Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos OTAs: Bo Nix FIRMLY In COMMAND Of Offense Going Into Year 2

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Denver Broncos wrapped up their first week of OTAs, and in Thursday's practice, bone nicks look crisp and in command of the offensive funnel. We'll tell you why that's a good thing here for the Broncos going into this season. Here 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. What's up, Broncos country? Welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast.

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Starting point is 00:00:56 I'm Cody Rourke, Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports. And I'm Sarah Budinger, the site expert at predominantly orange.com. And on today's episode of the show, yes, Bronco, his country. OTAs. Media finally got to attend practice and we'll go through and talk about what we saw, including Bo Nix, being in command of the offense, looking more comfortable, going into year number two of his career, where of course, naturally there's a lot of pressure at that position. We'll also talk about Drew Sanders. We know the vision now for Sean Payton. He said it really hasn't changed. The vision is still there. We'll dive deeper to what that means for the Broncos defense. And

Starting point is 00:01:28 absences, players not in attendance, not seeing John Franklin Myers in attendance. He is skipping the voluntary portion of the workouts. We did not see Patrick Sertan. The second, we'll dive deeper to that as well here on today's bonus episode. Lockdown Broncos, sir, obviously our first look at the 2025 Denver Broncos. You know, you got to see Sean Payton's squad out there. The vibe was good.

Starting point is 00:01:47 I mean, the pace of practice was good, but one thing stood out to me in a clear way. When you watch Bownex look, of course, there's no pads. There's no contact. But what we're looking at from a positional standpoint, from a player standpoint, Bo Nix just looked comfortable. Last year coming into OTAs, he was completely. competing for a job. He's got the job. This time he was running the offense. He was the show for the Broncos offensive operation. Well, and Sean Payton talked about after practice as well, Cody, that there's

Starting point is 00:02:14 just basically a night and day difference between this year and last year, even down to the fact that, hey, you're not having to repeat play calls in the huddle, right? So Bo Nix is commanding the offense. He's, he knows the offense like the back of his hand. Like he understands where everyone is supposed to be, I think just a huge asset for him and this team going into year two of the Bo Knicks era. And just everybody's feeling more and more comfortable, right? I mean, last year they, at this time, it was Jared Stidham taking the first team reps, right? Or splitting the first team reps. And even Zach Wilson getting some time out there. I love that. There's no question marks about that. You and I were joking about the,

Starting point is 00:02:51 the ESPN Cleveland post, the stats from Brown's practice at OTAs of, you know, the quarterback numbers because, right, that's, that's all they got this year is the quarterback competition this offseason. And then people are going to lose interest really fast. It's nice to not be in that position anymore for the Denver Broncos. It's nice to be in a position where you have an unquestioned leader and he's showing those leadership traits out there on the field. We know that if the Broncos are going to make a leap in year two of the Bo Nix era, it's going to be Bo Nix as the catalyst. And so, yeah, he's under pressure to get better. And I think what we heard and saw coming out of this first week of OTAs, all is good in Broncos country.

Starting point is 00:03:30 Yeah, and look, we're not going to track or chart throws or anything like that, but you could just tell Bo Nix looked very, very comfortable. And even Bo talked with us after practice. And one thing he touched on, Sarah, was, you know, for him, you know, he took a break from throwing like after the season. You're like, you let your body kind of recover. He said, but he worked on just some mechanical stuff because he felt like that's the most important thing.

Starting point is 00:03:50 You don't want to overthrow. You don't want to throw too much because then you start to overquestion things a little bit. But he said for him, he just got back to basics. You know, he did have an off-season ankle procedure that doesn't look like it's bothering him in any way, shape, or form. He was moving very crisp. If anyone saw my video report that I put together out there, obviously from Broncos practice on Thursday. But here's one thing, too, that I want to highlight about Bow Nix, where it's like, you can know, you know, we heard the stories from Chase Daniel about how much Sean Payton through at Bo Nix's rookie season from a playbook standpoint,

Starting point is 00:04:20 like, pushed him to the point of like, am I going insane here? there's so much. Bo, you could tell Sean has just like this, here you go. Like, Bo's got it. Like, you know, yes, there is some coaching from time to time from Davis Webb, but it is clear that they have handed the keys to the kingdom here to Bo Nex because even in the huddle, like you're mixing and matching guys. Like, people want to know who's working with the first team.

Starting point is 00:04:41 That doesn't matter. Like that stuff is not being, you know, a part of this process here in practice. The Broncos and Sean Payton, as we've seen historically, they're rotating in undrafted guys, draft picks. So Bo Nix is getting a chance to work with undrafted guys. He's getting a chance to work with Cortland Sutton, who was there in attendance and obviously caught some passes. Evan Ingram, you're seeing different guys like Caleb Loner getting in the mix. Like it's just about getting all these skill players reps.

Starting point is 00:05:05 And the thing is with Bo, you can tell in the huddle, the guys are in command, the offensive line, they know exactly what to do. Bo is getting these young guys sub where they know exactly where to go. Like that leadership is definitely triculating down to those important aspects. We talk so much about player performance. Yes, that's important. but how a player is in the huddle is going to command how that performance carries over on the field. And so we're seeing that clearly here with Bo. The level of comfort is truly there.

Starting point is 00:05:33 And also I think it's important to highlight here for Bo Nix, this is the first time. Like 2025 is the first year since high school where Bo has had continuity with the same head coach, same quarterback coach, same play color. This has not happened since he was in high school. And so for him, he said that was obviously a big level of reason why he's more comfortable is he already knows the system. He knows the things that he's got to improve on from a mechanical standpoint. And now he's made those adjustments. He's carrying those over into practice. And he looked crisp and good. Look, and it's like, we're not going to read too much into that. Like,

Starting point is 00:06:04 we're not trying to say, oh, he performed terribly. He performed great. Like, it's practice. Like practice is where you want to make mistakes, but it's also where you want to continue to grow. That's exactly what I think what we saw. We didn't see mistakes from Boe here today. But man, the offensive operation, crisp, it looked beautiful to the way Sean Peyton likes things run. So I think that's obviously a great sign here for Bo going forward. Are there any offensive players? Maybe you wanted any insight on anything like that, Sarah? Well, I think to really piggyback off Bo, Nick's really quick,

Starting point is 00:06:32 Sean Payton said something about how his processing is, you know, picking up where it left off last year or it's a big difference from where he was at this time last year. I think that's huge. He said you're watching each decision in the throws or where you want the ball to go. So I think that's important. But yeah, in terms of the offensive playmakers, you know, you really want to know about that running back position, the wide receiver position.

Starting point is 00:06:54 I didn't see a lot of stuff out there about Cortland Sutton, which we know that he's in the midst of a contract thing as well, Cody, but he was obviously out there at practice. And I assume looking good and kind of leading the charge in the midst of this whole contract thing. So his is a situation that's different than what we'll talk about with some guys later. Yeah, no, and Cortland was there. Like that's the thing. Like this is all voluntary. Cortland said he was going to be there as a sign of good faith and ongoing contract negotiations.

Starting point is 00:07:19 I don't know where things are at there. We'll obviously find out. I think his deal gets done before training camp. That's what I think here when it all comes to the end of the day when the Broncos report, I think Cortland will have a new deal. He'll be the first guy taking care of. But he was obviously out there. And look, the same thing that we talked about as well.

Starting point is 00:07:36 Cortland's out there doing individual drills. He's out there catching passes from bow and quarterbacks and team drills. It looks good. He looks really crisp. I'll have to say that. But you like to see him coaching up some of the younger guys. Like, you know, you got guys coming off the field after a play when he's not on. He's going up and he's talking to them.

Starting point is 00:07:53 And he's putting his hand around saying, like, you know, I don't know what they're talking about. We can only assume I imagine working on like an angle or your release or, you know, if the corner's playing pressed or he's off ball, like, how do you sell this certain route or what angle are you going to take? Like Cortland has taken time to coach up these younger guys too, which I love to see. I saw, I saw Demarius Thomas do that with him when he was a rookie. He's carrying on that tradition there of doing that for the younger guys there. I like that. That's obviously a good sign here for Cortland Sutton.

Starting point is 00:08:21 Marvin Mims looks like he's in great shape. I think in tomorrow's episode of the show, we'll kind of go a little bit longer into some of the guys like Troy Franklin, Audrake Estime and others because I think there's really important data and conversations to be had there about what we've seen at OTAs, but also what the team's vision is for those guys going forward. But speaking of vision, Broncos country, we know the vision here for Drew Sanders.

Starting point is 00:08:40 Sean Payton reaffirmed it after Thursday's practice. Plus we're going to some attendance notes at OTAs. We did not see JFM or Patrick's for Tennessee. Is there a reason to be concerned? We'll discuss all that and much more here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Today's episode of Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by Fanduel. And here we are, the NBA finals. We know the Oklahoma City Thunder are going to be there.

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Starting point is 00:09:53 Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton said that the vision is clear for off ball linebacker, Drew Sanders, who is going to be playing inside linebacker this coming season for the Denver Broncos? But is he going to be in the starting lineup? How can he be a factor this season on defense? We got a great answer from Sean Peyton. Well, Cody got a great answer from Sean Payton at Broncos OTAs. And that's what we're going to talk about up next on today's episode of the show.

Starting point is 00:10:15 But Broncos Country, thanks so much for making us your first listening. of the day every single day. We really appreciate you for rocking with us here. If you haven't done so already, we appreciate you take a couple of seconds, hit subscribe, follow wherever you listen to podcasts, and make sure you don't miss a single episode of the show. Cody, I heard you on the press conference for Sean Payton. You were asking him about Drew Sanders. I love it. I know you and I talked about it last night and got the opportunity to hear an answer from Sean about one of the key players of this defense's potential number one ranking this year. I think Drew is a young guy, former high,

Starting point is 00:10:48 draft pick, third round pick that it's not getting a ton of headlines this offseason because there's a lot of focus elsewhere, quite frankly. But Drew is a player that's going to be under the microscope. Sean had some good things to say about him, though, and the vision for him, it remains clear for the team. Yeah, I mean, that's why I really wanted to ask Sean, because when they drafted him, Sean told us, he says, we view him as a pressure player, a guy that we know can get to the quarterback, and we believe that's important for our defense.

Starting point is 00:11:15 Well, it's like, okay, then they made the position switch from off ball to edge rusher, and we're like, all right, that vision as a pressure player, okay, that makes sense. They view him as a guy who obviously he has comfortability playing outside because he's done it before. He did it at Alabama before he went and became an All-American Arkansas and racked up, I believe it was nine and a half sacks in his one season there. And then he got drafted, you know, premium capital here, you know, between switching back and forth between positions, the one thing I did ask Sean, he's like, has the vision changed? And he said, no, the vision has not changed.

Starting point is 00:11:45 He is a pressure player, but he is going to be off ball. Like we view him as an offball backer now. And so that tells me, like we even saw the one rep there, right? He lined up as a blitzing linebacker standing in the A gap against the charters. And his one rush attempt he got, he got a sack on Justin Herbert in that Thursday night football game there. And so I think the idea here now is he's going to get a lot of reps here this summer at out at the off ball linebacker position. They're going to rotate guys in. Obviously, Alex Singleton, he was back at practice.

Starting point is 00:12:14 We did not see him participating in team drills. But that doesn't mean he didn't participate. and team obviously yesterday or the day before as the Broncos had their first two days of OTAs, but he was doing individual drills, which is always a great sign. And he was sprinting in between drills. He's doing conditioning. He looks good, like coming off the ACL. He looks like he's in a good spot.

Starting point is 00:12:33 So we know, Drake Greenlaw is out. So this is the perfect opportunity for a guy like Drew Sanders to get more reps. And Justin's not, I thought, looked really good during Thursday's practice that we were able to see as well. It looks very fast and just looks like he's got another level of comfort there. they seem to have a lot of trust in what he can do and what they believe he can do. So I think it's good.

Starting point is 00:12:53 Like when you ideas, like Sarah, the idea of getting here, once you get the camp, you want to know what you're going to do with these players, right? We talk so much about vision. It's another buzzword. And you play a drinking game with it as many times we hear it. And as many times as we say it here on the show.

Starting point is 00:13:06 But you want to have that idea formulated as a coaching staff from a front office standpoint when you go in to training camp, when you go into the preseason and the regular season. And for Drew Sanders, there is no question. There's not going to be a change this year for where he's going to play. And I think that's huge for him to just kind of know and to be able to prepare accordingly, to be able to go out there and execute on the field.

Starting point is 00:13:28 You feel like the Broncos have one of the best starting 11 in the NFL, no matter what, defensively, right? And so inserting a guy like that into the mix who might be the only one real question mark on that side of the ball right now, I feel like that's a huge advantage for a guy like Drew Sanders. You know, it's not that you're the weakest link on that unit. It's that you have 10 guys around you that are going to make your life that much easier because they're always going to be in the right position.

Starting point is 00:13:54 They're always going to help you get in the right position. It's, it's time. It's time for him to get his shot. And the Broncos, I think, should let him sink or swim. And it would be really cool to see another player from that 20, 23 class really step up and become a starter. I mean, that was the whole thing. That was Sean Payton's first class with the team. And I think we were all kind of like, all right,

Starting point is 00:14:14 where are these guys going to fit in with this roster? Where are they going to fit in on the depth chart? And how long is it going to take? Because Riley Moss, I don't know. He got hurt in his first year, right? Marvin Mims pretty much just a returner after the first couple of weeks of his rookie season, right? And so you have these guys that, man, they're starting to emerge. They're starting to finally that vision is coming to fruition, you know?

Starting point is 00:14:37 And the only thing that can make Broncos country cringe even more, Cody, is if we talk about visions for jokers and jokers for visions and, you know, all these sorts of things, right? We could really bring up the buzzwords and all that and really drive people nuts. But all kidding aside, I think Drew has a great opportunity this offseason. I'm excited that sounds like he's handling it well. That was the way that Sean Peyton worded it because they're going to let him be a pressure player from inside linebacker on the outside as well.

Starting point is 00:15:03 And like Sean said, he's handling it so far. And that's great news. Yeah. And we also got a first look at Talenoa Hufanga. Dude, he moves around really like really quick. And he's a big guy. Like, you could definitely see if I was a skill player, if I was a hero, I was like, I would hate to be hit by him.

Starting point is 00:15:21 Do it is yoked, moves around well. And then when he stands on the podium and talks with, he, he's got the calmest, kindest demeanor. He even said that about Dre Greenland. He's like, when he watched Dre Greenland play, you might be scared to him because you might think he's just like this very aggressive, violent player. He said he's the nicest human being in the world and their locker buddies here. So we got our first look at Tal Lenoo Hufanga.

Starting point is 00:15:40 I'm excited to see how he's going to mix and match, obviously, defensively. You guys see Brandon Jones. He was out there. Did not see J.L. Skinner. So let's get into our attendance portion here of practice. Obviously voluntary. And there could be reasons. These guys could have been here, you know, two days ago.

Starting point is 00:15:53 John Franklin Meyer is the one guy we know has not been there during OTAs. This was also the case last year. He was not present for Broncos OTAs. And it was also the case when he was in New York. And in L.A., he's training. And so obviously I think the expectation is he will be back for mandatory minicamp as he was last year. But it was a little bit surprised not seeing guys like J.L.

Starting point is 00:16:12 Skinner. Pat Sartan didn't see him. There wasn't really a reason why we were told, but I did talk to somebody in a source close to it said to me that he's been at the team facility this week. He's fine. We should see him next week. So I'm very curious to see, you know, what happens when we get to that juncture for next week's practice. But that's the challenge, Sarah, when we don't get to see day one or day two, we have nothing to go off on day three. We can only see what we see on day three without knowledge of who was there, who was participating and whatnot in the prior days. but A. T. Perry, not in attendance. Coal Fotheringham, not in attendance as well. And I think there were a couple other guys, Christian Williams, not there as well.

Starting point is 00:16:49 So for me, there were several absences. Mitchell for Brony, as we know, continues to recover from a back operation. Really no surprises really outside of Sir T. Tan and Skinner and A.T. Perry, in my opinion. Yeah, Sir Tan, I think I saw a video of him. He got a mural out there. So we know he's around and he's getting murals at this point in his career. I don't even think the dude's barely 25 years old. He's getting a mural. That's how good Pat Sartan is, by the way, Broncos country. It's just fun to have a player like that on the team.

Starting point is 00:17:17 But, yeah, surprising to hear about some of these guys. Hopefully they're okay. You know, hopefully they're able to start participating next week if they weren't able to this week because we know guys like J.L. Skinner, A.T. Perry, they are in significant competitions for roster spots. And that's, this is kind of do-or-die time. You want to be out there with the team. You want to be out there doing everything you can to make an impression.

Starting point is 00:17:42 And OTAs is not the end all. You know, you get out there for training camp. You'll get an opportunity and preseason, all those sorts of things. But I think the John Franklin Myers one, even though that's typically his MO, Cody, you can definitely feel the message that's been sent by him this offseason. Like he wants to be paid and deservedly so. So I think that the Broncos, like you said, with Cortland Sutton, they have some time in between OTAs and training camp,

Starting point is 00:18:08 and maybe they'll be negotiating all throughout the course of that time. Maybe these guys will want to wait and see, hey, what is the market going to offer? And they'll use that as leverage. So I'm fascinated to find out how the Broncos work out some of these situations because we know they don't want those lingering next, you know, February at this point.

Starting point is 00:18:25 They want to get that figured out and they want to keep this core intact. So John Franklin Myers, be fascinated to see how his offseason progresses. Yeah, and just a quick note as well, PJ Locke was on the side field working there, as I know it. PJ had surgery this offseason. I'm not sure exactly what.

Starting point is 00:18:41 I'm estimating a back or a hip there, but obviously the Broncos is going to be smart with how they bring him along. He was out there for team stretch, worked on the side field. And then when the Broncos went into some of their team stuff, he was there with his teammates. Broncos got a lot of numbers, a wide receiver. They got a lot of numbers at the defensive backfield,

Starting point is 00:18:58 Sarah. It's a good problem to have. It has me excited here. But Broncos, Contraudor, I'll wrap up today's bonus episode, Lockdown Broncos, recapping the final day of OTAs from week one, and we'll have access to a practice sometime next week where you obviously get coverage here every step of the way. But we also have some other things coming out of OTAs

Starting point is 00:19:15 that we want to highlight. In tomorrow's episode of the show, Sarah and I, we're going to sit down with all the everydayers in Broncos country. We're going to talk about Audric Estimate, what Sean Payton says. He needs to see a little bit more of what he needs more of from the rookie if he's going to get more touches,

Starting point is 00:19:28 plus the pecking order at wide receiver. It doesn't sound like certain spots are for grabs, but touches are. We'll dive deeper to that and much more on tomorrow's episode, Locked on Broncos.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos OTAs: Bo Nix FIRMLY In COMMAND Of Offense Going Into Year 2

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