Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos TRENCH DEPTH Stout With Quinn Meinerz, Zach Allen Leading The Charge

Episode Date: May 22, 2025

The Denver Broncos depth in the trenches is stout on the offensive line and defensive line. Will Luke Wattenberg have competition at center in training camp, and how solidified is the Broncos offensive line depth behind Garett Bolles, Mike McGlinchey, Quinn Meinerz and Ben Powers? Plus, the Broncos defensive line depth is a massive strength of theirs, but could money get in the way of the future of this group? 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!FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. Skylight CalendarRight now, Skylight is offering our listeners $30 off their 15 inch Calendars by going to Skylightcal.com/NFL. LinkedInPost your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply. 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 are going to win games this season in the trenches. We'll take a look at what the depth looks like on offense and on defense in these categories on today's episode. Lock on Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. What's up, Broncos country? Welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast. Part of the Lockdown podcast, Eric Reno.

It is your team every day. Thank you so much to all the every day. there in Broncos country. Thanks for tuning in making us your first listen. However, you choose to do so. And if you're not yet in every day or be coming by hitting that subscriber, that follow button. So you never miss out on the best Broncos news, content, coverage, analysis, and more every single day all year long. I'm Cody Roark, Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports. And I'm Sarah Bedinger, site expert at predominantly orange.com. And here's what we have in store for you on today's episode of the shows. We continue a look at our depth chart series. We're taking a look at the

where games are won and lost in the NFL. It's like the witching hour on the NFL Red Zone channel here, but we're going to take a look at the Broncos interior offensive line and looking at them, having solidified starters, except maybe at the center position. Is there a question at that position? We'll also transition to offensive tackle. The Broncos have two starters position there,

but what does the future look like at the position? And then we'll also dive deep into the trenches on the defensive line. The Broncos make some moves in the NFL draft. We'll take a look at whether or not that puts someone's rock roster status in question going into 2026 rather than this season itself. We're going to break all that down and much more on today's episode of the show. Sarah, let's kick it off by going into the interior offensive line, interior crocodile alligator. It's an Easter egg.

It may be aging me a little bit. Some people might be wondering what the heck I'm talking about. Go YouTube exactly what I said. It'll make your entire day. It'll be a jam that's stuck in your head. Appreciate your Broncos country. But interior offensive line, Sarah, you know, the bread and butter where I feel like the success of this offense is really predicated on how the interior O line plays.

Of course, you need your offensive tackles to be good. We'll get to the tackle play here in a little bit, but the interior is where all the moving pieces seem to fit. And luckily the Broncos, they have an all pro. They have a pro bowl guard. But our three positions here is left guard, center, and right guard solidified. Right guard is, left guard is. But what about the center position?

That's what I wonder as well. And I know we saw Luke Wattenberg start for the majority of. of last year for the Denver Broncos, really his first year as a full-time starter. And getting that opportunity, Cody, after Lloyd Cushingberry left in free agency, was no small deal because Lloyd kind of revamped his career in 23 in the first year of Sean Payton's time with the Denver Broncos. And so it was a tough loss on paper, but Wattenberg stepped up to the task. It felt like a solid overall first year as a starter for him, although I continually took issue

with the fact that I felt like there were so many snaps that floated back to Bo Nix just weirdly when the team was in the shotgun. And it also seemed like the running game was better when Alex Forsyth took over when Wattonberg went down with an injury last season. So I think there were some aspects of it to where you grade on the curve of saying, hey, this was this first year as a starter for Wattonberg. And therefore, it was actually pretty decent. But at the same time, this is an offensive line that might be the best O line in the NFL

overall. And if he's the weak link, how do you improve that? Is it banking on his development? Is it banking on the young guys that you have that you hope to step up? I think that's an interesting dilemma that the Broncos have, especially because Wattenberg now is entering a contract year and you already have four guys with big money deals on that offensive line. And that's why I think we look at it as is this position solidified for Denver? Because I mean, you know, for Wattenberg, it's been unfortunate to kind of start that he's had to his Kerr, like rookie season, he got thrown into the fire offensive tackle and had a really, really rough showing there. And that was when the Nathaniel Hackett era happened. But, I mean, the Broncos have invested patience in him. I think that they felt like moving him to the interior outline is probably better suited for him as a guard or obviously as a center. We saw him fill in for Quinn Miners at Guard when Quinn had that little health scare in Los Angeles a couple years ago. But then obviously last year we got to see him at center where, you know, there was a competition in training camp. there were three guys.

It was Sam Moose for Alex Forsyth and Luke Waddenberg. Well, Luke Wattenberg got all the reps, you know, at the first team center, you know, despite the fact that Alex Forsyth and Bo Nix had that previous connection going back to their time at Oregon where Forsyce snapped the ball to Bo Nix. So I found that to be a little bit of an interesting factor and all the equation here. I agree with you. I did feel like the run game was a little bit more noticeable and present when Alex Forsyth was the center there, especially when we talk about the zone blocking scheme.

scheme. It seemed like Forsyth understood the angles in which to approach, you know, to seal off a, you know, and create a hole, you know, when he's working on a double team working up to, you know, play side lineback or we're trying to climb out, you know, to the safety, depending on where that safety was lined up. I felt like we saw a little bit more consistency in the run game. Obviously with Wattenberg, you mentioned the injury, had that ankle sprain that really did linger on for quite some time. He missed some time, but he also played with, you know, through a sprain as well. So I think this is going to be a big year. for Wattonberg in terms of, is he going to show that he can be the center here long term for Sean Payton, or at least for the next two to three years in a contract year? But I also find it interesting. That's why the Broncos, they've gone out there and they've invested, you know, some undrafted capital and some potential players there. And I think this is maybe where Clay Webb kind of factors into the equation. Look, we get OTAs next week.

I want to ask Sean if the vision for a guy like Clay Webb, is that at center? Is that at guard? Is it, you know, a little bit of both being able to play? both those positions because part of me is wondering with Ben Powers and with Luke Wattenberg, you have two of these guys who's, you know, we don't know what their future is beyond, like beyond 2025, is this where a guy like Clay Webb comes in and at what position does that factor in the equation? That is where I am a little interested in it.

There's also another name too, Sarah, we haven't talked about. Nick Garjulo. Yeah. Yeah, Nick Garjulo, I think kind of a draft and stash player for the Denver Broncos last year, they brought him up late in the season, which I think kind of. of indicated that they didn't want any team poaching him at the last minute away from the team and they didn't want to risk, okay, you're going through the reserve future contract situation. You could get an offer from another team. They wanted to keep him around, obviously.

And so there's, there's an interesting kind of, you know, two sides of this coin here, because over the course of Sean Peyton's history, we saw in New Orleans, like he invested on the interior offensive line throughout multiple, almost two decades there, a decade and a half. He invested in the interior offensive line, whether it was free agency, trades, or the draft heavily and significantly so. You know, he traded Jimmy Graham for Max Unger, drafted first round guys, second round guys. The center position in Denver feels like they're going with a bit more of a money ball approach. And I think that's a testament to offensive line coach, Zach Streep, who's done a tremendous job. The Broncos, I believe Cody promoted him this offseason to keep him around as well.

He's getting attention from other teams. So you keep a guy like that around and you believe in your development process. Maybe Sean has turned over a different sort of leaf here at this position or in this, you know, particular area of roster building to say, hey, I believe that I can get the most out of guys that are late round, undrafted players. And the players that you mentioned like Clay Webb and Nick Garzullo, Alex Forsyth, I think it's going to be fascinating to see where guys are getting reps here in the 2025 five offseason because that could give us a clue as to what the team is maybe envisioning down the line.

You mentioned the promotion for Zach Streif, which is interesting because I feel like the structure, we just talked about the front office for Denver and the restructure in there. The coaching staff, the way that they're also titling things for guys is interesting. Zach Streif obviously was the offensive line coach. He's the offensive run game coordinator slash assistant head coach, found that to be interesting. And then you go down, assistant offensive line is Chris Morgan at that point. offensive line assistant Evan Rothstein. He's also the director of game management at that point.

So they have a bunch of different titles for guys, but even look on the defensive side of the ball, Jim Leonard, defensive past game coordinator slash assistant head coach. So they're handing out on offense, defense, and special team, an assistant head coach title, Darren Rizzi gets the special teams one. I find that to be interesting when we look at, you know, the coaching staff structure and maybe how it's all formulated here. But I agree with you here, the offensive line.

I think having, I'd say good tackle and good guard play is crucial, right? Because remember what we had said when Lloyd Cushingberry was struggling when he was an issue with the Broncos, it was that, okay, they didn't necessarily have a guard right next to them that allowed him to excel. Ironically enough, that ended up being, I think, Dalton Reisner at that point, who's not on an NFL team at this juncture. But I think having two really good guards next to a center or even a young guy, especially like a Wattenberg or a Forsyth or a Clay Webb or Nick Garjulo,

that money ball approach that you're talking about, I think is protected by having good guard play. I think you can make up for a lot of stuff because you're going to have the best guard. I think in all the football, Zach Allen even tell you that a lot of people in the NFL community will tell you that Quinn Miner is the best guard in football. That helps out a lot. So we'll see how everything changes as we get into some, you know, obviously some off season programming OTAs next week, mandatory minicamp in three weeks from now. And then obviously there's going to be that layoff period. Then it's training camp. And that's where we'll really get an idea as to what the rotation looks like, maybe what roles the Broncos have envisioned for some of these players on the interior offensive line here.

But Broncos country, we're going to continue to talk about the offensive line. Offensive tackle is a position that is set for the Broncos. We know who the starters are. But what does it look like in the future in the next couple of years? The Broncos have a guy on the roster that could take over for either a Garrett Bulls or a Mike McGlenshy if the time comes. We'll debate and discuss that here on today's episode. Lockdown Broncos. Today's episode, Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by LinkedIn.

And if you're a small business owner, you know that your work does not end when the clock hits five. Your business, it's always on your mind, which means when it's time to hire, you need that partner that works just as hard as you do and shares your dream. That's where LinkedIn jobs comes in because when you clock out, LinkedIn clocks in. And look, Broncos country, LinkedIn makes it easy to post your job for free. You could share it with your network and you can get qualified candidates all in one place. LinkedIn's new post-your-job feature. It can help you write job descriptions and then quickly get your job out in front of the right people with deep candidate insights. And here's a pro tip.

Add the hashtag hiring frame to your profile picture on LinkedIn to double your reach to qualified candidates. It's no wonder that 72% of small businesses say that LinkedIn helps them find high-quality hires. So what are you waiting for, Brockos country? Get on the train right now. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash locked on NFF. that's LinkedIn.com slash locked on NFL to post your job for free terms and conditions apply. The Denver Broncos are running it back at the offensive tackle position in 2025 with Garrett Bulls and Mike McGlinchey. But who are those diamonds in the rough waiting in the wings?

We're going to tell you why Alex Palchowski, Frank Crum, and maybe a couple of other sleepers could be in the mix as future starters for the Denver Broncos here on today's episode. Lockdown Broncos and Broncos Country. Thanks so much for making us your first listen of the day every single day. We appreciate you all so much who make us part of your day. However you choose to do so, and if you haven't already done so, take a couple of seconds. Hit subscribe on your favorite podcast platform or maybe also on YouTube. If you haven't done that already, especially if you're an everyday listener of the show, you can help us out.

Go over to YouTube. Hit subscribe over there as well to get this show out in front of many members of Broncos Country. Cody, the offensive tackle position, we mentioned this often because, it's one of the craziest stats there is. The Broncos have not drafted an offensive tackle since they took Garrett Bowles in 2017. And this has been a position of major struggle up until Sean Payton came around, I would say, especially at right tackle, which was maybe as much of a revolving door, if not more so, than the quarterback position.

Remember, even dating back to the 2015 campaign when the Broncos won the Super Bowl, Offensive tackle has been a problem area for the Denver Broncos. Now you've got two solidified starters that are entering their third year together as bookends. But I think the more interesting storyline is, does this team have some developmental starters waiting in the wings? And we got a glimpse to that last year with Alex Palchese stepping in at right tackle. Yeah, and I would say he's probably the one guy that probably has the most credence to his name about being a potential future starter here. And look, you know, Mike McGlinchie, one of the highest paid Broncos right now on the roster. Garrett Bull has just got a contract extension.

You have these two guys locked in for the foreseeable future, which is good, right? But you always, as the NFL train continues to move as guys get older, I mean, obviously, even if factoring in injuries, which the Broncos experienced at last year, Mike McGlinchie being one of them, it did give us that glimpse at Alex Paucheski, who came in. I think after that week two injury or during that week two game against the Pittsburgh Steel. when McGlinchy suffered the MCL spraying that landed him on IR for about four and a half weeks, really up until the point of that week seven matchup on Thursday night football against the New Orleans Saints. And we're going to see Paucheschi go.

And then Paucheschi suffered an ankle injury himself, which was a little frustrating to see. But I think what we saw in that time when Pauchesky was on the field, we were even having conversations last year, Sarah, about what are the Broncos going to do? Because there was no movement, no traction on a Garrett Bulls extension during the season, as we were talking about looking at the future a little bit at that position. We were thinking, okay, or the Broncos going to move on from Garrett Bulls after this year, because that was the last year of his deal before the extension, is Paucheschi to move the left tackle and McGlenshy going to be your right tackle?

Are you going to move McGlenshy to left tackle because the Broncos and Sean Payton said that they view Powco as a right tackle. We were having those discussions. If anything, I think Pauchesky may be the future successor, potentially to Mike McGlenshy, whenever that may be. I don't think that's going to be anytime soon. I think McGlenshy is still playing a high level of football. We'll see and obviously I think this is a big year for McGlinchie as well.

With Garibuels locked in, doesn't really seem like there's going to be anybody being uprooted. So Paucheschi, I feel like when we look at that three deep, he's that third guy. He's that next offensive lineman. And though I will say last year, Matt Parr, who struggled in the preseason, he actually looked pretty good in the regular season when he got thrown in. I thought Perth handled himself well when there were times. I think Garrett Bulls even left the field for a couple of plays due to, to a potential injury, was able to come back in.

I liked what I saw from Paucheski, but then there's Frank Crum, who was the undrafted guy who made the roster last season here for Denver. I found that to be interesting. There's things that they like about Crum, but he didn't have the greatest preseason in his NFL debut. Yeah, and he got on the field a time or two last year. We saw briefly he was out there, and he's that big athletic guy at the offensive tackle spot, right?

He's one of those guys that you take a shot on after the draft and somebody that you might have even had a draftable grade on. And you take that guy and you just say, all right, we're banking on the talent here. I think it's kind of cool to see guys like Frank Crum and Nick Garzulo. They've been going to Nuggets games this year with Bo Nix. And not that that necessarily means anything, but it might mean something. You know, it might mean something like, hey, we want you to get around the hardest worker on the team or we want you to just spend time with Bo and get to hang out with him a little bit. I mean, obviously they're, you know, classmates in terms of the 2024 rookie class. So they probably spent a little more time together anyway.

But you look into those sorts of things and you kind of think, okay, the vision for a guy like Frank Crum, if Palcheseki is the right tackle or we saw him cross train at guard a little bit as well. Last year, he was one of the Broncos guys that came in as guard depth as well. Maybe the vision if McGlenshy is nowhere near being done in Denver, maybe the vision shifts to. Palschowski being that left guard of the future if you have to move on from Ben Powers contract after this year. And then Frank Crum is your sort of tackle in waiting, whether that's on the left side or the right side. Because unlike Palschowski, I think Crum maybe has that sort of athletic ability, the footwork or whatever may be necessary there to be able to play on the left side. Because I think that's one of the limitations that

keeps guys on the right side a little bit more is oftentimes you're going to get the more athletic rushers coming off the right side, right, of the defensive line. And so I just think that's an interesting kind of thread to pull on a little bit is to say, hey, is Frank Crum going to get reps at left tackle this offseason? I think that'll be, that'll be really interesting to see at OTAs coming up. Yeah, no, I'm excited to see, you know, maybe what the thought process is for him and where he's at. I would also say, too, that also kind of fits into the money ball approach you were talking about

earlier. Like the Broncos, we know like to have like dart throw options, like, all right, If this situation, like if we move on from this guy, what can we do internally without having to go out and spend big or to go out there and trade capital for, you know, X, X or Z, whatever it may be. But it's like, all right, we can maybe move this guy inside and then we can kind of see how it all fits where as these guys are in the system already, they're working, they're building, they're gaining that experience. They understand which the Broncos, I like this. If you're a guard, you also have to know how to play center. If you're a center, you have to know how to play guard. and then there's some guys who are tackles that have to learn how to play guard.

You know, you have that versatility like Sean Payton. I think they very much want to believe in like the system that they're building offensively and that these guys fit into the mix here. I also think Frank Crum will have some competition here, Sarah, that we're going to keep our eye on as well because the Broncos brought in two undrafted rookie free agents. Obviously, the first guy is Marquez Cox, obviously an offensive tackle, a rookie out of Kentucky, six foot five, 312 pounds. So we'll see, you know, where that's at.

They don't even have an age listed. for him. It's NA on the Broncos roster, which is very interesting. But then I think maybe a name to watch here, Xavier Trust, Big Trust, tackle, guard, swing player, 6'2, 320 pounds out of Georgia, who they brought in. I think will be an interesting name to watch right now. He's listed as number 71. So I feel like maybe you're going to see some competition here for Frank Crum when it comes to these offensive tackles and potential guard swing guys. Yeah, and Trust is one of those guys that guys.

I believe one of the top four overall guarantees for any of the Broncos ungraffed players. And of course, you follow the money when you look at all right. Last year it was Frank Crum. The year before that, it was Palchusky. Those guys were getting big contract guarantees from the Denver Broncos this year on the offensive line. It's Clay Webb who got $225,000 in total guarantees and then Xavier Trust, who got $170,000 in total guarantees. And just to paint a little bit of a picture of what that means, sixth round picks.

in the NFL draft, like J.L. Skinner, I think his total guarantee was like $187, $188,000 when he signed coming out of Boise State as a sixth round pick. So when you're talking about guys that are getting $170,000 or more in terms of a guarantee, that means that the team is basically valuing them at the same level financially as a sixth round draft pick. So that's something to follow Broncos country. If you look at a guy like trust, and I also think it's fascinating. Cody didn't Zach Streef play college ball at Georgia or was somebody somewhere like that. I can't remember exactly where he played, but he was one of those guys like a seventh round pick, a late round guy who the odds were stacked against him. Northwestern. Okay. So he's, you know, big school anyway, but just walk

with me here on this one. Okay. A late round guy who's supposed to be, you know, back end of the roster guy, maybe not athletic enough to play tackle or has to kick inside at the NFL level. I wonder how many times Zach Streif sees himself in these late round guys, regardless of where they play college ball, right? You see a guy like Xavier Trust, Frank Crum, Alex Palchowski. Zach Streif, I bet resonates with those guys because of his own NFL journey. That's something as Sean Payton, the Broncos have highlighted and talked about, though, is that you look at everybody.

And I think Zach Streif's example of how he made it in the league is a great, great story to kind of tell. Like, you know, you may not be viewed by some teams or widely by the league. consensus as someone who can have an impact. And even with your own team at first, you may not even be viewed as like, ah, we don't know about this guy. But all it takes is for you to put the work in, stand out and impressed to get that opportunity to change that narrative.

Shout out to, you know, all the different running, like the Pierre Thomas's, the Douce McAllisters and all the other guys that the Broncos have kind of found along the way. Or not the Broncos, but Sean Payton has found along the way. And then you look at the Broncos, the Jolil McLaughlins. I mean, it just all you have to do is stand out. And that's the opportunity you're going to get. And I think this coaching staff has kind of proven that. So I'm excited to watch maybe some of the offensive tackle warfare here

this offseason for the Broncos OTAs begins next week. But Broncos country, we're not done yet. We're going to continue to look at the trenches. The Denver defensive line, it is solidly intact with all of their starters. But could Savian Jones be the one player that maybe pushes one player out of the starting lineup going into next season? We'll break that down and much more on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. The Denver Broncos are paying a lot on the defensive line and on the outside of outside linebacker.

And there's some tough decisions coming up with some players whose contracts are expiring. But is that why the NFL draft saw the Broncos take a defensive end who's got the potential to play right away here for this team? We'll debate and discuss it on today's episode of the show. Real Cook, I want to say thank you once again to everyone in Broncos country, all the everydayers out there. Thanks for making us your first listen. We have a daily episode for you. If you're a brand new viewer, a listener of the show, every single day we got you covered that keeps you up to date with your favorite team,

the Denver Broncos. Sarah, let's kick things off here by looking at the trenches. Really, I'd say the depth chart here, really unquestioned when you talk about the starters or your key players there. Defense event is going to be John Franklin Myers, Zach Allen, defensive tackle. It's going to be DJ Jones. And rotating in behind him is going to be Malcolm Roach is really that important guy who's going to rotate in.

And then you got Jordan Jackson who stepped in last year. The Broncos, though, go out and they get Sabion Jones. in the NFL draft who this is a guy who can play right away there's been some credence to that Sean Payton has said that I think when you see his tape you're like okay yeah this guy's going fit in really quickly here with the defensive line group how does the defensive line in your opinion look because we know who the starters are but how does it paint the picture about maybe one of these guys getting pushed out because of what we talk about money being something that unfortunately gets in a way of keeping everybody I think everybody's got a big circle drawn

around John Franklin Myers' name right now. I think the assumption is that Zach Allen is going to get whatever he wants and that the Broncos will pay him and that John Franklin Myers is going to be a casualty of that. And quite frankly, I'm questioning that right now because a year ago at this time, Cody, I would have said, oh, yeah, this is DJ Jones's last year in Denver. Like, no, there's no question about it with what he's getting paid and with, you know, kind of just the market and things like that and the draft. deep on the D line. I would have said a year ago, like, this is DJ Jones's last year. And then the

Broncos go ahead and give him the three years, $39 million. So I don't want to write off the idea of John Franklin Myers coming back, but will he price himself out of Broncos range? And is that why they drafted Savian Jones? As you mentioned, I think that's kind of the breadcrumb trail that everybody is following at this point. But what if it's this? What if the Broncos are like, hey, Zach, we want to pay you what you want. We want to pay John Franklin Myers, but Zach, we can't have you playing upwards of a thousand snaps. Like, we need you to take a step back because we want to get the most out of that investment. What if that's maybe the thinking there? And there's an idea that says, hey, Savion Jones can give Zach Allen a breather. He can give John Franklin Myers a breather.

And you keep Jordan Jackson in the rotation. There's plenty of snaps to go around. Like the Broncos had, they re-signed DJ Jones at three years, 39 million, despite the fact that I believe he played less than 38 or 39 percent of the team's defensive snaps last season. So they're willing to invest in guys who don't even play 50 percent or even 40 percent. So Zach Allen, to be playing upwards of a thousand, he played 900 something snaps last year. Maybe that is the key there is to say, hey, we have to be able to pull you off the field and rotate guys in. And that's where those snaps are going to come from. And he did miss a game too.

I think it was that Raiders game on the road where he didn't play. And for him to finish still with almost a thousand snaps, that's crazy to think about. But also at the same time, you know, the John, let's go back to the John Franklin Meyer situation here. You know, I think there are a lot of people, you know, they've seen JFM, comment on social media, posts on social media. He wants to be paid and rightly so. And I can tell you this, JFM, he wants to stay in Denver. But when you look at like why he wants to get paid, he deserves it.

Look at the amount of pressures he was able to generate. I mean, Sarah, we talk so much about sacks in the NFL. I think when you listen to TikTok people talk about, you know, the NFL and production, like this guy had double-digit sacks. Okay, yes, sacks are important. That's, that's very, very important. But I also think when you combine pressures plus sacks, quarterback hits, those are the three most important metrics we have to look at when we talk about

defensive line play. And John Franklin Myers was one of the top rated, you know, had some of the most pressures in the NFL from his position. And Zach Allen was one of the guys who had not only the pressures, but the quarterback hits as well, which puts him in a very elite category with guys like T.J. Watt, Aaron Donald, J.J. Watt. I can't remember some of the other names that were thrown there.

I think maybe Max Crosby's name being thrown into that. But when you look at those names that he's in there with, it's like, all right, yes, Zach Allen probably priority number one on the defensive line to get paid. John Franklin Myers also has a great case to get paid. But that's where things come in and it gets tricky because Sarah, it's like, can you pay both of these guys while also still having to eventually pay Nick Bonito a big time contract? I don't know how any of this is going to work out because like when we look at the cap, we look at the numbers. We're like, ah, how does this work?

I think with them having more flexibility going to the next year, it actually might be possible. Right now, I can't even wrap my head around how they're going to pay all three of those guys plus extend Cortland Sutton. it's it's definitely a conundrum and something that i think like okay there's people who are paid to figure that stuff out and you next year the yeah it is a tough job the real benefit for the denver broncos though is that really next year is the first year that you get to take full advantage of bow nicks being on a rookie contract and i know that people like to say that that that is limited to just the four years of his rookie deal but cody the way way that we see deals structured in the NFL today, you're liable to get six, seven years of

of really favorable, okay, like the Russell Wilson extension, for an example, he signed that contract in 2022. The Broncos are still, you know, 35 million or so, right? On the dead cap this year for the Russell Wilson deal, that just goes to show you a bit of an example there of how much money gets pushed to forward years. So like, think about that in terms of Bo Nix's rookie deal. He's drafted in 2024. His rookie contract is up in 2027 or after the 2027 season. So from that point on, 28, 29, 30, that'll be the first three years potentially of his extension. And that's not even factoring in the fifth year option. So this coming year, you have an opportunity to say, hey, like for the next three to four year window, we can

resign all these guys. And we can figure it out while Bo Nix is still. on a rookie contract because you're not paying, I mean, even though Cortland Sutton's going to get paid decent, he's not going to get top of the line wide receiver money. He's going to get kind of that average for his age. And you think about Marvin Mims. Like after next season, he's going to be up for a contract as well. What do you do on the O line? Do you keep Ben Powers around? There will be sacrifices that have to get made, but this is the time to keep everybody around for a three to four your window that you want to be part of whatever that championship contention looks like. Well, and I think when you look at being able to do that, we've seen the Broncos invest

importance in winning in the trenches, offensive line, defensive line, factoring into our conversation now. We've talked about the starters, JFM, Zach Allen, DJ Jones, Malcolm Roach, Savion Jones, factoring into the equation here. But let's talk about two other guys who really kind of on the back end right now, Enjoma Uwazerike, who obviously missed the whole entire year due to the NFL gambling. violating the policy, betting on himself, so to speak there, went through that whole process, was reinstated,

got thrown in a couple of times last year. I just felt like there was a lot to be desired still there, but I feel like the Broncos are bringing in other guys that could push him out. And then Matt Hennington, who was a former draft pick of them as well, didn't even make the 53 last year, but made it back onto the practice squad. It seems like these two guys are kind of like the odd names out of that defensive line room. Yeah, it feels like that 2022 draft.

class is about to be diminishing to just a couple of guys, if not just Nick Bonito relatively soon, right? Because the majority of that class is either gone or they've entered such a, I think Luke Wattenberg was part of that class. And then the two D-Linman that you mentioned there, those guys are still around for the Broncos. But it's getting time for those guys to, all right, you're either going to prove that you can be a fifth or six player on the defensive line right now or we're going to have to move on. And that's okay for the Denver Broncos, I think because you're so deep on that defensive line right now, to be in that kind of a position, it's extremely nice. It's very, very favorable for this team. And roster construction

wise, Cody, with the kickoffs being such a huge factor and a play where you're going to need linebackers and edge rushers and safeties, athletic guys, I wonder if roster construction is going to be such that you can't keep six defensive linemen on the team. You might be looking at your sixth the D-Linman being a practice squad player. So I think if you look at the top five the Broncos have right now, that's pretty well set unless somebody can beat out Jordan Jackson for a job. Yeah. And I think Jordan's done a lot.

They like him a lot. George Payton has named dropped him specifically. And he made such a massive jump last year in Trenticamp and the preseason was a standout there. I thought he did really well in his minutes in the regular season as well in a rotational role. I think he and Savion Jones are going to be kind of that breath of fresh air when it comes to the rotation of keeping JFM and Zach Allen fresh this upcoming season. But Broncos Country, we want to hear from you.

Let us know your thoughts on today's episode of the show when it pertains to the interior line, offensive tackle and the defensive line when it comes to the depth chart, odd names out, odd names that you feel like should be maybe propped up on the debt chart a little bit. Make sure you let us know. But we appreciate you so much. And that'll wrap up today's episode of the podcast, Broncos Country. For all you every day,ers.

We'll be back tomorrow. We're going to take a look at cornerback and safety. We're going to look at inside linebacker and everything. Eddresher, what the depth chart looks like going into OTAs next week. We're excited to break that down. Don't miss it. We'll see you then for another episode. Locked on Broncos.