Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos WR Jaylen Waddle Returns To Practice, Should He Play vs. Packers Friday?!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Denver Broncos wide receiver, Jalen Waddle, is back at practice. But will he play in Friday's home preseason opener? That's the question. You are Locked-on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Happy Tuesday, Broncos country, Cody Roark, Sarah Bedinger here for another episode of Lockdown Broncos. Today's show is brought to you by our friends over there at Fandu. Join all the action at Fandu.com to play daily dingers and make your free pick on who's hitting a home run,

Starting point is 00:00:34 this MLB season. We got a lot to break down. It is game week here once again as Denver prepares for week two of the preseason against the Green Bay Packers, and they're getting healthy this week at the right time. We'll also go through and highlight which position group we feel like we want to see a little bit more from in the second preseason game this week. And we're going to open things up. I talk about probably the best news that Broncos Country could be hoping for. Guess who's back? Jalen Waddle was back at practice on Monday. Did not appear to be limited in any way, shape, perform. So I figure we had this whole discussion here in Broncos country, feel free to chime in as you as you tune into today's episode show. Sarah, I'm kicking it to you here. Waddle is back. It's great.

Starting point is 00:01:10 We'll talk about what we saw at practice, obviously on Monday, but I want to open things up by talking about the question, do you think he should play on Friday? Do you think he should play in the preseason at all? Because I do think there are arguments for and against both sides. Now I'm curious to hear what you have to say. Selfishly, I want to see Jalen Waddle play. I want to see some in-game. action between he and Bo Nix, who is also expected to be playing in this game, right? So we have a chance to finally see that duo make a couple of connections in the game. And, you know, even if it's just one series, even if it's just one drive, you kind of want to see these guys get their feet wet, right?

Starting point is 00:01:48 And so I really do want to see Jalen Waddle play. What I don't want is a repeat of what we had last year with the Dre Greenlaw situation, right? Where I know it's obviously both situations very much independent of each other. They're very different situations. But obviously the fear is that you add a player who's supposed to be the missing piece for your team potentially. Like Dre Greenlaw was supposedly the missing piece for the defense last year. Jalen Waddell, the missing piece for the offense this year.

Starting point is 00:02:16 The last thing that you want is to have that player missing time at the beginning of the season because they've got some soft tissue injuries. And that was the case for Dre. And now you've got this six-game gauntlet that the Broncos are facing to start the year. starting off with a divisional matchup on Monday night football against Kansas City. So, like, I would understand if they held him out, Cody. But if he's good to go, I would say, yeah, go out there and play. Go get your feet wet.

Starting point is 00:02:43 Get your game legs under you and get to, you know, a little bit of chemistry building with Bow Nix before the start of the season. Yeah, I agree with you. And those are some of the arguments that I made in the lockdown Broncos hit that I did, focusing on Jalen Waddle before we found out that he returned to practice this week. I was out there at Monday's practice. And Sarah, I mean, you know, once again, are you coming out of a preseason game? You're looking at the stretch lines and you're saying, okay, who's there?

Starting point is 00:03:06 First thing you do when you go to practice, you always look on the side field. Who's on the side field? I don't see Jaylen Wattle. I don't see Marvin Mammons. Oh, I see them in the stretch line. That's good. And then the next key after that is, okay, do they move to the side field after team stretch? They did not.

Starting point is 00:03:21 Jalen Waddle stayed with the wide receivers and ran routes and caught passes from the quarterbacks. And then he also participated in the team drills. He participated in seven on seven. And one on once, he caught a touchdown in a seven-on-seven period and a team period from Bo Nix. So to me, I'm looking at Jalen saying, okay, he had this layoff because of muscle tightness somewhere in his leg. We don't know exactly what it was, what particular area, but it was something that the Broncos wanted to be smart with. So now that he's back, he did not appear to be limited on Monday. We'll see what things look like here today because the Broncos are expected to be in full pads today and tomorrow,

Starting point is 00:03:54 and then they'll change things up for Thursday's practice, walk-through style before Friday's game. So I think if Jalen is healthy enough to play, I think you should play him. I do think getting some reps, just a game feel between he and Bo Nix is something you want to see because this is also going to be Bo's first game since the injury took place against the Buffalo Bills. Luckily, it's going to be at home here. But you want to see what your new shiny weapon can do. You've seen it in practice. And that's something that Sean Payton even said after the fact, after practice on Monday.

Starting point is 00:04:21 You know, he said he's not really concerned about the chemistry side of things because these guys throw a lot and they work a lot together. You know, they think that that stuff will come naturally. and there's still a lot of time. That's what Sean said. There's a lot of time for that to get to where it needs to be. Now, on the other side of it, let's make the argument for maybe why you shouldn't play Jalen Wattle. Sarah, I think everyone wants to see number 17 in a Broncos uniform. Certainly you want to see him in the preseason.

Starting point is 00:04:43 Maybe catch a play or two here or there, maybe even score on one of the Broncos first opening drives. That would be nice. But is that worth it if something were to hypothetically happen, right? And I know every NFL game, there's always a possibility of something can happen. But do you want to risk that in the preseason when you, do have that tough six-game gauntlet that you mentioned. That's the thing, right? I mean, and that's kind of what I was thinking, seeing like Pat Sartan out there,

Starting point is 00:05:07 Nick Benito, like these guys who really have nothing to prove. And so it does seem like maybe the Broncos philosophy is to have these guys out there, if possible, even just for, you know, whatever number of plays it was. I know it took a while for the defense to get up to, what was it, 15 plays that Sean wanted them to have because ultimately they were kind of off the field quickly every time they were out there. So I'm sitting there thinking to myself like, dang, get Riley Moss off the field. Get Nick Benito, Jonathan Cooper, these guys, get them off the field. But I get it why the Broncos are doing that, right?

Starting point is 00:05:38 Because they are focused on starting strong, starting fast. And that's not just at the beginning of games, right? That's not just they want to be good on the first drive of games as they were. You know, they scored a touchdown on their first drive against Atlanta. But it's more so, I think, about starting fast this season and kind of building a little bit of a cushion. if at all possible in a gauntlet of games like we've been talking about, right? So it's a huge part of it. But to your question,

Starting point is 00:06:05 I don't think it's worth it to have somebody go out there and get it. It's never in hindsight worth it, right? But if you can anticipate, so I think here's what I would say, you know, if you're going into, let's say they approach it from a regular season game day sort of perspective, right? And let's say Jalen would be considered questionable.

Starting point is 00:06:25 There's no shot that I would have him playing in this. Like if it was a regular season or playoff game, I'd say, yes, if you're questionable, you need to play. But if it's, you know, the preseason as we're in, I would say if there's a questionable designation, no shot would he play in this game. So if he's a whole participant, I say go for it. Like if he's ready to go, like, why not? Like those on field reps do matter quite a bit. Yeah. And look, from the looks at least from Monday's practice, it doesn't seem like he's limited in any way, shape, or form.

Starting point is 00:06:57 and we'll see how he came out of Monday's practice. When we go back out there here today, as the Broncos are student training camp, and Sarah, I have Sean after Monday's practice, said, you know, the buildup to training camp or that first preseason game, the first two weeks are brutal. And you have your approach.

Starting point is 00:07:12 You have your emphasis in terms of how you want to practice. Then I asked him, like, does that change after you have your first preseason game? And he said, no, like, you know, really doesn't. Like, you know, he said Tuesday, Wednesday, we're back in full pads and we're best on best. And we're trying to get a good look. And then we're going to shift a little bit on Thursday to, more so team focused, you know, Green Bay focus. So he said, really in here, we're still going through installation.

Starting point is 00:07:33 So nothing is changing. I kind of like that approach here. And Sean does believe that training camp and even playing in the preseason says you have to build this callous, you know, for the regular season. Because it's going to be physical. And I guarantee you, like, it's physical anyways. We know that. But that first six games schedule, including week five against the charters, then you have a short week against the Seattle Seahawks in week six. that is going to be a physically demanding week.

Starting point is 00:07:59 And so you build that callousness here early on in training camp. So I'm very curiously. If Jalen Waddle is good to go, I'm excited. I want to see him play. I want to see him catch a couple of passes. And it would not shock me, sir, as if in Friday's game, the emphasis from Bo Nix and from Davis, Weber early on us, go to Jalen, go to Jalen, maybe twice on, you know, the first opening drive. I would love to see that.

Starting point is 00:08:20 And maybe we will see that here on Friday night. Brockos Country, let us know your thoughts here. Do you think Jay Leno, even if healthy, could play in the preseason or should he be saved for week one against Kansas City? That is our question of the day here. But coming up next, Sarah and I are going to dive deeper to some of the position groups. We want to see a little bit more of for me personally. I want to see a little bit more out of the young tight ends. I didn't feel like we got the full sample size in Friday's preseason opener.

Starting point is 00:08:42 We'll discuss that and more on today's episode of the show. What's going on, everybody? My name is Ross Jackson, host of the Lockdown at Saints podcast. And today's Lockdown episode is brought to you by our friends at Basque and Lather. I've been using Baskin Lathers, all natural, 100% organic hair care products for my beard for a couple of years now. And it's been a lifesaver because I used to have some bad beard care habits. I'm talking over-the-counter shampoo and the beard type stuff that created this brittle, scratchy and uncomfortable beard that I just had to wear around all the time. But now the game done change.

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Starting point is 00:09:38 and use the promo code locked on for 20% off. That's 20% off at Baskin LatherC.O.com. Code locked on. We got to see more out of the tight ends in the second preseason game. game for the Zendver Broncos. With the Green Bay Packers coming to town, I think that's something that we are going to see. We need some more Justin Jolie. We need some more Dallan Bentley in our lives here, Broncos Country. Let those guys give us something good to talk

Starting point is 00:10:03 about after the game, but we've got others that we want to see more from as well. We're going to tell you about it on today's episode of the show in Broncos Country. We appreciate you so much for tuning in every single day. You know your boys, Cody and Sarah got you covered every day with a brand new episode of the show. And now that we're into the preseason, it's exciting to be reacting to actual things that have happened, and it's exciting to be kind of talking about what we want to see still from these guys after watching that game against Atlanta and watching it back a little bit, Cody.

Starting point is 00:10:31 There were certainly some things that we saw in the blocking department from the tight ends, but very little volume going their direction in the passing game. I do think that's a great place to start, because that's where I was going to want to start as well. When you say position groups we want to see more from against Green Bay, I want to see more from the tight ends. I want to see more targets for Justin Jolie, Dallin Bentley. Hopefully we get Caleb Loner back at some point.

Starting point is 00:10:55 Probably not going to be the spot in this game, right? But certainly want to see more from the rookies, the guys that you just drafted. Yeah, I mean, and that's what you want to see, too, just more involvement. Now, I would say a large portion of the Denver's tight ends. They saw a lot of blocking volume in Friday's game against the Falcons. Evan Ingram had a nice 24-yard catch. I mean, I think Evan is the one guy we kind of looked at and was like, okay, you know, the way that they've used him so far, at least in this game, this is different than what we saw last year.

Starting point is 00:11:23 Evans blocking. Evans burying dudes in the dirt on a Jonah Coleman, nice scamper off the left side. I mean, that's the stuff we want to see from the tight ends. And so when I say I want to see more from the tight ends, I'm really not talking about Evan Ingram. I'm really not talking about Adam Troutman. I think with Troutman, you know what you're getting to steal a cliche from Sean Baten. But I want to see a lot more from these guys in the past catching department. Lucas Crowell, in my opinion, had a very very. very good training camps there. He's been featured a lot. I mean, in Monday's practice,

Starting point is 00:11:51 I watched him catch two touchdowns during the team period. And he's got a little bit of movement and spark to him. I'd like to see more target volume for him. I'd like to see more target volume in the passing game for guys like Justin Jolie. I think Dallin Bentley should see a couple of targets here and there. But I thought Dalin Bentley actually did a pretty good job in Friday night's game as a blocker out there on the perimeter. I thought he did a really good job. Special teams obviously is going to play a role into all of this. But you just want to see more outside of just blocking, right? Because we know the tight-in position, one of the most primary responsibilities you have to have is blocking. But it's the other stuff that you want to see

Starting point is 00:12:26 from these younger guys that are trying to fit in and carve out a role for themselves here on the 53. And I'd say right now, the guy who I think has probably got a surefire spot besides Troutman and Evan Ingram, I feel like is Nate Adkins. Nate does a lot of things well, but you want to see something else. You want to see more from guys like Joe Lee and you want to see more from guys like Bentley and Crowl in terms of featured volume. Hopefully we get that this week against Green Bay. Right. And part of that discussion is that the Broncos didn't really involve those guys in the game plan or in the like, you know, hey, you draw it up this way.

Starting point is 00:12:58 Your tight ends are going to get a lot of involvement as a result. They didn't really draw it up that way. So I think adding that wrinkle into the offense can really help this team as a whole grow on that side of the ball, right? When you want to run the ball well, well, you have to be able to throw it effectively, right? and you have to have a number of different guys who can create offense for you in that regard, play action. I mean, let's just think about that even for a second. Having tight ends who can make plays after the catch off of play action is a weapon that I don't feel like the Broncos have utilized at all under Sean Payton.

Starting point is 00:13:32 I mean, that has been virtually non-existent. And it's such a hallmark of the better offenses in today's NFL, even if you don't have a dynamic player like a, you know, a Brock Bowers at the position or a Colston Loveland, who's got big time speed and can split out wide and do all these things, you don't necessarily need that. You don't need to have a George Kittle in his prime. Look at what AJ Barner brings to the table for a team like Seattle, right? He's not necessarily a household name, but he makes so many plays for that team because they utilize him properly,

Starting point is 00:14:03 because he's involved in the offensive game plan. And so I do think that's important, even though we know the Broncos have so many receivers and so many miles to feed in that department as well, I think just a concerted effort for the tight ends would make me happy from this game. I also want to see more sacks, Cody. I know that there was one last week. Drew Sanders had one, and I want to see more.

Starting point is 00:14:27 I want to see these guys. The pass rush was really good. We know there's more than one way to measure good pass rush, but that would be the other thing that I want to see from this defensive front, I would say, as the position group, if I can, you know, lump a few of them together. They're outside linebackers and D-Linmen. We'll see more sacks from the front. seven guys in this game against Green Bay.

Starting point is 00:14:47 That's kind of where I was going because I, you know, outside of the starter, Zach Allen, Inyo, Wazirike, Malcolm Roach, DJ Jones, you know, we saw, I think, enough of them when they, they stepped on the field in terms of presence, pressure, whatever else. Jonathan Cooper, Nick Benito, we saw that. Hugh Robinson had some nice plays, I think, some effort plays. Jonah Ellis had a nice pressure that influenced, I think, Rodley Moss's interception.

Starting point is 00:15:08 But I wanted to see more in terms of like Tyler Oneettam. I want to see more of those back-in guys like Jordan Miller. there weren't any like standout plays. And I think this is sometimes the thing that you kind of run into in the preseason. This is why I think you always have to go back and watch the L-22. Even if it doesn't show up in the stat box, okay, what did Jordan Miller do well as a one technique, right? Was he consistently drawing two offensive guys to block him? And did that create more one-on-one opportunities for you guys on the outside?

Starting point is 00:15:33 How was it against the run? I mean, the Broncos defense held the Falcons in totality to only 192 total yards from scrimmage. They had, I think, 91 in the first half. and then he's finished the game with 192. So you do the math there, 101 yards in the second half. That's not bad. I mean, we're nitpicking here. But I think it's like you want to see the impact plays.

Starting point is 00:15:53 You want to see the run stuff by your defensive linemen for a tackle for loss. Like stuff we've seen from Tyler O'Neum in practice. We didn't necessarily get to see a lot of that in the preseason game. But that doesn't mean that they didn't have a great game. But I do think it's like we want to see a little bit more. Like for the Broncos running their base defense, I felt like they pressure to a quite a bit when the starters were. but I did find it odd that only one sack was what happened.

Starting point is 00:16:17 Like when we were looking back at the game, I was like, man, Drew Sanders is the only guy who got a sack. Like that just, it feels weird when we're talking about a Broncos game. Even a Bronco's preseason game because we've been accustomed since I think Vance has been here. Denver's defense still racks up a lot of sacks even in the preseason. Yeah, those guys are going to be hungry, I think, to get after it in this next preseason game here, right? I mean, that's one thing that you probably go back and you watch the film as a unit or whatever. and you say, man, I was so close on this play.

Starting point is 00:16:45 I was so close on this play. And yes, the pass rush affected the quarterback to the point that it created an interception for Riley Moss, right? I mean, there was some other errant throws throughout the course of the game that were caused by really good pass rush. So it's not like they weren't getting there. But yeah, I get that quarterback down. And the coverage had probably a little bit more to do with Drew Sanders sack than I suppose

Starting point is 00:17:07 even just drew beating his guy off the snap, although he did win that rep. Of course, it was the second effort, right? It was the second effort after the coverage held up on the back end. So I want to see these pass rushers. I know we saw a lot of it, but get home this time. Go force some fumbles, get some strip sacks. I think that's going to be part of what this team is trying to do from the opening snap on Monday night football is creating takeaways, creating takeaways. How can we do that?

Starting point is 00:17:34 Well, we got to the quarterback 68 times last year. So one of the easiest ways that we can create more takeaways is to punch that ball out when you get there. And maybe easy for me to say sitting here in my basement recording a podcast, but I think that it's, it's, these guys are professional past rush. Yeah. Right. That's what they're paid to do. That's their job. So you not only have to get to the quarterback, but make a play once you get there. And you know what? Set up the offense for those those tight end targets that we talked about. If you can strip sack the quarterback, shoot, you get those extra possessions, you get more opportunities to feature everybody. Everybody wins in that scenario. Well, I'm

Starting point is 00:18:12 I'm going to go with a little bit of a bold prediction early on in the weeks here, and people heard it here first. I'm going to be away for the post game on Friday. Unfortunately, I got somewhere else I have to be that it's going to take me away from the game, which kills me to say. But bold prediction early on, the Broncos, they do get at least one interception. And they do get a strip sack in this game against the Green Bay Packers. Now, I don't know if Jordan Love and those guys are going to play.

Starting point is 00:18:33 We'll certainly find out later on the week. But I would almost suspect that they're probably not going to play because that's kind of how Lefleur operates, I think, as you get a little bit deeper into the preseason. so I'll have to wait and see here as it pertains to your Denver Broncos. But Broncos country, let's know which position group you want to see a little bit more from here going into week two of the NFL preseason. But coming up next, the Broncos, they're getting some guys back healthy this week for the Green Bay Packers matchup, including their starting center and their backup center will tell you why that's good news and so much more. Today's episode of the show.

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Starting point is 00:20:06 news on the injury side of things. We already talked about earlier, Jay Laude, returning to practice on Monday, but he's got reinforcements as well as the Broncos are looking to go into 2026 ahead of their week one matchup against the Chiefs, fully healthy and ready to rock and roll with valuable game reps under their belt here in the preseason. Thanks for rock with us here on the lockdown Broncos podcast part of the lockdown podcast network, your team every day, also the number one sports podcast network in the country. Sarah, everyone's excited about Jaylon Waddle. Marvin Mims, also, we all know, returned back to practice last week, was also back at

Starting point is 00:20:37 practice on Monday in a helmet and jersey, even though he participated. some individual drills with the wide receivers. He went and did some side field rehab work with a helmet and Jersey on and then came and observed the rest of practice. He is close, but the good news here that everyone is kind of looking for is that Luke Wattenberg's back at practice and he's upgraded his participation status from day one of pads, right? That was the day he actually went down with the injury.

Starting point is 00:21:02 Monday's practice, we actually saw him participate in individual drill. So if that were to translate into the regular season, the injury report would list him as a limited participant. I think we're going to see him gradually work his way through Indy for a couple of days. He may not play in this week's game against Green Bay. We'll have to wait and see. But my anticipation and guess would be they want to ramp him up to build him up for maybe next week against the Minnesota Vikings.

Starting point is 00:21:24 And then he's ready to rock and roll for Monday night football. I do think it is imperative. If he can play this week, though, Sarah, I think he's got to get the rest because he's missed two weeks of on-field work with the ones at practice because of the injury. Yeah, you definitely want to see him getting back into action sooner rather than here because of course now we are getting close to that point where the season is right around the corner. So definitely want to see that. But I would say also interestingly enough,

Starting point is 00:21:49 my perspective or mindset has shifted just a little bit here, Cody, after seeing the absolute wall of pass protection that was in front of Jarrett Stidham for that game against Atlanta. Now I know every game is going to be different, right? And every defensive coordinator is going to send different looks and every defense has different levels of talent. But shoot, I mean, Jared Stidham was able to knit sweaters back there for the Broncos before he threw passes down the field. And so maybe it's not so bad that Calvin Throckmorton is in there at the center position. I mean, as far as like, remember the conversation last week was, do we want Bo Nix out there with the fourth string center, you know, snapping him the ball? Well, after seeing a little proof of concept that the O-line can do what they did against Atlanta, I feel a lot better about it.

Starting point is 00:22:35 Did you see, and this is off topic of the Broncos, but I mean, Denver's going to play them next week. Did you see Brian Flores just being an absolute sicker this past weekend, deploying his crazy? Like it's not just the base defense. He was deploying his crazy stunts and blitzes that he deploys on QBs in the regular season. I don't know. He must have not liked the Jackson Dart of the New York Giants,

Starting point is 00:22:57 but my goodness, he just sent every disguise. He had Dart in a living hell in that game. And maybe because that's who Brian, Flores is, sir. Maybe you want to get Bo Nix and those guys to play this week and not play next week. Once again, you don't want to see guys taking an unnecessary shot against a defense where, like, Vance Joseph and Hats

Starting point is 00:23:15 off, this showcases who Vance isn't running his hyper crazy stunts and twists and loops and blitz packages against guys. They're playing a base vanilla defense. I mean, they were playing standard cover two at the 10-yard line, you know, with their backs against the goal line.

Starting point is 00:23:33 And that's where they had the pick six, I mean, they're just playing simple within the rules in the foundation of their defense. So I don't know. I just felt like that was kind of crazy to see that. And you don't want to have Bow Nix take a shot because you're seeing a crazy blitz. But then again, I think going into that week, they might game plan say, hey, like, this is Flores. He's probably going to do something like this. So we need to see all these different looks, even though that the Broncos in the regular season,

Starting point is 00:23:57 they would practice against those looks every day. They're not getting that here in training camp because it's them versus them. So maybe Vince Joseph's defense. helps in that situation. I totally forgot about that complete wildcard. But I know we went off a little tangent there. Alex Forsyte, there was back and was getting all of the team reps with Bow Nix and the offense during Monday's practice. So that is a good sign considering last week they were down their starting center, their second center, their third team center. Now those guys are back. Wattenberg status kind of up in there to be determined. But some news about some players on the side field, Sarah was

Starting point is 00:24:30 Michael Bandy, and it was Nick Garzulo, who's on the pup list. And then Drew Sanders was on the side field on Monday. And I think maybe for us, I don't want to make an assumption, but I'm going to say, okay, was this a just load management type of day? Or was this just, hey, you've been practicing a lot? Because remember, Drew missed some practices early on in camp. And then he came back, but he just played a game. He's played a handful of practices since coming back. So maybe this was just kind of like, hey, take it easy type of day, considering Drew's one of those guys that's coming off of injury. I found that to be interesting. Yeah, because remember early on in camp, it was, I think wasn't he working off to the side before they had pads on and then we were like, oh my gosh, here we go again.

Starting point is 00:25:11 And then all of a sudden they put the pads on and he was kind of just inexplicably back out there. I mean, that that leads me to believe that this is kind of like maybe part of their plan with him and to keep him on the field is to, hey, well, we're not going full pads. You just make sure that you're not getting any sort of anything happening. I mean, you can be out there competing in full pads when we're doing team stuff and pads. So give us a better evaluation. But I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case, right? Because we haven't heard anything.

Starting point is 00:25:40 I guess that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Something could have happened. But it was right. I mean, this is the first time they've been on the field since that game. So there was nothing during that game that gave any indication that Drew was hurt that I can remember anyway. So I think you're right. I think it is something that's just maybe load management stuff, although we know Sean Payton feels like that's more of an NBA term than an NFL term.

Starting point is 00:26:02 but I digress. So I think ultimately this stems back to that discussion that Sean had earlier in camp, Cody, where he's frustrated after J.K. Dobbins. Remember the day J.K. Dobbins went down. I think that was on the 10th maybe or something like that.

Starting point is 00:26:17 Yeah. He kind of went on a little bit of a rant about soft tissue stuff and needing to get that under control and they were doing stretching post practice. Like are you noticing more of that type of stuff going on at camp? Like lately, I guess.

Starting point is 00:26:31 I don't know if that, if they're continuing that or if that was kind of just a reactionary thing, what are you noticing about how they're approaching that? Yeah, no, they are doing that. Here's also the crazy thing, too, is that, you know, the Broncos played Friday night. They got back on Saturday. They did a walkthrough, Sarah.

Starting point is 00:26:45 They did a walkthrough. They did a, you know, recovery stations as well. And then obviously back at it on Monday, they did the same exact thing, stretch beforehand, stretch afterwards. I mean, they're getting a lot of work in, even in the evenings when they're doing other walkthrough stuff, the practices that us and the media,

Starting point is 00:26:59 we're not necessarily allowed to go see back in my, Mike Shanahan's day media was allowed to go see that stuff. But I mean, times are changed. Mike Shanahan's, unfortunately, is not the head coach anymore. But those things, I think they are taking that into consideration, especially with how hot it's been. I mean, Sarah, every day I go out to practice, I'm sitting here. I'm talking to someone like, it's really hot today. Like it's hotter and hotter as everyday passes.

Starting point is 00:27:21 And I feel like, man, the sun can't get any hotter. It does. But the one thing I would say, just noting while they're watching practice, there's always this emphasis. It's always been this way. But even more so lately, the emphasis on high. In between everything. Like it could be individual drills.

Starting point is 00:27:36 Hydration. They got guys that are having water delivered to them essentially while they're waiting to go in their back pedal. You know, if you're defensive backs. Guys, they're having hydration stations all around because it has been muggy here in the Mile High City.

Starting point is 00:27:50 So they are taking the necessary precautions and it wouldn't shock me as well if we see a couple of guys here today, maybe have a vet day because Brockers has played a preseason game. You know, and you're going to have two days in a roll of fully padded practice is beginning today and tomorrow. And then you've got a game on Friday. So being smart with the body is the approach that Sean Payton

Starting point is 00:28:08 and the coaches are going to take. And we'll have you covered here every step of the way at Locked on Broncos. With that said, I'll wrap up today's episode, the show tomorrow's episode, Sarah and I are going to go through whatever we're talking about from Broncos practice here today. And we're going to start looking ahead of some of the storylines for Friday's preseason game against the Green Bay Packers and some trends for some players stock up, stop down.

Starting point is 00:28:27 You're going to get all that stuff here at Locked on Broncos.

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