Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - GONE: Denver Broncos Have BEST PASS RUSH In AFC West After Maxx Crosby Trade

Starting point is 00:00:00 The boogeyman is out of the AFC West after the Las Vegas Rears traded away Max Crosby, and this opens up the door for the Denver Broncos to have the best past rusher group in the entire AFC West. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked on Podcasts Network, your team every day. What's up, Broncos country? Welcome into a bonus episode, Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network in the country, all thanks to all you every dayers out there.

Starting point is 00:00:36 Thanks for making us your first listen, however you choose to do. So I'm Cody Rourke. Credential Broncos reported on today's bonus episode of show. We are talking about the departure of Max Crosby from the AFC West. Everybody in this division is rejoicing as he heads to the Baltimore Ravens. Still unfortunate that he's inside the AFC here. We'll talk about how this opens up the door for the Broncos. Had the best group of collective pass rushers in the entire AFC West.

Starting point is 00:01:01 We'll compare them to other players inside the division. Plus, we'll also talk about. how the Broncos benefit from Crosby's departure from the division here on today's episode. So, show, let's get into it here. Obviously, folks, the blockbuster news so far ahead of NFL free agency was the anticipated trade of Max Crosby from the Las Vegas Raiders. He's now in Baltimore with Lamar Jackson and obviously Jesse Minter, who's taken over as the head coach there. Obviously, a guy who orchestrated a defense with the Chargers last season that gave the Broncos offense a lot of fit. So now you put Max Crosby in Baltimore as their premier edge guy.

Starting point is 00:01:38 That is a huge move. But man, this is great news for the Broncos. You remove arguably the best pass rusher inside the AFC West. You remove him to another division where pray for Joe Burrow and his livelihood here going forward. He's got to go up against obviously Max Crosby now and Miles Garrett, T.J. Watt. My goodness. Joe Burrow, get a good trainer, my man. For the Broncos, this does open things up for them to have now the best.

Starting point is 00:02:03 past rushers in the AFC West. I think Max Crosby had that title when he was with the Las Vegas Raiders, but now I think that crown will now shift to Broncos outside linebacker, Nick Benito, who was on an absolute tear last season and saw a lot of extra attention. We know he played with the club on his hand, which he had surgically operated on this off season. He should be good to go. But 14 sacks for Benito last season, 39 pressures off the edge.

Starting point is 00:02:29 Right there, that replaces almost everything that Max Crosby was. in terms of impact. And the rise that we've seen from Bonito, I think there's validity to the point now that you can make a valid argument that Benito is the best pass rusher inside of the division. Now, I want to look at another player in the division

Starting point is 00:02:46 and kind of give some flowers to him as a little bit. I think Nick Benito's got the edge, but the Los Angeles Chargers and Tuli, Tuolotu, he's a very, very good pass rusher. I think he's going to be up there in that consideration. But right now, I think Denver's got it. And I think collectively, as an overall unit, They have the three best pass rushers inside the entire AFC West collectively.

Starting point is 00:03:08 And you talk about impact players from starters. These are guys that each had seven plus sacks each this past season. We talked about Benito with the 14 sacks and the countless numbers of pressures that he had last season, 39 to be exact. Let's go to Jonathan Cooper, who starts opposite of Benito. For him, eight sacks on the season, 25 pressures. That right there is an impact player. But let's get to the interior defensive line.

Starting point is 00:03:31 Now, obviously, we know Denver is losing JFM. this offseason. But Zach Allen, he was a monster in terms of pressures, getting after the quarterback, creating uneasy pockets for guys, someone that constantly saw different double teams and chips from running backs underneath tight end that were playing that wing formation there. They were looking to chip wherever number 99 was. He was the key guy for a lot of those guys, which opened up opportunities for Benito and Cooper and other guys like Jonah Ellis and Dondre Tillman to get involved in the next JFM to have success this

Starting point is 00:04:01 past season. But Zach Allen had seven sacks this season, but 50 pressures, folks, 50 quarterback pressures. That's such a huge statistic that really shows the type of impact that he has and the high motor, the fact that this guy never wants to come off the field. You look at the Broncos back-to-back years of leading the NFL in Sacks, 63 and 2024, obviously 68 and 2025. Yes, the crown is Denver's for the best pass rusher inside of the AFC.F. West. And let's even take a look to maybe at Kansas City, because I know there might be some Chiefs fans to stumble upon this. They're going to try to make an argument for themselves. I mean, Chris Jones, a detackle. He's not who he used to be. So I'm not going to give much

Starting point is 00:04:43 consideration there. George Carloftus was one of those guys, the high motor. You always have to worry about him. But a lot of people have talked about, especially Chief's Kingdom, they've talked about how his play has dropped off since he's gotten a contract extension. Aside from that, there are other defensive ends that they have Ashton Gillette, not. necessarily sure he's going to be in the mix there for them as they go forward in terms of being an impact pass rusher to the extent of, you know, maybe a guy like Jonathan Cooper or Nick Bonito. He's probably not going to be in that consideration. Really going to be interesting to see if the charges bring back Kalil Mack, who is returning

Starting point is 00:05:17 this season, but he is a free agent. Will he return to the charters? Will he follow Jesse Mentor to the Baltimore Ravens to potentially be the guy opposite of Max Crosby? That would be scary if you are in that AFC North. division there. I think right now, Tuli Tui-Pelotu is the one guy that has probably the most consideration. If Odafe O'Wa does return, then I think that you will have an argument that they could have a pass rushing duo that could compete with Denver's with Cooper and Benito,

Starting point is 00:05:45 but ding-dong, the witch is dead. Max Crosby out of the AFC West, which is good news. And we'll talk about how can the Broncos benefit from Crosby's departure? Well, in order to answer that question, you have to look at exactly what type of impact Crosby had against the Denver Broncos. We'll go through that here on today's episode. of the show. Game Time is the sponsor of today's episode, Locked on Broncos. We live in a world where we can stream anything. We can order food in minutes and we carry supercomputers in our pockets, and somehow buying tickets to a live game still feels complicated. Hidden fees, jumping prices, endless steps. There has to be a better way. And with game time, there is. That's why I use

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Starting point is 00:07:06 Today's episode show is also brought to our friends over there at TurboTax. It's tax time, but for a lot of us, the old way of doing taxes is a lot. Trying to book an appointment that's not the most convenient, sitting in a waiting room with a stack full of papers, emailing back and forth and wondering if they really get your situation. But this year, you're getting a major upgrade. Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. you can meet face to face with a real tax expert and your documents get uploaded straight to your TurboTax app on the spot. And just like that, you're done. Your TurboTax expert works to get

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Starting point is 00:08:36 He's had 25 quarterback hits. He's been a constant pressure player with a relentless motor, and the Broncos hadn't had a lot of success against Max Crosby until Bo Nix came around. Now, look, I would even say this as well. There's a statistic out there. The one guy that has the most sacks on Bo Nix throughout Boe's early NFL career is Max Crosby with three and a half sacks. And I think everyone goes back to that 2024,

Starting point is 00:09:00 Bo's rookie season when he dropped all those touchdowns. The Broncos blew out the Raiders. But before they, it was like a tie game at 10-10. Matt Crosby is at the line of scrimmer saying, speak up, Bo, they can't hear you. And then Bo Nix said, you know what? Oh, they're going to hear me. And you guys are going to understand that.

Starting point is 00:09:15 Bang, 24 straight points after that as the Broncos Cruz to a blowout win against the Raiders in that matchup. I believe that was week five, if I'm not mistaken. But obviously, since then, the Broncos have beaten the Raiders since Bowenicks has been quarterback here. And now with him out of the division, that benefits guys like Mike McGlinchy. You know, they didn't really line Max Crosby up too much against Garrett Bulls. And Garrett, at times when he did have to face Crosby, did a really good job there. But primarily, there is like this beef, so to speak, between Mike McGlinchie and Max Crosby.

Starting point is 00:09:50 It was just something that Crosby himself has talked about on podcast. dating back to the time when Mike McGlinchy was a member of the San Francisco 49ers. These guys have had some battles, and the Broncos have had to put a lot of attention against Crosby in every game that they've played against the Raiders. And I would even say on that short Thursday night football turnaround, he was one of those players that was constantly disrupting. The Broncos thought that they had a decent plan going in that game and then come to realize they didn't have a great plan at all.

Starting point is 00:10:16 Denver survived that scare on Thursday night football. But Max Crosby was always one of those guys that even if the Raiders defense collectively was terrible. He was going to be the one guy that can absolutely wreck a game and impact that. So now you remove him from the equation. The Raiders right now as it stands don't necessarily have a legitimate pass rusher that could have even a sliver of an impact that Crosby had there. So that should help out the Broncos, though I think we imagine that the Raiders now, they have two first round picks in this year's NFL draft. It wouldn't come as a surprise. Obviously, we know number one overall, they're probably going to take Fernando Mendoza, but it wouldn't surprise

Starting point is 00:10:50 me if they go out and they take an edge rusher as well with one of the other first round picks. This is probably a position they're going to try to be aggressive at in free agency, the NFL draft, because when you lose a player like Max Crosby, he really was the heartbeat, the heart and soul of that Raiders defense. You lose that edge. And now you have to replace that maybe with a couple of guys. So I'm curious to see how the Raiders approach this, but ultimately, this benefits the Broncos. It benefits the Chargers and the Chiefs that Crosby is now out of the division. And it allows chance for other guys to step up. But right now, as we talked about previously, The Broncos have the best overall pass rusher group right now inside of the division.

Starting point is 00:11:28 I imagine some of these teams are going to try to change that and challenge the Broncos for that potential crown. But no more worrying about the boogeyman. The Broncos, Bo Nicks, they can sleep peacefully at night knowing that Max Crosby is not going to be someone they had to worry about game planning for twice a year inside the AFC West. And it even goes back to the point of respect. Like Crosby is such a dominant and impactful player that Sean Payton himself, there was an NFL miced up films where he was. even talking about like, man, you change our entire game plan. We can't do the things that we want to do because of you. And he said, you know, even went back to the point of telling a story that saying,

Starting point is 00:12:03 hey, when number 98 comes out of the game, these are the plays that we can run. And then Sean's listened to his assistant coach to say, what, Sean, he never comes off the field. He plays every single snap. And so you lose that impact. I think you lose that mutual level of respect. And obviously, Sean and Max have for one another. But it makes things easier for the Broncos from a game planning standpoint.

Starting point is 00:12:23 that they no longer have to put a tight in or a jumbo tackle next to Mike McGlinchy because you want to allocate two or three guys to stop just one guy. And that allows you, I think, to maybe have a more conducive game plan going forward. In theory, it works. But we will see. But Broncos country, let us know your thoughts here on today's bonus episode, locked on Broncos, what the departure of Max Crosby inside the AFC West means for Denver, in your opinion.

Starting point is 00:12:48 And are you glad that you don't have to see the Broncos face him twice per season? I know for me personally, knowing that we go into these crossover Thursday matchups here in 2026. We're not talking about Max Crosby being the one guy you really have to worry about now. That right there is a game changer here for the Denver Broncos. What that said, Broncos country, Sarah and I, we will see you on Monday for another episode of the show. We're going to talk about the Broncos. They're exclusive rights, free agents.

Starting point is 00:13:13 And in the meantime, you want to sign up for the everyday or all access club. Do so now and get a free month. You enter promo code, free agency, all one word, no spaces. free agency gets you a month free of the Everydayer Club where you get access to our Discord channel for the All Access tier. You get access to the All-22 film breakdowns that we'll be doing of every Broncos free agency signing and guys that they retain in-house, plus bonus content, daily newsletters, and access to the Lockdown Broncos merch store where you get access to all of that. Plus one-on-one texting with Sarah and myself.

Starting point is 00:13:45 That's the all-access version, which is usually 15 bucks per month. But you can get a month free by using promo code free agency. or if you want to do the everyday air club where you just want the ad-free version of the show, well, you just do the member version. It's five bucks a month. Free agency gets you a free month. After that, it's five bucks a month. You get an ad-free audio version.

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Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - GONE: Denver Broncos Have BEST PASS RUSH In AFC West After Maxx Crosby Trade

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