Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos IMMORTALIZE Demaryius Thomas Legacy With Ring Of Fame Induction

Episode Date: May 28, 2025

The Denver Broncos immortalized the legacy of the late, great Demaryius Thomas by inducting him into the team's Ring of Fame. Why was Thomas the ultimate Bronco and how has his legacy carried on into today's roster? Plus, why are players like Troy Franklin and Audric Estime under the most pressure at OTAs and why Devaughn Vele and Jaleel McLaughlin aren't being talked about enough? 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 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. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. 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 have made sure that Demarius Thomas's legacy lives on forever in Broncos country history. Putting him into the ring of fame will tell you why this means so much to the franchise and to Thomas's legacy here on today's episode of the show. You are locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Broncos country, what's happening? Welcome into another episode. Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast. part of the Lockdown Podcast Network where you know what is your team every day. A special shout out and thank you to all the everydayers out there on Broncos Country.

Thanks for tuning in making us your first listen. However you choose to do so. If you're not an everydayer, become one. It's easy. It's simple. Just hit that subscribe or that follow button wherever you get your podcast. And you're never going to miss out on what's going on with your favorite team. I'm your host, Cody Roark, Broncos Reporter for Mile High Sports.

And I'm Sarah Bedinger, site expert at predominantly orange.com. And we got a lot to break down here on today's. installment of the show Broncos country. OTAs are obviously ongoing. Media doesn't get access until Thursday's practice, but we have our eyes on a bunch of players. But first off, we're going to talk about the big news here of the Broncos immortalizing the legacy here of the late great Demerius Thomas being inducted in the team's ring of fame. We'll get into when they'll honor him. Obviously, at a game this upcoming season, what he meant to the franchise and why he epitomizes being the ultimate Bronco. Plus, we'll talk about players like Troy Franklin and guys

like Audrake estimated who might have the most pressure at OTAs. And we'll also dive into players like Devon Veilay, Angeloom McLaugh and his players who weren't necessarily being talked about enough as we go through the OTA period on the offensive sideball, all of that on today's episode of the show. Sarah, I mean, look, obviously, let's kick things off here with a bang. I think the news came at a great time. You know, obviously OTAs began on Tuesday and Dove Valley.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, that's the schedule. Media, we're not allowed to attend until Thursday. We're only permitted one out of the three days of practice throughout the week. So we'll have obviously OTA coverage on Thursday from what we see there. But some big news on the day of OTAs when everything began, the Broncos announcing that Demarius Thomas is going to be inducted in the team's ring of fame here in 2025 in his first year of eligibility. Definitely a meaningful moment. Like I know how I felt about all this.

I'll jump into that. But obviously when the news came for you, you obviously a diehard Broncos fan. What was that like for you just knowing obviously your fan? of being a Broncos fan and obviously knowing what DeMaris Thomas meant to this franchise. Well, Cody, if you look up the Denver Broncos roster right now, if anybody looks up the Denver Broncos roster right now, there's a few numbers that are vacated, right? Obviously, number 7, number 44, number 18, those numbers are retired for the Denver Broncos, but you also won't see anybody wearing number 24. You won't see anybody wearing number 58, and you won't see anybody

wearing number 88. Why? Because those guys represent the best in Denver Broncos, franchise history. Number 24, of course, Jamt Bailey, number 58, of course, Vaughn Miller, and number 88, the legendary, the late great Demarius Thomas. I believe Cody has the most signature play of our generation for Denver Broncos fandom. And I believe that Demarius is the best wide receiver in franchise history.

And that is coming from somebody who fell in love with the Broncos because of Rod Smith, because of Ed McCaffrey, because of a number of other guys out there. Demarius Thomas is your favorite Broncos receivers, favorite Broncos receiver. He is a Hall of Famer in my book. I couldn't be happier that the Broncos are doing this. And it's going to bring a lot of feels out for people, Cody,

because his death was obviously tragic, shocking. His life cut way too short. And I love that the Broncos are honoring him, not only with the Ring of Fame, but I didn't even think about it until we were getting ready to do this episode. that they kind of unofficially also retired his number this year. Yeah, I mean, I think when you think about the impact of, you know, like wide receiver on and off the field, I agree with you.

I grew up on Rod Smith. Demarius Thomas was, I think, a guy like during those tumultuous years, like early on, we got to see him a little bit with Kyle Orton in his rookie season. And then we got to see him really emerge with Tim Tebow. And then it was really when Peyton Manning came to the fray, where we really saw Demarius's full potential just explode. And I think having a quarterback like Peyton, And these guys knew each other's strengths.

Like they could play football in the dark. You could throw a Peyton knew exactly where DT was going to be just to see the evolution of DT throughout his career. And obviously the story of everything he overcame, you know, in his own personal life there. I, you know, this was a great way to kind of get some news on Tuesday, you know, with this team. And I didn't think about that as well either until you just said that about maybe his jersey number. I remember shortly after his death, we got to catch the Broncos play the Detroit Lions. And it just seemed like that moment, how Denver came out and played against that Detroit team. And Justin Simmons has the interception near the logo and goes and gives the game.

But like that right there just chills down my spine here. But let's talk about like Demarius Thomas. I want to share a story of just the type of guy that he was right. The Bronco social media account I felt like did a great job of categorizing and summarizing Demarius. They called him the ultimate Bronco. That couldn't be truer than right there. I couldn't think of a better way to summarize him. But here's something that stood out to me in my early.

career as a beat reporter covering this Broncos team. It was right after the 2018 NFL draft. Obviously, the Broncos in that draft, they took Cortland Sutton out of SMU and they took Deshawn Hamilton. They took two wide receivers. And yeah, they still had Emmanuel Sanders on the roster. They still had DT on the roster. But usually in the NFL in the business, when you take two wide receivers, two guys with

different skill sets, sometimes you look at it and in the business side, you think, okay, they're looking to go younger. These could be the eventual replacements. And that ended up being the truth here for the Broncos. goes. But for Demarius Thomas, going into training camp, here's what stands out to me about DT. These new guys come into the mix, the wide receiver room. And DT. kind of knew like, hey, you know, this is, you know, I'm kind of on the back end part of my career here. And they may be looking to move on for me. They ultimately did move on. But I remember individual drills at training

camp and different team drills. Demarius, after he would do the rep, because obviously you're the veteran guy, you're going to go first. He would do his rep and finish. And he'd watch a couple of the younger guys do it. And then when they would come off, he would go to them and he would talk to them. And he would demonstrate, like releases off the line of scrimmish, things like little tips and tricks that has helped him obviously have a very successful NFL career. And I just observed that. And that's all I could keep my eyes on during that time was just watching how DT was with those guys. And I said, that's exactly what summarizes Demarius Thomas, completely selfless. And even though that the business side of the NFL is grueling, he wasn't there to hold back, you know,

his potential eventual replacement, which ended up being Cortland Sutton. And I can tell you this, seeing those things that DT did for Cortland, I see Cortland do those same exact things now for the younger wide receivers, not just in drills, but even away from, he takes care of these guys away from the football facility. You know, when they go out to team dinners, Cortland will never make sure, he'll never let the rookie guys pay or never get bit with a big tab. They always look out and they always take care of those younger guys.

That's one thing that stands out to me is you see Demarius's legacy continue to live on through other guys here on the roster. And I think that's just so huge. And this is going to be big because Sarah, they're going to honor him October 7th. It's when the Broncos are at home against the Giants. And I think a week and a half later, it's when they're going to honor that Super Bowl 50 team. So really, it's going to be a big season here for Denver, back-to-back games, I think against NFC East opponents where they're going to honor not only DT, but that Super Bowl 50 team where

Demarius won obviously his first Super Bowl championship. Yeah, it's a perfect year to do it, right? It's the 10-year anniversary of Super Bowl 50 this year, which, I mean, the irony is that the Super Bowl 60 is going to be played at Levi's stadium out there in Santa Clara. So, hey, Broncos, I mean, we know you're listening because you have to be. Right. It's a requirement. Your everyday listeners of the show, make it happen.

Get back to Santa Clara at Levi Stadium and really honor these guys. But I'm, Cody, all kidding aside, I'm really excited for this because I just feel like it's, it's one of those things where you hear rookies talk about this every year when they talk about kind of just their drinking through the fire hose experience of being in an NFL locker room as opposed to, you know, playing at college level. One of the things these guys always talk about is walking through the halls at the Broncos headquarter and seeing all the, you know, pictures on the wall, the trophies in the trophy case, the legacy that's been left behind of players who went before them.

And Demerius Thomas is one of those guys that, man, he did things the right way in an era of football where for the Denver Broncos specifically, it was arguably the lowest of the low, right? he was a first round pick in 2010. Josh McDaniels gets fired before the end of that season. He has to deal with the quarterback switch from Kyle Orton to Tim Tebow, and he made plays all the while. I'm privileged to say I got to see him play in person a few times in Minneapolis.

One of the best games that I think he ever played as a professional Cody, 2011 season, the Tebow year. Demarius Thomas was an absolute cheat code in that game, and he became just an elevated cheat code once Peyton Manning got into the building. Remember that first? play against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The screen out to the left and DT just takes it to the house. I mean,

he provided Broncos country with so many unbelievable memories through the years. And like I said, best receiver in franchise history. And that's all encompassing. It's what he did on the field. It's how he treated people off the field. It's the things that he did that, man,

on the practice field, like he could have been hyper focused on doing his own thing. And instead, he poured into the next generation, knowing that, man, he's probably going to get trained. He's probably going to get, you know, this happens to every NFL player. And as much as he is a Broncos legend, Cody, I think that just immortalizing him in this fan base,

it's going to solidify his status as the greatest receiver to ever wear the orange and blue. I can't wait to see the young players on the team rocking DT jerseys through the tunnel that week that they honor him and things like that. That's going to be so much fun. So it'll be an exciting year to be able to pay some homage to a guy who he deserves all. of what he's getting and more. I mean, especially, I wish he was still alive to see this, Cody, because he deserves to be honored in this way and he deserves to know how Broncos country feels about him. Like, that's the saddest thing about this is that I think a lot of times during his career, you get the pressure of, hey, everybody wants you to win. Everybody wants you

to play at the peak level every single week. And DT got, I mean, he was a lot of pressure on him every single week. Fans went after him for dropping the ball. Fans went after him for one reason or another, but when you have a chance to kind of look back at what was, I think now everybody, yep, spoiled, exactly. That's what it is. And I think everybody now realizes what he meant to the franchise when he was playing. And I just wish that he was able to receive that gratitude from the fan base, from the franchise, et cetera.

And so I'm glad that the Broncos are doing this. Couldn't have said it better myself, Sarah. Morocco's country. I want to know your thoughts here on today's episode. Lockdown Broncos, your thoughts on DT being immortalized into France? franchise history. His legacy will forever live on inside that stadium where he will get his own name on the banner in the ring of fame, week seven against the New York Giants. Make sure you let's know here today. But Broncos country, we're not done yet, even though we're not able to attend OTAs until Thursday. We get our eyes on a few players on the Broncos offensive side of the ball who might have some pressure on them going into OTAs.

We'll talk about Troy Franklin and a couple other guys here next on today's episode, Locked on Brockos. Broncos Country. Today's episode of the show is brought to you our friends over there at Fanduil. Look, the NBA playoffs they're in full swing.

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Well, we've got a couple of offensive playmakers in focus. Cody and I are going to talk about one of the running backs in the mix to potentially should be the starter this year, as well as a wide receiver who might be skating on some thin ice. We don't really know at this point. So we're going to tell you all about our players that we're excited to hear more about as the Broncos get into OTAs. But Broncos, thanks so much for making us your first listen of the day every single day here at Lockdown Broncos. If you're not already an everyday listener, man, we'd appreciate it. If you take a couple seconds, hit follow wherever you listen to podcasts, hit subscribe on YouTube.

We really appreciate you for doing that. Cody, players that are under pressure at OTAs. I think obviously there's always going to be a lot of pressure, players that we're excited to hear about, players that are not being talked about enough. Let's talk about the players that we're most excited to get updates about. Like, we're going to be refreshing Twitter for, you know, hey, I want to know what this guy did at practice or we're going to be saying, hey, what's, you know, Cody Rourke on Twitter X, you know, threads, TikTok, all these sorts of things.

I want to know what's going on with this guy. Who are you going to be keeping a close eye on? when you get a chance to go out there and watch practice. Well, you know, I think I'm going to go with the running back position here. I'm going to keep my eyes on Audrake Estimate. You know, all offseason long, I think I've been pretty consistent on the train of thought of, you know, hey, Adric Estimate, R.J. Harvey, these guys are roster locks. But I think even with the addition of RJ Harvey, I still think that there is pressure here on

Adric Estimate, but there's a narrative that I really kind of want to shoot down a little bit, Sarah, because this is something I, you know, I continue to see people talk about. You know, they're like, well, Adric Estimate was benched. He wasn't benched. in the playoff game. Like, that's the thing I want to say. Like, he was inactive, but that doesn't mean that he was bench. And I can tell you that was more so for Sean Payton.

The Broncos made it into the postseason. Okay, they really believed, okay, Jililil was the change of pace guy. But there was this sense of loyalty, as I've mentioned before here, that Sean Payton had toward Javante. He wanted to give Javentay the opportunity to go out there. And look, in a playoff game against Greg Rousseau, Von Miller, the past protection element was something that was big. Even though the run game element for Javante's game wasn't necessarily there,

It wasn't like, oh, Adric Estime is doing terrible, so we're benching him. No, and they wanted to try to find a matchup exploit there with Tyler Biddy and his beat. It was shocking. We did a show on it, but to say that,

oh, you know, the Broncos are down on Adrick. He's benched. That's not true. I can tell you that with 110% authenticity. That is not true. That is a false narrative.

Wanted to correct that out there. But now with the addition of R.J. Harvey, certainly, you know, all lives are going to be on Audric Estimate. Because you look at where Adric was taking the NFL. And sure the Broncos had. a higher draft grade on him than where he went to Denver ultimately.

But RJ, he went with a premium pick at this point. And he's got some flash in the pan that is very exciting to be able to see. And obviously, we've seen him already at rookie minicamp. But now all eyes are going to be on RJ Harvey. Everyone's going to be talking about everything RJ Harvey does. So this is a really good time. I think for Adrick estimated just put his head down, go out there and grind and just showcase that, hey, like, I'm going to bring a lot of big play elements to this offense.

people are going to have a hard time tackling me and bringing me down. Now are we going to be able to see that fully in OTAs? Not really. But I think the thing we're looking at from the running back, specifically there is visions, hitting the hole. Is there any hesitation, you know, are they catching passes out of the backfield? There are certain things like we're obviously not going to be able to report on in terms

like, wow, this play, you know, this guy did this. But we can summarize things in different ways without really giving it away. So that's where I think like the downside of OTAs is in terms of reporting is that we actually can't go in a greater detail the way that we can normally like we do in training camp because guess what everyone attends training camp. So our rules for us, they, you know, they're more laxed in the training camp period. That's why we wish fans could attend practice all year long because then, hey, we could tweet everything out as much as we wanted to. Right. Yeah, I know you wish you had that leeway there.

And you know what? I think you're right, though. Adrick Estimate is one of those guys that we're going to be having in focus. I kind of have a feeling that we're going to see less of a, hey, we got to find a hot hand at running back, which is, I think, been the Broncos approach the last two seasons to now there's going to be a concerted effort for Estime and R.J. Harvey to be the top two guys on the depth chart. Does that put a little extra pep in Audrick's step, right? And we know that he had, what, close to a thousand yards after contact in his last year at Notre Dame, over 900 for sure.

Can't remember the exact number, but yards after contact, that's his specialty. And we saw that in full force against the Kansas City Chiefs. Just an epic four-minute drill where he was grinding down that defense with tough yardage. And we wanted to see more of that over the course of the season. So hopefully we will this year. And I think we will. I think like I said, it's going to be less about, hey, let's find a hot hand at the running back position. And let's get these guys, these guys are going to lead the team in touches.

We're going to figure out what packages to put them in. And speaking of something like that, that's why I have. Troy Franklin as my guy that I want to know everything. I want to know everything about what he's doing this offseason. I'm not saying, hey, we're going to track drops or things like that. But I want to know about his involvement. I want to know if he's looking good. I want to know if he's got a different level of confidence.

He's rocking that number 11 out there. I think he's under a lot of pressure right now because you add Pat Bryant in the third round. Folks are sleeping on other players at receiver for Denver maybe. Devon Valle, we'll talk more about him later. but I feel like Troy is in a sort of limbo right now of is he going to be in the top three at the position, you know, rotation wise. And can he force his way onto the field more than we saw last year?

Can he force his way to more targets? I'm excited to hear about Troy Franklin's offseason program for sure. And I'm curious as well to see maybe what the role is because as you mentioned, kind of like with the running back, the hot hand approach. I don't know if you can get away with doing a wide receiver. Like obviously Cortland is going to be your number one guy, but how do you maximize? if Denver keeps five or six guys a wide receiver this year,

how do you maximize what each of these guys do best? You know, because you can't give out. You know, for example, Cortland will play probably 90-something percent of the snap on a per game basis for the Broncos offense, whereas you're going to have other guys coming and probably get like, maybe you might get another guy that gets 50 percent or you might get a guy that gets 43 percent of the snaps.

You know, at times last year, Marvin Mims would have like, what, 15 percent of the offensive snaps in the game? We're like, wait, how can you get a guy? get this guy on the field more. That is the dilemma, I think that Sean Payton has to figure out this year. And I think that Troy's a guy that we obviously saw, I think, catch confidence. There were several games last year where it's like, why don't the Broncos do more of this with Troy? And you start to see that.

And then we finally saw the deep ball connection with he and Troy, he and Bo Nix finally connect. And it's like, all right, things are good. I had a chance after the season end and when the Broncos did their end of the year, exit interviews. I talked to Troy. And the one thing that Troy says, you know, hey, I've got confidence now. And he said, I feel like going into the next year, we got a really good plan in place. I've got everything that want me to work on this off season. And I'm going to attack that.

But there is a, he says, I think my role is going to be bigger next year. So I'm counting on that kind of coming to fruition here for Troy this upcoming season. I think it would be a valuable asset and a weapon for the Broncos. And look, as you know, you can never have enough wide receivers. And I think we have guys that have different skill sets that complement other guys at that position. I think that's where you can really thrive in the Broncos. I mean, like I said, they have a roster. that's pretty much coming back fully intact.

We'll talk about that a little bit later on this week on the show. But I agree with you. I like those names here. So obviously for us, Adrick Estimate, Troy Franklin, Broncos country. We want to know your thoughts on a player on the offensive side of all OTAs that you feel like has a little bit of pressure on them. Make sure you let us know here. It could be Boonex as well going into year number two or are curious for your thoughts

and your responses on today's episode lockdown Broncos. But we're not done yet. Brockos country. We got one more thing. We're going to talk about here. Players that are flying under the radar or that could fly under the radar aren't being talked about enough as we get ready for OTAs as they begin here. We'll talk about Devon Bailey and another key running back here on today's episode,

Locked on Broncos. Which players are flying under the radar and are not being talked about enough as OTAs begins ahead of the 2025 NFL season, Broncos country. Thank you so much for tuning in making us your first listen. We appreciate you so much for making the show exactly what it is every single day. You drive the show. You're a big reason why this is the best Broncos podcast in the entire world. so we're very grateful for every single one of you.

Sarah, look, obviously continue in our conversation. We highlighted players we feel like had a little bit of pressure on them on the offensive side of the ball. You went with a wide receiver in your last segment. I went to running back. We're going a similar path here. Once again, as we talk about players who we feel like aren't being talked about enough,

who do you have on your list? Yeah, I've got Devon Vele as a player that I think isn't being talked about enough, Cody. And I know that at this point in the off season, every player is getting talked about. But when you think about it, like, all right, Cortland Sutton contract situation, Pat Bryant, he was just drafted in the third round. And the Broncos kind of effectively moved up to get him with the trades that they made in the draft.

Then you got Marvin Mims. Can he expand his role in year two? And we just talked about Troy Franklin, who I think is maybe the most discussed wide receiver on this roster. I feel like Velae is flying a little bit under the radar. And even with myself at times, right? I've kind of put him in that bucket of, hey, he could. make the team again, you know, the Broncos could sign a veteran and kind of push him out. I don't know.

I feel like Sean Payton loves this guy. I think that there's a role for him in the offense. I think that he's going to take a step forward in terms of we didn't see a ton of, you know, balls thrown his way deep down the field last year. I think that's a game or an area of his game that can be unlocked. And I'm excited for him, Cody. I know that he's an older player in terms of only being a second year guy. But I mean, over the life of his rookie contract, he can make a big impact.

for the Broncos, especially if he builds on what he did last season. Now, I have to bring up one stat, and I want to hear your reaction to this, Cody, but Devon Velae, he was outstanding last year in terms of moving the chains for the Denver Broncos, 26 first down receptions second on the team. And remember, he missed four games, only had 55 targets and only 41 catches. So 26 of those went for first downs. He played pretty well as a rookie. Yeah, so over half of those catches,

you're telling me they moved the chains for a first down. That's kind of what I saw, like, in training camp and the preseason about, okay, this is what this guy can become. And look, we saw his first eight catches of however many he had on the year in that week, one game against the Seattle Seahawks. And he was the leading receiver in that game. Unfortunately, the Broncos offense didn't muster enough offense overall there. But I agree with you.

Like, Velae, I teeter back and forth as to is this guy, like, he brought value to the roster immediately last year as a, a rookie. But is that good enough? Like, is that what the Broncos need? Is he in a position where he can thrive here as he gets older? I think there's a chance to, but I've kind of teetered back and forth between like, is he going to make the roster? Is he going to be a guy that's going to be, pushed by Pat Bryan or maybe even another guy where he may not even make it like an AT Perry. This is where I'm kind of, you know, stuck on it. And ultimately, Trent Camp's going to tell us. Preseason is going to tell us. But I agree with you on areas. I think Vela can have more of an

impact. Like he was a chain mover. I thought he came up big on the road. to Arrowhead against the Kansas City Chiefs. I felt like there was a lack of consistency and them actually going to him deep downfield. I feel like Valey is actually one of those guys where you look at Cortland. Like what was one throw that Bo loved the Cortland besides the goal ball? It's that back shoulder throw. Velae, in my opinion, is the perfect guy to be able to thrive with that exact type of route as well. You got a guy on one end and Cortland that can do it.

You got a guy on the other end in Vailay that can do it. Why not see more of that? That's something that I would like to see the Broncos incorporate here and to the their route combinations. It just depends on what coverages they get. I know it alters on a day-to-day basis, but Velae, he's a willing blocker. That's one thing I think that I liked about him.

That kind of was an immediate draw as a rookie. But the question now is, okay, hey, with these additions, with the expectations of some of these other guys that are developing, what is the next step here for a guy like Devon Velae? To me, that's a great question. I want to see if, you know, have a chance to ask Sean that on Thursday when we talk with him.

So I think that's something I'll bring up. my guy that I'm going to bring up that I don't feel like he's being talked about enough is Jolulim McLaughlin at running back. And look, Jalil led the Broncos in overall yards per carries last season at 4.4. He was still their most effective rusher on a consistent down-to-down basis. But the issue that we saw and that we've talked about here almost ad nauseum on this podcast is the Broncos run game had no identity. It was so inconsistent with what the rotation looked like. And at times it became a little too predictable. And when teams would do that, they could stop it.

And then that put a lot of pressure on Bo Nix. I think that having Jalil in a role, and this is where I think the mystery comes in with Adrick and RJs, we just don't know exactly what that is going to look like. Who's going to be the primary ball here? Who's going to be the short down back? Who's going to be a three down back potentially here? But how does that make it to where when Jalil comes in, he can still have an effective impact on the game? This is guys, one of the hardest workers on the team consistently in the building first

before anybody else, before the coaches get there. he's out the door last. This is a guy who's so dedicated to his craft. Because look, you make it as an undrafted rookie free agent. You can never just be satisfied with saying, hey, I was undrafted. I made it. Jalil literally walks into that building every single day with that chip on his shoulder that, hey, I made it this far.

I need to keep going. I want to keep going. I want to keep climbing with Audric, with RJ. I'm guilty of this myself. We haven't talked about Jilililip Laughlin enough. And I think that's where I'm excited to see this competition. play out throughout Trenton camp in the preseason because I think this is where we're really going to see Jalil thrive. Yeah, he's got to have a big offseason program and preseason because to me,

we talked about those first down receptions for Devon Valey. I know it's a different position here. Jalil had three first down catches last year amongst his 24 total. And his yards per carry was the highest on the team. It was down a yard from the year prior. and his yards per touch was down over a yard as well. So I think, like, for him to me, he's under a lot of pressure. And I want to see him burst through and, like, become that guy.

Because I don't know, you hear Sean Payton talk in the offseason and they talk about wanting to find a Joker. And does not Jolil McLaughlin seem like he would be the type of guy? He's a smaller back with speed and vision and quickness and all those sorts of things. If he doesn't have Joker traits, what is he adding to the offense other than scathe? back stuff. And so I think to me, he's got to step up in a big way, bringing that efficiency that we saw from him as a rookie. Like you said, Cody, when he was averaging 5.4 yards per carry, 5.3 yards per touch, you were craving more of this guy in the offense if you're a Broncos fan, right? You were saying, hey, get Jalil as many touches as possible. The Broncos gave him extra snaps last

year, they gave him only 30 additional touches and he didn't do much with it. So that's where I'm like, okay, the rubber's meeting the road here. We're at the, we're at the fork in the highway, right? You've got to find your lane. Are you going to be an asset to this team or are the Broncos going to try to find every way to keep Blake Watson? Are they going to try to find every way to keep Tyler Badegh. Jalil is one of those guys very much for me under the microscope right now.

I'm curious to see where, you know, obviously between those other two guys you mentioned with Watson and Badey how much that competition really kind of carries over, you know, is, it going to be a tough decision? I hope that's what the Broncos are internally thinking is that we want this, you know, for that third running back spot, we want this to be one of the toughest decisions that we have to make here. And that would be a good thing. I will say, like, one of the areas I think Jalil improved on obviously is a rookie to obviously last year, pass protection was definitely something that I think the Broncos, you know, recognize like, hey, like, you know, we can't be predictable when Jalil's out there. So he is going to have to

past bro. Jalilil took on the challenge himself to saying, hey, I'm going to refine my technique. He was honestly, I'd say outside of Giovante was one of the better past protecting guys. But the issue with that is just the being undersized. And is that sustainable? I mean, everyone had those same questions for Sean at rookie minicamp for RJ Harvey Harvey. And he says, look, you know, ideally we understand that. He said, there's going to be times we're going to have to match you up, you know, match you up against a guy like, you know, Navarro Bowman or something like that. But it's not going to be often. He said, but there's going to be. times you're going to have to do it. And that's just kind of like a, we don't always want to put you in

this situation, especially if you're not like the size back to be able to do that. But at times, you're going to have to be able to do it because it's part of the job. And I think that's just, that's as much on players like embracing that role as well as coaches putting them in a position to succeed. So I'm excited to see maybe where Jalil kind of takes us in Broncos country. We want to know your thoughts on some players on the offensive side of the Broncos. You feel like haven't been talked about enough this offseason that you want to see something with at OTAs. I'll keep my eye out of it. Obviously, on Thursday when I'm out there at practice,

and we'll recap and cover it here on Locked on Broncos. Make sure you share our thoughts with us here in the comment section or on social media. But with that said, Broncos Country, we appreciate you so much for tuning in to today's episode of the show for all you every dayers. Tomorrow, look, once again, we're not going to get the second day of OTAs in Broncos country, but we are going to go through players on the defensive side of the ball that we feel like has the most pressure on them. And also players we feel like aren't being talked about enough defensively. We're going to talk about that on tomorrow's episode. Love the show. We'll see you then.