Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos' Sean Payton PROVEN RIGHT Tricking Minnesota Vikings Into Drafting J.J. McCarthy

Episode Date: August 12, 2026

Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton was proven right after tricking the Minnesota Vikings into drafting J.J. McCarthy in the 2024 NFL Draft, allowing Bo Nix to land in the Broncos' lap. Cody Roark a...nd Sayre Bedinger break it down plus discuss the Broncos defense coming up big during Tuesday's training camp practice, and how the Broncos plan to proceed with the lack of depth at the center position due to Luke Wattenberg, Alex Forsyth, and Michael Deiter dealing with injuries.   Cody Roark is a credentialed beat reporter for Mile High Sports and provides boots-on-the-ground coverage of the Broncos daily in person. Sayre Bedinger is the site expert for Predominantly Orange. Together, both bring Broncos Country the most in-depth and objective coverage of the Denver Broncos.   📸 - Ron Chenoy — Imagn Images   WANT MORE DAILY DENVER BRONCOS CONTENT? For all of the latest Denver Broncos news today --   Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-broncos/   Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, & More 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/nfl/   📲 Cody Roark Twitter / (https://twitter.com/codyroarknfl) 📲 Cody Roark Instagram / (https://instagram.com/codyroarknfl) 📲  Sayre Bedinger Twitter / (https://twitter.com/sayrebedinger)   Everydayer Club   If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. one 📲 https://lockedonbroncos.supercast.com/   TEXT LINE: Support the show and interact with us on Denver Broncos rumors, News, Game Previews, Q&A's, and more. 📲 https://joinsubtext.com/c/lockedonbroncos 📲 TEXT: (720) 580-5759   📢 Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COM to play Daily Dingers and make your free pick on who’s hitting a homer this MLB season.   KALSHI For a limited time,Download the Kalshi app and use code [LOCKEDON] to get $10 when you trade $10.   Square Get up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at https://square.com/go/lockedonnfl! #squarepod   Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.   Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast.   FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Three years ago, Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton fooled the Minnesota Vikings into drafting J.J. McCarthy. Three years later, he was right. You are locked on Broncos. Your daily Denver Broncos podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Hulk Day Broncos country. Cody Rourke, Sarah Beninger here for another episode, Locked on Broncos. As we break down, J.K. Dobbins, returning to practice on Tuesday.
Starting point is 00:00:33 but the Denver Broncos dealing with a ton of injuries at the center position. What is our level concern with that? Plus, the Broncos defense held off Bow Nix and the offense in a key move the ball, end of game scenario. In Tuesday's practice, we'll recap all of that. We're in kick things off by going back and revisiting a discussion that we all had in our bookmarks for a long, long time. Sean Payton tricking the Minnesota Vikings into taking J.J. McCarthy and not Bo Nicks, which allowed Bow Nix to fall into the Broncos' lap. Three years later, Sean Payton was right, Sarah.
Starting point is 00:01:04 Obviously, we don't want to make a show at the misfortune of a player like J.J. McCarthy, right? I think this is more of a kind of look back at the Minnesota Vikings fan base. And specifically one guy by the name of Thor who spewed probably the most garbage nonsense about Bo Nix when you talk about characterization of him because of J.J. McCarthy, looking back, Bo Nix, the leader of the clubhouse and that entire group of QBs taken, and he wasn't the first guy taken overall. He was the last quarterback taken in the first round amongst all those guys.
Starting point is 00:01:36 Seems like Sean Payton knew exactly what he was doing, and it seems like the Minnesota Vikings did not. Yeah, Cody, that's really well said. And I guess panic drafting, Bo Nix worked out after all for the Denver Broncos, right? Because part of this discussion, too, is it's not just about J.J. McCarthy getting benched by the Vikings, or I guess he wasn't necessarily benched, I guess, in a way he was. but Kyler Murray is their QB1. It's been officially reported
Starting point is 00:02:04 and the Vikings have come out. Kevin O'Connell has said that. But on top of that, on the very same day, there was an interview and a press conference with Greg Penner, the owner of the Denver Broncos, who says that they want Bo Nix to be around for a really long time. So it's kind of just really interesting timing of these two bits of news happening on the exact same day
Starting point is 00:02:23 where it feels like JJ's future with the Vikings is no more, whereas Bo is very. really just kind of getting started with what he's doing with the Denver Broncos. And so I do feel bad for JJ, Cody, because I know we said a lot of good things about him in the pre-graph process. And we liked him. I like him. I like it. I like it. I think that he's, you know, I think he's got a chance to succeed maybe somewhere else. But for the Vikings fans out there that I think that's part of what makes our job so fun, right? Is yes, we're, we're buttoned up on this show quite often. We don't like talk smack about other fan bases on here necessarily.
Starting point is 00:02:59 unless you're the Raiders, the Chargers, the Chiefs. But Vikings fans were on like Reddit talking about stuff that we said about, you know, Bo Nix and J.J. McCarthy. And Vikings fans were on Twitter, very active on Twitter slamming the Bo Nix selection and very active in kind of picking apart every bad throw that he made. And I know that that stuff kind of goes both ways. But, you know what? It does feel a little good, I guess, to have figured it out.
Starting point is 00:03:28 and in hindsight to have been right about, well, I think at worst case scenario, like, shouldn't we just want everything to work out well for everybody? Like, shouldn't the Vikings just be happy if Jay J.G. McCarthy works out and, hey, good for the Broncos. If Bo Knicks works out, it's not like we're in the same division or anything like that. But the active participation in wanting Bo Nix to fail kind of puts a little chip on other people's shoulders. And so I like that Sean Payton is kind of being vindicated for that selection more and more.
Starting point is 00:03:57 and it'll be even more amplified whenever Bo Nix does get that big money contract. Well, and I think a lot of this, too, is the frustrating part, at least from our perspective, is that everybody, it doesn't matter what fan base, it doesn't matter what national media outlets, you'll hear a million excuses for J.J. McCarthy, for these other quarterbacks, for Drake May, for Caleb Williams, for Jaden Daniels. But when it comes to Bo Nix, there's always this sense from the national media perspective. And once again, I'll reiterate, these guys never attend anything. These guys don't come to Denver.
Starting point is 00:04:25 They look at box scores. they don't actually watch the games. And you can see that commentary based on how a lot of people talk about Bownix. They create these narratives that they develop from a chart and they don't actually develop from watching the games. Where I feel vindicated in this whole conversation is the fact that Bonex has continued to grow and prove a lot of people wrong. A lot of people said he shouldn't even been taken in the first round. He's going to be a bus, this, that, and the other. We've got the receipts. We've got the bookmarks from a handful of people on social media. And once again, social media is an echo chamber. It's not real life. It is an echo chamber.
Starting point is 00:04:57 We have to hear it. And unfortunately, sometimes we have to see it. And there are a lot of things about that where people are trying to tear down Bo Nix to hype up J.J. McCarthy. When you look at both their bodies and work at the college level, both great quarterbacks at college, right? But we all know how different the NFL game is. And the challenge that you run into is, where are you going? You can make an argument that maybe J.J. McCarthy landed in a better situation,
Starting point is 00:05:19 like better playmakers around him in Minnesota than Bo Nix had here in Denver when he came in, right? And yet he's still, even with Justin Jefferson, even with Jordan Addison, he was still not able to produce. And so part of that is maybe a quarterback's not ready, right? Maybe no matter what he did at college, they got to go to the right fit. And maybe Minnesota is not going to end up being the right fit for J.J. McCarthy. I don't think his road is over by necessarily. I want to see him succeed. But then it goes to show how many people blatantly ignore what Bo Nix had to deal with early on when he came into the league.
Starting point is 00:05:52 People are like, oh, you know, he's just a product of John Payton. but yet people talk smack about Peyton all the time saying this is a terrible coach. The game is passed by. So what is it with the narratives? That to me has been probably the most vindicating thing to see this whole process play out for. Do you want to know what else is funny about this is the fact that remember when the Broncos were even considering drafting a quarterback, one of the biggest critiques in the process was, well, Sean Payton has never developed a quarterback. He was gifted Drew Brees.
Starting point is 00:06:21 And so, hey, how about how do you like me now once again? again, but the narrative for Kevin O'Connell has always been different, right? His system is supposed to be super favorable to the quarterback position. We saw Sam Donald have a ton of success there, and then, you know, they just let him right out the front door. And then they had Daniel Jones in the building, let him out the front door. Those two guys are better than anything they have right now. And it doesn't seem like Kyler Murray is having like this just otherworldly training
Starting point is 00:06:49 camp. It just feels like, hey, that was his job to lose. They're kind of going to give him all the first team reps. the season now at the doorstep. So I think the narratives back then were funny. They are still funny now. Sean Payton had a good laugh about it. Remember what he said in the pre-draft process?
Starting point is 00:07:05 It kind of came across. This probably doesn't help his case for being likable to some people. But remember, he basically said, like, we're going to be better at this than other teams, meaning evaluating these quarterbacks in that draft class. And a lot of folks were skeptical that that was going to happen. He's arrogant. He's arrogant.
Starting point is 00:07:24 right? I mean, he's obviously, he's never done this before. He's never even had a first or second round quarterback that they drafted in New Orleans. I don't think, Cody. I think the highest pick was the guy out of Colorado State in the third round back in the day. I can't remember his name. Garrett something or Grayson something. Maybe it's even Garrett Grayson. I can't remember. It might be. It might be. But something like that, right? And so when people look at that, they're saying, oh, well, Sean has only been able to work with like reclamation projects or he's only been able to, like, he rode the coattails of Drew Brees, who he just, you know, announced at the Hall of Fame, which that was really, really good stuff.
Starting point is 00:08:02 But I love that not J.J. McCarthy failed, but that Bo Nix is proving Sean Peyton right. And I think that that's the bigger story here is that, okay, hey, we're comparing these two situations because these bits of news kind of came out on the same day. But the story is obviously that Bo is thriving and J.J. McCarthy is going to probably soon be looking for a new NFL home. It's going to be very interesting to see where he lands. And ultimately, I hope JJ lands on his feet. But to the detractors, enjoy.
Starting point is 00:08:33 Enjoy being wrong. And this is also another thing, too, about people evaluating college prospects. There are so many people who are so afraid to admit that they were wrong about Bo Nix that they're still going to do whatever they can to pile on him and to poke little holes in certain things that they don't hold the same microscope to other key players around the NFL at quarterback. It's always funny how that works. But you know what they say?
Starting point is 00:08:55 He who laughs last, laughs loudest, and Sean Payton has the loudest laugh of them all here. Broncos country, let us know your thoughts on the whole situation. What's going on in Minnesota compared to where Denver's at right now with Bo Nix. But coming up next, we're going to talk about the Broncos defense and one of the key move the ball periods. The Broncos defense came up big in the final seconds of a competitive series against Bo Nix and the offense. Support for today's episode comes from Square. Behind so many of the local businesses that people visit every day is Square. a platform that's designed to help small businesses sell, manage, and grow.
Starting point is 00:09:26 Small businesses, big businesses, you'd name it. Whether it's a neighborhood coffee shop, a pack sports bra on game day or your favorite restaurant, Square brings payments, banking, and more together in one connected system. It helps business owners spend less time managing technology and more time focusing on their customers. And Square isn't just a payment processor. It's a complete business platform that's built to simplify the day to day from accepting every major payment method to managing inventory and helping businesses access their
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Starting point is 00:10:31 in the NFL in a big time situational period. We're going to talk about that and much more coming up on today's episode of the show. Broncos Country, you already know your boys, Cody and Sarah got you covered every single day. And we appreciate you, the everyday listener of the show to all you every day is out there, a mile high salute to every single one of you. Game Day is closing in. Cody, we're just a couple days away. the Broncos, both offense and defense, based on what I'm seeing from you on Twitter and your post-practice reports and from others out there, it sounds like both the offense and the defense are ready for game day here.
Starting point is 00:11:04 But we have a situational period that really stood out late in practice. It sounds like the number one, the best on best, Sean Peyton said it was going to be maybe a shift on Wednesday today at practice where the Broncos would maybe start doing more game planning type stuff for the Falcons. But up until Tuesday's practice, it was best on best, and it sounds like the defense finally stopped old Bo Nicks out there in a situational drill with an end of half kind of on the line. Yeah, let's go into some context, too, because once again, the Broncos, and we'll get to this later a little more in depth.
Starting point is 00:11:36 The Broncos had another change on the offensive line. They had another center in there this time around, because no Luke Wattenberg still, no Alex Forsyth still, and then third string center, Michael Dieter ended up getting carted off of the practice field. So it was Calvin Throckmorton, the veteran, who had to step in at center here, but it's a move the ball period. The Broncos, the offense, they're down 18 to 24 to the defense. And the only thing you have to do in the situation, you have to score a touchdown.
Starting point is 00:12:01 You can't settle for a field goal because you're not going to have enough time. And so the Broncos offense, they had one time out specifically for this period. They started off in their own 48-yard line. They had a minute and one seconds to move down the field and try to score a touchdown. Very first play, Bo Nix gets the ball out quickly to Troy Franklin, who makes a catch in traffic. and then he goes to another play, R.J. Harvey, who catches it, gets out of bounds for a first down. So now the clock stops. The Broncos offense is in a really good position right now with one timeout left. And I think you probably have at this point, 49, 48 seconds on the clock.
Starting point is 00:12:34 Then Cortland Sutton comes up big on the third play, catching a pass about 14 yards down the field with Riley Moss tightly contesting him in coverage. Cortland gets both feet in. The clock runs, right, because he doesn't get out of bounds. the clock runs, but the Broncos are not at a point where they run up and spike the ball. Do you have enough time to get another playoff? Well, then Bo Nicks throws a pass to Evan Ingram who catches it. He gets about four or five yards on the play.
Starting point is 00:12:59 And then he goes to RJ Harvey. And then RJ's trying to get out of bounds. This is for another first down. RJ's trying to get out of bounds. But the defense tags in before he can get there. So the clock is winding at this point. You run a couple other plays. And now you have to run up and you have to spike the ball.
Starting point is 00:13:15 And now it's fourth and two. two seconds remaining here in this period. And the Broncos, they're on their own 25-yard line. And so, you know what you have to do? Two seconds, fourth down. You've got to throw it into the end zone here. Bull was trying to go to RJ Harvey. Nobody else was open because once again,
Starting point is 00:13:31 we saw the Broncos playing that same style of defense. They played late against the Philadelphia Eagles and that kind of protect the end zone situation. And so you know what they were doing to Cortland? Underneath coverage, jam, and then you have safety over the top. You had two safeties. You had essentially two safeties on one side plus another safety guard in the other end zone,
Starting point is 00:13:49 and then your linebacker. So the best option for Bo to go to in that situation was R.J. Harvey, Justin Sternat in coverage, unfortunately, not able to come down with the play. And so the Broncos defense in this period holds on. But, Sarah, this is the periods of football that I like about training camp because we can chart scripted practices all we want. It's in these move the ball settings where you get the best evaluation. I think what we've seen from the offense and the defense in these settings,
Starting point is 00:14:14 setting so far. Bo Nix and this Broncos offense can move the ball downfield, especially when they get up tempo, especially against this defense. And the defense can also come up big against this offense as well. We've seen a little bit of both from both sides of the ball. And that's exactly what you want to see in training camp, right? You don't want to see the scales tipping heavily to one side or the other. And Bo Nix talked about that. Cody, I watched his interview with Kay Adams. And he talked about the fact that his first two seasons in the NFL, it was a lot of like the defense kind of just kicking their butts at practice. And you take that as a learning experience, right?
Starting point is 00:14:47 You try to fail forward in those instances, but he kind of made mention that this year, they're punching back a little bit and they're able to kind of hang with that defense now, not because the defense is worse, but because the offense is better. And so I like that level of competition. I like that there's sort of stakes involved.
Starting point is 00:15:06 I know every team practices that. But I heard the question was asked after practice on Tuesday, like situational football, does practicing that during training camp? Did that help you guys in those one score games last year? And absolutely, yes, Sean Payton says that it does because you get yourself in that mindset of this situation,
Starting point is 00:15:25 down in distance, yardage-wise. I've seen every look in the book. I've seen every defense that could possibly be thrown at me. And for the defense, they're seeing the best of the best. I don't say that lightly or I don't say that as like a, you know, when I say 17 and O until we ain't, like Bo Nix is the most clutch quarterback in the NFL right now.
Starting point is 00:15:44 11 game winning drives already in his career. So I just think, look, this is best on best type stuff and it's going to yield results during the season. Yeah. And that's what you want to. And I think as well, like I'll say this. And I covered the Hackett era, the Fangio era. They did not practice the situational stuff to the extent hardly at all than what I've seen Sean do. Sean came in really from year one at training camp.
Starting point is 00:16:11 It was almost kind of like a drawing board session out there at training camp, right? It's stopping and it's talking. Okay, this is the situation. We have no timeouts. Defense, you need to get a stop. Or it's, hey, we have no timeouts. Offense. We got to drive the field and we got to be it.
Starting point is 00:16:25 We got to score touchdowns, not field goals. You're putting them in comfortable situations. But you're also saying like there's these, these are the things you're more than likely going to run into as the season goes on, right? You can script a second and 10, a third and five. you can script the right hash left hash you can do those types of plays that's not going to make you better when you need to you got in the got to have a moment you got to be ready for it the defense has been ready for it the offense has been ready for it like i'll go back to last year's washington commander's game go think about it as as well like in overtime got to have it because there's a lot of pressure like you got to score here else you're going to give all the momentum to Washington to start overtime what does bo necks do he marches the broncos offense downfield Evan egram has that big play. RJ Harvey punches it in for a touchdown. And then even though the defense was giving up yards, it's the, we got to stop the two point conversion. Nick Benito comes out of Norba. Like the guys don't blink. That's the thing about this Broncos team. They don't blink. They are
Starting point is 00:17:22 battle tested. That's something I think you've heard players say a lot. We haven't even brought that out to them. They've come out and they've said, we've been battle tested. That ultimately is what's going to help them get to where they want to be. And of course, there's other circumstances like injuries, health, things like that. They've got to take care of. business and i thought that sean said something really great after tuesday's practice talking about you know there was something that was brought up about like you know could the could the new building contribute to this that or the other like you know do guys get too comfortable off you get a new building he says no like for us it's not the building it's about the people in the building it's about
Starting point is 00:17:56 what we do out here on the practice field it's what we do in the meeting room as coaches and players that's what ultimately matters and if we don't do a good enough job as coaches you're going to see it on the field. And so it is that standard, man. And that's what has me so excited about this team. Well, that's what got me really excited about the fact that what he's saying is proven by the fact that he can leave for the weekend and for the scrimmage practice and for the Friday practice. And everything is, it's just as good. Like the players said, it's not that they didn't notice that he wasn't there because, like, obviously, you know when your head coach isn't there. But the fact that the operation can continue because of the culture that has been established and built over time,
Starting point is 00:18:40 that is that is what I am noticing about this team is that that culture is ingrained all over the place from the top down. So when we did all of our shows talking about ownership and like how big of a decision that was to get the right people in place and to hire the right head coach after Hackett was fired, like those are the exact. exact things, the things that we are now living. These are the days we prayed for. You know what I'm saying? Like this is what we're now witnessing and see, oh my gosh, like that is the culture that we said like once upon a time. This is what the Broncos need. This is what
Starting point is 00:19:19 the new ownership group needs to do. The new head coach needs to do. Well, it's now being done and it's being lived out and we're in the midst of it. So just like old Andy Bernard said on the office, Cody, I mean, you got to enjoy the good old days while you're actually in them. So, I mean, this is an era, I think, for Broncos country to just realize, hey, you're in some of the good old days right now and to really enjoy it. Remember what used to say, when you pray for rain, you got to deal with the mud, too. We used to say that all the time. And here we are.
Starting point is 00:19:49 Like, you know, we dealt with the mud for a long time covering this team. Fans have dealt with the mud of the quarterback carousel. And you know what? All those questions have been answered. And now we're in a really good spot. Sunny days might be a little too sunny right now. As you can tell, I got super somber here at practice. so for the last couple of days.
Starting point is 00:20:05 So we'll see how things transpire here. But one good development coming out of Tuesday's practice, there was a lot of concern about some of the soft tissue injuries piling up for the Denver Broncos. J.K. Dobbins was the latest, but J.K. was back in action during Tuesday's practice. Today's episode is brought to you by our friends over there at Fandu. Baseball fans.
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Starting point is 00:21:17 J.K. Dobbins was back at practice after a lot of people had concerns after he exited on Monday, but rest assured he was back on Tuesday. Brockos country, thanks for rock with us here on the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Also the number one sports podcast network in the country. Let's go through some injury updates because I always think as you get close to the preseason game, you want to have some clarity on certain things. And probably the biggest name to watch right now. Everyone is wondering, okay, J.K. Dobbins, he ran in the locker room on Monday.
Starting point is 00:21:44 What's going on? Sean Payton says it's a soft tissue thing. Okay, so what does that timeline look like? J.K. Dobbins was back in full pads for Tuesday's practice. He participated in individual period, which means if there was an official injury report, Sarah, he would have at least been limited on that. And obviously, if it were game week in the regular season, he would have been able to to play he probably would have been able to go but the Broncos being smart with it jK's good i mean almost
Starting point is 00:22:08 to the point that during practice as we're filming jk says don't believe all the narrative you hear don't believe all the narratives you hear it's like okay all right like jk takes exception to that we know he pays attention to it but he was back out there today full pads he didn't do anything in the team period which i'm sure that was more so the broncos than it is jk but he was attentive helmet on chopping at the bit to go in so that was obviously a good sign there but sarah the bigger concern coming out of Tuesday's practice. The Broncos Center depth right now, it's very shaky.
Starting point is 00:22:37 It's in a rough spot. Luke Wattenberg's full pads on the side field. Looks like he's close to returning. Alex Forsyth was back at practice today. After not being spotted Monday, he had a helmet in a Jersey and was on the side field. But Denver's third string center who had to get the reps, he ended up getting carded off the field.
Starting point is 00:22:52 We don't know the extent of the injury, but he was carted off and did not return, which now led to Calvin Throckmorton, Gavin Ortega, as your only two centers that you really have right now, unless he wanted to break glass in case of emergency Quinn Miners, which probably not going to happen. And Cage Casey, if you wanted to slide him to, which is probably not going to happen. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:23:08 I mean, Cody, as you think about this, it kind of gets you thinking about Friday's game, right, obviously. And, you know, the question of all these, whether or not the starters are going to play. And to me, I ain't throwing Bow Nicks out there without the starting. I mean, obviously not every starter will always play or whatever, but certainly without your starter or even your backup center, I don't know that I'd be throwing Bow Nicks out there for that game. So, might have to wait on that one. I guess we'll find out, but that's where my mind initially went. Obviously, feel for somebody like Michael Dieter and, you know, the fact that you never
Starting point is 00:23:43 want guys to get carted off. And that's the worst part of training camp anywhere in the NFL. And so the depth being tested at a position that none of us really thought we were going to have to think about, you know, I think that's the thing. And so Gavin Ortega, I guess, has been getting some snaps as well, one of the Broncos top undrafted free agents. And I know you've mentioned earlier in camp that he was kind of struggling a little bit. I've read that from others that he struggled a little bit. So maybe a veteran addition. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:24:12 Will we see more bodies get brought in at the center position? Or did they think Wattonberg and Forsyth are going to be back that soon? I think that Wattonberg is going to be back sooner rather than later. I wouldn't be shocked if it's during today's practice, which is close to the public. Only us in the media are going to be allowed to attend. But it's going to be a different structure. So you won't be getting any live tweets, folks.
Starting point is 00:24:32 This practice is going on. You're going to have to wait until after practice is over for any updates. But he looks close because he's been in full pads all week so far, hitting things, going through the side field process. Like it's new. We haven't seen this with Sean of the Broncos. Usually if you're on the side field, you're usually just in a jersey and shorts and whatnot. So Luke is close.
Starting point is 00:24:52 Forsyth, it's very unclear what Forsytes was. But the fact that he was back out there in a helmet and Jersey on the side field, that means that he's closer than not to returning. So I think right now the best case scenario, I mean, I don't know, unless you have a spot that opens up. Like, for example, if Dieter has to land on IR, I don't know what the extent of his injury is, but if Deeter is going to be lost for the season,
Starting point is 00:25:13 and hopefully that's not the case, well, then you have a spot that opens up there. Do you look at some of the veteran options out there? If I'm not mistaken, I think one of the guys, Sam Mustafa, who had to step in last year, I think he had just signed with, who was it, the 49ers of the Arizona Cardinals, It was one of those two teams.
Starting point is 00:25:29 I want to say, why don't I want to say Jacksonville? Was it Jacksonville? It was Jacksonville. It was. It was a small market team in Jacksonville. I like that. Small market team taking the Broncos big city, you know, practice squad guys there. But, you know who's available, Cody?
Starting point is 00:25:47 I mean, our old pal, Graham, Glasgow is available. James Daniels and Iowa Hawkeye is available. Can they play guard primarily doing the NFL? Yeah, he did play guard. primarily in the NFL. So I know Graham played a little of both for Detroit recently, and he was not very good at Center. That's why they signed Cade Mays, I think,
Starting point is 00:26:08 and he just got hurt as well. So, shoot. He might be back in Detroit. Maybe, yeah. I would say Calvin Throckmore is probably the best option right now, but here's a question I have for you, right? Because everyone is trying to get the answer from Sean Payton. Are the starter is going to play in Friday's game?
Starting point is 00:26:24 I want to see the starters play, but I don't want to see. see Bo Nix play if you have to be on the fourth string center in a preseason opener. I would much rather wait till next week where you're going to have some guys back more than likely and you can have Bo Nix play in front of the home crowd and preseason game number one at home, preseason game two overall. And then you get a lot of these other guys playing a lot more. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:26:48 Where are you at on this? Oh, 100%. I'm with you on that, Cody. I mean, it's Gavin Ruega, starting center for Bo Nix. Yeah, I don't, I don't know. I don't think so. I think you wait because the Falcons also play on turf, right? And so I think you want to take that into account.
Starting point is 00:27:05 And I just don't, yeah, I don't think you risk anything like that for the sake of, hey, let's go get his feet wet on the road, play on your own field, your own grass, with your own starting center. But I'm not, I want to do it in my house, right? I want to absolutely, this is like I can make my own food. I can sleep in my own bed. I can have my own snacks. Like you want that familiarity.
Starting point is 00:27:27 when Bo makes his return to the field post injury. The last thing you need is, like, him getting injured in Atlanta and then being like, well, shoot, like turf, the turf affected it or the backup center is affected it or whatever. So I think just wait for the circumstances to be right. He's getting plenty of reps in practice. Obviously, he's not getting hit out there in practice. So you want to see him continue to develop, do that,
Starting point is 00:27:52 let him make his debut at home, especially if the centers aren't playing. That is our question of the day for all of you listening out there in Broncos country. If Bo Nix has to be on the fourth string starting center here for the Broncos, would you want him to play on Friday's preseason game? Let us know your thoughts here on today's episode of the show. But I'll wrap up today's show. The Broncos will practice later on this afternoon, 1215 mountain time. I'll be there.
Starting point is 00:28:15 We'll have updates for you on tomorrow's episode of the show. Plus Sarah and I, we can't wait to preview. Friday's preseason opener. We got a couple of things coming your way, especially for Friday's episode, a final preview. then you get a postgame show as well on Friday following the Broncos preseason game. We'll have a lot of information for you in the next couple of days here. Make sure you stay locked in here at Lockdown Broncos. We'll see you tomorrow for a brand new episode of the show.

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