Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos Drew Sanders EMERGES As Potential DARK HORSE At Linebacker

Episode Date: March 20, 2025

Denver Broncos linebacker Drew Sanders is emerging as a potential dark horse candidate for a starting job at inside linebacker next to Dre Greenlaw. What will Sanders have to do to hold off Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad? Plus, Broncos Country sent in their mailbag questions about whether Sean Payton should trade for Alvin Kamara and which three positions the Broncos should focus on in the NFL Draft. 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!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Denver Broncos linebacker Drew Sanders could be in line for more playing time here in 2025, but he'll have to beat out Alex Singleton and Justin Sternad for the starting job. How might he do that? We'll break that down and much more here 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 happening in Broncos country? Welcome into another episode of Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast,

as part of the lockdown podcast, narrow creed. You know, it is your team every day for all your Broncos news, content coverage, analysis more every single day all year long. This is the place to be. So thank you so much to all the everydayers out there in Broncos country. Thank you so much for making us your first listen. However, you choose to do so.

And if you're not yet in every day or become one, it's easy, it's simple. All you have to do is click subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcast. I'm Cody Work, Credential Broncos reporter here from Mile High Sports, where I cover the team in person. in Dove Valley Every Day. Plus, you get my written work over there, milehigh sports.com plus daily Broncos coverage here on the show. Sarah Beninger will rejoin us next week here for the show. We still got a jam-packed episode for you here today.

We'll wrap things up by highlighting Alvin Camara. Could the Broncos maybe inquire about trading from that? That's one question sent in from one listener for our Broncos mailbag here today. Also, what three positions should the Broncos prioritize in this year's NFL draft? We're just one month away. We're going to open things up by answering one. of the Broncos listeners mailbag questions that they sent in surrounding Drew Sanders. What is his path for more playing time?

You're going to get all that on today's episode of the show. So let's open things up here. Obviously getting into our handy dandy Broncos mailbag. We just got a letter and it comes in from an avid listener of the show who asks the question. Drew Sanders, what would it take for him to get more playing time here in 2025, especially with there being a little bit of a log jam at the inside linebacker position? I think when you look at it, you got to go through and analyze. okay, what do we know about that position so far?

I think you open it up. We know Drake Greenlaw is the starting linebacker here for the Broncos. Not sure if it's going to be the Will or the Mike. We just know it's going to be offball linebacker. He brings a lot of different values to, I think what the Broncos want to do defensively in terms of being able to blitz the linebacker, being able to have your linebacker stay back in coverage while you're blitzing the other guy or you're blitzing in the nickel.

You have a guy who can range sideline to sideline with Drake Greenlaw. But how does that impact, you know, the other position there? And I think this is where Drew Sanders really comes into the equation because right now it's a question as to what will it look like for Drew Sanders to get on the football field. As we know, going back to the NFL scout and combine, George Peyton said it. He said, we believe that Drew is a starting linebacker here in the league. And certainly he's going to compete for that job there. It's not going to be handed to him. So that factors.

And okay, this was said before the Broncos went out there and got Dre Greenlaw. Okay. So now that we know that Greenlaw is one of those guys, he's going to be solidified and cemented on the Broncos defense. Okay, that means that one of those linebacker spots is wide open. Okay, so who's in that position right now? We know Drew Sanders is in there. Alex Singleton's in there, Justin Sternad, and also Lavelle Bailey is in there. And from what we know, based on what Justin Sternad said when he initially resigned with the Broncos on a one-year deal,

he was told by the team he's going to compete to start. So that means that Justin Sternod, Alex Singleton, Drew Sanders, and even we'll throw Lavelle Bailey's name into the mix here, are likely to be competing for a starting job at inside linebacker. So for Drew to be able to get on the field more here for the Broncos, it's going to take a handful of things. I think one thing that is in his favor right now is that he now knows going into the season where he's going to be playing, right? His rookie season, obviously he's drafted.

He's playing off ball linebacker in middle of the season. They say, hey, we're going to switch you to edge rusher. And obviously the Broncos, they identified in the draft process, his ability to be a pressure player. That's what Sean Payton has called him in terms of talking about the vision for him. You know, he played inside backer, offball backer at Arkansas after initially playing edge rusher when he was at Alabama, transferred to Arkansas, played off ball and was very effective there.

Nine and a half sacks, I believe in his last year there at that position. Then he comes to Denver. Okay, you make the position switch. There's, it's harder at the NFL level, you know, when you come in, you know, you're used to playing one position, okay, at college, it might be easier to make a position change. But in the middle of an NFL season, when all of the, you know going into it is, hey, off ball linebacker, I have to understand these coverages. I have to understand my run fits.

Now I'm an edge rusher. Really, my priorities change to, okay, I'm rushing the quarterback. If we're stunting, where am I going? But I also have to maintain edge contain. I can't let anybody get outside of me. So your responsibilities in terms of the complexity of it, I think, change a little bit. It's more complex, I think, to play off ball linebacker because you have to play against the run.

You have to account for the pass. And that's hard because the game has played. to such a high speed, whereas you're an edge rusher, go get the quarterback, make sure nobody gets outside of you, stop the run. It's a little bit easier in terms of your job characteristics. So now his second season, let's go to that. He was an edge rusher, and now he's preparing as an edge rusher.

In April, he tears his Achilles and is going to miss, you know, a good portion of the season. Timeline expected for October. He comes back in October. He plays edge rush a little bit. Then they switch him to off ball linebacker. and his one pressure that he gets, they send him against the chargers against Justin Herbert.

He goes through and he gets the sack there on that one pressure. And so it's like, all right, they moved him back to off ball linebacker. What is me? So now he's having to relearn everything he needs to know in Vance Joseph's defense. You know, as an inside linebacker, you have to also know if the nickel is blitzing, do I have to replace him in covered or is it the other guy?

How do I align? Like, am I going to be the strong side? You know, Mike, am I going to be the Mike or am I going to be the will? The will is always the weak side guy. It depends on what the Broncos tagged him as there, especially with all their revolving personnel. So that is, you know, it was a little bit of a mystery. But now that we know he's an inside linebacker,

as confirmed by Sean Payton, by George Payton, at the NFL Combine, his focus this entire off season, might be to lose some weight because they had to bulk up to play the edge, or he could just be the stout guy there. He still can run. I've seen him run. Can still move sideline to sideline relatively quickly. It's just up here, though, right?

Now it's like I have to understand my coverage dynamics and responsibilities he's, you know he can play linebacker. He's instinctive there. It's just being able to get back saying, hey, now I'm going to be playing in space a lot more than I was as an edge rusher. Now I got to compete against a guy like Alex Singleton, who plays with his hair on fire. Granted, is coming off the ACL injury,

but he's running full speed right now. He's going to be fully ready to go for OTAs, for training camp. They're going to likely bring him along there. But really, Singleton's competing to start this upcoming season, which is interesting because he's a team captain, a guy who's well loved and respected in that locker room. but I understand it from the Broncos business standpoint here, where they have to focus on,

okay, we know what we have with you, but we also have young guys that we have a vision for, and we need to see if that's coming along quicker than we anticipated. For Drew Sanders, he got put in an unfair spot, in my opinion, by having two positions, which is in his first two seasons in the NFL. That hurts him. And that's not necessarily a mark against Drew Sanders. That's a negative mark, in my opinion,

on the coaching staff and the evaluation process. I understand needs arose, but you impact the player's mentality with that. it's rough. Like you have to learn, throw everything you learn, and then relearn all the new stuff here all over again with your position switch. And then you got Justin Sternard who stepped in for Singleton last year. And look,

I'm higher on what Justin Sternod did last year than I think most people are. There's some things that I know in terms of the coverage dynamics, what happened, what went wrong. And I think that a lot of the blame being placed on Justin Sternad, I think is very unwarranted. What Justin showed me is that he can play for you. He can start for you if you need it.

So he's going to get an opportunity to do that. He has grown and he's developed in a positive trajectory every single year. That's why he's been on several staffs. He's made it through several coaching staffs here. He's really the last holdover from the John L.A. draft era, which is crazy to think about. So for me, for Drew Sanders, you're going to have to beat those guys out here in training camp and likely the preseason. I don't think this is going to be solved in week one or week two of the preseason. I think this is going to be, we're going into the regular season after that third and final preseason game.

We'll have a better idea as to who we want. And I wouldn't even be shocked if in the regular season, Denver plays around with rotating some guys a little bit to really determine that. And you know what? It may be good to have one, you know, like your two linebackers starting guys locked in. I don't necessarily believe it would hurt if you're rotating maybe one or your top two options there. If you're still undecided, Denver did that early on last season, even after Alex Singleton's injury. So I don't think you can hurt you, but you obviously want to have continuity. You want to know what your lineup is going to be.

But it also makes it harder for teams early on the season to game play. because we're like, wait, we don't know exactly who they're true starters is the rotating guys. This guy does this well. When this guy comes in, he does this well. And so you have to kind of create a little bit of a game plan complexity for opposing coordinators. But it's easier for them to adjust to than it is me talking about it here theoretically. So I think for Drew, if he doesn't win the starting job for the Broncos, you know, alongside Drake Greenlaw, I think that Drew could still get on the playing field quite a bit.

Look, he's going to have to play a lot of special teams regardless. Now, if he starts, won't play as much special teams. But he's going to play special teams if he's not the starter. I think that you can benefit, maybe in a dime package, right? You know, you can maybe put Drew Sanders as your dime backer. You know, he's got good athleticism to him. Do you envision that for Drake Greenlaw, though, right? What if you go big nickel?

That's where maybe a guy like J.L. Skinner can come into the mix. So ideally, it's envisioning your different packages you can have and maybe use for Drew Sanders when he's in. But if he's going to be a pressure player and he's not the starter, when you put him in, the thing that I'm thinking about is teams are going to pick up, hey, he's usually a guy they use for pressure situations or maybe passing down situations. That might be something the Broncos have to overcome here. But I think that Drew is in a good position to compete with those other two guys and even honorable mention Lavelle Bailey for a starting job here.

And I think the continuity of him staying and knowing what he's, what position he's playing this season going into it, I think is going to pay off for him. I think it's going to give him an advantage where he can just focus and play loose. And now you have a new inside linebacker coach as well that is coming into it. and has, I think, a good side on it as saying, hey, you know what, this is a brand new slate. We know who our one guy is competition. You know, it's good for everybody who makes the defense better?

Who's going to go away with that? I'm excited to see Drew Sanders compete. He's a quiet guy. He puts his head down. He works hard. But it's going to be tough to hold off guys like Alex Singleton and Justin Sternata, maybe even Lovell Bailey from that standpoint. That's one question we got sent into our Broncos mailbag here on today's episode of the show.

But up next, one listener in Broncos country, asked what three positions should the Broncos prioritize? And we'll tell you why running back? and defensive line might be the top two positions here that Denver should take a look at. We'll break that down and much more on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Today's Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by friends over there at Upwork. And scaling your business requires the right expertise at the right time. And with Upwork, you can find specialized freelancers in marketing, developing design, and more.

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With free agency in the bag, the Broncos, they have a multitude of options and a lot of flexibility when it comes to their roster, their draft positioning, and their draft capital to build the best roster possible here going into 2025. But what positions take priority? We'll continue talking about that here on today's episode of the show real quick. Once again, wanted to thank the everydayers out there in Broncos country. Thanks for making us your first list. And we got you covered literally every single day all year long for everything. And it pertains to your favorite team. That is the Denver Broncos.

Going into our Broncos country mailbag that listeners of the show sent in their questions on Twitter and other avenues, we could ask the question here with now with free agency being over in the Broncos making the splashes that they did on offense with Evan Ingram, the defense with Talanoa Hufanga and Drake Greenlaw. What three positions should the Broncos prioritize in the NFL draft in the month of April? think this is a very interesting question because I mentioned it. Raster flexibility. Denver is in a really good spot. And the way that they have built this team in the last two years,

factoring in Sean Payton's first draft class here with the Broncos, you know, they had to trade up. They didn't have a first or second round pick. They had to trade up to the back end part of round number two to grab Marvin Mims. Round three, you go through and you get Drew Sanders. You trade back into round three to be able to get Riley Moss. That draft class has been fun to watch, right? But with the limited resources that Sean Payton had initially coming into it,

you didn't necessarily get a lot of choices in that. And so your hit rate has to be important with that. And I think that those guys have been hits. Drew Sanders, we just talked about them in the previous segment. I think he's going to have an opportunity to get more playing time. And you can maybe learn a little bit more about whether or not that was a good investment by the Broncos initially in the draft here. Last year's draft class, obviously going through Bow Nicks,

a lot of the rookies, Troy Franklin, expected to have a bigger role this upcoming season. Devon Bailey being a gem, you know, as a late round pick for them. Denver is in a good spot here. So what three positions should they prioritize? Well, they went on in free agency. They got obviously linebacker and safety. They re-signed DJ Jones. So a lot of questions on the defense side.

Do they continue to invest in the trenches? Certainly a possibility. Offensively, they go out and they get Evan Ingram. You already have a wide receiver room that Sean Payton has already talked about that they believe that they're higher on them than most people think that they are. You've got Cortland Sutton in that room. So for me, I look at it. And I think it has to be.

If we're looking at the positions, has to be running back, defensive line. And I would even say tight end at this point too, right? And I know what you're thinking. Well, Cody, they just signed Evan Ingram. Ingram's going to come in, play tight end, play that Joker role here for the Broncos. Look, I think you're going to see a lot of different ways

that Sean's going to use him. You're going to use him in line. You're going to use him in the slot. You're going to use him flexed out to the outside. I also believe within my heart of hearts, you're going to see him at times in the backfield. They can do a lot of different things with him and that role specifically. Think about how we saw Marvin Mim start to get utilized.

And think about the size and the athleticism, the guy like Evan Ingram has. Well, let's say you pair both of those guys in the backfill. In passing situations out of a too high show where you're going to see the defense have those two safeties and you know you might get a one-on-one with one of the inside linebackers or if the defense decides to go cover one or cover zero, you know if those guys are blitzing, someone's going to have to account for the guys coming out of the backfield, right? whether it be Marvin Mims, Evan Ingrove, both those guys. I think we're going to see Evan used in that role here.

But for me, I still think you look at adding a running back here. And that's obviously on the table here in the first round, second round, third round. I think those are certainly the options. And certainly Sean Payton has talked about over the course of his time conducting NFL drafts. They have the ability to find good running back talent in the mid to later rounds. They've done that. There's a proven track record of that. Obviously with Alvin Camara being one of the guys, we'll talk about him in another context,

a little bit later on here in the show. But for me, if you can get a playmaking running back in either round one or round two, I like that because you're adding value to an already young running back room that the Broncos, they like some of the guys, but they want to push the needle a little bit there. And they want to see if maybe they can get a guy who can really establish himself. And then everything else, as you know, Sean believes in a committee approach. He doesn't really believe that the Belcal back in today's game, unless you have guys like Derek Henry, it really exists at that point.

you have to have a handful of backs because of the contact, because of the amount of snaps that those guys say. But I think that the Broncos and Sean Payton can be drastically better and not muddying the water with messing with the rotation too much like they did in 2024. Establish a clear pecking order here. Running back can do that. Let me talk about defensive line here because this is something that Sarah Bedinger and I are going to talk about in tomorrow's episode of the show as well.

I look at defensive line. We go back to what George Payton, John Payton said. They want to continue to invest in the trenches. Yes, they got John Franklin Myers. They've got Zach Allen. They've got VJ Jones back. They got Malcolm Roach and Jordan Jackson. But you can always continue to add to that position group because I think that there are other guys on the roster, like in Yoma, Uwazerike, who wouldn't necessarily have a guaranteed spot.

You want to continue to elevate the floor of that room. And, you know, you need to have a good established rotation with those guys there. And I think that the Broncos are invested in that, especially after seeing what the Philadelphia Eagles did to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. That's something you should look at. And then I also think tight end should be another area of focus. That's something we're going to highlight here. I think obviously round one, it doesn't seem like that's going to be on the table. That's something we're going to dive deeper into on tomorrow's episode of the show here.

But this year's tight end class, you can add a valuable guide there because I believe that Nate Adkins is going to move from tight end. I think he's going to replace Michael Burton at full back, barring Burton re-signing. I think he can play that role. Plus, you know he can provide a pass-catching dynamic out of the backfield here. We haven't seen too many handoffs there to Nate Adkins at this point, but that's something that will probably come up here with Sean if he makes that transition fully. You got Evan Ingram a tight end.

You've got Adam Troutman. And you got Lucas Crowell who's developing. You got Thomas Yasmin, who's really a guy that the Broncos believe is on a really good developmental trajectory. That shouldn't take away from adding one of these, I'd say, polished past catching tight ends in this year's NFL draft. Terrence Ferguson out of Oregon, Mason Taylor being an option here. If the Broncos are truly out in round one on the tight end conversation, if Tyler Warren or Colston Lublin aren't there, if that's not their interest, then you can add value here still later on in the rounds there and still get a premier pick, obviously with your 20th selection overall, you know, depending on what position they go, will that be running back, tight in or defensive line? I think that the Broncos have plenty of options to choose from there.

So for me, those would be the three positions I would prioritize their running back, D line, tight in in and no specific order. If Denver goes with their 20th pick or if they trade up or trade back and that's one of those position groups, the first ones they take in the top 200 of the draft, I'm happy with that. I think that's a good value, a great hall here for the Broncos. And certainly I trust Sean Payton and George Payton's evaluation and their process for it and an eyeing talent. And they're bringing guys in a locker room that are going to fit the culture of what they want to do. So I'm excited about that. Denver's not in a position where they have to press.

They're not in a position. And nor have they done this where they've drafted based on need. They've taken the best player available in the approach in the last couple of drafts in which the picks that they've had. And Polnix was their best player available. He's the guy that Sean Payton wanted all along last season. Contrary to whatever people are saying out there, that has never changed. It was Bo Nix. There was never any other quarterback that was at the top of their list.

Bo Nix was the guy here. So I think it's a great question sent in on our Broncos country mailbag here on today's episode of the show. But Broncos country, we're not done yet. One listener of Broncos country asks whether or not Alvin Camero and the Broncos should happen. Should the Broncos pick up the phone and call about trading for Alvin Camer? I'll tell you why that's not a good idea here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. The NCAA tournament is here, and so is the Bracket Breakdown. Locked-on Podcast Network and Amazon Fire TV channels are teaming up

to deliver NCAA tournament coverage like never before. Watch studio shows featuring former players and Locked On's local experts as they guide you through every upset, buzzer-beater, and bracket matchup. Stream it all for free on Amazon Fire TV channels. Search Brackett Breakdown to see it all for free. It's your team every day. The fourth quarter action of today's episode of the show show is here in Broncos country. We're going to open up our mailbag here for our final question of

the day. Good the Broncos trade for Alvin Camara. One question sent in by an avid listener out there in Broncos country. Real quick, I want to say thanks once again to the everydayers out there. Thank you so much for tuning in making us your first listen. We're here for you every single day. That's our promise here of the lockdown podcast. And we have it so good where we get to bring Broncos fans, great coverage of their favorite team at the local scale at the national scale. No more talking show, you know, hosts on the national level tearing down your team. because they don't watch or they don't pay attention. You get all that here, lockdown Broncos.

We pay attention. We cover your team boots on the ground every single day in Dove Valley. So with that said, let's open up our mailbag. Question sent in from an avid listener show asking us whether or not the Broncos should trade for Alvin Camara. And look, I understand the idea and the appeal for this. But I want to go back to last season here for the New Orleans Saints. When things were going as bad as they were and they were firing Dennis Allen and you were looking at a potential rebuild where they're going to tear everything down, They're going to have a brand new head coach.

And it was going to be a long, drawn out process here for the Saints that you would have expected, hey, there's going to be a fire cell here. They're more likely to move on from Derek Carr. Well, they go out and they get Kellynne Moore as their next head coach. And they've really kind of committed to not rebuilding just to hit a reset and say, hey, we want to compete. That's what's going on with the New Orleans Saints. Don't believe me.

Go check out a guy, Ross Jackson over there at Lockdown Saints. He has you covered boots on the ground daily from the New Orleans Saints beat perspective here. But, you know, really the thing is around the trade deadline, there were conversations. And we were even looking at it as well because the Broncos, they weren't getting a lot of production out of the running back position, as everybody knows, it paid attention to the team. And I asked, I asked Ross, I asked other beat reporters in New Orleans about Alvin Camara. Like, could the Saints look to trade him? And Ross told me, and other Saints reports told me, like, I don't think that's going to happen. We think that Camara is going to stay.

And certainly enough, I think it was maybe a week, two weeks after the Broncos beat the Saints on Thursday night football. Alvin Camara signs an extension with the Northern Saints. And certainly that kind of reintruth. Hey, he wasn't really planning on going anywhere. Same thing for guys like Cam Jordan, who were rumored to be on the trade block. I think that was more speculation. There was substance to that.

And the idea behind it was, hey, these guys, you know, if they're going to embrace a rebuild and they're going to tear things down, give these guys who have done so much for your organization a chance to go off and maybe compete and have a chance. And everyone immediately thought, well, let's reunite Alvin Camero with Sean Payton. I think for as much as Sean Payton would love to have Alvin in the mix here for the Broncos. I even think that even Sean knew that Camara is probably never going to leave New Orleans. Now, he just signed an extension here.

And I think some of the belief was that, hey, Camara doesn't want to play for any other team. Of course, he loves Sean Payton, but he doesn't want to play for any other team around the NFL. So if that were the case, if he were to get dealt or if there was talks of him getting dealt, there could have been a situation maybe where Alvin Camer said, hey, you know what, I'm good. I've accomplished a lot in my career. I've had a really good payday before. I'm going to retire versus him going out there and playing with another team. I think it's important for Alvin to remain on the team that drafted him.

I think that's an important thing for him personally that he feels about. So while it would benefit the Broncos to add Alvin to the mix, you get a veteran running back who can also be a joker in the deck. I know our good friend Sarah pointed out here on the show that, hey, when you look at a deck of cards, there's usually two jokers in it. The Broncos got one in Evan Ingram. And now, you know, if they were to trade for a guy like Camara, they could have two jokers in the deck.

But I don't see that being the case. Now, it's still possible that even if signed the extension, the Saints could look to deal him. I don't think that's going to happen. I don't think conversations or phone calls on that would go very far. So I don't think that's going to be the piece here for the Broncos. And look, I understand there's a couple of veteran options out there. I truly believe, just the vibe that I have here from seeing how Sean has worked

and how he and George have maneuvered NFL free agency, there have been a handful of other veteran running backs that have been. been available, right? Not necessarily guys that really fit the Joker role or that mold, but now that you know that Evan Ingram is going to be that Joker, to me, I just see them going with the youth movement at the running back position in the NFL draft. I think if they add a player, it'll be at running back. It'll be a defensive line or tight end. But the idea that they're going to trade for a veteran at this point, I think that's kind of off the table. You know, I know we've seen in the draft in the last couple of years, Sean has orchestrated a deal. I mean, he acquired in his

first year in Denver in the 2020 well in 2020 after that season going into the 2024 NFL draft I mean the 2023 NFL draft you saw him trade for Adam Troutman you know I think it was a six round pick we've seen in the 2024 NFL draft we said the Broncos trade and acquire a veteran player like John Franklin Myers so there is maybe a possibility to monitor that here but as free agency continues in the Broncos not yet signing a veteran back to the mix I think that Sean's going to go with the youth movement here right because you've got your quarter back in place. Got a veteran receiver,

Cortland Sutton. You got a veteran Joker tight-in option here in Evan Ingram. Your offensive line is established and you really like what you have in your younger guys like the Tyler Badez. Obviously, the Jalil McLaughlin.

Sean loves Jolil there. Adrick Estimate, we haven't seen enough from him yet, but we've seen some flashes to maybe make him an exciting, you know, throw in there. Blake Watson is one of these guys that are on the roster that has Joker traits to him at the running back position.

And so in-house, you might have a chance to develop Blake Watson and what we saw in the regular season, granted a small sample size against the Chargers in that other Thursday night game. I came away and pressed with Blake Watson. When they picked up Watson initially

during rookie minicamp in OTAs, one thing that Sean Payton was asked is, what would you like to do with a player like Blake Watson? And Sean said to him, I'd like to throw him the football a lot. So to me, he sees that. And you need a replacement in the return game. Obviously replacing Tremont Smith,

who that, I mean, Trent Sherfield is not going to be the returner next to Marvin Mimson. this upcoming season. But you want another guy. Blake Watson right now probably fits the mold a little bit better than anybody else. He and Tyler Badeo will probably be in the mix for that job and that role on special teams. So I don't necessarily see Camara being something of significant interest here for the Broncos. I'm sure that they might have already had those conversations, but I don't think anything is going to formulate to that. Our good friend, Ross Jackson will probably have a better idea on that

as well as they head into the Kellyn Moore era where, hey, the offense is so important. He's an offensive-minded head coach. He's not going to get rid of his best running back and past catching option. They're going to likely keep him in the mix there with the Saints, especially as they're committing to sticking with Derek Carr for now. So, yeah, I would take that off the table in terms of an option and maybe just convince yourself the Broncos. They're going to go younger here at the running back position, and that's going to be the way here with this offense. I think it's exciting. I think that this year's draft class of running backs, I think that Denver can get a really good back, whether it be round one, round two, round three.

We'll see some other under the radar gems that maybe go round four, round five that aren't necessarily being talked about enough. That's always in another appeal. But right now the Broncos, they got four backs that they're happy with, that they like, that they believe are on a really good developmental track. I still think they're going to add, but I don't think it's going to be free agency. I don't think it's going to be via trade. I think it's going to be with the NFL draft and some of these younger guys here.

But with that said, Broncos Country, I appreciate you so much for tuning into today's episode of the show. If you're a brand new listener, you loved everything that you got here when it comes to Broncos coverage, make sure you do his favor. Hit that subscriber of that follow button so you never miss out on what's going on with your favorite team every day all year long. Tomorrow's episode of the show for all you every dayers out there. All signs point and maybe indicate that the Broncos may not go tight in with their first round pick at number 20, whether they even trade up or trade back. Tight end doesn't seem like a valuable option right now based on what we've heard from our good friend Mike Cliss.

Sarah Beniger, myself are going to debate if not tight end. what position. We'll break that down and much more on tomorrow's episode of the show. We'll see you then.