Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos Would SOLVE RB Dilemma By Trading For Breece Hall

Episode Date: April 9, 2025

Would the Denver Broncos solve their running back dilemma by trading for New York Jets rusher Breece Hall, who appears to be on the trade block? With the Broncos connections now in the Jets front office, would this help the Broncos offense or should they still look at drafting a running back? Plus, the Broncos haven't given up on cornerback Damarri Mathis and he could see more time on field in 2025. 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!ChewyChewy has everything you need to keep your pet happy and healthy. And right now you can save $20 on your first order and get free shipping by Clicking this link: https://prf.hn/click/camref:1011l3Huc8/creativeref:1011l164602 GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY 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. 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 need a running back, and the relationship between the Broncos front office and the New York Jets make sense for a potential, Breece Hall trade. We'll talk about that much more here on today's brand new episode of 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? Another day, another new episode of Lockedon Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast network where you know it is your. your team every day for all your Broncos news, content coverage, analysis, and more. This is the place to be a special shout out to all the everydayers out there in

Broncos country. Thank you so much for tuning in and making us your first listen. However, you choose to do so. And if you're not yet in every day or become one, it's super easy. It's super simple. And you'll love it. All you've got to do is hit that subscribe or that follow button. So you'll never miss out on what's going on with your favorite team every single day

all year long. I'm your host. As always Cody Rourke, Credential Bronco. beat reported for Mile High Sports, where you can check out my written work over there at Mile Highsports.com and joined as always by my good friend, our co-host, Sarah Bedinger, the longtime site expert of their predominantly Orange,

where you can check out his written work at predominantly orange.com every single day. Together, we bring you the best Broncos podcast that is out there on the entire, what do they call it, Podsphere these days, something along those lines, Sarah. We'll see how it goes,

but I see Broncos country, a lot to break down on today's episode of the show. Here's what we have on tap for you. you. We'll tell you why the Broncos should maybe look into a trade here for Breeze Hall. Relationships between the front offices, obviously in a healthy spot. That'll be a big reason why we discussed that. Plus, Damari Mathis at the cornerback position looking for a brand new slate here in 2025 and has a chance to have a little bit more playing time this upcoming season. Then we'll obviously wrap things up by discussing some Broncos news and notes with Lucas Crowl and some other

players signing their ERFA tenders. And on top of that, some official top 30 visits we'll look into. We get that here on today's episode of the show. Sarah, let's dive into it here. Obviously, running back is a big topic of discussion here for the Broncos. Certainly for you and I, we have gone through various mock drafts highlighted the Broncos taking running back. We've looked at a couple of guys in round one, round two, even round three at some junctures. But there is, obviously as the NFL draft builds up, there is some rumblings about Breece Hall. Their previously stud potential star running back being on the trade block there in New York, a new regime with Darren Muzi taking over.

Aaron Glenn now is the head coach, but obviously two really good ties to Sean Peyton and the Broncos front off. So if he's on, if he is on the block, could the Broncos look at trading here for Breece Hall? I think they should definitely look into it, right? I mean, he's entering a contract year. So the price to acquire him isn't going to be high.

The Jets have already gone on record as saying they want to have a committee of running backs this year. And understandably so, because Braylin Allen was really good for them last year when he got a chance to play. I think Isaiah Davis is the other young running back that they drafted last year, who they like as well. And he's going to play. And we also know, I think this throws a really interesting wrinkle into the whole discussion, Cody, is that Justin Fields is, you know,

capable of running for a thousand yards. Like he is a running quarterback. And so the idea that Breeze Hall is going to have a career year with the Jets this year seems very far-fetched. And I know he's gone on Twitter as well and addressed kind of all. the rumors that are going on. He posted some funny meme of like a smoking monkey looking at his phone or something like that. I can't remember exactly what it was, but it was pretty hilarious. Like Ben Affleck stressed like the cigarette.

The meme with Ben Affleck with the cigarette. Yeah. That's one of my favorite ones to use as well. It's just perfect. But no, I mean, when players start acknowledging this stuff, I think is when it gets interesting. And this is right about the time of year where you do see a number of pre-draft trades. Like last year, the Broncos traded with the Jets to acquire Zach Wilson around this time. I think it was maybe a little bit later, closer to a week before the draft, but, you know, around this time.

And deals can get done. And the Broncos have done nothing to address running back this off season. And I think that's interesting in and of itself. And you and I have talked a lot about how they've got guys on the roster that they don't necessarily need to go out and get a veteran back. If they want to, you know, roll with other guys. They've got guys on the roster. They don't need to go just sign somebody to sign somebody to sign somebody. but Brees Hall is interested because he's got those Joker types of traits.

And I know, again, we bring up that topic all the time. George Payton said they're not done looking for it. So we're going to have to keep on bringing it up, right? So Breast Hall has those types of traits that he, I mean, think he was close to 1,400 yards from scrimmage last year, 1,300, close to 1,600 yards from scrimmage the year before, was on pace for a incredible year in his rookie season before tearing his ACL against Denver, right? So he's only going to be 24 this season, Cody.

He's the same age as a lot of rookies coming into the league, which is fascinating in this discussion because it's not like you're getting an old, you know, an old running back here. This is a guy who's 24 and could be a fixture for your offense. I mean, he is young and he's springy. You mentioned, I mean, in two of the last three years, though, I mean, the Broncos have played each other and the Jets have played each other for the last three years. In two out of those three years, Reese Hall has gone off against him. You mentioned he had like a 60-something.

yard touchdown in that first game, his rookie year, suffered a torn ACO on that same exact game. And that was a big blow. Like there was talk after the game, like, wow, this might derail the Jets season after losing Breece Hall, who was really on pace for a rookie of the year consideration at that junction when they played at that time where Zach Wilson was the quarterback of the Jets at that point. And then obviously in 2023, you know, the whole revenge game there, look, you had Zach Wilson coming to Denver, you know, Nathaniel Hackett and his return, Sean Payton's comments,

Brees Hall, I remember the Broncos were actually doing a really good job in the first half of that game, trying to contain Brees from getting some big explosive plays. First play from scrimmage coming out of the second half, Bruce Hall runs off at like a 70-yard touchdown, and it just deflated the Broncos in that game. And, you know, last year, you know, you play in the Meadowlands and torrential downpour where you anticipate it's going to be a run emphasis in the Broncos. They did a really good job.

This is where we started to see that run defense start to change. They shut down Brayland Allen. They shut down. Brees hauled in that game. But I agree with you. I think that Brees still has a lot to offer here. And when you look at the numbers, I mean, Sarah, even though he didn't have the best year last year in comparison to years past, he had five touchdowns. He had 41st downs rushing. He had 209 attempts. So he had significantly less carries and overall attempts than he did in 2023. Though he had, you know, a little bit less yardage there, you look at where he was at the past catching game, 57 catches 483 yards last year, three touchdowns. He had 15 first downs out of the backfield as a pass catcher.

And it was really what the committee approached there alongside Brayland Allen. So, you know, for me, I look at a guy like Breece Hall. I mean, that Jets organization is looking to make some changes. They did that by moving away from Aaron Rogers relatively quickly here. My only thought would be, does this happen before the draft? If the Broncos had interest or does this happen during the draft where they have traded with the Jets from the draft? That's how they got John Franklin Myers last year. The relationship Between these two organizations is in a healthy spot. Now with Darren Moji being over there, though I would argue the Broncos,

they've had a pretty good relationship, apparently if they were able to execute two trades with the Jets last off season before Moji and Glenn were there. So I want to know your thoughts on this. Like if the Broncos are making this move, is it happening before the draft or is a happening during the draft? And also, throughout the question with you there, would you prefer a Brice Hall trade over taking a rookie in this year's draft? Well, I think to answer your first question, I think you bring up a really great point

that the draft does sort of dictate whether or not you would want to make this sort of trade, because Breece Hall is a player that would command a large share of your carries this coming season. And I think that would be drastically influenced by whether or not you take a running back in the first round, right? So if we're in the thick of the NFL draft and the Broncos go with, you know, Omerian Hampton or Trayvion Henderson or somebody else in round one, I don't think a Breece Hall trade is happening. Now, if they go with a, de-linman or a wide receiver or really any other position in round one, I think you could pair Brees Hall with pretty much anybody else that you would draft in this class. And I would, if you had to

pick one of the other, I would choose the draft, Cody, honestly. I mean, I know Brees Hall is proven and I know that he's done it at the NFL level, but I would choose some of these fresh legs in the draft over if you have to pick one or the other. Now, if you can have a little bit of both, I'm not opposed to that at all. And I think that that would be really interesting to see what would be the fallout of Denver's running back room because we know that Sean Payton wants to go, you know, committee in a sense of that word. But at the same time, he likes to use two guys. He doesn't necessarily, you know, want to involve three guys at the running back spot, plus then a quarterback getting involved consistently, although we do hope to see more running from Mo Nix this year,

not probably as much as what Justin Fields is going to do for the Jets, but I think that that's going to be another wrinkle to add to this. I just feel like if you're talking about a day three pick or later, which is what that's the most that I would pay up in a trade right now. I'm not, I don't think anybody's touching Denver's top 100 picks in any trades that would be consummated right now unless it's something that we just don't see coming. Like there's a player that's on the trade block out there that we have no idea about

and the Broncos go and make a trade. I don't think anything like that's going to happen. Top 100 picks off the table. But if you're talking about fourth round and later, I think all of those selections would be on the table in terms of, hey, let's take a shot and see if Breece Hall can be a featured back in this offense. No, we asked Broncos country on Twitter,

some of their thoughts on that. Would you prefer the Broncos to trade for Breece Hall or take a rookie? A lot of Broncos country is saying, hey, do both. Like if you trade for a guy, go and get a guy. I mean, that would mean, if you do that, you're going to have four, you're going to have six running backs on your,

roster, which, I mean, that's a lot of miles to feed. It's a lot of looks to try to get. But as you build your 90-man roster, and you go through, you have a first-team offense, second-team, third-team offense, getting reps, the preseason. I mean, it does make sense to kind of iron that out there. I mean, I personally, you know, I think Breece Hall would add value to what the Broncos want to do. But in this year's draft, with the class that is there, Sarah, with some of the names and

as deep as it is, I'm more tempted to go with the route of getting a rookie at this point and seeing what you can do with that. Go younger. Like I said, I'm all in. You know, Trayvion and Henderson. If he's there in round two, take him. I'm with it. I'd be on board with that.

But Broncos country, want to hear your thoughts as well. Should the Broncos look into trading for Brise Hall if the price is right? Make sure you let's know here on today's episode, lockdown Broncos, but we're not done yet. Broncos country still got a lot to discuss on today's episode of the show. And we'll tell you why Damari Mathis is entering 2025 with a new clean slate on the defensive side of the ball.

And what might he be able to do this upcoming season? We'll break it down. and much more here on today's episode. Locked on Broncos. Today's episode of Locked on Broncos is brought to you by Fanduel. The NBA playoffs, they're almost here. And Fandul is giving new customers an incredible way to get in on the action. Right now, when you join Fanduel and place your first $5 bet,

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But one guy who's still flying under the radar, Damari Mathis, a former fourth round pick, a former starter for the Denver Broncos. We're going to tell you today why you shouldn't write Demari Mathis off from having a role in this Denver defense in 2025. Broncos country. Thanks so much for joining us on the show today and every day. For all you everyday listeners out there, Mile High salute to all of you.

If you're not already an everyday listener, go ahead, become one. Take a couple seconds. Hit subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, as well as on YouTube. Cody, let's talk about Damari Mathis and the role that he could potentially have this year because we talk a lot about, obviously, Pat Sartan, defensive player of the year.

He needs no introduction. Oftentimes we don't talk about him enough because I feel like he's kind of just on autopilot at this point. Riley Moss, we've talked about him, Chris Abrams drain, J-Quan-McMillan. The one guy at Corner specifically who really flies under the radar is Damari Mathis, who has started in this league. He's entering a contract year in 2022.

I think his situation is very, very interesting this off season because I think a lot of folks would say, well, there's no clear path for him to having a defined role in the defense this year. What do you say to that? Well, look, I think that there's a way he can get on the field. And look, I think primarily the emergence of Riley Moss definitely through a wrenching of things. But on top of that, really, I'd say injuries have kind of defined it. Like, let's go back to Riley's rookie year here, Sarah.

Now, Riley and Damari, they were competing for that cornerback two spot. Riley suffered that core muscle injury, had to have surgery. And so that led to Damari getting that job. And obviously Fabian Moreau, they brought in a veteran as, you know, kind of a security blanket insurance policy type of move there. Last year, what we really saw was a competition primarily, really between Riley Moss and Damari Mathis once again. And Riley was, I mean, Sean Peyton made it very clear pretty much in his interviews with Kay Adams. They really liked what Riley brings to the table.

I mean, there's a reason they drafted him. Look, Sean Peyton didn't draft Damari Mathis. But the thing with Damari, Damari's tough. He's physical. And he was kind of competing towards the end of the preseason, really for a roster spot. He suffers an ankle injury, lands on IR, and misses the first first four games of the regular season because of that. From that point, he really kind of lost the opportunity to get involved because, hey, you're four weeks into the regular season. You already have your packages designed out.

Levi Wallace was playing as that dime slot guy for the Broncos. But then obviously, as the season kind of progressed, we start to see really in that Cleveland game. After Riley's injury, Levi Wallace got the start, which in my opinion, that should have probably not happened. I understand the thought process behind. You want to go with a veteran guy who's got experience. I understand that. I would rather the Broncos went with DeMarie Mathis and Chris Abrams' dreams. over Levi Wallace in that situation.

Obviously, hindsight says that we probably should have been correct on that, you know, in that line of thinking. But Damari, he didn't get a lot of playing time on defense last season. I mean, Sarah, you look at his overall number of snaps. He played 80 defensive snaps in 10 games last year. That's 12% of the Broncos defensive snaps in terms of the rotation. But he did come into that dime roll a little bit later on the year. And I would say I liked a lot of what I saw.

Like, Damari's the type of guy, Sarah, who, okay, if he's not going to play at corn, he wants to find a lot. a way to get on the field somehow. So he embraced going moving on the inside, which is something he hadn't done a lot. Like he was an outside corner primarily, but he moved inside because he knew that was his best realm of getting some playing time. And I still think that opportunity presents itself to be able to play there. And look, Damari's a veteran guy now. And he had a rough 2023 at an up and down year. 22, I thought he, you know, thought he was very surprising, to be honest with you. In terms of the volume of targets he saw, there were some PI calls, but you loved how he broke on the football. You

how physical he played. And then last year was just the injury derailed things, the emergency Riley Moss. Damari's ready to answer 2025 with the newslet. I've had a chance to talk to Damari all throughout last season. This is just a guy who just puts his head down and he works. Now, after not getting a chance to play and not really be the starter anymore, he embraced a role on special teams.

He played for the Broncos last season. A large portion of his snaps there. 44% of his snaps played in 10 games really came on the special team side of the ball as a gunner. and now with Tremont Smith leaving, now he's got an opportunity to have a little bit more of an established role on the special team side of things. He definitely does. And I think if he's on the roster,

that's where he's going to make his, hey, I wonder if he compete with J-Quan-McMillan for that slot position. I don't know why I keep on, you know, potentially bringing that up when we talk about the draft or guys on the roster. It's just interesting to me that that could be something to watch this soft season because of Macmillan's contract situation as well.

I will go on the other end of this spectrum for a second here. What if, since we're talking about Breece Hall trade possibilities, what if, I mean, because the Broncos could save $3.4 million by moving on from Mathis one way or the other. I don't think they're just going to straight up cut him because they need the depth at that position. I think if you can get something of value, though, that could be interesting. How about you utilize that connection with the Jets say, hey, maybe in a contract year, we want to do right by this player. We get into a situation where we believe Aaron Glenn can help develop his skill set to its fullest.

The Jets can actually give him that premier playing time that he needs in order to get a second contract in the NFL and really showcase his skill set while then we get something back like Breece Hall. I'm not saying that Demari Mathis for Breece Hall is a fair one for one trade, but I'm just kind of saying those two guys could maybe benefit from swapping places in a way, like swapping teams right now. And so I think on both ends of the spectrum here, right? There's the possibility in Denver for Damari to compete for potentially that top slot role. And then there's an opportunity for other teams to come and say, hey, this guy's got a base salary of about $3.4 million reasonable situation there. And we don't necessarily want to invest in cornerbacks in this draft because it's not a great cornerback class. So you go take a shot on somebody like Damari Mathis, who's got athletic traits. He's played inside.

He's played outside. He's played special teams. that could be interesting to monitor as we get closer and closer to the draft. He's also got speed to him as well. I think a lot of people forget he ran a 4.39 in his 40-yard dash and he's tough. He's physical. I mean, and that's the thing.

Like he embraces physicality. It's one thing I loved about Demari Mathis coming, especially watching him in his rookie year. You need a guy to come up and tackle. He's going to do that. And look, I think the Broncos have, they found a group of cornerbacks collectively with Pat Sartan with Riley Moss,

J-Quan Macmill and Damari Mathis, guys who love to tackle, which, you know, it's hard. It's hard to find because sometimes corners don't want to tackle guys. We've seen, I think, an example of cornerbacks around the NFL that have made some business decisions and avoiding tackling a running back. Luckily, they don't play for the Denver Broncos at that point. But, I mean, I could see that you look at the connections, the ties that bind, obviously,

it would make sense. Darren Mugie was very involved in the scouting process. Obviously, when it comes to Damari Mathis, he and George Payton, when they were really in a tough bind with draft picks that year because of the Russell Wilson trade, there's a lot of background that Darren Mugi has on Damari Mathis. And if that's a position that the New York Jets need, certainly I don't think it hurts to maybe anticipate and make that connection. Hey, maybe they could help each other out there.

We'll see what happens. Obviously, the NFL draft is coming up there. But I think until, like, if the draft happens and Damari isn't traded, I think very, very much he'll be on the roster next season. He'll be competing. And look, this is where I also have a hard time of parting ways with a guy like DeMarie Mathis, who I still think has proved. and he can play in the NFL.

You have an injury there to, let's say, O'Reilly Moss, God forbid, nothing like that, or even Pat Sertan, knock on with that, it never happens here. But you are in a position where it's like, whoa, what does that cornerback room look like? Let's be very clear here. If Pat Sertan ever went down with an injury, we saw what happened against the Chargers.

It was rough for the Broncos defense in general. I think that's why he obviously had a strong case for defensive player of the year. But, yeah, I'm on board with Damari getting a clean slate, getting a chance to come in to compete, play a little more in that dime. Obviously, with the addition to Talanoa, Hufanga, whofonga is going to play a lot in the dime as well. So how does that impact what the Broncos decide to do personnel-wise, especially, you know, maybe at the cornerback position.

We'll see how that all plays out here as the Broncos prepare for the 2025 NFL season. But Broncos country, we're not done just yet. We still got a lot to break down. We're going to talk about Lucas Crowe signing his ERFA tender, what it means for his development this upcoming season. What does that look like? And also the Broncos have a potential joker in the deck visiting in preparation for the NFL. Draft will break all that down much more here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos.

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thanks for making us your first listen, however you choose to do so. And if you have Broncos fans that don't know about this podcast, share it with them. So they never miss out on what's going on with their favorite team. This is the best place to be every single day all year long for all your Broncos news content coverage analysis and more. Getting in some Broncos news and notes as we wrap up the fourth quarter action of today's episode of the show. I mean, Sarah, over the last handful of days, the Broncos have, you know, have had a couple of players sign their ERFA tenders. We talked about Dandre Tillman in yesterday's episode of the show where he's really going to be primed for a bigger role this upcoming season. If you miss that episode, Broncos country, make sure you go check it out.

It's a lot of great insight and a lot of great conversation about Denver's pass rush with Dandre Tillman in the mix there. But we didn't get a chance to talk about Lucas Crowell who signed his ERFA tender yesterday. obviously with the addition of Evan Ingram for the Broncos at this position, the Joker and Sean Payton's deck. The tight-in position is one that obviously has needed to be improved here. The Broncos believe that Lucas Crow can still factor into this rotation in some way, shape, or form. Though I'd say the hype that we had from Lucas, you know,

going about Lucas in 2024 and OTAs, didn't necessarily translate in 2024 into on-field success for that position or for the Broncos himself, even though he led the team in overall receptions at that position. Yeah, which with 19, it's really not that much of an achievement or accomplishment. I mean, easy for me to say, I couldn't catch 19 passes in the NFL. But, you know, I really do feel Cody like opportunity has passed Lucas Crowle by. I feel like there was a chance there at the end of the 2023 season where he sort of started to make some plays and make some splashes. And you thought, hey, this guy could, this guy could be something.

And then last year where there was just a desperate, desperate need for somebody, anybody to step up as a pass catching threat at the position, the fact that literally nobody on last year's roster did that speaks volumes. And that was the, that was the chance. That was the window of opportunity. I'm not saying that Lucas can't get better. I'm not saying he won't get any more chances. But I think his opportunity to be that flex tight end, the guy who, you know, is the consistent go-to threat in the passing game. I do think that chance has passed him by. Now, you know me.

I'm the most optimistic person ever, and I never write people off. So I don't want to write him off. I don't want to be overly negative. But I do feel like the Broncos not only bringing in Evan Ingram, but like we now know that Harold Fanon came to town for a visit as well. Mike Cliss reported. Actually, Harold himself reported it on Kay Adams show last week. And that was kind of funny to hear.

I'm sure the Broncos absolutely love that. But look, with Harold Fanon, you're getting a guy in the building who caught 117 passes an FBS record at the tight end position last year. And the Broncos have also brought in a number of other guys. We know they've talked to Gunner Helm. We know they've talked to Terrence Ferguson. I think they probably know quite a bit about Mason Taylor, given his connections to Jason Taylor, Hall of Fame pass rusher.

There's just so many guys in this draft that it's hard to even see Lucas Crowell making the final roster when all this dust ends up settling. Well, and look, I think when you think about it as well, as we were doing the show, our good friend, Ross Jackson tweeted us and tagged us in the Harold Fanon announcement, essentially there that, hey, another Joker potentially for Sean Peyton. If anyone knows the Saints or what Sean Peyton likes well, Ross Jackson hosts a locked-on Saints knows exactly just that. Yeah, and look, I think you want to add to this room no matter what.

Special teams is going to factor into it. Obviously, Lucas Crowe played quite a bit of special teams last season for Denver. He played around 37% of the snaps, 133 snaps to be exact, on special teams last season. And offensively, he played 36% of the snaps. So he had 299 overall snaps on offense. But for me, it's like, was it more so that the Broncos, when they primarily went into 12 personnel, it was mainly Adam Troutman and Nate Atkins as those two primary guys. They're 13 personnel when we started to see a little bit more, Lucas Crowl.

I mean, it was almost kind of indicative of that, oh, hey, they got three tight ends in here. One of them's a big six foot six guys. He's got good size. You know, he's got good speed too for his size. Is this when they're going to pass? You know, tendency-wise, I think there was something that kind of demonstrated itself a little bit because the Broncos, they were looking for something. Obviously, of his 19 catches that he had last season, seven of them were chain movers for a first down. No touchdowns on the year here.

Lucas is the type of guy, though, Sarah. I still feel like even if he doesn't take necessarily the biggest jump or, you know, obviously you have Evan Ingraham. Adam Troutman is still the vet that's locked into the roster as well. still under contract. I think the Broncos guarantee keep obviously having a neighbor. We know that. Not a shocker. Adam Trubman, I think he's a roster lock. Whereas I think you open up, you're going to draft a guy. I think Denver is going to do that. That rookie is also going to be on the roster. There's three guys right there. But then there's competition, I think, for another spot. And that's going to go between Lucas Crowell, Nate Adkins and maybe somebody else at this point.

But this is a position that we have said the Broncos need to boost, not just, you know, in the immediate, but also in the long term. Evan Ingram gives you right now and maybe a few years down the road, whereas you need another guy that, hey, when Evan Ingram decides to either retire or maybe it's like you've got out, you can get out of him and the Broncos want to go younger, you need to have an option in place. I don't know if Lucas is ready for that. I don't know if Lucas doesn't have those joker traits that Sean is necessarily looking for, though I still think he can have an impact.

I don't know how this is going to play out here. But I'm glad to see that Lucas is back, that he gets an opportunity to compete. like I said, this is a guy who, Sarah, when you watch him in practice, he competes. He's got a little chippy edge to him as well, which I like. And obviously, it leads to some fun interaction to him, he and the defensive guys there. But also on special teams, you're getting a guy who brings a lot of effort and can impact that. I think that's going to be very important for a guy like Darren Rizzy. You don't want Evan Ingram playing special teams.

Adam Troutman might have to play some special teams now with this role. Nate Adkins is a guy who obviously played special teams. So I think how you fit into the offense, plus how much. you are going to be involved on special teams will be the deciding factor as to who actually makes the roster here in training cap. I do too. And bringing these guys in like Evan Ingram and whoever ends up being picked up, you know, during the NFL draft, that can bring out the best in guys as well because competition really it puts that chip on your shoulder to say, all right, they just drafted my replacement. They signed my replacement. I've got a fight to make sure I can either

make this team or make somebody else's team, right? And so it can bring out the best in guys. it can create good problems during the off season. Like I wouldn't be shocked if during training camp and the preseason, we're talking about the good problem of the Broncos having too many guys than they can actually keep at the tight end position. It would be nice to go from having nothing, really, in the past catching department, to then having too many guys. And that's not a problem that I would be, you know, pushing away at this point.

So the competition, I think, is going to bring out the best in Lucas Crowell as well as the other guys, because progression should be expected from these players. I mean, it's not always linear, but at the same time, because it's not always linear, you kind of figure, hey, after sort of a down year for these guys last year, we could be due for a little spike here at some point. So that wouldn't surprise me at all. And I do think bringing these guys in through the draft and free agency, it's going to help these other young players.

Well, and look, I think it's one of those signs that you need to see something now, right? Like you've had a couple of years, you've seen some ups and downs in the development process with some of these players. But now the Broncos are in a moment, they're in a window where it's like, we need to see something now or else we're going to move forward in a sense. And that's always just the business mentality of the NFL. I understand it. But you can't just hold up roster spots for guys that you hope will eventually get it together.

You have to see something, I think, in that three-year winner. We're entering year number three now, Sarah. So you have to see something now because time is of the essence for the Broncos to compete and kick down the door inside the AFC West against Patrick Mahomes, the Kent City Chiefs, Justin Herbert, the Los Angeles Chargers, Gino Smith, and the Las Vegas Raiders, you know, the time is now for the Broncos to kick in the door and say, hey, we're here and we're not going anywhere.

But Broncos country, that'll wrap up today's episode of show. And as always, you know, Sarah and Cody Rourke, we're never going to go anywhere. We are here every single day for you for all your Broncos news, content coverage and more. So make sure if you're not yet in every day or become one, subscribe or follow, so you never miss out on what's going on with your favorite team. We're going to debut a new show and a new segment tomorrow.

For those you listen to the Locked, NFL scouting podcast. They do a segment called takes on takes. You send in your takes on the Denver Broncos. We'll pick the three best ones and we'll react. We'll give our take on your take on tomorrow's episode, Locked on Broncos.