Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos Defense MUST PICK ON Kyler Murray in Cardinals Joint Practice

Starting point is 00:00:00 In today's joint practice against the Arizona Cardinals, the Broncos defense, they need to bully Kyler Murray and company. We'll go through what we want to see from this team here today 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. What's up, Broncos country? Welcome into another episode of Locked on Broncos,

Starting point is 00:00:29 your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, where you know it's your team every day. Thank you so much to all the every dares out there in Broncos country. Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen. However you choose to do so, if you're not yet in every day or get on the train now, become one by hitting that subscriber or that follow button wherever you get your podcast. So you never miss out on what's going on with your favorite team. I'm Cody Roark, Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports.

Starting point is 00:00:54 Join, as always, by Sarah Bedinger, site expert, predominantly orange.com. And it is joint practice Thursday here today as the Broncos in Arizona Cardinals will conduct a competitive scrimmage-like environment. We'll go through and tell you why the Broncos secondary and the defense. They need to pick on Kyler Murray here today in this joint practice. Plus, we'll go through why the Broncos wide receiving group. We want to see them make some plays against this young Arizona Cardinals secondary. And we'll go over some news and notes as well as Nick Benito missed practice.

Starting point is 00:01:24 Once again, on Wednesday, could we see him here today for joint practices against the Cardinals? A lot to throw out there in today's episode of the show. Sarah, my friend, let's dive into it. Obviously, this is probably going to be the one day this week of practice where there are fireworks galore. Because really Tuesday and Wednesday's practices, they were boring by design. They weren't as up-tempo or highly competitive because guess what? You just played a preseason game. Now you've got a joint practice and another preseason game coming up.

Starting point is 00:01:52 So you really got to reserve the energy and kind of ramp up to this joint practice here today. And let's start off with the defense. We want to see them wreak a little bit of havoc here on Kyler Murray and company. Yeah, the defense needs to come out and bully this guy, bully the Arizona Cardinals offense, right? I mean, that's what we want to see them do all season long. So anytime a different team comes to Denver or anytime the Broncos go up against another team, man, that's what we want to see this defense do is absolutely bully them. Now, we did not get that in the first preseason game against the 49ers.

Starting point is 00:02:24 In fact, quite the opposite. It was Mack Jones and the 49ers offense, a 50 plus yard player, whatever that was, that set them up for a touchdown on the first drive of the preseason. left a bad taste in everybody's mouth. And I think it's something that this defense is going to want to kind of come back from quickly. They got a chance to do it at joint practice against another team. And I think the most exciting aspect of this that I'm looking forward to, Cody, is, man, this secondary has been picking Bow Nicks off.

Starting point is 00:02:52 They've been picking Jared Stidham off. They've been picking on these young receivers, right? I mean, let's go do this to the Arizona Cardinals, right? To another level. Let's take it to another level. Because like you said, the last couple of days haven't been. as competitive because of this joint practice upcoming. So let's see these guys go out there and just, hey, be sticky.

Starting point is 00:03:11 Go do your thing. Go take the ball away. Make the Cardinals go back to their drawing board. Like we said with the 49ers and just be completely frustrated about the way things went. Like, there has to be learning tape for the 49ers because they went up against the best secondary in the league. Well, here's the dynamic that they're going to face here in this joint practice. And I don't know if the Cardinal starters are going to play in Saturday's preseason game. But when we are going to get this first look at them in this practice,

Starting point is 00:03:37 Kyler Murray, as we all know, he's a mobile athletic quarterback can make plays happen outside the pocket. And look, usually at the beginning of the year, he's usually his healthiest and he's usually his fastest. How much are they going to try to get him to the outside, right? And I think that's where defensively your scramble drill philosophies are always going to apply. I think really your inside linebackers, they're going to be key for this specific practice against a quarterback like Kyler Murray here. And obviously we'll see if Dre Greenlott participates in the team aspect of it because there has been this ramp up. He's been doing individual drills this week. Alex Singleton has been a full going team.

Starting point is 00:04:12 So we'll see Singleton obviously here today in this joint session against Arizona, but also as well. I mean, look at the dynamics of what the Broncos are going to be facing here. You have Trey McBride, who was a large volume target for Kyler Murray in this Cardinals offense last year. He got a nice little extension in the offseason. You got Marvin Harrison Jr. who's obviously we know is a very, very talented player. And then they got other guys like Greg Dorch in the mix there at the wide receiver position, Zay Jones, someone who the Broncos have gone against before, Simi Fioco,

Starting point is 00:04:41 and then Michael Wilson, like they have talented guys across the board here. And obviously James Connor at the running back position here. I mean, this is where you're going to get a really good look at maybe how the Broncos adjust to some things. This is where I am going to factor more of my evaluation is in this joint practice is because I do believe you can get a lot out of this. But the game speed and the game reps are going to be entirely different, whereas we do want to see both the Broncos offense and the Broncos defense

Starting point is 00:05:08 come out and have a little bit more an efficient showing here in Saturday in that game that plays, obviously, late on Saturday, 7.30 p.m. Mountain time. But, yeah, just a good challenge with some of the pieces here that Arizona has. This should be a fun matchup to watch between that Bronco's secondary, led by PS2 and Riley Moss. obviously Talano, Hufanga, Brandon Jones, and then against these wide receivers and Kyler Murray. To me, the dynamic is going to be there to evaluate things clearly here. And something that you mentioned is really going to stand out quite a bit from this practice.

Starting point is 00:05:40 You mentioned the inside linebackers for Denver. Obviously, we don't exactly know who's going to be all out there on the practice field, but going up against Trey McBride and allowing Kyler Murray to, if he gets outside the pocket for any plays when they're doing team or seven-on-seven, whatever it may be, that's going to be really interesting to hear how those matchups go where, I mean, Kyler's going to target Trey McBride. He's one of the best tight ends in the game today.

Starting point is 00:06:04 And somebody that obviously a lot of Broncos fans know well because he played close by in college. And we wanted him in that draft where, and I think we ended up with Greg Dulcich. I think that was the same class, Cody, if memory serves me correctly. But I feel like this is a matchup that really is going to help kind of define that

Starting point is 00:06:21 competition that's ongoing, right? Behind Dre Greenlaw and Alex Singleton on the depth chart, Justin Sernod, Lavelle Bailey, those are the two guys right now that if the season started today and, you know, they had to play, that would be the two guys that would be out there. So I want to hear about those two guys really making a lot of plays in coverage, right? We know that they can, we know Justin can attack the line of scrimmage. He was one of the best at doing it on the team last year with eight tackles for loss.

Starting point is 00:06:46 But I want to see these guys making plays in coverage against a great tight end because I think the Broncos DBs are going to be able to lock up the receivers, right? Maybe not in one-on-ones because that's kind of, designed to favor the receiver, but in team drills, it's going to be that focus on the tight end position and how the Broncos are covering that tight end, specifically Tray McBride. And look, I think as well, you do get in these competitive periods, I will tell you this, this Broncos defense, they've made it like for Bo when Bow has tried to get outside and scrambled, the defense has been very good. I'd say Jonathan Cooper, Nick Bonito, Don Dre,

Starting point is 00:07:21 Tillman, Jonah Ellis, these guys have done a terrific job of maintaining that edge contain. They're not letting anybody, not even running backs get outside of them. That's an area that has been, you know, notably improved so far here in training camp practices. So I imagine, you know, going into it, I think they know, okay, we know that Kyler Murray can scramble. So for Vance Joseph, I'm curious what his design will be because they're not going to go out there and say, okay, this is the Vance Joseph defense. We're going to send six guys here. We're going to try to really blitz and get after Kyler Murray. It's a watered down vanilla version of all that. If you had to pick today going into like a matchup you want to see here between the Broncos secondary and this Cardinals offense,

Starting point is 00:08:00 which matchup most intrigues you? Because for me, I'm thinking it's going to be a little bit more of that PS2 versus Marvin Harrison, Jr. And I imagine they may not even move them around a lot. They may even have Riley Moss cover against Marvin Harrison Jr. as well, which I think would be an exciting challenge. I think so, too.

Starting point is 00:08:16 I think as many times as the Broncos can get different guys on Marvin Harrison, Jr., that's going to benefit them greatly. But also, you mentioned Dorch in the slot. I mean, that guy can get open quickly. And so that's going to help us maybe get some clarity on that slot competition that's been ongoing, where I know he gave up the big play in the preseason opener, Cody, but Jayquan Macmillan, I mean, Pat Sertan was talking him up to Kay Adams. He certainly came back with the interception against San Francisco,

Starting point is 00:08:43 had an interception at the end of practice earlier this week. So I feel like Jayquan is kind of slowly but surely kind of remaking his case for this depth chart and this team and his role on the team. So I'm excited to see how he does and how he continues to stack days, but Jaude Baron as well in the slot and how these guys fare. But yeah, the premier, the marquee matchup

Starting point is 00:09:05 is of course going to be, whoever is up against Marvin Harrison, Jr. And I hope that we do get to hear about Pat Sertan, Riley Moss, and even Chris Abrams drain going up against him in this practice. Broncos country, his practice is set to take place this morning here, joint session with the Cardinals. Let us know which matchup for the,

Starting point is 00:09:23 Broncos defense against Arizona's offense, you're most looking forward to seeing and or hearing about. We'll obviously have a breaking news or a post practice bonus episode for all of you here, lockdown Broncos as well. We're going to shift gears now to the offensive side of the ball. Why do we want to see the Broncos wide receivers here, the veterans, the young guys, why do we want to see them make some place here against this Cardinals, young secondary? We'll highlight the guys that we have our eyes on here on today's episode of the show. This episode is presented by Yahoo!

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Starting point is 00:10:57 Fantasy.com slash locked on NFL. It's young on young as the Denver Broncos bring their wide receivers out against Arizona Cardinals defensive backs. And in joint practice, you want to see these receivers really stand out against other competitors coming in. And Cody and I are going to tell you why we want to see the wide receivers stand out, as well as what else to be looking out for as these two teams take each other on in joint practice. But Broncos Country, we want to say we appreciate you so much for tuning in every single day to lock down Broncos.

Starting point is 00:11:28 Please, if you haven't done so already, take a couple seconds, hit subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and on YouTube. Cody, let's talk about it. Young wide receivers going up against Arizona D.Bs. I kind of like this matchup just in general, whether we're talking about joint practice or the preseason game, because Arizona roster building wise, kind of taking a. similar tactic to what the Broncos have at the wide receiver position, right? At the wide receiver position, everybody's saying, got to go add somebody, need a veteran to come into the mix.

Starting point is 00:11:56 And I was part of that. Sean Payton's like, no, no, no, we're going to go with the young guys. Jonathan Gannon is a DB's guy. We know that. He interviewed for the Broncos head coaching gig a while back. And he's been a DB's guy for the Vikings and George Payton. And he know each other, all those sorts of things. He's got a young group back there.

Starting point is 00:12:16 and you want to see the Broncos young receivers farewell against these guys. Yeah, you do. And certainly, I mean, they added Will Johnson, who before he had that, I think that ACL injury, the knee injury at Michigan. I mean, he was primed initially conversations before that injury. A couple of years ago, people are saying this could be the next Pat Certan. This guy's probably going to be a top five draft pick. The injury dropped him a little bit, obviously.

Starting point is 00:12:37 And so he lands in Arizona. And by all accounts, he's seemingly having a pretty good training camp down there in AZ there. And then he factor in. You got Buda Baker at the safety position. who's just kind of this weapon who can move around. Jalen Thompson's also another one of those younger players there. And then at the right cornerback spot, you got Max Melton and the nickel,

Starting point is 00:12:54 you got Garrett Williams. I mean, this is a young unit that they're really kind of predicating on, I'd say hybrid flexibility to play against the run and come up and tackle, but also be able to cover guys. And so I think you have that good versatility there. I look at Arizona's defense. And I think really all three levels of that defense, they have some versatile players,

Starting point is 00:13:14 including former Broncos friend here, Baron Browning, who's going to be returning to the Mile High City for a joint practice here this morning. But for me, I'm excited to see Cortland continue to work a little bit here against this Cardinals defense. But I think realistically speaking,

Starting point is 00:13:29 I mean, am I speaking for everyone in Broncos country? Am I on my own here by saying, we're all probably going to have our eyes on Troy Franklin and Pat Bryant as the two main guys we want to see make plays here this morning? Absolutely. And we've talked about, too, how Devon Veilade,

Starting point is 00:13:44 needs to kind of bounce back this week and make a few more plays. We want to see Trent Sherfields continue to build because his role this season may be bigger than anticipated by really anybody because he was expected to be a special team's only guy. So, but yeah, the focus is 100% on Troy Franklin and Pat Bryant. Can these guys continue to prove that they belong in the top of this rotation? Because right now it feels like those snaps are sort of up for grabs, right? We believe that Marvin Mims is going to be wide receiver two this coming season or potentially could be. I mean, that's it.

Starting point is 00:14:16 I know that there's a lot of lying that goes down on the initial depth chart, but that's where he was listed, right? So we hope that that can happen. And Troy Franklin's just had the best camp out of maybe anybody on the team offensively in terms of just stacking those days. And in terms of, hey, we need a breakout from this guy while he's giving it to you so far. So let's see him continues to stack against another team. But also, like you mentioned, with Pat Bryant,

Starting point is 00:14:40 because the rookie made a nice third down catch against the 49ers, had a couple of plays that he made in that game. And you just feel like the more plays that he makes against other teams, the quicker he's going to have a bigger role for this offense. And I just believe that. He does such a great job of finding openings in the defense, creating yards after the catch. He's got soft hands.

Starting point is 00:15:00 He knows where the sticks are. He's got great body control, all these sorts of things. Let's see him go up against a Cardinal secondary that's got a lot of young guys and they're trying to prove themselves as well and trying to build off what they did last year, go up and make plays against those guys, and I think you will continue to earn the trust of this coaching staff. One thing I love about Pat is that he does the dirty work, right?

Starting point is 00:15:21 He's not afraid to be, you know, an engaged blocker. And I think it all goes back to what he said. I think it was at the senior bull. He said, you know, if I don't block him, I'm not going to get the rock. And so you've seen him embrace the physicality there. But I'll even say, I'll go back to what he did in Wednesday's practice, the Broncos second team offense.

Starting point is 00:15:40 And look, Jared has, Garrett Stidham's done great with that unit. Pat Bryant has done great with, I think, every unit he's worked with, right? Whether it's Bo, whether it's Jared, whether it's Sam Ellinger, he is mixed and matched with all of these quarterbacks. And one thing continues to remain true.

Starting point is 00:15:55 He's making plays. He's doing those little things that are going to be difference makers, I think, for this team. When he talk about needing to fight for, you know, lost yards or an extra inch, Pat Bryant is a guy that's going to help the Broncos get those extra yards here instead of losing them as to what Sean Payton has alluded to in the past. Like two years ago, he said, you know, we had a lot of hidden yards that impacted us in

Starting point is 00:16:17 negative ways. Pat Bryant's the cleanup guy here. You know, he brings his hard hat every day. One thing I think we are going to see here in this joint practice exclusively, and we heard this from Darren Rizzi on Wednesday, the Broncos special teams coordinator. He was talking about Pat Bryant and, you know, the roles that Pat has embraced in terms of being on special teams and getting more reps there here in practice. He said, said this is the week probably in the actual game against the Cardinals, where you are going to see a more concerted effort to put Pat in on special teams to play some of these roles that Trent Sherfield is also playing as well. And so I'm excited to see him contribute in that aspect of the game. But this is a guy who makes plays.

Starting point is 00:16:55 And in Wednesday's practice, there was a specific move-of-the-ball period with the second-team offense with Stiddem a quarterback. And Jarrett went to Pat on three consecutive plays. one play it was a move the ball two minute height you know i don't think there was any timeouts there from their own 40 going in and he found pat brian for about a seven yard game they went uptempo quick he fires a deep back shoulder throw to the left side and pat brian makes the play there in coverage and then on the next play he throws a goal line fade to pat brian who is interfered with by quentin newsome so it's there's this evident i'm throwing it to pat i know pat's going to come down with the football I'm loving what I'm seeing from the Broncos rookie receiver.

Starting point is 00:17:36 I'm excited about that. I'm excited about Troy Franklin. I'm excited about Trent Sherfield. I just think that this wide receiver room is in such a good spot right now, Sarah, with just the guys that can contribute. And it all seems like they are all willing to play their part. It doesn't seem like this room here is all about, I want to get my touches. And that was different.

Starting point is 00:17:55 When Jerry Judy was here, Jerry wanted touches. And surely, you and I were both on the show, Colin, get Jerry the ball a lot more. 100%, but you got guys now that are willing to say, you know what, even if I don't get the ball, I'm going to make a play here. I'm going to block. I'm going to set something up. I'm going to run a route. I'm going to be the decoy that forces the defense to bite up and then we're going to make a big play.

Starting point is 00:18:15 These guys are selfless in that room. And it's exciting to see play out and nothing better than a competitive period here today to kind of put a little cherry on top. Well, speaking of spreading the ball too, Cody, one thing that I'm also looking forward to is getting more involvement out of Evan Ingram. it feels like I haven't heard his name in quite a while when it comes to making plays at practice. By design, by design, right? So, yeah, Sean said after the first preseason game, they were going to try to get him more involved in the second preseason game or I guess maybe potentially in this joint practice.

Starting point is 00:18:45 And so he's one guy too that I'm excited to hear more about. But not at the expense of his health, obviously. We want to see Evan making plays in week one and then on. But obviously, we'd love to hear his name called a couple of times and see what he can do when you're going up against another team. I'm getting this question a lot on social media because a lot of fans are saying, how come we're not hearing a lot about Evan Ingram?

Starting point is 00:19:07 It's been very quiet. And I will say, just based on my observation of practice, this is just my, from what I have seen and what I'm gathering, my interpretation of it, it seems like Sean, they're not doing a lot of things to showcase what they're going to do with Evan Ingram, right? Because look, when you have training camp,

Starting point is 00:19:23 people pay attention. Other teams from around the league pay attention. And of course you want to get some of these looks. They do walkthroughs. in the evening, so they'll have a normal practice that we see. They're not doing this featuring him as much, I think, by design. I think Sean wants to kind of keep this joker in the deck. I made a little bit of a funny there, so to speak, when we're making the analogy,

Starting point is 00:19:44 but Evan is going to be a big part of this offense. And I think that there's just been this concerted effort that let's not reveal our hand too earlier. That at least is the vibe that I've gotten here from Sean Payton, though I will say in the preseason game, we saw him run routes. I thought he came open a few times, did a really good job in that regard, didn't see the targets. I also thought he blocked Will 2 at the tight end position in line. So it's not like he's not doing anything.

Starting point is 00:20:08 It's just, uh, we're being a little quiet here with Evan Ingram. And I like that. I think that's great to keep that kind of, you know, conceal that at this point in time. You don't want people to know because you and I have talked about this. It's a role in the offense that is being created for Evan Ingram. Sean Payton actually confirmed that to Kay Adams. when you and I talk about, what last year, based on last year, what role is Evan Ingram going to play? There was some thought early in the offseason that, well, he's going to play little Jordan Humphrey's role.

Starting point is 00:20:35 And you and I kind of, you know, we're like, ah, that's that's not it. It's a role that doesn't exist or didn't exist in this offense until he got there. So now you're adding that wrinkle into the mix. It's going to be fascinating to see. But yeah, you're right. He did. He came wide open on that fourth down play where Bo Nix made the play to Troy Franklin. And Franklin made a great catch.

Starting point is 00:20:54 I saw Ingram was wide open on the other side too. So really good stuff from him and really excited for this offense, as always, to be able to bounce back after what we saw against that 49ers preseason tape. You know, that was just not left the bad taste in everyone's mouth. I know they made some plays and they did some things well. They just, maybe have a few tweaks here and there. But I think they're going to be excited to go out there and kind of prove that, hey, the defense, you're talking them up.

Starting point is 00:21:21 Well, we want to make our case, too, that you should be talking up the offense as well. Well, in Broncos, country, make sure you let us know which matchup on the offensive side of the ball between the Broncos, wide receivers and Arizona Cardinals defensive backs that you have your eye on here this morning at joint practice. Plus, you'll get all the recap with a bonus episode following all the action as well. But coming up next year, we're going to be discussing the Broncos news and notes on the injury side of things. What's the latest with Nick Benito? Because we didn't see him for two days in a row. Will we see him here this morning for a joint practice? We'll go through that much more here on today's episode.

Starting point is 00:21:54 Lockdown Broncos. Today's Lockdown Broncos is brought to our friends over there at Monarch Money and most people can't name all of their financial accounts or even what they're worth, whether it's 401Ks, properties or investments. And when you don't have the full picture, you can end up leaving money on the table. Don't do that. That's why there is Monarch money because it's an all in one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean, easy to use interface on your laptop or your phone. If you're like me, you've definitely got accounts and subscriptions that you forgot that you're even paying for, right? And that's where I think Monarch money can really help you out because I linked all my accounts to Monarch and immediately spotted a few subscriptions that I wasn't even using.

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Starting point is 00:23:23 Let's get into the action here. Obviously, everyone's eyes are on Nick Benito in a contract year where the stock is very high, certainly made a very strong case for himself in Saturday's preseason game, but we saw him come up hobbled. He was meeting with the trainer a little bit on the sideline, and we thought, okay, this is something to monitor here. Sean Payton said it was nothing that they're really worried about. He observed Tuesday's practice, and then for Wednesday's practice. He was back out there just wearing a jersey, observing practice once again through team stretch individual period before he walked in to what I assume was to go get treatment. Now, we don't know what the injury exactly is. It could be foot. It could be ankle. Sean Payton said

Starting point is 00:24:01 something along the lines of a foot thing. But we're eyeing to see if he returns to joint practices here today, especially as the Arizona Cardinals come into town. And I would anticipate if there is no plan right now to play him on Saturday, we may see all that action here today. But so much is contingent upon his status here this morning. And to be honest with you, we don't know if he's going to be practicing here today. But in your opinion, let's say he's not 100%, Sarah, which I think we can make a safe assumption on that based on, you know, you roll an ankle or you have foot injury. You miss two days of practice.

Starting point is 00:24:35 You're more than likely than 100%. Is this more of a ploy for the Broncos to protect their investment by not putting Nick out there or is this more of a, hey, we've just got to get to the regular season. Where do you fall with this? I think it could be sort of all encompassing in a way, Cody. And let me explain because I feel like Nick Benito, obviously with that three-play stretch that he had against the 49ers, he showed like, okay, I'm ready to, I'm ready to take it even to the next level.

Starting point is 00:25:02 I made the pro bowl last year. I led the team in socks last year. I've been on a heater since my second season, midway through the year. Like, this is where I'm at. Like the stretch of three plays purely dominant. Like nobody could block him. So if I'm Nick Bonito. and I even slightly tweaked something during that three-play stretch.

Starting point is 00:25:21 And we saw him go to the bench, slam down his helmet, things like that. But later we saw him jumping up and down on the sideline. If I even suffered a slight scare after having a great training camp, showed up to the entire off-season program, just saw two of my other teammates get huge contracts. If I even slightly stubbed my toe, I might consider holding in. If I was Nick Benito, we see other players doing this around the league. Terry McLaurin's showing up to practice.

Starting point is 00:25:46 It's smart. It is. It's business. It's the NFL. And this is what you got to do. And Nick Benito, you got to strike while the iron's hot. His value is high right now. It may not be as high as somebody like Miles Garrett who got paid or T.J.

Starting point is 00:25:59 Watt or even Micah Parsons who's yet to be paid might not be there because those guys are proven over time. They've done more. But for him, his value is extremely high. And we're talking about potential of upwards of $100 million. And I mean, I don't know how much exactly, Cody. I'm not privy to those discussions. but we're talking about tens of millions of dollars on the line here that would be significantly reduced if he would suffer any sort of injury in a contract year.

Starting point is 00:26:26 And so if I'm Nick Benito and I don't want to put words in his mouth, I don't want to make assumptions for anybody. But if I was him, I would be like, hey, I'm, I'm kind of going from what I was doing to a little bit of a hold in because, you know, I tweaked my foot or whatever it may be. And I want to get paid now. So it's like, hey, I'm not risking anything else until I get that. contract signed. I agree with you 100%. I'm trying to remember if it was Quondre Diggs or if it was Jam. Was it Jamal? No, it was Earl Thomas. My gosh, not quandary digs. Earl Thomas, remember when he

Starting point is 00:26:57 was with the Seattle Seahawks and he showed up for training camp, you know, still looking for a contract. What was it? Something happened. I think in the preseason or regular season. And then, you know, he's on the cart and he's flipping off the, uh, you know, there. I, I 100% agree with, with the ability to hold in here because Nick deserves. to be paid and the Broncos should pay him. And I understand that there's just a language stuff that, you know, when you talk about contracts, both sides kind of have to be in a grievance.

Starting point is 00:27:24 And I don't think that they're far off. I don't think that Nick is going to go ask for something that's astronomically out of realm here. I think Nick is going to look to get paid what he's deserved. And I think when you talk about tens of millions of dollars and guaranteed money, and if the Broncos want that and they know that they're going to do that, it's not like, hey, we're not going to do this. It's we want to protect our investment.

Starting point is 00:27:45 And Nick on his side of saying, well, I'm going to help you do that because I'm going to hold in. This is just an assumption. We're not saying Nick Benito was holding in. So before anyone goes crazy saying that we are saying that we're not, we're saying if he did hold in, I would certainly understand. Sarah would have certainly understand because if you get banged up, then all of a sudden, team starts to perceive, ah, the value is not going to be as high.

Starting point is 00:28:06 So this is smart if that's the case. But I think, like I said, I think with just the culture that this Broncos team has, what we saw with Cortland was Zach. I think that there's very much the same sense here on Nick Benito. They want to take care of Nick. Nick wants to be here and they're just going to protect him. And he's going to protect himself, which at the end of the day, he should. So I'm curious where Broncos country feels about what we've talked about here.

Starting point is 00:28:29 But I want to also throw it to another conversation. We talk about injury news and notes. DeMarie Mathis left practice on Wednesday with the trainer walked into the training room there. He did not return to practice, not sure what was up. We didn't see exactly what happened on the play. but now adds another wrinkle here to the Broncos depth in the secondary, and now it's affording other guys that we talked about, those undrafted guys to get opportunities to make plays.

Starting point is 00:28:52 And on top of that, more Chris Abrams drain. More Chris Abrams drain, more Jaden Robinson. I'm excited to watch him again, Cody. You know about that. We talked about that after that 49ers game. I'm excited to see what he can do in stacking games, stacking weeks here, making plays because he was out there making some plays. And for Damari, I mean, it's really tough timing because obviously,

Starting point is 00:29:13 he's got to put stuff out there on tape, not just for the Broncos to consider keeping him on the 53, but for other teams. Because if he hits waivers, I mean, that's nearly four million that some team would be claiming for this season in particular. That's a lot of money for somebody. And there are cornerback needy teams out there that would probably say, you know what? Yeah, absolutely. We'll take that flyer right now. We'll go ahead and pay whatever it is. And that money would then be off Denver's books. Or maybe they could even trade him if he was healthy and playing well. I just don't, I don't see a path to really any future long term in Denver for him, but it's not good timing for an injury when he needs to be out there putting stuff on tape, showing that he can, you know, has bounced back from

Starting point is 00:29:53 whatever we saw him. He was hurt for a lot of last year, right? And he barely got on the field when he did come back. So we want to see what he could do out there, put that stuff on tape, impress the Broncos and everybody else. It's just terrible timing. I feel bad for him. Yeah, same here.

Starting point is 00:30:08 I love Damari. Damari's always been so great to me. And look, I think anytime you. play a position in the NFL and you have games or look demari signed in his rookie season you know he had a lot of action and i thought he did really well in that action that he had 2023 comes around there's you know the ups and downs with the chains in the defense that that happened there you know damari gets bench he's in the doghouse a little bit he comes back works his way on special teams and gets more of an opportunity you know last year he plays in the dime a little bit for

Starting point is 00:30:36 the Broncos then he hurts his back down the stretch of the season and it's just injuries have kind of been a theme and you've seen some of these other guys emerge and unfortunately you see this happen all the time in the NFL. I still think DeMari can play high quality reps. I think Damari could be someone who goes to another team. If it's not Denver, I think he can play at a high level. And teams that I'm eyeing there is it's guys that you know, right? I'm thinking Vic Fangio because of Christian Parker and the ties that you have there. I'm thinking Derrimugi and the New York Jets, who obviously are going to need that because I think Soss Gardner's also a little banged up in Shrenny Camp as well. Make sure you check out locked on Jets. You want to know more information about that.

Starting point is 00:31:11 I'm very, very curious to see how this impacts maybe the rotation this upcoming week. Cornerback, Reese Taylor, who plays primarily in the nickel. He also has been out with a hamstring injury. No Nate Adkins. We don't know what his injury is. So these are kind of the injury updates that we have here. And we'll see, obviously, what transpires here this morning as the Arizona Cardinals come to town for a joint practice. You get all the recap and a bonus episode later on today.

Starting point is 00:31:36 So Broncos Country, stay tuned for all that ahead of Saturday's preseason game. But thank you so much for rocking with us, making us your first. first listen of the day, however you choose to do so for your second listen, go check out our friends over there at Locked-on Fantasy Football wherever you get your podcast, especially with some of your fantasy leagues, your drafts that are coming up, especially with our friends over there at Yahoo Fantasy. Go check out our friends with our Locked-on Fantasy Football. We'll see you later on for a bonus episode, Lockdown Broncos.

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