Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos Future Is Bright With Bo Nix

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Denver Broncos future is bright with rookie quarterback Bow Nix. Now going into the off season. The question has been answered for Denver. They don't have to worry about who their next quarterback is. And players inside the locker room believe just that as well. We'll break it all down and much more and reflect on the season here on today's brand new episode, Locked on Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos.

Starting point is 00:00:26 Your daily Denver Broncos podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Hey, what's happening in Broncos country? Welcome into another episode of Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network where you know it is your team every day. Thank you so much, all the everydayers out there in Broncos country. Thanks for making us your first listen every single day, including all throughout the entire offseason because there is never an off season for the true fan.

Starting point is 00:00:56 We got you cover every single day all year long lock on Broncos. I'm Cody Roark. Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports. joined as always by Sarah Bedinger, site expert over there, predominantly orange.com. And we got a lot that we're going to break down here on today's episode of the show. The Bronco season has officially ended. We had the final open locker room where we've got to chat with players here. We're going to talk about what the vibe is.

Starting point is 00:01:19 How are the Broncos going into the off season? We obviously are going to hear from players who reflected on the season. We'll kick things off by highlighting why the Broncos future with Bo Nix is bright. There's so much we'll break down on today's episode show brought to by friends over there at Fandul. you can start this season with a big return on Fandu. New customers can place a $5 bet, and you'll get started with $200 in bonus bets. If you win or lose your first $5 bet,

Starting point is 00:01:42 visit Fanduil.com to get started. Sarah, I tell you what, I've been part of a lot of different locker rooms at the end of the year where, okay, the season's over, guys are getting ready to going to the off season, are going to hit a little bit of that pause and that reset button after a grueling season. The vibes in the Broncos locker room on Monday,

Starting point is 00:02:00 they were very, very positive, I think, probably the, I'd say the most exciting end-of-season locker room type of thing I've been part of in terms of eagerness to get back to our eagerness for the future. And really a lot of that future, it really hinges upon Bo Nix, who has emerged as the franchise quarterback there. Denver's future with this kid is very bright. 100%. You're going into back-to-back off-season knowing that, hey, you've got a quarterback.

Starting point is 00:02:27 I mean, I guess last year you didn't necessarily know, but this is kind of the first offseason after a year in which your quarterback has established themselves, like since Peyton Manning, right? Obviously back then was the only other time the Broncos knew year to year, hey, we can build around this specific guy. Like there was some of that in 2022 with Russell Wilson. You kind of hoped that it could work out. But then after the 22 season, like there was these question marks just consistently looming. And to have that question mark consistently looming over the most important position on the entire roster, it affects every other area of this team. The Broncos have had to go out and find guys that like Mike McGlinchie and Ben Powers, who

Starting point is 00:03:08 want to be part of restoring this franchise's greatness. Right. And now it's not as much about restoring the franchise's greatness as it is joining a team that might be by, if I was a player in the NFL today, Cody, I would look at the Broncos with Bo Nix as like, okay, that's an ascending team. that's going to be playing in big games. But also, you have all these other factors at play. Like the ownership group is very, very wealthy.

Starting point is 00:03:35 And they have a lot of cash to be able to pay me what I want, getting a new training facility, a lot of other good players on the roster. Like, they're building something special. If I was a prospective free agent, I would be looking at Bo Nix as the centerpiece of why I would, okay, let's get together with my agent here in January. let's put together a list of teams that I would want to go play for.

Starting point is 00:03:59 I think Denver is going to be on a lot of those lists because of Bo Nix. I mean, think about all the players that have also come over and free agency the last couple of years when I think the prospects of the Broncos haven't necessarily been the brightest, so to speak. So it's like, all right, and hey, now there's this new level of excitement. You got a young quarterback who many people have seen this year. He's been able to make big plays in big games. He battled with Joe Burrow, toe to toe there. Look, you got off to a nice little start against Buffalo.

Starting point is 00:04:25 bills and Josh Allen and you've shown that you can play here in the NFL. He's gone down to the wire, let a game winning drive against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. There's so much that obviously both can continue to do to improve and keep growing. And that's something that he also expressed an eagerness for is that now he's got a whole year under his belt. He's going to look and reflect on it and also identify like, this is where I can be better. And just the mindset and the leadership is there.

Starting point is 00:04:50 We got a chance to catch up with Mike McGlinchie inside the Broncos locker room on Monday. Here's what he had to say about Bo Nix. But I think once we got around him in the building for a week or two, a couple weeks in April, you're like, oh, man, this kid's made of the right stuff. And, you know, obviously when you're in shorts in April and May and doing OTA practices, you really can't, you know, tell what kind of a football player he is, really, until we get into August. And when we put the pads on and all that kind of stuff.

Starting point is 00:05:17 And I will say that right away, Bo captured this locker room, by the way that he works by the person that he is, and the way that he progressed, you know, it takes a lot of hard work to get better week in and week out. And it takes a lot of focus. And a lot of the guys aren't ready to commit themselves to that. And I think Bow is certainly our shining example of that and it permeated through our locker room. And I think, you know, the improvement from him going forward is just going to be exponential. It's big, sir.

Starting point is 00:05:47 It's big to have. The Broncos have not had this, you know, the quarterback. I'm thinking about all the QBs, you and I have been covering on this carous of the Broncos countries had to sit every office. say, oh, what's the quarterback situation like this year? You know, I think maybe there's a tiny bit after his rookie season, those final four games think there's a little bit of that excitement there for Drew Locke. And unfortunately, it never transpired to that. I would say what we've seen from Bo Nix, really this season has surpassed anything.

Starting point is 00:06:13 Like even like the glimpses that I think Broncos fans in those four games of Drew Locke even saw like, Bo, man, when was the last time we saw Broncos quarterback throw a 90-yard touchdown? I think it was Jay Cutler against the Cleveland Browns on Thursday night football. I think to Eddie Royal. I think that was the only time we've seen that. But like for Bo to make big throw after big throw to show that he can throw across the middle of the field to go and have a game where, hey, you have 89% completion percentage. You have one game where you have two games like that where you throw four touchdowns, no interceptions. Bo put enough on tape to say like, hey, this is the guy.

Starting point is 00:06:47 And then if you surround pieces around him, get ready to see what he can do. Obviously, Mike McGlinchie. And I've been trying to say this to anybody that would listen, like, early on too, right? And that's the hard part about training camp in the preseason is like, I would come on here on the show and I'd say like, this locker room is bought in on Bo Nix. And people are like, ah, you know, people say that every year, like to see it from where it was all the way till now, he's ascended. He's grown and he's shown that tangible development on film. Cody, he really has. I mean, you talked about putting enough out there on film.

Starting point is 00:07:19 How about the official NFL YouTube page, a 41 minute and 15 second video of Bo Nix highlights from his rookie season? Like, when's the last time any Broncos quarterback had anything near that? And I- 41 minutes and 15 seconds. And I've watched nearly all of it at this point. I've got to go check it out. But Broncos country, do yourself a favor. Go watch that after you watch this on YouTube. But, man, it's not just the things that he's putting on tape as.

Starting point is 00:07:49 a player as well, Cody, but he revealed at the scrum that you had there about an injury that he was dealing with. I know he popped up on the injury report at one point this year with a back injury and we're all like, well, we kind of saw him in discomfort against the Raiders, but like what was really going on there, a transverse fracture in the back. And Bo Nix brought that up at his scrum the day after the playoff loss. Well, it was a long 18-19 week season, but, you know, Fortunately, God was good to me this year. He allowed me to stay up right. I was healthy.

Starting point is 00:08:25 Got to play each and every game. Obviously, we all played with some bruises and some cuts and scrapes. The biggest week was just, you know, I had a little transverse process practice in my back. That week got treatment. I kind of made it through that week. Monday night football, it was a stretch that we were all kind of banged up. and, you know, I wasn't going to miss the first Monday night game.

Starting point is 00:08:52 So I got treatment on, and then we were fortunate to have an off week that next week. And, you know, kind of went away after that. But for that moment, you know, annoying, but we don't play with it. Man, that's tough. I just love it. I wasn't going to miss the first Monday night game. You would have never known, though, too. Like, when you watch him in that Cleveland game, when he was running around, like, he took a couple of shots.

Starting point is 00:09:17 But it's like, you would have never known that. that was necessarily issue. I thought we all thought it was just like a little back strain, like a muscle pull and things like that for it to be a transverse process fracture. That's something I know Tony Romo dealt with in his career, I think kind of towards the end there, but luckily it's not going to require any kind of surgery. So rehab, continuation, rest in the off season, that's going to be good.

Starting point is 00:09:37 But man, for him to play through that and the Broncos went on a four-game win streak, impressive. It's really impressive. And maybe kind of speaks to the fact that the Broncos didn't utilize him a ton in the running game down the stretch last season. I mean, you kind of look back at the game logs from last year, Cody, that New Orleans game really felt like a pivotal before and after turning point to where we didn't see Bo running the ball a ton. I know we saw the trick play where he caught a pass against Baltimore and he ran the ball plenty over the course of the season. But man, it was kind of

Starting point is 00:10:08 that in between there, those last, I guess maybe the back half of the season, really, where we didn't see him run the ball a ton and then not many designed quarterback. runs certainly at all, I think, after that New Orleans game. It was very, very few and far between. So for Bo to be playing with that, I mean, he threw the 90-yard pass that you mentioned to Marvin Mims against Cleveland with the fracture in his back. I mean, he finished the game against Vegas where he stared down Tyree Wilson of the Raiders with those eyes that will keep you up at night. You know, you'll see them in the doorway. If you leave your door open at night, you'll see the face that Bo Nix made at Tyree Wilson standing in your door.

Starting point is 00:10:48 your worst nightmares like that's the guy that that this team is rallying around and he's just the leadership qualities he exudes cody the wisdom beyond his years just a really really impressive young player yeah look and and like i said i think broncos country's very excited about him i know there's some people who are still skeptical it's like don't let that skepticism keep you off to train too long enjoy what you saw from the broncos in terms of the trajectory obviously sophomore year in the nphil is going to be a massive leap for him and you're going to have to make that. And hopefully the Broncos do enough to surround him with playmakers here in the offseason is the offense can find ways to improve.

Starting point is 00:11:25 Well, how are players reflecting on the season? When you look back on it, everything that transpired, the foundation of the building blocks, we'll hear from Jalilu McLaughlin. We'll hear from Quinn Miners here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Today's Lockdown Broncos podcast is brought to my friends over there at Fandu. And Fandu is America's number one sportsbook. And look, the NFL divisional playoffs, they are this weekend. and it's the perfect time to get in where there could be some big upsets or some game winning drives.

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Starting point is 00:12:26 and so much more. Just visit Fanduil.com to join today and get started with $200 in bonus bets. That's Fanduil.com. Make this playoff season unforgettable with Fandul in official sportsbook partner of the NFL. The Denver Broncos may have been cleaning out their lockers this week at the facility. but you know what for the first time in a long time they ain't taken the name plates with all of it there's going to be a lot of these players back a lot to build upon after the 2024 season very much reason for excitement in broncos country and that is i think bubbling over a little bit with these players cody who are going to be hungry to get back at it and we can't wait for you to hear from some of them on today's episode lockdown broncos but before we get to any of that i want to say thank you to all of you that make locked down broncos your first listen of the day every single day and for you every day is out there. You know that we got you all year long, especially during the off season, every piece of Broncos news, everything that goes on with this team,

Starting point is 00:13:26 coaching roster-wise, rumors-wise, we got you covered. So if you aren't an everyday listener yet, go ahead, hit subscribe and become one today. Cody, let's talk about this because it's always a weird time when the Broncos are cleaning out their lockers, at least as far as when you and I have been covering this show. Like last year, we kind of knew there were a lot of big changes coming. We knew that there was a lot of tough cuts looming and things like that, trades potentially looming. This time around, though, when the lockers are being cleaned out, it really does feel like what I said. Like you're cleaning out the lockers for now, but the name plates, they're going to remain.

Starting point is 00:14:01 Like these guys, most of these guys, most of the starters, they will be coming back this coming season for the Broncos. And that's exciting for this team to build on. Yeah, it is. And look, obviously, there's some questions about, you know, DJ Jones going to be a free agent. I know, I had a chance to talk to DJ yesterday in the locker room. And he said he'd love to come back to Denver. You know, he's just going to let the free agency process play out.

Starting point is 00:14:20 He loves to be here. He loves the culture that has been built inside the locker room. Guys like Jonathan Cooper really echoed those sentiments. Adam Troutman did as well. I was going to have a clip from Troutman, but he says something that we can't necessarily play. I mean, it's not bad or anything, but it's just like FCC guidelines. You know, we can't necessarily play some things. But he just said that the Broncos have a very, very exciting team culture inside the locker room,

Starting point is 00:14:42 things along that lines. He believes that the team is resilient. I think that's something that we can definitely say is you can see that this is a resilient team. Like they would face some adversity and then they would respond. They lose a heartbreaker to the Kansas State Chiefs on a blocked field goal. Then they go on and they respond by going on a little bit of a run there. Like that right there is the mark of a team that's like, hey, nobody expected them to be where they were this year. And the fact that they all tuned out the outside noise talking to just several players are like,

Starting point is 00:15:09 we love this locker room. We love what this coaching staff is built. We love the culture here. and you can tangibly fill that inside the locker. These guys are all close. And I'll give you a little bit of an example, too. Jonathan Cooper, as we know, pass rusher got the extension this year.

Starting point is 00:15:24 There's a practice squad player this year, KJ. Coyd, who was on the roster. And if you haven't known already, we'll obviously highlight it on tomorrow's episode of the show. But the Broncos signed 13 players to the futures reserves contracts, 13 players that were on their practice squad. And KJ. Lloyd was one of them. Jonathan Cooper's like, man, you know, you over here,

Starting point is 00:15:40 I'm talking about. He's like, man, I'm so happy for you, putting so much work. we're going to get to work here this offseason. So even just like the young guys who aren't necessarily like, nobody knows too much about a KJ Coyd just yet. Some people may, but not a lot of people do. It's like, all right, now you got a veteran guy,

Starting point is 00:15:55 a guy who's also very, very captain like Jonathan Cooper is, to be able to bring in young guys like that and say, hey, we're going to all work together. It's not like this. All right, I'm the veteran. You got these young guys here who are playing the same position. You know, they could take my spot down the road. I'm not going to work with them.

Starting point is 00:16:11 You see that in an NFL locker rooms all the time. Denver's locker room is not like that. This is the closest locker room I've seen being on the beat and covering the team. That's been exciting. But let's hear from Broncos All-Pro right guard here. Quinn Miners on the season, his reflection on the foundations and the building blocks that they've set and how they can move forward. The floor of standards for this building, for the position groups, and for this team moving forward, we're looking to build off of what we did this year.

Starting point is 00:16:44 And that is by setting the standard again of what we got to this year. And getting into OTA's training cam and stuff, that's where we're going to build off of when we need to start from there. And it's going to be on us as some of the captains and leaders to make sure that we're going to those great directions. I'm really interested, Cody, to see how this team integrates, players into this newfound culture. Like up until this point, they've either been the underdogs or they've been kind of counted out.

Starting point is 00:17:14 They've been rebuilding, reloading, however you want to say it, changing coaches, reestablishing this, that, and the other. It's going to be fascinating to see how the captains of this team, like Quinn Miners, adjust or, or, I don't know, bring in new players to this team, like veteran guys that could help you win. How do you bring in guys like, you know, let's dream big for a second, like a team? Higgins or something like that who's coming from a completely different organization, completely different way of doing things.

Starting point is 00:17:43 I think the responsibility on a guy like Quinn Miners this offseason is going to, and like you mentioned with Jonathan Cooper, it's going to be huge to integrating not just these young unheralded guys, but maybe some of the big name guys that come in who could really help your team and to say, hey, like, this is the culture that's being established. You don't want to necessarily just say get with the program. But I mean, at the same time, like these guys are the ones who created the culture. Yeah, and look, I would say even another thing, too, as we've seen with Sean Payton, George Payton, they love guys that are good for the team culture. And they've gotten rid of guys.

Starting point is 00:18:15 They've moved on from guys that they felt like necessarily weren't great for the culture that they were building. And I think it's easy. I think it's a seamless transition like, okay, are these guys high character on and off the field? Are they good teammates? Those are things that George and Sean both look for. And I think when you already have that standard set, and you have captains like Quinn Miners, Bow Nix, Cortland Sutton, Pat Sartan, you look at all these guys and it's like they already set that standard in the locker room. So when a new guy comes in, it's like you can just fit right in. Now, I think that's why it's always important. And that's why scouts and that's why front offices really take a deep dive. Is this guy a good locker room

Starting point is 00:18:53 fit? You see certain guys names thrown out there. Like let's even go to Pittsburgh, for example. Like let's take a look at George Pickens. George Pickens is a hell of a football player, really good receiver. He's got dog in him. Sometimes you wish you had guys had that dog in him like he's like an offensive version of a keep to leave like he's got that dog in him but to an extent there are things like George Pickens like what he said in the in the presser after they lost the playoff game that's not good like you know I think he was asked like do you have are you optimistic about the office and he goes nah that is not what you need in a locker room and obviously I think he's a young guy he can mature he can learn from it but George and Sean are going to avoid players

Starting point is 00:19:33 with that mentality because that can really get in and creep in a locker I'm like, look at the Green Bay Packers. That is a locker room that's kind of fell apart a little bit. And obviously, they're coming off the playoff loss. So I'm very curious to see. It's like culture is everything. Where you end up is going to be a big part of it. And I guarantee you the Broncos, the culture that is being built there.

Starting point is 00:19:52 And I think other players see it. That's going to be an appealing factor here for Denver going forward. And look, obviously, I think one guy we could talk about two as well. We caught up with Julio McLaughlin. And, you know, he did talk about Bow Nix and how he wasn't surprised about what he's seen from what he said. We saw that from day one. He said, it's not surprised. Like he just continued to grow.

Starting point is 00:20:09 And he said, because he worked so hard, it wasn't a surprise to us. And he said, it's easy to follow a guy like Bo. But in terms of like the running back position, the Broncos needing to be better in the run game next year, Julele McLaughlin kept it short, kept it sweet. He says, I'm going to be better. You know, I'm just going to keep working. I'm going to keep my head now and keep working. I'm going to be better next year.

Starting point is 00:20:29 I'm going to be way better next year. So that's just my mind. He was probably the most efficient guy on the team in terms of the running game this year, Cody. So to have him be even better would be outstanding for this Denver Broncos team. Obviously, you wonder who's going to be that bell cow back for this roster going forward. Who's going to be the guy that they want to give 15 carries a game at a minimum too? You want to get these guys involved. Is it Adrick Estime?

Starting point is 00:20:54 Is it someone they draft? Is it a free agent like Najee Harris, something like that? We'll see what the team's vision is ultimately. But you kind of get the feeling that Joliel is going to still be part of the equation one way or the other. because I think Sean, he's one of Sean Payton's guys out there. So he's somebody that they're going to continue to feature. I'll say this. If you're one of Peyton's guys, you're standing in making the roster is pretty dang good.

Starting point is 00:21:17 And Jalilil is one of Peyton's guys. And Jaliel works so hard. And I mean, he's just got such an incredible story as well. So we'll continue to highlight that as we go about. But as the Broncos go into the off season, what are some of the final messages? What are some of the vibes that we saw from them in our final locker room session? We'll break that down and much more. Give you a timeline as to what players are doing with their time in the off season.

Starting point is 00:21:40 You'll get that much more here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Today's Lockdown Broncos podcast is brought to you by friends over there at LinkedIn jobs. And growing your small business in 2025 comes down to how well you can hire. And let's face it, better hire start with smarter insights. The more data you have, the better. That's where LinkedIn comes in. With the strongest hiring data available, LinkedIn helps you identify the right candidates for your job, giving you the confidence to make the decisions that are best for your business.

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Starting point is 00:22:39 Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash locked-on NFL. That's LinkedIn.com slash locked-on NFL to post your job for free terms and conditions apply. The fourth quarter action of today's episode, Lockdown Broncos is here. And as always I want to say thank you once again to everyone in Broncos country, all the everydayers, all the first listeners for making the 2024 regular season so fun. But let's make the 2025 off season even better. Make sure you remain in everyday listener. If you haven't become an everyday year just yet,

Starting point is 00:23:10 make sure you tune in Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, because all throughout the entire off season, we got you covered with the latest Broncos news, content, analysis, addressing rumors, any breaking news that happens, free agency, the draft, the combine, everything you need to know to stay up to date with your favorite team. Lockdown Broncos is the place to be. All right, sir, let's get into the final portion of today's episode of the show.

Starting point is 00:23:32 talking about the general vibe. Like how were the Broncos going into the offseason? You and I obviously highlighted some things from Bo Nix, from players like Jalil McLaughlin, Quinn Miners, Mike McGlinchy. We talked about the vibe and how players felt about the culture. I would say going into this off season, I felt like there was like this excitement like,

Starting point is 00:23:52 all right, hey, the season's over. Okay, we got a little bit of time now, but we also want to get back to work. We want to be ready for next year because I think there's a lot of excitement there in terms of players, even like, hey, we can do even more next season. So with that, it's like bittersweet. Like, you know what?

Starting point is 00:24:08 We wanted to keep playing. And obviously the Broncos wish that they were preparing for a game against Kansas City this week. It's not the case. But it's like, all right, we get to hit the pause and the reset button a little bit, get our bodies, our minds right? And then we're getting right back to it. I mean, players, they may take a month off, maybe two months at this point,

Starting point is 00:24:24 and they're going to get back to training and getting into the routine. Obviously, as guys go either home here in Denver or go home elsewhere, you know, guys are sprinkled out there at the end. entire country. So there was an eagerness to get back to work. Yeah. And right now, it's recruiting season, isn't it? I mean, we saw the kind of the craziness of college football and with the NIL and all these guys transferring and coaches being moved around. Like for these players now, I don't know if Broncos are used to recruiting. I mean, to be honest with you, I know that sometimes you get some of that, but like, I don't think there's any tampering rules between players, Cody. I think the players can say

Starting point is 00:25:01 whatever they want to each other. And they can text whatever they want. They can post whatever they want on their socials. Like now is the time for those players to go start putting in the legwork in terms of bringing in guys that the team wants. And I don't know what can all go on behind the scenes or who can tell who to reach out to these players or whatnot. But we don't need to worry about that here on the show. We just get to speculate about it. I wouldn't be shocked, Cody, at all. If the Broncos are very present at like Super Bowl media week, things like that with players there that are just kind of rubbing elbows with other guys that are on the same trail, right?

Starting point is 00:25:36 Remember, I had that little clip with Josh Jacobs a couple of years ago and there was the rumor that the Broncos tried to get Jacobs last year in free agency. So I don't think that that's irrelevant at this point. And I think that that's what these players can be doing as they're fired up about what just happened this season, maybe getting after the recruiting trail right now for some of the guys that will be top part of it in free agency.

Starting point is 00:26:00 It's something that they can put themselves to good youth for here in the interim before they start working out again. Yeah, no, I can tell you that there are going to be a handful of players that are going to be doing some recruiting here in the offseason for the various free agents that are out there. I mean, we've already talked about maybe some potential needs here. We'll do an episode here shortly on who the Broncos 2025 free agents are going to be both unrestricted, restricted, exclusive rights, free agents, so on and so forth. We'll take a look at free agents, you know, positions of need. We'll look at everything and break it down. and we'll make the case for all the Broncos should make a pitch for this guy, that guy and the other, including T. Higgins.

Starting point is 00:26:35 We'll do all that stuff. But I mean, the players are very much in that mindset. And look, I even think throughout the season, like you see some of the clips like Bo Nicks after the Bengals game, he's, you know, covered his mouth. He's talking to T. Higgins. It's like, T, come to Denver next year, right? Maybe that's what was said, you know, it's something you can always speculate and have some fun with.

Starting point is 00:26:53 It happens all the time, like these conversations do. And certainly when the offseason hits, these guys are going to be in contact with. quite a few people, especially, you know, guys that are here like, hey, like come to Denver, you want to come be part of something special. We're building it here. There's no better pitch than I'd say like the players that are already on your roster. Obviously, organizations are very, very limited and what they can do. We talk about the legal tampering period, things like that. You know, you got the senior bull coming up. There's going to be a lot of agents down there in Mobile Lab, Alabama for everything. And so, you know, executive scouts, all that stuff is going to be

Starting point is 00:27:27 taking place and we'll see where things happen. You have like napkin conversations or cocktail hour, you know, Elmo's or something like that. We'll see where things are at here for the Broncos going forward. But I just feel like for Denver here, it was tangible. You could see it. You can hear it when talking to

Starting point is 00:27:45 players on the record, off the record. There is a general excitement about like, hey, we really believe that we can do something even more to build on what we did this season. We feel like we're going to be even better next season. And look, that's where the organization comes in handy. I know some people, Sarah, still saying like, oh, well, the Broncos still have Russell Wilson's dead cap looming over them.

Starting point is 00:28:04 That does not matter. And even Sean Payton himself acknowledged. I know we touch on that a little bit, but I feel like we really got to drive that home because I think we're going to see a lot of comments about that. Like, how are the Broncos going to do this with Russell Wilson's $32 million in debt cap? It's $32 million. That's nothing. Denver's going to be,

Starting point is 00:28:18 look what Denver is able to do with $50-something million. And look at how they've built the roster. Now they've got more draft picks. They've got more cap space. They're going to be in the top 10. they're going to have plenty of flexibility to make some big moves here this offseason. Cody, it's one of those things that it becomes the, it becomes one of the more frustrating things that we have to battle against in this industry every year

Starting point is 00:28:41 is that one person says something and then all of a sudden it starts spreading like wildfire and then you can't even have discourse on it online because it's like, well, no, the Broncos can't get this guy because they have to resign Nick Bonito and Zach Allen. I want to just let everybody know that the Broncos have their top 10 in overall cap space this year. And if they do resign Zach Allen in the off season, which they're currently top 10 in cap space without resigning Zach Allen. So if they did it in free agency or before free agency, that would actually increase their cap space. Believe it or not, because that's what extensions do. It lowers the year one cap hit and it pushes other money out into future years.

Starting point is 00:29:24 If you extend Nick Benito, it might raise his cap hit slightly this year because of whatever signing bonus or guaranteed money he gets. But he's also in the final year of his deal. They don't have to start any extension with Benito until after this season. Could they rip up the final year of his rookie deal and say, hey, here's your extension? Yes, but the cap hit is not going to be such that it will prevent the Broncos from going out and getting anybody that they want. And that's another thing that I see all the time is, well, they can't get it. T. Higgins. The Patriots have more caps face. They can't get T. Higgins because this team has more caps face. The Broncos have enough cap space to do whatever they want and they have enough cash on hand

Starting point is 00:30:05 and available in escrow to do whatever they want and to bring in whoever they want. It's not going to be prohibited by any extensions or any current impending free agents. Like they could go after the biggest fish and give they could give T. Higgins a record setting contract for a free agent wide receiver and they would still be able to add other starters on both sides of the ball and sign their draft class and this, that, and the other. Like, I want it to be as loud and clear as possible. The Broncos can do whatever they want this off season. And especially because that Russell Wilson deal comes off the books next off season,

Starting point is 00:30:42 they can do anything that they want this year and spread those cap hits out between the next handful of seasons. Well, think about it this way, too. With the NFL looking to add an 18th regular season game, that means that, the incentives might change as well, like that, you know, the NFL continues to set records in terms of viewership. Ratings are really great for them. Revenues, I mean, it dominates. Like, it's the one sport that literally just dominates television revenue. And right there, that's going to mean more for the team. So that increases your opportunities in and of itself. Exposure, we anticipate Debra could be

Starting point is 00:31:15 in four or five nationally televised games next year. That obviously increases some exposure and increases some revenue opportunities. It's, the NFL's getting bigger and bigger. And bigger. bigger. We ask ourselves, can it get any bigger? And the answer to that question is, yes, they can. And they continue to do just that every single year. We're excited about it in Broncos country. Here's what you can expect here in the coming weeks here on the show. Obviously, this week, we're going to hear from George Peyton and Sean Payton in their end of the year press conferences. We'll have recap and reaction to all of that. We'll also start taking a look at some of the news surrounding the Broncos. Vance Joseph has some interest from not just the New York Jets, but the Las Vegas Raiders for their job. Chris Banjo. is interviewing for special teams coordinator jobs. We'll highlight that. We'll talk about the reserve player contracts that the Broncos have signed for the 2025 season. And on top of that,

Starting point is 00:32:02 we'll also look at the 2025 free agents that the Broncos have. Then we're going to get into our offensive position reviews and grades for the year. Then we'll get into the defense. We got you covered here for the next month or so. And then there's even more after that. We got you covered every single day, every step of the way here. Locked on Broncos with us at Broncos Country. We appreciate you so much.

Starting point is 00:32:20 We'll catch you next time.

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