Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos Training Camp: Safety The BIGGEST STRENGTH On Defense?

Episode Date: July 10, 2025

With Denver Broncos training camp around the corner, it's safe to argue that their safety room is their biggest strength on defense. Can Talanoa Hufanga and Brandon Jones become one of the NFL's top safety duos? How does the depth behind them play out between P.J. Locke, JL Skinner, Devon Key, and others? Cody Roark is a credentialed beat reporter for Mile High Sports and covers the Broncos daily in person. Sayre Bedinger is the site expert for Predominantly Orange. Both bring Broncos Country the most in-depth and objective coverage of the Denver Broncos. WANT MORE DAILY DENVER BRONCOS CONTENT?For all of the latest Denver Broncos news today -- Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOBroncos?sid=YouTube Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL Follow on Twitter: @CodyRoarkNFL and @SayreBedingerFollow the show on Twitter: @LockedOnBroncos Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuelRight now, new customers can get $150 in BONUS BETS when your first $5 BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnfl for 50% off your first year. 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.

The Denver Broncos safety position is loaded with depth, and there are a handful of players fighting for those final third, fourth, and maybe fifth spots. Who's it going to be? We'll break it down 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 happening in Broncos country?

Welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, where you know it's your team every day for all your Broncos news content coverage analysis and more. This is the place to be every single day all year long. A special shout out to all the everydayers out there in Broncos country. Thank you so much for tuning in, making us your first listen. However you choose to do so, if you're brand new viewer and you want to be coming every day, it's easy. Hit that subscribe to that follow button wherever you get your podcast.

That way you never miss out on what's going on with your favorite team. I'm Cody Roark, Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports. And I'm Sarah Beninger's side expert at predominant. Orange.com. And our training camp position previews continues. We set the stage for training camp here later on this month, beginning early in Dove Valley, where we know the rookies report on the 16th and the veterans report on the 22nd. The safety position is loaded with depth here going into 2025. It is a room that is healthy right now. And it is a room I think will have the most impactful back-end depth behind the starters this upcoming season. We'll go through that. Plus, what's the competition look like for the third? fourth and fifth safety spots that we anticipate the Broncos will carry onto their 53 man roster. More importantly, we'll go through the biggest question surrounding the safety group, which is, can this group stay healthy? We'll dive into all that.

And more on today's episode of the show. Sir, let's set the table here, the safety position, the outlook for this position, I think for the Broncos going into the season. I'm curious to know how you feel about this because I know when we used to do these shows and these previews, Back when it was Kareem Jackson, Justin Simmons, the two solidified starters at this position in place, I didn't feel like we worried too much about this depth. We knew that these guys were Ironmen. They could play sustainably here in the NFL.

You didn't have to worry about the missing time due to injuries. Well, the Broncos are hoping that trend kind of falls in line with this group this upcoming season because you have Brandon Jones. You add Talanoa Hufanga and NFL Free Agency. These are going to be your two new starters. Brandon Jones returns, but Talenoa Hufanga, a new starter here for this team. These guys are the top guys. And then everything behind them is very interesting with the depth options that are in place

right now. Dare I say the duo of Tallanoa Hufanga and Brandon Jones is actually more physical than the duo of Kareem Jackson and Justin Simmons, which were mainstays, obviously from 2019 until 2022, right? I think that was kind of when it kind of fizzled out a little bit more. And so with these two guys. Guys, Cody, you have a physical presence. I mean, I think Brandon Jones delivered some of the biggest hits we saw from anybody on the Denver Broncos defense last year. I was shocked to see how physical he was back there because kind of felt like he was more so known for being a ball hawk on the back end. And he was good for a couple of seasons as a blitzer under Brian Flores with the Miami Dolphins. And so you figured he could play that role. But man, he brought some serious physicality to the position and was fear.

out there, which you love to see. And that's kind of the M.O. for Talenoa Hufanga as well, isn't it? I mean, he's just that heat-seeking missile that, you know, bordering on reckless with the way that he throws his body around out there. And obviously, you want to see these guys be able to be the perfect blend of physical, aggressive, but also staying on the field. And yes, you have to stay within the bounds, too, of what the NFL allows you to do in terms of being physical. And that's where I think these two guys can be huge assets for the Broncos is they understand the rules that are in place. It's not like they're out there just being dirty, being overly violent. It's a violent game regardless.

But these two guys seem to know how to hone their aggressiveness and physicality into the rules of the game to be able to use it to their advantage as opposed to it being something that you have to worry about on a week-to-week basis. When we talk about Talano Hu Fongo, I get a use. He was one of my favorite terms when describing a player and the way that he plays, right? He's a piss missile with the way that he plays on the football field. I mean, this is a guy who rotates down at the box, blitzes into the A gap, blitz is off the edge. This is a guy who just thumps people anywhere the football is. He's there. And I feel like if you're an offensive player, you're always, you're anxious going into a game against who fun.

He's like, man, this guy, this guy is everywhere. Like, let me breathe a little bit. Like if you're a running back, you know, trying to get an outside run or if you're a wide receiver on a jet sweep or you're going to across the middle. You're just praying that number 29 doesn't hit you, though he's going to be wearing number nine here for the Denver Broncos this upcoming season. No questions there. Brandon Jones, Hufanga, the solidified starters. But Denver's got quality depth all behind those guys right here. And it starts with PJ Locke, followed by J.L. Skinner, DeLarion, Turner, Yale, veteran Sam Franklin, Jr. And you have a guy like Keedron Smith, who made the 53-man

roster last season after a very impressive preseason performance. by him and Devin Key as another name there. This is a room that is loaded with guys. And really for Sean Payton, he said the biggest key when I asked him this offseason program, what do you want to see from those guys? He says, well, it's hard to make, you know, an NFL roster in the 53 if you're not starting a safety and you're not playing special teams. So that's the key right there.

Whoever emerges as the better special teams providers here for Darren Rizzi, I think will make up that third, fourth, and fifth spot at the safety position. though I know we're going to dive deeper into that as the show goes on here today. But let's go through the names here that we did. And we kind of discussed. I mean, Sarah, how do you kind of see this shaping out here for the Broncos? Well,

I like the duo that you have at the top. Obviously, you feel like those guys could potentially be the best starting safety duo in the NFL with Hufanga and Jones. But then behind them, you've got a guy who has a ton of experience in PJ Locke. And there was some discussion earlier in the offseason amongst the, you know, the media and the people like me,

who write these kind of articles, like, you know, you try to follow the breadcrumbs. And you felt like PJ Locke could potentially be a cut or trade candidate based on his salary this year and the lack of guaranteed money on his contract left. But obviously the Broncos want to prioritize having a guy like that as a depth option because of the fact that you do have a couple of injury. I don't want to say injury prone players, but guys who have been injured or struggled with injuries, even last year, Brandon Jones struggled at times. And we saw over the year that that position group in particular was sort of exposed as the season went along, especially late in the year.

And so you want to have quality depth and you want to have young guys that you believe in. I feel like the Broncos have the best combination of that, right? They have guy like J.L. Skinner who, you know, everybody in Broncos country felt like he was the steal of that 2023 draft class. Everybody's, we get questions all the time and comments all the time. Like what, what's the progress update on J.L. Skinner? How's J.L. Skinner looking at practice? Everybody wants to know he's like that unicorn at the position, a 6 foot four rare type of safety who he's got some ball skills.

He's got some range. He can do a lot of different things with his physicality. But man, to take the next step in his game would be huge for this Denver defense. So you almost feel like the Broncos just not quite to the same degree, but you've got a bit of an embarrassment of riches at the safety position, which is essential. I think in today's NFL, when you're going up against teams that have so many good receivers, so many good athletic options at tight end, and then running backs out of the backfield,

you can catch passes as well. Well, and I think when you look at the list of names there that we've all talked about there, you mentioned PJ, J.L, Devin Key, Sam Franklin, Jr., Delarian, Ternio, Keedron Smith. I mean, you're going to have extensive competition, which we'll highlight here in a minute, but I feel like it raises the overall ceiling and maybe the floor of that room here for the Broncos is in terms of, all right, we know, no matter how this plays out, we feel like we have quality depth behind guys like Talanoho Fonga, behind guys like Brandon Jones, we have guys that we feel like can step in and play. And look, Devin Keyes got some starting experience to his belt. And so is

some of these other guys. Sam Franklin, Jr., I think his only interception of his career where he got some defensive snaps. I feel like, I think it was a 99-yard pick six. I think it was against Kirk Cousins, if I'm not mistaken. But I go back and fact-checked that. But I know he did have a 99-yard pick six against somebody and some of the limited action he stepped on the field for defensively throughout his NFL career here. But how is this competition behind Brandon Jones and Talanoa Hufanga going to play out here this upcoming season? We're going to dive deep into what players like PJ Locke, J.L. Skinner, Devin Key, and

others need to do to solidify themselves those spots. And we'll share our predictions as to who those final three safeties will be here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Bronco's country. Today's episode of the show is brought to you by our friends over there at Fandu. And as you don't know, Fandu, they are America's number one sports book. And summer sports are in full swing. And whether you're all about baseball under the lights, golf on the green or high-stay soccer action, Fandu is the best way to make every game even more exciting. You're already following the action. So why not make it a little more thrilling with Fandu? You can get it on the game while your friends are getting sunburned at the beach.

There's a lot of regular season baseball games. All right. We get 162 games. but with Fanduil makes regular season games feel like must watch events and it's easy to use and very fast to pay out. So if you're new to Fandual, new customers can bet just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Open the Fandual app today or visit Fandual.com to get started. Will the Denver Broncos keep four or five safeties this year? And how do they differentiate between those guys who are going to be on the team behind the starting duo of Talaunaa? Hufanga and Brandon Jones this coming season. Broncos country, it's a great time to be excited about a Denver defense that could be

the best it's had in a decade. This Denver Broncos defense is loaded. And part of what makes a great defense so great, Cody, we all know this. It is depth. I mean, you have to have a great starting group, but you have to have guys that can step up in time of neat, right? And the Broncos back in the Super Bowl 50 days, they had that as well, especially at the safety position.

And they had depth and they had guys who could step up in a pinch. You had guys who could play great special teams. That's what you need to make a great roster in today's NFL. And the Broncos have outstanding depth at the safety position. The question becomes when you're doing roster gymnastics, do you keep four guys? Do you keep five guys? What differentiates all those players? Where do you even begin with this conversation?

I think obviously PJ Locke leads the way in terms of those backup guys. or the guys who you feel like could start for you in a situation that calls for it. What do you think is that key for anybody that's competing for one of these three spots? And is it three spots? Yeah. I mean, I feel like it is going to be three spots that are really open here for the taking for the Broncos. And, you know, how many they keep a cornerback is also going to be deciding factors. Because usually sometimes we see anywhere between 11 to 12 total players between both of those

position units make the 53 man roster. So is it going to be six cornerbacks this upcoming season compared to five safeties. Could it be six and six potentially? I mean, it really just depends on what Denver may want to do with that extra roster spot that they used last year on Zach Wilson as the extra QB on the 53 man roster. Could that go to defense? Could that go to offense? Kind of up in the air.

I feel like safety would be a great position to maybe have one of those extra guys because of special teams here. You mentioned that depth about Super Bowl 50 and the guys that they had there. Obviously, we know the T.J. Ward. Darien Stewart. They had David Bruton. They also had a guy in Josh Bush in the mix as well, Omar Bolden and then eventually down the stretch, it was Shiloh Kato coming on to the roster as well, which was wild here. But as pertains to PJ, he's got the previous starting experience.

He's shown that he can be a starter here in the NFL. He's shown that he can be an effective blitzer, especially from the slot when they bring him down. I mean, how many times did we see him make a big play? I mean, he should have called game there against Aaron Rogers and the Jets on week four, had that fourth down sack there and then Denver kind of screwed everything up after that but barely held on to win against the Jets. We've seen him come up with big sacks against guys like C.J. Stratt like PJ has been. And I think also at times throughout his career in the last three years, Sarah, we've seen PJ make some clutch plays for the Broncos,

the game winning interception against the Green Bay Packers back in 2023. We saw the peanut punch in 2022 against the San Francisco 49ers that helped the Broncos win that game. What was it, 11 to 10? Like PJ is a clutch player, but he's also grown on a year to year basis. And he's kind of got this sour rap in the eyes of a lot of the fan base last season. I think PJ played a lot better than people thought. But the Broncos obviously wanted to upgrade at that position, or they're maybe looking to challenge the younger guys because they want to see a lot here out of J.L. Skinner,

who they want to take the next step this upcoming season, whether it be as a dime linebacker, whether it be as a big nickel player in certain packages, J.L. is the type of player that could be a little bit of a weapon here defensively, depending on what opponent you're playing and the style of offense that they have. I think a team like the Philadelphia Eagles might be the opportunity here for a guy like J.L. Skinner to see more playing time, but PJ's been a proven guy. Does PJ compete with him for that role? What about Devin Key who stepped in as a starter for the Broncos last season? And really outside of the Baltimore game, did a really good job filling in. That to me is also another question. You got guys like Delarian Turner Yale, who's really, you know,

he was more of a guy that got some starting reps early on. That was really his kind of first starting action in the NFL. It came in that Miami Dolphins game where the Broncos gave up 70 points. And I think that soured a lot of the Broncos country's perception of Turner Yale. But I'd say that he's a young player who's continuing to ascend, contributed on special teams. And then you also have Keedron Smith, who was an impressive young ball hawk as well.

So for me, so much of this is going to boil down to how many guys Denver decides to keep, which I think are going to be. three additional guys behind Jones and Hufanga. To me, I feel like Skinner and a guy like PJ Locke, I feel like these guys are locks here for the roster with that final spot really kind of being up for grabs here. And that's where I would ask the question. And I want to know your opinion on this.

Like what percentage chance would we give Sam Franklin, who the team signed knowing that he is that special teams ace? He's a guy that that's the evaluation on him. Like you said, He had to pick six off Kurt Cousins. That's really the only play of note that he's made. And that's a notable play. It's a big play.

But that was a couple years ago. And he doesn't play a ton of defense. He was brought into Denver to play special teams. So where do you put the percentage chance if you had to do it today on? Why do you sign a guy like that? You sign him to come and play special teams. Is that a Tremont Smith type of move? Or is this more of a, let's see what he can do in, you know,

with the preseason games and let's give him a try as opposed to we're signing a guy that we know is going to be part of our core special teams. I feel like I'm going to have to see a little bit more just because didn't didn't see much in the offseason program that really kind of stood out to me. Granted, the pads aren't on, right? And that kind of skews a little bit of the early on evaluation stuff. So I think a training camp in preseason, we really are going to find out. But I would have put his chances above a guy like Devon Key, who in my opinion was a very important special team. player for the Broncos last year was a core four guy. He had the important role of personal protector, which if you know when you study that gunner and personal protector on punt team are

some of the most important positions in the game on special teams. And I like some of the things that we saw from him on the defensive side of the ball last season. So that to me, I would kind of put the advantage right now, at least going into camp with Devin Keat kind of being ahead. But then a Keedron Smith, I mean, is Keedron going to be a guy who, you know, once again just balls out in the preseason and makes it a little undeniable case to say, hey, like I'm getting takeaways. What did it? I think he had, what, four interceptions in three games?

Last year, it was three and three or was four and three. It was one of the other, but he had takeaways and that's what secured him a roster spot here for that depth. To me, I think the favor right now going into camp is going to be Devin Key behind, obviously PJ Locke and J.L. Skinner. Yeah, I could see that being the case as well, especially because you know that, these these broncos coaches like you coaches have to love the guys who come up out of nowhere or they were signed to reserve future contact like as much as you want to say you know sean

payton takes the logos off the helmets during the off season and you slap a player's name on his helmet i don't know that that has anything to do with necessarily like your roster chance i think that's just more of like uh hey everybody is in the same boat here like we're none of us is uh nobody's a Bronco just yeah that's kind of the the vibe that I get from it right is like it's official that you're a Bronco and your stickers logo yeah you earn your sticker there um and so I know that he likes that everybody's in the same boat type of mentality and I can't help but feel like coaches have a little bit of a bias towards guys like that who they worked their way up they weren't big free agent signings they weren't drafted they were written off like you you can't help but think they

almost look at guys like that a little bit differently and sort of, you know, secretly root for them to be the ones who make the team. And if it's close, to me, Cody, I think you go with the guy that you believe has more upside in the longer term. That's how PJ Locke has stuck around as long as he has. I feel like the coaches have seen, okay, the upside is there. He could contribute in this way. He just needs growth in this area.

He needs confidence in this area. That's where those undrafted, unheralded guys are going to get the nod over more proven guys because coaches and scouts are saying this guy has a little bit more potential. So if you feel like it's a toss up, give it to the younger guy with more potential who might be, you know, might have less experience. And I remember asking Sean Payton last offseason program right before training camp about Devin Key. And he went in a kind of great detail about why, you know, he's a player that's really impressed. Like he stood out. He's doing all the things right in the playbook. Like Devin Key showed that. Like that, what Sean Payton said, Devin Key went out there, I think,

preseason and in the regular season because of his role that he had, I think he proved Sean right in that evaluation, right? Because you never want to be the coach that says something about a guy and then he fizzles out and doesn't do anything, right, and gets caught and doesn't make the roster. Devin is a guy who works extremely hard and this is a guy who I think has grown so much. And in the couple of years I've gotten to see him in that locker room. He's going to be a guy. I think there's the unquestioned favor right now.

I know we mentioned the tie about like Sam Franklin Jr. and Trent Sherfield, but Sarah, if they're going to keep Trent Sherfield as an extra guy because especially teams, why not do that and have a guy like Chris Abrams drain? Like guys, you need that, that are going to be on this roster that you need to play special teams, take up those snaps. And that's, you know, like I said, J.O. Skinner's going to still play special teams.

If P.J. Locke makes the roster, he's going to play special teams. You know, same thing for Devin Keith. He makes the roster. He's going to play special teams. Do it to guys that are actually going to have a chance to play on special teams, but also have more of a chance to play on defense where I think Devin Key just has the advantage over everybody else right now at this point. Look, Broncos country, we want to hear from you.

What are your thoughts on the safety position? Do you think they'll carry two additional safeties or three additional guys on this roster going into the regular season? And if so, who are those names? Share that with us here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. But the biggest question surrounding the Broncos and the safety position has everything to do with health. Can this unit stay healthy? We'll debate and discuss here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. Health is paramount in the National Football League.

And the Broncos safety position is one that will be under the might. microscope this upcoming season, especially as training camp approaches here in just about a week, week and a half here, Broncos country. We appreciate you so much for tuning in, rocking with us here. This is the theme. And I'd say as we look at these training camp position previews, we're always ending our shows by asking the biggest question about these position rooms. And I think when we look at safety right now, the biggest one here, Sarah, when you look at all the names involved here, can this group stay healthy? That is the question.

I think when you look at guys like Hufanga, J.L. Skinner, P.J. Locke, Brandon Jones, if you look at their 2024 season, all these guys had 16 missed games combined between them due to injury. This is a position group that if the Broncos defense is going to be successful this upcoming season and live up to those expectations that people have of them, they have to stay healthy, especially at safety. They do. And I wonder where you set the over under in terms of the number of games that you figure you're going to get out of all these guys. I mean, that's kind of an unfair thing to do at this point in the year. You hope for, go ahead. I was going to say, do we do it based on like if the names that I just mentioned with the starters and the key backup guys who anticipate,

if that was 16 games missed last year, is that where we said it like over under 16 games between all of those guys combined? That would, that's tough. I mean, maybe, maybe that is. And I would hope that we take the, I would hope we get the under, obviously. You want to see these guys on the field. I mean, if the Broncos can, maybe we flip that question too a little bit and to say, if the Broncos get 14 or more games out of the combination of Hufanga and Jones, do they then have multiple all-pro safeties?

Because if these guys are able to stay on the field, I think that they're going to be extremely productive. Now, the only way that I can see this going south is if Hufanga misses a bunch of time or Jones misses a bunch of time and one guy's playing a role that. that, well, he's playing this role because Jones has hurt or because the other guys hurt. I think that's where you get into a little bit of a pickle. Not because they can't play those roles, but because you want to maximize the duo being out there and them both doing what they do best at all time.

So I think there is a symbiotic relationship between a safety duo. And I also think that there's value in having a player like we saw Jones thrive last year. and he was the really the most consistent guy at safety the Broncos have. I think having Hufanga next to him or out there with him is going to make him that much better. So to me, I think if you can get 14 or more games out of both of these guys this year, I think that you have a good chance of having two, not saying first team all pro, I'm saying like one of the top eight safeties or top four safeties in the NFL. I think you could have two guys with that distinction.

Well, I think you certainly said it earlier. I think you could also have the potential to have one of the best safety duos in all of the NFL. You know, we've seen some changes in the off season from several teams out there that have made some changes to their defense. I think it's a perfect time for these guys. If Brandon Jones and Talanoho who can at least play 16 games each or even 14, you know, that's tough. I know it's a two game difference from 16, but those things can make a big difference, right? And also I was just thinking as you were talking about that, our over, under between all these guys, if we had it at a 16, it could drastically be impacted if one guy misses a large portion of time, right?

One guy can miss like 12 games and it really throws off the entire sample size here. So that'd be a hard question to ask here. Maybe another question we can use here at the safety position I think about is how can the addition? Because we saw it with Brandon Jones last year. Brandon was a, I would say a tremendous surprise just because we didn't know what we were going to see from, especially because he didn't practice all of training camp because he had an injury, He didn't play in the preseason. Our first look at Brandon Jones in a Broncos uniform came against the Seattle Seahawks.

And we're like, wow, okay, this guy, he's everywhere. He could play. We saw it in Tampa Bay, intercepting Baker-Mefood. Okay, this guy can play. What does he have? He has a fumble recovery in that same game. All right. Brandon Jones, great signing there by George Payton, Sean Payton,

who Fonga, we've seen the sample size of him. When healthy, this guy is one of the best hard-hitting safeties in the NFL. My question here, with. this in consideration, we'll put an asterisk on this, these guys staying healthy, how much does Talanoa Hufanga elevate this safety room and also elevate really this Broncos defense looking at the pieces of inside linebacker and also the secondary, maybe even the defensive line, because you almost have to, if you're going to be in the boxes of safety, you're going to have that symbiotic relationship with having to know which way your

defensive line is going to stunt so you don't blitz the wrong hole. That to me, I think, is I think another big question here. I think it has the potential to be that type of move that at the end of the year, people in the NFL media are saying like this was the best move any team made defensively and really not a lot of people talked about it. I know that there was the initial buzz after he signed in Denver and, you know, leaving the 49ers. He's a former second team all pro.

And Sean Payton acknowledged that part of the reason why the Broncos were able to get the guys they did in free agency. It's no secret. It's because they've had injuries. And he said, like, they probably wouldn't have hit free agency if they didn't have the injuries. So you take those kind of calculated risks. But if Hufanga is on the field, like we saw the 49ers defense was outstanding when he

was out there constantly around the ball, constantly causing havoc. There's a saying that I love to use Cody, just like yours. I love to talk about a guy who's like a bat out of hell. you know, it just seems like he causes chaos. And there's no, it's a controlled chaos though with a guy like him. Like he seems like he's just kind of flying all over the field with reckless abandon. And yet it's with intention. He, he's always around the football.

He makes it feel like your defense has 12 guys. And he's just that type of impact player that could take this Denver defense from sputtering to third in points allowed last year to establishing itself. atop of the NFL as the number one defense. That's the kind of impact that I think he can make in creating turnovers, in shutting down drives, in stopping plays in the red zone, at doing everything, creating more three and outs.

I think Hufanga is that guy that if he stays healthy, he takes Denver's defense to that level that we didn't see them get to last year. Which I think in today's game, man, it's so hard when you factor in all the rules that favor the offense. And you look at a guy like Hufanga and how physical he, plays. It's almost kind of like this fine line. Like the game I feel like has transitioned over the last handful of years. Kareem Jackson is ironic example here. But the way Kareem played

when Kareem first came into the NFL, I would even say when Kareem was a member of the Houston Texans and he blew up Philip Lindsay, maybe even his first year in Denver. The way that Kareem played used to be encouraged. It was encouraged because it's just physical. It is violent. It is dominant. It's not dirty, but it's violent in a sense because of the physicality aspect of it. Whereas in today's NFL, Sarah, anytime we see someone get hit really hard, even if it's with a shoulder to a shoulder or shoulder to a chest, what do we see? A yellow flag.

I feel like that has a chance to creep into the minds of hard hitting players like whofonger and saying, hey, you have to change the way that you play because you hit guys too hard. Well, you know, you're going to get flagged for it. And even if it's not dirty, you're going to get fined probably $45,000 for being too physical. That to me is where I have such a frustration. I feel like it's so hard for these guys that play the positions like that. That's something I'm eager to see how it maybe plays out here for the Broncos. A little bit of a note here. We were talking about Kareem a little bit.

He's on the Broncos. I don't know if it's an internship, but he's been with the Broncos this offseason through the entire offseason program and kind of like this player personnel role here with George Payton. So I think that's kind of cool here. I remember seeing Kareem. I was like, wait a minute. I don't remember anything happening. I don't remember an announcement of that, but I saw Kriam was like, hey, that's Kajak. Okay, there we go. So we'll see how things are going here. Obviously, with that.

And I wonder what Kareem's thoughts would be on the additions of Telenlo Fuanga and obviously what Brandon Jones was able to do now that he's in a role with the team that he used to play for. Interesting thoughts here. But Broncos country, make sure you let us know your thoughts here on this training camp position preview on the safety position for you. Every dayers, here's what you can expect. Tomorrow's episode, Sarah and I, we're going to take a look at the Broncos wide receiver room. and while Sean Payton said roster spots aren't necessarily up for grabs. Touches are who can get the most touches this upcoming season behind Cortland Sutton. We'll debate and discuss that on tomorrow's episode.

Lock on Broncos.