Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Evan Engram SHINES, Drew Sanders STANDING OUT at Denver Broncos Training Camp

Starting point is 00:00:00 The early reviews on Evan Ingram at Denver Broncos training camp are glowing. We're recapping day two of the Denver Broncos ramp up practices here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. You are locked on Broncos. Your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. The pass rush is already bringing the heat before the pads even come on. Drew Sanders already standing out is a great sign for Broncos country. And Evan Ingram, the early reviews on that signing have been overwhelmingly positive so far. Broncos country, we are breaking down day two of Denver Broncos training camp as they have a couple of ramp up practices before things get real on Friday.

Starting point is 00:00:51 Welcome into the show. My name is Sarah Bedinger. I'm the co-host here of Lockdown Broncos as well as the site expert at predominantly orange.com where you can find my written work every single day. Really appreciate every single one of you for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day, every day here at Lockdown Broncos. And today's show is brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NFL at Monarch Money.com for 50% off your first year. Really good deal there. And a really good deal for the Denver Broncos happened early on in NFL free agency as they managed to convince tight end Evan Ingram easily the best veteran

Starting point is 00:01:31 end available this off season to come to the mile high city. In fact, had to fend off the Los Angeles Chargers to make it happen. But even after taking a visit to Los Angeles after he had already been in Denver, Evan ended up choosing the Denver Broncos. And I think it's going to work out extremely well for both sides. And of course, everybody's been wondering,

Starting point is 00:01:53 what is he going to look like in this offense? What is his role going to be like? As we know, he's already joked around right after he signed about being the Joker. and Sean Peyton talked about that being kind of the number one must have for the team this offseason. But I think one of the things that we can definitely expect from Evan Ingram is impact over the middle of the field, finding soft spots against defenses and zone coverage, and then utilizing his variety of athletic skills, whether that's his size being bigger than slot defenders that are going up against him,

Starting point is 00:02:24 his speed being more athletic than linebackers that try to guard him, and just generally utilizing that to his advantage in any given situation. Our good friend Ryan Edwards pointed out in his training camp recap over there on Twitter X. He's a great follow. Definitely follow Ryan R. Edwards Radio on Twitter slash X, whatever you're calling it these days. He said Evan Ingram has mastered short area quickness and is incredibly smooth coming out of his breaks and gaining yards after the catch. that to me is indicative of exactly what the Denver Broncos need from Evan Ingram. And we spent a lot of time this offseason discussing Evan Ingram and his potential impact on

Starting point is 00:03:06 the Denver Broncos offense. But man, I don't think it can be overstated just what type of what type of impact he's capable of making if he's fully healthy. Again, we bring this up often, but it's worth repeating. Evan nearly set the NFL record for receptions in a single season by a tight end just two years ago when he caught 114 passes for the Jacksonville Jaguars. And the usage of the tight end position in Doug Peterson's offense might be a little bit different than in Sean Payton's offense. But there again, I think Sean hasn't really had this type of tight end in his offense since he had Jimmy Graham back with the New Orleans Saints.

Starting point is 00:03:46 And of course, he traded Jimmy to the Seattle Seahawks for Max Unger once upon a time. But ever since then, that role in the offense that he calls. the Joker shifted to running backs, right? We saw a number of different guys take that role in New Orleans over the years, but later on in Sean Payton's time there, it was obviously Alvin Camara, who never had a thousand yard rushing season, but has always been a dynamic player in terms of all-purpose yards offensively, an elite receiver at the running back position. And Evan Ingram is an elite receiver at the tight end position.

Starting point is 00:04:21 And no, he's not going to probably play that traditional in-line tight-end roll all the time. He's probably going to spend a lot of time in the slot, going to spend a lot of time out wide, going to be doing a lot of different things for this Denver Broncos offense to be able to create favorable matchups, both for him and for other players. And that's what I think is arguably the most exciting aspect about this move is the ripple effect of bringing in a guy like Evan Ingram, because yes, he can do a lot of offense creating on his own. He is that type of guy who can win at the catch point, help you in the red zone, help you after the catch. We've talked about all of that stuff that he can do on an individual basis, but what can he do

Starting point is 00:05:02 for a guy like even Cortland Sutton? As he talk about Sutton potentially taking another step forward later in his career. I mean, quite frankly, Cortland, he's been in the league since 2018. He no longer carries that upside term in terms of his age. But I do believe there's another level that even Cortland can reach as he approaches the age of 30. to where we can see things from him that we haven't already in the NFL because there's somebody that actually can take attention off of him and create those favorable matchups. Because when have the Broncos had that with Cortland Sutton around, right?

Starting point is 00:05:38 I mean, and when they did have it with Jerry Judy, right, the quarterback position was obviously a major struggle. And then, of course, when Russell Wilson kind of started to figure things out in 2023, Cortland Sutton goes out and sets a career high with 10 receivers. touchdown. So maybe that's a case and point right there to say, hey, when somebody can take attention off of Sutton, he can do what he does best. And so I do think there's a great ripple effect that can happen from a guy like Evan Ingram or you put him out there on the field. Your running game obviously becomes a bit more of a threat because teams have to stay honest

Starting point is 00:06:13 when Evan is out there on the field and posing such a threat in the passing game. It just helps out your quarterback so much. It helps out your offensive play caller so much. I think with a healthy Evan Hingram, we are absolutely going to see Sean Payton in his bag as a play caller from the get-go this season. So it's great to hear that the early returns on a signing like that are positive, especially when there's no pads and things like that. You want to hear that he's getting acclimated, that he's already getting involved and making an impression. Like when the pads aren't on, it's way too easy for guys to not make an impression, to not stand out, for things to kind of just be, well, there's no pads on right now. You can't really tell things like that for Evan Ingram to already

Starting point is 00:06:59 be making an impression before the pads even come on. I think that's substantial for the Denver Broncos here and their offense, which last season, the Broncos managed to finish 10th in the NFL in scoring. I mean, explain that one to me, right? They finished 10th in the NFL and scoring with absolutely no threat at the tight end position, a horrible running game, inconsistencies in terms of going three and out very often. And your offense having so much success in between, seemingly spouts of going ice cold. Right. So you had this hot and cold offense throughout the course of the season, no running game,

Starting point is 00:07:36 no threat at the tight end position, leading the NFL and drops basically. And seemingly having no reasons why you should be in the top 10 in the NFL and score. but the Broncos were able to do that last year and just imagining what they can do with a healthy Evan Ingram in the fold as well as the other upgrades that they have made offensively as well as the progression of quarterback Bo Nix, which we're going to talk about more on today's episode. It's just a really exciting prospect for the Denver Broncos offense this coming year. Fans, we've gotten so used to the team being so bad offensively.

Starting point is 00:08:13 We, you know, counting down the play clock, watching this quarterback. and that quarterback take their shot at trying to help fix things, the rotating, revolving door at right tackle, inconsistent production from receivers and running backs. And, you know, you get excited about a certain guy and that guy either leaves or gets injured, right? So it's about time, quite frankly, for the Denver Broncos to have something really exciting going on offensively. And I would say this is the best personnel and coaching combination that they've had easily since Peyton Manning was around. And that's maybe not saying too much Broncos country.

Starting point is 00:08:48 But I think it's one of those units that you don't want to say, well, Bo Nix can go out there, throw 55 touchdowns. You're going to lead the NFL in scoring or set the scoring record, things like, not saying that this is going to be the 2013 Broncos reincarnated, but I do think that this is going to be much more reminiscent of those days in terms of you're going to have much more consistent sustained success offensively than anything that we. have seen since that time, which is now 12 years ago, Broncos. It's crazy to think of how fast time flies.

Starting point is 00:09:21 While it's been a great start to training camp for Evan Engram, how about the defensive side of the ball where a player like Drew Sanders has been desperately in need of making some positive headlines? Well, he did exactly that at day two of the Denver Broncos ramp up period at training camp as training camp is underway. The football season is finally back Broncos country. We're going to tell you all about Drew Sanders, making an impression at day two of the ramp up practices here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. This episode is presented by Yahoo! Fantasy Football is back.

Starting point is 00:09:58 So fire up the group chat, get your draft board ready, and buckle up for a season filled with breakouts, busts, and all the overreactions that we live for. It's all going down on Yahoo! fantasy. I've already been getting group text from a group that I've had going since 2008 Fantasy Football League that we've been playing on Yahoo Fantasy Football for forever at this point. And you should too, whether you're a first timer or whether you're a veteran making your millionth league. We've used Yahoo Fantasy Football and it runs smooth. It does everything that you want. And guess what? To celebrate 28 years of fantasy greatness, Yahoo is actually dropping 28 big new features over 28 days, giving you more ways to play, more

Starting point is 00:10:40 ways to draft and more ways to win. It all begins on August 4th. Stay tuned and get started by creating or joining a Yahoo Fantasy Football League at Yahoo! Fantasy.com slash locked on NFL. That's Yahoo! Fantasy.com slash locked on NFL. And let's make this fantasy season the best one yet. Arguably, no defensive player on the Denver Broncos roster has been in need of some positive publicity more than linebacker Drew Sanders. And thanks to our good friend Ryan Edwards, we got exactly that at day two of Denver Broncos training camp as the team is doing some ramp up practices

Starting point is 00:11:20 before fans show up in attendance on Friday and they get down to some real stuff. But Broncos Country, we appreciate you so much once again for tuning in and listening today, however you're choosing to do so. If you haven't already done so, go ahead, hit subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, as well as over on YouTube. If you're watching on YouTube, we appreciate you so much for doing.

Starting point is 00:11:41 So hit subscribe if you haven't already. And Broncos Country, let's talk about Drew Sanders. He's been a frequent topic of discussion, I would say, throughout the course of the off season. And really what we're looking forward to from Drew is actually having him make a case to start for that off ball linebacker position next to Dre Greenlaw. What is he going to have to do in order to do that? Well, he's going to have to prove that he can at least be.

Starting point is 00:12:08 be somewhere in the vicinity of Alex Singleton in terms of consistency, right? That's the number one thing that I think Alex Singleton brings to the table as he had over 170 tackles when he was last a full-time starter in 2023 and would have had, it would have been on pace for 170 tackles once again in 2024 had he not suffered that knee injury that he did in week three against the Buccaneers. And that's the number one thing that he really brings to the table is that consistency. He's a veteran. He knows his job and he does his job well. He plays with instincts.

Starting point is 00:12:42 He does all of those things that you need for a baseline level linebacker in today's NFL where the Broncos really struggle with that baseline play, especially after he left. I mean, even Justin Sernod, who's been in the league for a while, he struggled with some consistency there before getting a lot of really valuable reps and providing the Broncos with some great depth down the stretch. But it was one of those positions that was a revolving door last year. and now you're coming in. You've got Dre Greenlaw, who was out there for the first two days of practice,

Starting point is 00:13:13 which is great to see. But you have a situation next to him in the starting lineup where you don't necessarily want to put things in Sharpie right now. You want to see this competition play out. And frankly, Justin Sernad shouldn't be counted out of that competition just yet. But for a guy like Drew Sanders, here was the update that Ryan Edwards had for everybody. And it's really important. He said, Drew Sanders is.

Starting point is 00:13:38 elite in all caps coming downhill on a blitz when Vance Joseph sends him unreal athlete. That is exactly what drew the Denver Broncos. No pun intended there. That's exactly what drew them to him in the NFL draft two years ago. Remember, the Broncos spent the 67th overall pick on Drew Sanders. It was not a small investment. It was not a afterthought on, well, day three of the draft. Here's this guy sitting here.

Starting point is 00:14:04 He's a great athlete. We'd love to, you know, take a shot on his upside. No, they prioritized him in the 2023 NFL draft. And I think because of that, he does get a little bit of a nudge into that conversation, just maybe a bit more than some other guys like undrafted players that are competing or, you know, lower priced free agents. I think the investment the team made in Drew and the belief that they have, which George Peyton reiterated earlier this offseason, that they do believe he can be a starting linebacker.

Starting point is 00:14:36 that because of that, his upside does play into this whole conversation quite a bit because he may not be able to give you as high of a floor as Alex Singleton this coming season, but he may be able to give you a much, much higher ceiling. And that does have to be part of the discussion because with Alex Singleton, you are talking about a guy who's north of 30 years old coming off of a major knee injury. And that cannot be ignored. And somebody like Drew Sanders, yeah, he had the injury at the beginning of last. year, but if he's already exploding like this at training camp and showing off his athletic

Starting point is 00:15:11 traits, man, you can't help but think that when the pads come on, that kind of stuff is going to be even more amplified. And for him, it couldn't be coming at a better time because it's at the beginning of training camp. You're already drawing eyes to what you're doing. And yeah, it's a media observation. It's not necessarily Sean Payton coming out there and saying like, hey, just so you know, you better keep an eye on Drew Sanders. Like remember last year he was kind of doing that same type of thing with Riley Moss when he was being interviewed by Kay Adams. We haven't heard anything quite like that just yet from Sean Payton.

Starting point is 00:15:46 But we have heard positive updates. The Broncos are pleased with the way that he's been acclimating or reaclimating, I guess is a better way to say it to the linebacker position after sort of experimenting coming off the edge. But he can do all of those things really well. He can rush the passer. He can play in coverage. He can be a quarterback spy.

Starting point is 00:16:05 He's aggressive. He's very physical. He hits hard. He is one of those types of guys that you really feel like if he can reach his maximum potential, that he could be that wild card that helps take this Denver Broncos defense to yet another level, which we're already expecting from the additions of Dre Greenlaw and Talanua Hufanga. And then obviously first round cornerback, Jada Baron, who by the way, was rotating in with

Starting point is 00:16:30 the top defense on the outside, which is an interesting. development that we will continue to monitor, although that happens on both sides of the ball each year at training camp. So may not be necessarily anything to worry about or think about at this point, but it's notable in the fact that the Broncos do believe in Jade's ability to play multiple positions. And at any given point, he will have to be ready to play in the starting defense if somebody gets injured, as we saw last year with both Pat Sartan and Riley Moss on the outside. So Jadet is not going to have to have to be. to shake off that rust in the event of injury.

Starting point is 00:17:05 They're going to prepare now in the case that he will play there. So very normal at this stage of training camp for guys to be rotating in with the top units on both sides of the ball, Broncos country. But we do hope to see a breakout year from Drew Sanders. I know that we kind of took the pressure off near the end of the offseason kind of saying, well, next year is sort of that make or break year as that will be his contract here with Denver Broncos. But, you know, why not now?

Starting point is 00:17:31 There's no better time than the present. So hopefully Drew Sanders can continue to build off of some day two momentum as the Denver Broncos get more and more physical as training camp goes along. And speaking of physical, the pass rush for the Denver Broncos. They are going to be bringing the heat in a variety of ways. They were a unit that stood out to everybody in attendance out there at Denver Broncos training camp on day two. But Voh Nix, he responded well to that pressure as well. We'll tell you all about it coming up on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Today's episode of Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by Monarch Money. Ever wish managing your

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Starting point is 00:19:14 We can only imagine how it's going to be when the pads officially come on and these guys can be unleashed. There might be a sleeper coming off the edge as well, making an impression, making a case for the 53 men roster. We'll tell you about Andrew Farmer having a big day at practice. And Bo Nix, how did he respond to the pressure? because if the pass rush is getting home, it often affects the quarterback in a negative way, but it doesn't sound like Bo had any sort of negative effects from it.

Starting point is 00:19:41 Broncos country, before we get into that discussion and more observations from day two of Denver Broncos training camp, just want to say thank you to all of you out there that make us your first listen of the day. Every single day, we appreciate you so much for rocking with us, especially here throughout the course of the offseason, the pass rush for the Denver Broncos. We talked about it in our training camp previews, just how good. good these guys are and not just off the edge, but the Denver Broncos have probably the best defensive front in the NFL. There, I said it. If we haven't said it already, Broncos had the best defensive front in the NFL. I believe they have the best combination of top end talent as well as

Starting point is 00:20:21 depth. I mean, you talk about their duo off the edge, Jonathan Cooper and Nick Bonito, and then that duo on the defensive line of Zach Allen and John Franklin Myers and your depth guys or your other starters, you know, the players who play a lot, DJ Jones, Malcolm Roach, obviously Dondre Tillman and Jonah Ellis contributed heavily last year. And now you've added even more depth with Q Robinson coming in. You obviously hope that third round pick, Savion Jones, can be a little something for you on the interior defensive line and maybe rotating around that defensive front there. But the Broncos, they have an embarrassment of riches off the edge on the defensive line. There's going to be guys that get cut that are going to be quickly picked up by

Starting point is 00:21:02 other NFL teams. And that's really even before we start talking about guys that could be training camp, you know, Cinderella stories. Like, where's in Yomo Oaz Rike in the conversation right now? How about Matt Henningson coming back from being on the practice squad for most of last year or undrafted guys that we haven't even got a chance to see what these guys can do with pads on or in preseason games and things like that? So difficult roster decisions appear to be on the horizon for the Denver Broncos.

Starting point is 00:21:30 but those who were out in attendance at practice talked about how this pass rush group really was a highlight of this day. And that's exciting to hear. It causes your quarterback in practices, especially to have to make quick decisions. And it sounds like Bo Nix responded really well to that. Again, Ryan Edwards, who's been crushing it with the camp updates. He posted something that I thought was really interesting. He was making a comment about the pressure and he made a follow up to that about how Bo Nix wasn't really effective. negatively, but instead was making quicker decisions than we've gotten used to seeing last

Starting point is 00:22:05 year. And he said that the point is he wasn't scrambling around with the ball when the pressure got to him. He was being decisive. You know, it's it's one of those situations to where pressure getting to a quarterback can cause them to kind of revert into panic mode a little bit and get them, okay, even in a practice, Bo Nix is going to try to scramble out and make a play with his legs, where in his rookie year, he might have done that here in year two. he's making much quicker decisions with the football, which Broncos country, I mean, the Bow Nix hype train, we can keep that chugging along as long as as as long as it'll go. Because I think that the more positive updates we hear about Bo Nix, who, you know,

Starting point is 00:22:45 he was not in the locked on NFL top 100, but did make the NFL top 100 voted on by his peers as the 64th best player. I think that there's players in the NFL that are realizing like, this guy's got it. He's got that factor that, okay, he can be a successful quarterback in the NFL. We talked about him going and, you know, chumming with Drew Breeze, picking his brain, working with Tom House, the renowned pitching and throwing coach. So there's a lot of measures that he's taking to be better as a second year player. But it's not just that he's doing these things for the headlines, right?

Starting point is 00:23:19 Bo Nix doesn't care if anybody knows that he went and, you know, picked Drew Breeze's brain. He doesn't care if anybody knows that he went and worked with Tom House. all he cares about is the result on the field. And ultimately, one of the toughest quarterbacks in the NFL to get to the ground might have gotten even tougher to get to the ground. If he can process even quicker than we saw as a rookie, which was, I mean, he was outstanding in that way. And yes, there were a lot of quick passes that became part of the Broncos offense,

Starting point is 00:23:46 which have always been part of the Sean Payton offense. But it wasn't that Bo Nix was out there throwing swing passes and screen passes and all these sorts of things because he wasn't processing well. I think there was a degree of that at times where he's maybe holding on to the ball a little too long, maybe scrambling a little bit earlier than he should. But if he's out there making quicker decisions on the practice field and showing that he has improved in that area, then that is a huge development in year two for Bo Nix. Obviously, don't want to count our chickens before they hatch.

Starting point is 00:24:17 It's only day two of ramp up practices. But the pass rush looking good and Bo Nix responding well to that pass rush, that's pretty much all good news unless you're worried about the Broncos offensive line. And in that case, I would say they struggled with the pass rush last year at training camp. And they were one of the best offensive lines in the NFL. It's just the way that it goes. We'll hear about the offensive line. Don't you worry about it having their days out there, Broncos country.

Starting point is 00:24:43 But other news and notes from day two of Denver Broncos training camp, Taloa, who Fonga met with the media. And speaking of the pass rush, he talked about how much easier the pass rush makes their jobs as defensive backs, but also he said, you know, the defensive backfield, they want to make the pass rushers jobs easier too, because how often do you see quarterback's got nowhere to throw the ball? And then all of a sudden, that pass rush can come closing in in a hurry. So Hufanga and the pass rush, they want to work in, in conjunction with one another. They don't just want to be cherry picking off of whatever the pass rush gives them.

Starting point is 00:25:18 They want to be in a symbiotic relationship on the back end and on the defensive front there. And I think everybody obviously benefits from that sort of mentality. But it was great to hear Hufanga meeting with the media and speaking about Bo Nix, speaking about how he's out there ripping the ball as well. So again, we can't get enough fuel for that Bo Nix hype train. Ryan Edwards, again, I'm going to shout him out. Just an awesome job with camp coverage. He said it looks, and Cody mentioned this too during mini camp and OTAs,

Starting point is 00:25:47 but that it looks pretty clear that Devon Velae is going to be wide receiver two for the Denver Broncos. this season. And you could take that for what you will right now, Broncos country. Obviously, there's an entire training camp to unfold at this point. And we have no idea what that rotation is going to look like. But what we do know is that Devon Valle built a ton of trust with Sean Payton last year. He built a lot of trust with Bo Nix. He made a lot of place. He did. And so to have him stepping up in year two has been a bit of an underrated storyline, A, because he missed, you know, mandatory minicamp with the injury and B, because he's older as a second year player. And that really discourages, I think, a lot of discourse with Devon Bailey being overly positive

Starting point is 00:26:33 because he's viewed as somebody who isn't going to be around for the long haul. And I think that's kind of, you know, that's kind of unfair towards him. And while I get it to a degree that you don't want necessarily to have every rookie and every second year guy coming in be 27, 28 years old at the same time, look, he's, He can really help this team right now. He can help this team in the window that they're in. And quite frankly, that's really all that matters, isn't it? You can't be, I love this quote from Star Wars, episode one, the Phantom Menace,

Starting point is 00:27:04 Obi-Wan's like, hey, Master Yoda says to be mindful of the future. And Quigon Jin tells him, yes, but not at the expense of the moment, you know, right? That's the big thing right there. You can't sacrifice the moment for your worries about the future. And right now, the Denver Broncos, they don't need to be worrying about 2026. or 2027. In some ways, you keep one eye on the future, but when it comes to a guy like Devon Velae being your second receiver in the rotation,

Starting point is 00:27:31 I mean, that is of very little consequence to the future. And if he can step up and make plays, ain't nobody going to care about how old he is. So Broncos country, really exciting stuff here at day two. Fans will be out there for day three. And I'm sure you'll see the energy from the team juiced up. Quick injury note or quick, I guess, practice attendance note. Mike McGlinchy, who met with the media earlier this week.

Starting point is 00:27:54 He did not practice on Thursday, which nothing really. He's always gotten those sort of those days, you know, where he gets off, just veteran days off. And that will likely continue throughout the course of training camp, although the Broncos would also be coy about it if it was an injury. So don't think there's anything to worry about there at this point, but just notable that Mike McGlinchie was not out there practicing on Thursday. But other than that, everybody else was out there.

Starting point is 00:28:22 Everybody contract situations and all is out there practicing for the Denver Broncos. And we'll look forward to updating you after day three where fans will be in attendance. And there is sure to be a lot of buzz around Broncos country. But everybody, thank you so much for tuning in today. We appreciate you all so much. Again, if you haven't already done so, we appreciate you take a couple of seconds. Hit subscribe, follow the show wherever you listen to podcasts. But we'll catch you on the next one.

Starting point is 00:28:47 We'll see you soon.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Evan Engram SHINES, Drew Sanders STANDING OUT at Denver Broncos Training Camp

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