Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos QB Bo Nix SHARP In Red Zone | Broncos Day 2 Minicamp Recap

Starting point is 00:00:00 On day two of Denver Broncos mandatory minicamp, Bo Nix and the offense was heating up in the red zone. We'll highlight his standout performance and more on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. What's up, Broncos country? Welcome into another episode with Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast network, your team every day for all your Broncos. New's content coverage analysis more. This is the place to be every single day all year long. Special shout out to all the everydayers out there in Broncos country.

Starting point is 00:00:44 Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen. However, you choose to do so. And if you're not yet in everydayer, become one, hit that subscribe to that follow button wherever you get your podcast. And you're never going to miss out on what's going on with your favorite team. I'm Cody Roarck. Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports, where you can check out my written coverage of the team daily over there at Milehysports.

Starting point is 00:01:03 And I'm Sarah Bedinger's site expert at predominantly orange and always rocking every day here with your boy Cody on lockdown Broncos. Well, here's what you're going to get on today's episode of show. Broncos country, Sarah and I, we're going to recap day two of mandatory minicamp as Sean Peyton says that there are no sugar days. It's a salt day here. It's the Broncos plan to finish out all of mandatory mini camp. We'll go through day two's highlights, including Bo Nix and the Broncos offense shining in the red zone period on the afternoon, getting guys like Pat Bryan involved will highlight what we saw. on the offensive side of all.

Starting point is 00:01:34 But then we're going to talk about why Q Robinson and Dondray Tillman are names that are, that should be talked about a little bit more. They're having tremendous off seasons here. They were standouts off the edge for day two of mandatory minicamp as we go through and recap all the action. Plus, J.K. Dobbins, first appearance in a Broncos uniform. We're in all in today's bonus episode of the show. Sarah, obviously, I think everybody was looking forward to the day two update from mandatory

Starting point is 00:02:00 minicamp because after day one, we all know, J.K. Dobbins signed you did a terrific job of breaking that down, obviously, as the news had happened. But we didn't get the first extensive look at J.K. Dobbins that I feel like a lot of people were maybe kind of hoping for. We got to see him in the orange uniform rocking the number 27 for the Broncos. We saw him during team stretch, but he did not participate in individual and team. And there's a good reason. It's because that man was just getting acclimated to his first day at altitude. The heat, the altitude, it's hard to breathe, condition.

Starting point is 00:02:32 a factor. We'll see him probably soon. Maybe not for day three mandatory meeting camp, but I think we're going to see him pretty much extensively ready to rock and roll for day one at training camp in July. Absolutely. You want to make sure that you don't have a guy going out there. He's, you know, over eager. He's on a brand new team. He wants to go out there and start, just hit the, hit the ground running, right? And you don't want him to pull something or accidentally do something that you're like, man, I wish we would have just held him back a little bit. So yeah, it's a good idea for the Broncos to kind of get him out. acclimated to his surroundings, his new teammates, which, by the way, as you mentioned, Cody,

Starting point is 00:03:07 one of those teammates, Damari Mathis, he'll no longer be wearing the number 27 at some point here in the near future, although I heard they were both wearing 27 today, but it sounds like Dobbins bought that off of him or got him something special to get 27. So Damari likely going to be changing his number here soon as JK takes it over. But it's an exciting time because you hear another player, another prominent free agents say that they signed in Denver because largely of Bo Nix, right? And he is that dude. And it sounds like he's doing everything at mini camp, at OTAs, everything that you need to see from a second year quarterback who is a captain of your team with some of you're relying on heavily. Man, it sounds like Bo is out there absolutely doing his part

Starting point is 00:03:53 to keep the hype train for this Denver Broncos team chugging right along. I'm doing my part. I'm doing my part. Yeah, Bo Nix is definitely doing his part here. And look, I put up my video reports on social media so Broncos fans can see some footage as to what's happening during the shooting period of practice. And I can tell you this, we're getting a lot of comments on it. A lot of people are calling him yokes Knicks because Bo Nix put on some muscle mass this off season. He looks incredible. And look, he had a very sharp day for the Broncos offense during Wednesday's practice on another scorching afternoon in Dove Valley. The emphasis, according to Sean Payton was two-minute drill and Red Zone. Red zone was where Bo Nix

Starting point is 00:04:30 thrived. The two minute drill, we'll get that in here a little bit. The Broncos offense, they went three and out there, we'll dive a little bit deeper in that. But obviously, you know, with their emphasis being red zone, it's, hey, that's an area where you get here. You need to come away with points, right? Yes, you're okay with a field goal, but primarily you want to come away with six points, seven points overall when you're ending a drive there. And Bo Nix was sharp. And seven on seven, the first part of the day, he did find Cortland Sutton for a touchdown in the red zone seven on seven period. but then once you transition to the various team periods on the day,

Starting point is 00:05:00 Bo Nix had several touchdown passes. He threw three on the day. He threw one to Marvin Mims. He threw one touchdown to Trent Sherfield, the newcomer here in the offseason, and he found Pat Bryant on an absolutely beautiful throw and catch for a touchdown downfield, beating Jaquan Macmillan in that,

Starting point is 00:05:19 who Jaquan was in great position, trailing underneath as well, just Pat Bryant hauling the ball and making a tremendous play here. This is what you want to say. see from the Broncos in terms of the offense taking another step forward. You know, obviously they were better in 2024 in the red zone than they were in 2023, but can you be better in 2025? You're always looking to elevate the standard a little bit.

Starting point is 00:05:39 I think the Broncos have a multitude of body types here. We're also factoring in the running back position where when they get in the red zone, I feel more confident about their ability to score this year than I did last year, which should be an exciting thing to watch and fold in training cap. What do you think you're seeing the most of from Boe Nix in terms of of improvement. Is it the timing with the receivers? Is it the placement of the ball? Like, what do you think it is? Because obviously, I think last year, we saw a guy who has that playmaking ability. He can execute the offense. He doesn't really make mistakes with the ball. He's not affected overly by

Starting point is 00:06:14 pressure. And yeah, he'll take a couple of sacks here and there. But for the most part, he's not going down without a fight, right? And he's not going to let a play just die in the pocket when he has a chance to go outside. What do you think you're seeing most from Bo at OTAs in terms of, hey, this looks like, man, he's a different guy in this regard, particular. Yeah, granted, there's no pads now, but the defense is still trying to pressure bowl, right? And so one thing I think we're seeing from him, I think he's just more patient in the

Starting point is 00:06:42 pocket, which wasn't a concern last year. He was very patient in the pocket. He hung in there. I mean, his touchdown to Troy Franklin in the playoffs was him hanging in the pocket, delivering a throw, and then taking an absolute shot. same thing happened on his 93-yard touchdown to Marvin Mims. But I just think he's patient. He's trusting a route to come open, right?

Starting point is 00:07:01 And he's going through the different levels in which, hey, I've got this route here, this route here, where am I going, right? If his first read's not there, his second read, is it coming open? I think he's leading guys with more anticipation, right? I think you can say during his rookie season, there were times where we saw some passes thrown a little bit behind guys who had to a body adjust for it. I think he's leading guys more in stride right now so far this off season. and he's got a little more zip on on this passes too.

Starting point is 00:07:26 And we talked about obviously his increased muscle mass. I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it. But he looks like he's got a little more oomph and some zip on his throws, which is a nice development to see. And I would say those are probably the more noticeable things here early on, Sarah. I think that's awesome for Broncos country to hear too, because last year there were a lot of critics that were saying, well, he leaves the pocket too quickly.

Starting point is 00:07:49 He's not hanging in there. And I think I agree with you. Like we saw that improve. as the season went along, there was much more of that early in the season when, all right, you want to kind of just naturally utilize that athletic ability that you've got, get outside the pocket, make plays with your legs. But when you hang in there, that split second longer. So it sounds like the internal clock is speeding up for Bo.

Starting point is 00:08:11 He's seeing things better. And I think really you can correct me if I'm wrong on this, Cody, but I feel like having a better understanding of the offense, it really helps toward that, right? when you understand all like the back of your hand you you can see the stuff in your dreams right you're like i know exactly where the receiver is supposed to be when they're supposed to be there i can anticipate these sorts of things i think that also really plays a huge factor in this because we've heard like sean said he's not having to regurgitate play calls like he's getting it one time he's got he's out there he knows what he's doing um so it's a testament to i think his understanding of the

Starting point is 00:08:49 playbook, but also the development skills of the offensive staff, like Davis Webb, working with him, Sean working with him. It sounds like it's all kind of coming together here early in the offseason. Yeah, you can tell he's in full command of this offense. I mean, he's, Sean puts the script together and obviously he'll do that on a week-to-week basis in the game. And Sean will take input, like if Beau says, hey, we should really open up with this. Like, Bo is smart enough to know maybe how to exploit a defense early on if they get a

Starting point is 00:09:14 certain look. But Bo's coming out here and he's executing the script to perfection. and he's going out there and he's leading. He's coaching receivers up on landmarks. You know, if they're coming out of specific coverage, he's killing it at the line of scrimmage. It seems like he's got a little more authority at the line of scrimmage than maybe last year. But I know that wasn't really a storyline.

Starting point is 00:09:30 He did the same exact stuff last year as a rookie, which is nice to see. Let's highlight the final period here for the Broncos offense in which Denver's offense didn't have success. The first team defense ended up winning this period. It was the two-minute move the ball period here. Broncos offense went three and out there. You know, Bo was looking for Cortland on a couple of plays. One play defender.

Starting point is 00:09:52 Riley Moss did a really great job of knocking it away. Jonathan Cooper ended up blowing up one play there. And then Zach Allen came through and had a great pressure. I can't tell you what he said, but, you know, he's very confident in his abilities there. So those guys were looking good. I know we're going to highlight the defense and some of the guys a little bit here. I want to highlight Pat Bryan a little bit. Obviously, no Devon Valle for the second consecutive day.

Starting point is 00:10:14 We do not know what's going on with him. There's no information out there right now. We're not going to assume or speculate. Hopefully it's not an injury or hopefully there's just something going on where he has to be in attendance. You know, maybe, you know, I think he's got a wife. So hopefully his wife's having a baby or something. But we hope that Devon's okay. We're not sure what's going to, you know, where things are out with him.

Starting point is 00:10:35 We'll probably find out here shortly. But because of Vela's absence here, Pat Bryant seeing a little bit more volume. And I'm loving what I'm seeing from Pat Bryan. I think he's going to impress a lot of people early on here as a rookie. I think his role is going to be very big for this Broncos offense. But Broncos country, we're not done just yet. As we're recapping today's bonus episode, Lockdown Broncos diving into day two of mandatory minicap.

Starting point is 00:10:56 Coming up next, we're going to tell you why Dondre Tillman and Q Robinson stole the show on the defensive side of the ball. You're going to get that here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. Today's episode of Lockdown Broncos is brought to by Fanduel. The NBA finals are in full swing. And we know with Thunder and Pacers, every single night will deliver highlight worthy performances

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Starting point is 00:12:09 Today's show is also brought to you by our friends at Skylight. Say goodbye to sticky notes, scribbled plans on the fridge, and overlapping calendar invites. Who knows all about those, right? Skylight calendar is here to bring clarity to the chaos and help families stay organized without the stress. And it's a sleek digital display that sinks with your existing calendars like Google, Apple, Outlook, and more, making it simple to track appointments,

Starting point is 00:12:35 your practices for your kids, dinners that you got going on, and all the reminders that you need in one easy-to-see place. Well, my fiance and I, we have a lot of different things going on in our schedules. We're both very busy with our own careers and sometimes we miss out on appointments or things that we had. So we go through and we insert in our skylight calendar that we have inside our house. We insert tasks that we need to do specifically. You can assign a color to somebody, but it also sets reminders for you so you never miss out on the important events going on. So you don't forget. Right now, Skylight is offering our listeners $30 off their 15 inch calendars

Starting point is 00:13:09 by going to SkylightCal.com slash NFL. Go to Skylightcall.com slash NFL.com slash NFL. for $30 off your 15-inch calendar. That's S-K-Y-L-G-H-T-C-A-L-com slash NFL. Bo Nix and the offense, we're bringing it in the red zone, but Q Robinson and Dondre Tillman bringing some heat off the edge and standing out at O-T-A's. We've been seeing a lot of stuff from Dondre Toulman on his TikTok account, Cody. I know for sure I've been watching.

Starting point is 00:13:39 He's been putting in a ton of work this offseason to try and get better and build off the five sacks that he had last year. Q Robinson is trying to become maybe the steal of day three of the 2025 NFL draft. And it's hard to argue against the results that we've seen from him lately, right? Last year at Alabama, sort of a breakthrough season for him before injury. And then, of course, now here at OTAs, I've seen stuff from you. Our good friend, Andrew Mason, has been putting stuff out there. Pretty much everybody that's been watching Broncos practice, Ryan Edwards. It sounds like all of you guys have. come to the same conclusion here.

Starting point is 00:14:15 And let's start with Q Robinson that the rookie, he's all right. And he's going to be potentially an asset here in the pass rush for 2025. Yeah, I'm very excited to see him once training camp rolls around the pads come on. You're getting some competitive periods against your own teammates. But more importantly, when you play San Francisco in a joint practice and you go up against Arizona in a joint practice, can you carry that over against different teams, different looks that you haven't necessarily prepared for, right? because obviously going back to OTAs and mini camp and training camp, you are seeing the same scheme every single day.

Starting point is 00:14:47 So you start to pick up on tendencies a little bit. Sometimes you can recognize a formation or look. And it's like, all right, I know exactly what to do here. But like Q Robinson, man, this guy is a flash in the pan. And I'm not talking about like explosive speed. I'm just talking about a very, very quick get off. And on top of that, the high motor to boot with that. He's got, I think, a very underrated set of pass rush moves there where I think the long arm.

Starting point is 00:15:10 is one of those ones we're going to see. He's got the ability to spin, I think to rip and swim and close down very tightly against, you know, an outside guy. But, man,

Starting point is 00:15:19 there's times where his bend, you were seeing some of that freakish traits that the Broncos talked about when they drafted him. There's times where he's long-arming a tackle and he's kind of dipping underneath. And his pass-rush skill set, I think, is more polished right now,

Starting point is 00:15:34 considering he didn't have necessarily the biggest role at Alabama. He really just kind of emerged on the scene as of late. this is a guy who I think is at a very important part of his development as a football player. And I can't help but wonder if he's in the perfect scheme that's going to allow him to take that step forward. We are seeing it here. Q is shining in a big way. He's been consistent almost every practice that we've had, you know, we've seen dating back to OTAs and the practice,

Starting point is 00:15:59 the few ones we've been able to see their rookie mini camp, but then also pairing it up with Dandre Tillman, who's also been just as consistent. And sometimes these guys are on the field together, getting reps. I was very pleased with them. Now, in today's practice, Q, Dandre Tillman, they each had a couple of situations and pressures where if it was a real game situation, it would have been a sack in a game. Jonah Ellis is also another guy who had what would have been a sack in today's practice as well.

Starting point is 00:16:27 So a lot of those guys in the past rush rotation getting involved, but loving what I'm seeing from Q. And with all that, like we're focusing on some guys that are in the edge rush rotation. That doesn't even factor in Jonathan Cooper who had a couple of players. during the team period today where he would have blown up plays behind the line of scrimmage, would have been a TFL. Once again, Coup playing with that high motor early on. We're not seeing, like the pads aren't on just yet, right? So how much can we truly evaluate?

Starting point is 00:16:52 It's hard to say it's somewhere in the middle. But what we're seeing early on in terms of returns on all these guys, very impressive early on here, Sarah. Yeah, the Broncos have enviable depth off the edge, don't they? I mean, I think that's pretty abundantly clear. And you look at Q Robinson's situation. Obviously, the fact that he didn't play a ton at the college level helps the Broncos get him in the fourth round. But also, guy wasn't able to do pre-draft workouts, at least not to get a Rast score officially, Cody.

Starting point is 00:17:20 All we've got is a height weight measurement for him from our good friend Math Bomb, which is obviously six foot four. So he mentioned the arm length, 33.5 inches. And then he's 243 pounds. So he's a long and sort of lean edge rusher. but those types of guys often have the best burst. And like you said, they can use that long arm. You can use your upper body strength to convert speed to power a little bit. Take an offensive tackle off guard with your quickness off the snap and then jam that hand right up into

Starting point is 00:17:51 his chest and throw him to the side like Von Miller always used to do. Von Miller, he's, you know, it's not the biggest dude in the world, but he could throw offensive tackles around because you get him on their heels. That's what a guy with speed off the edge can do. You get an old lineman on their heels. you get him off balance and you just throw him to the side and you go make a play, right? And Q Robinson's going to get a chance to do that this year. Dondrey Tillman last year, I felt was pretty opportunistic, Cody.

Starting point is 00:18:17 He went out there for not that many snaps. And yet it felt like every time he was out there, whether it was preseason or the regular season, I mean, we were seeing number 92 pop off the screen in some way or another. And fans were out there saying, oh, my gosh, it looks just like Elvis Dimmerville. He's not Elvis Dimmerville. he's not the same type of guy, but man, he's a productive pass rusher who is relentless with his effort. He is going to go out. It doesn't matter if he's the second or the third guy or the first guy to the QB. He wants to make that play happen. And that's what I love about him. So to me,

Starting point is 00:18:50 hearing this about these two guys, it raises a question that maybe you and I will talk more about what does this mean for a guy like Nick Benito? Does it mean anything? Are the Broncos even thinking about, hey, these two guys plus Jonah Ellis, they could be a factor in those contract discussions. I don't know if that's how the Broncos are thinking, Cody, but man, it's good to hear at, if nothing else, your depth off the edge is looking great at OTAs. I have a feeling we're going to see five guys at outside lineback on the 53 man roster, barring that, you know, hopefully none of these guys get banged up or injured. Hopefully they can all stay healthy.

Starting point is 00:19:24 That's always a goal. But one thing I'll even say, too, about Dandre Tillman compared to last year, last year, his body type, right, looked like a defense event. He looked big, but man, he was kind of deceptively fast. Right now, Dondrey looks like he's leaned out a little bit. He's looked a little bit leaner. He's looked quicker with his first step, but he still has that strength that he had last year. So I think that Dondre is in a very good place right now coming into training camp.

Starting point is 00:19:50 Even like let's talk about some other guys too, Zach Allen, Malcolm Roach. I felt like we're a couple of other guys that were standouts as well. So much of this is we talk about pressure and contact is obviously there is no contact. no pads right now with these guys, but the high motor of those guys getting into the backfield, creating penetration and, you know, disrupting a clean pocket for whoever's that quarterback. That is where I think we have to kind of highlight things is, okay, hey, you're seeing that same kind of consistent trend we saw last year with this group of guys. So can they carry it over?

Starting point is 00:20:20 And obviously it was a unit that had 63 sacks. So all of the NFL last season set the record for most sacks in franchise history as a group. They have aspirations to kind of set the bar a little bit higher. I think all these guys getting involved in the mix is going to be a very big development. Let's go through some news and notes here as well. PJ Locke, Drake Greenlaw, both guys still on the side field. But I tell you what, Drake Greenlock kind of pulled one on us in the media a little bit during one of the Broncos team periods. He walked over.

Starting point is 00:20:48 He had his helmet on. I'm like, I see another number 57 in there in the defensive huddle with the guys. I think maybe he was just getting the call or he was just going in there to give those guys some encouragement. But at first I saw 57 and he was moving. I was like, oh, he's going to go where in the guy? like, wow, we didn't see this coming. We thought he was going to be ready for the start of training camp. He's ready now.

Starting point is 00:21:05 He went off. He didn't actually participate. He went off and obviously joined like the back where everyone lines up as the plays are on going there. So he's still very much involved. He's moving around well on the side field during the conditioning as is PJ lock. But we got one more day, sir. One more day of mandatory mini camp, you know, according to Sean Payton, who said the sugar days are over. No more field days.

Starting point is 00:21:28 No more days of saying, all right, we're only going to have a day. or two of practice, then we're going to give you the third day off very much as it stands right now, unless something changes last minute, the Broncos are going to have day three a mandatory minicamp, which I'll be there to round things out. But, man, Sean Payton a little feisty today. I loved it. And that's the thing about Sean, Sarah. Like some people are like, oh, Sean can be so rude.

Starting point is 00:21:48 Like, no, Sean's always been great to me. I think Sean is very much how I feel about a lot of things. Like sometimes people ask questions. You're like, wow, you're wasting time by asking this question. Like, or why would you ask that question? What did he say to Steve Bauer? He said, Atwater, he said, what's up with this group atwater? I love him, man.

Starting point is 00:22:07 Sean Payton is on another level right now. Yeah, he is. And you can tell that it's just a good vibe around the entire organization and certainly leading from the top down. I really loved his comments too, Cody. I mean, this is maybe another episode for another day, but just to quickly pointed out, I really loved his comments about the coaching staff and how, you know, he wants these guys to work cohesively together. And I'll have to look up the exact quote that he had.

Starting point is 00:22:35 I know the transcripts will get sent out here today. But it was just a really insightful kind of like, you know, you want these guys to be getting basically getting along together and being able to work together. You don't want there to be this internal strife. And I think just organizationally, leadership wise, really good stuff from Sean Payton there. I'd love to hear him talk more about that kind of stuff too because it's so important to trust the people that you work with.

Starting point is 00:22:59 and he's built a staff that he trusts a lot. Well, the main thing that he did say there, he doesn't want to have to manage a staff. He wants those guys to be able to be self-starters. And, you know, that's so much of, you know, trust like being a head coach, you have to give a lot of trust to a lot of your coaches to do what you brought them in to do. And if you're constantly, you know, hovering over them, they're not going to be as effective. I think Sean does a really great job.

Starting point is 00:23:21 You know, obviously he's going to be calling the plays. But he lets Davis Webb coach. He lets Zach Streif coach. He lets Kerry Colbert coach. He lets Louie. coach the running backs. He doesn't overstep. He'll go through and provide feedback from time to time on a route that a receiver did, but he's very much like, I've got guys for this. I'm going to focus on managing the operation. And I think he's done a really good job of that. And look, there's a lot to

Starting point is 00:23:45 be excited about if you're a Broncos fan. And look, we're sitting here now in the month of June saying, okay, we're one month away from training camp. We just want to see this team get there because no training camp's going to be grueling. But this is a team that I feel very confident about taking and another step forward. The way that they did last year, Sarah, they won 10 games. Can they win more than 10 games? I think this is a team that will be very capable of that if they can stay healthy. And I'm excited to see that work take place in training camp and then carry over into the regular season where Denver's going to open up at home against the Tennessee Titans.

Starting point is 00:24:17 And that's the focus right now. But it's building the right 53. Sean Payton and the Broncos, they're on their way. But with that said, Broncos Country, that'll wrap up today's episode of the show, a bonus episode for all of you in Broncos Country here. today. Tomorrow's episode of the show on Thursday will be a full length. One is Sarah and I will recap the final day of mandatory mini camp. We'll go through everything that we saw. We'll even dive into a stock report. Players who stood out, players who stock fell a little bit. You'll get that on Friday's episode. There's a lot to break down here as we get ready for the start of training camp. With that Zebraco's country, we appreciate you so much. Make sure you follow us or subscribe to us wherever you get your podcast or on YouTube. You can follow us now on TikTok where we are posting daily content for all of you to get involved with. as well. Make sure you head on over there.

Starting point is 00:25:01 Sarah and I will see you tomorrow for a brand new episode, Locked on Broncos.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos QB Bo Nix SHARP In Red Zone | Broncos Day 2 Minicamp Recap

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