Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos Kris Abraims-Draine FLYING Under The Radar At OTAs

Episode Date: June 3, 2025

Denver Broncos second-year cornerback Kris Abrams-Draine is one of several defensive players flying under the radar at Broncos OTAs. How does Abrams-Draine factor into the Broncos defense at corner with Patrick Surtain II, Riley Moss, Jahdae Barron, and Ja'Quan McMillian? Plus, Delarrin Turner-Yell and Levelle Bailey are two names Broncos Country shouldn't write off at safety and linebacker. 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!LinkedInPost your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply. 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.

As the Denver Broncos prepared for week two of OTAs, we're going to take a deep dive at three under the radar players on defense that you need to keep your eye on this week and going into training camp. We'll break that down and much more on today's episode, Lockdown 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 happening in Broncos country? Welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast. part of the Lockdown podcast, Narrow Greenough, it is your team every day. Thank you so much to all the every dayers out there in Broncos country for tuning in making us your first listen. However, you choose to do so.

And if you want daily Broncos news, content coverage analysis more, become an everyday or hit that subscriber of that follow button. So you never miss out on what's going on with your favorite team. I'm Cody Rourke, Broncos reporter from aisle high sports. And I'm Sarah Bedinger, site expert at predominantly orange.com. And here's what you're going to get on today's episode of the shows. we prepare for week two of Broncos OTAs. We're going to take a look at three defensive players who are kind of flying a little bit under the radar amidst all the other storylines going on with the team. We're going to talk about Chris Abrams, Drain, the second year player out of Missouri and why he's being slept on a little bit going into 2025 in a loaded defensive back room.

Plus, we'll talk about DeLarian Turner Yale working his way back from a knee injury, fully ready to go. And now maybe he can factor into the safety mix that has a lot of depth at that position as well. then Lavelle Bailey potentially mixing in with the inside linebacker group lost in the conversation of potentially competing to start after making the 53 man roster last year. We'll talk about him as well here on today's episode of the show. I mean, I always feel like this is an important thing, right? We've talked about the big name players. We've talked about some of the key draft additions the Broncos have made so far as it pertains to OTAs.

But there are a handful of players on offense and defense that aren't necessarily starters or aren't necessarily key rotational players yet that I feel like we have to talk about under the radar players. We've got three here today we'll talk about. There's a handful that Broncos Country wants to know about on tomorrow's episode of the show when we look at the offensive side of the ball. Let's start with Chris Abrams-drain, the second-year cornerback out of Mazoo, fellow Missouri alumni here myself. And Abrams-Drain, look, and I'm guilty of myself, we've been talking so much about Jaudey Baron, J-Quain, J-Cwan, Macmill, Riley Moss, Pat, Pat, Sartan. That really, Chris Abrams-drain has been a guy that's kind of been slept on a little. bit. But this is a guy who I also stood out to me last week and watching OTA practices.

Sarah, he had a really good day and we didn't talk about it enough. Chris Abrams, Jane is one of those types of guys that makes you wonder if the Broncos will eventually end up trading from their surplus at the cornerback position. I know in the NFL injuries always happen and you have to be prepared for that. But at some point, you want to make sure you do right by the players as well and get these guys playing time. Cody, I've been watching some highlights of last season from the Broncos. you know, incredible run that they went on to get back to the playoffs, the young guys that stepped up, especially late in the season, Chris Abrams Drain, he makes the highlight real

quite often, you know, the game against Indianapolis, he had the awesome pass breakup in the end zone, then you had the games against, you know, Cleveland and obviously the Chargers, where he stepped up in a big way. I feel like maybe there's a chance that somebody in a contract year, like a Jayquan Macmillan or a Damari Mathis, one of those two guys, potentially could be on the trade block because of a guy like Chris Abrams drain and how well he played late last season because you've already got Riley Moss two more years on his deal. You extended Pat Sartan. You've got Jada Baron on a rookie contract now.

Well, eventually, I think he's the only pick, Cody, from a certain range there late in the first round who hasn't signed yet. Maybe we'll chat about that at some point this week if that continues on. But you've got all these guys, right? You've got all these players at an important position where you want to have depth. but is it possible that the Broncos have too much depth? I know that you can't have too many corners, but at the same time,

you want these guys to be able to play if they're ready. For Chris Abrams, drain, maybe that's a conversation that the Broncos are going to be having here in the next handful of weeks. Right now it is portfolio building time for a lot of the corners that are on the kind of the back end of the depth chart. And look, I think it's a very talented room.

I think the Broncos cornerback room is one of the more talented positions that they have right now in this roster. You and I've done an episode on it talking about the overall depth, at that position from top to bottom, it is a strength for them right now. And it is the perfect opportunities we've seen like the Broncos, the last couple of years, have not been a stranger since Sean Payton has come bored of, you know, waiting for that final roster cutdown date where it's like, ah, you know, we initially waived this guy, but we're working on a trade, right?

They did that with Albert Okwebun on with the Philadelphia Eagles and Sean Payton's first year. The initial was going to be a release of him, but then they worked out a trade, you know, in those final weaning moments before, you know, everything had to hit the deadline by the league. I think it's 4 o'clock p.m. Eastern time, the transaction deadline there. Denver very much has a chance, as you mentioned, if there's an injury that pops up around training camp, there's an injury that pops up during the preseason for a team that needs a veteran corner. And specifically, if there's also a team that suffers an injury that you know you have ties to, those are things that will probably keep our eye on here.

But right now, like, Chris Abrams drain is a player that I feel like has the tools here to eventually become, you know, a guy who can play a lot of defensive snaps for the Broncos. I don't know how the rotation is going to exactly work yet because so much is matchup contingent. Right now, we've already talked about the top four corners the Broncos have on the roster that are ahead of a guy like Abrams drain. But I think he's very much in that conversation, going back to last Thursday's OTA practice, here's what I like about him. This is a guy who is a very technical player. He can play off ball man coverage. He can play press man coverage.

And he excels, I think, and also off zone coverage. He's instinctual. I think he's got good communication skills from the cornerback position. and he can go up against bigger players. Like, for example, Joaquin Davis is much taller than him, but Abrams Drain is sitting there at the line of scrimbage. He's playing press,

and he's got really good technique with him. He knocked the pass away, you know, on a pass intended for him down the sideline. You just see a more comfortable player here, I think, compared to what we saw last year at this time. And look, remember George Payton's comments?

He had said initially about Abrams Drain, you know, this is a player who kind of got off to a little bit of a slower start compared to everybody else in the rookie. class last year. Well, now I think he's fully comfortable. He's caught up. And look what we saw him doing the regular season, really without any valuable reps. I thought he was a preseason standout for the Broncos last year. But then in the regular season, he gets thrown to the fire on that that final drive that the Cleveland Browns had where, guess what? He matched

up against Jerry Judy and did a really good job in those final drives. And then obviously, the Broncos got an interception that sealed the game. I just think that this is a young player who comes up and tackles. He's instinctual. I think he's got good technique from the overall position. standpoint, he will be an asset to this team. Just the question right now is, is like, what is that rotation going to look like? I think Abrams Drain will be a player that throws his name of that here when training camp pops up. And it's one of those things to where general manager George Payton, he talked about the fact that it creates high level competition, right? You reference kind of those comments have been made over the course of the off season.

You know, a guy like that may develop slower over the course of his rookie season, but then when you see the glimpses on field get an interception off Justin Herbert. You break up a pass in a clutch moment in a game like you did against the Colts. You come up big late in the game against Cleveland when they're throwing for, you know, 500 plus yards. He comes up big in these moments and then all of a sudden you're like, okay, so the lights come on and the lights on for this guy. And everyone in Broncos country is now wondering why was he not playing sooner? Why were they ever messing around with Levi Wallace? You know, why wasn't Chris Abrams Drane playing sooner than he? he did. And so I think you create that high level competition when opportunity presents itself,

right? When he gets a chance to go out there and play, there would be no other reason for us to be talking about him if we didn't see those glimpses late last season. I think you develop guys. You allow your coaching to kind of, okay, this guy can progress. He could potentially be a depth piece. But I think Chris Abrams drain has worked his way into a more starter level type of conversation as opposed to just a nice depth kind of conversation. He played well enough late last season that let's say the Broncos didn't have the kind of depth that they had at corner or if they didn't draft Jada Barron, I think we might be having a conversation about him being one of the top three corners on the team in terms of projecting and that competition that's being created. It's tough to see that path right now. But man, you can't help but wonder based on the way that he played last season, the ball skills, like you mentioned, that toughness, the ability to play different types of coverage.

He's got that ability to go out there and contribute. don't want to waste a rookie contract on a guy like that who can actually contribute and play, especially if you're not feeling solidified at a certain spot. Well, and that's where the dilemma is here. But it's also the opportunity, I think, for him to rise to the occasion in training camp. I think in preseason, he has another strong campaign here. Once again, it's great. But I also think the Broncos are better prepared right now going into 2025 in the event

an injury happens during the season. I think Denver is fully comfortable with the guys that they have with the addition of Jaide Bear. Like, for example, Pastor Tan wasn't at OTAs on the Thursday practice. We had a chance to see in media, but you know what the Broncos are doing. It was Riley Moss, J. Mac, Jada, Barron. In a combination working inside out, Riley was staying on the outside primarily. But Jadae and Jemak were rotating between outside and inside the nickel.

So you're seeing that kind of payoff here, whereas, okay, hey, Abrams Drane, he's probably going to be a primary outside guy. If you have an injury, you know that this young guy entering a second year is more than capable of stepping in playing. We've seen him play at a high level already in a limited sample size. That's a promising development here for this Broncos team in Broncos country. We want to know your thoughts on Chris Abrams drain as he prepares for his second season in the national football league. But we're going to continue our conversation here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos, still remaining in the secondary, despite all the depth added at the safety position,

DeLary and Turner-Eales facing a big offseason ahead of him, but he's ready for the task. We'll talk about what he's looked like at OTAs here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Today's episode of Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by LinkedIn. As a small business owner, your work does not end when the clock hits five. Your business is always on your mind, which means when it's time to hire, you need a partner that works just as hard as you do. And that's where LinkedIn jobs comes in because when you clock out, LinkedIn clocks in.

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Find the right teammate today. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash locked on NFL. That's LinkedIn.com slash locked on. NFL to post your job for free terms and conditions apply. The Denver Broncos care more about special teams than I think maybe a lot of other NFL teams do. DeLary and Turner yell, he can be a huge factor in that regard. And so that's why he's potentially getting ready to reclaim his spot on the roster this coming season. We're going to give you an update on how DTY looked out there on the field at the first week of

Denver Broncos OTAs. But Broncos country, thanks so much for making us your first listen of the day. every single day. We appreciate you so much. You know that your boys, Cody and Sarah, will have you covered all offseason every weekday here on the show. And we appreciate if you take a couple seconds, hit subscribe, hit follow wherever you listen to podcasts and join the growing community here. Cody, Delarian Turner yell.

He did not play at all last year, despite the fact that I believe he was medically cleared. I can't remember exactly when it was, but he was medically cleared to play. The Broncos decided to kind of just let him, you know, I guess, marinate, for lack of a better term on the injured reserve and kind of keep working his way back is you can never really be too careful with knee injuries and things like that. I'm sure he was chomping at the bit, though, to get back out there.

But this team has got, they're flush with depth at the safety position. It's going to be a tough position group to crack this coming season. I'm interested to know what he looked like out there. I saw a picture of him. The Broncos posted a bunch of pictures of everybody out there at practice. And he was jumping up, making a, making an interception. or a catch or something like that just as they're doing drills. It looks fresh, looks good.

I mean, I'm interested to know, though, what you saw firsthand. Yeah, no, he's full speed, no limitations, full goal, which is a great sign for obviously a guy like DTY. You know, last year it's some context on his situation. The Broncos obviously activated him off of the PUP list. He was fully cleared, medically cleared to return. But you know you have that 21 day window where the team has to make a decision to either pull you off of the PUP list and actually put you on the active roster

or you revert back and you stay on IR for the rest of the season because of the Broncos' debt at the safety position in terms of they already had their guys that were already locked in as starters. And there was, you know, roster pieces left and right that the Broncos simply couldn't just upend one guy, release one guy that would have to go through waivers in order to be brought back. So DTY reverted back to IR for the remainder of the season. That was something that even Sean Payton told us last year that, look, this is a guy we

had the conversation with him. We understand like it's frustrating. But we're at a position right now. our roster is just it doesn't afford us. It doesn't afford us the luxury to make this move, even though he's ready to go out there and play. Obviously, DTI, I was disappointed because he wanted to get on the field. You know, this is a guy who's been grinding through rehab, went through all the stuff, you know, the mental journey of an ACL recovery, just to be able to get into a spot where he can get back on the field. And it's like when you're on the field and

you go through practice for three weeks, you just want to go out there and you want to play. So obviously when his season was shut down, he was disappointed. But, you know, he still maintained a great mindset. And right now, coming into training camp, he's going to have an opportunity to to really make some hay because we talk so much about the safety position. That being important for the Broncos, 100%. You've got Talanoa Hufanga. You've got obviously Brandon Jones is your two guys who are going to start. PJ locks also recovering from off-season surgery. He was working on the side field last week. You bring in Sam Franklin Jr. as a veteran guy. You got guys like Devin Key, Keedron Smith, Tanner McCaus. You got a lot of guys that safety right now. But for DTI, one thing that I think plays is

to his favor right now is that he's a very, very good special teams player, right? He's going to have an opportunity to impress Darren Rizzy. But what did Sean Payton say? Like, we asked a question to Sean this weekend about finding ways to improve in the kicking game, which people hear that and they're like, well, you got to improve it as a kicker? No, like kicking game is just another term for special teams. And he said, you have to like, we can say that we want to be better in the kicking game. But he said, you have to go out and get those guys.

That's where it's like the Sam Franklin Jr.'s come in. So I think there's going to be competition, DTY, T. McAllister, Keedron Smith, Devin Key, Sam Franklin, Jr. We didn't see Sam Franklin Jr. last week at OTAs during Thursday's practice. He's one of the guys we didn't see. But for a guy like DTI, this is his opportunity to make the roster. It's coming out on special teams right now because your safety position right now. I mean, it's taken care of.

Now, with PJ Lock still recovering, maybe this is an opportunity for him to even get even more on-field equity. But he is a player that I think Broncos country shouldn't sleep on just yet. he could be looking to reclaim a roster spot. He's fighting for that. He's eager to do so. Yeah. And with the kicking game, like you mentioned, being such a huge factor this year,

we, everyone kind of expects that big uptick in the kickoff realm in terms of guys are going to be returning a lot more kicks this year. And so what does that mean in terms of your roster construction and, and which guys you end up keeping who's out there actually making the plays, right? And so it could be a major factor for somebody like him. And the Broncos are willing. to keep guys around who only play special teams, right? They've done that in the past.

And that's the case with guys like Trent Sherfield. We don't expect him to be a major factor at wide receiver, but he could be the team's special teams ace. He could lead the team in special team snaps. I mean, Sam Franklin could be the same situation. Delarian Turner, O, could lead the team in special team snaps. I mean, that's just where right now you're expecting Darren Rizzy to go out there and give everybody sort of a clean slate because the other thing with

Delirian Turner yell is this. How many advocates does he really have right now? The coaching staff that was around when he was drafted, they're gone, right? A lot of the members of the Broncos front office, they are gone. And the defensive backs coach, Christian Parker, he's gone. So how many advocates does he have on this roster right now or in Denver right now? Obviously, George Payton had a hand in drafting him, the Broncos scouting department. There's still people there.

But he did enough to warrant, I guess, not being cut at this point. It would have been so easy for the team to just be like, all right, you know what? Like, we didn't draft this guy really. And he, you know, different defensive backs coach pounded the table for him in the draft. Different special teams coach pounded the table for him in the draft. The Broncos have given him an opportunity here. And the, the question is why? And we're about to find out, Cody, because they obviously really like this guy.

So it's things that he's doing behind the scenes. We're not trying to necessarily make mountains out of mole hills here. But your entire 53 man roster does. matter when you're putting together, hey, how can we compete for an AFC West title? How can we make inroads towards getting to the top of the AFC and the playoffs? Every single guy matters. You don't know who's going to be that guy to force a fumble on a kickoff late in the game when you're down by four points and there's only four minutes left and you need to

find a way to come back. Somebody makes a big play. That could be Delary and Turner yell. And so that's why we break these guys down, not because we're trying to say, Every player on the 90-man roster could be an all-pro, but because somebody like Delarian Turner, Yel could be that guy to punch the ball out in late December and say, give the Broncos a chance at the number two or three seed,

hopefully we'll see. Or number one, you never know. But that's why I think we break down a guy like this, because he has that type of ability on special teams. Yeah, no, I think you nailed it. It's easy for us to sit here and talk every day if we wanted to about all the starters, every key player that's going to have a major impact. but, you know, I think at this point, I don't know if there's many shows out there or reporters out there.

They're going to be talking about maybe some back-end roster guys or guys who really could have an under-the-radar impact. You know, we've got to think big picture here. Yes, your starter is going to be a big part of the reason why you succeed or fail this upcoming season, but building the right 53-man roster, which we know Sean Peyton has emphasized. Sean Peyton has talked about the absolute importance of being able to formulate the right 53. and that requires you to have data. So right now with 90 players on the roster, we're going to look at every player

that maybe isn't necessarily a big name guy or a key starter, someone who could be under the radar. That's why we're talking about it, you know, today's episode of the show. So Brockhouse, country, want to know your thoughts on the overall safety depth there and impact that maybe Delarian Turner Yale could have here. The competition he's going to face here this upcoming training camp

and obviously the preseason is he looks to make a claim for a spot on the 53-man roster at a very loaded position here. Just know your thoughts on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Boy, that said, Broncos country, there's another player. Right now, inside linebacker seems to be a position where three guys are battling for one spot. But there's one guy who made the 53-man roster last year as an inside linebacker, Lavel Bailey. He says, hey, don't forget about me just yet. He's going to throw his name into that.

We'll talk about him and much more here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Lavel Bailey was one player last year who had a tremendous training camp and a preseason to earn a spot on the 5th. 53 man roster. And now with questions at the linebacker position, the Broncos are going to look at every player, including a couple of other undrafted rookies, to try to make up the best depth possible as they look to build out the best 53 man roster they can

going into the regular season. Broncos Country, thanks once again for tuning in, rocking with us here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos, all the everydayers. Thanks for making us your first listen. If you're not yet an everydayer, become one by hitting a subscribe or that follow button, wherever you get your podcast,

or if you're watching us on YouTube. We also, we now post daily to, So if you're on TikTok, find the lockdown Broncos podcast and interact with some exclusive clips that you get. Sometimes you get a look at some things we haven't even talked about yet, specifically over there. We appreciate you so much Broncos country. Another name too, right? We're focusing on under the radar defensive players here that aren't necessarily being talked about enough. While we've talked a lot about the addition to Drake Greenlaw this offseason, Alex Simulton's return.

The vision for Drew Sanders becoming clear and now established by Sean Payton, Justin Sternad returning here. one guy that's probably not getting talked about enough that was on the roster last year at inside linebacker it's lavel Bailey who made the 53 men roster as an undrafted guy i mean sarah there's there's things that this broncos coaching staff saw from him that made him an appealing guy now obviously made the 53 got waived the next day because i think you know some roster gymnastics there they didn't want to necessarily i think risk losing him and after teams already built out their 53 man rosters they found a way to like all right we can sneak him through and bring it back on to the practice

the squad. But Lavel Bailey, he's a guy who ended up playing quite a bit of special teams down the stretch for the Broncos last season and could also maybe be in the mix or at inside linebacker. If there's one more injury to that position, Sarah, whether it happens to, you know, be a setback to Alex Singleton, Drew Sanders, Justin Sternard. Lavel Bailey's probably going to be that first guy that gets that opportunity to, I'd say, probably throw his name in the hat a little bit more. Yeah, he was called, I think, specifically by Sean Payton during last year's draft, wasn't he? And Sean recruited him to come to Denver. And I know Sean brought him up as the guy from Fresno State who could be in the mix. And we thought last year maybe he had a chance to sneak in to the lineup.

But then the Broncos kind of went a completely out of left field direction. You know, they brought in Christian Welch. They brought in other veterans. Lavelle didn't really get the shot that I think we thought that he would, especially based on what he did in the preseason. Remember, he had the interception, I believe, in the preseason too, Cody. So he did a lot of things last year. But the Broncos linebacker position has kind of become this just embodiment of the meme of the guy who's, you know, cranking his neck looking at the girl who just walked by him while his girlfriend is sitting there like ticked off that he's doing it. You know what I'm saying? It's like every linebacker at this position, at this, you know, on the roster, they're that player that's, you know, like looking at us like, what the heck, man? Why are you talking about him now?

You know, it's like, oh, Levelle Bailey. Ooh, you know, you got this new undrafted guy from Utah. Oh, you got the guy from Kansas. Ooh, there's free agents out there, you know? Like, that's kind of how Broncos country is right now because of how unsettled this position is. It's like, you ain't put a ring on the girl that's looking at you with the angry face. You're trying to find out who that's going to be. And so I think all kidding aside, right?

I mean, Lavelle Bailey is kind of one of those, you know, he's like that meme, right? You're, you forgot about me? Like, what are you talking about? I made the team last year as an undrafted guy. You don't need to get excited about all the new undrafted. guys. I was already the guy you were excited about last year. And I've already been here for a year. I've learned the defense. I've paid my dues. I've proven I can play special teams. So I think he is that guy that man, we talk about underrated players on this roster. You talk about guys that, okay,

we were sleeping on this guy. Everybody else is getting talked about as a potential could step up as a starter, you know, except Lavelle Bailey. And so maybe he's the guy that will step up at a position group that desperately desperately needs it. I mean, you need long-term answers here. Maybe he is that. Well, I think we all fall victim to this, especially us, right? We cover the team every day. And we cover the roster at 90 players.

We cover it at 53. We cover all the changes in the draft and free agency. Sometimes we all get a little bit guilty of that, what is it, the shiny object syndrome in a sense? Like, all right, LaVelle Bailey was the talk last year. Well, what about Karen A. Reid out of Utah? What about J.B. Brown out of Kansas? is, well, what about this? Oh, wow, what about Jordan Turner, this athletic, rangy linebacker out of Michigan State?

You know, sometimes it's easy to get caught up in all the hoopla there. You know, obviously we focus on the starters quite a bit, Drey Greenlaw, Alex Singleton, Drew Sanders, Justin Sternata, combination of those guys. You're very much in a position where, as we've seen, the linebacker position, it's such an important element to, I think, the success of a defense. And we certainly saw that last year, you know, Singleton, he's always around the football, right? But you can't tell me last year there were times we were watching games where it's like, man, we miss Singleton on the field at times, you know, mistackles, second level mistackles, or, you know, just like you need someone to get to where the football is. Singleton was always where the football was.

It's why he was the leading tackler for the last handful of years for this team, you know. And so I think your depth at that position is very important. I think Denver right now with Dre Greenlaw, that's a great addition. But as we know, there are those injury concerns. And certainly right now you're seeing that kind of play out. Alex Singleton's working his way back. he's always been a durable guy. He suffered a torn ACL.

He played through the dang thing. So, you know, there's a lot of heart and a lot of credit there. But when those guys, if they miss time, you need guys to step up. I think Justin Sternott, he looks leaner, more athletic this year than I think he did last year. He looks very good right now. Now, he's flying around like a missile during OTAs on Thursday, which was nice to see. And Drew Sanders, you don't know what you have there. But really, it's, hey, if one of our guys goes down, can this guy step up and play?

we didn't have a solidified answer that. And I think right now when we look at this roster, Sarah, if you look at any roster across the Broncos right now, any position, would you say that this is the one position right now on the whole entire roster where we have more questions than we have answers about Limerick? We have potential solutions in mind, but we have way more questions right now than we have solidified like, hey, this is the way type of answer because, hey, if you lose those two guys to injury,

Singleton and Greenlaw, this is a young and, and overall inexperienced group outside of Justin Stronoff. It really is. And that's why we're looking at free agents that are available, right? We're talking about the Joanne Bentley's of the world and the C.J. Mosleys and things like that. So, yeah, this is that position on the Broncos roster right now that is unsettled. That is not just in competition, but it's like, is it an uninspired competition, right?

Because we haven't seen squat from Drew Sanders to be able to say confidently like, oh, yeah, I mean, remember when he had those glimpses as a rookie, right? Or in second year, you know, I mean, he had the sack last year, but like ultimately, Cody, really what is that worth at this point? I mean, it was a, it was a pressure. It was a great pressure. It was nice.

But we're starting with a clean slate completely with Drew. Yeah. And it's already his third NFL season. Alex Singleton, 30 plus years old, 31 going on 32 or he just turned 31 coming off the ACL. That's not good in the NFL, right? And it's, this is not a complaint. But it's just to say like, okay, you have a guy who is 30 plus who's coming off of a torn ACL, whose game was already predicated on instincts versus athletic traits, right?

And that can be totally fine. Maybe he's going to be fresher and more explosive coming off the knee injury. Justin Sternard, he was benched despite getting thrown into the mix last year. The Broncos threw Christian Welch out there before they threw Justin Sternard out there. They threw Kwan Alexander, who gets cut midseason out there. before they threw Justin Sernot out there. So I just think like, yeah, it's not only unsettled, but it's bordering on uninspiring.

And I think that's where the coaching staff really may have to answer some of those questions of, okay, yeah, you've assembled this group. But what's going to prevent you from having the same problems that you did last year, right? Is it going to be a LaVelle Bailey? Because you're not giving us that confidence. You're telling us that, hey, the highest paid undrafted guy that we have is an offball linebacker, or one of the highest paid, one of the two or three highest paid is an off ball linebacker. Drew Sanders, yeah, the vision for him is inside linebacker,

but we're not hearing much about him being potentially in the starting mix. We want him to be. So, yeah, I fall into that category of like, there's no such thing as a perfect roster, right? But set yourself up for having favorable situations. The Broncos feel like they are in a potential disaster mode at offball linebacker right now. They do believe in their player development system, though. That's one thing that George and Sean have made mention of. And I think this is where Lavel Bailey can step in.

Here's a stat on Lavel Bailey. I think kind of puts us into perspective a little bit, right? Defensively, last year, Corn Dore friends over their pro football reference, he only played five defensive snaps all of last season. That's 1% of the defensive snaps. He played 147 special team snaps, which was 52% of the team special team snaps last year. In those reps right there, 52%, he ended up coming up with nine, I think,

one, no, yeah, nine combined tackles, nine total tackles, right? So when you factor in that nine of those tackles came in on special teams on 52% of those snaps, that's, that's impressive. Like, Sarah, I don't think people realize it. On average, for special teams players, the goal is to get to 15 total tackles in a full on season. Lavelle Bailey, nine tackles in just 10 games last season overall. nine of those came on special teams.

That's important. Darren Rizzy's probably looking at it and saying, okay, this is a guy that, hey, he's a depth option for us at linebacker, but this is a guy who can play special teams and make plays for us. That is why I think Lavelle Bailey's got a really good opportunity to make the roster once again this upcoming season, but that's why you bring in competition. It's why you bring in the other undrafted guys. Lavell's spot is not necessarily guaranteed,

but I think he's got a good advantage at least going into training camp in the preseason, and we're going to see how it all pans out here for him this upcoming. season. But Broncos Country, thank you so much for tuning in rocking with us here on lockdown Broncos here today, looking at some under the radar players on the defensive side of the ball. There are a handful of offensive players that Broncos country wants to know about, including A.T. Perry, new quarterback, Sam Ellenger, can he sling the rock? And what about the tight-in position with some of the other guys? We're going to discuss a wide variety of offensive players that are under the radar that maybe people want an update on from

OTAs. We'll give you that much more on tomorrow's episode. Lockdown Broncos. We'll see you then.