Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos Embracing YOUTH MOVEMENT At Running Back Position | RB1 For Sean Payton?

Episode Date: March 26, 2025

The Denver Broncos are apparently embracing a youth movement at the running back position with the four backs they have on the roster. Is Audric Estime or Jaleel McLaughlin RB1 for Sean Payton? Are Tyler Badie and Blake Watson in the mix or could one of them be the odd player out if the Broncos take a RB in the 2025 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.

The Denver Broncos could take a running back in the NFL draft, but they have several running backs on the roster that could get the job done for Sean Peyton here in 2025. We'll debate and discuss 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 at Broncos country? Welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast.

Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks to the everydayers out there in Broncos country, thanks for tuning in, making us your first listen. However, you choose to do so wherever you get your podcast. If you're not yet in every day or it's super easy to become on all you have to do. Hit that subscriber to that follow button down below so you never miss out on daily Broncos news, content coverage, analysis and more every single day all year long. I'm Cody Roark, Broncos reporter from Mile High Sports. You can check out my written book over there, Mya High Sports.com. Join, as always, by Sarah Beninger, site expert over there, predominantly orange.com, where you can

and check out his written work. And together we bring you a daily jam pack, wax-smacky edition of the podcast. We appreciate you so much here. Broncos, country and look, obviously the off-season continues on as we build up for the NFL draft. And there's a lot that we're going to discuss as it pertains to several positions here. We'll look at why the youth movement for the running back position could become the popular trend now going forward in the NFL.

We'll also discuss which Bronco's running back we think could be the odd man out inside of that room there, especially if they add in. the NFL draft, but we're going to kick off today's episode of show by highlighting which Broncos running back on the roster is best suited to be the guy for Sean Payton and the offense in 2025. And Sarah, I mean, right now as the Broncos prepared for the NFL draft, they have four running backs on the roster as is. And it's a youth movement. It's a bunch of young guys.

And it's a bunch of guys that aren't necessarily proven, but do have potential. This could also be the path here for the Broncos going forward. It could be. And really, I think that plays a factor in. why the team has not yet added a veteran to the roster in terms of the guys that are already on the team who have all gotten chances to play, right? And so as we ask this question, who's the Broncos running back that's best suited to be the guy in 2025? Cody, I want to start the bidding with Audric Estime, who I believe is that guy. I think that skill wise, I think that in terms of what

we know the team thinks of him or at least has thought of him in the past, Estime seems to be the guy that you could reasonably say he could lead the team in carries this year. I mean, he's got the size. He's got the yards after contact ability. He can finish down in the tight red zone. He's got the athletic ability and certainly is a bit faster than maybe his 40 time would indicate. As we know, he's hit upwards of over 21 miles per hour on the in-game GPS. So, I mean, this guy has all of the skills. The team at one point had a third round grade on him. But we also know that he got into the doghouse a little bit after the preseason, right? I mean, the Broncos let it be known that he was walking around the facility with a ball in his hands

because he is fumbling during the preseason. So there's a lot to like about a guy like Estimae, but there's also a lot of reason to maybe question even potentially his standing on the roster. Yeah, it's interesting though, because, you know, for me, it's like you, you've had this high grade on him, as the Broncos say that they did. To me, the biggest mystery, and we, Till this day had not gotten an answer outside of the fact that Sean said after the game against Buffalo that, you know, we really liked what we saw from Badee coming back, obviously from the injury. That was his first action since the back injury in week four against the New York Jets.

But, you know, you bench Adrake Estimate for the playoff game. Like that's huge. Like I can't even imagine how Estimate fills in that situation. But for me, I think it would be absolutely wild for the Broncos to give up on estimate. And I'm not saying that they are, but I'm saying if there's this idea that they're unsure about it. him. I think it's entirely too early to say, okay, hey, we don't know if we actually made the right decision with this guy. I loved what we've seen from Audrake estimate. Of course, the biggest critique, the biggest issue that has been brought to the forefront about him is the fumbling

issues we saw. I've seen the preseason early on the regular season. I think it was against Seattle Seahawks. He had one. I think he hurled the guy, fumbled the ball. Luckily, Adam Trotman fell on it. And then all of a sudden turned up on IR with an ankle sprain for four weeks. So I'm not sure. Like, you know, when you look at maybe the tea leaves and what's going on here, it's like, all right, like, is that punishment? Like, was he being punished for what had happened in that regard? Like, yeah, if you send a strong message to the rookie, it's like, hey, you know, hopefully he never makes it again.

But that also adds a lot of pressure on estimate. But I'll tell you this, being in the locker room, you know, when he came back off of IR, when he wasn't necessarily getting a lot of looks yet on the offensive side of the ball, we really saw that kind of transition period, really with that Kansas City Chiefs game in Arrowhead where it's like. like, wow, Adrick Estimate. Like, this guy, he's got the juice. He's got the, you know, the splash that you want to see in between the tackles.

And all of a sudden, it's like there was an inconsistency from the running back rotation in terms of who is getting the primary looks one week, who's getting carries. And it's like, wait, why is it garbage time that we're now seeing against the Atlanta Falcons against Carolina Panthers where Adrick's now getting, you know, a bulk of these touches? To me, that was a little frustrating. He's like, let's see what you can do here. And I understand, like there's the affinity.

There's that loyalty that Sean Payton had to Javante. Williams. But last year it didn't make sense for Javante to be getting more looks than Adric was. And obviously at the end of the season, that started to change up a little bit. So for me, I think Audrake estimated is probably best suited right now to be that primary ball carrier here for the Broncos here in 2025. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. But Jolil McLaughin also might have a little bit of an argument to make as well, even though he's not as big as a guy like Estimate is. Right. Jalil obviously has maybe been the most trusted over the last two years from Sean Payton in terms of getting touches as both a runner and a receiver.

And certainly, I think maybe the most productive for this team on a per carry basis or a per touch basis at the running back position. Now, that's not really saying a ton based on how the last two years have gone in the running game for the Denver Broncos. It hasn't been, hasn't been very good to be just really honest about it. And it's been brutal at times. And I think McLaughlin has contributed to that. And so there were stretches of times last. season to where it was like handing the ball off to this guy or giving the ball to this guy in general was almost a net negative play but then you had games like he had against the new orleans or i think it was even the atlanta falcons game where kind of everybody was running well and you just

you believe again right and so with jaleel it is to me about the size issue right there to where can he be that guy and the fact that i think uh he may be the one who has the closest to joker traits at that position over the last two years and to not really seize that role to know that it's still a position of emphasis going forward kind of indicates that okay you're not necessarily a joker at the position you're not necessarily a featured runner at the position so where does that leave us going forward are you change a pace and and does that work with what sean is trying to do at the position right now and who he's looking to add at the position right now I think that aspect of the conversation is going to kind of make it a bit more of a tangled web

Yeah, and look, I think I understand the size. Like, Jalil is 5 foot 7, but Jameer Gibbs is 5 foot 9. And I think if you can find a way to use Jalilil similar to how, you know, maybe the Detroit Lions use a guy like Jemir Gibbs. And look, I'm not saying that Jalil is the next Jemir, but Jalil's got really good speed to be able to be used, to be a weapon here. I think it just has to come in certain situations, certain personnel packages here. And certainly everyone's talking about, you know, things like pass protection. Jalil, I thought, stepped up in a massive way in pass pro last season for the Broncos. So it became less of a tendency that when he was on the field, oh, hey, you know, they're going to pass it.

Like they would pass it, but there were times where he's not going out for a route. There's times where he's staying in. He's blocking a blitzing linebacker. He's helped chipping an outside linebacker. I loved what I saw from Jalil there. There's no fear from Jalil. There's not a hesitancy to do those things. Like he does those things there, right?

And I think you have to wonder in by a committee approach, you can, and balance it out to where he doesn't have to absorb so much contact in a sense that's negative towards impacting maybe his ability to run in between the tackles. To me, I think that Jalil is very well suited for a big time role here. I think he's a safe bet to be able to have a little bit of a dynamic role for Sean Pate in the season. But now, look, we've talked about estimate. We've talked about McLaughlin. Tyler Bode is also a guy who demonstrated the ability to have some of those Joker traits that maybe Sean is looking for.

We saw it in the preseason. I mean, he had such an impressive preseason for the Broncos. And even under the radar guy now that we saw some splashes up in the regular season, Blake Watson, I mean, Sarah, you have two young guys that, you know, you have an idea maybe what you might have with them, things that they can do, but you don't know exactly what they're going to bring to the table just yet. Yeah, exactly. And I think with those two guys, that really adds the wrinkle to the free agency draft conversation.

Like, do you prioritize those two guys over who you could potentially add? in the NFL draft or free agency because you have seen the glimpses. You have made the concerted effort to get those glimpses out there on tape. It's just unfortunate that with Badee, we weren't able to see it for much more than that Tampa Bay game last season. Or with Blake Watson, it wasn't more than just a couple of touches against the chargers, right? We would love to have a bit more of a size sample to work with

to be able to actually justify either passing on the free agents or passing on certain guys in the draft. And that just doesn't seem to be the case. And so like we're going to talk about on today's episode, I think that does leave, you know, there's a couple of short straws, right, to be drawn here for the Broncos at the running back position as much as the team may like certain guys. Or it's an opportunity to say,

hey, we are going to sign a veteran. We are going to draft a guy or two. But Watson and Biday aren't being counted out because of that. In fact, it's an opportunity for them to like really force them themselves in. Well, if the Broncos do decide to add a running back, whether it be a veteran free agency edition late or the NFL draft, who would be the odd man out in the Broncos current running back room? We'll discuss that much more here on today's episode, Lock on Broncos. Today's episode Locked on Broncos is brought to you by our friends over there at the Game Time app. Imagine watching your

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lowest price guaranteed. It's probably a matter of when, not if the Denver Broncos add to the running back position. So who's the odd man out? Or are there multiple odd men out at the position? We're going to break that down and discuss on today's episode locked on Broncos. And Broncos country,

as we await the team adding running backs this off season, I want to say thank you to all of you who tune in every single day, especially all of you who rock with us all throughout the off season. And if you're not already doing that, go ahead, take a couple seconds, hit subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts as well as on YouTube and become an everydayer today. We appreciate you all so much. And Cody, we're going to have an episode at some point talking about running backs that this team is adding to the roster. So it may not be a matter of if they add at the running back position, but when and who becomes the odd man out this off season. Now, we talked about Estimae and Jaliel McLaughlin maybe being the two.

leaders in the clubhouse right now to potentially be the running back one if that player is already on the roster. But when the Broncos add running backs, where do you want to start the discussion in terms of who could be the odd man out? Because right now, that's honestly a very difficult question to answer. Yeah, look, I don't think it's going to be with Estimate or McLaughlin. I think those two guys will be on the roster in 2025 no matter what. I think really it's going to boil down to guys like Tyler Bade and also guys like Blake Watson. And look, I think this is where you have to have an honest, you know, question. You know, you're going to have to ask this here is who of those two guys on the back end

are the Broncos more than likely, you know, willing to part over at this point. And to me, like, I love what Tyler Breday can bring to the table. And this is a guy who feels like he's been counted out several times. He felt like he should have made the 53 man roster initially in the preseason. But as you know, sir, when you're trying to assemble the best roster, you have to hope that some guys make it back to the, you know, to be able to bring back to the practice spot that they clear waivers when you make your initial roster cuts. And yeah, I mean, he had a chip on a shoulder in that regard here.

But the Broncos, they wanted to try to keep, you know, Blake Watson and the fray. They had some other guys, other positions they had to take care of. And so some guys do feel a little slighted by that. But as we saw, like Tyler Badegh's got some splash. He's got some spring to him. He suffered that scary injury in week four against the Jets. And obviously that held him out of action for a large portion of the season. Then towards the end of the year, he returns to practice. And all of a sudden, he's active against the Buffalo Bills. the playoff game. To me, that was a little bit of a shock. I didn't, I don't think none of us expected that to happen here for the Broncos. And that estimate would be the inactive. I didn't

think we'd see that. So for me, if the Broncos add a veteran guy, look, people are still talking about J.K. Dobbins. People are also talking about, you know, whether Denver adds in the NFL draft, that puts somebody's roster spot into question here. And I think because Blake Watson, that, you know, is a little bit younger, has some of those joker traits. And obviously, He's a guy that maybe the Broncos feel they could stash on the practice squad. It could mean that like Tyler Biday faces the situation. Remember Seth Williams a few years ago from the Broncos? Like, you know, he was on the practice squad.

You know, he's in the mix there. But then he didn't want to return because he's like, I want to go play somewhere. I want to have a chance where I can go play. And I think he went to the Jacksonville Jaguars, if I'm not mistaken. I feel like Tyler Biday is going to be in a situation where he's like, I want to go somewhere where I can play if I'm not going to get the opportunity here in Denver.

Obviously, he would love to play in Denver. He wants to be a featured guy here. but if that opportunity is not going to present itself in the Mahi City, I see Badei actually going elsewhere. Like if the Broncos waive him, you know, in terms of like if they're building the roster or if he somehow makes it, I see them saying like, hey, like, do you want a chance to, you know, go somewhere else?

Like you have the opportunity to do that. I think Badee would in that situation if he had an opportunity to go elsewhere. I mean, maybe even one of these guys could be factored into a potential trade. We don't even know at this point. Like this is all just at this point of the off seasons. They're on the roster right now, But will they be when OTAs roll around, when training camp rolls around? Like, what is that room going to look like?

If there's any odd man out, I feel like it would be but they, but it would more so be by his choice of saying, hey, I could come back on the practice squad, but I'm going to go elsewhere. Who of those two guys on the back end? Or could it even be Jaloo or Adric estimate that you feel like could be the odd man out. If Denver adds to this position. Well, I think I'll be interested to see what happens with whoever they draft. So if it's, if it's somebody like Trevion Henderson or RJ Harvey Harvey. or somebody like that who's clearly like the potential joker type guy,

I think that would reset the clock on even Joliel McLaughlin at the position to say, hey, like we appreciate what you've done over the last two years, but we're going to get a fair evaluation and a fair look at everybody. I would think that even Bade and Watson could take his spot if that's the case. Now, if they bring in a more powerful back with, you know, the guy who, you know, more along the lines of what Javante brings to the tape, in terms of that physicality, yards after contact, big size, not necessarily a joker in the

passing game, right? Like a Quinn Sean Judkins, who could still be a Joker type guy. We don't know. Or Caleb Johnson, who could still be a Joker type guy. But if that's the case, then I would say even estimate might be on the chopping block. And I just feel like I get the impression that the Broncos are not married to certain guys anymore, right? I mean, they let Giovante Williams go.

It was a second round pick by George Payton. And like you mentioned, somebody that Sean Payton made a concerted effort to get onto the field last year. And then you let go of Riley Dixon, even though he was pretty good as a punter over the course of his last two seasons in Denver. You let go of Lil Jordan Humphrey. You let go of all these other guys, even though you're kind of trying to get him back on one hand, like, hey, we'll make you an offer to come back.

It's also like, we're not going to be upset if you leave. Like, we're going to let you leave if you want to. And so I kind of. get the impression that that's the vibe. Not necessarily with everybody, but at running back, I feel like, like Sean Peyton has said, it's like a puzzle that you kind of, you flip over and you mess up all the pieces again after an NFL season. Maybe he's looking at the running back position in a similar light to say, hey, we just need,

we need to be better because our offensive line is grading out super well. They said that was one of the two best units on the team last year. If the offensive line is grading out well, then what the heck is. going on with running backs because it shouldn't be that bidet comes in off the practice squad and all of a sudden just has the best game out of anybody pretty much all year. I mean, really, if you think about it, it's just been too long since the Broncos have had a back that can consistently do what they need to do. So I think anybody and everybody could be on the chopping block.

And I think when you go into trying to build a roster, you have to maybe try to throw away some of these preconceived notions that you may have, right? If you're trying to build the best roster, it's like, all right, hey, where are our strengths? Where are our weaknesses? And are those weaknesses something that we can get over? You know, when it comes to maybe a certain player having a, you know, a different role here. And I think the idea for a guy like Estimates, Sean Payton said, like a vision for him was, you know, this is a guy who could be a three down back. But did we see him be three down back as a rookie? No, not necessarily. So might they try to increase his workload here and training camp? To me, to be honest with you, I think the running back position is probably going to be

the most watched position battle of training camp here coming up in July. I think really that's it. I don't think there's really any other competition. Everyone's like, oh, maybe inside linebacker between Sternard and Singleton and Drew Sanders and Lavelle Bailey. But running back seems to be the cream of the crop topic here for the Broncos going to the offseason,

which I'll say, sir, I'll take that over, hey, who's going to be the quarterback? What's the quarterback competition in camp going to look like? What's cornerback going to look like here for the Broncos? I think they're in a pretty good.

So I'm very curious to see how it all shapes out. Look, Broncos country, we want to hear from you as well on today's show. If the Broncos do add a back in the draft or an NFL free agency, who in the current room might be the odd man out here for the Broncos, make sure you let us know, however and wherever you're listening to Locked on Broncos. We're not done yet. Broncos country's still a lot to break down on today's episode of the show. We're going to discuss why the youth movement for NFL teams at the running back position could

be the way going forward. And the Broncos could be in a great position. to succeed off of it. We'll break that down much more here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. It is time for the fourth quarter on today's episode of Locked on Broncos. I want to say thank you once again to everyone in Broncos, country, all the everydayers and first listeners out there.

Thank you so much for making us part of your day. However, you choose to do so, when you need Broncos, news, content coverage, analysis, more from an objective point of view, fresh topics every single day all year long. You know your boy, Sarah Bender, myself, Cody, Groyk, we got you covered every step of the way here. back is a popular topic right now for this team going into the NFL draft, going into the offseason, and even going into training camp. And look, the youth movement, I think could be a very interesting

appeal here for a lot of NFL teams around the entire course of the league because, Sarah, you look at what has happened to the running back position, the depreciation of that over the course of the last three or four or five years. It has changed. Now, the outliers, I think, in this situation we could talk about. Sequin Barclay being one of them, Derek Henry being another. Really, when you look at the running back market, Aaron Jones obviously returned to his team,

but my thought process here is this year, there were a ton of veteran running backs available for free agency. We didn't see a strong run on them at all. It didn't seem like there was a lot of interest in the used car, as some of the guys like Daniel Jeremiah was saying. So for me, it wouldn't come as a shock to see NFL teams start to embrace this model of youth movement at the running back position. And you can make the argument this year's draft class has probably one of the best overall

talent proportions. Like can you look at from your number one running back, perceived number one running back to maybe like the eighth or ninth running back here, you're going to get a very quality back in this year's draft regardless. So for me, the question is, could we see NFL teams start to embrace a youth movement here at the position where it's like, we're going to throw out the traditional line of thinking that, hey, you don't draft running. backs in the first round. You know, you focus on them in the later rounds. That could still be the

case for some teams, but I think that the Broncos are a team to watch to say, hey, we don't care about that. As Sean Payton said about the proverbial NFL train or the NFL bus, it's always moving. You've got to know when to get off. I don't think Sean Payton cares about that. They identify a running back in this year's draft that they feel like can be game changing to what they want to do offensively. I think that they do it. And I think that's going to be a popular thing that teams start to do over the next handful of years. Yeah, it's the circle of life when it's comes to the NFL because there was a time when, you know, I think it was Mike Ditka traded like an entire draft for Ricky Williams, right? And, and so there's definitely scenarios in NFL history to where

running back has been one of the most valuable positions. And then there was that dry spell where it's like, man, how many years has it been since a running back was picked in the first round again, you know? So it's the circle of life as far as the NFL goes. And now that Seekwan Barkley's got his big money contract. I think that circle is about complete again, where you will see teams emphasizing it. And you see players like Bucky Irving coming in and having such an impact on the Tampa Bay offense to where, man, you can't, you can't just say, well, Bucky Irving is going to be available again in the fourth round this year. Bucking Irvings grow on trees. It's like, no, the NFL evolves. And now teams are going to perceive these guys differently. Just like, just like with Brock

Bowers at the tight end position, he's probably going to help guys like Tyler. Warren and Colson Loveland get drafted higher than they normally would because teams are seeing, oh, wow, Sam Leporta, Brock Bowers, all these guys at tight end. It's like, we got to take these guys earlier because other teams are going to see the impact they're having and they're not going to let them last in the NFL draft anymore. It's just the way things evolve and change over time. And we've seen certain teams like Detroit took a, you know, dip their toes in this water with Jemir Gibbs.

And they were heavily, heavily scorned and criticized. and scolded for doing that because horrible position value in the NFL draft. And I mean, I don't think they're going to be too upset about having him on their team. So it's the biggest position of need for the Denver Broncos. And if that's not justifiable for your first round pick, Cody, I don't really know what is. I'm a big fan of going running back here in round one. And, you know, I used to be of that line of thinking, right? I used to be the line of thinking two or three years ago.

It's like running back in round one. What? I mean, you could get a veteran for it. you know, more cost-effective approach there that might be a little more proven. Today, I don't think it really matters anymore about that, you know, because as we see, like with veteran tailback, sometimes that production dips off a little bit. And of course, there are stories where guys maybe leave a bad situation and then end up on a team that, like, oh, wow, this is actually great from like Sequin Barclay, great with the New York Giants,

but also, I mean, even morally with the Philadelphia Eagles, he left a bad situation to a great situation. I just think it's hard because the Broncos have done this. I mean, they went and they got Melvin Gordon as a guy that they felt like was going to come in and transform their run game here for the Broncos offense. And that unfortunately never worked out for what they were going for. So the veteran path there and there's like, all right, hey, we got Giovante. You know, okay, let's see what Giovante could read through the table. Javante deals with the injury and all of a sudden you have to rely on a veteran like Latavius Murray down the stretch,

which wasn't a bad thing here. But the circumstances for where Denver is at right now, a veteran guy, doesn't make sense. Like to me, I thought if there was one guy that was going to probably make the most sense in terms of free agency, I felt like would have been a guy like Naji Harris, who's now with the Los Angeles Chargers. I still think maybe even J.K. Dobbins could help out. But at this point, Sarah, as late as we are here, building up towards the NFL draft, I don't want to add J.K. Dobbins that means that, you know, it's going to change your approach to this year's draft. Whereas I would rather the Broncos go out there and be aggressive than me trying to get an Omari in Hanton out of UNC. Can they can they get a guy like that who can. can be a three down back, who is explosive, who can't catch out of the backfield for you. Like that to me is where I think DeBroncos have a good opportunity to kind of shun the narrative of, hey, you know, positional value, take the best player available. It's like, hey, we believe the best player available is at a position of need for us. We don't necessarily need to go tight end in round number one.

We believe we can get a quality guy in rounds two, three, or four. Running back is where the juices. That's where that secret sauce is that George and Sean Payton were talking about. at the NFL combine. And I think that's where they're going to find that this offseason. To me, I'm all in on running back. I'm all in on the youth movement. Denver's already got a room full of young backs.

Continue with that trend there. And look, if I had to plead one thing here for Sean Payton, let these guys make mistakes. You have to. I understand that you don't want guys. Your margin for error is very small at this point, right? But you can't just create this fear amongst your players that, hey, I can't make a mistake because this is a game where mistakes happen all the time.

you don't want to shoot your young guys confidence down. So for me, let them take their bumps and bruises along the way. If you're going to embrace the youth movement, you have to live with that, right? There's a saying, you know, from the equalizer, my man, Denzel Washington, when you pray for rain, you got to deal with the mud too. And that's going to be applicable here to the running back situation in 2025. Which I think will be a very interesting change of pace from last year where it kind of felt like maybe early on in the season. There was a bit of a distrust for some of the young guys.

and it didn't go towards everybody, right? I mean, obviously, Bo Nix was the starter from week one, and Devon Valle was heavily involved in the week one game plan, but at the same time, felt like there might have been a bit of distrust for guys like Troy Franklin, Audric Estime, and I know that Sean Payton says that confidence is bred from demonstrated ability, but the thing that the team has been preaching lately

of throwing these guys to the wolves, essentially, it almost seems slightly selective, doesn't it? Because, I mean, Riley Moss was the day one starter at Outside Corner. We hadn't seen him play his entire rookie season. And Troy Franklin, you know, struggles with drops throughout training camp. And we barely see him in the first handful of weeks. And then, you know, he gets an opportunity, disappears for a little bit. Gets an opportunity disappears for a little bit.

So I don't know. Maybe I'm perceiving that incorrectly there. But it does feel like it would require a shift to like, we're going to just fully trust this guy from week one and let him take his lumps, let him play in the mud a little bit because, yeah, we're sending him out in the rain. So we got to expect that he's going to slip a little bit in the mud like you said, Cody. And not just, hey, at the first sign of adversity, at the first fumble this guy has, we're going to call him out publicly.

We're going to bench him. We're going to say that he's walking around the facility, holding a football. And I know that stuff is, it can be lighthearted and it's justified, right? but at the same time, it might require a bit of a mindset shift because whoever is that guy at running back is going to have a ton of pressure on him as a rookie. Yeah, and look, why can't the Broncos approach us with the same mindset they had with Bo Nix when, you know, his first couple weeks as a rookie, he struggled. Like, you have to have that same approach with your young guys on the team. It's part of grown, right? And you develop this callous and it's like, hey, you know what?

I didn't have a good game. My first game as a rookie. But, you know, what can I do in game two? how can I continue to grow? The Broncos should have that same approach or that same level of patience here at running back that they did with quarterback last year. And if they do, I think it'll pay off here for them this upcoming season. And Broncos country, want to hear from you.

Should the Broncos fully embrace the youth movement at the running back position? Make sure you send in your responses, however you're listening to today's episode of lockdown. Broncos, what that said, that'll wrap up today's episode show. Broncos Country, we appreciate you, as always, for all you every dayers out there. we're going to take a look on tomorrow's installment of the show. We're going to take a look at the Broncos defense. Should they add to the cornerback position? What does that room look like currently as is?

There's a lot of discussion to be had on that. You'll get all that much more on tomorrow's episode. Locked on Broncos. We'll see you then.