Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos' 2025 Pro Bowl Selections: PS2, Marvin Mims, Nik Bonitto In + Snubs?

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Denver Broncos have three players who have been named starters to the 2025 NFL Pro Bowl games will highlight why the Broncos are getting more recognition from a lot of people around the world. They'll break that down and much more here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, what's happening in Broncos country? Welcome into another episode of Lockdown Broncos, your daily.

Starting point is 00:00:35 Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, where you know it is your team every day for all the Broncos news, content coverage, analysis, and more that you get every single day all year long through the season, through the off season. We got you covered here. Thanks to all the everydayers out there in Broncos country. Thanks for making us your first listen of the day. Subscribe or follow so you never miss out on what's going on with your favorite team. I'm Cody Rourke.

Starting point is 00:00:59 Broncos beat reporter from Mile High Sports. Join as always by Sarah Bedinger, site expert, predominantly. Orange.com. And here's what we got in store for you on today's jam-packed episode of the show. We'll wrap things up by talking about why the Broncos performance on Sunday, whether they win or whether they lose, will set the tone for the off season and a potential revamp in 2025. On top of that, we'll talk about the biggest keys to victory in Sunday's game against the Chiefs. We're going to kick things off today by highlighting three Broncos players who were named as starters to the 2025 NFL Pro Bowl games. We'll go over snubs and all to

Starting point is 00:01:35 You get all that here on today's episode of the show, which is brought to you by our friends over there at price picks. Go to price picks.com slash locked on NFL use code all lowercase locked on NFL to win $50 instantly when you play $5. Sarah, my friend, the Pro Bowl games that they announced the starters for this. And obviously three Denver Broncos will be representing here. And look, I think once again, just even knowing what the alternate spread looks like here for Denver, a lot of people seem to be paying a lot of attention here to these Broncos here in 2020. in terms of fan voter recognition. There's obviously some snubs here,

Starting point is 00:02:09 but overall, it's nice to see that Denver's getting some recognition, even though the Pro Bowl isn't what it used to be, unfortunately. It's not what it used to be, but it's still a great recognition for some of these guys. Obviously, cornerback, Pat Sertan, leading the way.

Starting point is 00:02:24 Cody, feels like he should have probably made the Pro Bowl every year of his NFL career, but I believe as a rookie, he was one of those snubs that we're going to talk about in a little bit here. But other than that, Pat Sertan, every year kind of punching his ticket to the Pro Bowl games.

Starting point is 00:02:39 Marvin Mimps has made the Pro Bowl now in consecutive years to open up his NFL career. And as a return specialist, obviously he's been playing at a very high level lately as a wide receiver, but as a return specialist, now we're seeing him make it in the second straight year. And Nick Benito, the guy making his debut in the Pro Bowl this year. Cody, very exciting to see him rewarded for a fantastic season. in which we hope is capped off here in week 18 with a handful of sacks against Carson wins. Look, Zach Allen got what, three and a half, four sacks against the Bengals.

Starting point is 00:03:15 I think Nick Benito is probably looking at that and wondering, how many can I get in this game, right? And so a little stat padding here happening in week 18, but the Pro Bowl already locked up for Nick Bonito in year three for him. Yeah, I mean, like I said, I think getting recognized for the Pro Bowl, I think is a great recognition for the players. I know it doesn't hold as much weight and value as it. did like back in the day when the champ baileys the john lynches were playing it's like hey like being selected to a pro bowl was like well that's like that build your hall of fame resume essentially like if you're if you're bidding to be in a hall of fame like the amount of pro bowls you get factors into that i think now it's shifting to all pro voting where i do think i think nick benito i think

Starting point is 00:03:53 pat sartan i think marvin mims i think zach allen i think those guys will all be voted as all pros this season um that obviously is still to come here so obviously that you know it's something in the back pocket. But I just think it's incredible when you look at these guys seasons here, like Sarah, let's take a look at passer tan. You know, this season, he's allowed 33 catches on 54 total targets, snagging four interceptions. He's only allowed one touchdown this year. That was to Xavier Leggett against the Carolina Panthers, but he's forcing quarterbacks to have a passer rating of 56.0 when looking his way. That's pretty dang good there, according to our friends over there at NFL next gen stats. Then you got Marvin Mims. And in terms of the return specialist,

Starting point is 00:04:33 and eight return yards. That's more than he had last year when he got recognized as an all pro. And he also got voted to the Pro Bowl games, averaging 15.7 yards per punt return there. And then Nick Bonito, I mean, Sarah, let's read off his stat line here in terms of impact productivity. He's going to start opposite of T.J. Watt in the Pro Bowl games here. 11 and a half sacks, as we know, has a chance to up that ante here in the final regular season game against the Chiefs. 14 TFLs, which surpassed where he was at last year. two force fumbles, one fumble recovery, one interception, two defensive touchdowns, and 22 quarterback hits on 34 pressures.

Starting point is 00:05:11 To me, you look at the impact that he has had that all three of these guys have had on defense or whether it be special teams. It's been big. But can we talk about snubs here as well? I think probably when you look at all the Broncos potentially in line for Pro Bowl voting, Zach Allen, Zach Allen obviously has to be the biggest snub here. to do it has been a monster. When we talk about interior pressure, we just talk about, you know, quarterback hits coming off to three and a half sack game. Zach Allen is a guy who's been putting in the dirty work all year.

Starting point is 00:05:41 And we saw what it was like without Zach Allen being on the field for the one game for the Broncos. And it was like, wow, maybe he is the engine that gets that defensive line going a little bit. He's an impact player. He really is an impact player, Cody. He's been one of the best pressure players in the NFL all season long. And obviously we've seen just a number of areas in which he has really stepped up in a big way. When you look about, look at quarterback hits this year. Every single week, Pro Football Focus puts out a graphic of, hey, this guy is leading the NFL and quarterback hits.

Starting point is 00:06:15 Zach Allen has been at the top of that list. Basically since week one, he's been hitting the quarterback, getting after the quarterback every single game. And no better evidence of that than this past week against the Bengals. where, like we mentioned earlier, got three and a half, four sacks against Joe Burrow and was all over the place in that game. And he's been making plays all year. So it's not like he's had a couple of really big games that have kind of weighted his stats heavily. He's been so consistent. And so I feel like Zach was a huge, huge pro bowl snub this year.

Starting point is 00:06:48 But as you mentioned, all pro still to come. I assume he will be one of those guys because, Cody, the Broncos actually released a statistic on Wednesday. this past week, talking about the fact that Zach Allen has, from the interior defensive line, there's only a couple of guys in the last, I don't know, since 2006, I believe is their parameters for this stat. He's one of five guys with as many quarterback hits as he have. And that list includes J.J. Watt. It includes Aaron Donald and a couple of others there. So just phenomenal, phenomenal stuff from him this year. I know the Pro Bowl is all about fan voting and things like that but also too i think there is a i don't know the exact rules of this

Starting point is 00:07:31 maybe you can help me out here but i think there is a way for coaches to vote guys in or get guys in and i feel like man how did how did zach allen not qualify for that yeah i think i think fans get a third of the voting i think coaches and players get a third of the voting as well and i think media gets a third of the voting so it's just kind of like three pieces of pie in terms of maybe how it's all split up. And look, I think anytime you get into fandom, like we even saw earlier at one point, was it Chiefs fullback running back. Carson Steele had a lot of votes.

Starting point is 00:08:02 And it's like, okay, like it's just a popularity contest at that point. And realistically, it is a glorified popularity contest. But it is nice to see that more people are paying attention, you know, to the Broncos. Like even fans on the outside are like, wow, that guy's good. Like I've seen a lot of people come out and say, wow, PS2 is the best corner in the game. You even got New York Jets fans coming out saying it, which. a couple years ago they weren't saying that because they're like sauce sauce sauce sauce but a lot of praise for nick benito marvin mims this is a fun young broncos roster

Starting point is 00:08:31 that i'm excited to see continue to develop let's go over some of the alternates here for denver now in terms of first alternates quinn miners will be a first alternate alternate offensive guard as well as long snapper mitchell for a bony so that's that's kind of cool you get a long snapper in the mix is the first alternate okay that's pretty dope there Denver has no second alternates there but they do have two point players listed as third alternates offensive tackle, Garrett Bulls, kicker Will Lutz. And Will Lutz has had a terrific season this year. I don't think he's had a miss since that blocked field goal against Kansas City.

Starting point is 00:09:04 So we're subject there. But, man, he's been a big deal for the Broncos fourth alternates. This is where I find things interesting. Quarterback, Bo Nicks, Zach Allen's a fourth alternate and fullback Michael Burton. But the thing about Bo Nix, he received more votes for the Pro Bowl than Patrick Mahomes did. So I found that to be a little interesting. That's really funny. When I heard that, I almost couldn't believe it because, you know, I doubt Chiefs fans really care about this.

Starting point is 00:09:28 Like, they don't expect their guys to go to the Pro Bowl games anyway. So why vote for them in the first place? Yeah. But at the same time, it's kind of like, you know, it's just funny. It's kind of a cool feather in the cap to be able to say you got more Pro Bowl votes than Pat Mahomes. If anything, it shows that, you know, a lot of times we talk about the negativity towards Bow Nicks from, you know, a lot of the minority, the loudest. voices. But I think it's cool to see the public really rallying around Bo Nix and Broncos country really rallying around Bo Nix and saying, hey, like, we love this guy. We got the fat

Starting point is 00:10:04 heads on the wall. I'm going to do an episode one of these days from my son's room. We got the big fat head of Bo Nix on the wall in there. We've got the jerseys. He's he's proven himself to enough of Broncos country to get that many votes. I mean, I think it's awesome. And I'm excited for him for that particular reason. Well, Broncos country, we want to hear from you. Your thoughts on the three Broncos players named as starters to the NFL 2025 Pro Bowl games, Patser Tan, Nick Benito, and Marvin Mims. Make sure you let's know your thoughts on that, the biggest snub as well. We're going to get into our biggest keys to victory for Sunday's game against the Kansas City Chief. Sarah's got his three. I've got my three. What are yours? We'll break it down and much more here on today's

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Starting point is 00:12:56 Visit betterhelp.com slash locked on today to get 10% off your first month. That's better help. HELP.com slash locked on. If the Denver Broncos can do these few things, then we will be talking about this team being in the playoffs. And we'll be having a celebratory post game podcast here. Let's manifest it. Broncos country right now. We're going to talk about some keys to victory in week 18. And if the

Starting point is 00:13:24 Broncos do these things, we are going to punch a ticket to the dance together. And I want to just say, thank you to every single one of you that's been rocking with us here at Lockdown Broncos every single day. And you every dayers know that your boys, Cody and Sarah, we got you every day here on the podcast to cover all things Denver Broncos, no matter if it's the off season, the regular season, the preseason, or hopefully soon the postseason. Hit subscribe if you haven't done so already. We got you every single day with brand new Denver Broncos content. Let's talk some keys to victory here, Cody, because, man, I think if the Broncos can do what we're saying, this menu that we've got set up here, this, this Michelin Star menu of

Starting point is 00:14:02 Broncos to do items, if they can make these things happen, boy, it's going to be easy to go to sleep on Sunday night, and it's going to be even better to wake up on Monday morning. Yeah, and I think that's the biggest thing. So let's start off, like you and I both did a three keys to Vick's. three. I'll start things off here. I think the first key here for the Broncos, Sarah, number one, it is commit to the run game. For the offensive side of the ball, for Sean Payton, it's easy to open things up a little bit. If you can commit to the run with Jolilil McLaughlin, as we saw, it was a little bit of the spark here that the Broncos

Starting point is 00:14:37 needed in that Cincinnati Bengals game. He opened things up for Bo Nix to find Cortland Sutton for a touchdown, to find Marvin Mims. He put chaos, he put pressure on that Bengals defense and you need to do that against the Kansas City Chiefs defense that with Steve Spagnullo, he's ultra aggressive and how he calls defenses. You can expect corner blitzes from the outside on the boundary. You can expect a nickel blitz from the field and you can expect on third down, what do you think we're going to see? Double A gap blitz is from the linebackers. So don't make it a situation where Bo Nix has to sit here and pass the entire game. Help Bo Nix out by giving him a run game that will open up every avenue across the field for him with

Starting point is 00:15:17 of various receivers that the Broncos do have. That is key number one. Key number two right here, I think it's absolutely imperative for the Broncos to shore up the communication issues that they have had on the defensive side of the ball. And really, it's what do you get pre-snap, right? You see a formation, something changes. Ensure that everybody is on the same page.

Starting point is 00:15:38 We've seen too many communication issues. Sometimes on the outside. We've seen it between the safeties and the linebackers. Fix those issues. Get those shored up a little bit because teams are going to. going to look to exploit you in that regard. And key number three here for the Broncos, I think you have to fluster Carson Wentz. Get after him, create a lot of pressure with guys like Nick Benito, Jonathan Cooper.

Starting point is 00:16:00 And with that increased pressure, if you can sack him, that's great. But increase that pressure and create opportunities for takeaways win the turnover battle. The Broncos have to do that. Look, they sack Joe Burrough seven times last week, and they still lost. and that's because they couldn't create takeaways and turnovers. Get both of those aspects combined this week and better things going to happen here for the Broncos on offense and on defense. Those are my three biggest keys to victory here. And if the Broncos can do two of those three keys there, I think they have a great chance to win this game here on Sunday.

Starting point is 00:16:34 It's not going to be easy. I know Kansas is going to be playing some of their backups. There's still going to be some good players. DeAndre Hopkins is going to probably play in this game. Juju Smith Shoes to throw play. Kareem Hunt will probably play in this game. So those are good weapons for Carson Winston to try to get involved with. So we'll see how things kind of pan out here on Sunday.

Starting point is 00:16:50 But Sarah, your keys to victory. What do you have, my friend? Well, I love those keys that you mentioned, Cody. And I think that when it comes to the mentality going into this game, my number one key to victory has got to be put the pedal to the metal immediately, right? Let's not mess around with any sort of, okay, we want to, you know, make sure we're being conservative. and, you know, well, we knew that there was a possibility of a tie. I don't mess around with that.

Starting point is 00:17:17 Let's march right down the field. Let's get in their face and let's be the aggressor on both sides of the ball. I think it goes hand in hand with your third key right there, Cody, in terms of getting Carson Wentz and creating turnovers. Man, the main issue with the Bengals game was that they didn't get to Joe Burrow until it was already too late. They were already basically in scoring range every time they were able to sack him. or if they were able to sack him, he was able to convert on third and long. So you've got to finish the job.

Starting point is 00:17:46 Be the aggressor. When it's third and nine plus, that better be, it better be just as likely the chiefs would punt on third down as they would, you know, convert on third down. Because, man, you don't want to see them be able to convert third and long situations when you finally get them into those spots. So put the pedal to the metal is my number one key. Number two, get off the field quickly on D.E. defense and in so doing, create extra possessions for the offense. That's going to be crucial in a

Starting point is 00:18:17 game like this. I was talking about it in our crossover Thursday episode with Chris Clark as well. But the more possessions you can create for your offense, the more opportunity they're going to have to cash in in games that we've seen the Broncos win this year, the majority of them, Cody, eight of the Broncos, nine victories this season have been by nine or more points. And how many of those games have the Broncos dominated the turnover were battle or how many extra opportunities has the defense given the offense. So I think that's going to be a key in this game. Create those extra opportunities,

Starting point is 00:18:48 even if you are not getting interceptions and forced fumbles early in the game. Get those guys off the field, three and out, three and out, three and out. Get the ball back to Bow Nicks and the offense as many times as you can. My number three key to victory in this game is dominate time of possession and field position. This was atrocious against the Cincinnati. Bengals, if we can put it that way. It was absolute garbage. When the Broncos tried to play the field position battle, Riley Dixon was terrible, had the worst game of the season. It was just awful. He set the Bengals up with prime field position almost every single time he went back there to kick the ball.

Starting point is 00:19:27 So I hope Riley Dixon took last week's game personally. And for the Denver Broncos offensively, how many games have we seen them dominate this year when they can run the ball? You go all the way back to the Tampa Bay game, man, Tyler Badegh running all over those guys. You go back to the Saints game. It was Giovante, Joliel McLaughman, Bo Nix even getting involved in the running game. How many games have the Broncos dominated this year when the running game was on points? And that's just the reality of this team. When they can run the ball meant Bo Nix working off play action. Now he's hitting some more of these deep shots. Cody, I think if we can see the Broncos win time of possession in the field position battle, they're going to be just all right in this game.

Starting point is 00:20:09 I agree with you there. And look, I think one of the keys that you mentioned about field position is crucial. Like how many times, like, even in games where the Broncos have been kind of teetering on like, oh, they might be losing momentum, the special teams unit and Riley Dixon, where they have come up big, they have a punt. It bounces. Guys get it and they pin the opposing offense within the, you know, within their own five-yard line, sometimes on the two or the one.

Starting point is 00:20:30 That has helped the Broncos. Like the Colts game is a great example of that because they, did that on, you know, when the Colts had all the momentum and then they almost force a safety on Anthony Richardson. They're like, that right there has been such in a crucial aspect, I think, to the success of the team this season. You've got to get back to that. But I also think that helps by not falling behind the chains here a little bit, like penalties. You can't have holding penalties. Can't fall starts. Anytime we've seen the Broncos play in those situations,

Starting point is 00:20:58 say, where, hey, it's first down. There's a false start. First and 15. That's when their drive stalls. And. patterns because they have a negative play. It sets them back, and then they can't find a way to get forward. And then we look back at like those little details, as Sean Payton says, the lost yards, the hidden yards, those make a huge difference in the grand scheme of it. It comes down to discipline. And look, I think that this Broncos team, they want to get this taste out of their mouth. And look, we'll talk a little bit more about that I've had a chance to talk to a few players in the locker room this week. We'll highlight some of that, especially as we talk about how

Starting point is 00:21:31 the Broncos performance here on Sunday's game against Kansas City, whether they win, and go to the postseason or whether they lose, it will set the tone for the off season. We'll break that down and much more here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Today's Lockdown Broncos podcast is brought to you by our friends over there at Fandu. And as you all know it, Fandual is America's number one sportsbook and the NFL playoffs. They are almost here. We're in the final week of the NFL regular season. And it's not too late to get in on the action with Fandu, America's number one sportsbook.

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Starting point is 00:23:01 Locked on Broncos, Sunday's game for this team. It's all or nothing. It's due or die. Week 18, when it advance, if you lose, you have to hope the results for some other teams go the opposite way. You don't want to bank on that. So what does that say about the Broncos here in week 18 if they win, if they lose? How does it set up the off season, which is approaching relatively quick?

Starting point is 00:23:25 We'll break it down here on today's episode of the show. I think primarily, you know, for the last four weeks, we have been saying here. and fans have kind of noticed this as well. But it's true. This is the biggest game of the Broncos season so far because there is so much a stake. The Broncos have a lot to gain, but they also have everything to lose, right? You're in this position right now where you have a chance to make it into the postseason for the first time in nine years. A win puts you in.

Starting point is 00:23:51 You've had two chances in the last two weeks to do it. You've fallen short. I've gone around and I've talked to Broncos players in the locker room this week, Sarah. And the one thing that I asked them, I said, how are you feeling about it? And guys like Nick Benito, they did tell me, like, you know, it's sour taste in our mouth. And we got to get it out. He said, this is the week. I can't wait to do it.

Starting point is 00:24:09 Guys like Cortland Sutton have come out and they said, like, no more talk. We got to go out there and we've got to do it. Like, we just got to play our brand of football. And that's exactly what Denver's got to do. But I can tell you this, players in that locker room, they're not happy about the two games skid that they're currently experiencing. They're very, very eager to get after it. And regardless, they don't care. Chiefs backups, chief starters, they don't care.

Starting point is 00:24:31 They want to come out and they got to win. And so this is a huge one here on Sunday. And if they do win, I think it still sets the tone for the off season in an exciting way. And even if they lose, it definitely sets the tone because then it gives you ideas as to where they can aggressively attack some areas of the operation. Yeah, I'm not worried at all about a loss in the playoffs, Cody, because losses in the playoffs have prompted some of the greatest resurgence in Broncos history. I mean, you want to go all the way back to the 90s.

Starting point is 00:25:01 They lost in the postseason to Jacksonville, I believe the next off season, they went out and got Neil Smith for their defense and upgraded that side of the ball. You go back to 2011, the Tim Tebow season, right? And you make the playoffs, a proof of concept that really nobody thought was even possible. Well, that caught the attention of one Peyton Manning, who joined the Denver Broncos the following off season, 2012. You fall short against Baltimore. So what does John Elway do? He goes and gets West Welker, arguably the greatest slot. receiver to ever do it at 2013. You fall short in the Super Bowl. So what happens? The spending spree in

Starting point is 00:25:37 2014 that ultimately led to Super Bowl 50. So losing in the post-2014, 2014 also propelled them too. Absolutely. It did. Absolutely. And those losses are things that you can learn from. And it's, I know that people don't like to say, well, you can't really carry over momentum from one year to the other in the NFL. But there's a lot of continuity on this roster. going forward. Like if you look at the Broncos pending free agents for 2025, it's a lot less guys now than it was six months ago. So there's going to be a lot of continuity on the roster.

Starting point is 00:26:15 There's going to be a lot of guys with chips on their shoulder no matter what happens. But getting to the postseason and tasting it is so, so critical for these guys. No matter what would happen in Buffalo, doesn't matter. Getting there and being on that stage is of the utmost importance. for this team going forward. I agree with you 100%. Look, I think one of the things when you can look at maybe some potential

Starting point is 00:26:36 storylines, whether the Broncos win or lose, how it sets the tone for the off season. Think number one, can Denver make noise in the playoffs? I think if they get in, look, we always say, you just want to punch a ticket to the dance and be able to, you never know how it's going to be. Like nobody expected the Broncos last year

Starting point is 00:26:54 to go into Buffalo on Monday night football and beat them. They found a way to do that. Buffalo is very good. And right now on paper, if you look at Denver, is Buffalo. It doesn't look like a great matchup for Denver. And when you see how Buffalo has played teams this year, you're like, ah, you know, it could be a one and done situation. But as we've seen,

Starting point is 00:27:11 there could be a switch that gets flipped here in the playoffs. So think about it. What if Denver goes in like that makes the playoffs by beating Kansas City this week. And let's say they beat Buffalo. Like that would be one of the biggest upsets of the entire NFL season. Imagine what that does for the narrative. Imagine what that does for the off season. That right there could make Denver a free agent destination for a lot of different players. So that's one thing to consider. Number two, how will Denver attack the off season? Sarah, you and I have answered it.

Starting point is 00:27:39 We've had a bell bag questions about it. I think this is going to be a year where the Broncos go out and they spend some big money, not like on multiple people. I think they spend big on maybe one or two positions in free agency. And then they load everything else up with the NFL draft. That's kind of where I'm filling this direction with this team going, whether they win or whether they lose on Sunday. I think they're going to definitely.

Starting point is 00:28:01 be big spenders, Cody, and I think they're going to be one of the most attractive destinations. Obviously, two and three on this list really tied together. How will they attack the offseason and they're in position to spend big? I mean, that to me is the indicator right there that like the Broncos, they still will have 35 million in dead money from Russell Wilson's contract on the books in 2025. And yet, they're still going to be top 10 in the NFL in available cap space. And I know folks are wondering, like, how are they going to be able to fit this guy and this guy and this guy on the cap going forward. And it's like with Bo Nix's situation,

Starting point is 00:28:36 you don't have to worry about that at all for the next like four to five years because even if Bo gets an extension at some point in the next four years, which I mean, we're really getting ahead of ourselves here. But at that point, that extension is going to have very low hits for the first few years. And so you don't have to worry about that kind of stuff, especially with the increasing salary cap, with cash rich ownership, and all the. the different reasons that players are going to want to come to Denver. Man, I think J.J. Watt brought this up, Cody, which indicates just how important this is to players going forward. The new training facility that will be ready in 2026, free agents are going

Starting point is 00:29:16 to be clamoring to get to Denver to be able to have state of the art the newest facilities in the entire NFL as of next year. I know it's not 2025, but 2026, these guys who sign multi-year deals, they're going to be living the life as far as it goes with, you know, you have the ownership that's going to back you that takes into account those end of year surveys, right? And so I think they're going to be huge spenders. I think you're going to see high profile players coming in. You know what I'll tell you. It has been a really good benefit of maybe the NFLPA and the grading survey that gets put out there is that the NFLPA will hand these out like the results to players every year, right? And that right there when they're looking at it, that may influence the free agency

Starting point is 00:29:57 decisions. Like, you know, you look at like team facility, you look at training staff, strength and conditioning, you look at, you know, the environment post game. Like, do you have a family room to, you know, is it their adequate space? Is it accommodating to your family? Like all these other things that could be very important and higher priorities and things like money to some of these players. They're like, you know what? I want to go to a place like that. I think that's going to have to be something we look at here going for. The Broncos, they're in a good position. And I think that they, Sean Payton certainly helps with that. but I also think people are seeing the emergence here of Bo Nix and they're saying,

Starting point is 00:30:31 hey, like this young player, he can play. You got guy like Pat Sertan on defense, Nick Benito on defense. The nucleus of this young Broncos team, it's exciting. And I think Sunday's game, whether they win or whether they lose, will paint a very important picture for them going to the offseason. Absolutely. And it's like you said, the nucleus is there. And that's what players around the league will want to join.

Starting point is 00:30:53 Like if you can have your cake and eat it too, if you can get the free agent contract you want, or if you can go get traded to a team that will pay you along with that team having a nucleus, having a quarterback, having stability in the coaching staff, having stability and ownership, the training staff, such an underrated piece, Cody, of this team. Like the Broncos have what, two guys on IR, two or three guys on IR right now and two of them are healthy. I mean, Bade is healthy, right?

Starting point is 00:31:18 And Delary and Turner Yell is healthy. The only guy that's not healthy, I believe, is working his way back is Quinn Bailey and maybe Alex Singleton as well. So you've got two guys healthy on IR, two guys unhealthy, and look at the scope of the entire NFL, how large these factors are going to loom for free agents. I don't think Broncos country can comprehend just yet, the training facility, the cash available, the training staff and keeping guys healthy, the presence of a quarterback, the head coach.

Starting point is 00:31:48 I mean, all of it is working in the Broncos favor to have maybe the most exciting offseason that we have seen in quite. quite some time. We're excited for a Broncos country. We hope you are as well. Whether the team wins or loses, we know you got you covered every single day all year long, especially throughout the entire offseason. Hopefully we can have a postseason coverage here of your favorite team every single day on the locked on Broncos podcast. With that said, Broncos country, that'll wrap up today's episode of the show. The next time you'll see Sarah and myself, unless there's breaking news in between now and when the game starts on Sunday against Kansas City. You'll get the post game report following that. Week 18, the Broncos.

Starting point is 00:32:25 Chiefs, 2.25 p.m. Mountain Time kickoff. You'll get all the action and the recap here. Lockdown Broncos. We appreciate you so much. All the everydayers, all the first listeners. Thanks for rocking with us. We'll see you next time.

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