Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Can the Denver Broncos' REVAMPED Defense DOMINATE the NFL This Season?

Episode Date: May 23, 2025

The Denver Broncos defense is loaded with depth from top to bottom. How does the depth chart shake out at Cornerback led by Patrick Surtain II. What does a healthy safety room look like with Talanoa Hufanga and Brandon Jones, and will Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper continue their dominance in 2025 with a loaded rotation behind them? We take a look at the Broncos defense and the depth for Vance Joseph. Cody Roark is a credentialed beat reporter for Mile High Sports and covers the Broncos daily in person. Sayre Bedinger is the site expert for Predominantly Orange. Both bring Broncos Country the most in-depth and objective coverage of the Denver Broncos. WANT MORE DAILY DENVER BRONCOS CONTENT?For all of the latest Denver Broncos news today -- Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOBroncos?sid=YouTube Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL Follow on Twitter: @CodyRoarkNFL and @SayreBedingerFollow the show on Twitter: @LockedOnBroncos Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. Skylight CalendarRight now, Skylight is offering our listeners $30 off their 15 inch Calendars by going to Skylightcal.com/NFL. LinkedInPost your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply. 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.

The depth on the defensive side of the ball for the Denver Broncos is as deep as it's ever been, and that can make a difference between the Broncos winning more games this season. We'll tell you how on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's happening at Broncos country? Happy Friday. Welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast,

part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you so much all the everydayers out there in Broncos country. Thanks for tuning in, making us your first listen. However, you choose to do so. If you're not yet in every day or become one by hitting that subscribe or that follow button, that way you'll never miss out on daily Broncos news, content coverage, analysis, and more every single day all year long. As always, I'm your host, Cody Roark.

I cover the Broncos as a credential reporter for Mile High Sports. And I'm Sarah Bedinger, the site expert. predominantly orange.com. And here's what you can expect on today's episode of the shows. We continue our depth chart preview series with OTAs beginning next week. We're going to focus at the skill player positions on the defensive side for the Broncos. More importantly, we're going to dive into why the Broncos cornerback depth is in a very strong place right now with all the names that they have. They're led by Patrick Sartan the second.

Then we'll get into the conversation at the inside linebacker position and whether or not the Broncos need to add somebody to that room as an insurance. And then we'll wrap things up by talking about how the Broncos wide variety of edge rushers is a good thing for the team going into training camp OTAs. And obviously the preseason, you'll get all that and much more on today's episode of the show, which is brought to you by friends over there at Fandu. Doing right now new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Sarah, my friend, let's dive into this here. I mean, obviously looking at the Broncos defense, we talked about the trenches in yesterday's episode of the show. So for anybody that missed out on that conversation, make sure you go check that out, wherever you get your podcast,

because we highlighted the defensive line, the depth, and some of the questions there. I felt like we are going to kickstart this with the cornerback position for the Broncos. Arguably one of the bigger strengths of this team, I feel like, and I know there are some outlets out there that tend to think that this is a position of weakness for the Broncos, which I don't understand that. But I look at it and I look at the depth, man, this is a strong room right now, led by Patrick Sturtan the second.

Yeah, let's call them out, Cody. It's our friends over there at Bleacher Report, had the cornerback position amongst the top five weakest positions on the Denver Broncos roster right now. And to me, I look at this cornerback position. I'm like, this is the best cornerback room in the entire NFL. I mean, no doubt you've got the defensive player of the year in Pat Sartan, had a breakout player last year in Riley Moss, another promising rookie last year, Chris Abrams Drain, who I think had at the time was only the second interception of the

year off of Justin Herbert before he threw like seven of them against the Texans in the playoffs there. And then obviously you have Jad A Barron coming in now adding a first round player into the mix. And not to mention Jekwon Macmillan. He's been one of the better slot guys the last two years in the NFL. So the Broncos, Cody, they have a sort of an embarrassment of riches, if anything, at cornerback as opposed to this is one of the weakest positions on the roster. I mean, I don't know how you figure that. I don't know where you come up with that. Maybe it's because they, I don't know, they really didn't like the way that Riley bounced back after coming back from his injury late last season. And they feel like, well, the Broncos drafted Barron to replace MacMillan.

So he's obviously not that good. I don't know. I just don't agree with that take. And I know it's not a universal take or anything like that. But I think it provides us an interesting launching off point here as we talk about the depth chart defensively. Yeah, I mean, on question, PS2 is going to be the number one guy is going to follow around probably the top target of every team. But the idea of adding a guy like Jada Baron into the mix means that you can have more flexibility with how and who you choose to move around defensively. You know, like for example, you go to that Cincinnati game, the Broncos, they put PS2 on Jammar Chase.

Well, they still had a guy in T. Higgins that you had to figure out how to cover the Broncos. The idea of them adding Jada Baron was to essentially give them another chess piece. And look, they have confidence still. And I can tell you this. I think that people are riding off Riley Moss because of this edition. the Broncos are very confident in Riley Moss. I can tell you that with 110% uncertainty. I was there when Sean Payton after the draft,

when he told us the vision for it. He said, you know, we add a guy like Barron. He says, now it gives us a chance to move Riley, J. Mack, and Barron and PS2 around. We can match up anybody on anybody. And we feel like that's going to play into the strength of what we can do defensively. So the addition of Barron is not like, hey, all right, time to say goodbye to Jay Mack. Time to say goodbye to Riley Moss. The Bronco was wanted to add this position.

because they think it's an elite level position. It's elite level player, but it's a premium position in today's NFL with all the spread offenses and all the different looks that we see. And you need to be able to match up against all these different receiver sets and the talented guys that, you know, you're going to be lining up against this upcoming season. The Bronco is going to face some teams to have some really good wide receiving cores. And you can't just have one guy take away one guy. In today's NFL, you have to have multiple cover guys.

Jay Mack can cover. He's proven that. Riley can cover. He's proven that. And Jada Barron is going to be a guy that we're going to see. LeBroncos believe he can be that. So I just think it adds to the strength of this defense. And when you factor in what is so important, we talked about the trenches, right?

Denver's defensive line last year led the NFL in Sachs with 63. They created a lot of pressure. You know what that does when you have pressure creators on the trench side of things and you have guys on the back end that can cover. That makes it a little easier to be as aggressive as you can be against opposing offenses, which you have to be in today's game. It's hard to just drop back guys. into zone and just say, hey, we're just going to let everything cross our face and we're going

to communicate and pass off guys and hope that we can make a play. It's we're going to lock up and we're going to go after guys. The Broncos haven't had a defense or had the personnel that can do this since Super Bowl 50, where primarily that year they ran a lot of cover one, cover zero. You're going to see a lot of man-to-man coverage now from this Broncos defense even more so with these additions. Cody, I graduated college back in 2012, so I'm reaching deep into the archives here for a word. but what you're describing is, I believe,

what is known as a symbiotic relationship, maybe. And you said the listeners can correct me if I'm wrong on that one, but I'm reaching deep into the archives of, I believe that's biology. But yeah, that symbiotic relationship or whatever it is between the pass rush and the past defense, it's not like the Broncos have one that specifically benefits off the other, right? It's not that their pass rush benefits from having such a lockdown secondary on the back end or that the secondary on the back end benefits

strictly because those guys are getting to the quarterback quickly. There's equal parts, talent on both sides. We're like, okay, you want to talk about getting to the quarterback quickly? Defensive backs are going to make a play. If the pass rush isn't getting home, the defensive backs are going to be able to hold up on their end of the cover. I mean, it just, it works in tandem together. And these two, I just, you love it.

And you love to see these young guys with aggressiveness, physicality. There's a brand. I think the Broncos really like in that defensive back. field and it's been contagious for all those guys, whether we're talking corner or safety. And so I think that's where this depth really comes into play. You got guys like Damari Mathis might be fighting for a roster spot. Could be a top three corner on a lot of different teams. And so that's where the depth is right now at corner for Denver.

And safety could be similar if young guys step up, right? I mean, obviously you add Talanoa, Hufanga this year, Brandon Jones, an outstanding addition last year, but the Broncos have PJ Locke still on the roster. It was a starter, you know, the last couple of years, basically. And then J.L. Skinner, they believe in him. So this depth of this defensive backfield is just ridiculous right now in Denver. And look, this is where I'm excited because usually what, you see six guys at corner safety, five guys at the other position that doesn't have six.

This is going to be a tough, tough, I think position group overall to really make roster cuts when you have to trim the 53, right? You talked about, we talked about all the corners, but let's talk about the safety guys that you mentioned. Sarah, I look at the roster right now and Denver's got some really impressive young guys that are developing that, you know, they want to maybe kind of have in the mix a little bit going forward. You know, after this year, Denver's got five safeties that are set to be unrestricted free agents. So I think how they evaluate these guys going into beginning at OTAs next week is going to be crucial. Obviously, we know Talano, Hufanga, Brandon Jones, J.L. Skinner, I'd say these three guys are locked. right now. PJ is going to the last year of his deal at this point.

Devin Key's another player. The Broncos are very high on. They bring in a veteran guy like Sam Franklin Jr. in the offseason, a veteran special teams guy. And then you got DeLaron Turner Yale returning from his injury that sidelined him, obviously most of last year. And then you got Tanner McAllister and Keedron Smith. This is one where the numbers game is so hard, in my opinion, to play. I look at three guys as Locke, Hufanga, Jones, J.L. Skinner, because he's core special teams guy. But how do we see this room kind of shaking out a little bit? Like if you're looking at it with those guys that I mentioned as locks,

do you see them keeping five or six guys at this position? Could this be a year where Denver keeps 12 total DBs between corner and safety? I think there's a really big possibility of that. There is, especially because like we'll talk about in a bit, like we don't know exactly who's going to make the team at linebacker. And we don't know, okay, how does only keeping two quarterbacks, if that ends up being the case, how does that impact your ability to keep extra defensive backs? How much does the new kickoff rule impact how many defensive backs you want to keep?

Because you're going to need guys with speed out there on the kickoff coverage. That's why I think Sam Franklin was signed in the first place, right? And maybe that's why you keep somebody like PJ Locke, despite signing Talanoa Hufanga, because before he was in the starting lineup, PJ was a really nice special teams guy for the Denver Broncos. So I think there's going to be snaps for everybody. defensively, maybe not as much for a guy like Locke, which could be a tough pill to swallow. But I think special teams wise, man, you got a lot of opportunity out there to go make all pro or Pro Bowl as a special teams player.

And I think Denver's going to be just loaded, Cody. It's just, it's nice. It's a nice problem to have. I don't know that there's going to be any other position group on the roster where you're sitting there like, man, the Broncos are cutting like legitimate. that these guys are going to contribute on game days around other NFL teams when they get cut. These are two position groups where you can say that. Yeah, I'm excited.

This is, you know me, I'm a defensive back guy, Sarah. So anytime I get a chance to watch these guys and see how they mix a match, it's going to be fun. OTAs next week, we'll get a little bit of a clearer idea as to what that's going to look like here for the Broncos as they prepare for training camp and the preseason. But what about the inside linebacker position? One of the positions defensively that has some options, but there is a question as to the sustainability of this room right now. Inside Livebacker, could the safety position potentially help it?

We'll debate and discuss here on today's episode of the show. Today's episode, Lockdown Broncos is brought to my friends over there at Fandu. Fan do is America's number one sportsbook. The NBA playoffs, they're in full swing right now with the Eastern Conference and Western Conference Finals. And every night delivers highlight-worthy performances. Heck, game one of the Eastern Conference finals was a thriller with major momentum shifts, can't miss moments, whether it's a game-winning shot or a breakout player.

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So make every moment more with Fandul. official sports betting partner of the NBA. Once again, the off-ball linebacker position is one of the biggest concerns on the Denver Broncos roster. Cody and I are going to tell you why maybe even after some upgrades this off season, the Broncos might need to add to this position or get creative in having guys maybe cross-trained at linebacker. We'll talk about that and much more coming up on today's show, Lockdown Broncos. But thanks so much to all of you that make us your first listen of the day. If you haven't already done so, we'd really appreciate you.

take a couple seconds, hit follow wherever you listen to podcasts, hit subscribe over there on YouTube as well. We appreciate your Broncos country for rocking with us. You know your boys, Cody and Sarah got you covered every day. Let's talk about the linebacker position, Cody. I really loved the addition of Dre Greenlaw. I know you called that one in your free agency predictions as that was one of the top three guys that you wanted. We did a show about that before free agency and the Broncos got him. And they got him despite the fact that, hey, John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan flew to the dude's house and tried to recruit him to come back to San Francisco. Didn't work out for them.

He stuck with his commitment to the Broncos. I love the way that he came to Denver. I still feel like, though, there's a bit of concern about this position group, especially after he had that quad scare earlier this offseason. Yeah, I would say that's a valid concern to have. And look, initially going into it, you sign a great player in free agency, but you understand that there were some injury concerns coming into it. obviously the torn Achilles in the Super Bowl,

calf tightness that shut him down for the last two games of the 49ers regular season last year. And you really just, the 49ers wanted to protect him in that standpoint because they really wanted to make a push to re-sign him. Obviously, as you highlighted there with John Lynch and obviously what Kyle Shannon were able to do. But obviously, the quad injuries, you know, setback initially.

So we won't see him at OTAs next week participating because of that injury. Sean Payton did tell us and did reassure us that he's fine, that he's going to be ready to go for the start. training camp, which will be a nice sign there. Ironically, the Broncos first preseason game is going to be on the road against the 49ers. And there is a rumor that there's expected to be a joint training camp practice in San Francisco with the 49ers prior to that matchup. So those guys get to go to the old stopper grounds, Talanoa, Hufanga, and Drake Greenlaw.

But to your point, we even talked about this on a Bleacher report stream that we did, which is every Wednesday on their app. I would say inside linebacker, Denver's got three guys. that I feel like are kind of the top heavy portions of it, right? Drey Greenloff, Healthy, Alex Singleton coming off the ACL, which we'll see him this week at OTAs. But then you have Justin Sternaud as the guy who started a majority of the games last year after Singleton's injury. Okay, I'm, if that's your top three, I'm comfortable. I'm okay with that.

But then there's questions like Drew Sanders. Finally, we know he's staying at off ball linebacker, but he's going to be in the realm for competition for the starting job, apparently. So that means that Justin Sternod and Drew Sanders. are going to compete with Alex Singleton for that starting job next to Drake Greenlaw. Aside from that, if there is a setback or an injury to any one of these guys, Greenlaw or Singleton, it definitely puts the experience factor of the Broncos inside linebacker group into question, which is why when we were just talking about the safeties, I thought about it as well. This could be where the Broncos actually have some help at linebacker because of certain packages and personnel looks where they may throw Talanoa Hufanga or J.L. Skinner in as a dime linebacker as the big.

nickel. This gives the Broncos flexibility to kind of move some pieces around while still not really taking anybody important off the field. I think it's going to be situationally, you can still maximize your personnel, even at linebacker with a couple of safeties here. I find that also to be interesting. But then Denver's got a lot of young guys as well right behind Singleton, Sternad, and Drake Greenlaw that are really trying to vie for opportunities here in training camp in the preseason coming up. Right. We'll touch more on Drew Sanders as well, but obviously Lavel Bailey was a priority guy for this team last year, had a good preseason, made it up to the 53 men roster a couple of times. And then obviously you bring in one of your most expensive undrafted guys this year carrying Reed from Utah, a linebacker who didn't have a ton of production at Utah, but obviously showed some stuff on tape that the Broncos were like, all right, we have to bring this guy in and we'll pay up to get him.

So there's different players out there that, man, they could step up. but maybe that injury to Dre Greenlaw ends up being a blessing in disguise in terms of, hey, we got to figure out the competition here. We've got to figure out the pecking order because when you get to training camp, you don't necessarily want to be rotating a different guy out there every single day, right? I mean, I guess at least I would anticipate that's not necessarily the ideal scenario because if you're throwing a different guy out there every single day, it's different than just rotating. You want to build that chemistry on the defensive side of the ball as well.

and especially those two guys at linebackers, they've got to be in sync. How many times did Alex Singleton and Josie Jewel talk about that? Those guys aren't the most athletic compared to other linebackers in the NFL. They're not the fastest. They're not the biggest. But what did those two guys do so well that made them a relatively successful duo? I mean, their communication was on point. Their instincts on point.

So how do you develop that when you're constantly rotating guys in? If the Broncos can get that kind of straightened out after OTAs, after mandatory mini camp to say, hey, we're whittling this competition down to a couple of guys and, you know, somebody else is going to be an injury replacement only. Maybe that's the ideal scenario. And this is where you and I talked about this on that BR stream, my hope is that Drew Sanders can be that guy because the Broncos drafted him third round, 67th overall. You believe he has starter capabilities.

You've got to give him the opportunity to sink or swim. Well, the Broncos believe he's also a pressure player. That's one thing that Sean Payton liked about him. And so if you have a defense that we all know with your trenches that we've already talked about, when you have that element of adding a linebacker that can blitz and be effective there, I mean, it increases your opportunities to, hey, we're going to send the house. We got the guys in the secondary to lock up. I mean, it's a perfect formula for the Broncos defense to have even more success this upcoming season.

And it be a top five unit in a lot of the major key categories here once again. I think that's going to be crucial. There are a couple of veteran names that look like. let's say that there is a setback here in the Broncos want to bring a veteran guy in. As we're sitting down recording this, there are a couple options that are available. CJ Mosley, formerly of the New York Jets is available. Joanne Bentley of the New England Patriots is also available, which is interesting considering, you know,

maybe you have some inside intel on that because of Cam Williams coming over in the front office from the New England Patriots after spending the last nine years there. If you need a guy, I'm sure Cam Williams knows a little bit about Bentley. And then there's also a couple guys you had on the roster last year, Sarah, that maybe, you know, could come up once again, you know, Zach Cunningham, veteran linebacker, and then Juan Alexander, who the Broncos really wanted to bring up to the 53, they were just out of elevations for him and they were out of roster spots.

So they waived him and he ended up going to the Detroit Lions. So there are some options. There's some breathability here in the event of a setback. Hopefully that's not the case and you can progress forward, but you got some young guys as well. Whereas I think Lavelle Bailey this year will have some competition, you know, from other undrafted guys, you mentioned Corrine Reed out of Utah.

Well, there's J.B. Brown out of Kansas. And there's also Jordan Turner, who was one of the standout players at rookie minicamp on a rookie tri-out basis that the one thing that led to him getting signed was he picked up the playbook really quickly and he was out there commanding the huddle. So that right there, I think, is a dynamic to keep an eye on here. I'd say the Broncos have a lot of linebackers right now at inside. And that's not a bad thing. That's a good thing.

But just a lot of them are unknown, right? which could be a blessing. It could be a curse. We're fixing to find out, though, as the Broncos are set to begin OTAs next week, that'll carry on into obviously mandatory minicamp and then training camp preseason. And then we'll have an idea by then whether this Broncos roster truly is.

But Broncos, country, we want to know your thoughts on the inside linebacker position. How concerned are you about some of the uncertainty with the injury history at this position with some of the guys and a lot of the unknowns about these younger guys that are still on this roster that are maybe trying to make a name for themselves? Make sure you let us know here on today's episode of the show. But Broncos country, speaking of more, Denver's got a wide variety of edge rushers at

outside linebacker. And we'll tell you why that's a good thing. And it makes the defense for the Broncos even better going into this off season. We'll break it down much more here on today's episode, Lock on Broncos. Whoever came up with the saying less is more didn't understand the importance of past rush depth in the NFL. You could even make the same argument, I think, for corners, receivers. They always say if you have two of something, think, then you really don't have any.

I disagree. I think that's a ridiculous theory that people point out there. But let's talk about the Broncos Edge Rush group here on today's episode, lockdown Broncos. Once again, Broncos Country. We appreciate you, as always, for tuning in, taking time out of your day to make us your first listen to all the every dayers out there.

You make the show exactly what it is. Thank you so much for making this the best Broncos podcast in the entire world. Nobody touches us. We appreciate you. And that's all because of you, the avid listeners in Broncos Country. Sarah, let's go through the Edge Rush Room here. This one, I think. In theory, when we talk about it, the rotation seems to be pretty much set in stone.

If we look at it from a depth chart standpoint, you've got Nick Benito, who obviously led the team in Sacks last year, Jonathan Cooper, who just got an extension last season as well. He also hit double-digit sacks. They became the first Broncos duo since Von Miller and Bradley Chubb did back in 2018 to get double-digit sacks essentially there. So you love that Denver's in that category. They're trending upwards here. and you got an ascending star Nick Benito. But then you have really good depth with guys like Jonah Ellis who obviously shined in the role that he had last year.

Dondray Tillman shined in the limited sample size. He had, he played, what, 29% of the team's defensive snaps, had over five sacks last season. That is a sign of progress. So when you look at your top four, it's really good. Then you go out and you add Q Robinson in the NFL draft. He'd know is probably going to be a key special teams a right away, but he can maybe even find himself competing with Dandreight Tillman

for one of those pass rushers spots. This is a position right now, and we didn't even name all the other guys yet. This is a deep room going into the offsees right now for the Broncos. It's one of the deepest and it's one of the reasons why I think everybody in Broncos country has reason to be exceedingly optimistic about the defense as a whole, right? And you talk about having a plethora of pass rushers. This team has got it, whether we talked about the interior guys yesterday, the defensive linemen, or whether you're talking about the edge guys this year, there's talent, there's speed, there's guys who have. strength. There's guys who are, you know, more, more apt as run defenders, guys who can get pressure

on secondary rushes, guys who can bend around the edge quickly, guys who win with hustle, guys who win with, you know, different, you know, their hand, you know, placement, things like that. I mean, every skill that you look for off the edge, the Broncos have it with different guys. And that variance allows them to bring pass rush in waves. You mentioned the top guys at this position. I think you want to look at maybe we talked about carrying Reed. at the linebacker position as one of the priority undrafted players for Denver. The top guy, the number one undrafted free agent for the Broncos in terms of total guaranteed money was Johnny Walker, a defensive end slash edge guy outside linebackers where he's going to play

in Denver, wasn't invited to the combine, played at Missouri where we know the Broncos. They got Chris Abrams drain last year. They've done a lot of scouting of those guys. Fellow alumni. Got fellow alumni. That's right with Cody right there. So, I mean, we're talking about some good vibes all around. And look, Johnny Walker may not stand the greatest chance to crack the 53-man roster this year,

but shoot, as a practice squad player and you never know what can happen in the preseason, the edge guys always have a great chance to impress and to put things out there to say, hey, like, you're going to have to make a tough decision to keep me off this team. That's where I think guys like Q Robinson, Dandre Toman, who I see on TikTok, is working in the facility every single day, Cody and Johnny Walker now coming in as your highest priority undrafted player. There's going to be some fun competition on the back end of this group. And that's what excites me too because, look, I would have been perfectly okay with the Broncos going into 2025 with their pass rush rooms set exactly how it was last year. I liked what we saw from that group.

But now it's like you have a chance to add a wrinkle into it. Competition is only going to make it better, right? because someone's going to elevate or someone's going to drop. And then you have a chance to make the best decision, you know, as it goes to building your roster. But I think having that competition is crucial for guys like Dandre Tillman. I even think competition for Jonah Ellis is a good thing as well. Those guys are competitors.

But you're going to see the best out of them going in a year two, more comfortability. I mean, those guys looked really good. They looked ready right away as rookies in the NFL. So that's where I think they have the advantage right now. Johnny Walker, like if you believe that this is a guy who could maybe be a fringe, swing guy for you, outside backer, D.N, that value right there, plus special teams ability, that makes it a little bit easier to justify keep and maybe an additional guy. I mean, what was it? I think Denver last year, they only kept four guys at the outside

linebacker position. Drew Sanders was technically in that category. It would have been fifth, but he made the switch in season to offball linebackers. So this could be the year. We also see the Broncos keep five outside linebackers. Johnny Walker Jr. could end up maybe being that fifth guy. Oh, actually no Q Robinson would be that fifth guy. So maybe they keep six. That's a tough justification, because how do you play the numbers game? Because you're only allowed a certain amount, like 24 to 26, 24 to 27 guys on offense or defense and vice versa. And then the number split.

So you can have that 53 flexibility with your three special teams guys, your long snapper, your punter, and obviously your kicker. So this is a good problem to have for the Broncos. I feel like that's been a theme so far of what we've talked about when we've been reviewing the depth on offense and defense. It's like, ah, like Denver doesn't have necessarily like this one glaring hole or need. They have guys. They have quality players. And the question is, who's going to rise up and make a jump and who's going to surprise some people? That I think is where we're at right now, which means that the Broncos scouting department,

I think they've done a tremendous job from the draft process, from free agency. You're bringing in competition to elevate this room. But then you make the numbers game a little bit more difficult. And with that, I mean, it does create opportunities. You know, Sarah, the Broncos are expected to hold two joint training cap practices, one on the road in San Francisco, one with the Arizona Cardinals prior to their week two matchup. You have an opportunity for those guys to showcase some talent. And maybe you can orchestrate a trade deal. We've seen George Payton execute trades in the preseason before.

Trinity Benson is probably the one name there. And he got a haul for Trinity Benson who everyone's like, wait a minute. They got this for him like George Payton was fleecy. people with that. So maybe George can do the same exact thing here with this situation, with the depth that they have defensively. Yeah, because you want to get these guys opportunities as well. Like as much as you want to hoard depth, there's a roster gymnastics that has to be played. And there's also keeping in mind, okay, we want to do what's best for these players too, because we might have guys that are going to excel here that are going to

take the majority of snaps here that are going to rack up stats here. And we know that. We're building around Nick Benito, Jonathan Cooper, Jonah Ellis. But we don't necessarily know what's the most defined role over the next couple of years for somebody like Dandre Tillman or whoever it may be to say, hey, this guy's good and he can play. He deserves a chance to play. And it doesn't really hurt us to trade him to San Francisco or to Arizona, just like the Broncos trade Baron Browning to Arizona last year. Or New Orleans. Yeah, right? Or New Orleans.

Yeah. where they need help everywhere. But Barron gets traded to Arizona last year, gets out of the situation in Denver where he wasn't going to play as much, and he ended up getting re-signed by the Cardinals. And so you just never know when you're going to have to do the right thing for the team and the player and get them to a better situation. Now, you don't want to get rid of the wrong guys, right?

You don't want to get rid of the Shaq Barrett, so where you're saying, hey, this guy has like 20-some sacks in one season or whatever that was that he had 19 or I can't remember what it was. was with Tampa Bay and you're, you know, kicking yourself for getting rid of them. So you've got to be careful. But that's where you're trusting your pro scouting department and these fresh eyes that are coming in as well. Cody, where we talked about guys getting promoted, Cam Williams coming from New England.

You're going to lean heavily on those guys to help you make those best possible decisions to maximize your team and maximize these players, whether they're in Denver or somewhere else. Yeah, Denver's got, I'd say they got two scouts as well that have been with the team for a long time. They got one guy who's going into his 45th season. with the team and you got a guy who's going on his 27th year with the team. So there is a lot of continuity in the foundation of the scouting department,

you know, pro personnel, player personnel. There's different categories that they factor in when they look at this. I just think that Denver's in a position right now where they don't have to make any kind of desperate move that they can kind of let everything come to them. They can go there as coaches. They can go to practice and they can evaluate these players. And they're in a position right now with a lot of the key pieces, is starters on offense and defense already really being locked in, pun intended,

you can just say, hey, we have the luxury of deciding which direction we want to go. If we believe in, you know, two years from now, you know, this guy is not going to play now, but two years from now, this guy, we think is going to be a very important part about what we're doing. And when you look at other expiring contracts on the team, it could fit into the short-term and intermediate plan and maybe even long-term plan for how the team views certain players at certain positions. that to me, I think, is always exciting. And you have to always factor in the idea of there being an injury.

And you don't want to cut your key depth, especially when an injury does pop up. I think that's going to be an important piece here as well. So with that said, Broncos Country, we appreciate you so much that to wrap up today's episode of the show. OTAs begins next week. And to kick all of that off on Monday's episode, Lockdown Broncos, Sarah and I, we're going to take a look at three storylines on the offensive side of the ball that you need to be paying attention to as we prepare. for OTA's beginning next week. You're going to get that and much more on lockdown Broncos.

We'll see you then. Enjoy your weekend.