Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos BUILDING Super Bowl CULTURE

Starting point is 00:00:00 And Sean Payton and Bow Nix prepare for their second season together. We'll tell you why the Denver Broncos have a culture that makes them contenders in 2025 on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Broncos country was happening. Welcome into another episode. Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Shout out to all the everydayers out there on Broncos country. Thank you so much for tuning in and making us your first listen, however you choose to do so.

Starting point is 00:00:42 And if you're not yet in everydayer, become one by hitting that subscribe by that follow button, wherever you get your podcast or on YouTube. So you never miss out on all your Broncos news, content coverage analysis more every single day all year long. I'm Cody Roark, Bronco's reporter for Mile High Sports. And I'm Sarah Bedinger, site expert at predominantly orange.com. And here's what you're going to get on today's episode of the show. Culture is so important. And we're going to go through and tell you why the Denver Broncos in 2025 have a Super Bowl culture that triculates through the entire locker room and even away from the facility with these players there.

Starting point is 00:01:15 We'll also highlight why Bo Nix and other guys on the defense like Patrick Sertan are the biggest leaders in 2025 and which young voices can emerge as leaders this upcoming season. And then we're going to talk about why chemistry matters for a young team and the Broncos, why they're on the right path with the group that they have currently. intact here to get all that on today's episode of the show. Sarah, look, some people are going to think that this is a hot take here. When we say that the Broncos, they have a Super Bowl culture. And so many people are going to say, well, what does that mean? The Broncos, they made it to the playoffs, but they didn't win. How can they have a Super Bowl culture?

Starting point is 00:01:51 It's not just about, Sarah, getting to the postseason. It's not just about winning. But in order to get far and to go to great lengths as a team, you have to have a good culture and a good foundation. And this dates back to how you build your roster. And this is the early stages of getting these guys together at training camp throughout the regular season. The grind that is, that culture comes before you even make it to the post season.

Starting point is 00:02:18 That culture comes before you even make it to the big game. It does. It starts from the top of the organization on down. And without vision, people perish, Cody. That's exactly one of the principles. I think that this ownership has embraced in terms of we see what the vision is for this team under a head coach like Sean Payton, who's been to that mountaintop in the past. We see the vision with a franchise quarterback in place.

Starting point is 00:02:42 We're investing in the right people for the organization. It all kind of comes together to create this melding pot that is the culture of your team. I think one of the most staggering examples that you've ever given is the one where there was guys that were chanting, you know, jokingly, but seriously at the same time, what was it, Cabo on the field at the end of the season, kind of like, getting ready for their vacations after the year. That culture is bred from a place of you've gotten too used to losing. You've gotten too used to collecting your paycheck.

Starting point is 00:03:14 I think one of the biggest things that gets underrated about an NFL team is how do you motivate a bunch of grown men who are getting paid millions of dollars to care as much about winning as they do about collecting their paychecks? That to me is what creates a Super Bowl type of culture is guys who want to win, who want to be in Denver in order to win. And I think the Broncos are building that. What is Sean Payton and George Payton? What have they historically said here that they want to know about players, right?

Starting point is 00:03:41 When we go through the NFL Combine, the pre-draft process, what is it that they have said to us specifically? They want to find guys that love football, right? And when you have this new concept in the college football realm where NIL is very present, you learn about which guys love the money or love football, right? You can have NIL money. still love football. Bo Nix was a great example. He had NIL money, but this is a guy who loves football. And it's trying to figure out, like when you get to the NFL, it really is about,

Starting point is 00:04:10 hey, guys are trying to get paid 100%. But can you have that balance where guys obviously want to be taken care of financially, but they also love the game so much, they're willing to do whatever it takes. They're willing to be a great teammate. They're willing to sacrifice their own selfish desires for the greater good of the team. That starts at the top, right? And I think for Sean Peyton coming in in 2023 here for this Broncos team. There was a culture that you had mentioned earlier that was present previously where this was a team that was so used to losing games that they were almost kind of accepting of it in a sense where you did have some guys that at the end of a huddle, you know, toward the end of the season, we're like, all right, one, two, three, Cabo.

Starting point is 00:04:47 And Nick Benito's like, wait a minute. No, like, this is not what I want to be part of like where I'm at and what my NFL career is going to be. Like Nick was very on the record about that. And those guys aren't here anymore. The Broncos and Sean Payton clearly have moved on from that because now you have a culture where you've moved on from some of those guys. And now you've allowed some of your younger voices to have a say in that room, right? You still have some veteran guys. We'll talk about them here as the show goes on. But when you hear the message from Sean Payton, and this is what he said to us as well in the offseason program,

Starting point is 00:05:19 his message was to come here to Denver to win championships, not to just be like, all right, we're going to win games and that's it. He wants to win championships. And he said inside that locker room, the players understand that message and they're bought in on that message because they want to win championships too. And it's tough because there's 31 other teams. You're battling 31 other cultures. You're battling 31 other realms of different talent and skill sets that ultimately could get in the way of what you want to achieve. When you look at it from that standpoint, Sarah, the idea of winning a Super Bowl is so incredibly difficult. And luckily the Broncos, they've won three over the course of their history.

Starting point is 00:05:53 but that standard and that message, it starts and ends with Sean Payton. And I think what Sean has been able to do by getting rid of those guys that didn't necessarily fit that message. You go look at Randy Gregory, Frank Clark, a handful of other guys. Don's fingerprints are all over this football team. And you also see it in the way that this team has bucked some of the trends that they've been in for the last handful of years. Yeah, it's been great to see some of those ugly streaks ending the streak against Kansas City, right? The streak against the Raiders. I mean, you could go back to a couple of seasons ago with the streak against Buffalo in Buffalo ending and a number of others.

Starting point is 00:06:29 The playoff drought, obviously being the most notable at this point, but also the streak of not drafting a quarterback that can actually be your franchise guy. I think that that's a huge indicator of the culture in Denver being the culture between, you could argue, the general manager and the head coach, how many people assumed that was going to go sour because of who they presumed Sean Payton to be. Those guys are working really well together. And they work well with the ownership. The ownership group is willing to do whatever resource-wise in order to make this team better, whether it's replacing the field on a moment's notice, the grass on the field, literally having it flown in from Arizona or whatever it is for just one regular season game

Starting point is 00:07:11 to make sure the players are safe, to the training staff, to the investment in free agency, to whatever, I mean, whatever this team meets, they are going after it. And I think it does help a little bit to have a villain that you're kind of, you have the chiefs in the division. Everybody wants to beat the chiefs. The chiefs are regardless of what the Eagles did in the Super Bowl, I think everybody wants to beat the chiefs the most out of any NFL team. And I think that that's going to be the case for the next couple of years still.

Starting point is 00:07:40 So having them at the top of the division sort of gives the Broncos a little extra measure of, okay, yeah, we've struggled to win in recent years. but also there's like this villain that we could be the team to take them down. We could be the team to end their dynasty, so to speak. And I think that does help with the team culture as well. Well, I know that Sean Payton doesn't like the survey, right, the NFLPA player survey. But when you look at the overall results of that and ownership getting a high mark by the players, whereas the grading criteria says that players feel like ownership is committed to winning,

Starting point is 00:08:14 finding ways to win and doing whatever they can to put the team in a position to in. Greg Penner has obviously done that since coming on board. You've seen him exhaust almost every resource. And when you have the cash richest ownership group in all of American sports, and the players are seeing that investment, that commitment from the top level, because there are some teams that don't have an ownership that does those little things that show like, hey, we want to win. Like, we're committed to winning. The Broncos see that. And so I think it motivates the players inside that locker. You see a commitment to building a brand new team facility as well. These are the things that will give these players what they feel like is going

Starting point is 00:08:48 be an edge this upcoming season and they're a young team and we've seen them grow and learn like there's been times this year where we really wanted to see what this team is made of right what's the fortitude when they lost that heartbreaker against Kansas City and it was it was tough like like I don't really have an emotional investment in the outcome of games right because I have to come here and do a show and deliver we took about 30 to 45 minutes after that game to be like wow like we were gutted for the Broncos after that loss to Kansas City and so much all week long we were saying there's so much pressure on this team to respond after that type of loss. And what do they do?

Starting point is 00:09:24 They come out and they blow the brakes off of Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons. So we saw different measures saying, hey, this is a team that's resilient. They got the mental fortitude and the makeup to be able to do that. And all those reasons plus another year together, I think that the Broncos have a Super Bowl culture. And hopefully they can go a little bit further this upcoming season. That's the hope to it. But Broncos, country, you want to hear your thoughts on whether or not you believe this Broncos team has a Super Bowl. culture what it means because it's not just getting to the Super Bowl, it's the things and the team

Starting point is 00:09:53 makeup that you have that's going to lead you through the entire regular season to the playoffs to potentially hopefully a Super Bowl. I think Denver has everything that they need to become a Super Bowl contender. And the culture is a big reason why that is the case. But we're not done yet. We still had a lot to break down as it pertains to culture and why Denver is a contender here in this category. And a lot of it has to do with some of the leaders on their team, including Bo Nix,

Starting point is 00:10:14 Patrick Sertan, what is their leadership style and how does it influence this team going forward. We'll break that down and much more on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. Broncos country. Today's episode of show is Brock with our friends over there at Rugeot. Guys, you've probably heard of Viagra or Cialis. Maybe you've even tried them, but if you're looking for something beyond the usual pill, it's time to meet Ruggiat Ready. Rugeot Ready is a next-gen prescription treatment that's designed to amplify arousal in the brain and boost blood flow. And unlike the usual pills that can take hours, Ruggiat's 3-1 formula dissolves under your tongue and kicks in fast on average in 15 minutes and effects can last up to

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Starting point is 00:11:33 and do not undergo FDA safety effectiveness or manufacturing review. Please visit the RUGIate website for full safety information. leaders on the team matter, especially when it comes to building a culture that can win a title in today's NFL. We've seen it time and time. You see it with Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. As much as Broncos country may hate those guys, they've got a lot figured out when it comes to their leadership, when it comes to the players, the coaches, everybody working together, everybody working towards a common goal. So how are the Broncos going to build that same thing?

Starting point is 00:12:09 Well, they've got the players that are going to help them do exactly that. And that's what we're going to talk about here today on the show. And look, Broncos country, we appreciate you so much for rocking with us this offseason. Broncos just released some fan dates out there for training camp. Hope you get a chance to go out and see the team. I know Cody will be out there for the majority of training camp. And it's going to be an exciting time. You get to see this culture on the field.

Starting point is 00:12:32 And we heard a lot at OTAs in mini camp, Cody, about Bo Nix, really taking that next step in his leadership, in his command of the huddle, command of the offense. and just kind of the way that he's playing a little bit more loose out there. I think we'll see more of that at training camp as well. Bo is one of the biggest leaders on this team entering 2025. I think last year you figure the quarterback's going to be one of your team captains, right? But this year's a little bit different.

Starting point is 00:12:59 He's not just having the captain C slapped on his chest and they're manifesting like, this guy's going to be our leader. Now he truly is the leader of this team. Yeah, this is Bo's team. And I think Bo earned that even early on last year. You know, you talk to other guys like Mike McGlinchy, you hear from other players offensively and defensively. You know, they said, Bo came in. He earned that.

Starting point is 00:13:19 You know, for him to be, what was it, the first rookie? Who's the last rookie to win to be nominated a captain, like rookie quarterback to be nominated a captain by their players. I can't remember who. Yeah, I don't even remember. I think, well, Trevor Simeon wasn't a rookie, even though he won a little bit of captainship. But the players voted on Bo Nix to become a team captain last year as a rookie. And the way that he did things behind the scenes, he earned. the respect of the team.

Starting point is 00:13:43 And look as a rookie, you know, even depending on, even if you get drafted first overall, you're not just going to come and be like, all right, hey, this is my ship. I run it. No, so much in an NFL locker. You have to go out there and you have to earn that from the guys that have been playing this game for a long time. Bo did that. Bo never had any ego about it.

Starting point is 00:14:01 And that was something that was present very early on. And really, I think last year for Bo, the one thing he'll even admit to you that he even talked to us about last season was there were times throughout the season, especially maybe in the middle to late stretch where, you know, Bo is like, I'm not going to be ultra hard on these guys. Like, I'm going to talk to them. And I'm going to, you know, I'm going to be accountable on my end, too, especially when I make a mistake. He said, but really it was this playing out process as what can he do, right? How can he motivate these guys? How can he be a leader? Right. He can't just go up to a guy. He has no relationship equity with and curse him out saying, you didn't run your

Starting point is 00:14:34 right route. Like, Bo understood the process of this is very much, it's not just a you thing. It's a me thing as well. Like we both have to be on the same page when he's talking to a receiver or a route. And he's not going to dish it without being able to take it. And he wants and he expects guys to hold him accountable as well. That to me is what I view as a leader here for Bo. He was vocal last year. And, you know, he didn't have to be this raw, raw guy. But I mean, Sarah, let's look at some examples of leadership here. Anytime that there's a negative play, what do we look at? Body language, right? Bo never came off the field last season and never displayed any negative body language. He was always upbeat. Leadership could even be. Maybe he's got that

Starting point is 00:15:14 Ferris Bueller in him. Like Sean Payton is dishing it to him a little bit. He's like, he's got conviction. He's firing back at Sean Payton a little bit. I think that's in a sense, leadership. I think that commands respect from your teammates because they're like, hey, Sean rules with an iron fist, but Bo is not afraid to challenge him if he believes he's right on something. That to me, I think is big. Bo is when you look at the offensive side. I think when you look at the team, he is the most important leader that this organization has right now from a player standpoint. But they're on the offensive side. There are a handful of other guys who are leaders as well. Cortland Sutton is one that Sean Payton has highlighted extensively. Yeah, and he showed up to

Starting point is 00:15:53 mini camp, obviously, without a new contract in place as far as any of us knows, right? I mean, who knows what's going on there behind the scenes for the Broncos these days? Things always seem to trick a lot well after they're already done. But Cortland is in a contract year. He's obviously a big leader on this team in terms of the example that he sets. We saw the picture of him out there with Pat Bryant at minicamp and just kind of giving him some instructions or pointers or maybe just shooting the breeze with him. I have no idea what he was saying, but it was very reminiscent of you and I have talked about this when Cortland was first coming into the league, kind of Demarius Thomas and

Starting point is 00:16:30 Emmanuel Sanders helping take him and those young receivers under their wings as well and really making an impression in that way and showing showing the young guys how it's done. And I think that's one of the things that impresses me the most about Cortland Sutton. The thing that I love about too, a guy like Mike McClinty on the offense, Cody, is that he's a leader in terms of he's probably got the most experience of, at least on the offense that I can think of off the top of my head in terms of guys who have been in big games, guys who have won a lot of games in the NFL, and he's got a lot of experience doing that.

Starting point is 00:17:02 And yet he's taking that sort of support approach. to a young quarterback. I think that's a great example of leadership right there is to say, hey, I'm going to speak up when needed and I'm going to be that strong veteran voice on this team. But also, I don't care if the quarterback's younger than me. I don't care what his experience level is. Like, I'm going to show you that I got that guy's back.

Starting point is 00:17:24 I like that about Mike McGlinchie and then that he's kind of been that way. So I think offensively, you've got some of your strongest, maybe more vocal leaders. And I think defense is where, Cody, I'm interested to see. who steps up in that way because there's guys that are energetic, there's guys who set the example, there's a lot of different ways that the defense sets an example of leadership. But again, like you said with Bow Nix, it's not really a rah-rah type of guy on that side of the ball. Yeah, Pastor Tan, look, Pastor Tan is not the rah-rah type of guy. I think with the defensive guys, you know, he doesn't have to give any motivational speeches.

Starting point is 00:17:58 You know, he's very much like, let's go take care of business. He leads by example. This is a guy who locks in, knows when to flip the switch. I would say if we look at other defensive leaders beside him, I think Drake Greenlaw certainly has those characteristics. It was a key leader for that San Francisco 49ers defense alongside Fred Warner. So, you know, he's learned some things from Fred, but he's also exemplified those things on the field.

Starting point is 00:18:19 I think Talanoa Hufanga at safety is also a guy who's got great leadership skills. I've seen it firsthand so far in OTAs and mandatory minicamp. The way he goes about collaborating with guys, getting guys on the same page, he leads by example. Jonathan Cooper might be that raw, raw, give you a fiery speech type of guy. But, you know, Jonathan Cooper is also a great leader. Nick Benito is a great leader as well. These are guys that are willing to speak with the media, even when moments are tough.

Starting point is 00:18:45 Like Mike McGlinchy, I'll give him a lot of credit, always meets with us no matter how good or how bad things are throughout the course of a season. That's a big part of being a leader as well, willingness to be open and to talk to the media at times in those situations. In your opinion, who could be maybe a. young guy that maybe a second or third year player, maybe even a rookie, in your opinion, you feel like and look at these guys and then become a leader to have a young voice. Because that's what Sean wants. Sean wants this locker room to have a voice, but he doesn't want it to come from the same guys, right?

Starting point is 00:19:17 You've got your designated leaders, your captains, but ideally a good culture means that you have a lot of great ideas. There's collaboration involved. Who's a young guy maybe to keep an eye on for a leadership role? Well, I think it's got to be somebody who's going to be playing a big role on the team, right somebody that's going to be out there with those guys every single down every single snap i mean the the one that really jumps out is probably riley moss to me cody and i don't know that he's necessarily that vocal type but he feels like the the kind of guy that okay as a young player

Starting point is 00:19:49 setting the example and being around now for a couple of years i could speak into certain situations could maybe you know i try to think of who could stand in front of the team and motivate everybody like whose example are they trying to follow or who are they listening to out there? I think Riley is one of those types of guys that he's been challenged a ton and he's been one of those players who's responded well to. I think he, I think Riley has earned a lot of respect from not only his teammates in Denver, but elsewhere around the league over the last year. And in terms of what he's overcome in terms of the stereotypes of that position group and, you know, being typecast as a safety and transitioning to the NFL, all those sorts of things,

Starting point is 00:20:29 people questioning, you know, does he have the speed to play corner? Everybody's questioning what he can do out there. I think the way that he's responded in humility and come out there and kind of just set the example of how he plays. It's been really great to see. So I think his teammates would respond to his leadership in that way. No, I agree with you 100%. I think you nailed it there.

Starting point is 00:20:50 And I know, and I can speak for guys in that locker room, having been around them. They got Riley's back. They love Riley. They'll, you know, he's a guy that if he, he, he, to speak up. People are going to listen. Like Riley has earned that. I think they're just a handful of guys here. And that's why I think like highlighting a roster culture or a locker room culture is so important where you don't necessarily have a coach that sets that culture. You have a coach who's a coach like Sean Payton who sets the standard for the organization, right? And with that comes, you know, an embodiment of some pieces of culture. But ideally you want your culture to be player led essentially versus just coach led. And I think sometimes you've seen bad example. throughout the course of history in the NFL. I think Devere's on the right track here. But Broncos Country, we still have a lot to talk about here on today's episode.

Starting point is 00:21:36 The show up next, we're going to discuss why chemistry matters for a young Broncos team and why this Broncos team has some of those traits that we've seen some of those special teams, like the Gary Kubiak-led teams, the Peyton Manning-led teams. What traits are those? We'll highlight that much more on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. Broncos Country, today's episode, the show is brought to our friends over there at Monarch. money. You ever check your bank account and wonder, where did all my money go? Following a wedding, that was me. Between dining out, online shopping, paying for a wedding or entertainment, it's easy

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Starting point is 00:23:11 together last year while being written off by every national media outlet. People are saying that they weren't going to win more than five games, that they might even be the number one overall pick in the NFL draft. Well, the Broncos, they go out there and they win 10 games. And they lay stake to the claim that they're not just here to take part. They're here to take over in a sense and that they're heading in the right direction. And culture and chemistry are a big reason for that. Sarah, I mean, let's really answer this question here. Why does chemistry matter for a young team?

Starting point is 00:23:41 As we know, the Broncos, they're very young here, but they've got some pieces. They've got some veteran experience to go with some of these younger guys. But why is chemistry so important for a team that's as young as the Denver Broncos are? I think it's so important for a number of reasons, but the number one thing is that obviously you have young guys that are working towards this common goal. I think especially now as you hear George Payton answering questions after the draft, how much does NIL complicate the evaluation process for guys coming in? One of the biggest things that he's talked about over the last couple of years is you really get a sense for which guys love the game, right? And I think that's

Starting point is 00:24:16 a common thread that we've been talking about with culture. When you're talking about adults who are getting paid to do anything. How do you motivate those people to work towards a goal as opposed to just getting used to getting paid a lot of money to do something, right? And in the NFL, how easy would that be after guys are at the college level? They're already getting paid, right, Cody? I mean, can you imagine being a millionaire at the age of 18, 19 years old by playing football? I mean, that would be crazy to me. And then to transition to the NFL where it used to be like, that was the goal. Like I'm going to work as hard as I can't. Not everybody has the mentality of a Peyton Manning, right?

Starting point is 00:24:54 Where somebody asks him, what are you going to do now that you signed your first NFL contract? And he's like, I'm going to go earn it, right? That's not the mentality of most of these guys. I mean, a lot of times it's, you know, I'm going to buy my mom a house. I'm going to buy myself a car. I'm going to go get some nice jewelry. I'm going to buy a house. I'm going to do whatever.

Starting point is 00:25:13 Like fulfilling all your lifelong dreams, you've all of a sudden achieved that. And now what? Now it's like, okay, now I've got to be self. motivated to go out there and try to win. You have all these young guys that are creating this chemistry. You can speak to this, too. The example that comes to mind is Bo Nix with Jarrett Stidham. These two guys are competing for a starting job in the NFL.

Starting point is 00:25:37 And Jarrett loses that competition. And then he comes back the next off season and free agency. There's chemistry between those guys that they work well together. They love working together. They love being out on the practice field together. I think there's so much intangible value in all of it. There is. And look, while there's a competitive feel inside a, you know, a team in the culture, like obviously Stidham expressed disappointment last year when you didn't win the starting job, right?

Starting point is 00:26:02 Obviously, I mean, anyone in the competition, they don't win it. They're going to express their disappointment. That's understandable. But, you know, for a guy like Jared Stidham, who's been in Sean Payton system, Jared was a sounding board for Bo as he was navigating, learning so much about the offense as a rookie. And even still to this day, like there's this collaboration. whereas you had a guy like Joe Flacco coming and said, I'm not here to mentor anybody. Like there's a difference between who you think are leaders and who aren't leaders.

Starting point is 00:26:26 Flacco never was a good leader. And the only time we ever saw any kind of leadership fire from Flacco, what was it after they lost the Colts game and he called out the coach saying, we can't be scared to do this. But it's like, that's fine. But behind the scenes, you're not viewed as a leader in that locker room by the players. You know, Bo is a leader, Jared's a leader. And when you have this culture, I would say that isn't,

Starting point is 00:26:48 selfish, right? And this even goes back to examples from what Zach Allen said in his podcast with Chris Long that he talked about like there are guys who just want to get sack numbers around the NFL. He said, but in our room, like, we're very much an unselfish group where, you know, if I eat, I guarantee you this guy's going to eat. We're going to do things to help each other succeed. It's been a while since the Broncos have had a culture like that. And I think the last time maybe that was the case here in Denver has to be that Super Bowl 50 team where, look, you had a defense that have absolute dogs on it, right? That was a big formula here.

Starting point is 00:27:23 Offensively, even though that Denver didn't necessarily have the production that they were used to like when Peyton Manning in 2013, heck, even Peyton in 2014 and 2012, Peyton kind of lost a big step there in that 2015 season and there were ups and downs. You know, Brock Osweiler comes in. It could have been easy for that defense to say, you know what? It's us against them. We're going to do it. Instead, like in moments where the offense was struggling, the defense was like, hey,

Starting point is 00:27:47 don't you guys worry we're going to go score we're going to get the ball back for you we're going to be fine later on after you know pey manning retired remember 2017 we saw that split where it became offense versus defense the defense is like we're tired of caring it like you had i think it was mentally watson or something trying to give a speech and they're like shut up that's exactly what they told like a keeb and them there was like some fisticus about to happen so i i think you look at all these examples it is very much losing that realm of selfish right because obviously when you have individual goals as a player making money stats incentives whatever there is a level of selfishness that you have to have but not if it gets in the way of

Starting point is 00:28:28 overall accomplishing what you want as a team and i think that's why the broncos are in a sustainable spot because they haven't brought in players who are selfish in a sense that are about me me me me me. Those guys are gone. They brought in guys that are all about we. And I think that is the dynamic here that is present that we saw with that Gary Kubiak led team in 2015 that we saw when Peyton Manning came in. It became less about me and more about us as a team. I'm seeing that here with this Broncos team. Yeah, I completely agree. I think that it's all about the team. It's all about you want to work together towards actually winning. Like there are plenty of NFL teams out there who their culture is just it's just not there they don't have Lombardies in the trophy case

Starting point is 00:29:11 and as that to say they can't put one in there but I mean how much does that loom over a franchise like Buffalo right where it's like man we're the consistent losers at the end of the season or you know chargers finding a way to charger right that's it doesn't matter it's jim harbaugh's the coach brandon staley uh you know whoever else they've had out there it doesn't matter they've found a way to like embrace that in a way like without even trying. Like the chargers are going to charge her. That's what I just think that when you have a situation like you do in Denver where

Starting point is 00:29:43 the expectation under, it was really the Mike Shanahan era, Cody, that ultimately changed this culture to being something that, okay, the expectation is every year for this franchise, like we better be contending or there's going to be unrest from the fan base. There's going to be disappointment from the ownership on down. Like we want to be Super Bowl contenders. We don't just want to be on the right track. We're not just happy with making the playoffs. We're not just happy with having a good season every once in a while.

Starting point is 00:30:11 Like, we want to be the best in the NFL. And that is something that was instilled with ownership back in the Pat Bowlin era. And Mike Shanahan as the head coach, those teams, they wanted to dominate. They wanted to be the best ever. And they did for a couple of seasons in a row. And then there was that, you know, stretch of time after that where it felt like the Broncos were always in the mix. You get blown out in the playoffs. you make a blockbuster trade for Chant Bailey.

Starting point is 00:30:36 You know, you have issues at the quarterback position. You bring Jake Plummer in and have him have the best years of his career. You lose in the AFC championship game, draft another quarterback. You try and bring in more talent. I mean, it's just that's the culture of this team now is that you're going to do whatever it takes to win. And I think everybody from the top down has embraced it. I think they're heading in the right direction. But ultimately, Broncos country, we want to hear from you.

Starting point is 00:31:03 Do you think that the Broncos have a Super Bowl culture? Do you have a belief that they're now on a track where they have a winning culture present with Sean Payton with the guys that we talked about, Bo Nicks, Mike McGlinchie, every other player we've named. Make sure you let us know here on today's episode, lock on Broncos.

Starting point is 00:31:18 That'll wrap up today's show. Broncos country. Thank you to all the everydayers out there. Make sure you be coming if you're not one already by hitting that subscribe or follow button wherever you get your podcast and for you every dayers. If you want to know what we're going to talk about on tomorrow's episode of show, we're going to go through the Broncos ability to build in future years.

Starting point is 00:31:33 We talk so much. about culture here. Well, tomorrow, we're going to focus on how can the Broncos continue to sustain building that culture? What does the outlook in years ahead look like for them from a salary cap standpoint? We'll break all that down and much more on tomorrow's episode, Lockdown Broncos. See you then.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos BUILDING Super Bowl CULTURE

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