Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos OTAs Showcase Plenty of Competition

Starting point is 00:00:00 Debra Broncos head coach Sean Payton said competition will be a plenty, and we saw the start of it at OTAs. You are Locked-on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Happy Friday, Broncos country, Cody Rourke, Sarah Bedinger here for another episode of shows. We recap day three of OTAs from Thursday. We'll go through Jonah Ellis, we thought he was going to off-ball linebacker. Turns out he's staying at outside linebacker, but we'll have some flex possibilities. We'll dive into that. Plus, we'll give updates on Jadae Barron and the Broncos kick return group and some other various news and notes coming out of OTAs.

Starting point is 00:00:47 We're going to kick things off today by talking about competition taking place during OTAs that will lead throughout training camp to preseason and ultimately determine several roster spots. As Sean Payton says, the team is looking to embrace competition. Sarah, my friend, so much to dive into from Thursday. day's OTA practice. I know we got a little bit of a primer up for Broncos country yesterday. An update on Bo Nix, Sam Ellinger's slinging the football. So folks want to go check that out. They can. But man, let's dive into it. Competition seems to be the theme here with this Broncos roster that's returning a lot of continuity. Yeah, I thought somebody asked a really good question out there, Cody, about how do you truly

Starting point is 00:01:25 open up competition when there are so many players coming back, right? I think that's one of the most difficult things, especially for a coaching staff to not play favorites year over year because you do want to be able to have those young guys stepping up. That was kind of the context of the question is if you have young guys coming up through the ranks and you have all these veterans who are providing continuity that's really unparalleled around the entire NFL, how do you balance that? How do you actually open things up to a competition without having any sort of, you know, bias for lack of a better term? And I thought that was a great kind of way to frame the entire offseason program because I also thought you asked a great question about

Starting point is 00:02:06 the wider receiver room because ultimately we're kind of looking at Jalen Waddle, Cortland Sutton, those are the two top dogs at that position. But then you've got Troy Franklin, you've got Patron, and Sean Payton was like, and Marvin, right? So there's other guys that are out there that deserve reps, that deserve to play, that should be playing, that can be effective weapons for this team. I think even the receiver position is a great sort of microcos of what the Broncos are facing this offseason of, hey, we've got veterans who are established players at these positions, but we also want to make sure we keep it open for the young guys to be able to step in and play their role. Yeah, and I'm glad that Sean said that. And it's easy for us to when

Starting point is 00:02:50 we ask a question to Sean or to any coach for that matter to include all the names, right? So for me, I asked Sean specifically about because Jaylen Waddle was the hot subject, you know, in the scrum that we were talking about there. But basically, you know, I asked, you know, how does Jaylin's role and Cortland's role? How does that impact what Troy Franklin, what Pat Bryan does? And he went out of his way to say Marvin. It's nice because I could have easily said Marvin Mims. And he could have gave me an answer.

Starting point is 00:03:16 But he went out of his way to mention Marvin, which to me, I still think that Sean still wants to find ways to put Marvin on the field, to have him do more. Denver's gotten an embarrassment of riches at wide receiver. Now, I'd say when we talk about this competition, Sarah, wide receiver, I feel like everyone's just going to rotate in. Everyone's going to have roles. And primarily Cortland Sutton and Jaylon Water are going to be the two guys that really never come off the field, but everybody else is going to play a role and play a part.

Starting point is 00:03:41 I'm excited to see about that. But one of the competitions that I'm very curious about Luca did a great job of asking Sean about Jideh, right? Now, Jide, we'll give an update on him a little bit later on here on today's show because he only did individual. drills during Thursday's practice. But he asked about what is the vision for Jaday going in a year two? And Sean said still the ability to be a flex player inside, outside.

Starting point is 00:04:04 And he said, we could have certain packages. It just depends on what Vance wants to do defensively. But then Luca followed up by saying, can he, you know, is he going to be in line or can he compete for reps on the outside? And Sean said, absolutely. So no one's competing with Patrick Sartan the second here for outside cornerback reps. but for saving to drain, Jaday, and maybe Riley Moss,

Starting point is 00:04:27 as he goes in, it was last year of his contract, I think that there was going to be competitioner, and Sean seemingly kind of confirmed that. That could be one of the honestly most, I guess, juicy competitions of the entire offseason, Cody.

Starting point is 00:04:41 I mean, when you look at this roster, there's not a ton of starting jobs up for grabs, but that would be the very high profile one. That would be a very high profile position. Like whoever gets to play opposite Pat, certain you and I have said this in the past is one of the most trusted players on this team because you know you're going to get 90 to 115 or whatever it is targets because nobody likes

Starting point is 00:05:05 to throw at pat certain so even if what if like is it possible that the broncos could approach that cornerback spot like a you know a pitcher in baseball and say hey when this guy needs to come out we have a relief pitcher so to speak who can come in here and play. extensive snaps. I mean, that's not ideal for anybody, right? I mean, you want to play as many snaps as you can. You want to get as many reps as you can. But in the spirit of getting these guys all onto the field, I mean, I just don't, I don't see any other way other than a guy being completely replaced, which I think Riley Moss is too good for that. Honestly, I just do. And so I don't know if this is where the Broncos really get into, if there's a true competition, is the outcome of that

Starting point is 00:05:52 that Riley would get benched or is the outcome of that that Riley would get traded. I mean, that's where I, that's where my mind goes, Cody, and to say like, well, we can't, we can't just not have that depth. Well, that's where you, you mentioned Chris Abrams Drain is still there as well. And he has an option mentioned in these discussions because Riley's a two-year starter, Jade is a first round pick. Chris Abrams Drain is just like, hey, whenever I've gotten to play, I've played really well. Like that's so I don't know.

Starting point is 00:06:22 I mean, I think it's like my mind blocks it out because I don't really want to think about one of these guys getting traded. You don't want to see anything get broken up. I don't know that that would be the case. But I guarantee you like for a player of Riley's caliber, which I know Broncos country rides this guy as like the goat, like the proverbial goat of the team like, hey, this guy is a really good player and teams know that.

Starting point is 00:06:47 And so I think they would be able to get something good. for him. But then what happens if you trade Riley and he goes somewhere else and just is a stud right away. So I don't like the the predicament that the Broncos find themselves in. It's a tough one for sure. Well, and I think you just maybe have to balance it from a decision making standpoint. Do we have to make this decision? I don't think that they do. I think that really, if there is competition, well, so what's what happens? Like it's Riley Moss's job, I think, to lose. I think everyone can agree on that. I don't think he's going to lose. it. I still think that there's nothing wrong with Jaday. He'll play more snaps this season,

Starting point is 00:07:25 but they'll probably live a lot more in the dime now that Jadae knows the defense a lot more. He and J-Quain on the slot, Riley and Pat on the outside. I like that here. And look, if there's an entry, Abrams drink, you step up. Now, that's going to kind of segue into what we're going to talk about here with Jaday coming up in a minute. But because of Jide and PS2 not participating in team drills are seven on seven yesterday, it was Chris Abrams Drane opposite of Riley Moss next to J-Quan in the nickel where he was on the outside playing. And he got a lot of reps. And he had some nice plays on the football and coverage, did a really good job there.

Starting point is 00:07:59 I think what's different with CAD is that I don't think that they give him that flex of being an inside outside guy. I think he's a strictly outside corner. And Riley and Pat, those guys can move anywhere and everywhere. That's what the belief is internally from Vance Joseph and the coaching staff. jade can play the inside outside i think they very much we're going to see them run it back with this room this is my prediction run it back exactly how it was last year there'll be competition but i think riley's going to win it and then they're going to lose someone next year in free hc unfortunately

Starting point is 00:08:32 that's the dilemma they're going to run into that's kind of how i see things playing out i think teams are going to be calling the broncos i think this might be why not yeah why not you should you should be I wonder if, and this is just, you know me, I like to put on the tinfoil hat from time to time. I wonder if this is part of the reason why Sean said we're not doing any joint practices this year, is to keep teams, like even just that one team away from like having two days of in-depth scouting of their roster on the practice field. Because that's something that I think, okay, if you want to make the Broncos an offer, they can't refuse, that's one thing. but let's just say, you know, you have joint practices with the 49ers or, you know, teams at the Broncos I've had before. And all of a sudden now John Lynch comes there and he's looking at your roster and he's saying he's counting the cornerbacks just like we are.

Starting point is 00:09:26 And he's like, they can't keep all those guys. He would. And so, and he would be like, hey, what do you want for this guy? Or I don't know how much those guys like text each other, general managers and stuff. Like, what if John Lynch is texting his buddy on, you know, whoever the Jaguar's GM or whoever, I'm just throwing a scenario out there. And he's like, hey, you called us about this player. The Broncos have like five of them.

Starting point is 00:09:50 So why don't you call them? And then all of a sudden you have like this huge thing on your hands where teams are calling. They're leaking stuff to reporters. I don't know. Once again, I get into the tinfoil hat mode. But I could see that being a reason why Sean's like, hey, we're not doing joint practices this year because teams are not going to get the opportunity to come and in-depth scout our roster to find out the guys that we really want to keep.

Starting point is 00:10:15 Yeah, no, I'm very curious. And yeah, that was a little bit of a shocking revelation because Sean is really typically like those joint practices. So when he said, no, we're not doing it. I was like, hmm, interesting. I wonder why. What's going on over there in the mile high city? Anyways, though, Broncos country.

Starting point is 00:10:30 Coming up next, we'll have an update on Judea, Baron, where he's ad coming off of an offseason procedure. Plus, the Broncos have a wide variety of guys getting kick return reps here during special teams period. and so much more on today's episode of the show. Square is the sponsor of today's episode of Locked on Broncos. And folks, it's the business platform that helps sellers become neighborhood favorites. Whether you're gearing up for a busy season or you're just trying to keep up with everyday demand,

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Starting point is 00:11:29 but it helps take care of our local businesses as well. Square helps you run your business smoothly, bring it payments, operations and insights together in one place. So you're ready for whatever's next. Right now, listeners can get up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at Square.com slash go slash locked on NFL. That's SQUARE.com slash go slash locked on NFL, get started with Square and build a setup that works the way you do. We've got plenty of updates from Denver Broncos OTAs, including some more on Jada Baron, the former first round pick from last year, as well as, man, your favorite wide receivers,

Starting point is 00:12:07 favorite practice squad receiver got lit up. I heard Cody by Red Murdoch. We're going to talk about that on today's episode of the show. But Broncos Country, we appreciate you so much for tuning in, rocking with us every single day here at Lockdown Broncos. And if you want your daily Denver Broncos fix, completely ad-free, check out the everydayer club today. You can start a seven-day free trial right now, get closer to your favorite team, the Denver Broncos, without any interruptions. Check out the link in the show notes or visit lockdownbroncos.com. Cody, you take the lead here because what stands out to you the most?

Starting point is 00:12:41 I know we've kind of got a bit of a melding pot of topics here for segment two, starting with Jadae Barron. Maybe that's where we start. You mentioned you had an off-season procedure. I don't know that everybody knows that. So let's talk about that first. Jadee, what's going on with him? You said he only participated in individual drills. What do we need to know about that whole situation?

Starting point is 00:13:03 Yeah. So obviously, you know, last year Jada played banged up quite a bit. And honestly, there's moments I would have never known that just being in there, like talking to him in the locker room throughout the regular season. But he had a knee surgery there. He did obviously a lot of rehab this summer. He chronicled it on his Instagram stories. So, I mean, for those of us that, you know, in the sports media world, that's what we pay attention.

Starting point is 00:13:25 We pay attention to stories, what's going on. But for him, you know, I think the biggest question coming into is you and I talked about this last week, is he going to be ready to go when the Broncos take the field for OTAs. Now, they have a handful of. players, Sarah, who had offseason stuff that they're just being smart with working them back. They're doing stuff on the field, but they're not doing team stuff. Jaday was one of those guys. He did individual drills, which means that he's working on cornerback drills and group

Starting point is 00:13:53 work with corners and safeties when they get together during Indy, when the quarterbacks are throwing and doing their stuff, right? They're doing their own thing over there. J.L. Skinner was another name, who obviously was in this category, did individual drills, but no team, no seven on seven. Jonathan Cooper, another name that did individual drills. No, he did one rep in seven on seven where he dropped into coverage as an outside linebacker.

Starting point is 00:14:16 That was about it. But no team drills for Coop. And then Luke Wattenberg and Ben Powers, no team drills for them during Thursday's practice, but they were involved in indie, fully dressed, and there. So, you know, you got these guys that are dealing with some stuff that are in this transition period. The limited approach is what we're going to see. And even Sean Payton said that as well.

Starting point is 00:14:37 I don't know if he caught the Tray Wingo interview, but he also said that Bo should be limited in terms of mandatory minicamp. He'll have a limited participation status, which means we're going to see him throwing in the position drills. Cody, I'm interested who was the center because you said Wattonberg not out there. We know Alex Forsyth wasn't out there. Who was the center for the Broncos? It was lean with it, rock with it, Calvin Throckmorton.

Starting point is 00:15:01 That's who it was. Calvin Throckmorton was getting the center reps there. Alex Paucheski was getting the left guard reps right there. Is that right? Yeah. Okay. So they're going a little seniority situation there right away because we know they've talked highly of KHKC and we know that the depth chart right now could be completely different,

Starting point is 00:15:21 but probably not a bad idea to get Palschewski those reps on the inside there. I mentioned your favorite wide receiver's favorite practice squad wide receiver got lit up. Michael Bandy. Cody, this is not a contact practice, but why does it not surprise me at all that Red Murdoch lit somebody up over the middle of the field? I mean, you got to make an impression some way, somehow. And look, this is like Sean Payton's guy. So you better watch out if you're going to hit Michael Bandy at practice.

Starting point is 00:15:53 But tell us like what unfolded here. What happened? I mean, what the heck? Yeah, it was just a little chaos. I mean, obviously it was a passing attempt there by Denver's offense when Red Murdoch and Tori and York were out there at linebacker. And I really like seeing those two guys getting reps together. I'll talk about that here in a minute.

Starting point is 00:16:09 But basically, there's just a lot of traffic in one area. Pass was in the air. Red's trying to go play the football. And, you know, when he's trying to go get the football, he, you know, he makes a little contact with Michael Bandy. And, you know, then he went like this afterwards. Just like, you know, hey, I didn't mean to. But, you know, it's just, it got the defense, you know,

Starting point is 00:16:27 chipping and hollering. And everyone was kind of excited a little bit. And even the offensive guys weren't mad. Bandie wasn't mad. But it's just like one of those things. I can't wait for the pads to come on effort. These guys to play in the preseason to actually hit people because had Red Murdoch, York, these guys playing alongside one another.

Starting point is 00:16:45 And there were times where it was like Red Murdoch Lavel Bailey. But when they finally put York in with Red, these guys just play so well off one another. Red, you can see the instincts. You could tell this is a guy who's just a natural born linebacker. This is a guy who's thrived at that position. York, you see the athleticism, drop. back into coverage a few times when Devereurs would it look like they were playing some of

Starting point is 00:17:05 their match concepts defensively. He did a really good job of picking up whoever was coming into his area. So to me, it's exciting. And I think we talked about competition early on here in this episode. I think the linebacker competition, too. I don't think there's one for the starting job between Singleton and Stern Ad. I think those guys are pretty much locks. It felt that way, at least during OTAs. But everything behind them, Red and York have a chance to become that third and fourth guy. Now that we know that Jonah Ellis isn't even going to be playing off ball linebacker more than likely, even though he's going to be a flex player. There's another reason why I think the Broncos are going to do that. And I'll dive in that later. But my goodness, I'm excited for the

Starting point is 00:17:43 Mr. Irrelevant, who I don't think is going to be an irrelevant player at all. And they undrafted rookie free agent. They got the highest signing guaranteed out of anybody this year in that undrafted class. Really, I'm really excited for those guys as well. I mean, short of actually drafting some high. I think that was honestly probably the best case scenario was to get somebody late that everybody's like, oh, dang, the Broncos drafted him with the last pick of the draft. And then to get the top undrafted linebacker, I mean, it is a nice, I guess you can call it a consolation until those guys prove us all that they're going to be money ball starting caliber. Yeah, money ball style. Let's talk about the kickoff return competition as well, because ultimately, I think that's one of those

Starting point is 00:18:29 areas of need that like, I don't know, flew under the radar a little bit. It was kind of discussed. And we talked about it even late last season with Marvin getting pulled off the field in those situations because he had a couple of concussions or close calls with concussions last year. I know he had for sure one. But I want to know who's returning kicks at practice because that could ultimately help shape our roster predictions.

Starting point is 00:18:54 Yeah. So, I mean, there's a group of guys that are getting reps there during special teams period. Marvin's still getting reps there. And I was going to ask Sean that yesterday, but didn't get a chance to do it because we're on the final two questions there. I think I'll save it for Darren Rizzy when we get to mandatory minicamp. I think it'll be a good one to ask him. And maybe Sean, eventually, I'll ask him that question. But Marvin was back there. Jaliel McLaughlin was back there. Tyler Badegh was back there getting reps. Cody Schrader, Colby Katzis, and RJ Harvey Harvey was getting some reps and Jonah Coleman was getting some reps back there in terms

Starting point is 00:19:27 of the kick return game. So very interesting. And I'll just tell you this, out of everybody, like besides Marvin, Kobe is fast. Kobe Katzis is fast. And when he touches the ball, you can just see that change of direction. Because when he initially gets it, it's he's reading, where are my blocks going? Where's the coverage coming from?

Starting point is 00:19:47 And then he just hits another gear, which is fun to see. I think he's going to get a ton of reps during camp. I think he's going to get a ton of reps as well during the preseason. He could very well be a guy. that competes for a starting return job here. If Denver is, in fact, looking to move Marvin away from the kick return game, keeping him at punt return. I want to profess up by saying that, keeping him a punt return,

Starting point is 00:20:08 but moving him away from kick return, Colby Katzis is the name to watch. And it just wasn't good enough last year opposite Marvin, right? So you need to have somebody who can upgrade there. I think Kobe Katzis is very interesting. He was obviously dynamic in that regard. One of the only FCS prospects that the Broncos brought in. you don't see too many of those guys these days. But him and then you mentioned Cody Schrader and all the running backs,

Starting point is 00:20:33 quite frankly, which I think is really fascinating because it doesn't except J.K. Dodd's. Yeah, JK, hey, you know what? You get a pass on this one, man. You're going to play running back. You don't have to return kicks to try and decide a roster spot here. But I like that all of those guys are competing in that regard because it does give

Starting point is 00:20:53 and it puts them all on an even playing field, right? in a competitive situation where we've talked about, hey, if they do keep four running backs, maybe there's an option for Cody Schrader to get onto the roster. Special teams, we've talked about. That's going to be one of the ways you do it. Tyler Badegh didn't just return kickoffs last year. He actually played a lot of special teams for those who don't know.

Starting point is 00:21:12 I mean, he played a significant percentage. So that third or fourth running back is going to have to probably play some special teams. And I think it's going to be a fun competition to see unfold. And like you mentioned, Cody, this Jonah Ellis topic, I'll tell you what. I mean, aside from the obvious stuff going into OTAs, this might have been the most intriguing thing. And it's just like it was over before it started. So I can't wait to hear what you have to say about that.

Starting point is 00:21:40 Yeah, you know, there is a saying that all dogs return home with Jonah Ellis. He is staying at outside. Linebacker will dive deeper to what Sean Payton said and how the Broncos can get creative and have all five of their pass rushers on the field or on the actual. the roster on game day. Jonah Ellis's transition to off ball linebacker was short-lived simply because he was doing too well on the outside, according to Sean Payton. Broncos country, thanks for rocking with us, making us your first listen here on the

Starting point is 00:22:09 Lockdown podcast network, the number one sports podcast network in the country. Thanks to all of you. Plus, it's where you get your team every day. Sarah, let's dive into the Jonah Ellis topic because really during the, I think it was right before the NFL combine or it was at the NFL coaches beating. Sean Payton just suddenly threw in there. Jonah Ellis will be getting some reps at offball linebacker. And we're like, wait a minute.

Starting point is 00:22:31 We think he's got the skill set to make that transition. I asked him a question pre-draft about that. And he said, you know, it's a chance to get one of our better players on the field. Turns out it was all smoking mirrors. He's doing too dang good at outside linebacker for the Broncos to move him. And it is interesting considering, you know, we were looking. It was one of the first things we went to. Like when the Broncos broke off into individual period,

Starting point is 00:22:56 I got my binoculars and I'm scanning. I'm looking at off ball linebacks. I'm like, I don't see number 52. And I look at outside linebacks. I'm like, oh, there he is. Oh,

Starting point is 00:23:05 he's with the outside guys. Okay. And so we asked Sean and Sean said he's playing too well. Yeah. And I think that that's one of those things where it's like, okay, do you just not want to say anything negative about your guy, you know,

Starting point is 00:23:18 in front of the media? Or, I mean, we know Jonah was an all rookie performer off the edge in 2020. for. So there's there was degrees of this that made a lot of sense. And then there was degrees of it that made absolutely no sense. Right. I mean, Sean threw out even names like his brother, Caden Ellis and Zach Vaughn earlier this offseason as like guys who have made that position switch and done it successfully and been able to play at borderline all pro level. And so I think that it

Starting point is 00:23:47 gets you excited when it comes to like a position that we've talked about as one of the team's top needs of okay so one of the most talented guys on the roster defensively could be a long-term position you know or a long-term solution at a position of need so i think that yeah there was reasons to be excited about it but then you and i discussed a couple of times like oh we saw jonah posting a little bit of off-season hype workout videos and it was all him rushing the passer it was all it was all edge rusher drills things like that and so we see that and we're like hmm that's interesting that he would be practicing that. And then we start to throw out the idea of like,

Starting point is 00:24:26 hey, wouldn't he have to lose weight to play inside linebacker? And like, does he look lighter? There's a lot of factors to that. And I just think with, to me, Jonathan Cooper's contract situation, his cap hits will triple next year and the year after

Starting point is 00:24:43 compared to what they are this year. So this year, I think he's roughly five something million on the cap. And the next year, it's over 17 million. The year after that, it's over 17 million. I think you are looking at a situation there where, okay, if Jonah is making his home,

Starting point is 00:24:57 like you said, at outside linebacker, that's a situation to maybe keep an eye out for because we know the Broncos can't necessarily keep everybody. Yeah. And, you know, it may be a situation where we see the outside linebacker group as deep as it will ever be this upcoming season with the talent. And I kind of teased it a little bit earlier that, you know, I think that there's a way the Broncos will get all these guys in the active roster. and Andrew Mason and I were talking during practice. And he threw it out because I had mentioned. I was like, hey, I see Ellis is with the outside linebacker.

Starting point is 00:25:26 And he goes, hmm, interesting. And so we were talking. And he said, you know what they could do? And shout out to Mace. Mace is awesome. Love Mace. He said, you know, the Broncos theoretically. And it sounds like what Sean Payton said in the press conference.

Starting point is 00:25:37 He said that he still, there might be some packages where they could deploy him as like an off ball linebacker. But it allows them to keep all their guys active on the game day roster. Let's say hypothetically, you keep Jonah. as an active guy at off ball during game day. Well, you know Jonah's already going to be one of your better special teams players. You know that Dondre's going to play special teams. You know the Q's going to play special teams.

Starting point is 00:26:00 And then you've got Benito and Cooper. Those guys will not play special teams. You have a chance to have five-year guys active because of that flex possibility. It justifies the Broncos when they're looking at their roster saying, we're going to keep these guys active, even though theoretically, we have five outside linebackers active. We could put Jonah in in this situation. But all three of these guys are going to play special teams. Now we might be able to rotate, give Nick Benito a little bit more rest from time to time.

Starting point is 00:26:25 Jonathan Cooper, we might be able to spell these guys a little bit more because now we got three guys that we can mix and match to keep our best pass rushers relatively, not gassed, I'd say, but relatively not only healthy, but more so conditioned and ready to go without having to be on the field too much. Well, and it preserves the opportunity for you to keep players on the roster who, like you said, they may not be game day and act or they may not be game day active right like a tory in york or red murdock that we just talked about in the previous segment like the reality is is that we're all very excited for those guys but also the reality is is that those guys might be more so in alignment with practice squad types for a team like this so what having that position flex allows you to do is to say we're going to use a roster spot on tory and york because we're not going to sub you know subject him to waivers or we're not going to subject Red Murdoch to waivers.

Starting point is 00:27:19 We're going to keep him on our roster. He's not going to be active on game day because Jonah Ellis and Q Robinson are going to be active. But I love that direction in thinking too because it does give you that opportunity to have roster spots available on the 53 for guys who won't necessarily play. Just like it was for Q Robinson last year, just like it was for Savion Jones last year. It might be for somebody else this year. And you have to have some of those spots available because you can't just. throw the babies out with the bathwater, right? You can't just say, well, we don't have 53 spots available.

Starting point is 00:27:52 We're too good. Well, I mean, you need to be able to develop guys to have players around to fill those spots down the line. So that's where I think it does make a lot of sense. And to get Q Robinson on the game day roster every week, I think was one of the goals of this initially. Yeah. And look, I think is the NFL transitions toward more games.

Starting point is 00:28:14 And Sean Payton even mentioned this well, the NFL, like when he was talking about the running back position. He said, you know, Russia is typically, you know, what was it? There was a few, it used to be 17, 16 games, right? 16 games in the regular season. Now it's jumped up. Now you've got 18 weeks in the regular season. And it's like now they're going to add an 18th game eventually here. They're at 17 now, but 18 weeks on the season. They're going to eventually add an 18th game. The seasons are going to get longer. They're going to be playing more games. They're taking away the number of preseason games you get to play. The NFL needs to, Sarah, expand the active rosters. In my opinion, the active roster limit should be 58,

Starting point is 00:28:49 in my opinion, 56 to 58, add a few additional spots here and then continue with the practice squad expansion. I think 16 spots on the practice squad. That's great. That's what you need. But I think you can get to a point where you have 20 men practice squads and you have a 56 man regular season roster. If the NFL is going to add more, you're going to need more bodies because you're adding additional wear and tear to these guys career. And that could impact the down the line. So, you know, that that's a little off course from what we were talking about, but in the midst of the conversation here, that has to be an important thing going forward because of what you've mentioned with all these guys that have an opportunity here to make a roster,

Starting point is 00:29:29 well, just the best way to do it without limiting NFL teams to be able to do that. So, and also, you know what? If you have a 53 men active roster, there shouldn't, you shouldn't have to keep those guys inactive. Like, in my opinion, I think the idea that you, you have 53, but you can only dressed 46, I think is absolute bananas. Dumb rule. Don't know who came up with it. Don't like it. We'll see if it changes here going forward. But Broncos country, there is still a lot more to unpack from OTAs, specifically when Sarah and I meet with you next. We're going to talk about Davis Webb taking over his play color, what I saw from him at

Starting point is 00:30:02 practice with a very hands-on approach with quarterbacks, wide receivers. And Cortland Sutton calls him a mad scientist. We'll talk about Davis Webb and what we've learned from him as what we've watched the first week of OTAs and we'll have another week on the deck here coming up this week on Thursday. You'll get all that here on lockdown broncos. If you're a brand new viewer or listener, make sure you hit that subscribe or that follow button because if you want boots on the ground coverage of your Denver Broncos, nobody brings it to you better than Sarah Bedinger and myself.

Starting point is 00:30:29 We appreciate you. We'll see you on Monday for a brand new episode of the show.

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