Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Darren Mougey Leaves Denver Broncos for Jets GM Role

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Denver Broncos off season is just beginning, and they've lost a key executive in the front office, and they've already lost a young assistant coach. How might that benefit the Broncos going into 2025? We'll break that down and much more here on today's brand new episode, Lockdown Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Broncos country, what's happening? Welcome into another episode of Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockedon

Starting point is 00:00:35 podcast network where you know it is your team every day. We appreciate you so much thanks to all the everydayers out there in Broncos country. Thanks to the first listeners for making us a big part of your day every single day. Throughout the entire off season because as you know, for the true fan, there is never an off season for all your Broncos news, content coverage analysis and more. Lockdown Broncos is the place to be all year long. I'm Cody Rourke. Broncos credential beat reporter for Mile High Sports.

Starting point is 00:01:00 Join as always by longtime site expert, predominantly orange.com. Sarah Bedinger. And look, Broncos country, we've got a lot to break down this week as the final game of the NFL season in 2024 is looming in a couple of weeks. We know the Super Bowl matchup that is going to be set. But we'll also talk about really on today's show how the Broncos need to address the tight end position in 2025. We'll then discuss how bad the production was from that room in 2024 and why that was an issue in terms of offensive inefficiency at times this season. But we're going to kick things off with some big news here for the Broncos. They lost two members of their organization over the weekend, one executive and one young assistant coach.

Starting point is 00:01:41 A lot to break down on today's episode of show. I brought to you our friends over there at Fandu. And Super Bowl 59 is here. And there's no better way to make every play more exciting than with Fandu's sportsbook. New customers can bet just $5. And if you win, you'll score $200. Head bonus bets. Download the app or head to Fandu.com to get started.

Starting point is 00:01:57 Sarah, busy weekend for the Broncos and certainly for the organization and for Sean Payton. they'll have to make some changes and look to either bring you somebody externally or hire from within to fill two vacancies right now on the staff. Let's start off with the biggest one. Darren Mugi, as we talked about as well, finally lands that GM job with the New York Jets. Yeah, good for Darren Mugi, obviously getting a job after working for over a decade with the Denver Broncos. Mugi's been part of a number of different eras of Denver Broncos football has knee. I mean, dating back to the Peyton Manning era, obviously. and early in his time there.

Starting point is 00:02:34 So I kind of feel like, Cody, my take on this is that Moji is sort of the perfect candidate for the New York Jets because they just so happen to be going through a situation where an older quarterback is potentially, he's not going to be riding off into the sunset like Peyton Manning, but he's going to an organization where there's going to be a quarterback situation happening in the very near future. What has he been through with Denver Broncos?

Starting point is 00:02:58 He's been through some quarterback situations, right? He's seen what not to do, and definitely what to do when it comes to bringing in Peyton Manning, when it comes to the drafting of Bo Nix and finding the right coach and quarterback combination. So I think he's in a good spot there with New York. I didn't really like that situation on paper for anybody, whether it was coach or GM, but I like Darren Moji going there because of what he was able to do in Denver over the last decade plus, seeing the success of a veteran quarterback who was kind of a castaway by his previous franchise.

Starting point is 00:03:32 and then going through the quarterback carousel, hopefully what he learned in Denver will help him establish something much, much more quickly with the New York Jets. I mean, you look at the John L.A. GM tree now that's kind of growing there, Darren Moji being one of them, John SpyTech, who's now landing with the Las Vegas Raiders as their general manager, and obviously Adam Peters, you know, getting to where he's at, you know, as well. But, you know, for Moji and this is it because, look,

Starting point is 00:03:56 if you're a Jets fan that's stumbling upon this as we talk about this, Mugi, I think, is the right bill, the right criteria for what you want in terms of a first-time general manager because he's done the work. Like for George Payton, George Payton for a very, very long time was a scout. He came into the NFL and was a scout, cut his teeth as a scout. And then he worked his way up, obviously, you know, being the right hand to Rick Spielman in Minnesota when he was there. But the thing that I also look at it as well is he's a guy who started off as an intern and he's

Starting point is 00:04:27 earned his role. He has climbed his way up the ladder from 2012 all the way till now, like scouting intern in 2012, now a GM here in 2025. So he's got the experience. And as you mentioned, Sarah, I think, you know, being behind guys like John Elway, you know, George Payton, like, you see a lot. And in that role where you're not necessarily making decisions, but, you know, you have an idea on how to identify players. You can learn from those guys in those situations. My only plea, and I want to see Darren Muzi have so much, so much success. here. My only plea is the Jets ownership. Stay out of his way.

Starting point is 00:05:01 Let him do his job. That's the problem with anybody that goes to New York. That dang ownership group refuses to get out of the way of the people that actually know about football and that know about what it takes to build a team. There's a level of patience that's required. And Mugi and the Jets are going to need that. I think they have a good young roster. But it also opens things up too here now, Sarah, because now Darren Mugi, who obviously, you know, the Broncos have had relationships with the Jets is, even though the Sean Payton had those comments about Nathaniel Hackett, it didn't prohibit them from trading for John Franklin Myers last year in the NFL

Starting point is 00:05:33 drafts, one of the biggest steel moves of the entire offseason there. But now the lines of communication are open. And look, I think a lot of Broncos fans are really campaigning for Garrett Wilson and they're putting social media polls out there where Garrett Wilson apparently, I don't know if it's Photoshopped or not, but he's following a lot of Broncos players. He's interacting with some of the polls out there. I'm very, very interested to see what happens there, or if Mugi wants to keep a guy like that around,

Starting point is 00:05:56 which I think he's, would want to keep a guy like Garrett Wilson around. The plan is going to be how are you going to address that quarterback situation there in New York? Certainly Aaron Rogers is not the answer. We have a listener of Lockdown Bronco. She listens every single day. Her husband is a Jets fan. He listens to Lockdown Jets every single day.

Starting point is 00:06:13 And so I'm sure that conversation is going to be very, very interesting as we continue to go about. But yeah, I mean, obviously happy for Darren, one of the hardest working guys, very deserving of the job. But that's not the only departure of the Broncos had from the organization over the the weekend. During the AFC championship game, it was announced that Declan Doyle, the Broncos tight-in coach here for the past two seasons under Sean Payton. He is headed to Chicago under Ben Johnson to be the offensive coordinator by title. So, I mean, a good problem to have for the Broncos here, you know, when your young coaches are getting poached off of your staff and going elsewhere. And with Aaron Glenn now landing in New York as well, I mean, the Broncos could have several

Starting point is 00:06:51 other coaches, including Chris Banjo, maybe going over there to be the special team squad. So Denver might be in the market here for some new coaches in 2025. Not to mention Johnny Morton, Cody getting looks from the Detroit Lions as their offensive coordinator. Of course, that would be a return to Detroit for him. I think there's some sentiment out there that's really frustrating to me. Like, why are the, why are teams poaching from the Broncos after just one good year? Or I just, I don't like the way of thinking of it like that.

Starting point is 00:07:18 Like most of these guys were on Sean's staff in New Orleans for a longer period of time where they had more sustained success. And so these are experienced. experienced coaches for the most part, but some of them are young and up and coming. I just don't think there's anything that you can say to, to overrate what the Broncos did last year with nearly 90 million in Deadcap and the third youngest roster in the league to kind of be saying like, wow, it's weird that teams are trying to pick off the staff after one good year.

Starting point is 00:07:47 I just, I don't like that thinking and mentality. Good coaches everywhere. There's good coaches everywhere. And I think these guys have earned it. So Declan Doyle, particularly interesting to me, Cody, as he won't be calling plays for the Chicago Bears. That will be Ben Johnson, the head coach calling plays. But at the same time, it's a huge upgrade in title for him at the age of 28. And he's already part of the not only Sean Payton coaching tree, but also the Kirk Ferrette's coaching tree, Cody.

Starting point is 00:08:14 There was a controversy regarding Doyle's dad back in the day, Strength and Training Coach at Iowa. but he was an offensive assistant for Kirk Farrants there. His brother played for the Hawkeyes. And that was his first step before getting to the New Orleans Saints. So whatever the degrees of separation are in that situation is very interesting because you spent a couple years on Ferrence's staff at Iowa. You jump straight to Sean Payton's staff in New Orleans. And then you go straight to Denver staff and now Chicago.

Starting point is 00:08:45 So the assent for Declan Doyle, who wasn't a player in college, is pretty fascinating to me. Yeah, and look, so now I think it maybe opens up some opportunities. How can the Broncos address this in-house? Like if Johnny Moe ends up back in Detroit where he was the passing game coordinator for the Lions a few years ago, if he ends up there as their new OC, could we see maybe a promotion here for Davis Webb getting a promotion not only maybe as QB coach, but maybe passing game coordinator or he gets upgraded to passing game coordinator

Starting point is 00:09:14 and maybe a guy like Logan Kilgore who was Arch Manning's coach and worked with him. Maybe he gets promoted to QB coach. And so you promote internally within. And now what raises the bar a little bit, right? And you're not looking to bring someone on the outside who doesn't have any familiarity necessarily with what you're doing. These guys have already been in your system. They know how Sean Payton likes things, but it's a promotion because they've done a tremendous job. Davis Webb has done a terrific job working in that Broncos QB room after transitioning from being a player to a coach.

Starting point is 00:09:43 Chris Banjo from being a player to now a coach from an assistant, you know, for a couple of years. And now often, now an opportunity for him to become a special team's coordinator, maybe in Denver, maybe elsewhere. But there is in-house moves that could be made here. And I think if you're like, for example, if you're looking to bring in someone from the outside, I think it raises the pressure for that person coming in and saying, wow, all right, I'm a new guy here. I've got to get with it because this whole staff knows the standard that Sean Payton has set. So, you know, a lot of opportunities there.

Starting point is 00:10:10 I don't know who they would try to promote from within at the time. tight-end position. So we'll keep an eye on that, obviously, as things formulate, and obviously, as news happens, Broncos, Cody and Sierra, your boys, we're going to have you covered every single day here on the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every single day. We've got a lot to break down still here on today's episode of the show as we're going to look at the tight-end position. The Broncos tight-end room in 2024 was not good enough, and we'll tell you why that can't be the case in 2025 here on today's episode of the show. Today's Lockdown Broncos podcast is brought to you of our friends over there at LinkedIn.

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Starting point is 00:11:38 apply. The tight end position as far as the passing game was concerned in 20, 24, mostly bad for the Denver Broncos. There won't be all that many changes in 2025, but we're going to get a new tight end coach and probably maybe potentially a new Joker at the position in 2025. So an exciting offseason ahead for the Denver Broncos. But before we look ahead at what this team might do to change at this position,

Starting point is 00:12:05 we've got to look back at the season that was. Why are the Denver Broncos poised to be making a maybe big splash at the tight end position? Well, we're going to talk about that on today's. episode Locked on Broncos and Broncos country. Thanks to all you every dayers out there that make us your first listen of the day, every single day. Like Cody said, you know we got you every day throughout the off season, whatever goes on with your favorite team here at Lockedon Broncos.

Starting point is 00:12:28 And if you're not already subscribed to the show, make sure you do that. Get us at the top of your podcast feed. You get us in your YouTube algorithm. You can watch the show or listen every single day. And I highly encourage you to do that because we want to be part of your day. And we want you to be part of this show as well. going to be opportunities. Obviously, Cody, we'll pull the listeners in terms of their thoughts. Overall, as we get towards free agency, the tight end position, you know, who does, who do all the

Starting point is 00:12:53 listeners want to add to this room? Who do they think should be drafted? But before we get to that, we have to talk about this past season because I think we'd be remiss if we didn't mention Greg Dolsich. I didn't even have him in the show notes, but I think the lack of emergence for Greg Dolcich this year really contributed to the sort of, if you want to call it a disaster that was at the tight end position. Now, it was disastrous from a passing game perspective. The Broncos got virtually nothing from their tight ends in the passing game other than a couple of spots here and there throughout the year. But what, what stood out to you the most about this position or maybe we just get right into the player breakdowns? I'm fascinated your perspective on this because it's,

Starting point is 00:13:37 it's it's I mean when is the last time the Broncos had a great receiving tight end? I think it goes back to if I'm trying to jog my memory here. Was there anything after the Peyton Manning years? I mean, Noah Fent had flashes, but it never formulated to where, you know, you wanted it to be because Pat Schumer used him the wrong way as we had seen. Owen Daniels, Owen Daniels might have been the last great Broncos receiving tight end.

Starting point is 00:14:00 And that's been a long time. That's almost 10 years ago, Sarah, since he's been on the team. I mean, when you look at it, it's disappointing to see what the tight-in position has been for the Broncos specifically in in 2024. It was a complete letdown. And as you mentioned, I think it all starts and ends with Greg Dulcich because the expectations for him when Sean Payton first came in was, hey, he was going to be the Joker. He's got joker traits to him. Well, you know, first year, Sean Payton being here, he was never on the field.

Starting point is 00:14:28 He got hurt week one and missed pretty much the entirety of the season with a hamstring injury, then had the foot injury pop up, had surgery on that. And then in training camp here this year, it's like, all right, like Greg Dolzich is, you know, he's starting to look like his old self again. And nothing formulated early on. He just seemed like a decoy out there in the first several weeks of the regular season. And he couldn't block effectively enough, which was, I think, a huge issue in the eyes of Sean Payton. So the team, they released him. They moved on from him. And they put a lot of that once again on Adam Troutman.

Starting point is 00:14:58 And look, I'll applaud Adam Troutman. He was the one guy who pretty much shouldered the load and the responsibility really of that room. because he had to block a lot. Like the Broncos went 12 and 13 personnel quite a bit. And a lot of those guys did not get involved in the past game. Troutman was pretty much the only tight end that had flashes of like being a past catcher and having a couple of games. You think he had a 37-yard catch and run against the Chiefs at Arrowhead.

Starting point is 00:15:22 He had a big game against the, I think the Atlanta Falcons or was the Carolina Panthers. I think it was national tight ends day whenever that did happen. And then all of a sudden it's just like, you know, it was sporadic. It wasn't enough. And so for the Broncos' offense and particularly, particularly for rookie quarterback Bo Nix, what you say, having a good tight end is a nice security blanket option,

Starting point is 00:15:40 right? When teams are doubling Cortland Sutton and, you know, you had all these questions about who's wide receiver two for Denver, how are you going to get these guys more involved? That's where a tight end can come in and help you. And look, once again,

Starting point is 00:15:50 I'll take a look at, Galen Hertz has a guy like Dallas Godder. You look, Jane and Daniels had Zach Ertz, you know, a veteran option there this season. Patrick Mahomes has Travis Kelsey. Josh Allen,

Starting point is 00:16:01 you know, I mean, he's got Dalton Kincaid, but primarily it was more so, like they didn't rely too much on Kincaid, you know, this past week, I've seen the AFC championship game. So, you know, you look at it and it's like good offenses, good teams, they have a good tight end.

Starting point is 00:16:15 Devere didn't have that this year. And their production, I think, in the overall impact of that position kind of speaks volume. So to answer your long winning question, that's how I feel about the tight end room. It's obviously got to get better. Broncos country is in agreeance with it. But let's take a look at it. Like the Broncos also have some several roster moves that will come up with this.

Starting point is 00:16:32 You mentioned this here in the notes. I mean, Sarah, like, you, Adam Trotman led the team at the tight-in position with 188 yards receiving in 17 games. 188 and 17 from your primary tight-in, right? And he didn't even lead the team in catches. That was Lucas Crowell who had 19 catches on the season, but didn't even have 188 yards. So it's telling you that the tight-in position in Denver's offense, it is not producing in a high enough rate in terms of yards and output. Like, Sarah, tell me your thoughts on this. if you have a titan who's got 19 catches,

Starting point is 00:17:06 you at least expect him to have more than 188 yards at that point, right? Yeah, you got to have at least 200, probably at that point, right? I mean, if you're talking about roughly 10 or so yards per reception, I mean, I don't think that's over the moon expectations by any means. It's, I don't know if it's the lack of opportunities at yards after the catch. I don't know if it's lack of weekly involvement just in general, Cody, but you're right. I mean, the biggest splashes in the passing game at the tight end position this year did come from Adam Troutman.

Starting point is 00:17:38 It had that one-handed catch that you referenced against Carolina. And then I believe he had another touchdown. I think all three tight ends made plays against the Atlanta Falcons on National Tidens Day. And both Troutman and Adkins had touchdowns that day. But other than those plays, like, and they stand out because, I mean, it's easy to remember. It's like the last year we got the lunar eclipse as well. So it was like the lunar eclipse and the, you know, or was it the solar eclipse, whatever, whichever one it was. One of the eclipses, and then we got the Broncos tight ends catching a couple of passes.

Starting point is 00:18:10 So the rarity, what I'm saying is about on par for both. So I just think that when you look at this, is it a coaching situation? Is it an involvement in the offensive game plan? And I just think that they put too many eggs, as we've said on this show before, in the Greg Dulcich Basket back in 2023. He supposedly had a tremendous OTAs under Sean Payton. The hype train was going off the rails. We remember these things because, man, Dulcich seemingly should have been the perfect sort of player at this position. But then at game against the New York Jets where he missed a number of blocks and playing a big slot role,

Starting point is 00:18:48 you just can't do. That was the final straw for Greg Dolcich at the position. And so you've hindered yourself. We never saw Donald Parham during the season. Little Jordan Humphrey kind of did some cracking down, blocking stuff as a big slot slash, you know, filling in that Greg Dulcich role in a way. Yeah. I just it was so disappointing to see this, the lack of effort put towards building this position, but also kind of just the lack of creativity in finding solutions. So that's, that's really, to me, the biggest frustration about tight end right now.

Starting point is 00:19:23 and that really hopefully will be the launching point for going forward in 2025. Well, and it has to be. I mean, you know, for a quarterback like Bownex, for any QB in this league, I think to be successful, you know, Sean Payton has said it. You have to have a strong run game and you have to have a defense, which Denver had a strong defense. They didn't have a strong run game in 2024. But I also believe you need a tight end that is capable of being an option for you,

Starting point is 00:19:47 especially it doesn't have to be like your primary guy on first down. Look, I don't think in today's NFL, there are guys like Rob Grancowski anymore, right? Like Rob was an all-around complete weapon. Look, there are guys who got big body types that could fit the board, like San Leporta, the Detroit Lions. Not a gronk-type guy, but can make a couple of gronk-type plays here and there,

Starting point is 00:20:07 but it's not going to be at the volume rate in which we saw guys like Rob Grancowski back in the day, Travis Kelsey just a handful of years ago. Like, even Kelsey was relatively quiet in the AFC championship game. And I know he has a couple of catches and moved the chains for first down, but it's like those are big. Those are huge. He doesn't have to be the 150-yard receiving guy anymore for that team.

Starting point is 00:20:26 So Denver needs to just find an option that can be someone that says, you know, hey, my first rehear, if you're Bow-Nix, okay, Cortland's covered, Marvin's covered, I'm going to dump it off to the tight end, and we're at least going to get five to six yards at this point. Versus, okay, the tight end is not a guy who's necessarily respected by the defense in a past coverage game, so we have to check it off to the running back instead and hope that you can get four or five yards. That's tough to do it at that position where you're throwing it behind the line of

Starting point is 00:20:52 scrimmage. Find a guy that you can get five to six yards. Use a big body frame to box out smaller nickel defenders or safeties. And I like Denver's chances of being able to improve their offense here once again in 2025. But man, it has to be an emphasis for Sean Peyton and this coaching staff and for the front office here this offseason. Part of me believes that that is the case. But ultimately, when we look at after a lacklust of a year from the position, the Broncos, they could improve their outlook at tight end in 2025 by adding a legitimate pass catching option here this offseason. We'll talk about that in more. We're here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos.

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Starting point is 00:22:14 That's Fandul.com. Bet with Fanduel, official partner of Super Bowl 59. The fourth quarter action of today's episode, Lockdown Broncos, is here. And if the offense and Bo Nicks are going to take a step forward in 2025, they have to improve the tight-end position. How do they do that? Free agency or the NFL draft will break all that down here. Just want to say thanks.

Starting point is 00:22:34 Once again, all the everydayers out there in Broncos Country. Thanks for making us your first list. And we got you covered all off season long. Once again, make sure you subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcast so you never miss out on what's going on with your favorite team. So let's ask this question here. And Broncos country, feel free to chime along as you're listening to the show. We're watching it.

Starting point is 00:22:52 How do the Broncos fix the tight-in position here in 2025? There are two avenues that are coming up that give the Broncos the opportunities to address this position, right? First off, NFL free agency. Is there somebody available on the free agency market that you can go out there and you can sign? It's going to come in and make plays for you right away. Or the NFL draft, where there are a handful of young players who excelled at the college level this past season throughout their collegiate careers that are now in line to be drafted in the NFL draft.

Starting point is 00:23:23 Well, that's round one, two, three, four, five, six, or seven. The Broncos, they have options and they have opportunities. It just depends on how the board falls. Sarah, let's look at free agency first, first in-house here for the Broncos. What does that look like for them? Right. Lucas Crawl is an exclusive rights free agent, which basically means like the price to bring him back is pre-determined and it's so low that

Starting point is 00:23:48 You'd be shocked if he wasn't on the 90-man roster this offseason. Of course, we've got to mention Thomas Yasmin, who was part of the international player program last year, who is on the 90-man roster as of March. He was signed to a futures contract by the Broncos, so he'll be back in the fold. But other than that, Adam Trotman under contract, Nate Adkins, under contract. The Broncos have a number of guys that they'll be running it back with. The question, like you said, Cody, becomes who do we add to this position and where? I don't know that the Broncos can be overly picky about this.

Starting point is 00:24:21 Free agency, the NFL draft. Heck, let's even throw the trade market, whatever ends up materializing in that regard into the mix because you've got to leave no stone unturned in 2025 when it comes to upgrading the tight end position. 19 receptions by Lucas Crowell leading the team, pathetic. 188 receiving yards by Adam Trotman, as you mentioned, that led the team. That's pathetic. You've got to go add somebody and multiple somebody's at the store. position to improve the just the just the raise the floor of the room i mean in general you've got to get

Starting point is 00:24:54 better past catching options and i think for sean peyton and his staff getting more creative about getting these past catching options involved especially when it comes to creating yards after the catch yeah i mean that's so important and look we we didn't see that very much here in 2025 so look i think internally yes i agree with you i think you bring lucas crawl back lucas is a player that i think is continuing to develop and he's got great height great size to him i think he's a player that here in a year or two i think he could be something special sarah and i'm i'm not going to walk back what i said last year about hey keep an eye on lucas crow he could be a diamond in the rough he could be an like an unspoken gem here on this broncos team give him some time to develop and he could be

Starting point is 00:25:36 something that's coppner even if he's not the number one guy but man he could become a number two at that position here for the broncos in a year or two and excited to see maybe the jump that he can take here. Obviously, we know that, you know, from the fullback position, Michael Burton said to be a free agent, you have Nate Atkins on your roster as a tight end. Is this the year that Nate Atkins moves to that fullback, that hybrid Hback option and plays that fullback role in situations here? And that's where you allow new blood to come in at this tight end position and maybe get some run. The first thing that comes up, though, is NFL free agency. And some of the names you've already seen linked or discussed as options, you look at New Orleans Saints pipeline here. Cody Ray

Starting point is 00:26:16 or the VP of player personnel. It's been a lot of time there. Pete Carmichael understands this as well. You look at Joanne Johnson, who's set to be a free agent. Certainly, I think an option here for the Broncos at the tight end position. You look at the Carolina Panthers and Tommy Trembal. Do they want to keep him there in Carolina to help out with Bryce Young, who obviously had a tremendous turnaround to his season and his career,

Starting point is 00:26:39 really after that Broncos game. The Broncos game was kind of one where it's like, hey, like, okay, Bryce is making plays against this Denver defense. you know, Denver defense, but then from that point, Bryce really kind of went a little crazy there. So maybe you keep that tight-end position there. That leads us to the NFL draft where I think every Broncos fan is excited because people already doing mock drafts. And folks, I know you love your mock drafts.

Starting point is 00:26:59 I'm not going to do mock drafts until after free after wave to a free agency because then we can see where this team is in terms of needs and flexibility here. But man, it's hard to ignore the idea of when you look at Penn State tight end, you take a look at the production there that obviously he had Tyler Warren. And you look at even like Texas has a very underrated tight end in gunner helm that I think is going to be a very interesting option here. And then there's Colston Loveland of Michigan. Like this tight end class, a lot of people are saying is pretty good. And there's even some rumblings coming out of the shrine bowl.

Starting point is 00:27:30 Who's the Iowa? You're an Iowa guy. I haven't watched. Luke, Lechay. He's making some noise at the shrine, shrine practice in terms of that. Not necessarily fast, but good route runner, good size. I mean, even there, like in the senior bowl is coming up. So there's, man, there's so much going on right now with some of these prospects that I think it'll allow us to have some more information to, you know, as these practices go on, the senior bowl, the shrine game happens.

Starting point is 00:27:54 We're going to be able to see some of these underrated gems a little bit in action before they test at the NFL combine. Yeah, and here's the thing that I would warn to Broncos country, okay? Brock Bowers obviously is going to elevate the stock. Yeah, exactly. That's exactly my point. He's going to elevate the stock of guys like Tyler Warren of Colson Loveland, but those guys are not Brock Bowers. Don't assume that one of those guys is going to immediately come into the NFL

Starting point is 00:28:22 and set the rookie tight end record for receptions and receiving yards and all these sorts of things. Like those guys are not Brock Bowers. Like Brock Bowers was Himithy James Jr. at Georgia. He was that dude and a rare unicorn type of player who everybody could see like this guy is going to be something special. Not that these guys won't be good tight ends, but it's just, it would be such an unfair expectation to heap that upon any of them to say, this guy could be the next Brock Bowers. I think to say, could they be the, you know, quote unquote, Brock Bowers for the Denver offense, you know, in terms of moving around the offensive formation and being a go-to

Starting point is 00:29:00 threat, absolutely, that's fair. But here would be my top warning other than that. Don't get married to the idea of any individual one of these guys, because it is such a deep, draft class at the position. And I don't think that that you can go wrong. Let's say you're round one, you know, Tyler Warren or Colston Loveland. Round two, maybe it's Harold Fannin Jr. The guy who set the NCAA FBS record for receptions by a tight end this past year at Bowling Green. And then you've got obviously, like you mentioned, Gunner Helm, who's a Colorado native. And then everybody else in between, we're going to see guys at the Shrine Bowl. We'll see guys at the Senior Bowl, the NFL Scouting Combine. Broncos will look at guys at Pro Days. And I think in terms of,

Starting point is 00:29:41 the pre-draft because you make a great point, Cody, in terms of the mock drafting stuff. We won't know until we get to the second wave of free agency. I could see the Broncos, I mean, is Tayson Hill going to be sticking around New Orleans? I don't know if he's not. I think he could come to Denver, and that would be a one-year type move,

Starting point is 00:29:59 but I feel like he would be an obvious candidate to come in. The Broncos really liked Luke Musgrave in the draft, and Tucker Kraft has emerged for the Packers. Do you see what the Packers would take for the final two years of Luke Musgraves contract as a rookie deal there. So there's so many options. You can't leave any stone unturned if you're the Denver Broncos in 2025. Now, I'm excited about it too.

Starting point is 00:30:22 And even like a little underlared gym like Ferguson from Oregon, who obviously played with Bow Nix. I mean, look, I don't think he's going to be a round one, two or three guy, but might be a surprise guy. You take a flyer on late. I don't know if he's going to get drafted. But, man, he's developed a really great relationship there with Bowwood, Oregon. Could be a gym there.

Starting point is 00:30:40 I, you know, even Broncos players, I talk to Troy Franklin, and he's like, man, he's a dog. I talked to Alex Forsyth. I thought, like, Ferg is a dog. Like, Ferg blocks. He can catch. He is a little bit of a weapon here. So, I don't know, he's obviously not going to be, I think the Broncos top priority, but a name to obviously watch in the NFL draft.

Starting point is 00:30:56 And look, this is exciting because we can play all these what-ifs, create all these scenarios here. I think we know what the Broncos need to do. We just don't know how they're going to do it and who they're going to bring in to, obviously, improve this position here. But that's why we. discuss this every day. We look at every position. We look at the offense. We look at the defense. Every stone gets turned here on lockdown Broncos. And so thank you to all the everydayers first listeners out there in Broncos country. That'll wrap up today's episode of the show. The plan for tomorrow's show,

Starting point is 00:31:24 for all you every dayers out there, here's what you can expect on tomorrow's episode of the show. We're going to take a look at the Broncos' offensive line at the tackle position. We know Garrett Bowles is locked into a long-term contract extension. Mike McGlinchie is continuing to burn off another year on his, but to the Broncos have some potential offensive tackles and waiting behind those guys? We'll take a look at the state of that on tomorrow's episode of Lockdown Broncos.

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