Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos' Bo Nix Still Being Disrespected By National Media After Historic Season

Episode Date: February 18, 2025

Despite having a historic rookie season, Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix continues to be on the receiving end of blatant disrespect by various national media outlets who are ignoring his level of production. How can Sean Payton and Bo use this to elevate the Broncos offense even further in 2025? Plus, will the Broncos bring back D.J. Jones, Cody Barton, or Justin Strnad in NFL Free Agency? Cody Roark is a credentialed beat reporter for Mile High Sports and covers the Broncos daily in person. Sayre Bedinger is the site expert for Predominantly Orange. Both bring Broncos Country the most in-depth and objective coverage of the Denver Broncos. WANT MORE DAILY DENVER BRONCOS CONTENT?For all of the latest Denver Broncos news today -- Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOBroncos?sid=YouTube Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL Follow on Twitter: @CodyRoarkNFL and @SayreBedingerFollow the show on Twitter: @LockedOnBroncos Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!FanDuelRight now, new FanDuel customers can get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins!Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Denver Broncos quarterback, Bo Nix, continues to be on the receiving end of disrespect from national media. We're going to poke some holes in some of the narratives after his historic rookie season. We'll break the down and much more 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. Broncos country, what's happening? Welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast. part of the Lockdown Podcast Network where you know it is your team every day for all your Broncos news, content coverage analysis, and more every single day all year long. Make sure you make lockdown Broncos your first listen of the day.

Broncos Country, make sure you become an every day or because for the true fan, there is never an off season. We got you covered here over on the best Broncos podcast that is out there on the web. I'm Cody Roark. Broncos reporter here for Mile High Sports. joined as always by Sarah Bedinger, long-time site expert over there at predominantly orange.com. You can check out our written work there at those sites, respectively, plus here, every single day, wherever you get your podcast. We've got a jam-packed episode for you here on today's episode of the show. We'll wrap things up by taking a look at some free agency decisions. Will Cody Bartner, Justin Sternod be priority guys, the Broncos maybe look to bring back,

or could they reset at that position? We'll also talk about DJ Jones and whether or not the Broncos will look at bringing him back a veteran stable made part of that defensive line here. We're going to kick things off by really addressing some of the disrespect here today that continues to happen from the national media regarding Broncos quarterback, Bow Nix, who had a historic rookie season. We're going to wrap all that up into one episode here today. So Sarah, really, let's start off with what is important here. And I think Broncos country's fired up about it, and rightfully so they should be.

I'm fired up about it. I know you are as well. the national media, some outlets continue to put stuff out there that seemingly take a shot at Bo Nix or seemingly ignore the historic season he had as a rookie here for the Denver Broncos. Your thoughts on really what's transpired here from the latest tweet from the 33rd team. Yeah, it's a tweet that has since been deleted, right? I mean, after getting called out by community notes,

after getting called out by everybody in Broncos country, you love to see it. everybody. But I think it's so fascinating, Cody, that all throughout the regular season, I mean, you and I and many others who were, you know, coming to defend Bo Nix, so to speak, like, I think a lot of Broncos fans are like, why do you feel the need to defend Bo Nix? I mean, there's no reason to defend him at this point. Like, what people are saying about him is, is mostly accurate and or fair. And really, this is just an extension of what we were trying to defend and talk about during the season, right? I mean,

It just continued on now into the offseason to where the tweet in question here was opposed by the 33rd team that said the only rookie quarterback in NFL history to have 4,000 plus total yards, 30 plus touchdowns and 10 or more wins in his rookie season. And it was Jade and Daniels. That's the list. And it's like you completely ignored the guy who did exactly the same thing in the exact same rookie class. It's not like there's the benefit of the doubt of, well, I guess he did it. like, you know, five, six years ago. It's easy. It might have slipped their minds or whatever.

No, it was the exact same season, the exact same draft class. And yet, for whatever reason, Cody, when, when Bo Nix did something good, it always came with an asterisk from people who feel like they know better, right? Well, he leads the NFL and amongst rookies and deep passes, 20 plus yards downfield. Yeah, that's because he attempted more passes downfield 20 plus yards. Oh, okay. Well, you said he was a checkdown. merchant, I thought. So, I mean, if he's leading the league among rookies and 20 plus yard passes downfield,

that seems to contradict that. Well, but, you know, end of game, garbage time and this. I don't know, Cody, you tell me. I think it's kind of, it's kind of crazy. The fact that people are now just going to start seeing like this disrespect has been going on for a long time. Yeah, no. And look, it's, it's very frustrating because I think when we look at this year's rookie quarterback class, I mean, Sarah, you and I have been up front and center here saying, And look, Broncos country, this is where I think the fan base in general can be better than some of the other fan bases. Jaden Daniels, we can all sit here and acknowledge. Jaden Daniels had a terrific season for the Washington commanders.

Absolutely. He elevated, took them to a new level. Bo Nix did the same exact thing, but we don't have to bring down Jaden Daniels to lift up Bo Nix. And I know that the other side, other fan bases do a little bit the same. But there's also portions of the fan bases that are saying, hey, like Bo Nix, Jaden Daniels, they were the two best rookie QBs in this year's class based on what they did. But where I have the issue is as what you had mentioned, like, of course, Jaden Daniels won offensive rookie of the year. And as you and I have said, very deserving of that.

Bo Nix, I think also very deserving of that. I mean, Sarah, we're talking about a guy in Bo Nix who really, you look at his numbers, contradicts exactly what the 33rd team put out there and saying that Jaden Daniels was the only guy to do this. Bo Nix had 29 passing touchdown. He surpassed Baker Mayfield for second and passing touchdowns all time by a rookie in a season. just two TDs passing behind Justin Herbert, who set that record with 31 when he was a rookie.

And then you factor in that Bo had more overall touchdowns than Jaden Daniels. He had more passing touchdowns. Bo Nix had more yards passing than Jaden Daniels did as well. But yet all of a sudden, Bo Nix, nobody's talking about Bo Nix's rookie season. And for me, Sarah, I don't understand why, right? We can talk about Jaden and Daniels. The NFL world to certainly do that.

Yes, you should talk about what the commanders did. It was impressive. but why are we ignoring, why are national outlets ignoring what Bo Nix did, right? It seems to be a moving of the goalpost type of situation, as you alluded to earlier. Well, this, this, not. I even say this, Bo Nix did more with less around him than what Jaden Daniels did in Washington. And I think there's a very valid argument to that with a true number one guy with a balanced run game. I mean, they had two backs who were very capable of producing big impacts in the ground game or even out of the backfield as past catchers.

Bo Nix had Cortland Sutton primarily. And Bo Nix was primarily the offense for a large sports in the season. A third of the games that Denver had this year, he was the team's leading rushers. So this whole narrative that Bo doesn't deserve to be in the same conversation is ridiculous because Bo has better overall numbers in that regard. When we talk about that production, he deserves to be in that conversation here alongside Jaden Daniels. Jaden Daniels was deservingly, like you said, Cody, the offensive rookie of the year in the NFL. However, I will state that he received all.

but one first place votes for rookie of the year this year. The only other guy that received a first place vote for rookie of the year was Brock Bowers, the tight end for the Las Vegas Raiders. Now, Bo Nix finished in the top three of NFL offensive rookie of the year voting, which is great, but he was also left off of like four or five ballots completely. Non-ball knowers. Exactly. I'm mystified by this. This, if not for Jaden Daniels putting together a tremendous rookie,

he did. We're not trying to knock him down. But if not for his season, let's just say, I mean, Bo Nix would have had the best individual season for a rookie quarterback in NFL history. And it just so happens that two guys had a similar year in the same year, which is so it makes it so frustrating that, man, you can't, you can't acknowledge one guy because of the other for some reason. I don't get it. I mean, all year long, Cody, we were dealing with this kind of brushing aside the success of Bo Nix. Well, it's, it's because they, played a bad team this week or this team didn't have their best defender out there this week. Or you're playing the B team of the Saints.

It doesn't matter. Jaden Daniels didn't play anybody's B teams. I mean, the Broncos playing a division with multiple other playoff teams and the reigning AFC champions. I mean, so I just don't understand it. How can you leave Bo Nicks off your rookie of the year ballot? How can you not put him even in your top three or top two? He should have been number two on everybody's ballot to leave him off.

I think there was 12 total ballots. It either left him off or had him fourth or fifth on the rookie of the year voting. Absolute egregious for a fifth plus of the voters for these awards. I don't get it, Cody, but this is just a microcosm of the disrespect. Well, and both set a lot of records, not only franchise records here, but also some NFL records in terms of passing games where he had four, like three plus touchdowns, no interceptions. I mean, he had two instances this year where he had four touchdown, zero,

interceptions passing. He had that happened twice. He's had various multiple touchdown games here. And what's crazy about this, Sarah, is that you look at the start that Jaden Daniels had, certainly early on to the first four weeks. He had more overall touchdowns. Bow next his first touchdown pass there. When did it come again? Was it four? Week four. Yeah. So for him to be, to get to week four here and then lead all rookies and passing touchdowns this season is crazy to think about here. And man, if the Broncos offense, Sarah, and I'm telling you, this is, I think, think this is why Sean Payton is so excited. This is why Broncos country should be so excited.

If Sean Payton can get a good run game here for the Broncos, get him some more weapons, especially at the tight end position. Bo Nix is going to have a very, very big season here in 2025. And I'm so excited for it because now I think that Bo and the Broncos, you look at what the national media is doing. A lot of these guys are moving the goalposts about Knicks and the Broncos and Peyton. I hope they use this disrespect as fuel. And they go out there and light it up next. season and shut a lot of the naysayers up because look, this is the fact of the matter is the Broncos are finally back in a position where people could be talking about them,

but nobody's talking about the historic season that Bo Nix had. And that right there is an egregious fault in and of itself. And look, Broncos country, we want to hear from you on this subject as well. I know you guys came with the community notes on the other Twitter side, on Twitter X, whatever you want to call it these days, but you force them to delete the tweet because they're putting out information that's not accurate there.

Keep up the great work in regards. to that. But one thing we're going to continue is we're not done yet on today's episode of the show. Up next, we're going to discuss whether or not the Broncos will try to bring back DJ Jones in NFL free agency. It's just under a month away. Things are heating up. Will he return to man the middle of that defensive line? We'll break that down and much more on today's episode Locked on Broncos. Broncos country, today's episode of the show is brought to you by our friends over at Fanduil America's number one sportsbook. And even though the NFL season is over, the NBA season is still in full swing and you can be ready for tip off inside of Fandul,

America's number one sportsbook for all your NBA action because with Fandul, you can place live bets throughout the game. So even if you miss the opening tip off where you can even place bets on who's going to score the first basket of the game and the method of which is going to be scored, whether it's a layup, a dunk, a three point shot, a regular jump shot, or even a free throw. They got you covered inside of the Fanduil app or you can even bet on a fourth quarter comeback as it's happening.

So you can stay in on the action. And if you're looking for a bigger payout, you can even combine your bets into a same game parlay for a chance to win even more. And right now, new Fandual customers can get $150 in bonus bets. If your first $5 bet wins, just visit Fandual.com to join today. That's Fandul.com for your shot at $150 in bonus bets. Make every moment more with Fandul, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Speaking of making the NFL media at large eat crow, the Denver Broncos. actually ended up having one of the best defensive lines in 2024,

despite being said that they might have the worst going into the season. And one of the key pieces of that defensive line, DJ Jones, he's an unrestricted free agent. Are the Denver Broncos going to bring him back? Are they going to let him test the free agency waters? And if so, how would they replace him? Well, we're going to discuss that and much more on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos.

And Broncos country, for those of you out there who are everyday listeners that make Lockdown Broncos your first listen of the day, We appreciate you so much. Shout out to every single one of you. And if you're not already, hey, go ahead. Hit subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts as well as on YouTube. So you get us at the top of your algorithm because you know what? Free agency?

I mean, it's days away at this point, not even weeks. We are less than two weeks away, basically, from NFL free agency. So make sure you tuned in to lockdown Broncos every day to know exactly what's going on with your favorite team. Let's talk about DJ Jones, Cody, because he's been a key piece of this defensive resurgence. obviously a big ticket free agent pickup back in 2022. He signed a three-year deal worth $30 million coming over from the San Francisco 49ers, which was fascinating to me because he didn't follow Robert Sala to the New York Jets. I think he very much could have.

A lot of 49ers did do that. So the Broncos sign him to the big money deal. He comes in and he's been one of those players where you don't see a ton of stat production, but you see a lot of film production. What's your take on this? So the Broncos be trying to bring DJ Jones back? Or is he one of those guys they can afford to lose? Yeah, I don't think that they can afford to lose DJ.

Look, DJ is a glue guy inside that locker room. Obviously, you've got Malcolm Roach on the roster, but it's like I felt like Malcolm Roach and DJ Jones, when they rotated in and out and supplemented one another, like you're getting good impact here from DJ, right? But when DJ comes off and Malcolm comes in, you're not getting a drop off there. We're talking about having valuable,

depth here. And certainly DJ at this point, you know, like I said, he's 30. You know, he's reaching a part of his career where, you know, we all ask the question, how much longer is he going to be able to play? DJ is driven, man. And he's so loved in that locker room. He's a great teammate. And to your point about like when you look at the stats, I look at what DJ does, what he opens up for the inside linebackers, what he opens up for other guys at defensive end, DJ is an anchor there. He's hard to move inside that A gap, right? So you need guys who can do that for you. And, you know, I think that the Broncos need to look at bringing them back. Now, when we look at SpotTrack, his estimated market value here, Sarah, is a one-year deal worth

$11.2 million. I think in today's NFL, and if we even take a page, when you look at the scheme here for the Broncos advance Joseph here, you need valuable defensive linemen. We've all seen it. The trenches where it's one. The Broncos have already invested a lot of money in the offensive line. They've got Zach Allen. They've got John Franklin Myers, and you've got DJ Jones who can also help you stay competent in that department. You got Malcolm Roach here. In my opinion, the only change that the Broncos need to do here on the defensive line, I think they could improve their depth overall.

Like guys like In Yoma Owasarike, Sarah, I think you need to bring in competition for him because when he took the field last year, I didn't see a lot of push or a lot of just anything on tape that made me feel like, all right, hey, you know, in the Broncos, they eventually move on from DJ or Malcolm Roch, Huazareke, Uwazerike, even though he missed the whole year due to being suspended for the gambling thing, he'll be ready to step in. I just didn't see that type of flash for him when he was on the field. So I think you bring in competition for him specifically.

And when you look at free agency, Sarah, you got to ask yourself this question. If you are going to let DJ Jones go, who's out there. There's guys like BJ Hill from the Cincinnati Bengals who obviously might not be in a position to afford him with all the things that are going on, them on the offensive side of the ball. You got former San Francisco 49er Javon Kinla, who was more recently with the New York Jets. there's Sebastian Joseph who's now obviously he played with the Tennessee Titans Greg Gaines from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jerry Tilleri who was with the Minnesota Vikings I don't think there's anybody out there really that is better maybe B.J. Hill might be

the one guy that I would say like okay hey you're bringing in a young guy who can obviously I think play at a high level I don't see a clear upgrade over DJ Jones right now that's in free agency. Yeah it could very well be one of those situations to where hey we're looking at some deep cuts like last year. I don't know how many lists had Malcolm Roach on them in terms of, hey, let's target this guy for the Denver Broncos. And he ended up being the guy that George Peyton said might have been our best free agent signing of the entire off season, which is, I guess, saying something, but also they didn't sign too many guys. You know, Brandon Jones was another guy competing for that distinction potentially.

They know their free agency in my opinion. They did. And that's why I think, Cody, we could see that, you know, measured approach once again, as George Peyton put it at his press conference a handful of weeks ago and where you would like to see somebody like DJ Jones sign for a, you know, let's have our cake and eat it too. Let's bring the band back together and let's get him for a reasonable price because when you say one year nearly 12 million, I think you're asking a lot out of DJ Jones at that price tag, considering he's coming off a contract which was worth 10 million average annual value. So to me, that would be pretty rich to say almost 12 million,

especially on a one-year deal. And I could see there being competition for his services if the Broncos aren't willing to go past, if they draw a line in the sand. Like I mentioned, Robert Sala, he's now back in San Francisco, where DJ Jones had his most productive years. I feel like he could leverage that sort of situation

for more money because I'm through the 49ers, would love to have him back. I think even Javon Hargrave is one of those free agents potentially or a potential cap cut this offseason. for them. So we'll see what happens. But it's going to be fascinating to see because as much as you'd love to bring the band back together, is the cost going to be prohibitive with you had to re-sign Zach Allen, probably going to want to resign Malcolm Roach, maybe John Franklin Myers as well. Like how many of these guys can you realistically keep? But for DJ Jones to stick around, I think

is so important because how many true nose tackles do the Broncos have amongst that group right now? They really don't. I mean, they don't have that. And I think that's where DJ finally he excels. Like, you know, even in 2023, DJ had to move from nose tackle to D.N because they weren't getting production from Jonathan Harris at the rate in which they did. So they had to move DJ to D.N. And then they had to move Mike Purcell, who's really a backup at that point, they moved him to a starting defensive tackle. And the Broncos just simply weren't good when that happened. They took a massive step backward. DJ Jones keeps you strong at that anchor point. Now you got Malcolm Roach who's also there. Plus, you're retaining that glue and that chemistry that you

have there in that position room with obviously Jamar Kane who's done a terrific job with that positional group there. I think, you know, I'm very curious for your thoughts on this. I think the Broncos, if anything, they should look at maybe adding to this position in the NFL draft. Could it be first round? Maybe. Could it be second round? Maybe. Third round, possibly. But I think regardless, in the NFL draft, identify some guys you feel like can be disruptors and add them to the mix here, either in round one or round two. And I think that we can see things play out. I think very promising for the future of the Broncos,

specifically at the defensive tackle position. Yeah, there's definitely a plethora of defensive alignment in this draft class that make sense no matter what turn you're talking about. I mean, if it's first round, you're probably getting a guy who should have gone five to 10 picks higher in a, you know, regular draft class at that position group. If you're talking about second round, you're probably talking about a guy who would have been a late first round pick. So in the defensive line class that we're looking at,

you're probably looking at out kicking your coverage by at least a round or a handful of picks, no matter where you take one. So you're getting great value regardless. I mean, we've talked about this before, but I think last year at the Combine, 24 defensive linemen were invited this year. I think it's doubled. It's close to 44 or 48, something like that. And so the talent discrepancy between last year's class and this year's class is substantial.

and so the Bronx, it's going to be fascinating, Cody, because there's also a lot of playmakers in this class. And so how do the Broncos prioritize that? I think you allow yourself the flexibility by trying to bring back a DJ Jones and keep the band together to say, hey, we can take advantage of the depth of D-Line in this draft and say, we'll take one wherever, as opposed to putting yourself in a corner at any one of those spots,

because, man, you'd love to take advantage of the depth of the playmakers in this class as well. Yeah, and look, I think this is going to make the draft, I think a little more exciting here for the Broncos, because now they're not in a position where they're going to saying, oh, we need to find a quarterback as our quarterback in this year's draft. That's not the case here. The Broncos have the chance to take the best player available as it falls to them. Or if they want to move up or move back, like every option right now is on the table here for George Peyton and Sean Payton, who I think have proven that they know exactly what they're doing. They know how to do a really good job of being able to get what they want and getting tremendous value for some of the players.

they feel like we'll make an immediate impact. Last year's rookie class was big for Denver. Can they stack onto that here in 2025? Well, a lot of it depends on what they do in free agency. Bringing back guys like DJ Jones, in my opinion, is going to help them set the table for making those types of decisions here. But look, Broncos country, we're not done yet. We've got a lot to break down here on today's episode of the show.

Up next, we're going to take a look at the inside linebacker position. Cody Barton, Justin's Thernod, two guys who are starters in 2024 are set to become free agents in 2025. Did the Broncos bring any of them back? or do they reset at the position? We'll break that down and much more on today's episode. Locked on Broncos. As we jump on the fourth quarter action in today's episode, Locked on Broncos, we'll dive deep into the Broncos.

Two starters who were impact players for the Broncos defense at various points of this season that are set to be free agents. Cody Barton, Justin Sternard. But before we do that, I want to say thank you once again to all the everydayers out there in Broncos country. Make sure you make us your first listen of the day every single day because we have a brand new episode for you all throughout the entire offseason because for the true fan, there is never an off season.

We appreciate you so much for making the show exactly what it is. Your boy, Sarah and Cody, we got you cover every single day all year long. All right, Sarah, as we continue our free agency conversation here, inside linebacker looking at whether or not the Broncos should bring back Justin Sternard or Cody Barton. I know this is a conversation that a lot of people are having it on social media amongst Broncos country. I know certainly we've had these conversations before here, but when you look at it with some of the changes that we've, seen happen here, does it make sense for the Broncos to bring both or just one of these guys?

Or could they look at resetting this position room entirely going into 2025? Where do you think that they're going to start here? I'm so interested by this, Cody, because not only are these two guys free agents, but I think Alex Singleton remains one of the top potential cap casualties with over five. I think it's like $5.5 million or something in total savings if the Broncos cut Singleton. So, I mean, you're talking about a potential complete, hard reset at this position group. And the question that I have is who's going to go into the offseason wearing the green dot, you know, so to speak. I mean, I know they're not going to be doing a ton of football stuff, but is this the perfect opportunity to reset at that position group?

Or do you desperately need to bring somebody back who's worn the green dot? Because this is now year three with Vance Joseph in the building as the defensive coordinator. and how much does that play a factor? Like, do you make sure the floor is set at a certain level with a Barton or a singleton or, you know, even Sirnaut, out there? Because that's the one thing that I question, Cody, about just saying, hey, let's do a clean sweep of the linebacker position. You need new talent.

You need fresh legs out there. You need a bunch of new guys to kind of just reset that room. While on paper, that makes a lot of sense to me, you know, looking at the numbers and looking at the guys that we've had. But do you need somebody who's worn? the green dot to be there all offseason because is that carryover going to be important to the defensive success going forward or does it really matter that much? Yeah, I mean, this is a great question. And look, I know typically the inside linebackers always have the guy who's the green dot.

Alex Singleton was that guy before his injury. I think it became Cody Barton. I can see that shift to Brandon Jones potentially being the green dot guy here. I don't think it necessarily has to be, you know, an inside linebacker, you know, so to speak, but it could be maybe Pat. It could be, you know, your safety guys who are going to be on the field probably a lot longer, especially as the Broncos get some of their dime looks, you know, you're going to take a linebacker off the field. You're going to have one guy. You're going to add an extra DB. Does it make sense to maybe change who's got the green dot this year? Or it doesn't have to be the linebacker position. I think that's something that's up for debate here. Part of me is wondering though,

you know, like obviously Alex Singleton, he's running right now. It's just going through his recovery here in ACL training. He's continuing to put him work at the team facility. I'd be remiss if I don't don't give Jalil McLaughlin a little bit of a shout out. You know, he's been posting on his Instagram story. He's been putting your work at the team facility as well. And this is a guy who's just committed to working hard. So I'm excited for that. But, you know, then you have the question mark of Drew Sanders here.

Like, Sarah, I'm curious for your thoughts here because for me, if I have to look at maybe bringing back either Cody Barton or Justin Sternod, I'm looking at where you need maybe guys who can excel in certain roles. I think Justin Sternod will probably be the better guy to bring back because of special teams strictly there, right? He's shown the ability he can start for you there. I think he was the target of a lot of unfair criticism at times last season because people are seeing a result and they don't necessarily know what covers the Broncos are in, but he's the nearest guy. He's chasing and it's like, oh, he got burnt. Wasn't necessarily the case there. Justin Sternad before he got put into a starting role was one of the top special teams guys, right? You know,

you have Tremont Smith, who's obviously graded the highest. I mean, internally by the Broncos. Justin Sternaud came in second, not far back by a couple of points, but he didn't get to play as much special teams this year because he had to start on defense. And so I think you bring in Darren Rizzi as your next special teams coordinator, assistant head coach. And Darren Rizzi is going to want guys who are really, really good special teams aces. I think Justin Sternard is a special team's ace. And that's exactly, I think, what the Broncos need going into the season. Whereas Cody Barton, I know, has previously been able to play special teams. We know when he was signed initially Sean Payne said he's going to come in, he's going to compete at linebacker, but he gives a special

team's value. We didn't see him play much special teams last season here for Denver. I don't know if you have to choose one or the other here, Sarah in this case or instance. I don't know what the estimated market value is for either of these guys. But I think that if you come into it saying, we want to reset the linebacker position, neither of these guys are going to be your starters, right? But can you bring them back in backup roles? I think knowing that and guys who know your system defensively, that's where the value is. And then we factor in the question mark of Drew Sanders, who we have no idea what the plan is.

The NFL scout and combine is going to be late next week, going into obviously two weeks from now. We know Sean Peyton and George Payton are going to speak with the media. Hopefully we get some insight into this position specifically here. But man, then you factor in where is Drew going to play? Right. He's the big wild card. So you've rolled the dice on a number of different guys and you've got the wild card in the room that is Drew Sanders. But, I mean, you mentioned the motivation behind signing guys like,

you know, Cody Barton, even Alex Singleton, even bringing back Justin Sernod, the motivation was with all three of those guys to play special teams first and foremost and compete to potentially play off-ball linebacker. Like, I mean, it was supposed to be Jonas Griffith, who was also incidentally another one of those guys brought up to play special teams and ended up being a starter.

So heck, maybe the Broncos need to shift the strategy and say, you know what, we'll figure out special teams with another guy. we need to go after somebody who's deliberately going to start for our defense at linebacker. Like the idea that all these guys can come in, hey, he raises the floor for our special teams, but he can also compete at linebacker.

How about you flip that on its head a little bit or just at least say, we're going after like the Nick Bolton's of free agency. I'm not saying he has to be the guy, but let's go after a guy who's, he's not like, we're not worried about special teams. We're going to have that covered with other guys. This guy is going to be our.

inside linebacker going to play 80 plus percent of the snaps. He's going to be a key role, not just a role player, but a key starter for this defense and elevating what we believe was a weakness. As Sean Peyton said, inside linebacker, safety, they want to upgrade those spots. I think the strategy has to shift from, hey, this guy's upgrading our special teams,

but he could potentially start. Now shift it to this guy's going to start for us. That's like, that's the vision. He's the starting off ball linebacker. He's the green dot guy. maybe that has to be the focus going into free agency. I want to throw a little bit of a theory out here, right? This might be just like a crazy, crazy thought,

but something I can see happen, right? You know, Sean Payton mentioned linebacker safety as positions that they want to take a look at. Could we maybe see J.L. Skinner transition a little bit because he's athletic, he's tall to maybe that inside linebacker position. Could he make a positional change versus him just playing at safety? I mean, this is a guy who I think can be effective in the box. I mean, heck, when the Bengals got to the goal line, against the Broncos early on the season.

We saw Devin Key and J.L. Skinner come in and replace Brandon Jones and PJ P.J. Locket safety, which I don't understand what happened there, but it meant something that the Broncos view them a certain way. J.L. Skinner could be a guy who maybe makes that transition, but then I look at another free agent like Isaiah Simmons from the New York Giants who made that transition from safety to linebacker. And it's like, all right, do you maybe look at a guy like Simmons? I understand when Simmons was Arizona and Vance Joseph was there. There was a lot of controversy about maybe how he was being used there.

not sure if that was that's Joseph's decision or if that was the organization trying to figure out where to put him. But I'd be very curious to see if Isaiah Simmons is a name that the Broncos have some interest in for this position specifically because they've mentioned they want to be able to get a little bit more athletic there at that. You need guys who can drop back into your coverage lines. Isaiah Simmons is a freak athlete, was a ridiculous athlete when he's back playing college and I think has been a very good player here for the Giants defense.

Could he come over and could we maybe see J.L. Skinner? could there be a philosophy change there for how you use him? I'm not saying that's going to happen, but maybe Broncos country, something to keep an eye out for that could happen here as the Broncos get ready for the rest of the offseason here. But look, that'll wrap up today's episode of the show. Broncos Country want to know your thoughts on the national media disrespect

that continues towards Bo Nixon, his historic rookie season that he had. Let us know your thoughts on what not. You think the Broncos will or should try to bring back DJ Jones at Nose Tackle and your thoughts at inside linebacker, how the Broncos can and must address this position in the offseason. For all you every dayers out there, here's what you can expect on tomorrow's episode from Sarah and myself. We'll take a look at which players might not return in NFL free agency,

specifically between the backup quarterbacks. Is it Jared Stidham? Is it Zach Wilson? If you had to choose one or the other, who would it be? We're going to debate that and much more on tomorrow's episode of the show. Broncos country. We'll see you then.