Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - DAY 4: Bo Nix, Denver Broncos Offense STARTS HOT, Defense Adjusts at Broncos Training Camp

Starting point is 00:00:00 Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos offense got off to a hot start during Saturday's practice, but the defense found a way to adjust as practice went on. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. What's up, Broncos country? Cody Roak here for another episode, Locked on Broncos. Today's show is brought to you by our friends over there at Fandu. Join all the action at Fandu.com to play daily dingers and make your free pick on who's hitting

Starting point is 00:00:33 a homer, this MLBC. in the Broncos, Hilly training camp practice on Saturday for the NFL's back together weekend. And the Broncos offense was the theme early on. They got off to a hot start alongside Bo Nix. But the defense found a way to tighten up as practice went about. The quarterback two battle between Jared Stidham and Sam Ellinger continues to heat up a little bit. As Marvin Mims also finds a way to stack consecutive days as a downfield threat. Well, let's go through all that here on today's episode of show.

Starting point is 00:00:59 So let's start things off here by talking about, obviously, the biggest story coming out of Saturday's practice. we'll be off on Sunday back at it on Monday and next week the full pads come on. But in Saturday's practice for the NFL's back together weekend, we've got to see Bo Nix and the Broncos offense who have been very sharp so far to start training camp. They continued that hot trend early on. And it all began in seven on seven. Bo Nix was sharp, precise, getting the football out of his hand, finding Adam Troutman for a play connecting with Jalen Waddle on a play with Patrick's retaining coverage.

Starting point is 00:01:30 And then arguably the play of seven on seven, it came by design. And the way that the Broncos offense has structured certain things. And I can't go into the X's and those details just yet because I'm not allowed to. But I like how they are getting some of their better players on the field. And they're also scheming some things up to where they know that no matter what coverage you're going to get, they're going to have an opportunity to go make a play. And so they brought RJ Harvey in motion. And of course, in a situation where they got the Broncos defense and man coverage,

Starting point is 00:01:59 Justin Sternet had to climb through a lot of traffic to be able to get into trail technique on him. But Bo Nix threw an absolute dime down the right side to RJ Harvey for a touchdown. And the way that the offensive was schemed, especially formation with the other coinciding routes here, it made it very difficult for Brandon Jones to be able to get over the top in time to prevent RJ from catching it. And Bo just threw it in a perfect window because Sternada wasn't beaten badly. He was in trail technique trying to chase to get to the hip of Harvey. And Brandon Jones was coming over the top. Bo timed it perfectly to where he just dropped it right in before Brandon Jones could ever really get to it to even threaten the play.

Starting point is 00:02:37 It was something that was remarkable to see here from Bow. One thing I'm noticing from him, he's throwing with a lot more anticipation. He's not afraid. I feel like he's got a lot of confidence in his arm and we're seeing that. I think his release looks drastically different, a little bit more polished coming into this season. Granted, it's early on here in training camp, but that's just what the eye has told me so far.

Starting point is 00:02:58 And I've watched a lot of Bo Nicks, obviously through the course of his college career. and obviously it's time I've been on the beat covering him here in Denver. But, you know, that was a great start for them. But then in the team period, the Broncos first couple of plays, their first one of the day, it was kind of a little bit of a run emphasis. J.K. Dobbins got a couple of touches. But Bo Nix rolled out to his right, and he found Pat Bryant deep down field with Chris Abrams draining coverage for a touchdown.

Starting point is 00:03:21 And Bo just flicked it. And that mobility aspect of his game, and he even talked to us about this in his post-practice press conference. He doesn't want to change that. Sean Payton doesn't want that to change from him because he says that's one of Bow's greatest weapons and one of his greatest assets is his mobility and his ability to create off structure. I mean, that is where you have these things. You have to blend together.

Starting point is 00:03:43 And Bo just acknowledged it after practice by saying, you know, if that's something that helps our team, then no, we're not changing it. Like, I'm going to be more mobile. I'm going to use my legs. And he also talked about the fine line between knowing when to slide and protect himself and knowing when there's a situation when it's third and fourth down. and you've got to have the yardage, maybe diving, and you might have to take a shot to go get that first down. So Bo, calculated, aggressive. And I'd say there's a lot of confidence right now in Bo.

Starting point is 00:04:10 And he looks the part. He looks just more comfortable. He looks sharp. And he's quick. Like the thing that I'm watching with him is when they're going through seven on seven and they're even going through team, I'm seeing how he's reacting in real time to pressure pre-snap, where guys are lined up.

Starting point is 00:04:25 And he's knowing, based on the coverage, he knows where his guy's going to be. and we're seeing him throw with anticipation of spots where he knows, hey, if my receiver does a job, he's going to be right there to where it needs to be. That's one thing about Bow's game, I think, is transcend. We'll talk a little bit more about that in Monday's episode of the show. But after that, it was not so sharp for Bo and the Broncos offense in the second and the third team period, though they did have some moments where they got their licks back,

Starting point is 00:04:51 but primarily Riley Moss continued to have another good day. There was one play where he had a nice pass breakup while covering little Jordan Humphrey. Bow was trying to fit it in there. Riley came through and knocked it away, did a really good job. He also had tight coverage on Cortland Sutton on a deep downfield play that ultimately ended up being incomplete. He tried to fire a shot right over the window between the linebacker, the safety. And then obviously, I think the Broncos had a man variation there.

Starting point is 00:05:16 So Riley was playing man against Cortland and just did a really good job to stay on the hip. And the pressure was enough to where it just kind of sailed a little bit over Cortland there. He didn't have much of a chance to get it. So the pass fell incomplete. So Denver's defense tightened up there. And you had pressure looks from Malcolm Roach and Zach Allen on a few plays that forced Bo to throw it away. Though I think in a real game, Boe probably would have been sacked because Malcolm and Zach were right in his lap,

Starting point is 00:05:40 obviously on that one specific play there. So you love to see that in terms of the defense generates the pressure getting a lick back. But you also like to see the Broncos offense respond a little bit. And this is exactly what Bow next day in the third and final team period, obviously that Denver had. He connected with Jalen Waddle, who was being guarded by PS2. And look, the slant might be back, folks. Like, Jalen ran this perfect slant route, attacked it, caught it in space. And Patser Tans fast, he's one of the faster dudes on the team.

Starting point is 00:06:07 But Jalen caught it and his ability to catch it on the slant and then get vertical and then just get away from everybody. That was on display. And I think if you fans were in attendance, you probably know exactly what play I'm talking about. That was impressive there. But once again, you're seeing that speed element that I don't think the Broncos have necessarily had on a consistent basis. like Jalen is an all-around weapon here for Bow in this offense. But there were a few times that Bo was going to Jalen in the earlier team periods. And even in the final two-minute drill where they moved the ball,

Starting point is 00:06:38 Jalen slipped a couple of times on some of those outbreaking routes. So he was frustrated there trying to hit the grass, you know, just because there was an opportunity for him. And he's open. It's not like guys are tightly covering him. He is creating separation. But he slipped and fell. And that obviously led to an incomplete pass on a couple of attempts there

Starting point is 00:06:56 that Bo had to him. But those guys are still working on their chemistry. I don't think he's going to be an issue at all. I liked a lot of what I saw there from them. But in terms of the defense, you know, going back to it, even after like Passertan gave up that catch to Jalen Waddle, Bo Nix went after him once again. And that's another thing about Bo's game that I like.

Starting point is 00:07:13 He's not afraid to test PS2 and challenge him a little bit. Other quarterbacks might not want to do it around the NFL, but Bo does. Bo believes he's got the armed talent to be able to do that. But he went back to little Jordan Humphrey on one play. Riley Moss had another pass breakup in coverage. Riley's had a very good two days in a row, I'd say here, of Broncos practice as we continue to heat things up. And look, once again, these are practices that don't necessarily have full pads.

Starting point is 00:07:39 The Broncos, they have helmet, jersey shorts. Next week they're going to throw on the pads. I believe Wednesday's practice will be a full go, two and a half hour, fully padded practice. But I think there's also that ramp up here. So maybe Monday and Tuesday, you might see shells here and just a little bit of appeal back. because you do have to ramp up to the full padded, the full contact experience. So a lot to keep in eye,

Starting point is 00:08:01 but our general theme coming out of Saturdays practice, good start, hot start for the Broncos offense, defense bounces back in that second and third team period, but ultimately some good competition across the board, including at the quarterback two spot here, Sam Ellinger, Jared Stidham. These guys are quietly having a battle here for the quarterback two job. As Sean Payton says,

Starting point is 00:08:21 there is competition everywhere. But the Broncos offense, they change things up a little bit from what, what we've seen so far here in training camp. No, Sam Ellinger getting the first reps. We'll talk about what we saw from both the Denver's quarterbacks, plus Marvin Mims, heating up again. We'll break it all down here on today's episode of the show.

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Starting point is 00:10:20 We got a really good seat in-house. And we're able to see what our vantage point of the concert is going to be like beforehand with their seat view feature. Take the guest work out of buying tickets to every type of event with game time. Download the game time app, create an account, and use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create account and redeem code L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N for $20 off. Download the GameTime app today. Denver Broncos head coach, Sean Payton, says there is competition across the board with this team, and that is on display here at Broncos training camp. But a lot of people are keeping

Starting point is 00:10:50 an eye on the quarterback to battle. We'll talk about that here in a second. and just want to say thank you once again to everyone in Broncos country. His training camp has began. You know what? We're here for you every single day. We're here for you all year round. That is our promise to you. You get locked down Broncos every single day all year long.

Starting point is 00:11:04 And you get multiple episodes. Obviously, it's training camp and the preseason go about. You got the squad shows. So thanks for rock with us, making us your first listen here on the lockdown podcast network, your team every day plus the number one sports podcast network in the country. Let's talk about some of the competitions here across the board. QB2 is where we're going to start.

Starting point is 00:11:23 Jared Stidham. Obviously got the opportunity last year in an AFC championship game and Sam Ellinger, who had opportunities to go on other teams, 53-man rosters last year, wanted to stay in Denver. Sean Payton answered a little bit about that after today's practice, just talking about for Ellinger, he felt like he was growing as a quarterback and he felt like this scheme was something that was helping him transition a little bit more into becoming a player that maybe could go on here in a few years and maybe land on another team.

Starting point is 00:11:50 Or maybe even in Denver as the backup quarterback as early as, this upcoming season. But for these guys, the rotation kind of changed a little bit because typically it's been Bo Nix. And here's how the reps work here when the Broncos going to team period in seven on seven, right? For the offense, you're going to get 12 plays. Each quarterback is going to get four. Bo is always going to get the first four. And then it primarily has been Jared Stidham getting the next four and then Sam getting the final four. But today, they switched it up. It was Sam Ellinger getting the first four reps after Bo Nix and then Stidom working with kind of the the twos and threes and that final quadrant of four plays right there.

Starting point is 00:12:26 And look, I think both of these guys, they were slinging the football on seven on seven. Sam Ellinger came out slinging the ball to Lord Jordan Humphrey on two consecutive plays on some in-breaking routes, wasn't afraid to test the ball into tight windows. Jared Stidham came out there as well, and he was throwing it. He connected with Hakeem Butler on one key play, tried to go to little Jordan Humphrey, who would have had an incredible toe tap on the sideline, but he couldn't haul it in. He dropped it on that play. So that was kind of a negative mark counting against a little Jordan there.

Starting point is 00:12:54 But I think when you talk about the team period, Jared Stidham probably stood out the most between he and Sam Ellinger on today's practice because he connected deep downfield down the left sideline with Hakeem Butler, who had a nice little double move, beating new defensive back, Sam Wood for a big time score. And then he loaded up a shot to one of his new favorite playmakers. We saw it in the AFC championship game, him unloading a shot downfield to Marvin Mims,

Starting point is 00:13:20 who continues to stab. back days here at Broncos camp. And so much of that, too, is the stuff we've seen from Marvin, right? Instead of people just saying, okay, well, he's just this deep ball guy. Now, Marvin is more than that. And I try to tell a lot of people, but there's this conception that Marvin doesn't have an expanded route tree. I can tell you, you were vehemently wrong about that. Marvin can run every route in this route. It's just how the Broncos use him. I mean, very much with the rotation that we've seen Denver utilized over the last handful years, and in particular here in training camp, where every one of these guys Troy Franklin, Pat Bryant, Marvin, they are rotating in alongside Cortland Sutton and Jailon Wano.

Starting point is 00:13:56 They're all playing different roles. And sometimes Cortland and Jalen may not be on the field. And it may be Pat and Troy and Marvin in certain situations. We've seen that here in training camp with the first team offense. They really believe in not having a pecking order in that wide receiver room. But for Marvin, when you need him to make a big play, he's going to do it. He's proven that in the regular season. He's proven that in the postseason against the bills and obviously against the Patriots.

Starting point is 00:14:20 and he's doing that so far here early on in practice. Now, obviously, we talked about yesterday's practice where Bo Nix connected deep down the left side to Marvin for a big play touchdown with Riley Mawson coverage. Today, it was Jared Stidham's time to work as he threw a deep pass to Marvin who got behind Tyson Anderson and he hauled it in, tracked it into, because here's the thing that I like about Marvin's game. When that ball is high in the air and it's a deep ball, a lot of times guys are trying to look at who's in front of them.

Starting point is 00:14:48 They're trying to make sure they don't run into something or they're there's a safety, right? You know, if someone is still trying to climb over the top, Marvin does a great job of focusing and locking on the ball and being able to track it in till he secures it. That's one thing about his game. He's got really good hands. I'd say he's probably the most sure-handed wide receiver right now on Denver. You look at his drop rate, certainly suggests that as well. But the volume for Marvin, we want to increase. And I think Marvin has done nothing but raise his stock here as he's looking to get a contract extension with Denver. And we'll see how all the business side of all this plays out. But

Starting point is 00:15:20 Denver is much better with Marvin Mims than they are without him. And I understand guys like King Butler, little Jordan Humphrey, these guys have had some nice training camp practices, but Denver is not, I would say, as equipped to go win a Super Bowl without Marvin than they are with him. I think Marvin is going to be one of those most important hidden pieces,

Starting point is 00:15:39 not only just because of his returnability, but we see him when you need something big, Marvin's going to come up clutch. He's done that. He's reliable. That's why I think that Marvin, has such a big role inside of this offense. And we'll figure out ultimately as the regular season comes on,

Starting point is 00:15:55 how the Broncos and Davis Webb in particular are planning to utilize them. But Bo Nix, Bo Nix has a lot of weapons at his disposal right now. And look, that's a good problem to have here for this team. You have a lot of mouths that need to be fed. And I think the one way that this will work for this Broncos offense, because you have guys in this wide receiver room, you have guys at the tight end position and even at running back who aren't necessarily, it's all about me, me, where's my touches?

Starting point is 00:16:18 guys are willing to give up touches if it means that they can have a big role in some way, but they're winning games. This is a very selfless team. And I don't know. Like this is the crazy part about it, folks. I don't know how long the Broncos can keep this nucleus together like that. They have something special right now. And obviously, we know that future business decisions, future free agents,

Starting point is 00:16:40 you may not be able to bring certain guys back. I understand that. But the Broncos approach offensively, they have nothing but selfless guys in that. locker room at the skill player position. I think it also trickles down to the offensive line. You got guys who are bought into their role. And when you have a quarterback who's always trying to do what's best for the team as well, the Broncos are in a unique situation that I think when you look at the rest of the NFL, there aren't a lot of teams that have that design or that setup. They may have really good wide receivers. They may have some diva wide receivers. They may have

Starting point is 00:17:09 some diva tight ends or they could have a diva quarterback and maybe a couple of good receivers. The Broncos have a really good nucleus, I'd say, within their offense that I think will help them be successful this year. Marvin Mims is going to be one major part of that here as we go forward. So two consecutive days of Marvin making big plays downfield here for the Broncos offense. Denver is going to be off on Sunday and they'll be back on the field on Monday where they'll practice six straight days, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I'll be at every practice. You know, I'll have you covered here with post-practice recaps. We'll set the table a little bit throughout the entire training camp process.

Starting point is 00:17:44 as to what you're going to expect maybe going into a practice, the practice recap after the fact. And I do have to hit on a couple of news and notes here before we get out of today's episode of the show. In terms of players we did not see on the field here today. Once again, no Caleb Loner, which is very interesting. No Drew Sanders for the second consecutive day. We haven't seen Loner at all, but just two days ago, I saw Drew Sanders.

Starting point is 00:18:05 He was moving well. He was participating in team. So I'm not sure what is taking place. And that kind of leads into what, as a bigger topic, we're going to talk about a Monday show is Taysom Hill. Sean Payton told Steve Weish and Cynthia Freeland of the NFL network that they are exploring, adding Taysom Hill into the mix, who is now a free agent, Caleb Lonerna being on the field, maybe that impacts that.

Starting point is 00:18:27 I have my own thoughts on that, but that's going to get its own individual episode. It's going to set the table for Monday's practice. So Monday morning, you're getting a brand new episode of the show where we're talking about Taysam Hill, the hidden trait that we see from Bo Nix, where he's evolved so far coming into year three and so much more. Can't wait. So Broncos country, if you're a brand new viewer or listener, you want to know what's going on with your favorite team.

Starting point is 00:18:47 Lockdown Broncos is the place to be. You get it every day all year long. We'll see you on Monday for a brand new episode, Lockdown Broncos.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - DAY 4: Bo Nix, Denver Broncos Offense STARTS HOT, Defense Adjusts at Broncos Training Camp

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