into your locked on Broncos squad show. All the fellows here, AP, Cody Rourke, Sear, Bedinger, and Nick Ferguson. Take it a look at in-house free agents for the Denver Broncos. If you're watching live on YouTube, please get involved or feel free to get involved in the comments here and let us know your thoughts. So I've got the list pulled up here. I think there's some more meat on the bone potentially with the defensive guys,

maybe some more household bigger names. But with respect to offense, let's start with, I think, maybe the most prized potential free agent, the guy that made the biggest impact for Denver offensively. And that's running back J.K. Dobbins. We know what J.K. Dobbins meant to this team when he was healthy. Believe the first player since Philip Lindsay to rush for over 100 yards in a single game.

And Phil's my guy. Did Latavius do it too? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, okay. It's been a while. It has been a minute, but we all know what J.K. Dobbins kind of meant to the fabric of this team when he was healthy. So it's going to be interesting.

You know, there's some questions about J.K. Rush for 772 yards last season, four touchdowns. And he's only 27 years old, but the injury history is definitely something that is, you know, ravaged him a little bit throughout the course of his career. So Cody, I'll go with you first. Yay or nay on Jake. Let's just everybody do it. And then we pull it up and then we go around the room and discuss.

Why? Why? Why don't we just do that? Okay. I'm down with that. If we all want to hold them up. So it's on whether or not J.K. Dobbins should be back in Denver.

Yes. That's how you want to frame it, right? Or you want to frame it differently? Yeah. Do they bring them back? Take your time, folks, on that one. And obviously, if you're watching the show, comment it in the YouTube comments or wherever you get your podcast.

So we'll go there. I've got my answer ready. Do we want to do a review? a reveal or we want to do one by one? I've got mine ready. All right. If you want to reveal. Let's reveal it here.

Should J.K. Dobbins return? Three, two, one. No. Ooh. Okay, three to one. Three to one. Let's go with Nick first, since you're the outlier here. You want J.K. Dobbins back with this team.

Talk to you. Yeah, I would love to see J.K. Dobbins back with his team based on the things that he's been able to do. You know, as a. running back here for the team. He's a very patient runner. And we saw the yards, he brought it up. I mean, with the Broncos hadn't had a one-a-yard rusher, albeit against the Cincinnati Bengals since Latavis Murray did it. And known as though you need a stable of running backs to wear down opposing defense. I think that he would be great. Obviously, we got to talk about the price because injuries are a concern. So I believe that you

can get him back on a team friendly deal. And the reason I said, okay, I'm good with J.K. Dobbins for the things I just stated, but also you still can go out and get a rookie running back, maybe somewhere in the third or fourth round. But that's kind of the way I look at it. You guys tell me what you think. Cody, I'll go to you. Look, I like J.K. Dobbins a lot.

If I would love for J.K. to be back, but here's the reason why, like, in my opinion, and Sarah and I have discussed this here on Locked on. and certainly off air we've discussed this as well, is it would be silly for the Broncos to go into next season. And we don't want to label him as injury prone. I understand that. Like he's had some freak injuries happen to him. It sucks.

You play in the NFL, you're going to get injured. We know that. But it would be roster malpractice for the Broncos to go into 2026, just assuming, hey, JK Dobbins is going to be available for a full 17 slated games. The Broncos, man, he was so good for them, right? And then the freak injury happens at week 10. What do we see happen? The Broncos run game took even more of a nose dive. It put R.J. Harvey in a tough situation where he had to put more on his plate.

Already the Broncos had issues with, hey, you're getting J.K. Dobbins on the field. You're getting R.J. Harvey on the field. Oh, now you're also getting Tyler Badee on the field. No more of this three-back stuff here. Look, have three guys on your roster or on your active game day roster, but two guys should be touching the ball. There shouldn't be this rotation because it's too hot and cold. Guys can't get into a rhythm. I think there's some good points made by, obviously Darien and Vicki and everyone else here in the chat on today's show of, well, you know, you can't just, you can't bank on it. You can't rely on it.

I'm more in favor, and we'll talk about this next week on the squad show, I'm more in favor of free agent running back. Now, Nick, I know you said drafting a running back here. Do you think Sean Payton, I mean, there was already a lack of apparent trust in the run game as is with Sean, even with a veteran like JK at times, having a second year running back who is still trying to develop a little bit. and adding another rookie running back, I just don't know if that's going to be what the Broncos need

to push the envelope a little bit. That's why I'm all in on Abreece Hall, which we'll talk about next week. Let me answer that really quickly before Sarah gets his answer. See, to me, I'm all about, you know, things that I've been around, being around Kyle Shanahan, Mike Shanahan,

having that platoon of running backs that you can just throw at the opponent and wear them down. Now, J.K. Dobbins may not be your, your bail, Kyle, back, but he's a complimentary piece that you can use. Like when we look at what he was able to do, he made the offensive line look better in pass and rush blocking.

Then they actually was because he was so much of a patient runner. It's so much so that when RJ Harvey got in the game, there was a lot of criticism that, well, you know what, he's not being patient. He's trying to get to the whole too quick. He's not allowing it to develop. But when you have a platoon of running backs, man, there's a multitude things that you can do.

And you can rest J.K. Dobbins, right? You can actually do that. So whatever Shaw Payton and doing the past, this is kind of a new thing moving forward. Now you can actually do this and go out and get a running back. You don't have to go take up early because you would have a proven running back. Now, I would love to have a Breeze Hall in this situation, but that's not what we're talking about right now. The question is, would you like J.K. Dobbins back? And I'm saying yes.

Makes sense. Say your thoughts. I think if J.K. Dobbins returning comes at the expense. of going after bigger name free agents. And then I say bigger name. I'm talking about, you know, like the Breeze Halls, the top of the market this off season, or even somebody like Tyler Al Jir,

who has, you know, not missed a bunch of time due to injury. I know sometimes free agency can be the devil you know versus the devil you don't. But to me, if I'm a free agent like Brease Hall, for example, let's just keep throwing his name out there. And the Broncos bring back J.K. Dobbins, I ain't coming to Denver. If I'm Travis E.T.N. or Tyler Algear or whoever ends up all being available at running back,

and I see the Broncos, they're bringing back J.K. Dobbins, those guys are not coming to the Broncos. So J.K. Dobbins comes with a mandatory top 100 pick added to the running back room in this year's draft. I think there's no question about it. But that also creates the same problem, I think, that you had in 2025, where Sean's like, well, it's easier to use two backs than it is three. and now all of a sudden you're having to use three because you're trying to keep J.K. fresh. I would love to have a healthy J.K. Dobbins for 17 games or even 15 games or 14 plus the playoffs. Like there's no question about it. If you could guarantee me that right now, I would say the best bang for your buck,

100% bring your guy back. But we don't know that that's going to happen. And again, you can't call a guy injury prone when JKs just had freak injuries. I get that. I know that he takes great exception to that, that label, and understandably so, but that availability is a factor when it comes to the alternatives

that are currently available. And when you're looking at a free agent market that could include Breeshall, you know, Tyler Algear, Travis E.T.N. Javante Williams. Like,

I'm not even saying like I wouldn't, I don't know. I'd almost rather try to run it back with JVanty than bring back, bring back J.K. Dobbins. So I'm not saying I wouldn't want J.K. back but what I'm saying is is that if you bring him in it prevents you from making another splash in free agency at running back which I think again is it the double you know versus the

w don't or is it truly an upgrade because any running back could get injured at any point in time yeah and I don't want to label it this way but I'm going to I think jk. Dobbins is a very nice fallback option right if you miss on ETN if you miss on breeze hall if you miss on you know some of the other guys that are out there. I mean, all the names that you ripped off there, Sarah. You know, Al J. Here's a guy that I'm personally pretty interested in. I think his body's relatively fresh having played behind Bejohn Robinson for the last few years, right? Like, if you swing and miss on all of those guys, I'm okay with the Broncos bringing J.K. Dobbins back, but also okay with that being the fallback guy.

I mean, but think about how late J.K. signed in the first place, right? Like, what is JK's market going to be? Right? There's a reason. It's not like Denver went out and prioritized him right away. I mean, that was what, in the middle of training camp or right around training Camp when they run. Or is that mini camp. Mini camp, like very late into this offseason. We're talking long. They had conversations in March.

Right. And so, you know, at the end of the day, if JK Dobbins is back, I don't think it's a terrible thing. I just think there's better options out there for the Broncos. And as Cody mentioned, we'll discuss that next week as well. But here's what happened. Because when we think about what free agency is, right? And you guys have mentioned it as far as how long it took for the Broncos to sign

J.K. Dobbins. Here's what I know as a player. The longer you stay on the market. From the free agent standpoint, your price continues to drop. And if you want to continue to play, whatever team comes to you with an offer, most likely you're going to jump on it. So the first approach for the Broncos, hey, you may have your tier of running backs. And it may be David Montgomery, Alger may be in there,

Breece Hall is in there. Travis E.T.N. is in there as well. So you take your shot and you run at those guys. So if you can't get those guys, once again, J.K. Dabas has no problem but to be a fallback guy. That's what he was this past season. It started to work out and it started to show itself for the Denver Broncos. But once again, that's where you are.

And you just got hurt again, right? That doesn't work in your favor. And if the Broncos were going to give him a contract extension, they would say, you know what, screw all that nonsense, screw all free agency. We're just going to go ahead and do it now. But I can tell you they're sitting in that building. And here's how the NFL works.

They use injuries against you because they don't try to give you money. They try to take it away from you. So they're saying, you know what? he was injured. He performed well for us. We know he'll be there. So we're just going to push him to the side, try to get these other guys. We don't get those other guys.

Now we're going to come back to him. And the money is going to be much less than what he and his agent originally thought. It's a great point. Selfishly, I would like J.K. Dobbins' back just he's a great locker room guy. Great interview. Right? Like one of the most fun guys to talk to in that locker room for sure. So we shall see what J.K. Dobbins' future with the Denver Broncos is.

I think there's only one other relatively big name that's an unrestricted free agent on offense and that's tight in Adam Troutman. I mean, if you want to categorize them as a big name, you could. There's much. Jordan Arder. Who? You didn't bring up little Jordan Humphrey?

Come on. No, I did not. Do we want to answer those questions? Yeah, I did not bring up a little Jordan Humphrey. Well, we'll include both of them in it. There we go. Asked on the past. Yeah.

How about that? Hell not. Yeah. Well, we know Troutman is a Sean Payton guy from New Orleans. We got to get, we got to be done with that stuff. You've, you've created and established the culture for three years. We're done. Now it's time for the talent. Like that, if that's, if I had the guts, I wanted to use another word there, but I, I stopped

it because of what Cody said earlier. If I had the guts to get into a room with Sean Peyton and speak my piece about building this team going forward, it would be, we are done with the Sean, the quote unquote Sean Peyton guys. We're done with that. Like if anyone suggests trading for Alvin Camara this offseason, we need to send them to the airport and say,

hey, go fly somewhere for a bit. Take the next couple of plays off. Go have a vacation. Like we're done with that stuff. We're done with the suggestions of taste some hill. We're done with like the saints. I get that there's some that may make sense. But like we're done with the trap.

And I, I, I'll all. Respect to Trotman. All respect to Lil Jordan Humphrey. But in the AFC championship game, with the game on the line, if Lil Jordan Humphrey is getting targets, that's your problem. Not, not anybody else's. You brought him in. You brought him back. We're done with the Sean Payton guys. I want to say, you don't want to Mario Davis? No, no. Give me, hey, here's a Sean Payton guy I want. Caden Ellis. Give me Caden Ellis, the guy that you drafted. And he could be. that guy. But yeah, I'm saying like the guys like Troutman where it's clear, we've reached the ceiling. Sean Payton said it himself, right? He's like, oh yeah, you know what you're going to get with

Troutman. I was joking with him. You know, you need five catches for your incentive. That's what you get in an entire season. You just, you just said, you just admitted to completely bungling the, the team's biggest offseason need by saying, by joking that your number one tight end, your starter, is due for five catches a year. That is not cool, man. I didn't like that. So, yeah, I get fired up. Well, I think to double down on that point,

if they address the tight end room properly, you're going to get a guy, because Troutman's more that blocking tight end guy, right? Evan Ingram was in theory supposed to be more of a receiving type of tight end. Obviously, we didn't really see that come to fruition. But if you were to get, let's say, a Dallas Goddard, right, who I know Mike Cliss was talking about yesterday. I heard as a guy that makes a lot of sense for Denver,

you should be able to kind of check both of those boxes along the way. So we'll see what happens. One more. One more nugget here. One more little thing. Okay. Who made a bigger impact as a receiver this past year? Adam Troutman or Frank Crum.

And when you answer that question, you have your answer of what the Broncos need to do this offseason. Because there's only one right answer to that question. It's a fair point. So the answer to that question is have Frank Crum trim down. down a little bit and learn to run routes because the ball is coming to him more so in the way. Frank. Where is that?

I think he'll do fine. Frank has reported. I want the announcer one time to say Frank has reported eligible. Don't say number 73. Say Frank. Say Frank has reported eligible and everybody's going to be like, what? Or slide Frank Crumb to left tackle for a play, make Garib Bulls eligible and let Gary Bowles go run some tight-in routes.

Now you have personal guys. you have guys who are swing tackles and they play tight end they moonlight tight ends yeah they did better they they did they were better in the passing game than adam troutman this last year they were yes yeah i don't know i don't know what troutman brings to the table just a couple other unrestricted free agents we don't have to do the whiteboard um adam prentz the fullback is a ufa sam must defer the center is a uf a ufa so that might be an interesting one just because how difficult it is to kind of replace that situation or that position rather. And then Sam Ellinger, who was the third string quarterback for the Broncos, also a

UFA. anyone have any thoughts on those real quick? Prentice I would bring back. I mean, I thought really good. Pass protection-wise, fullback special teams, I'd bring him back. The other guys, Moosephor, I don't know. I'm not sure about that. You still have Alex Forsyth.

Luke Wattenberg just got a contract extension. And then who was the other one? Ellinger. Ah, no. Practice squad or emergency guy? Like, but he... Which is what he was last year, essentially. So they might bring him back, but you never want to see Sam Elegre playing in a football game.

See, for me, as far as Adam Prentice, I thought he did a decent job. But I look at what Kyle's Juke is for the San Francisco 49ers. You can take a guy who's a tight end and coach him up or find a guy, a young guy in the draft, who can block. He may not be great at running routes, but he can block and he's pretty decent. you bring that guy like that guy be your hback and then now you can see you kind of flex him out or you can get some matchups with him with adam prentice i don't think he is somewhat of a threat in the passing game obviously we've seen him get some passes but this is where the evolution of the broncos offense needs to get to get what like hback to block to block yeah i haven't can't block bro i think he can i absolutely think he can will he issue is the role role, the usage of that, you know, so to speak. Bring back Andrew Beck.

Bring back Tim Riggins. I would also say, too, someone of your case really said that the Broncos should have started Sam Ellinger over Jared Stiddle. Who said that? Who said that? Who said that? I said that? No, someone at your station did.

And I love that Mace blew up on. Thank God. I love Andrew Mason. That's my guy. He'll miss Troutman. That's his guy in the locker room if he does depart. Yeah. Good guys.

So we're talking about, right, what Nick said, right? This is where you stop viewing these players as necessary. I mean, I hate to say it this way. You're looking at names on a whiteboard, right? You're looking at, you're looking at like, okay, we're roster building right now. We're not personality, you know, meshing. We're roster building. And that, that sucks.

I mean, there's harsh realities to face. And it sucks, but it is what it is at this time of year every year. Yeah, I agree. All right. Let's hit a break. We'll come back. Let's do the defensive. set of the ball. You want to sign Cody Rourke? Yeah, that would be something.

We'll hit a quick break. We'll come back. We'll do the defense right here on your Lockedon Bronco squad show. All right, you guys, let me tell you about our friends over at Indeed, if you've ever hired someone who's looked good on paper but wasn't the right fit, you know how important that is. When you want candidates who truly match what you're looking for, trust Indeed, sponsored jobs. Hiring Indeed is all you need. Stop struggling to get your job post seen on other sites. Indeed, sponsored jobs. Put your post at the top of the page and help you reach the right candidates faster. Instead of struggling to get your job posts seen, Indeed, sponsored jobs helps your

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placement. It deserves at Indeed.com slash locked on NFL. So just go to Indeed.com slash Locked on NFL right now and support the show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions do apply. If you're looking to hire someone, make sure to check out our friends over in Indeed and let them know at Lockdown Broncos sent show. All right, well, come on back into the program. Let's get right into it here because we got a lot of meat on the bone with the defensive side of the ball,

talking unrestricted free agents. Should they bring them back? Should they not bring them back? Do we think they'll bring them back? We'll see how it goes here. Let's start with, let's go linebacker first. Let's go with Alex Singleton, a guy that, you know, some people in Broncos country love them, some people not so much.

Obviously, we know the cancer battle that he had to go through in the, and the, courage that he showed throughout all of that and just kind of what a wild story that was in the middle of the season as well. I think Singleton gets a bad rep. I'll talk about that here in a little bit, but I've got my answer if you guys are ready to go here with Singleton. Yeah. I'm ready. Yeah. What are you laughing about, Cody? No, I'm just trying to figure out how to write this answer. I'm trying to figure it out. It's hard. Is that a yes or no? Well, I mean, to me, it's not a yes or no. Then what else is it? It's an if then. No, it's not. If that's not the exercise.

All right. Come on. This was your exercise you wanted to do. I got it. I got it. All right. Ready. Three, two, one, Alex Singleton.

Oh, again. Nick Ferguson, the lone wolf. The lone wolf. What's happening here? I will, I will default to you again. Why would you like to see Alex Singleton back? Okay. So when you look at a guy who came into this league out of CFL like myself, so you can say,

I'm a little biased in this. And if you say that, you're damn right. I am. And I just look at the level of production with everything that that went on. You can say, well, Alex Singleton is not your prototypical Mike linebacker. But when you talk about that guy who has a green dot who's been kind of that, that mainstay for your team, he's been there with exception of a couple of injuries here and there. And obviously the cancer thing. I mean, come on, dude. Who plays through that? Like, I don't know anyone else who plays through that. And mentally, I don't know if I was in that situation where what I would be able to do that. But then when you look at, where you are. Like, where is Drew Sanders? We don't know.

Is he an outside linebacker? He's an inside linebacker. Hell, we don't even know at this particular point. Drake Greenlaw has been injured. Are you going to bring back justice or not? We don't know. So you need to find a person who can stabilize the defense and he's proven that he can do that.

So I'm going to say, hell yes, when it comes to Alex Singleton. I can't wait to hear what you guys have to say. Well, while we're talking here real quick, if you want to write down, let's do Stronad here too. We can kind of flip that up because I think that factors into this conversation. as well. I like Alex Singleton. And like I said, before we kind of revealed the answers here, I think he gets a bad rep.

I really do. I mean, he's damn near the leader in tackles every single game for this team. Sure, maybe he's not the most athletic linebacker out there. But he's a guy that makes a lot of plays. I think, and again, we can flip Strona here if you guys got it. I think Singleton not being back is because I think Justinod will be back. Right. And so I think you kind of have to pick between one of the two.

And I think the Broncos would lean towards Stranod. I think it's maybe the, I don't want to say the better play, but I can understand why they go that direction. And there's also a question to be had of like, I think the expectation is that Dre Greenlaw will be back, right? But maybe they flip on Dre. Like, I don't know anything like that. I know there's been some speculation about that too.

Can't play on expectations? No. So what? You don't think Drake Greenland is going to be back? I don't think so. That's just me. That's the debate. like this is where I think like this one is hard.

Like for me, I'm all in on Sternad being back because I'll say this. I felt like last year, Sternad was the best linebacker on the team. I agree. Consistency, the growth in the development of him being a homegrown player. We finally saw him look like the guy that maybe the Broncos wanted when he was a little younger. But with all the changeover in Denver's defense, he finally found a scheme that fits to him.

So if he ends up leaving and going to start elsewhere, he'll probably end up in Carolina with his Euro Ebro. I would rather him stay here in Denver, and I would like it. This is kind of like that scenario. Sternad back if Greenlaw is back. Those two guys together. But I agree with Nick's point here. And this is actually a topic of conversation.

Our regular episode Lockdown Broncos is coming out later today. Sarah and I had discussed this this week on the show that like with Dre, there's no guaranteed money left on his contract. But can you go into 2026 and say, hey, okay, this is the year where Dre plays all 17 games. History has told us that's not going to be the case. And to what Nick had said as well, Drew Sanders likely won't make the roster this upcoming year. He's entering the last year of his deal,

may not make it out of training camp. Unfortunately, he just hasn't been able to stay healthy. Then you got LaVelle Bailey. Then you got Jordan Turner. You got young guys, undrafted guys. Like this room right here, linebacker, is the most concerning room right now this offseason. Could not agree with you more.

I'd be interested to see, we all know the holes that need to fill on offense, but I wonder what they do with their first round pick if they do take a look at linebacker. And again, I think there's a chance where you see Singleton and Sternad back if they do cut Dre Greene La Luce, right? So I think these kind of conversations all kind of factor into one another.

But I agree with you, Cody. I do think Sternaud should be back. And he was pretty vocal. I think you were in his scrum there in his end of season media availability about like, I want to be a starter, right? I don't think he'd be back here if it's in a backup role. If he's a starter, I think all options are on the table. but he is essentially cemented that from himself,

but he believes his starting caliber linebacker in this league. Sarah, your thoughts on the linebacker dynamic. I want the Broncos to go out and get Nicopi Dean and Kaden Ellis to play this position. I mean, I would, if the Broncos were talking about bringing back any of the three that we've mentioned, Greenlaw, Sernad, and Singleton, I would say bring back Sernad. However, if I have it my way, if I'm in the room saying, hey, let's put together, the ideal depth chart for next season, the linebacker position would be Nacobie Dean and Caden Ellis.

That would be my two guys. I know a lot of folks want to say Devin Lloyd, Devin Lloyd. Devin Lloyd is going to be getting paid top tier wide receiver money on the open market. So I'm not paying a guy top tier wide receiver money. However, I do think that the Broncos need to do whatever it takes to keep this defense, not just elite, but like top two. And what that means is that you are going to have to, throw money at that because you pick 30th in the draft.

And what we saw last year is that the Broncos are willing to throw those top draft picks at players who aren't even going to play for this team. So I think that what you have to do, because of your draft philosophy being best player instead of filling our biggest need, you got to go into free agency. And you have to, number one, reset the clock because Singleton is over 30. Sternat is going to be 30 this year, I believe. Same with Dre Greenlaw. I think he's 29 or 30 this coming season.

So while I know Caden Ellis is in that same boat, he's just a better player than all of them. And I think that with him and Nkoby Dean coming in, you set yourself up for just this absolutely bonkers second level playmakers, instincts, guys who attack the line of scrimmage. What do we know Vance Joseph defense is going to do consistently? Attack, attack, attack, up the middle. The linebackers the Broncos have right now are not all good blitzers. Justin Sernard is the best blitzer of them all. And he was really, frankly, the only one who was effective in that regard. Not enough TFLs from Singleton.

Not enough TFLs from Dre Greenlaw. Not enough time on task for Dre Greenlaw. The guy compared learning this defense to learning Spanish. So I think while there's a difference between, okay, again, free agency, the devil you know versus the devil you don't. You have to start off free agency by putting together a dream wish list as opposed to saying, let's just run it back. Let's run it back.

I think you run it back if you strike out. Let me address that really quick. No tango, Elgato, Los Pantelones, right? So when you talk about speaking Spanish, okay, that's what I have to say about that.

But when you look at Alex Singleton, don't forget, when Justice Renaud got the interception to kind of be the drive starter for the Bonix and the Broncos to have that comeback in the Giants game, who was the guy that ran over Cam Scatterboot.

It was Alex Singleton. Don't forget that. And then also you talk about Nacobo B. Tell me how you feel about Nacobo B Dean and the fact of his injuries he had with the Philadelphia Eagles. Does that change your mindset? Is that somewhat of a concern? Should that be somewhat of a concern? I'll ask you.

I mean, I can't get out of my head that you just said in Spanish, I don't have the cat pants. That's what you said. that that's what you that's all i was thinking about while you were talking so i was like wait nick just said what i'm going back to high school spanish class i think there is no but to your point like there is the intangible quality of like these guys that okay you have to evaluate the people as well right you have to evaluate the people that you're bringing into your building once again it's not just overall ratings on madden it's doing the little things right and and sometimes not just doing the little

things, but the big things, like legitimately playing through a cancer diagnosis, which is, I mean, one of the coolest things you'll ever hear about. Like, that's, that is, it's not just cool. It's like, dude, this guy will, we'll do whatever it takes for your team. And he is tough. So that does have to factor into the equation. But I think what you're looking at now is, as Sean Payton says, you reshuffle the deck, you reset the board, you do all these things.

Have you already gotten the best out of what Alex? Singleton is going to give at the NFL level. I think that's a reasonable question given his age and where he's headed from this point forward. There's some really good points. And, you know, linebackers obviously get to spark a ton of conversation. Again, I think it's obviously their biggest glaring hole on defense, if not one of just their biggest glaring holes in general across this roster.

So we'll see how they shake out over there with respect to Sternad, Singleton, Greenlaw, and we'll see how the off season plays out. But let's hit a quick break when we come back. We'll finish up the defense here. We'll start with John Frank. So if you guys want to get the whiteboards ready for JFM, I will go ahead and hit that. And then we'll do PJ Lock and we'll get you guys out of here. I love that.

Sarah, ready teasing his answer. I respect to JFM. All right, we'll hit a quick break. Come back. Do just that right here on your lockdown Broncos Squatcho. All right, let's pick up where we left off going over. Will these players be back? Should they be back for the Denver Broncos?

Good conversation there on the line backing room. Let's move over to the defensive line where there's really one glaring name that, of course, John Franklin Myers. So I've got my answer. If you guys got yours, we go, three, two, and one. So let me clarify my answer.

Let me clarify, because I'm the only one saying no here. I want J.F.M. back. I just don't think they're going to be able to justify bringing him back when you've paid Jonathan Cooper, Nick Benito, and Zach Allen. That's kind of what. 68, sacks.

I agree. And I was talking about earlier how J.K. Dobbins, I wouldn't mind if he's back because he's a great interview. J.F.M. is my single favorite player in that locker room to talk to at practice after games. He's always giving you something. They also just signed Malcolm Rose to a contract extension in the middle of the season. So to me with JFM guys, it's not a matter of should he be back.

It's just I don't think they'll bring him back because of the money they have tied up to that position already. I think he'll, sorry, Sarah, you go first. Oh, you're good. I was just going to say really quickly, why would you pay Luke Wattenberg? if you're not going to pay John Franklin Myers or like, why would you choose that? That would be the question that I would have. Why would you choose that path? Because Luke Wattenberg, if he has a full game of accurate snaps,

it'll be the first time any of us has ever seen it. So I don't understand like what he brought to the table that was so like we're going to give him, you know, at least top 10 center money. But we don't want to keep the defensive line intact when John Franklin Myers has arguably been the most consistent interior defensive lineman in the NFL for the last eight years. Like literally go look at his numbers. You can virtually copy and paste since he's gotten into the league Rams, Jets, Broncos, every single year is the same. And if you're saying, I don't want that anymore, that's weird. When you're in a Super Bowl window, that, that, you got a quarterback on a rookie

contract. All these other contracts have been built to create void years, to push. money into the future to kick the can down the road. So if you brought back Luke Wattonberg at the expense of John Franklin Myers, that would tick me off. Here's my thing too. Also, what do people think that JFM is looking for on the market? People are making it seem like he's looking for $16 million per year. That's not necessarily the case.

I don't think so. And also, JFM is the type of guy that wants to be back. This is a guy who probably would take a team friendly discount. But, you know, we don't know about that. This does, I think you would. Here's the thing, though, right? In comparison, when you look at estimated market value here, SpotTrack calculates it about a two-year extension worth 15.7 million,

that equates to $7.9 million average annual value. That, if that were the market for him, right? And even Malcolm Roach has come to the table and said the Broncos need to pay him his money. Zach Allen has said, I owe my future Beach House. I'm going to name it the JFM House because he's the reason why I was able to get it. you bring a guy who wants to be part of that. You bring him back into the mix. When you factor in that,

I think he would take a two-year deal. What was the number you threw out? Two years, what? It was a two-year, $7.9 million average annual salary that equates to around 15. Oh, I think he's getting more than that, dude. I mean, I think that there's going to be a team after.

I think the Jacksonville Jaguar is going to be a team that would throw a ton of money at him. I could see him getting 45 over three. I also think he wants to stay, just knowing that. I mean, I don't know. We'll see. Like there's no crystal ball it's going to tell us. But I would bring JFM back. Plain and simple.

45 over 3, 45 over 3 is nothing. I mean, I agree. The slice of pie that that would be on the salary cap this year. I mean, we're talking 5, 6 million maybe off the cap this year. And then the cap goes up next year when his cap, you know, hit increases. And then by year three, you're out of there. Like if it's a three-year deal at 45, you're, talking about a two-year deal at whatever the guaranteed money is and you get the year one

cap hit low, you're in a Super Bowl freaking window. Like, don't screw with that and be like, well, you know, maybe Iyoma Uazerike can do it. Maybe Savian Jones can do it. You have a guy who can do it. You have the guy who can do it. I just, I don't know. That's no way. I just get.

Yeah, but here's the thing. If the Broncos were set on bringing him back, why wouldn't they have given him an extension like they did everybody? else in the middle of season. Like I, again, I want JFM back. I really do. I'm just trying to read the T leaves a little bit of like if they wanted him back as bad as we all want him back, they probably would have gotten a deal done around the same time they did Malcolm Roach. At least about DJ Jones. Yes. DJ Jones last year. We thought we would have had, if we would have had this episode a year

ago exactly at this time, we would have been saying DJ Jones is gone. He's gone. Like he's going to play with Robert Sala and San Francisco. He's going back to this connection that we would have said the same exact thing. And I'm not saying that history is going to repeat itself, but the same conversation was had. And then not only did the Broncos bring back DJ Jones, but they gave him 13 million per year. And I'm sitting there saying to myself, like, what the heck? Like this guy barely plays 50% of the snaps and you're paying a 13 million average annual value. But look at the value that he brings to the team. They recognize that from DJ Jones. They have to. Nick, go ahead. Well, there's a number of teams.

teams that would be, would love to have a guy like John Franklin Myers on their team. And I agree with an L.O., yeah, I want him back. The idea of him being back, probably not. Because once again, what we're talking about is that if you wanted him back, when you start to do the extensions, you would have given it to John Franklin Myers, opposed to Malcolm Roach. And that's no hate against Malcolm Roach, but it's just the facts of what they are. And if a lot of these guys say, hey, man, I want him back.

Here's what you do. You collectively get together as a group. you go up there to George Payton's office to say, well, we want him back so bad, we're willing to restructure our deals to allow you to sign him back. But I can tell you this. No one's going to do that. So when you look at other teams

around the league where they might use a guy like John Franklin Myers, I wrote down a couple of teams. San Francisco 49ers, New York Jets, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and I'm glad you guys sitting down for this one, but the Las Vegas Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs, right?

Those are all teams that have seen him play. And you want someone that can push the pocket. You think about what's going on in Kansas City, right? The money that they're saying, okay, well, we got to shave something off to make sure that we have guys that can come and play and play competitively. When you think about Chris Jones, you take Chris Jones out of the equation, you throw John Franklin Myers into the equation and you're not paying him a substantial amount of money. So everyone else who's never seen that amount of money is like, yes, that's a lot of money. But in terms of football, no, it's not. Three years, $45 million, he'll take that.

And then also, you still, if he decides to go to Kansas City, if they pursue him, he is still in the division and he's still in the hunt to go back to a playoff game. Yeah, here's the one thing that I would say for those that want JFM back. I mean, with the Broncos having the richest ownership group in professional, maybe not professional sports, but at least in the NFL and major American North American sports, you can try to get creative, you know, you sound, of this deal and you put a lot of it up front in the signing bonus, right? Like there's ways to kind of try to circumvent the cap a little bit.

So I don't think it's a complete non-starter that he won't be back. I just think if they're going to bring him back, they might have to get a little bit creative. So yeah, there's Cody. You get a signing bonus. So I think we're on agreement, though. We'd all love to see JFM back. It's just a question of will they be able to. Yeah.

I can do you make that happen. I can see. If I'm advising him, I would tell him, don't get an incentive of latent contract where it's 70% of time there's a $2 million or another $5 million or if the team goes back to the playoffs, that's extra money. So you can't count that. You don't know what's going to happen. Yeah, I would agree.

Once I sign, it's all about the money I receive when I'm signing. That's the most important thing. Up front, baby, you know, that's what I'm- He's 29 years old. This is probably his last chance to get paid to, like, big money like this. Yep. I don't think it matters to him, really, to be honest. But here's the thing.

Here's the thing. I can tell you this at the end of the year meetings, right? the exit interviews where players go up to George Payton's office and they talk to them. Every player in that defensive line room, the key guys said, we want JFM back. They said that. Now, ultimately, that's going to be Sean Payton's decision. That's going to be in collaboration with George and with Greg Penner. But, I mean, if there's a push for it, you know, and there's value.

And also it's, hey, can we have these conversations with JFM's representation? And what is JFM looking for? What is his motivation? If he's willing to come back at what would be maybe a team friendly deal, but with the opportunity saying, hey, we feel like we're very close to winning a Super Bowl. Where do you think?

I think JFM would lean towards, I'm going to make some money, maybe not like the most amount of money that I want to make, but I have a chance to win a Super Bowl. I think that's honestly. I'm James Harden. I'm getting my bag. No, my fans are buts about it.

Okay. You know what? James Hardin probably doesn't have a wife for kids. You know, obviously he's paying the tuition in the country right now. Get your bag, bro. I can't hate on a player for getting their back. when they can't. I just can't. But you know what? Here's what's going to change.

Once we get into a free agency, and let's say a team like Kansas City comes into the equation, right? So the Broncos are going to have a choice. Either we allow him to go within the division. We know what he can do, right? Either we're playing against him or he's playing for us. And if you, JFM, you're going to say, you know what?

I felt slighted, right? I love my dudes in the locker room. I love Zach Allen. I love Malcolm Roach. But they had an opportunity to pay me. but they chose not to. They paid Luke Wattonberg, right? So he might be a little salty about it and say, you know what?

Guess what? The Broncos had a chance to get to the Super Bowl, but the chances of them getting back to that are slim to numb because their schedule is going to be difficult. You know what? I'm going to go to Kansas City. Their schedule is going to be really favorable, maybe like the New England of Patriots.

And guess what? I might get there in a different uniform. That's how free agency works. Yeah, no, it's fair. I still think everyone in the, West has a tough, I mean, they're all going to play the NFC West. They're all going to play the AFC East. Like, they're all going to play tough opponents.

You know, they're going to have a couple of teams that finished third. But, I mean, at the end of the day, is that really going to matter next year? And we see every year, teams that were worse, go to first, teams that are third, go to second or first or fourth, whatever may be. I'm not. Come on, Cody. Think about that. Kansas City with a very favorable schedule, even though Patrick Mahomes is going to be out for like six, seven weeks. To me, they like those odds.

Yeah. but they're not that they're not that team anymore i don't feel the chiefs haven't drafted well and they have 60 million in the hole in the salary gap so they're they're in i was saying to cody earlier we recorded our show for friday like ring chasers ain't going to kansas city right now unless they're believing in the patma homes from four years ago in my opinion i mean i'm looking at that and i'm that situation i'm saying like that's not where i necessarily want to be now if you want to chase a bag you can go play for the titans you can go play for the titans you can go play for the dolphins.

But what you're going to be doing is you're going to be circling back to, okay, now I'm going to help another team get to where they, like, we're going to build something up here. It's going to be very rare for JFM to have his cake and eat it too. And here's the question I would pose as we kind of finish things out. Like, do you think that, yeah, one, two, three, Cancun, at the scouting combine where we know all these deals are getting discussed, do you think yes or no question the Broncos will make JFM an offer or not like that's straight up like do you think they're going to make him say no to a contract or do you think they're just going to say see you later man they're going to make him an offer I think they offer yeah and that's where they're at initially is it on par with what he can get in the open market though so if they make him an offer if they make him an offer you get to stay in Denver where you've built your life the last

two years. You get to stay in the same defense. I mean, the Ravens would be nice. I mean, that'd be. I don't think the Broncos are going to make him an offer. He can't refuse, though, to put a Godfather line in there. I think it'll be probably a good offer, a solid offer, but I think his agent and his representation to Nick's point might be like, wait, we might be able to get a better deal for you elsewhere. Right.

So you have to turn him down. Here's the thing that really kind of confuses fans or fans really need to know about free agency. And we've seen it happen with Justin Simmons. right you may offer a player right there may be an offer on the table and you said well he didn't take it they offered him how dare he right and it's just like well yeah they gave me an offer but they didn't give me the right offer see and that's where you have to draw the line yes they're probably going to give him an offer but it's going to be under what he's probably what he could make based on his production this season that's what it comes down to yeah all right real quick

before we get out of here, any thoughts on PJ Locke? He's the last defensive guy that's an unrestricted free agent. I know Cody's getting ready to write down on the whiteboard. I think, you know, and real quick, just one last thing on the JFM conversation, as you guys are right now with PJ Locke, Darien brings up a good point. Like, you need, I'll put it up on the screen. You need wide receiver running back tight end, and we just had a discussion about linebacker as well.

Like defensive line is not a position of need. I would rather see the Broncos. It was core and they drafted to it. Right. I just think that there's like with with the piece of the pie that they have to spend, right, or to eat for lack of a better phrase. Like there's other positions I think you have to address. So I would love JFM back. The question is if you will be back. We shall find. I just think Mike McDonnell that dark side defense from the Seattle Seahawks and I'll leave it right there. They could, yeah, they got a ton of cap space. They can do anything they want. Yeah. All right. PJ Lock here real quick. We got it. Yep. All right. Three, two, one.

Dang. Cody. All right. Your boy. Hey, the reason I say yes is I just think I think you got to have got depth guys. And look, in today's NFL, you have to have guys that can step in and start for you. Look, you're not asking, I mean, PJ's got starting experience. But then, you know, obviously they signed Hufanga.

I thought PJ did a pretty good job stepping in when Brandon Jones went down with an injury, right? But you also need guys that could play special teams. And that's where you're at. Like Brandon Jones is going to be back. who Fonga is going to be back, but Devin Key, exclusive rights for agent, he will be back. I already know that. But if Devin has to step up and play defense,

he's going to be taken off of special teams in the event of an injury, right? You're like, you have to have at least a couple of good debt players there. J.L. Skinner just had surgery on a torn labor. He played all the 20, 25 with the torn laborum. Not sure what that timeline is going to be like specifically, but the depth is there. And look, PJ has even,

expressed coming back on a team-friendly deal like that's one of those things too he wants to come back wants to keep the band together if he doesn't i can see him going to dallas or i could see him going to buffalo but uh i don't see why there isn't a reason you can't bring him back now obviously there's some different options you have there especially with jade verran as joe points out in the chat maybe you could get baron some work at the safety position some hybrid packages maybe certainly but i would just bring him back on a one-year deal i mean kind of what exactly what you did last You're not, it's not going to cost it. I think it comes down to price.

Right. If you can make it work, you can make it work. But if there's better options or you want to try a Shaday Barron out of safety and you'd have some of these other guys, Jail Skinner, right? Again, that's one of those situations where I wouldn't mind if PJ locks back, but I just don't think it's a priority for them. Yeah, I mean, it probably won't be their top priority. It'll probably be like that late tier two, tier three, free agency move.

He'll probably have to sit on there. But who knows? We'll see. Yeah. Cody, Sarah, Sarah and Nick. you guys have any thoughts. Sarah, I'll let you go first. All right, yeah, I like the idea of Devin Key moving into that role.

I thought he played pretty darn well down the stretch. And I think you can, we know George Payton is always going to allocate multiple draft resources to the defensive backfield. And Broncos always believe in the guys that they're developing on the practice squad as well. So I think it's maybe, maybe just one of those situations where it feels like it could be time to reset the clock and the depth department a little bit, get a four-year contract player.

I will say this. I would rather the Broncos trade Jada Baron than try to play him at safety. I just think just get value on that. Yeah, we can. I mean, Cody and I talked about it as well. I think like he could be a valuable trade piece. The ink's still drying on his scouting report. You could get value at another position by trading him.

There's so many teams in the NFL that need corners. The question is whether or not you buy Riley Moss as your long-term option or of like we discussed in the previous squad show, is Jadae, the outside guy. And if he is, well, then you start talking about trading Riley Moss now to somebody else and let Jadae start. Right. Nick.

All right. So for me, it's all about keeping your depth. I go back to what we just witnessed in the Super Bowl with Mike McDonnell and that Seattle Seahawks defense. And you can't have enough good corners. Riley Moss is on his, I guess his deal is expiring. So the idea is you let him and Jade. ballot it out. Now, I also think that you should, just like the Broncos did with Caden Sterns, kind of use Jard A in that kind of sub-package, that dime roll and maybe put him at the same

position because from a corner standpoint, based on his range, I mean, he can go from left to right. And that's the one thing that you definitely want. And also, he's a guy that's proven that he's willing to go down and make a tackle as well. So I like that aspect of it. As it pertains to PJ Locke, and I can tell you this, as a guy who's been in PJ Locke situation, as well as J.L. Skinner. It comes a point when you're given an opportunity to start and you really don't take that next step and then they have to bring in another guy the next year

to put that guy in front of you. They've already told you what they think of you, right? You are a guy that, you know what, in case of emergency, we can put you in. But we don't really truly trust you on a 17-game season. And PJ Lock has had opportunity after opportunity to prove himself. and in my opinion, as a safety,

and it's not me, like, hating on him, but I played the damn position, right? So there are certain aspects of his game that I like, certain aspects of his game that I don't, and at this stage of his career, it's show and prove. I mean, it's barbecue and mildew. It's one of the two, right? And right now, he hasn't really stepped up

where you can say, well, if either Hufanga or Brandon Jones goes down for a significant amount of time, and I'm talking about, like, 10, 11 games, you can put him in and you think of what coach, we're not going to miss a beat. So for me, it's like it's time to move on, go out and get another guy, give someone else an opportunity,

whether it's a rookie or it's maybe another veteran player. I would prefer a rookie because now you're dealing with the rookie deal. Now you can use that cash to go out and get someone else. Yep. I love it. I love it. Yeah, no, I mean, great conversation on all fronts today, going back to the offense with Dobbins and Troutman

and all the defensive guys as well. I mean, it's not as cut and dry as maybe some fans want to think that it might be. I mean, these are real conversations and debates. The Broncos are going to have to have internally with respect to who they keep, who they cut loose, who they try to bring back and maybe swing and miss on. It is going to be an interesting next few weeks leading up to free agency. That is for sure. All right, good stuff today.

As always, gentlemen, we'll be back for a couple of episodes next week as well. Enjoy the rest of your Friday afternoon. Enjoy the weekend. No football, which is a bit of a bummer. but Valentine's Day. Yeah. Oh, God. When's that?

Oh, wow. I got to have a flower. Yeah. You know what I'm going to do? My wife's out of town. She's visiting family. So I'm just going to go after Valentine's Day. I'm going to buy the discount of chocolate.

You know, I got a sweet to throw it in the freezer. I have my chocolate. I put all my chocolate in the freezer and then I eat it for it. It is the best. Hey, I got an idea for you, bro. I got an idea. Okay. You look up seize candies online.

Fire. You can close the road, well, go there. Even better. But you can customize your box of chocolates instead of being like, ah, what's this? Is this going to be filled with that gross, just coconut bits and whatnot? Or is this going to be just like, you know, whatever? You get to choose which chocolates you want in your box from the Seas candy.

So I say, hey, I know I'm going right after this. Hey, love it. All right. Well, happy Valentine's Day to you and yours out there if you're celebrating tomorrow. And like I said, we'll be back at it again. next week as well. What about a Broncos Valentine's Day card, you know, two Broncos country here?

What would it say? What would it be on it? I don't know. You're a great catch. Two Broncos three. Yeah, you're a great catch, but no players are on the card. It's nobody.

Nobody's on there. Maybe Marvin. I love it. I love it. All right. For Cody Works here, Ben, and Dr.

Ferguson, I am Anilo Piro. Signing off on today's Lockedon Bronco Squad show. We'll talk to you guys next week. Life is like a box of chocolates, Jerry. Give me that press on. You never know what's you going to get.