Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos Have Strong Offseason Plan In Place For 2025

Episode Date: February 26, 2025

The Denver Bronocs brain trust of Sean Payton and George Paton met with the media at the NFL Combine on Tuesday and all signs point to them having a strong plan in place to address the 2025 offseason. Paton and Payton are searching for the 'Joker', and are interested in this year's crop of running backs as well as their in-house backs. Paton shared his vision in how the team can build around Bo Nix and discussed the latest around Courtland Sutton and his contract. 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!FanDuelRight now, new FanDuel customers can get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if 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 brain trusted George Peyton and Sean Peyton. They shared insight into how the team plans to approach 2025. How do they plan to build around Bo Nix? 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, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockdown podcast. network where you know it is your team every day.

Thank you to all the everydayers out there in Broncos country for tuning in, making us your first listen of the day every single day. However you choose to do so for all your Broncos news, content coverage analysis, and more this is the place to be every single day all year long because for the true fan there is never in off season. I'm Cody Rohr, Credential Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports. joined as always by Sarah Beniger, site expert over there, predominantly orange.com. We got a lot to break down on today's episode of

show Broncos country George Peyton, Sean Payton. They met with the media on Tuesday at the NFL Combine and shared a lot of insight into how they plan to build this team around Bo Nix, their thoughts on in-house players. We'll go through all of that. And even the task of trying to find the Loch Ness monster that is the Joker position here for Sean Payton. We'll also talk about some of the contract status updates on several in-house players set to hit free agency or whose deals are expiring.

We're going to kick things off by breaking things down on the offseason blueprint. revealed by George Payton and Sean Payton. Sarah, look, you know, we got a lot from Sean Payton. We got a lot from George. Sean met with the media for over 30 minutes on Tuesday. George more so around 15 minutes. I feel like we got a little bit more out of George from the overall big picture stuff than we did Sean.

But, you know, first and foremost, the strategy is kind of in place here for how they plan to approach this off season. 100%. I mean, and that's exactly what we wanted to hear. We wanted to know that there's direction. we wanted to know that there's excitement. I mean, of course, like when you have a franchise quarterback in place after years of drought, after years of the franchise being terrible, even George Peyton acknowledged Cody,

like he lost count of how many coaches they've had over the course of these last handful of years. And obviously now you've got the ability to build around somebody. That is a complete game changer for a front office, for a coaching staff, especially for a head coach who, man, he came out of retirement, essentially, to come coach the Broncos. And so discovering Bo Nix this quickly has given the Broncos every reason to be as excited as you possibly can be going into any individual offseason. Well, here's what George has to say really about how the team's building strategy is where really it's like you don't have to go out every year and buy, but he said you have to have as what we've

heard so many times a measured approach. I just think we couldn't miss last year. We really had to be strategic and it's not easy. I mean, we didn't hit all of them, but we had to, we had to hit and we didn't have all the money to go. So, I mean, every year we do that and you don't always hit, but I just think you don't always need the big splash. You know, you don't always need to buy your team. You know, you build it the right way, you draft, you develop your selective and free agency. You're hopefully measured. Does that, does that mean you're not going to have, you know, a big signing this year? No, but I think for the most part, you just have to be measured. Well, let me ask you this, Sarah, like for George, him saying right there,

like you don't have to go make the big splash and, you know, he brings up being measured in a sense, where do you think the Broncos are going to go here this? Do you think they're going to make a big splash or do you think they're going to have that measured approach in a sense? Maybe he's talking about measuring how big the splash is going to be, Cody. Let's get out the tape measure and measure the splash because I think the Broncos are ready to do just that. You know, they're they are equipped with ample cap space. And I think there's a lot of free agent acquisition. that could meet some needs for this team.

You know, there's depth at linebacker, as we've talked about. There's depth at safety. There's maybe even offensive guys that we don't necessarily, we haven't even maybe talked about at this point that they feel could really help this team take the next step. And I love what they talked about clearing the board as though it was like a, as like you're playing a board game, right? Sean Payton talked about that to where it's like, hey, it's not something that you're necessarily building on from last year.

You're clearing the deck and you've got to reset completely. Yeah, I think the one. One thing we have to avoid is this idea we're going to pick up where we left off. I really don't like that because our league is shown anymore. You know, the season ends and you kind of take the proverbial game board and you take all the pieces and dump them on the, and then you set it back up and you start again. Certainly you're more confident.

The experiences help a number of players, but, you know, the journey begins. So we've got, and we don't shy away from it. Our expectations are high. And I'm encouraged with some of the things. of the things that we did this past season and yet still still kind of hungry for more to that point sarah i i feel like as well it's a great example right you know you look at teams are constantly in the playoffs every year i mean kansas city is a great example of they're you know they're in a fc championship they're in a super bowl almost every year and they flip the game pieces over as well i like that

that example there by sean it's just about how you do it right like when you flip your game board over and you have to reassemble the pieces you still want to have your core pieces as part of the process here. And I think now Denver's in a position where they've got that with guys like Bo Nix, Patrick Sartan the second, like they've got these foundational pieces, but still about being able to add and build around. This is where I think George Payton's comments came in about how they plan to build around Bo because right now you and I've been banging this drum all off season. I think it's an important one too. And Denver has to maximize it. How they build a round bow or build this team when Bow is on this roster with a rookie contract, I think is going to be

Paramount. Here's what George said about that type of description right there in terms of building around this team when you have a rookie quarterback. Yeah, I mean, we have a few years, obviously, but you always want to build and we want to build the right way and build the best team around the quarterback. And that's just our process moving forward. How, you know, the best defense, the best special teams, the best offense, you know, explosive elements. Of course, we want to do that. But just build the best team around the quarterback. And yeah, maybe you're a little more aggressive as you as you move on in his career. I think that aggressiveness, Cody, you can hear it in their voices.

Like what Sean Payton said prior to that clip that you just played about George or from George Payton about, you know, being encouraged with what they saw and, you know, feeling like there is something to build on even if you're not, even if you are resetting the board, the game board, so to speak, you can just sense from these guys in the way that they're talking that, you know, it's like, it's not like they've got a big secret that they're waiting to spill, but you can tell that they're trying to. to be, you know, as George Payton says, measured with the way that they're kind of describing the approach to this off season because I think you want to always under promise

and over deliver, right? If they came up to the podium and they're like, yeah, we're going to go be aggressive and free agency. We're going to make sure that we get all the right pieces to surround Bow Nix. I think if you come out and say that kind of stuff, what happens is that everybody gets these preconceived ideas in their minds about, okay, well, what does that actually mean? What does that look like? And then all of a sudden, something falls through in free agency. You don't get a guy that you were planning on getting. X, Y, Z happens. And now all of a sudden, you've over promised and underdelivered. They're trying deliberately not to do that. And you can hear that in the way that they're talking. But it starts with surrounding Bow Nix. It doesn't necessarily start anywhere.

You and I have been trying to figure out what's that starting point, right? What is that? I mean, we know Sean Payton said that a Joker is a must have, and we'll talk about that later. But I love that both Sean and George talked about the fact that building in the trenches is just as helpful, even defensively, for building around Bo Nix as getting him weapons in the passing game. To go back to your point about building this team around him, you talk about like, you know, don't overpromise and under deliver in a sense. So do it like do everything that Jerry Jones doesn't do in a sense. Like just that's the approach there.

I'll see a nice little shot there and check out my guys over there. Locked on Cowboys. You have to deal with that circus that goes on there every single offseason with the cowboys. But no, I agree with you there. And look, I think you look at these younger pieces that, you know, obviously we'll make mention of later on as this show progresses about, you know, the young guys, the receivers and even the in-house guys. I think there's so much about how you do it. And I think one thing, you go back to the trenches that you were talking about. And George Peyton really reflected on saying, hey, you know, hey, like, yeah, we had a couple of games last year where

our run defense gave up a lot of yards. He said, but we were a top five run defense for a large portion of the year. He said, you know, we had a couple of bad games. So part of me is looking at that and saying, okay, like, is there a belief here by this team that, hey, like, we can add to the trenches. But I feel like Denver's comfortable with what they have on the defensive line. But Sean Payton even said they believe that they have the offensive line in place that they need to be successful. I found that to be interesting as well. Yeah, I really did also because, you know, there's been some talk on Twitter X, things like

that about whether the center position is actually solidified. And I think you get the idea and the impression that, man, this coaching staff and the front office in the scouting department. They really believe in in-house player development. And you and I have warned on this show before, and it bears repeating, that that could be a strategy in the 2025 off season that ends up frustrating a number of fans to say, why didn't the Broncos go sign this guy at this price? Why didn't they go after this guy?

Why didn't they trade for this guy when the compensation was so low? Those conversations are inevitably going to happen because of the fact that there's unproven young players on this team that are going to get a shot. to prove themselves. And that's what this, that's what George Payton's philosophy from day one, back at his very first press conference in 2021, he said it. I want to draft. I want to develop. I want to get guys to second contracts in house. And he's put his money literally where his mouth is over the last 12 months. And so I think that's going to continue in 2025, Cody. I feel like you get this. I just got the impression listening to those two guys that like Sean was

very relaxed at the podium, which means what he means he's in a good mood. And if he's a good mood. I think he's feeling good about the offseason plan. George was probably more revealing than we're used to hearing from him, which to me indicates a level of confidence. So you've got to read between the lines because they're not going to tell you, we're going to go sign this guy. We're going to trade for this guy. You've got to read body language. You've got to read kind of their tendencies. And I think reading from that, I'm no expert, Cody, but I would, I would be willing to bet these guys are more excited than they let on at the podium. Yeah, no, I agree. And certainly it's going to leave in a lot of discussion between now and free agency happens March 12th,

which usually it's like the NFL combine, you know, this is where you meet with all the agents. This is usually where the legal tampering period actually begins. So now that it's earlier in the process, I wonder how it's going to change a legal tampering period conversation status quo that we've seen over the last handful of years here. But Broncos country, we got a lot to talk about. He's still here on today's episode show. We're not done yet. Up next, we're going to discuss the contract status of several in-house players,

including Cortland Sutton. And maybe the Broncos' plans, are they looking to? an extension with him. We'll break that down and more here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. More contract extensions could be looming for the Denver Broncos, but who's going to get the bag first or is anybody going to get the bag before NFL free agency begins? Well, we're going to talk about that and what George Payton and Sean Payton have to say regarding some critical players on this roster, including Cortland-Sutton, Nick Benito, DJ Jones, all of their contract situations, plus some other in-house

player situations that are worth and bringing up. But Broncos Country military boys, Cody and Sarah, we got you every single moment of the off season. We're going to be on a call over the next handful of weeks, basically as free agency kicks off. So don't forget to subscribe if you haven't

already done so so you don't miss a single episode of the show. Whatever happens with your Denver Broncos, we will have you covered. And shout out to all the everyday listeners already who are part of the show every single day. Cody, let's talk about some of the in-house guys. I think the biggest name, obviously, wide receiver,

Cortland Sutton. His contract situation is pretty simple at this point. He's entering the final year of his deal in 2025. Counts roughly 20 plus million against the salary cap. The Broncos don't have a real easy way out in terms of, man, a lot of available cap space. If you cut him, they have a lot of dead money if they would move on from Cortland. So what's the ideal and, you know, hopeful compromise here? a contract extension, but when will that happen? We don't know. Yeah, and I think that's going to be a big talking point throughout the off season. I imagine things will accelerate a little bit.

I know that Denver wants to before they're picking at the NFL draft. I know they kind of want to have most of their core pieces, you know, addressed in a sense, right? So imagine Nick Benito, Zach Allen, Cortland Sutton, those extensions probably more than like will take place by then or before then, hopefully, knock on wood, that's the case here. But I found it interesting, you know, every year, you know, for the last, what, three or four year since you know you've been doing this for a long time but you know more recently every year the conversation has been courtland sutton trade rumors could you know could he be offset at the nflb draft you know is there a team out there that wants to trade and the broncos have held firm on not trading

cordon like they've kept him like george and sean have both made it very clear how much they value courtland and his presence on the team first off let's go here in terms of the contract talks we'll hear from sean peyton and then we'll go to george here's what sean had to say regarding Sutton. George and I were just talking about it. Those those discussions will take place. George, Cortland's representatives, and we felt like he had a real good season. He's important to what we're doing. So all of that will happen in time. And I don't think now's the time. Oh, I mean, we, yeah, I mean, Sean addressed it. Cortland's one of our guys, team captain. I mean, I've said this for a couple years in a row. We want him here. We'll have those discussions at the right time. It's one of those situations.

situations where you really get the feeling that they want to make Cortland a Bronco for life, which they just did to Garrett Bowles during this last season, right? I think I think Bowles was likely to finish out his career in Denver. And it feels like Sutton is as well. I mean, you don't decline all those trade offers over the last couple of years. And then just all of a sudden say, all right, well, yep, we're moving on. We got a great season out of you. We're all done. No, Cortland has been a great fit in Sean Payton's offense. And you and I both agree, Cody, he can be an even better fit if the Broncos upgrade the talent around him on that side of the ball. Well, it even goes to some other things as well, like being mentioned about like the nucleus of this roster and certainly, you know, they mentioned that, hey, they're going to have those conversations when the time is right.

Obviously, Cortland's agent will be at the NFL Combine and they're going to have those maybe conversations, preliminary discussions there. But even DJ Jones, like George Payton came out and said, you know, we love DJ. We love to bring DJ back. They'll meet with his agent here at the Combine. Obviously, they have a chance to bring him back in the fold at that defensive tackle position this upcoming season. I think so much of that is important in terms of retaining your core nucleus, but even also acknowledging that, hey, there's a guy in your roster that you're very excited with

who really broke out in the last two years. And that's Nick Benito, who's also in line for a contract extension. You want to get that done sooner rather than later. It seems like Nick has a huge priority here for George Payton and the Broncos. We like to take care of our own. And so we'll just see. And Nick's obviously had a breakout year. He's a dynamic player, and we want him here a long time.

I want to ask you this. At all the times that we've heard George Payton talk about players that they value, I feel like nine times out of 10, he's come through and he's delivered on keeping them in Denver, getting them a contract extension. So are you worried that maybe this could be delayed in any way, shape, or form? Do you see this happening relatively quickly? Because I think, what was it, Daniel Jeremiah, if I'm mistaken, or somebody else the other day, put out a tweet saying, hey, keep note, there could be a handful of extensions.

come in because this year's free agency classes. There's not a lot of great options out there. It's not as strong. I found that to be a little bit of an interesting factor overall here for maybe how it impacts Denver's free agency strategy. Well, it's a really big factor because now the salary cap is increasing exponentially every single year, which means that, I mean, yes, you have more caps based to sign players, but also the price per position is going to go up just by the nature of the beast.

That's what it is. It's not just, hey, the, you know, the next great. free agent at this position is going to reset the market or, you know, the star player is going to continually reset the market year over year. What helps reset the market is also the increasing salary cap. And therefore, if you wait to extend a player like Nick Benito until next off season, the salary cap is going to go up, which means the percentage of the salary cap pie that he would end up taking up, whether it's the franchise tag or an extension is going to increase. So you get him at market value right now with the salary cap what it is now.

That means he takes up a lower percentage of the salary cap pie in the future after the extension has already been done. So to me, this is something that you do want to move quickly on, Cody. I know that a lot of times you wait to in season. You may wait till training camp, but agents are not dumb. They know that the salary cap is going to increase. And they also know that you strike while the iron's hot. You get your players guaranteed money while you can.

This is the perfect opportunity for those two things to make. marry up as say, hey, teams are motivated to get extensions done now. Agents are motivated to get their guys guaranteed money. Nick Benito fits the perfect blend of those two things after, as George Payton said, a breakout season. Well, and as well as you want to maximize that window that you had, because right now, even as we're sitting here recording this, the timeline for like usually when you see moves made for cap casualties starts to

roll in. Those types of moves start to happen. Restructures start to happen a little bit just so you can have some more wiggle room. And so I'm very curious to see what happens with the Broncos on that front. And we'll obviously take a look at that as well. I think tomorrow's episode of the show, we can really dive deep into maybe three potential cap casualties here for the Broncos or restructure candidates. That's going to be something we look at there. I think that there are a handful of things here that you have to factor in when you're trying to figure out how to build for the future.

In today's NFL, you have to have your quarterback. Well, you have that guy. He's on a rookie contract. You have to have an elite level cornerback to be able to shut down opposing wide receivers. You have that guy right there. And as always, you need a premier edge rusher. Nick Benito is becoming just that. Those are important foundational pieces.

I think NFL teams now look at it. It's like if we don't have this, this more than likely comes to the top of our list. As we're going to the draft, we're going to NFL free agency. If we don't have that player, we're going to try to get it at one of these junctures here in the off season. Denver's got those three guys in place. Now it's about being able to strike while the iron is hot. Nick Benito, his market value is going to be very high. But you don't want someone else to come out of the scene.

next year and elevate it even further to where it puts the Broncos in a tough position right there. So we're very curious to see how everything pans out as the Broncos start to formulate their offseason moves here. But we still got a lot of insight coming from Sean Payton from George Payton on the roster, the vision for several positions here as the team looks to build around Bo Nix going into a second season in the NFL here. And one of the more important things is the Joker position. Yes, Broncos country, I know you're tired of hearing the term, but that is something that seems

that George Payton, Sean Payton are adamant on finding. We'll break that down and much more here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Today's episode of Lockdown Broncos is brought to my friends over there at Fandu, America's number one sportsbook. And even though the NFL season is over, the NBA season has you ready for tip off. Or even if you miss tip off, you can place live bets throughout the game. Or if you even want to bet on a fourth quarter comeback as it's happening, you can do so inside of the Fandual Sportsbook app because there's no better place to get in on the action

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We'll ponder here on today's show real quick. I want to say thank you once again to everyone in Broncos country. All the every dayers out there. Thanks for making us your first listen. However, you choose to do so, we appreciate you. We got you covered every single day all year long here on the show. Sarah, let's get into some vision specific pieces right now. Obviously, we knew when Sean was going to meet with the media, the Joker position was going to be brought up.

And he talked about the importance of that too, right? Whether that's tight end or running back, there's a handful of different options in this year's NFL draft here. I found it very interesting. what Sean had said about the tight end position, though, meaning that, you know, with all due respect to today's game at the college level, you're not seeing a lot of inline blocking tight ends anymore who are elite level pass catchers and also elite level blockers, right?

Those dual threat guys, they're hard to come by. But he said when you have an elite level wide, you know, receiving type of tight end, he said, you can work with them on building and developing the blocking stuff. I think that changes everything, right? Because I think everyone in every year is looking for this number one, prototype option and those guys are hard to come by. They really are.

And hey, Rob Grunkowski's don't grow on trees, Cody. So, you know, there's a, we'll see what happens with that rumor that's floating around. But I know people are asking them. I'm sure they'll comment about it. But although Rob Grunkowski's don't grow on trees, I think that it's also very true that jokers or I guess if you want to, if you're tired of the term Joker, just call them lock nest monsters, whatever you want to call them, they don't grow on trees. And therefore, it's going to be.

tough to find somebody. But once you find that guy, as George Payton alluded to, I mean, it's really helpful for a Sean Payton offense. It makes life very, very difficult for the opposing defense when Sean has somebody like this in his arsenal. And this is George Payton's job to put together the best possible roster for his head coach. And obviously, the scouting department is in charge of finding guys with those traits that Sean Payton knows he covets in the lockness monster of his offense, right? And that is. is you got to be an elite receiver at either running back or tight end. So it's these guys that like Debo Samuel and Marvin Mims,

like they have maybe Joker traits and that they can line up in the backfield, but they're not true Joker players because they're not running backs or tight ends. So it's going to be interesting to see how the Broncos, I mean, I'm sure we'll see the binoculars out, Cody, when the tight ends and running backs take the field here at the NFL scouting combine. But one of the most interesting threads being pulled here in the 2025 offseason for sure. Well, and part of that too is, you know, you factor in the Joker position.

We talked about tight ends. Running back also factors into that. Here's what Broncos general manager, George Payton, had to say about the team's in-house running backs. Like, Javante Williams, said to be a free agent. He shared, you know, his thoughts on Javante, some of the in-house guys that they have, and also in this year's NFL draft.

Well, I mean, there's a chance to bring Javante back, you know, and I think Javante is one of the best past protectors in the lead, you know, and I think he's, you know, he's still young and he's still ascending, you know, another year removed from the injury. But I think there's so many different flavors. this draft of runner and we have some backs that we like and so it's going to be an interesting process already has been just to get to know these runners. I know we're searching for the

Joker. It's kind of like the Loch Ness monster trying to find a goddamn Joker, but I've played Sean's team that's had them in their hell. So yeah, a lot of different backs. I think it's a good year to maybe, you know, go get a back. Your thoughts on Georgia's comment about bringing it back Jevanti because I know when that happened, a lot of people already saw it until we're like, why, why, why? I honestly think it's a lot of GM speak at this point. I don't think Javonte is going to be back, even though I think the allure to bring him back is for that past protection reason. But even Sean mentioned, you know, guys like Tyler Badeh and Adrick Estimate, Blake Watson, Jalil, he mentioned all those guys on roster. I think Denver's

going a different direction. And I got that vibe here when we heard from George and Sean at the combine. Most definitely. And you heard Sean mentioned four of the five guys that were on the team last year and George Payton finished it right on off by saying Javante Williams name. So every one of those guys got a name shout out at these press availabilities. And I just feel like, you know what? George Payton traded up to get Javante Williams in his first ever draft class. I mean, there's got to be some sentimental value to that selection. And you're doing right by a player by not making every indication that, hey, we're going to be moving on from this. guy. I can't help but wonder, was that a little bit of damage control on, on George's part?

I mean, obviously, they're looking at running backs, but at the same time, you don't want to completely shoot down Giovante's value. He could be the most coveted back in free agency this year, or one of them because of the thin market. I mean, I know there's Najee Harris and guys like that out there, but folks are getting excited about Rico Dowdle these days. So it's, it's tough. It's tough sledding out there for running backs. And Javante is only 24, 25 years old this coming season. And so why would George do anything but prop up his value and say, hey, we might look to bring him back. Drive up your guy's value.

I mean, even if you're not planning on bringing him back, there's nothing that can be gained from that for future acquisitions to drive down a player's value in public. And George Payton understands that because he's very savvy and good at what he does. But we know this, Cody. I mean, it was reported the Broncos had a formal meeting or going to have a formal meeting with Ashton Jentee, the Boise State running back. and I would venture to guess that's only the tip of the iceberg.

As we know, they meet with just about everybody at the combine, but formal meetings are big. These guys get in front of the coaches, and it gives them an opportunity to prove, hey, can you really be the joker for this offense? Do you understand what it takes? And do you have those capabilities? I think it's, as George said,

the mental makeup is just as big of any part of this equation as the physical. Well, and one thing George also mentioned too earlier when talking about like hitting on free agency, hitting on the NFL draft. He made a comment, and this is kind of where I reflected to Giovante, where he said, you know, like sometimes your miss could be completely related due to injuries. Like a miss doesn't have to be, you know, lack of production. It's based on like, you know, did injuries derail what this player was doing?

I kind of got the vibe that was a little bit about Giovante in a sense there. Another player who obviously the Broncos have drafted, you know, with a top 100 pick prior in their past the last couple of years, Drew Sanders, we've been asking the question, what is Drew going to play this upcoming season? Sean Payton told us he views him as an inside linebacker. He's one of those guys. Here's what George had to say about how they view a guy like Drew internally. We think Sanders can be a starter in this league at linebacker.

Now, let's see how it goes. You know, we're going to keep adding good players. You know, competition. We just want competition in all the positions. So we're not annoying anyone's starters, but we just want to keep bringing in competition and we'll get good results. That's huge for Drew Sanders to have that. vote of confidence from the team after two years that, I mean, you could consider them to be lost

years in some ways, but at the same time, it's like the, you know, did you find a thousand ways how not to make a light bulb before you figured out how to make one? Because I feel like Drew Sanders came into the league as an off ball linebacker and then you switch to the edge position. Now you switch back to off ball linebacker. There's a clear opportunity there with two guys hitting free agency and one guy who was a starter at the beginning of the year coming off a major knee injury, Cody. Drew has the athleticism. Sean Peyton talked about that as well, like the athletic traits that he has, the speed. That's what the Broncos need at that spot. And if Drew can seize that role, man, that would be, it could be this year's version of what we saw this past season from

Riley Moss. Well, and on top of that as well, I like that George mentioned a, hey, like he can be. We're going to, we're going to give him pretty much every opportunity to start this upcoming season, but they're going to continue to add good players. And he really emphasized the need for competition, not just an inside backer, but I think he kind of made that claim for really a handful of other positions. I think when John went on Kay Adams show and said brought up safety, like there was not a safety question asked to George or Sean at the combine, but I think you bring in a guy there that certainly seems to be the indication as to where they're going here, competition across the board. I also felt like it was good to get an update on Troy Franklin

as well. I mean, Sarah, I feel like a lot of people in Broncos country have kind of written Troy off in a sense as to like, oh, you know, we struggle with drops or, you know, Bo and him just couldn't get their connection going. And they've already kind of been done with him. But, you know, Sean Peyton believes he's on a similar trajectory as a, was a guy who really exploded for Denver late last season in Marvin Mims. Yeah, so we see him as a Z. You know, we move our guys around a little bit, so it's not exclusively.

Thought he had a good rookie year. And, you know, he's kind of sometimes in that same position where Mims is at. So we have two guys. Certainly we've gotten faster because both of those guys can run. and we saw kind of that gross spurt with Marvin in year two. But I would say I was real pleased with how he handled the totality of the rookie season. It can be difficult. And I kind of see him in that role.

I think that will be interesting to monitor going forward as you've got two guys that, as he said, I mean, interchangeable position wise in that offense. And you can move guys around the formation, certainly in Marvin Mims's case. but man, the Broncos need that Z to separate quickly. And they need somebody that can create after the catch as well. I think Franklin can be that guy, Cody, and he could be somebody that allows you to move Marvin Mims around as a chess piece as opposed to pigeonholing one guy into one spot.

So very interested to see what his progression will be like here in year two. Well, and I can tell you this. I've talked to Troy and Troy's super excited about, you know, year two in the NFL. And when he reflected really on his rookie season, you know, we said there was a lot like you know you get thrown a lot of information at you and it's just about trying to find that groove and that confidence there and and really down the stretch he felt like he had some of that momentum and he knows what he you know can work on going into next season i think we are going to see him break out i think if we have to look right now sir say it

all the way here on february 25 2005 in 2025 Troy franklin is going to be the bronco's breakout player i that's where i'm kind of plant my flag right now here on today's show I'm very excited about that. And look, when you factor in Devon, Valet, Marvin Mims, Troy Franklin, you know, if you get the Cortland Sutton contract thing resolved there. And let's say Denver even adds a guy and free answer the draft, they get the tight end, they get the running back. This, I think, has all of the makings here, Sarah, on paper for Denver to take a massive leap

this upcoming season. More than 10 wins, I feel like. And so much is going to be contingent upon health and whether or not they can continue to grow and build around Bow. That I think is going to be the theme here. here of the off season here. And look, Broncos Country, we appreciate you for rocking with us. That'll wrap up today's episode of the show.

For all you every dayers out there in Broncos Country, here's what you can expect on tomorrow's episode of the show. We're going to take a look at three players that are either cap casualty candidates or restructure candidates and what that may look like for this team in terms of how they approach free agency and the NFL draft. You'll get that and much more on tomorrow's brand new episode, Lockdown Broncos.