Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos Defense Faces ULTIMATE Test Against NFL's Elite Quarterbacks In 2025

Episode Date: June 27, 2025

The Denver Broncos defense will be facing three of the NFL's toughest quarterbacks in 2025. How will the Broncos defense match up against Jayden Daniels, Patrick Mahomes, and Joe Burrow? What challenges will these quarterbacks present for the Broncos defense, Patrick Surtain II and others? 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!RugietHead to Rugiet.com/LOCKEDONNFL and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get 15% off today. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuelRight now, new customers can get $150 in BONUS BETS when your first $5 BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnfl for 50% off your first year. 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.

The Denver Broncos will have a tough 20-25 schedule, but they'll face three quarterbacks this upcoming season that will be their toughest challenge on the year. You'll get all that and 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. What's up, Broncos country? Welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos,

your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast network, with your team every day. For all your Broncos news, content coverage analysis more, make sure you be coming every day or hit that subscribe to that follow button wherever you get your podcast so you never miss out on what's going on with your favorite team. A special shout out to everyone in Broncos country.

Thanks for making the show exactly what it is. I'm Cody Roark, Broncos reporter from Ohio High Sports. And I'm Sarah Bedinger's site expert at predominantly orange.com. And as the 2025 NFL season creeps a little bit closer, we got training camp on the horizon. We're going to start taking a look at some. some superlatives. And today's show, we're going to focus on three quarterbacks.

The Broncos are going to face in 2025. That will be their biggest challenge. We'll start things off by highlighting a matchup between two second year quarterbacks, Jaden Daniels and the Washington commanders. The Broncos will face them in a primetime game this upcoming season. And Jaden might be the most dynamic quarterback. Denver faces this upcoming year. We'll dive into why that could be the case.

Plus, Patrick Mahomes continues to have that clutch factor in him. He's the rival here of Bo Nix and this Broncos team. team and the Broncos had to face him twice. And on top of that, could Joe Burrow be the toughest overall quarterback the Broncos face here this upcoming season? We'll dive deep in all that and more. Look at their weapons and what Denver has to potentially counter them on today's episode of the show.

Sarah, let's start off here with obviously, you know, quarterback number one that we're going to talk about here. And look, this is in no particular order as we're going through and highlighting what we think are going to be the top three quarterbacks that Denver faces this upcoming season. And really, this has nothing to do with Bo Nicks, so to speak. but because the Broncos defense will be facing these QBs. Bo Nix won't be facing these QBs head to head, essentially.

Jaden Daniels might be the most dynamic QB that the Broncos faced this upcoming season. I think last year you could say that Lamar Jackson was the most dynamic guy that they faced last year. Jaden Daniels, we saw him have such an impressive rookie campaign, obviously offensive rookie of the year. Bo Nicks deserved consideration in that. But he's got some weapons around him with Washington this upcoming season. And that's going to make him, I think one of the two, tougher QBs at Denver has to face defensively this upcoming season.

He's one of those guys that you just, you never know what you're going to get on a snap to snap basis. He can run with the ball. He can throw it deep. He can get rid of it quickly. Obviously, had a ton of success last year with just under 900 rushing yards, 891 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns last season, Cody. And he was very efficient with the football, less than 2% on the interception rate, 25 touchdowns compared to just nine interceptions. So even as a rookie, Jaden Daniels proved, I mean, he kind of picked up right where he left off when he won the Heisman at LSU, didn't he? And the Broncos will see him on the road in week 13 the last Sunday of November Sunday night football. The Broncos finally back on Sunday

night football, actually, which is great to finally be back. And we'll get to hear Carrie Underwood saying about Jaden Daniels and Bo Nicks there, Cody. And it'll be the first time she gets paid a million to sing about the Broncos for a while. But look, I think that with Jaden Daniels, you're getting a guy that's the best dual threat on the schedule. And you could argue, well, Jalen Hertz is the best dual threat. I don't think Jalen is as good of a passer, even at this point as Jaden Daniels. I think that you can make an argument maybe. But certainly when you look at guys that can run the ball, guys that can also throw the ball

and kind of hurt you in a variety of different ways, I don't think there's anybody on the schedule that presents quite the challenge that Jaden Daniels does. And you don't have to worry necessarily about Jaden being like Lamar Jackson, in the sense of you have to worry about his speed with his legs. You have to worry about him as a potential run option. And when you're going through your defensive game plan, but it's not to the extent of like, oh gosh, like they've got Lamar Jackson, they've got Derek Henry.

I mean, Jaden has some good pieces around him, but Jaden's not Lamar Jackson, elusive in a sense. But he still can pick up crucial first downs in short yard situations. He can pull it. He can extend plays with those legs with the mobility factor there. He hangs in the pocket. He's tough. We saw those things from him as a rookie here.

And I think really what kind of amplifies the challenge of Jaden Daniels being this dynamic QB that Denver will face this upcoming season. You look at the weapons that are around him that they've added. Now, obviously last year, Terry McLaurin was really one of his top security blankets. He had a veteran tight end in and Zach Ertz who was very beneficial, I think, to helping him move the chains in short, third down situations. And then Brian Robinson, obviously, at the running back position in the run game. He's obviously impactful, but they go out this offseason, Sarah. And they add a guy that we talked about maybe, you know, that had interest in going to Denver.

And Denver had a little bit of interest in him. They bring Debo Samuel into the mix from the San Francisco 49ers. And now when you look at this Washington commander's team, Jaden Daniels has two really good receivers to go to that are proven. He's got a really good tight end that he could go to that's proven. He's got a really good run game. And their offensive line is pretty dang solid when you look at it on paper. especially after trading for Laramie Tunsell to fill that big void that they had at left tackle and you've upgraded via I think Josh Connerley with their first round pick as well.

So they've got a brand new set of bookend tackles with a lot of talent. And you upgrade all around Jaden Daniels. It sounds like Luke McCaffrey also is having a really good offseason for that team too, Cody. So little Broncos tie there that binds. And you'd love to see him succeed as a legacy of Ed McCaffrey. but maybe not in week 13 this coming season. But I mean, did upgrade the weaponry around Jaden Daniels pretty substantially.

And they have given him a lot of guys who have proven to be clutch. And Jaden himself, I mean, have four game winning drives last year and four fourth quarter comeback. So he proved to be clutch as well. Big game against the Eagles defense. And we know Vic Fangio had kind of struggled throughout the last, I don't know, seven, eight years with mobile quarterbacks. And that was the case when they took on Jaden Daniels.

in that particular matchup because he had his way and pretty much whatever way he wanted to. And I think this is a guy that really elevates everybody around him too. He's able to spread the ball. You see everybody getting involved in that offensive game plan, not just because, well, they're drawing up plays for guys, but he's finding the open receivers. He's able to go through his progressions. He doesn't need to just get rid of the ball quickly and let the receivers do the work.

He can hang in the pocket. He's tough. He sees the field really well. I think he's going to present a, fascinating challenge, especially that late in the season. It's kind of nice that it's not an AFC game, Cody. I think that's the big thing is that you're going on the road to face one of what everybody assumes is going to be one of the toughest teams in the league,

but at least it's an NFC matchup. So you kind of play with house money a little bit there. I still think the stakes will be high in that game. And certainly Jaden is going to present this Denver defense with arguably its most difficult challenge of the year when it comes to defending against a guy who can hit all levels of the field as a passer and as a runner. Well, let's take a look at maybe some of the defensive matchups we'll see here as it pertains to the commander's offensive weapons. You know, I imagine we'll probably see Pat Sertan on Terry McLauran.

I feel like that might be the overall matchup that we look at. I could see Riley Moss playing opposite, you know, maybe against Debo. But I think they're going to probably use Debo as that move around piece where, you know, he's going to play that essential Joker role for, you know, Cliff Kingsbury in that offense versus him just being lined up on one side and then just, hey, you know, your opposite of Terry. They're going to have those guys on the same side of the field from time to time. But I imagine PS2 versus Terry will probably be the key matchup that we see there with those guys. Very curious to see, you know, if it's going to be Brandon Jones or Taleno who Fonga,

who kind of eye and key in on Zach Hertz a little bit. Obviously, the Broncos run defense with the front seven that they have there, Zach Allen, DJ Jones, John Franklin Myers, Benito, Cooper, Dre Greenlaw. And hopefully he's healthy throughout this entire season for Denver. whoever wins that other linebacker job, those guys will be responsible for stopping, obviously, Brian Robinson, and making sure they have contained against a guy like Jane and Daniels. So for me, I look at the matchups here, and I like what Denver has. If Denver's healthy on paper defensively, I like the way that Denver can match up with this

offensive unit. I'm sure Luke McCaffrey will probably be in the game plan a little bit, potentially on the outside. So you see maybe Riley Moss against him, Jaquan McWill and Jada Baron, what will that rotation look like at this point when these guys are there. I do like it. I think it's a fun matchup and I think it's perfect for Sunday night football. It is. And we also have some underrated players that they have on their their roster to talk about as well. Austin Echler still very much a threat as a receiving option. Ben Sinit, who is a second round pick last year, is another versatile piece that they can move all around. And then they took an interesting shot to Cody on Michael Gallup this offseason. He was out of the league last year, struggled a lot with injuries.

Broncos fans who are also CSU fans will obviously remember his name, but he's on the roster this year. And they're just a well-run team, right? I mean, when you talk about Adam Peters, the ties that bind, he was part of the Denver Broncos front office for a long time under John Elway and made the move to San Francisco back to when they hired Kyle Shanahan. And he's been so, so good. And turn that team around quickly, him and Dan Quinn at the head coach position there. So they've done a great job. They've got a, I can't say they. have a well-oiled machine, Cody. I think they're in the similar boat as the Broncos this year to where they got to kind

of go out there and prove that last year wasn't a fluke. They got to prove that last year was a legitimate step forward and not just lightning in a bottle. Yeah, they'll have to capture that. And look, week 13 matchup, Broncos, commanders, Sunday night football. Doesn't get any bigger than that, though. But J. DeDaniels will arguably the most dynamic QB, the Broncos end up facing this upcoming season.

Do you agree with us? Do you disagree with us? Make sure you let us know here on today's episode of show, Broncos, Country. We're not done yet. We're going to talk about the Kansas City Chiefs and why Patrick Mahomes and his clutch factor are still something the Broncos have to account for and how Denver can match up defensively this upcoming season with Mahomes.

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If Jaden Daniels is the most dynamic quarterback on the Denver Broncos roster, then Patrick Mahomes is the most clutch quarterback on the Denver Broncos roster. We know that Mahomes and the Chiefs offense, they haven't been as good over the last couple of years, ranking 15th in the league and scoring each of the past two seasons. But that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter when you play against Patrick Mahomes. they are keeping games close.

They always do. They play more one score games than anybody else, and Pat Mahomes finds a way to come through one way or another Broncos country. Got to play him twice every year, as long as he's in the NFL at this point. So we're going to talk about that and much more on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Thank you so much to all of you,

everyday listeners out there that make us your first listen of the day. We appreciate you so much. Cody, I wonder if you agree with me on this one. I know that there's a lot of good quarterbacks on the Broncos schedule this year. including a guy from the AFC North, I've got to play again this coming season. And I think we'll have plenty to say about him. But to me, I don't, I, there's,

there's a clear first place in the category of the most clutch quarterback the Broncos will face this season. It's Patrick Mahomes and it's not particularly close. No, I mean, this is the guy who's been dominating the AFC West since he really kind of came in and took over as the quarterback. And really our first look at Mahomes dates all the way back to, what was it?

Was it the end of the 2017 season, essentially, when you got that last game of the regular season where, you know, keep to leave in the Broncos defense, you could start to see that they were making business decisions. They were going to get injured in the last game of the year. They were already out of the playoffs. Mahomes, I remember, had a crazy cross-body throw, but it really wasn't until 2018 where Mahomes came in.

That Monday night game against the Broncos where he ended up switching it from his right hand to his left hand while Von Miller is trying to tackle him and he throws it there. We've seen Patrick Mahomes kind of be that bully on the playground. Not just for the Broncos, but for the rest of the AFC West. And look, they've won several Super Bowl championships. Hats off to them. But as time goes on now, I think we're starting to see some of the formula here is how you can beat this Kansas City team.

And look, Kansas City, they got some young, talented, explosive playmakers at the skilled player position will highlight them. But I think the idea here is that the Broncos are now in a position where they feel like they can compete. They've got that confidence, right? There was a streak going on, and it was an abysmal streak there. What was it? Almost 18 straight games. I think it was 18 straight games. Something along those lines that Denver had lost dating back to 2015.

And then, you know, in 2023 in Denver, the Broncos finally snapped that streak. And they made life difficult for Mahomes. Last year, the Broncos, they only faced Mahomes once. And that was on the road to Arrowhead where Bo Nix led what should have been a game-winning drive against the Chiefs. A blocked field goal changed the outcome of that. But Denver threw everything in the kitchen sink defensively at Patrick Mahomes in this game. And we talk about the time of possession. Casey had it at 33 minutes, 21 seconds compared to Denver's 26 to 39.

They were 7 of 16 on third down, which obviously they were the top third down offense in the NFL at this point last season. But they also were two for two on fourth down in this game. But the Broncos defense held them to 300 yards overall in this game. And they sacked Patrick Mahomes four times. And they should have had a few more sacks on there. But he scrolled out of the Nick Benito sack on a couple of occasions and extended plays. we've seen Denver be able to counterpunch now against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. But he's always one of those guys that even if you have a lead, which Denver did,

you were worried like, hey, can the Broncos find a way to stop him because of what you mentioned? He does have that clutch factor. And I think right now, at least on paper going to the off season, this has been the case for the last handful of years. They have a ton of playmakers when you talk about the wide receiver position, guys who got really legit speed, guys who are solid impact contributors as a wide receiver, still have Travis Kelsey as well who's not who he used to be

but you can never overlook Travis as he's getting older and he's starting to find himself settled down a little bit with T. Swift. So in your opinion, is it the clutch factor as to why you have Mahomes here as one of the top three QBs that Denver's going to face you? Because they're going to face quite a few. Mahomes is still that guy and think

until Denver dethrones and knocks him down. He's the best situational football player in the entire NFL, I would say. In any situation, in any circumstance, If you're down by nine points with four minutes left, do you want anybody but Patrick Mahomes as your quarterback? I don't think so at this point. Hopefully Bo Nix becomes that guy, right?

But at this point in time, Pat Mahomes has proven that you want, if you're up by four points late and you need somebody to kill the other team's hopes and dreams by converting a third down and throwing a third down with like a minute and 20 seconds up, you want Mahomes throwing the ball. I mean, he's done everything. He had seven game winning drives last season. alone, five fourth quarter comebacks. He's the one score game magician. He's the perfect quarterback to hold a lead. He's the perfect back to reclaim a lead. He's the perfect guy out there for any situation.

You need him to break a sack in the pocket, like you mentioned. He'll do it. You need him to throw the ball left-handed with Von Miller bearing down, and he's only in his second NFL season. He'll do that. He'll literally just throw the ball. So there's all these different things, and this is as nice as I'll be about Pat Mahomes.

you've got two ways to beat the Kansas City Chiefs, it seems like these days. Number one, you have the ball last. Number two, you get their backups all out there for the last game of the regular season. That seems to be the way that you do it. And the Broncos did it. They had them on the ropes with that last possession. They had the ball last. And they managed to get into chip shot field goal range where the kicks are made 90 plus percent of the time.

And you have it blocked. So you just, you can't get this guy off the ropes easily. he's just one of those players that it doesn't who cares about the stat cody about him completing a higher percentage i think it was the highest percentage since 2005 a passes completed at or behind the line of scrimmage who cares like honestly i mean it's funny to make fun of because yeah the he was still in the champion he's still in the super bowl last season i mean he throws the ball quickly because their receivers are so good after the catch that's the that's really why he does that so I don't know, to me, Cody, I just think that there's there's MVP's

MVP's like Josh Allen who are still putting up 50 plus touchdowns. There's guys like Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson and all these other guys. I think Pat Mahomes is still the best player in the NFL. I think when you take a look at some of the playmakers, the personnel around him offensively, let's take a look. Obviously, we mentioned Travis Kelsey there, but let's take a look at wide receiver. I mean, they have guys right now on paper, Sarah, that have a combination of speed, explosionist, physicality. I mean, you name it. The biggest issue for these guys has been off the field

discipline and injuries. Let's take a look at Rishi Rice, who obviously they have very high expectations for. Hollywood Brown was, you know, obviously a welcome addition for them this upcoming season. And when he was hurt, they were missing his presence out there. Xavier Worthy, a true speedster that has continued to evolve at that evolved a little bit more as the season went on there. Tyquan Thornton, they added in the mix. Justin Ross has kind of been this practice squad guy that we all know, was one of the more talented receivers coming out of Clemson several years ago. And we're like, wow, how did the chiefs land this guy? We have yet to see him really do anything in his NFL career just yet.

But he's in the mix right now as we talk about going into the season. And then there's Juju Smith-Schuster, who's just kind of been this old reliable option here for, you know, Patrick Mahomes. He's a veteran guy who does the dirty works, not afraid to get involved as a blocker. So you can't discount that. They have good playmakers around Patrick Mahomes. And then you look at the running back position as well. I mean, you talk about Kareem Hunt, who they brought back. And after Isaiah Pacheco went down with an injury,

Kareem Hunt ended up having a couple of games. We had 28, 29 carries over 100 yards, a couple of touchdowns. He kept things going for them. And then you factor in Elijah Mitchell, who obviously, you know, used to play for the San Francisco 49ers. He's a dynamic presence that you can't ignore. Isaiah Pacheco runs like he's angry all the time. I mean, you always see that.

And then they got a couple of other younger guys too. They got Breschart Smith, the rookie out of SMU. and Elijah Young, who's a rookie out of Western Kentucky, they have talent around Mahomes. And the question is, can those guys stay healthy? And can some of those guys stay out of trouble? Still, I think that's a big reason why the Broncos, they went out and they added a guy like Jada Baron to the mix.

So you can add to that secondary. You add guys like Drake Greenland. You add Taleno hofonga, because that's your best counter against a team like Kansas City with the wide variety of options that they do have. And Mahomes will find every single one of them. That's the, that's why he's the most clutch quarterback. He'll find whoever you're not covering.

That's, it doesn't matter if it's Samajie P. Ryan or if it's Noah Gray or if it's Jared Wiley, the third tight end, he's going to find whoever is the open guy. And they just do so well with their scheme with Andy Reed. They do so well getting guys involved in the offense and they just do well at executing situational football. I mean, remember to win the Super Bowl a couple of seasons ago, it was McCole Hardman, who's kind of an afterthought for them.

He was like, you know, traded last off season, brought back, you know, all these sorts of things. Like they just throw whoever out there and those guys make plays from a homes when they need to. So that's to me why he's the most clutch quarterback on the schedule this year. And the Broncos will obviously hope to in those situations have the ball last. Yeah. And they also, they added Robert Tonian into the mix as well, former Buffalo Bill, former coveted Broncos free agent, helpful from Broncos country several years ago. So they have the options.

Can the Broncos find a way to slow them down? They'll get the chance twice per year once on Christmas Day. And then obviously, you know, another game in Denver right after Kansas City is coming off of the biweek, which is unfortunate before Denver heads into their buy week. So the way that it kind of shapes out, it's going to be fun. We're going to have our eyes on it as the Broncos look to win the Aves for this upcoming season. But Broncos country coming up next, we'll tell you why the Broncos in week four. They're going to face possibly the best quarterback in the NFL from a peer pocket standpoint,

Joe Burrell and the Bengals and why he's going to be the, toughest threat the Broncos face this upcoming season. We'll dive deep with that more on today's episode of the show. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by our friends over there at the game time app. And have you ever decided at the last minute to head to the ball game with friends or family? It's summertime. Well, maybe it's game day and you suddenly realize that you want to be in the stands. That's exactly where game time comes in handy. It's the easiest way to grab last minute tickets without distress. With the money you save on tickets, you can sporge on food, drinks, merch, or even invite a bigger group to come with you. And game time makes it possible.

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Download the Game Time app today. last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed. Joe Burrow will be the toughest quarterback that the Denver Broncos face this upcoming season. And that matchup, luckily, comes early on in week four. What is it about this matchup that stands out about Joe Burrow and how the Broncos can maybe get revenge after losing on the road in Cincinnati last year? We'll look at all that on today's episode of the show. I mean, Sarah, really short, sweet, simple, Joe Burrow. This is a guy who is just probably one of the more prolific pocketing.

passing quarterbacks right now in the NFL. This is a guy who's tough as nails. I mean, you talk about a dude who takes shot after shot after shot and gets up and still delivers. It's him. And now they've got their two top wide receivers locked in for the long haul. And I think, you know, even with that, there's still some questions about their sustainability, but they're going all in on an offensive input where maybe they can average

42 points a game, but their defense may give up 45. We'll see if that's the case here. Tough as nails, week four, Monday night football. The Broncos getting a chance to rematch and hopefully get some revenge against Joe Burrow T. Higgins and Jamar Chase after going to overtime last season. You talk about the game slowing down for a quarterback. Cody, I mean, Joe Burrow, he attempted the most passes that he ever has as an NFL quarterback last season, 652 pass attempts last year. And that did not prevent him from completing the highest percentage of passes that he ever has at 70.6 percent.

over 4,900 yards, 43 touchdowns, only nine interceptions. So again, the game is slowing down, highest touchdown percentage of his career, lowest interception percentage of his career other than his injury shortened rookie season. The guy is dealing out there. He is an absolute stud no matter what way you look at it, right? I mean, if you need him to escape the pocket and make a throw on the move, he's going to do it. If you need him to, like he did against the Denver Broncos, I think he ripped off like a 20-some yard run on third and 17 or something stupid like that.

It still ticks me off to this. At the end of the third quarter. At the end of the third quarter, yeah. So whatever you need this guy to do, he can do it. I know as Broncos country, we have the utmost respect for Patrick Mahomes. If there's anybody in the NFL right now that challenges Mahomes as like the ultimate, it's got to be Joe Burrow or Lamar Jackson or maybe Josh Allen, I still think, you know, Mahomes is Josh Allen's Cryptonite in a way and obviously has been for Lamar as well.

But Joe Burrow actually beat him in the AFC championship game. So I think that Joe is one of those guys that meant any situation, he's going to be able to be productive. Yeah. And I think you look at the playmakers around him. We've already named Jamar Chase, who credible player, unbelievable, got the bag, reset the wide receiver market extensively this offseason with the deal that he's getting, what is it, 41 million per year, something like 40, 41. And that's ridiculous. That's funny money. And it's why the Bengals can't pay the rookie offensive tackle or try Hendrickson at the time that we're sitting down recording this.

But nice little fun shot that we're going to take there. T. Higgins obviously got a big deal. And he was so important to what they wanted to accomplish last season. You know, I think if let's say Jamar was out with an injury, you're not really worried about a drop off because of T. Higgins. So I do feel like at times like when T. Higgins was banged up, it looked like it did change the complexity of that Bengals offense last year. And obviously he had a ridiculous out. put against the Broncos and Riley Moss and his return from an injury there was 11 catches over 100-something yards and a couple of touchdowns including the game winner there in overtime.

That was a tough pill to swallow here for the Broncos defense. But you get that matchup in Denver on Monday night football, another prime time game against a really good QB. That I think to me is the challenge. And look, here's the thing. You mentioned the things about Burrell being able to stand in the pocket and deliver, being able to escape plays, use his legs. He did that. what is a mind-boggling statistic to me from last year when this Broncos defense that led the NFL in sacks last season

face Joe Burrell. The fact that Denver sacked him seven times there, seven times in one game, and Denver still lost is a little bit of a pain point. It's frustrating to look at their, you look at the running back game now. Obviously, Chase Brown is kind of explosive. There's a lot of Philip Lindsay to his game. He's very explosive to the outside there. If he gets there, they've re-added Samajie P. Ryan back into the mix, who had a couple of plays on third down against the Broncos. Last year was a member of the Kansas City Chiefs. And then obviously, Mike Geseki, who was just going off in that first half.

I mean, you talk about a guy, Joe Burroughs just catching the snap, delivering a quick strike, and he's getting five or six yards. It was Mike Geseki, who almost had 100 yards himself in that game against the Broncos. So they do have balance. And then you got Yosevas, Andre Osos, Yosevoss, the wide receiver. They're the other guy in the mix. There. Jermaine Burton's kind of a question mark because he was this guy who was just definitely kind of troubled last year, a coach's decision inactive.

But, you know, when you listen to our friends over there, lockdown Bengals, like, Jermaine Burton's very, very talented. So we don't know what he's going to be just yet. All signs seem to point based on reports from our friends over there, locked on Bengals, it's having a good offseason so far. So this is a Bengals offense that could be as explosive as explosive as we've ever seen, which would be scary considering what we saw from them last year. And once again, it's one of the biggest reasons why the Broncos reloaded in the second

even though that was already one of their strongest points on the roster to bring in Hufanga, to bring in Jada Baron. You bring in all these guys and you bring back everybody else. You have this group out there that can actually compete with teams like that, especially as you get deep into the season. Memory serves me right, Cody, that Broncos Bengals game, which I believe was around Christmas time or maybe it was on Christmas Day. I can't remember exactly what it was.

There was something around there, but it was one of the most highly rated games of the entire year. So not surprising that the NFL wanted to get this one back in the other. It was a Saturday. It was a Saturday around Christmas, you know, one of those things. So the NFL wanted to get this matchup back in the spotlight because of those fireworks that we saw late in the game. The Broncos still, just like with Patrick Mahomes, they had the Bengals on the ropes. They could have gone for two to try to win at the end of regulation.

They got to Joe Burrow in overtime and got the ball and had the opportunity once again, multiple times to get a win in overtime, couldn't seal the deal. So it was tough to watch. It's tough because Burrow is just that type of guy that you feel like if he gets hot, the Bengals are going to get hot regardless of how many points their defense is allowing. And that was the case late last season for the Denver Broncos going against them. It's like you feel like you can score at will against Cincinnati. And the Broncos kind of did late in the game.

But ultimately it comes down to can you outscore Joe Burrow and not many teams. well, enough teams could last year, but I don't know if many teams are going to be able to do it again this year. I think it was really the Ravens. There was really the only team that could find a way to outscore them. Those games were ridiculous with the numbers that they put up. But we'll see. Broncos Country.

We want to know your thoughts on today's episode's show. Did we get it right by highlighting what we feel like where the top three quarterbacks, Denver will face this upcoming season? Is there somebody you think could upend somebody in the list that we put out? Make sure you let's know you on today's episode of the show. But Broncos Country, enjoy your week. And the next episode you're going to get from us, Sarah and I, We're going to sit down and we're going to talk about the top three defenses that the Broncos are going to face this upcoming season here in 2025, including a matchup against former friend Vic Fangio and Company in the Philadelphia Eagles.

We'll highlight that more next week on lockdown Broncos.