Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos' JL Skinner In Line For PIVOTAL Role For Vance Joseph in 2025

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Denver Broncos defense became an even bigger strength for them in the off season, but we'll tell you why J.L. Skinner is primed for a bigger role here in 2025 on today's brand new 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. Hey, hey, hey, what's up, Broncos country? Welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, where you know, your team every day for all your Broncos news, content coverage, analysis, and more that you get every single day all year long. This is the place to be. This is the best Broncos podcast out there.

Starting point is 00:00:46 Special shout out to all the every dayers out there in Broncos country. Thank you so much for tuning in making us your first listen. However, you choose to do so. And it's easy to be coming every day or make sure you become one if you're not one already. All you got to do is hit that subscribe or that follow button and you will never miss out on what's going on with your favorite team. Every single day, all year long. That's our promise to you. As always, I'm Cody Rourke. Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports, joined as always by Sarah Beninger, site expert over there at predominantly orange.com. And look, Broncos Country, we've got a jam-packed episode for you here today as we continue to evaluate this roster. We're going to talk about J.L. Skinner and why his role is set to expand here in

Starting point is 00:01:26 2025 as the Broncos envisioned maybe a hybrid role for him in the big nickel against the run and also against the past. What can he do to get there? We'll break that down. We'll also take a look at the Broncos safety outlook beyond 2025 because this is a room that is primed for change at some point. And we'll also look at whether or not PJ Locke will be a trade candidate this season or before the season even begins with some of the Broncos moves in NFL free agency. You're going to get all down today's episode of show. Sarah, let's kick things off here. J.L. Skinner obviously is a very interesting name that we're going to talk about here on today's show because when you look at the renovations the Broncos have made in the last two years at the safety position,

Starting point is 00:02:05 we've been kind of wondering what JL's role is going to be like here for Vance Joseph and the defense. And certainly I think before they went out there and they signed Talanoa Hufanga and Free Agency, we were wondering what they may look like. Now, despite the addition of Hufanga, Denver still has an anticipated big role in mind for J.L. Skinner, but it's going to be up to him in training camp in the preseason to really go forth and make that a reality for himself. Yeah, the ball is in J.L. Skinner's court. And I feel like after his rookie season, we were all questioning, I mean, is this guy even going to be part of the team's plans? Because we all assumed, based on his pre-draft grades from people, that in 2023, he could contend

Starting point is 00:02:48 for a starting job. He could contend for at the very least a primary role on special teams. We didn't really see much of J.L. Skinner as a rookie. But last year, obviously, the special team, naps, they ramped up. The defensive usage at the end of the season, that ramped up a little bit. Even after signing Telenua, Hufanga, and Free Agency, even considering last year's starter next to Brandon Jones, which was PJ Locke, he's still on the team. Other guys played Devin Key, Keigh, Kedron Smith, all those sorts of players. They got playing time. I still think J.L. Skinner could be the third safety on this roster in 2025. And the time is perfect because now he's had a couple of years to kind of get acclimated to

Starting point is 00:03:33 the NFL, stay healthy, kind of just get his feet wet a little bit. It's either now or never, right, Cody? I mean, it's not often that we see guys bloom in their fourth or fifth NFL season. Year three is kind of that transitional year where you feel like if it's going to happen, it's going to happen this coming season. Yeah. And look, year three is the most important year, I think, for any player in the NFL. I think when you look at a position by position basis, I think, For quarterbacks, it goes year two, right? So it's a big year ahead for Bo Nix, but for safeties, and I'd say most players who are drafted at the position in which JL.

Starting point is 00:04:05 Skinner was drafted, you really want to see something in year three. Now, I would say last year, we saw quite a bit from JL and the special teams depart. I mean, he was a core four special teams player. He was a special teams ace for them last season. 79% of the Broncos special team snaps. JL played that. I think early on in the season, you know, he missed a couple of games due to an injury. So I think that number would have been larger than 79%

Starting point is 00:04:30 if it weren't for the injury that held them out of action for a little bit of time. You know, he played 19 total defensive snaps last season. Really, that started to happen towards the back end or, you know, a couple of games where the Broncos were up big on some opponents here. But the role that we have in mind here that the Broncos envision here for J.L. Skinner, even with the addition of Tala Noah Hufanga, is to play maybe that big nickel role. And some people are asking, what is that big nickel? Well, you know, the Broncos base scheme is a three, four nickel defense, nickel meaning five defensive backs on the field.

Starting point is 00:05:02 A big nickel is a little bit different here. Now, for the Broncos here, and this is a package with that I would envision with Talanoa Hufanga. Denver's got flexibility here, Sarah. Think of this as a big nickel package, right? You got Pat Sertan, Riley Moss, J. Kwan, MacMill, Hufanga, Brandon Jones, and J.L. Skinner. Now, on a big nickel, one defensive lineman would be taken off the field. you'd have one linebacker there and then you'd essentially have, you know, a handful of defensive backs.

Starting point is 00:05:30 Here's where things get a little tricky, right? Because you could call it a dime package because essentially you're going to have six defensive backs on the field. But they call it the big nickel because you have this hybrid flexibility to be able to play against, you know, teams that go maybe, you know, three wide receivers, you know, you want to bounce being able to cover and also stop the run here. Because Denver runs a base nickel, which for their downline and you have your two stand-up outside linebackers. You got a defensive end, a defensive tackle, and another defensive end there.

Starting point is 00:05:59 So you're taking one of those guys off the field, whether it be a D tackle or be a DN, but your two defensive ends are essentially going to be playing inside. So I imagine it would be Zach Allen, John Franklin Myers. You'd have these guys playing, you know, a three tech, a one tech, a two eye, whatever may be while you have your outside linebacker still kind of protecting that edge, but it allows you to crash inside with your outside linebackers a little bit more because you have extra defensive backs there. Now, here's where I mentioned the Broncos can have flexibility, right? There were times last year, I think it was the Cleveland game where the Broncos, when they went

Starting point is 00:06:32 into their big nickel package, there was a time where Jayquan Macmillan dropped back and kind of played that safety role here. It depends on the opponent, but if the Broncos are playing a run-heavy opponent, I could see Denver putting J.L. Skinner and Tala Noah Hufanga kind of in the slot to be extra box players while you have a Brandon Jones on the back end. And maybe you can put J-Quan Macmillan and another guy back there to be able to cover why you have, obviously, Pat Sertan and Riley Moss playing that outside corner look right there. To me, I think Vance Joseph favors flexibility.

Starting point is 00:07:04 And this is the perfect opportunity for J.L. Skinner to showcase what he can do against the run because he's six foot plus and he's 220 pounds. He can play well inside the box here. And he and Talohoofanga together with Drake Greenlaw being that one linebacker there, That's got me a little excited on paper. Well, one of the players that I think a lot of folks were looking at in NFL free agency is New York Jets, linebacker, Jamie and Sherwood, right? And he was a former safety at Auburn, who similar size to J.L. Skinner and maybe even a similar NFL projection. And I view a lot of these guys that Denver has in their defensive backfield, I don't know if the NFL calls them this,

Starting point is 00:07:45 but I would call them like havoc players because they're guys that are out there that could cause havoc for the offense. They could blitz. They could drop into coverage. They could be a quarterback spy. They could, you know, play man coverage. They can do all these sorts of things. You want matchup players out there and guys who can cause havoc because you're just, you're creating unpredictability on the defensive side. I mean, a lot of times offenses want to be the one to dictate that, right? They want to be able to say, hey, you're not going to know what we're going to do out here based on our personnel. And I think Denver defensively has a chance to do that with a number of guys that they have, I don't know that Alex Singleton is going to be able to match up

Starting point is 00:08:24 in their nickel defense with guys. I mean, if you're talking about playing man coverage from your nickel formation, Cody, is Singleton going to be able to cover, you know, running backs out of the backfield? Is he going to be able to do it? I don't know, coming off the ACL being that he's into his 30s now, I'm, I'm skeptical of that at least a little bit, not to, I don't want to disrespect Singleton. He's way more athletic than I'll ever be, but I'm just saying, I think that that when you get into these types of situations to where, okay, we don't want to have, we want to have everybody that has perfect coverage out here. And then we've got one guy that's a liability out there that the offense can attack.

Starting point is 00:09:02 You create more of an unpredictable situation for opposing teams when you have somebody like Skinner out there on top of all the other guys. So to your point about the big nickel, I think that's maybe a situation to watch for is maybe he plays a little bit of a hybrid, linebacker safety type role. And we know that Vance Joseph has been envisioning this in his defense for a long time. Don't think he got it quite right with Isaiah Simmons when he was with Arizona. But this is something that I think has been, maybe he needed, you know, the help of somebody like a Jim Leonard or whoever it may be on the staff to say, hey, this is how we bring this to fruition.

Starting point is 00:09:41 And maybe we will see that this year with J.L. Skinner. Could you even see maybe a dime linebacker role for Hufongo or even J.L. Skinner as well where you get him playing kind of that middle of the field, which I don't know what that would mean for like taking Drey Greenlaw off the field. I think Alex Singleton can cover backs out of the back field. I mean, right now it's just a question, right? As to like, what is it going to look like? We don't know what Alex Singleton post-ACL surgery is going to look like. But even if he could, right, you'd want a guy like Drey Greenlaw out there because Great Greenlaw is a little bit more versatile in the all-around sense of playing against the run, being able to play well against the

Starting point is 00:10:15 pass. And also just being a long target in the middle of those past. passing windows for quarterbacks that like to try to get those crossing routes going. That's where Denver got carved up in those last five games. So I'm excited to see what JL's role in all of this will be. I think his length. And obviously, I think how fast he plays is going to be key here for Denver. And can he take the opportunity that's going to be presented to him? Can he run with it?

Starting point is 00:10:37 That's going to be a big key. And look, I think it also plays into what we're going to be talking about up next year on today's episode of the show. What does the Bronco Safety Outlook look like? Well, we'll tell you there's six free agents after this season. And right now is the perfect time for J.L. Skinner to take advantage of this opportunity. We'll tell you what that safety room looks like here on today's episode of the show. Today's episode, Lockdown Broncos is brought to by Monarch Money. Ever checking your bank account and wonder, hey, where did all my money go?

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Starting point is 00:12:30 The Denver Broncos safety position is going to look different in 2025, but you might not even recognize that position group by the time 2026 rolls around a lot of moving parts here over the next year. And we're going to see who's going to step up to the plate here in 2025. It's be a big crucial transitional year for a lot of young players at the position. And we're going to talk about just that on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. And hey, Broncos country, appreciate you so much for tuning in every single day. For all you every dayers out there, you know your boys, Cody and Sarah got you covered every single day here on Lockdown Broncos, the best Broncos podcast out there.

Starting point is 00:13:06 And you know what? If you're not already, take a couple seconds, hit subscribe. You won't regret it because we'll have you covered every single day all throughout the offseason with fresh new Broncos. Co's content coverage analysis and more. Let's talk about the outlook for the safety position going forward. Cody, there's six safeties on the roster who will be unrestricted free agents by 2026. We talked about a couple of these guys already, PJ Locke, DeLarian, Turner, Yel, Devin Key, Tanner McAllister.

Starting point is 00:13:39 There's also a couple of newcomers to this group that I think are going to be interesting to monitor, who could be, you know, really big factors in who sticks around here in 2025 or, I guess, now looking beyond. Well, they obviously signed veteran safety. Sam Franklin Jr., former Carolina Panther to a one-year deal. That was last week there. He's added to the mix. He'll be a free agent in 2026 alongside Keedron Smith, who really was one of the training camp

Starting point is 00:14:04 preseason standouts here for the Broncos and ended up making the 53-man roster. And look, I think as we talked about J.L. Skinner in the previous segment, And obviously on mock draft Monday on yesterday's episode of the show, I took Malachi Moore in round number four. And a lot of people are asking, why did you go with the safety? This is the exact reason why I went with a safety position for the Broncos because failure to invest in this position with a handful of expiring deals where you're hoping one or two of these players continues on their positive development. It's like, all right, hey, we want to bring them back. We can bring them back on a one year deal, maybe a two year deal. And that gives us flexibility.

Starting point is 00:14:41 on the event that doesn't work out because look, even these guys that we named off here, six of them set to be unrestricted freedoms, even Sam Franklin, Jr., who they just signed, these guys are all going to be competing for a roster spot. You look at it, you know, Delirian Turner Yale, going to be competing for a roster spot, Devin Key, Tanner McAllister, Keedron Smith, Franklin Jr. There's five guys right there. We can even throw PJ Locke into the mix as well with the addition of Talano Hu Fonga. It definitely makes things interesting.

Starting point is 00:15:07 We'll talk about PJ a little bit more in depth as this show goes on today. But I look at the outlook of this position. And to me, it tells me that you have to be careful with how you invest in your player development here. You can't necessarily think like, okay, hey, we're going to be set. Like what happens if there's an injury at this position? What does that overall room look like? Really outside of Brandon Jones, PJ Locke, Talanoa, Hufanga, there's not a lot of veteran experience in terms of overall playing stature and defensive snaps at the safety position from this group. to me it makes things very interesting for Sean Payton,

Starting point is 00:15:42 Vance Joseph, and this coaching staff as we approach the NFL draft here in just under two weeks. And you're really going to be trusting those guys, Vance Joseph, Jim Leonard, obviously those two guys at the forefront of this because they are defensive backs guys. They've historically been, you know, not only just playing, but I mean coaching specifically. So I think that that's going to be huge for player development. and it's also important to note that Telenau, Hufanga, Brandon Jones, even PJ Locke, they've all missed time due to injury.

Starting point is 00:16:15 So what do the Broncos do? Where do they turn if or maybe when those guys have to miss some time? Because it's pretty rare for any individual player to play a full 17 game slate. And you're going to need your depth at some point or another over the course of a season. We talk about how crucial this year is for J.L. Skinner, I think especially so. with Tala Noah Hufanga coming in because Skinner is going to be able to play a versatile role in the defense, say, hey, we're going to use you as a chess piece while Hufanga is healthy. Hufanga and Jones are the starters.

Starting point is 00:16:49 But what happens when Hufanga goes down? Now you've got to slide somebody into that spot that Hufanga's playing, which I think J.L. Skinner is kind of perfect for because he's attacking the line of scrimmage. He's constantly trying to be around the ball. He's just, hey, see ball, get ball. That's what you're going to ask. Fonga to do. That's what you want JL Skinner to do. You want those guys to attack the football with confidence and speed. That's what they're the, I mean, that straight line missile. That's where those

Starting point is 00:17:17 guys make their hay in the NFL. And so I think that with the other guys at this position group, it's going to be just as crucial to be able to say, hey, you got to be able to do what Brandon Jones can do as well, because he's the maybe the best coverage guy the Broncos have there at this position. I don't even know if there's a maybe about it. I mean, he can play all over the place. So who's going to be able to take his spot in the event that he needs time, you know, to heal from anything? So that's the fascinating part about this to me, Cody,

Starting point is 00:17:47 is that you have all these guys who on paper, they seem like they could provide great special teams ability. On paper, you know, they've all proven a little something over the course of the last couple of years. But who do you trust if you need them to play extensive snaps? Well, and right now, look, you guys. got the numbers game in your advantage. But as I mentioned, really, it's it's, it's, it's question marks across the board at this position. Whereas you look at the window right now that the Broncos have with J.L. Skinner, we talked about the importance of him taking that role and running with it.

Starting point is 00:18:17 Right now, JL's in a position this season and going into the next season, which next season will be his final year on his rookie deal. Brandon Jones will be in his final year of his current deal next season as well. So for me, it's what do you have with this window? Can you maximize that? Right now, I'd say the two guys you have on your. roster that are in line for a contract extension. If J.L. Skinner can showcase that he can thrive in this role that the Broncos envisioned for him, he's going to play himself into a potential contract extension. Brandon Jones, so far after obviously his signing, he was a huge addition of what the

Starting point is 00:18:50 Broncos wanted to do and achieve defensively last season. He will be in line for a contract extension potentially after this season. And so when you look at just all the moving pieces, the numbers, you have to have some security. You have to have that. I don't even know what the word that I'm looking for is peace of mind, right? Comfort knowing that, hey, we've got this guy here. We've got Talanoa Hufanga locked in. 2028 is when he'll be a free agent.

Starting point is 00:19:14 And the hope is that these guys stay healthy, right? And if they do, that's great. But you have to have that numbers game because ideally you're going to carry probably five or six total safeties on your roster. Now you're going to have two starters, a guy who's going to play some rotational snaps defensively and a heck of a lot of special teams. That's where J.L. Skinner, I think, is going to factor into the equation the most year.

Starting point is 00:19:35 And then obviously with PJ Locke, we just don't know what that's going to look like right now here for the Broncos. He was the starter last season. He earned a two-year contract extension. And part of me is wondering what that role is going to be like for him, which is going to lead us into our next topic of discussion here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. PJ Locke very well could be a potential trade candidate here for the Broncos,

Starting point is 00:19:56 either before the season begins or during the season, because of some of the moves they've made on the defensive side of the ball. I'm going to tell you, why I don't think they should trade him at all. Here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. Today's episode of Locked on Broncos is brought to by our friends at Fanduel. The NBA playoffs, they're almost here. And Fandual, it's giving new customers an incredible way to get in on the action.

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Starting point is 00:21:22 the subject of a lot of conversations surrounding Broncos' country and what his future may be after the team made some moves in terms of acquiring Talanoa Hufanga and NFL Free Agency. a bigger role for J.L. Skinner in 2025. What does this all mean for PJ Locke? A lot of questions surrounding that real quick. I want to say, thanks. Once again, everyone in Broncos country. Thanks for making us your first listen. Thanks to all the everydayers out there. You make lockdown Broncos exactly what it is. One of the biggest Broncos podcast out there. Thank you so much. Broncos country. We appreciate you. Sarah. Look, I went on the record here before we started this segment here. And I said,

Starting point is 00:21:55 PJ Locke, a potential trade candidate before the season, I'll tell you why the Broncos should not do that. I think because of the injury history that you've seen with guys like Talanoa Hufanga, you know, Brandon Jones last year suffered that groin injury that really kept him out of action, all of training camp. We didn't know what we were going to see from Brandon Jones until week one against the Seattle CX. We're like, wow, this guy didn't practice at all during training camp, didn't play in any preseason games, and he looks at the part, and he was one of the biggest additions that the Broncos had there. We mentioned the handful of young guys that this team has.

Starting point is 00:22:27 P.J. Locke is a guy who's I always, I love his story in terms of being an undrafted rookie free agent. He's putting a lot of work to make it to where he is. And last season, obviously, I mean, after not last season, the year before, after 2023, he received a two-year contract by the Broncos. So really, PJ's in his final year of his deal right now with the team. I think he gives you that experience as a former

Starting point is 00:22:52 starter in the event. There is an injury. You get a guy who's experienced. Part of me wonders, I mean, obviously, look at the money given to Talanoa Hufanga, and you look at obviously the money that was given to Brandon Jones, that doesn't seem like there's going to be competition for a starting job. It looks like PJ Locke is not on paper right now, the envisioned starter there. But I think he's important to have here for the Broncos, Sarah. And, you know, I think there is a lot of, you know, conversations on social media from Broncos country. I think PJ took a lot of fire last year towards the end of the season.

Starting point is 00:23:22 There were some big plays giving up. I think people need to know the context of what the defense was in in terms of coverage and where things were at. PJ could have played better in a lot of different situations, but I don't think PJ was the problem that a lot of people in Broncos country are making it out to be. What are your thoughts here in this conversation about him being a potential trade candidate? I mean, it is a possibility.

Starting point is 00:23:42 I could see it considering the moves. I just think from an insurance policy standpoint, I think PJ still brings you a lot of value to what the Broncos want to achieve. And I think for Darren Rizzy, I think if he plays more special teams this year, if he's not going to start, I think he's going to be an impact player for them in that category. I think that's going to be the deciding factor overall is whether or not Rizzi envisions him as a particularly valuable piece in the special teams unit because like you mentioned, and like we've been talking about in this episode, J.L. Skinner could be in line for that third safety role or kind of a bigger overall role in the package this season. PJ Locke also has a lot of friends in high places around the league, doesn't he? I mean, Vic Fangio and Christian Parker out there in Philadelphia, Igero at the defensive quarter.

Starting point is 00:24:27 of the Carolina Panthers, now Darren Moogie with the New York Jets, as well as, you know, Chris Banjo out there who knows what PJ can bring to the special teams aspect of things as well. So you've got lots of friends in high places around the league. You're on an expiring deal. The team is paying you to potentially be an insurance policy. I could see PJ going to the front office after the draft or during the draft or maybe right before the draft and say, hey, if you guys feel good about your depth here, like give me a shot to go play somewhere else as opposed to just being a fail safe, break glass in case of emergency kind of the thing

Starting point is 00:25:02 because he might be able to have a bigger role at one of those other spots. Now, for Denver's sake, I wouldn't be my, I mean, at 5.19 million against this year's cap, and you're not really going to even notice that that's, especially if he's playing a big role on special teams, you're not going to notice that that's gone, you know, for easy for me to say, right? But the Broncos can save over three million by trading him away at some point. And if they can get anything of value during the draft, Cody, we talked, we did an episode a while back on the potential of trading for Brees Hall. I'm not saying you can trade P.J. Lock straight up for Brees Hall, but maybe you could

Starting point is 00:25:38 package PJ and a pick for Brees Hall or something like that and, you know, kind of scratch each other's backs in a sort of way. So I could see it happening based on how many connections he has elsewhere in the league and the fact that the moves the Broncos are making lately, which is signing Hufanga, signing Sam Franklin Jr., bringing back Devin Key, getting Delaria and Turner yell back from injury. All those things maybe add up to PJ, not necessarily being a Denver Bronco in 2025. Another name and team to throw out there is Christian Parker and Vic Fangio

Starting point is 00:26:12 with the Philadelphia Eagles. They know him very well. And look, I think the dichotomy of where the safety position is evolving here and obviously where the Broncos are at, I think you make some good points here. But if he is, like there is also, I think a situation maybe where he restructures his deal this year that helps the Broncos. You know, it's kind of mutually beneficial.

Starting point is 00:26:30 PJ loves Denver. I know he wants to stay in Denver, but I know PJ is also the type of guy. If he knows, he's not going to get the opportunity to play as much or have an impact, the way that he has, I think in the last couple of years, I think that the team would do right by PJ by sending him to a situation where he can play and get a lot of playing time. I think the connections, the ties that bind are important here. But before PJ was a starter in the NFL in terms of the safety position, let's take a look going back to 2020 at his numbers here with the Denver Broncos.

Starting point is 00:26:59 2020, 15 games appeared. Zero games as a starter at safety. He played 370 special team snaps. It's 84%. The year after, 2021 under Vic, he played a little bit more of the defensive snaps. He had 27 overall snaps there, 3% on defense, but 83% special team snaps here once again. So really was kind of like that Wesley Woodier guy who came. in as a special team's ace and then eventually worked his way into a starting role,

Starting point is 00:27:25 2022, 10% of the defensive snaps where he played 111 snaps defensively, 341 snaps on special teams at 76%. But then you go to 2023 where he emerged and started getting starting snaps there after the injury to Caden Stearns. Eight games is a starter. 539 snaps on defense, 69% very nice there. But then you look at special teams. He started to take a step back there.

Starting point is 00:27:49 He played 91 snaps on special. teams. That was 28% overall. So his value went from special teams to becoming a starter. I would argue, and then obviously last season, he played a thousand defensive snaps for the Broncos last season. That's 96%. A huge increase from 2023 and only 40 special team snaps last season. So for me, I would still argue that with PJ, we haven't quite even seen, I think, the best of PJ as a safety just yet. I still think that there's a lot there because of the overall snaps and plays that he has had so far at the NFL level. That would be my argument here for keeping PJ lock.

Starting point is 00:28:26 I think that's valid. And I think that the Broncos just have to decide, you know, are we going to elevate Skinner more? Are we going to have, you know, more of a role for him going forward? Or is it still going to be in a PJ playing probably more close to the 2023 number of snaps, you know, not not considering injuries as a potential here where he could end up playing a significant chunk more than that. And so I think that's really the discussion there. And it's, it's going to be happening. If it hasn't already happened behind closed doors, I would guess that the Broncos

Starting point is 00:28:59 already know exactly what direction they're going in there to know, hey, these are our top three, top four guys on paper. And we feel really good about the development of these guys. So this is what we're going to do. I'm interested to find out how it all shakes out because as we sit here, Cody, we're just over a week away from the 2025 NFL draft where we know all these different things are going to the picture is going to become clear. We have ideas of how everything could shake out. We have ideas of what could happen. But ultimately, I think we're almost always, no matter how many scenarios we go through, we're almost always surprised by what, you know, at least a couple of the directions the team takes and what it means to the implications for players like PJ Locke.

Starting point is 00:29:42 So I think the 2025 draft is going to be no different. Well, and I'm very curious as well if we're going to get a pre-draft press conference with George and Sean Payton. Obviously, you know, the next week, week and a half, that's usually what has happened. But, I mean, we've heard from George and Sean quite a bit. Like, you know, the NFL Combine, that was one time we heard from them. We just heard from them at the NFL annual meeting where they talked a lot about the pre-draft process and things about the roster and things like that. I'd be very curious to know maybe what the role in the expectation is for PJ at this point. And also the rest of the safety position.

Starting point is 00:30:15 I think that that's important to what the Broncos want to do defensively this season. I think PJ is an important glue guy there. But at the same time, you know, you have young guys like J.L. Skinner that you want to see something out of. And is PJ's role, would that be getting in the way of a guy like J.L. But I think that's where competition is so important. Like have PJ and JL, in my opinion, compete for that spot, compete for that role, and then maybe make your decision from that standpoint there. I think that's going to be crucial.

Starting point is 00:30:42 I'm very curious to see how the Broncos go about managing. that, whether or not they add a piece to that position in the NFL draft. You talk about undrafted rookie free agents right now. Denver's roster is at 70 players. So they've got 20 more players to add into the mix. As we always know, even when they get the 90 man roster initially set, going into OTAs, mandatory minicamp, things like that, that's going to change a little bit, right? You're going to have your rookie mini camp.

Starting point is 00:31:07 You're going to have some veteran guys that are invited there on the trial basis. And then after that, you really kind of set your 90 man roster going into training camp. So the next two months, two and a half months, it's going to be big, Sarah. I'm excited about it. And look, every step of the way Broncos country, you know your boy, Sarah, myself, Cody Roark, we're going to cover you, have this team covered every single day, every step of the way. So you never miss out on what's going on from an objective point of view. I go to practice.

Starting point is 00:31:33 I break it down as best as I can to bring you all as close to the action as possible. But there's nobody doing it at the rate in which Sarah Bedinger, myself, we're doing it here, lockdown Broncos every single day. And we couldn't do it without your Broncos country. Thank you so much for tuning in and making us your first listen. For all you every dayers out there, here's what you can expect on tomorrow's episode of the show. We're going to be opening up the mailbag. We're going to pick up some of your questions that you send in, especially before the NFL draft,

Starting point is 00:31:58 we'll answer them. Will yours make the cut? Tune into tomorrow's episode Lockdown Broncos to find out.

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