Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos Minicamp: Bo Nix MAXIMIZING Snaps With Receivers

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Denver Broncos wrapped up day one of mandatory minicamp on Tuesday, and plenty of wide receivers got their chance to mix in with Broncos quarterback bowlnicks. We'll recap today and highlight standouts on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's up, Broncos country? Welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network,

Starting point is 00:00:35 team every day for all your Broncos news, content coverage, analysis and more. Make sure you're an everydayer by subscribing or following wherever you get your podcast and a special shout out. And thank you to everyone in Broncos country, all the everydayers. Thanks for making us your first listen. However, you choose to do so. I'm your host. As always, Cody Rourke, Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports where you can check out my written work daily over at milehighsports.com. And I'm Sarah Bedinger, the site expert at predominantly orange.com where you can find my written work every single day as well. Here's what you're going to get on today's episode show.

Starting point is 00:01:06 Broncos Country. Tuesday, Denver wrapped up their first mandatory minicamp practice. We saw a wide variety of things. And now this morning will be day two of mandatory minicamp. We're going to have complete coverage in a bonus episode from Sarah and myself as we react to it as well. But we're going to go through obviously some day one highlights here to saw the Bronco is getting plenty of works. When they talk about the wide receiver depth and all those guys in that room, those guys were getting work with Bo Nix and Jared Sidham and Sam Ellinger at an extensive rate. during the first mandatory mini camp practice.

Starting point is 00:01:36 We'll go over that. Plus, Shilululiffeland continues to perform with the chip on his shoulder, even after the Broncos have added JK Dobbins into the mix. We'll take a look at what we saw on day one from Jalil, and we'll highlight some mini camp standouts from day one, including an undrafted rookie wide receiver who redeemed himself later on in practice. Look, obviously, you know, the Broncos, they're back on the football field. The weather is great.

Starting point is 00:02:00 Things are cooking and rolling. I'm getting sunburnt to know Ed at Broncos camp. Happened. Once again, we got two more days of practice beating with day two here today. Day one, you know, it was scorching. It was hot out there. And you got to see a lot of mixing and matching here once again with the Broncos, offense and defense, Sean Payton, platooning guys, rotating in a ton of guys at skill player positions, offensive line, just so they can maximize reps to carry over what they've gone through at install. But I would say the one thing that we saw on a day where there was no

Starting point is 00:02:30 Devon Velae, it was very interesting. We'll obviously dive in a little bit. later on here on today's show. But a ton of wide receivers getting reps with Bo Nix. We're talking about Courtney Jackson and undrafted guy, Gerwan Newton, talking about Pat Bryant, Troy Franklin, Marvin Mims, Cortland Sutton, Evan Ingram, Lucas, Crowell, a ton of guys getting in the mix here with Bo, which I think is a great sign early on.

Starting point is 00:02:53 And I think I heard too, Cody, that even one of the Colorado wide receivers is out there getting a look from the Broncos at mini-camp right now. So that's exciting as well. You out to remind me his name. him because I will shepherd will shepherd okay sorry to all the Colorado buffs fans out there so go ahead he was wearing number

Starting point is 00:03:10 87 too which happened to be a t perry's number and sarah once again no AT perry and the fact that his number is now on will shepherd who is a tryout player I think that I think there's something going on I don't know for sure but my understanding or the vibe or the rumor right now is that AT perry suffered some sort of injury I'm not sure if that's the case waiting for confirmation on that obviously but that's something that we have

Starting point is 00:03:33 heard, which would make sense potentially an injury settlement, maybe coming his way. We'll see. But waiting to figure out what the true prognosis is there. But Will Shepard now donning A.T. Perry's number. That would make a lot of sense, wouldn't it, why they're bringing in more guys for tryouts too. So obviously wishing him the best, whatever the situation and circumstance is there. But like you mentioned, rotating a lot of guys at wide receiver, a lot of opportunity

Starting point is 00:03:57 to get into the rotation this year and build chemistry. I mean, the absence of Devon Valey is kind of a big deal, Cody, because from the sounds of things, it sounds like he's really had a standout offseason program thus far. He's building more and more trust with Bo Nix. But that seems to be the case with a number of different guys, right? These guys are out there. Bo is operating the offense at a much higher level than he was as a rookie. Obviously, he's no longer splitting reps with Jared Stidham and Zach Wilson,

Starting point is 00:04:26 and they're not doing this, you know, competition sort of deal. so you're able to get these guys better looks with your top offense because you have a solidified guy in the QB1 chair, and he's able to distribute the ball to all these different players. So I think building that chemistry, getting all these guys reps with the first team offense, even getting, you know, fair looks at that undrafted class because that's the best way that you can get these guys really, hey, to say, we're going to make sure that if we send you out of the building, we're confident in doing so because Sean Payton hates that. He has to send guys out of the building and they go thrive elsewhere. He wants them to thrive in Denver if possible.

Starting point is 00:05:05 The best way to do that, get those guys looks with the first team. Peyton is very much a guy who will leave every stone. You know, what is it? You don't want to leave any stone unturned, essentially. He'll flip over every stone, every rock essentially to figure out what that volume looks like. And look, there are receivers getting involved left and right. I think obviously the main storyline here is that connection between Cortland Sutton and Bo Nix continues to thrive here.

Starting point is 00:05:30 I mean, this was something that, you know, that is truly Boe's security blanket. I mean, we're seeing a little bit more confidence, I think, in Bo Nix with his arm, taking shots down field to guys like Cortland Sutton. I mean, Bo Nix is even connecting with guys like Jillo McLaugh and we'll highlight Jillo a little bit later here. But you definitely see that comfort level with those guys.

Starting point is 00:05:48 I know someone just recently called me out in the comments for saying comfortability. I like that word. I like creating new words here, but we'll do the sense. So comfort level is increased here between those guys. obviously is a great sign. Now, in terms of Devon Valet, we, you know, we asked Sean Payton after practice, if there was any concern. He said, no, we're all good there. So hopefully the instance

Starting point is 00:06:07 was Devon had something come up. We'll see if he's here this morning for day two of mandatory minicamp. We'll have that obviously in our post practice notes and our post practice pod for all of you in Broncos country right now. But I want to highlight, obviously, guys like Pat Bryant, I think without Devon Vele being there, Pat Bryant getting a little bit more of an extensive look. Love what I'm seeing from him. And this guy, Great route runner moves very fluidly. And I think the one thing, I think the area I'm excited to see him the most carry over into competition against other players and other teams is contested catchability.

Starting point is 00:06:40 I mean, he had a couple of tough catches on the day on Tuesday to open up mandatory minicamp, Jade Barron working inside, you know, against him. And he did a really good job. Jade had a play on the ball. And Pat Bryant just got it, you know, tightly contested coverage. You live to, you'll get to live with that as a DB, but you love. to see that if you're Pat Bryant. This is a guy who can win those tough catches, and especially in traffic, which that was an area of struggle for the Broncos last season.

Starting point is 00:07:07 I'm liking what I'm seeing from there. Courtney Jackson, oh, sir, this was, you know, one thing, Bo Nix was intercepted on the day by Jayquan Macmillan. It was returned for a touchdown or what would have been a touchdown here. But what happened was is Bo Nix threw a pass to Courtney Jackson, the undrafted guy, hit him in both of his hands, and the ball popped up, and it was intercepted by Jay Mack who did, you know, the rest. And so a mistake early on by Jackson, he finished strong on the day that we hauled in several catches from Jared Stidham, Sam Ellinger, including a big time touchdown that obviously I think gave him a little bit of momentum. He shook off the pad start and he finished strongly. That's what you want to see.

Starting point is 00:07:45 That's what Sean Payton wants to see with these guys is how do they respond to adversity. Courtney Jackson is one of those guys that stood out. And he even stood out going back to obviously rookie minicamp just several weeks ago. Yeah, and I think that that's something that these guys are going to have to clean up because that's not going to help your case, right? When you're tipping the ball in the air and missing an opportunity like that, especially when it makes your quarterback look bad because at this time of year, it's all about that built trust between the receiver and his quarterback. And so it's great to hear that Pat Bryant, though, Cody, is making those contested catches, the things that we saw him do extremely well at Illinois. and a lot of folks really concerned about, well, does he have the ability to separate at the NFL level? And it's like, well, you see him kind of create that separation in many different ways,

Starting point is 00:08:33 whether that's creating separation with a good route, utilizing his pacing as a route runner, and then obviously creating separation at the catch point with his hands, even against a guy who's quite a bit faster in the 40 time with Jad A. Barron running in the high four threes, right? So that's exactly what you want to see at this time of year is those guys stepping up and making plays. You're not so worried about the undrafted players making mistakes, though, right? Because you want them to go out there and get those reps, get those opportunities to bounce back. You know, you're not going to be perfect every single practice. And certainly the guys who played on Denver's active roster last year weren't perfect in that regard. We saw a lot of tip passes from the receivers. We saw a lot of drop passes. So I think

Starting point is 00:09:19 It's certainly something that these guys can bounce back from. They got plenty of time. They've got some talent. And they've got an in, I think a lot of these wide receivers, Cody, that are competing for spots on this team. They've got a lot of special teams experience too. So it's going to be an interesting wrinkle to throw in at some point when the pads come on. Yeah. And look, mandatory mini-camp OTAs.

Starting point is 00:09:39 This is the time for, you know, not, I would say like to go out there and make all your mistakes now, right? I don't want that to ever be a message because we never as a coaching staff, as a former coach, we never emphasized that. Obviously, we know mistakes are part of the process. But by the time training camp rolls around, you want those mistakes to be very, very minimal or rare at best from popping their heads out. And obviously seeing some of those trends. And maybe we're seeing with some of these younger guys early on throughout OTAs and minicamp. Jackson's shaking that off is obviously a great sign.

Starting point is 00:10:07 Special team is going to be a big factor here. And I think Denver's really going to look to vamp up their practice squad unit. You know, obviously, I think we already know the wide receiver room for the most part is set in stone. with those top heavy guys that we've discussed here on the show. Cortland Sutton, Marvin Mims, Troy Franklin, Devon Valet, and obviously Pat Bryant getting involved in the mixture as those primary guys. Everyone else is going to have to chip in and fight for a practice squad spot here

Starting point is 00:10:32 or do well enough where they go somewhere else. And, you know, it's unfortunate because it's a good problem for never to have. So we'll see where things are at here. But day two of Broncos minicamp is coming up here today. And obviously you'll get exclusive coverage here, locked on Broncos. But Broncos country, we're going to talk about Julio, McLaughlin, one of the guys who's had a stellar offseason and had a strong day one performance during mandatory minicamp.

Starting point is 00:10:52 We'll tell you why Jalil is performing with a massive chip on his shoulder here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Today's episode of Lockdown Broncos is brought to by Fanduel, the NBA finals. They are in full swing, the Pacers and the Thunder. Awesome series so far. And you know that every night is going to deliver highlight-worthy performances, big momentum shifts, can't miss moments and so much more, whether it's the game-winning shot or a breakout player. There has never been a better time to get in on the action. And Fanduil makes it easy to stay in the game before tip off and live.

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Starting point is 00:12:22 with J.K. Dobbins entering the fray. But Cody and I were going to tell you why maybe Jaliel McLaughlin is being a little slept on. He's coming out with a bit of a chip on his shoulder here at Broncos mini camp. And Cody, I think this is fascinating for the listeners. It's great timing, especially because J.K. Dobbins is now coming into the mix. And you've got R.J. Harvey, high expectations for the rookie second round pick. it's a great time for Jolil Miloflan to have an outstanding offseason program. I'm interested to know what you saw from him out there because it's going to be big for him

Starting point is 00:12:55 to not just, you know, vibe for carries with the guys that are already on the, you know, we're going to see J.K. Dobbins out there. We're going to see R.J. Harvey out there. But he's got to now fend off Tyler Badegh, Adrick Estime, and Blake Watson. What are you seeing from Jaliel out there on the practice field? Yeah, I mean, I'm seeing everything that, you know, one Jaliel Lerra. roster spot initially when he came in as an undrafted rookie free agent, right? Chip on his shoulder, underdog, springy in between the tackles, right? And initially when Jolil was an undrafted rookie

Starting point is 00:13:25 at minicamp, you and I were sitting here talking and was like, hey, keep an eye on this Jolul McLaughlin guy, I'm seeing that same level of chippiness that he had back then. And look, I think right now it's warranted because he's a guy that Sean Payton clearly trust. But now you bring in a guy like J.K. Dobbins, who is a veteran back, who's obviously established, has had success, has had some ups and downs when it comes to the injury side of things here. But the Broncos, they made this move in mind of saying, we need to improve the run game. This is a big area.

Starting point is 00:13:53 And obviously, there's going to be widespread competition. So we're going to get our first look here today at JK Dobbins and a Broncos uniform. We're excited to see that. But for Jalululuk-McLaughlin, right now, even without pads, this is a guy who's hitting the hole. I think one thing that you can say is the vision, you know, for him as a ball carrier is there. And look, there's more balance with how he's running.

Starting point is 00:14:13 You know, a lot of times when the Broncos bring Jolil in, what runs did you expect? Where was it going, Sarah? Where would you expect Jalil to run? Off the tackle, right? Off to tackle to the outside, counter, things like that. Now we're seeing him run in between the tackles inside the A gap, you know, and he's patient. And this offensive line, I'm excited when they throw the pads on too, because you get to go against this defensive line. Jalil is thriving in that, but Jolil is really thriving so far this offseason,

Starting point is 00:14:40 Sarah, as a pass catcher out of the backfield. of last week at OTAs. He caught a long touchdown pass from Bo Nix during Tuesday's mandatory minicamp practice. He caught a quick pass from Bo Nix. And he zoomed up the sideline with nobody there. I mean, the Broncos caught, I mean, the offense caught the defense in a perfect blitz opportunity. And Bo Nix took advantage.

Starting point is 00:15:01 And obviously, Jolome McLaughlin hit paid dirt there and probably would have hit 21 miles an hour if we were clocking the GPS. So as a pass catcher, we're seeing him be more involved in that department, which is good, right, as this running back room looks to establish some archetypes. As it pertains to the rest of the running back room here, Sarah, I mean, you talk about Audric Estimate, RJ Harvey, R.J. Harvey and Jal, right now look like the two best backs on the roster. We're going to see J.K. thrown into the mix here, obviously, today.

Starting point is 00:15:27 But just a lot of pressure, in my opinion, on Adric Estimate. And I think a lot of pressure on Blake Watson as well, who for the second week in a row was on the side field, not participating, because he's dealing with some sort of injury that we don't know exactly what it is yet, what the extent of it is. So missed opportunities, what is this saying? You can't make the club from the tub. The addition of J.K. Dobbins certainly I think right now puts Blake Watson into perspective,

Starting point is 00:15:50 but I think really you look at guys like Tyler Badegh, who also I thought got involved and had a really solid day as well. I think there's more pressure right now on Audric Estimate and Blake Watson than there is Tyler Badegh, Jule McLaughlin, R.J. Harvey, and now obviously with J.K. Dobbins in the mix. There's a chance that those could be the four backs on the roster. As a matter of fact, I'm going to go as far as saying, I think Denver will keep four running backs on the 53 this upcoming year. And what we think about with that is how do you make that happen?

Starting point is 00:16:18 Well, last year you dedicated an extra spot to the quarterback position. That's probably not going to happen this year. You can allocate that to the running back position or maybe even wide receiver. But I see that being part of the running back equation here for Sean Payton. I was just going to say, I think what you're saying leads me to believe that you're going to see that extra spots at the running back position for sure. and you know nothing is certain at this point and Sean Peyton said you know to the media I was listening to his press conference he's like you can go ahead and guess all you want right and it's like half you are going to be wrong so but half of us might be right Cody I like to think of myself as on the you know glass half

Starting point is 00:16:54 full as opposed to the glass half empty so but I like the idea of keeping four backs if Jalil can be as effective as we saw as a rookie on a per touch basis we're talking about a almost a completely different player, right? We're talking about a completely different player in terms of what he brings to the table with explosiveness, with that big play ability. Last year, it just wasn't the same, right? They tried. And there was some sparks like the Saints game stands out to me as a game where Jalil brought some sparks. And I think you could also say maybe that Bengals game as well. He brought it. And so there was a couple of times, but it just wasn't consistent enough based on the amount of touches he was getting. And so if he can bring that to the table again this year, man, he's going to add another wrinkle to the offense because R.J Harvey's not just a change of pace back. He's a featured back type of guy. Jalil can bring you that change of pace, but he can bring you that different type of guy where, yeah, he's got the home run speed. If he can add that element between the tackles too, it just keeps defenses on their heels.

Starting point is 00:17:59 So I really like what the Broncos are building at the running back position. And look, it's just about figuring out what those roles are going to. to be. And you mentioned that, like we go back to the feisty Sean Peyton when talking about the running back position because, you know, people are keeping count. And he's like, I know you guys keep count. He said, don't do it. Like, let them play. And I think that's really the one thing we have to do here. We can make our observations. And it's our job in the media to sit and observe what's happening at practice. We're watching it. And it's like, all right, we're getting a general idea based on what we see. But could that be smoking mirrors? I mean, by design, Sean Payton is a guy who is

Starting point is 00:18:32 very much a man of mystery. You know, you can get a guy. working with the first team offense, you know, maybe a couple times, you know, throughout the week, but then primarily he gets third down, I mean, third series reps there. And then what we see from that is, oh, that guy that was getting third series reps, he's actually getting the start on Sunday, so to speak. So there's a lot of mystery at the running back position. And Sean is very much in the boat. And he told us this that we want to see these guys play.

Starting point is 00:18:57 Like, that's the thing he's looking forward to. So I think those first two preseason games, first off against San Francisco, second off against Arizona, those are going to be big. And I feel like every opportunity that these guys get, not so much J.K. Dobbins, not so much R.J. Harvey, but more so I think guys like Jalil, Adrake Estimate, Tyler Badegh, we'll see where Blake Watson's at. Every touch that those guys gets, I think is going to be under a little bit of a bigger

Starting point is 00:19:23 microscope when it comes to determining how this roster is going to formulate itself at running back specifically, what it will look like. But don't be writing obituaries yet, Broncos Country on, of the running backs out there. This is very much a competition that I think is going to take some time. It's going to take, you know, maybe a little bit deeper into after that second preseason game. Maybe we'll get some finality on it.

Starting point is 00:19:45 But it's just to wait and see observation right now. But we are going to have our eyes on running back every step of the way here as Broncos training camp approaches just about six weeks from now Broncos country. We're one step closer to football. Make sure you stay locked in. But let us know your thoughts, obviously, on Jalil McCloff in the Broncos running back room after the addition now of J.K. Dobbins, how it may shake things up here for Sean Peyton. We're going to go into some day one standouts during Broncos mandatory minicamp,

Starting point is 00:20:12 including an undrafted linebacker from last year who made a game ceiling play or a practice ceiling play to walk things off here as there's a linebacker competition. It's also going off. We'll highlight Lavelle Bailey's big day and more on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Today's episode of Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by Skylight. Say goodbye to sticky notes, scribbled plans all over the fridge, and overlapping calendar invites. You know what I'm talking about. And the skylight calendar is here to bring some clarity to the chaos and help families stay organized without the stress.

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Starting point is 00:21:53 there were several players that stood out on the afternoon defensively, offensively here. We're going to start things off by focusing on a position that Broncos country has their eye on. That's the inside linebacker position as Alex Singleton awaits to return to team period stuff at training camp. He's not doing that during mandatory mini camp. A lot of linebackers are getting involved in the mix here. We'll break it all down on today's episode of the show. Sare let's talk about Lavelle Bailey being one of the key standouts from Tuesday's practice in Dove Valley. And the final team period of the afternoon was working against the

Starting point is 00:22:25 Broncos offense. Jared Stittam went to go throw a pass to a yeah, I can't remember who the intended target was, but Lavelle Bailey did a great job. He jumped the route near the sideline, picked it off. That ended practice for the day. I thought the linebackers overall played relatively well during the first practice of the day against not only, you know, the first offense, the second offense, and the third offense. I thought a lot of those guys were making plays number 54. I can't even remember his name there. It's not Jay, it could be J.B. Brown, but I couldn't find it on the roster. So I have to double check who number 54 was because he could have been actually a tryout player because the roster they gave us, there was no 54 wearing that

Starting point is 00:23:06 white jersey on there. So we're very curious to see who it was because we're like, wait a minute, Alex Forsyth, he's not playing inside linebacker. So we'll get some confirmation for that here today when we go back out to practice. But I thought guys like Jordan Turner, I thought Drew Sanders, those guys were making plays at linebacker, especially in the passing game, getting good depth on their dropbacks there. But for Lavelle Bailey, a guy who's looking to play a lot of special teams this upcoming season. Making plays on defense is a great way to obviously help boost your strengths and your chances at making the roster. Yeah, and if memory serves me, right, I think LaBelle had a number of game ending big time plays like that when he was at Fresno State as well. I know for

Starting point is 00:23:44 sure he had a couple of game ending interceptions, his final year on campus there. So really intrigued by him because he kind of has the clutch gene. He came through big time last year in the preseason as well with a big pick six wasn't it uh i can't remember who the point it was in the preseason cardinals cardinals yeah so look the guys kind of got a nose for the ball he's kind of got that ball magnet trait you know that some guys just sort of inherently seem to have and the linebacker position cody to me is one that i know this has nothing to do with minicamp but man you see a guy like jermaine pratt hit free agency and you're kind of like ooh do the broncos need to go out there and make a move on somebody like that and you know i like the idea that you know i like the idea

Starting point is 00:24:25 of either or, right? Let the young guys develop in your system if you feel like they can be something. Like if you feel like Lavelle Bailey can start for you, let him do it. But if you don't, then go get a guy like Jermaine Prab. But I'm not opposed by any means to having Lavelle Bailey emerge. It doesn't have to be any certain sort of, you know, well, it has to be this guy at offball lineback. I think that's one of the most open-ended positions right now on the team.

Starting point is 00:24:51 Well, I mean, you're bringing back that meme we were just talking about last week of the guy walking past the girl while holding his other girlfriend's hand. Once again, a linebacker hits there. It's like, oh, Broncos country. There we go. I love it, though, man. That's the game. You want to look at every opportunity out there.

Starting point is 00:25:09 And obviously, Cincinnati Bengals, that's a mess in and of itself as they released Pratt. It was obviously intercepted Bo Nix last year in that game, obviously, late down the season. That was obviously a big play by him. Make sure you check out lockdown Bengals. You want to know what's going on with their contract situations with Trey Hendrickson. and obviously the rookie offense tackle crazy stuff going over there in Cincinnati. But some other guys here as well. We talked about Courtney Jackson early on in the episode,

Starting point is 00:25:33 talking about having a couple of catches after he had that one play where his drop pass led to an interception, which obviously was a negative play. He made up for it, caught a touchdown pass. You want to continue to see that bounce back. We highlighted J-Lew-McLaughlin, R.J. Harvey. Pat Bryant, once again, we talked about the volume of reps in which he got with the Von Vele being out of the mixes.

Starting point is 00:25:54 well. I think that's important for a guy like him because now I think ideally if you're Sean Peyton, you're looking at what guys can play similar roles, right? Okay, well, I look at Devon Valey. I think to myself, okay, if there's an injury, who could maybe do what Devon Valle's role is? Pat Bryant's the perfect guy, I think, for Velae's role there. For Sutton, though, that's when I don't think the Broncos have a guy in the roster right now that if Sutton were to ever get hurt, they have a guy that can go and play his role and excel at it at the rate in which Sutton does. I don't think they got that guy in roster, but you have guys that can supplement Troy Franklin, Marvin Mims. I mean, I posted on my social media at Cody Work NFL on Twitter.

Starting point is 00:26:33 I posted a clip of those guys going up in the end zone and high pointing it. Evan Ingram getting involved as well. It seemed to be a target that Bow Nix really wanted to throw to during seven on seven. But there was a guy by the name of Brandon Jones who was kind of erasing some things there, making plays knocking passes out of the hands of receivers and also coming up and having some PbUs before a receiver can make a play there. Brandon Jones was another standout, in my opinion, from day one a mandatory minicap. Well, I know you got a chance to ask Sean Payton a little question about the Riley Moss

Starting point is 00:27:07 and him coming into his own as a third year player now. And he mentioned how he's having a good offseason, right? And so I think that kind of speaks maybe some confidence into folks who have been doubting, whether or not, you know, he's going to be able to be something. I thought his, Sean's comments, Cody, were very interesting about Nick Bonito. When he was asked about Nick Benito's situation and he talked about how they have to be smart with his snap count, did you make anything of that or what was your take on that? Were you surprised to kind of hear his response there as well?

Starting point is 00:27:37 Because it was like a question about, you know, what does he have to do, you know, I guess to earn that new contract? And Sean was talking about snap counts and limiting his snap counts. What was your take on that whole? situation. Yeah, part of me was wondering, like, was Sean speaking in the context of Nick Benito getting too many snaps during practice, or was he talking about games last year? Because right now, I'm pulling it up, obviously, on pro football reference here. When we talk about the overall number of snaps played by a guy like Nick Benito, I mean, the Broncos defense in general, Sarah, we could talk

Starting point is 00:28:08 about that final five game stretch where the defense, I think in three of those five games was on the field for 70 to 80 snaps, you know, on. a per game basis. They were above the overall, I'd say average in which they were used to. Nick Benito last year, according to our front of pro football reference, he played 708 defensive snaps last year. That was 61% right. So 61% of your pass rush snaps there at that point. Granted, that's going to factor in some of the games be at the beginning of the season where he didn't start. I'm very curious to see if this was a practice comment in terms of snaps because he's not yet signed to an extension or if this is hey like in the regular season

Starting point is 00:28:51 we need to rotate him in or off the field more just so we can get more guys reps and breathe them room i'd say the same thing if we're talking about concern of game snaps and snap counts we're going to talk about zach allen as well if we're if we're going to be talking about nick benito yeah i agree i mean he's one of the guys who really comes to mind when you talk about maybe playing too many snaps i think uh and he maximized those snaps there's no doubt I think he was head and shoulders above every other defensive lineman in terms of quarterback hits. But, yeah, I found that comment to be really interesting and kind of eye-opening just in terms of it wasn't what I was expecting. You know, you expect to kind of just hear the let's pump the fluff on this guy a little bit and talk him up a little bit.

Starting point is 00:29:33 But it was more of a deal of, hey, let's talk about the snap count being high or borderline too high anyway. So was there anybody not to put you on the spot, but I'm going to put you on the spot a little bit. Was there anybody that didn't stand out to you that you were like, hmm, I don't know. Why isn't this guy stepping on making plays? Or, you know, you're kind of maybe thinking, hey, it's been a few practices that we've seen now in a row and haven't really seen much from this guy. Is there anybody that comes to your mind in that category? Adrick Estime, I would say here early on, is definitely in that category right now when you look at other guys getting more involved as of late. I would say it's been really quiet on the tight end front.

Starting point is 00:30:14 You know, guys like Adam Troutman, Lucas Crowell, Lucas Crowell caught a pass today from Bow Nix, but it wasn't nothing like extensive or a big explosive play. The tight end position outside of Evan Ingram has been really quiet. You know, you're continuing to see guys like Caleb Turner get reps, run blocking, you know, some routes. I think there's some areas of development, you know, for this group that still has to obviously improve and get better.

Starting point is 00:30:36 But not as much action for the tight end position outside of Evan Ingram than I thought had. So that was a little bit of a surprising factor to me. And then I'm trying to think of another position, maybe trying to switch it up defensively. There hasn't been anybody that I've been like, oh, you know, they didn't really do much,

Starting point is 00:30:53 you know, with the action that they had. I thought Jonah Ellis looked nice. You know, this was the first time we saw him back this week. He was on the side field last week, uh, this week getting involved in,

Starting point is 00:31:02 uh, you know, also some pass coverage. So I like what I'm seeing from Jonah Ellis. All things look good for him and the shoulder injury that he had surgery on. but nothing on defense in terms of guys like, ah, I'm not seeing enough out of these guys here early on. I would say right now it's the offense.

Starting point is 00:31:17 It's Adrick Estimate and the tight-in position minus Evan Engro. Yeah, and I think it's great to get a positive update on Jonah. He's one guy that I kind of almost forget about a little bit because of Nick Benito, because of Jonathan Cooper. And then, you know, you brought in Q Robinson in the draft and you've got Dandre Tillman and, you know, other guys out there. So I'm glad to hear that Jonah was out there again and looking good, because he could be a major factor.

Starting point is 00:31:41 I saw somebody, I can't remember if it was a comment that we got on YouTube or somebody shouting us out on Twitter, but they were kind of, you know, of the opinion that maybe Jonah is a guy that could potentially be a reason why the team would move on from Nick Bonito. We don't want to see that, right? I mean, Nick's, you know, he's a Jersey guy, hopefully for this team and somebody that sticks around for a long time. But if Jonah Ellis can be a, you know, more of a factor,

Starting point is 00:32:04 he could be a really interesting wrinkle in that whole discussion. Yeah. And very much to Sean Payton's snap count comment. I'm very curious to see what that really is. Maybe we'll get a follow up from him tomorrow. But I found answering Jonathan Cooper played 71% of the team's defensive snaps, 820 overall snaps. And obviously, he started the beginning of year, started all 17 games for the Broncos. So part of me is wondering where those numbers are, what Sean Payton means by that.

Starting point is 00:32:30 But look, I think in today's NFL you need, especially at that position, it's different than if you have a guy like Miles Garrett or Max Crosby. those guys are outside wide defensive ends, not necessarily stand up, pass rushers doing what Nick Benito does essentially. So I would say that you need more rotation with those guys, obviously, but I think that Denver's got the foundational interior defensive line that's going to have them find success this upcoming season, but you just got to stay healthy, sustain that.

Starting point is 00:32:58 Denver's depth is in a very good spot right now. So we'll see what day two we'll bring to the table here in Broncos country. We want to hear from you. What are you hoping to see and hear from day two of mandatory? Mini Camp. Who are some players you want to hear a little bit more on? Make sure you let us know on Lockdown Broncos. I'll go out there at practice here today and I'll keep my eyes open for you. And we'll recap it as well in a bonus episode later on here today. What better time to be a Broncos fan than right now. You get exclusive content here, courtesy to the Lockdown Broncos podcast. Thanks to all the everydayers out there. Thanks for tuning in making us your first listen.

Starting point is 00:33:29 Sarah and myself, we'll be back later for a bonus episode, recaping day two, a mandatory minicamp. We'll see you then.

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