Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - How Denver Broncos, Sean Payton Plan To Build Around Bo Nix At NFL Combine

Episode Date: February 25, 2025

How will Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton build around Bo Nix? With Payton and George Paton set to meet the media today at the NFL Combine, how they plan to build around Nix is something we hope we hear from the Broncos brain trust. How will Payton focus on adding his 'Joker' and could it be in-house with Jaleel McLaughlin or Blake Watson? How will the Broncos address linebacker and safety. Cody Roark is a credentialed beat reporter for Mile High Sports and covers the Broncos daily in person. Sayre Bedinger is the site expert for Predominantly Orange. Both bring Broncos Country the most in-depth and objective coverage of the Denver Broncos. WANT MORE DAILY DENVER BRONCOS CONTENT?For all of the latest Denver Broncos news today -- Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOBroncos?sid=YouTube Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL Follow on Twitter: @CodyRoarkNFL and @SayreBedingerFollow the show on Twitter: @LockedOnBroncos Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!FanDuelRight now, new FanDuel customers can get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if 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.

Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton and General Manager George Payton are going to meet with the media at the NFL combine today. And we're hoping we hear how they plan to build this team around Bo Nix. We'll break it all down 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. What's up, Broncos country? Welcome into another episode of Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast. part of the Lockdown podcast network where you know it is your team every day for all your Broncos news content coverage analysis and more all throughout the entire off season lockdown Broncos is the place to be thank you to all the every dayers in Broncos country thanks for making us your first listen of the day every single day however you choose to do so and remember rock with us every day if you're not in every day already become one so you never miss out on what's going on with your favorite team even throughout the entire off season because as you know Broncos country for the true fan there is never in offseason. I'm Cody Rourke. Credential. Broncos reporter for Mile High of Sports.

joined as always by Sarah Beninger, site expert there, pronomily orange.com. You can check out our written work there exclusively every single day here. We've got a lot to break down here today because the NFL Scout and Combine is this week. And today is the day where George Payton and Sean Payton are set to me with the media ahead of NFL free agency and the draft. And there are some things that we want to know from that coming into today. So we'll obviously talk about maybe how the Broncos will address the safety and linebacker position this offseason. We also want to know how the Broncos will plan to add that missing Joker that they have been searching for, but we're going to kick things off on today's show by really highlighting

and hoping to hear from George and Sean today about how the team plans to build around Bo Nix. You get all that here on today's episode of show. So Sarah, I mean, really it starts there. You know, the NFL scout and combine, a little different this year because last year was after NFL free agency and we got to hear the logic and the reasoning. behind why they signed certain guys and a couple years ago, why they signed Jared Stidham,

all this stuff that we got before all the craziness that was the NFL draft. Well, now the combine's a little earlier. It is, in fact, before free agency. So now we have a lot of questions. This is going to be the only opportunity we get to hear from these guys because even when the Broncos signed free agents,

we won't hear from Sean Payton. We won't hear from the players that they sign. This is the best bet and the best question. I hope somebody asked this here today. How do the Broncos plan to do, build around Bo Nix. And we can expect to hear nothing while hearing everything at the same time, right, Cody, because they'll say a lot of stuff and yet everybody's going to be interpreting it

in a million different ways. And that's always the goal when these guys get to the podium at the NFL scouting combine is to say everything while saying nothing. Now, what we really hope to be able to glean is at least kind of just the 10,000 foot strategy or maybe now that the front office and the coaching staff, the scouting department, and all those sorts of things. They've watched back the film from last year. They've seen everything that hopefully they needed to see.

Obviously, now as free agencies just around the corner, we're in the heat of NFL draft evaluations. We really want to know, I guess, more so based off of last year, sort of what they felt was missing. And I think that's where you start and begin the conversation of building around Bo Nix, because he's the end-all be-all, this off-season. You've got a franchise quarterback in place.

You have absolutely no experience. excuse with $42 million in cap space, cash rich ownership. Obviously, the Russell Wilson contract comes off the books completely in 2026, where as of right now, you have no dead money at all beyond 2025. Cody, there's no excuse for this team to not be building around their franchise quarterback properly. There's no reason why they should be thinking, well, we can't compete in 2025, but maybe 26 or 27.

No, go compete right now. You've got a quarterback on a rookie contract. there's no reason to delay. There's a weakness in the Kansas City Chiefs armor. There's certainly an opening in the AFC for somebody to come in and barge through that door and become the next version of the Chiefs. Why not the Denver Broncos? That has to be the approach this offseason.

There has to be urgency. Well, and I know internally, I know Sean Peyton and George Payton, I know players in that locker room feel like that they're ready to compete. They're not in the mindset of saying like, hey, you know, one or two years, we're really going to, that's it for us. That's going to be the time where we strike. They want to do that right now. And so much of this off season, when you have the flexibility of ball being on a rookie contract is,

okay, what is that missing piece, right? I think we can both say, like, hey, the run game was inconsistent. You didn't have any production from the tight end position. Those were two areas of the offense that really, I'd say, hurt the Broncos and didn't necessarily help out Bo Nix as it should have last season. Now, I think if you add quality to these positions, certainly that'll be there. We'll talk about how the Broncos will address the missing Joker, piece a little bit later on here in the show. But I think right now you still have to add to that position room there at running back. You have to change the dynamic of it. You have to change the

dynamic of the tight end room, even though you're going to have some solid pieces back that were there last season. But it can't be the status quo there. So for me, you know, I don't want to hear today people going up and saying, you know, Sean, what were your thoughts on bowl last season? Like, folks, pay attention. We've asked those questions almost every freaking week in the regular season. We asked it at the end of the season press conference. You want to know how George and Sean feel about Bo Nix. Go watch the end of the year presser, but don't waste our time. Don't waste Broncos country's time by asking those dumb questions.

Ask how they plan to build around Bo Nix. Man, sir, I wish I was going to the Combine this year because that is exactly what I would ask. There's a lot of other questions I would ask, but it's not in the cars this year. Unfortunately, we have some really cool stuff coming up for Mile High Sports that, you know, we'll announce a little bit later on as to maybe why I'm not at the combine there. but I want to know how they plan to build around Bo Nix. And look, I think part of that is not having a lot of turnover, not having a lot of change on your roster.

And this brings up Portland Sutton. Will they address his future with the team here at the Combine? Because Cortland is entering the final year of his deal. Last year they reworked his deal to front load it really with incentives. That to be honest with you, I think before the season, when those contract details got out, you're like, yeah, I don't think that's going to actually happen. Like, I don't know if the Bronkers is going to be a position

where Cortland is going to earn those incentives because what was it? It was the Broncos offense had to drastically improve. He had to have a certain amount of receiving yards and things like that. We didn't know what was going to happen there. But he goes out and he gets those incentives. I think what was it? He earned was it $1.5 million last season in incentives. And now he's in a realm to get paid.

And so part of building around Bo Nix, how do you keep things same around Bo where he's comfortable with his security blanket option? As you've seen the chemistry and the relationship between those two guys, how do you keep Cortland Sutton on his team? What's the plan for him? Well, it'll still also simultaneously building a roundboat. To me, that is what I want to know here from George and Sean here today when they meet with the media. 12.15 p.m. mountain time and also 1230 mountain time.

100%. You want to see this front office and coaching staff, obviously with some carryover from last year because we know that continuity in the NFL is important. And it does help, especially young quarterbacks. But at the same time, finding those missing piece. It's not necessarily just building off of everything that we saw last year. It's also saying, okay, now it's like my home gym, Cody, that I look at every time we record. It's like, okay, I'm looking at my home gym. I see what I got there?

What do I want to add into the mix or what do I need to subtract from that to help me get to the best physical shape that I'm in? If you want to use that analogy for the Broncos, it's like you look at last year and you say, okay, what pieces do we have in place? where do we now have the budget to add maybe some big ticket items? And what can we do to really upgrade and boost our young quarterback? Because that's what it's all about. And that's not to say that you say, screw everything else on this team and all we're doing is adding playmakers. That's not what it's about.

It's about finding the right guys. And so what it comes to free agency being first, this is a very interesting thing because you and I have talked about this. What would it be like if the NFL would do the draft before free agency? this feels like one of those years where you almost kind of wish that they could, right? Just like back in 2011 when they had the lockout, you had the draft. And that was a legendary draft class, by the way. But you look at this year's offseason for the Broncos, the needs that they have offensively,

so perfectly aligned with the NFL draft and the depth at those positions. Whereas free agency, there's a lot of older guys. I saw a tweet from Daniel Jeremiah on Monday where he's like, you look over the list of free agents at every position. not a lot of interest on the used car lot, right? He's like, I think a lot of teams will be looking to buy new this year. So the demand in the draft and the demand from the fan base for instant gratification when it comes to surrounding Bo Nix might not, that scratch might not get itched in free agency,

might have to wait for the NFL draft. Well, and I'd also look at it from that same standpoint of what you just mentioned. If there's not going to be as much interest in the used car lot, to me, does that drive the market value down? maybe some of these important positions, you would say, like, hey, we could add a veteran there. Like you and I yesterday did a show on three veteran wide receivers that we believe would be cost effective. Kenan Allen, Mike Williams, and Amari Cooper, three veteran options that immediately upgrade your receiver room without interrupting the progress of your development and you're pairing him alongside a guy like Cortland Sutton to help Bo Nix. Like, we've talked about that element as to how the Broncos can help Bo.

But will Sean and George give us a little bit more right? I've been around George and Sean enough to know like, okay, I know where I know what coach speak is. I used to coach. I used to play. You hear it all the time. I know how to decipher through it. But what are the little breadcrumbs that you can actually pick up on from what they say where it's like, huh, is that smoke screen or is there a little bit of truth there? That's exciting.

And obviously, we'll do a reaction episode here, Lockdown Broncos. We'll have excerpts from Sean and George, obviously on tomorrow show where we can maybe decipher and kind of break down and psychoanalyze everything. thing that they said, what's real, what's not. But I think primarily topic number one has to be when asked at the podium today, how do you plan to build around bone nix? That has to be the important question I think that gets answered here by George and Sean at the NFL combine. But Broncos country, we're not done yet.

We still got a lot to break down here on today's episode show. One of the other things we hope to hear from these two, from the Broncos Brain Trust, is how they plan to add that missing joker that they've kept talking about all offseason long. We'll break that down. And much more on today's episode, lock on Broncos. The Denver Broncos need to find a new joker for the deck after a pretty miserable year from the tight ends and running backs last year. So how in the world are Sean Payton and George Payton going to go about finding that guy? Well, we might get a little insight here at the NFL scouting combine.

Can't wait to hear what those guys say at the podium. And of course, we can expect Cody and I, your boys, to react to everything that goes on Denver Broncos, whether George Payton and Sean Payton are speaking, giving us. breadcrumbs, some clues or whether the Broncos are actually making some moves out there. Broncos country, we appreciate you so much for tuning in every single day. And if you aren't already an everyday listener of Lockdown Broncos, hit subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts as well as on YouTube, make that happen today. And of course, Cody, the big topic of the offseason is once again, the Joker position.

This is not news. Sean Payton brought this up back when he was hired in 2023. I think a lot of Broncos fans are like, man, I'm already sick of hearing about the Joker. I wish he had never said anything. It's like, we've been talking about this for, this is the third off season in a row that we've been talking about it. Previously, it was supposed to be Greg Dulcich, hopefully, you know, or even Javante Williams a couple of seasons ago,

but nothing has materialized. The Broncos had a terrible year from the tight ends in terms of receiving production, terrible year from the running backs overall. So let's talk about it. How in the world are they going to address finding this missing Joker position? Because, I mean, it's not just about getting. the best pass catching running back or the best receiving tight end. It's about finding somebody that, as Sean Payton said to Kay Adams,

is an elite receiver at that position. Well, I think first off, we're going to break this up in the three brackets, right? Because this is how Denver can address it. Okay, first we'll look in-house, we'll look at free agency, and then we'll look at the NFL draft, and we'll obviously break it down as we go through about this segment right here.

I think first and foremost here, Sarah, like I understand Broncos country's fatigue over the word Joker. you could do a drinking game with that for as many times we see it on Twitter. As many times as even guilty enough as we mention it, take a drink of water every time we say Joker, I guarantee you're going to be the most hydrated you've ever been in your entire life here. But first, let's shift now because I imagine Sean is probably going to open up and expand on this probably a lot more than George's.

I imagine Sean is going to say we have several players in-house that could be the Joker, but we're just not sure just yet, right? So who could that be here? Sarah. First off, I'm looking at Jalil McLaughlin as that potential guy, right? I mean, this is a guy who's just a constant workhorse as always getting better. But if I had to look at the running back position specifically, I mean, Jalil could hypothetically become that. I'm looking at Blake Watson, honestly, as the in-house guy. Nobody's talking about right now. And certainly the action we saw, you know, him against the Los Angeles Chargers last year, it was exciting

to see like, okay, hey, this kid can play. You saw some flashes in the preseason. But, ultimately it was like, all right, hey, he got it in the regular season. He had some really impressive runs. You get in the ball in space. Like this is a guy I think that can become that joker in-house. Really besides Jalil and Blake, is there anyone on this roster that you feel like can be that? If we're looking at Sean's definition of a tight end or a running back. No, I don't.

I don't think it's Lucas Crowell. I don't think it's Nate Adkins. And look, I think at the running back spot, Cody, you mentioned those two guys. and Jalilil, I think, got his audition this past year, or maybe even over the last couple of seasons, because he's gotten opportunities as a receiver out of the backfield, and he's gotten chances to be the featured back on a week-to-week basis. So if the Broncos are still looking for that Joker,

given the fact that we have a fairly decent sample size on Jalil McLaughlin at this point, I would say we're down to just Blake Watson as an unknown potential option. Now, that would frustrate a lot of Broncos country, wouldn't it, to say, hey, we're looking in-house for this guy because if it does end up being Blake Watson, which, I mean, no sense crying over spilled milk. But then everybody's going to be asking why the world didn't he play much more in his rookie season? If you had this guy on the team and you were banking on him being that player, where I find this conversation to be interesting is the fact that there's four backs on the roster

that aren't leaving this offseason, Jolil McLaughlin, Blake Watson, Tyler Biday, and Audrey Estime. I forgot about the day. He could be another option as well. I mean, we saw his very first reception in the NFL went to the house, right, against the charges a couple years ago. So he's got the skills. He's got the chops. But do the Broncos just automatically say, hey, we're going to just screw those guys.

We're done with those guys. We're going to go after a free agent. We're going to draft somebody. Or do they really like those running backs? Because I tend to believe, based on what we saw last year, which I know was a lot out of necessity, that Sean Payton is going to want to. to see more of the guys that are already on the team. Well, and to your point, like I said,

I forgot about Tyler Badei entirely. And it just brings me back. Like I just saw on social media not too long ago, he posted on his Instagram. He said, seeing all this talk about running backs, good running backs, things like he's like,

everyone's lucky I hurt my back last year. So it's like, I know Tyler's got a chip on a shoulder. Man, great dude. Love Tyler. I totally forgot about him. That's on me for leaving him out there. He could be an in-house Joker candidate.

Blake Watson, we talked about him as well. I agree with you. I don't see there being a tight-in option right now that's on the roster that can be that Joker, Sarah. I mean, really, if Greg Dolsich was the guy, he never amounted to it. I don't think it's that. But now that leads us to, I think we go to free agency. I don't think that there's really a Joker in free agency.

You and I've analyzed a tight-in position. I think there could be quality tight ends that you can add. They can be really good pass catchers. But to be that Joker role that Sean's looking for, I don't see it. I know Juan Johnson's been thrown out as a tight-end name. They've looked at Taysom Hill if he gets really. released. I don't necessarily see that being the case, but I don't know if you've seen the mock drafts that have gone out over the week around the NFL, NFL. NFL.com, Peter King's Monday

morning quarterback. Colston Loveland seems to be the name that keeps being thrown out there as that Joker guy for Sean Payton. Certainly you turn on the tape and you can see maybe some of the traits there. Because this is coming before NFL free agency and the draft, we're going to get a mix of draft and free agency questions. Maybe we'll get like, you know, last year, what was it? Sean was asked something along the lines of what is your ideal quarterback. And he's like six, two, I wonder if we're going to get what that ideal Joker is going to be from a physical trait standpoint, not like elite level catching. We know that's an important part of it. But I wonder if Sean's going to give us a little bit of an ingredient there.

I wouldn't mind hearing about that as well, because, you know, he and I'm sure he'll go on about Jimmy Graham and Jeremy Shockey and all these other guys. Hey, maybe it's a, if you want to go in theme, maybe it's the Miami tight end. Elijah Royo. Maybe we'll bookmark this episode and say, hey, if he loved Jeremy Shockey so much, if he love Jimmy Graham so much, maybe it's the next Miami Hurricanes tight end to come up. But yeah, I'm excited to hear about, you know, what the Broncos are doing in terms of they're going to meet with everybody at the scouting combine. So don't read too much into those reports, Broncos country of, oh, the Broncos met with so-and-so at the scouting com. Who cares? They're going to meet

with just about everybody between now and the NFL. It's more probably notable. if they don't meet with somebody that you're interested in at the NFL scouting combine. But I look at this as the NFL draft is the spot. Colston Loveland is going to be interesting because, you know, who shares a tight end need with the Denver Broncos, Jim Harbaugh and the Los Angeles Chargers. And Harbaugh already knows that Colston Loveland fits his offense. He handpicked him to play in it when he was back at Michigan.

So don't be shocked if the Broncos get jumped if Colston Loveland is, if they're telegraphing interest in him by any stretch. And so I look at the Joanne Johnson types, Cody. We have that at home. We have Lil Jordan Humphrey, bring him back. I mean, they're the same guy. You look at their size. You look at their production and you want to average it out over a per target or a per reception basis.

They're the same guy. And so I just don't, that doesn't move the needle for me. When it comes to the Joker position, I need somebody that's going to move the freaking needle. Like go ahead and bring in Joanne. Go ahead and bring in Taysam Hill. But if you do that, you're still going to be looking for your Joker in the NFL draft. Like you said, free agency, I don't think the guys out there. Maybe Tyler Eiffert, I don't know.

I'm just maybe there's somebody that's going to get cut in the coming days. I have no idea. But right now, I think there's only the NFL draft. If you're looking for the true who's going to be the joker of this team, I think it is the NFL draft. Well, and also I want to ask you this because it could be tight in, right? But let's look at running back prospects. I have grown so fond of watching Trayvion on Henderson's tape at Ohio State. Like the more I watch his tape, I'm like, man, anytime this.

guy touches the ball of the backfield as a pass catcher. He's got the ability to go to the distance. Obviously, there's Neil out of Kansas that continues to get talked about as well. But I think if I'm looking at a true Joker, if we're looking at running back, I feel like Henderson's probably that best overall bet. I don't think that a guy like Ashton Genty is necessarily deemed as a Joker type, so to speak. I know he didn't have as much production out of the backfield as a pass catcher because

he ran for over 2,600 yards last season. So for me, Trayvion Henderson's a name I'm warming up to. And certainly I know Broncos. country is as well. I'll be very curious to see, like, if somebody does ask, do you plan on addressing the Joker role in free agency of the draft, if Sean or George are going to give us anything on that? It's highly unlikely that they do,

but what can we maybe pick out of what they tell us that maybe has some substance to it? I am, they pay attention to everything. You know, the NFL train. It's always moving. He's like, you got to be careful who you listen to. You got to know when to get off of it. So I wonder where Sean and Georgia at with that process. But Bracko's country, we're not done yet on today's episode.

show we still got a lot to talk about. And the other thing we hope to hear from George and Sean is how they plan to address the linebacker and the safety position positions that Peyton himself has said that they need to address at the middle. We're going to break that down. And some more here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Broncos country, as we jump at the fourth quarter action of today's episode show, we just want to say thank you once again, all the everydayers in Broncos country. Thanks for making us your first listen for all your Broncos news content coverage analysis and more the best coverage you can't get anywhere else.

Lockedown Broncos is the place to be. We appreciate you so much here as we continue to go through what we hope we hear from George and Sean when they meet with the NFL media here today at the NFL scouting combine ahead of Thursday's testing period in Indianapolis here. And more importantly, how will the Broncos address linebacker and safety going forward? And certainly I know that we've played kind of devil's advocate on here. We've looked at free agency options. We've looked in the NFL draft.

here. But I think when you look at the bare bones of, let's start off at offball linebacker, this probably will be the highest priority position that the Denver Broncos will look to add some depth to here this offseason. You've got three guys right now. We're set to become unrestricted for you. It's Cody Barton, Justin Sternod, and Zach Cunningham. Alex Singleton is coming off of a torn ACL and he's making terrific progress in his recovery. He's going to be ready to go for training camp. And I think OTA is at that point. But as a good friend, Mike Close kind of pinpointed out earlier on Monday, the Broncos, they need a guy who can run next to him. So all plans seem to signify, unless there's a cut coming, that Alex Singleton will be the primary guy,

the run stuff for there, and they're looking to maybe add a guy who can run at the wheel linebacker position. Which makes a lot of sense. I know that I don't know if they're necessarily trying to mask Singleton's lack of, you know, I guess speed for lack of a better term, because obviously that's what they think they're missing at that position group right now. but I don't know if that's going to be able to happen. We hope that Singleton can come back fully healthy, Cody, but I remain highly skeptical that the Broncos would be getting the best out of him. Now, that's not to discredit his hard work coming back from a knee injury.

That's simply to say that, okay, a linebacker that's going on 32 years of age, that's coming off a torn ACL. I mean, that's a, I think every NFL fan would have reason to be skeptical if their team was banking on that guy being a starter, given that position group, was a huge weakness last year. I know Singleton's a great dude, Walter Payton Man of the Year candidate.

I don't want to sell him short because I know we had a commenter back when we signed him that set us straight on Alex Singleton. And so I think that, look, hey, he's going to work hard. If he can come back, that's great. I still believe the Bronco should be signing two guys. It's a weak linebacker draft class. And it's a strong, I mean, very strong, free agent class at linebacker.

And I would love to see them take shots on guys with upside. Get a proven guy to play next to Singleton, but don't stop there. You've got other free agents. I mean, Justin Sirnaud, free agent, Cody Barton, free agent, even Zach Cunningham, who they kept off the practice squad last year. He's a free agent. So you've got to sign multiple guys to fill out this position group. And I just don't love the idea of them going into the year banking on Singleton being a starter.

Cody, I mean, I don't know how you feel about that. I just, it strikes me as, you know, you have the assets available. There's the players are available and you're just skipping it for no good reason. Well, you know, I think with Singleton, I think anytime you have a player who's coming off of a major injury, you have to ask the question, are we willing to put all of our eggs in the basket of this player, you know, banking on that because look, I'll tell you about it, the psychology. And look, as much as I love Bow Lowry and I think obviously Bo Lowry's result speak for itself, the one thing, and I think they do provide this type of access, I think, to the players as well.

There is still a mental aspect of coming back from an injury where it's like you have to plant, cut, do all this stuff. Like you look at Singleton. Linebacker is the most physically contact-absorbing position on the defensive side of the ball as running back is on the offensive side of the ball. So with that volume, with what you need to do at that position, you know, what's the wear and tear look like? Is there going to be a pitch count during training camp there for Singleton? You know, I know the goal is to get guys to the regular season.

Can you put all of your eggs in that basket? I think it's risky to do that, right? And then not even factor in that. You have the questions. What is Drew Sanders? Is he going to be an off ball linebackers? Is he going to be an edge rusher? I don't think, Sarah, that they're going to move him back to edge after they just moved him back to off ball linebacker, right?

I think that really he was one of those players that were hoping can maybe emerge in that rotation. And then Nick Benito took the massive. step forward that he did. And they're like, you know what? We got Jonah Ellis. We got Dondrey Tillman, two guys that we really like. Drew can go back to that offball linebacker. Look, if you put him at the wheelbacker spot, Drew can run. He's big. He's physical. He's athletic. He can run there. And at will, I think it slows down a little bit more for him. But do you go into the season, Alex Singleton coming off the ACL? And then Drew Sanders, who doesn't have a large sample size

in the NFL at off ball linebacker, do you go in at what is perceived to be the weakest part of the Broncos defense, which was strong last season. But the weakest part of the defense with questions is off ball linebacker. To me, it's risky, very risky to do that. So I'm with you. I think that they sign a guy in free agency. What does that look like? Who is that?

I'm not sure. But then it also leads to like, you know, fan favor that people have been talking about in the office season, Nick Bolton, Mike Clist in that article he put out about potential targets said, you know, Bolton obviously played for a Super Bowl defense, but is a little too flat-footed in a sense or like, you know, it struggles with that cover. coverage dynamic essentially. And I would agree with that. I would agree with that when you look at it like when it's coverage, he's probably not the best option there for you, but he is versatile in a sense. So maybe it maybe it's a scheme thing. I don't know. But that transition is now to the safety conversation because this is also a very important part of that. Cliss also mentioned the Broncos had interest in Minnesota Vikings soon to be free agent, Cambynum, which I think that's very notable to kind of make make note of that. I know that's a guy that you've talked about here on this show on our Bleacher report streams. And he also mentioned, J. L. Skinner as being ready for more playing time after playing some, you know, down the stretch there,

some big nickel there for the Broncos. Didn't play any safety during the playoff game against Buffalo, but he's a guy that's ready. And this was a move that Cliss said the Broncos will probably add to, even if they have PJ Locke and Brandon Jones return, which Jones will return. I know there's a lot of questions about PJ's future. Yeah, PJ Lock has a non-guaranteed $4 million on his deal for this coming season. and the Broncos could save that by letting him go. And I think that that could be the case, especially with the hint about J.L. Skinner, because correct me if I'm wrong, Cody,

but last year and Vance Joseph's first year back as defensive coordinator, I believe PJ was the big nickel at times for the Broncos when he was getting his playing time. And so that could be our hint there that somebody's going to replace PJ as the starter. And J.L. Skinner could be replacing what PJ did in 2023 as the big nickel out there. And I would be willing to go so far as to say, it will be roster malpractice by George Payton and Sean Payton if they do not sign another safety from this group who can start. Because there's so many guys out there who are young, who have the ability to be cost control.

We just saw, I think, Elijah Molden of the L.A. Chargers just signed for less than $7 million per season on a new deal. And he was probably going to be one of the better, I mean, the upper half of safeties in this year's free agency, the supply and demand is there for teams. Like there's so much supply. And teams are already cutting guys. Juan Thornhill got cut on Monday by the Cleveland Browns. I mean, guys are getting cut left and right. There's so many top tier guys or potential top tier guys at safety that it will be roster

malpractice if the Broncos don't look to upgrade there. As I've mentioned a number of times before, when targeted in coverage, PJ Locke last season, 125.8 quarterback rating into his coverage. You simply cannot have that, especially because we saw in the postseason a couple lapses as well. So I think the Broncos need another guy that can cover back there. Cam Biden, him, Cody,

would also upgrade the defensive turnover celebrations. I mean, he's out there choreographing every individual celebration. So I'm here for it, but it would be roster malpractice to not sign a safety in 2025. Let me ask you this then, right? Do you go the safety route in the draft?

through you go in free agency. I mean, we have seen George take on safety is in the draft, but I feel like with where Denver is out with the young guys that they like, they love Devon Key, they love J.L. Skinner's developmental guys. Is this a time where it's just like, hey, it's free agency or bust when it comes to safety, especially with the market value being where it is, the overall outlook of that position, as you mentioned.

This is a position, I think, that they can't spend on. If it were up to you, would you go draft or free agency for this position specifically? 100% free agency. and I wouldn't turn down a bargain in the draft, but if the Broncos end up in a position to take a first or second round safety in the NFL draft, I think that would really rub a lot of people the wrong way. Not because, you know, hey, that's a bad player.

I know that in Sean Payton's draft where he got Alvin Camara, I think he had taken safety in the second round of that draft, and I'm not saying they're the exact same situations, but he found his Joker regardless. I just think that, look, free agency is way too deep. And it's, again, you're not spending a ton of money there, to bring in quality players that can start for you for the foreseeable future. Whereas in the NFL draft,

like I said, this draft class is very deep at the positions the Broncos need offensively, tight end, running back. I mean, even if you look at wide receiver, the depth is better probably than the top end talent. So I really don't like the idea of using a premium selection on a safety when there's so many guys that have already proven they can do it at the highest level. Yeah, I know I'm with you there. If Denver has to address the linebacker safety, I hope it's the free agency route.

If you're going to go with adding and upgrading the defense and the draft, defensive interior. I think, you know, nose tackle, defensive end, whatever you want to do, like just building out the trenches even further, I think is important. You can address those other guys. And you can even add if you wanted to a corner in the draft if you wanted to or free agency. But, man, I think Denver's cornerback room, I think is fine. I think it's in a great spot. I think safety. I think is solid, but they can obviously add depth there.

And it's not going to cost you a lot to do that. To me, I think that's the route that we do see. And obviously, when George and Sean meet with the media here today, once again, Sean will meet at 12.15 p.m. Mountain time. George will meet at 12.30 p.m. Mountain time. And obviously, that'll be on the Broncos YouTube and also on their social media feeds for the live stream there. That's what I hope we get to hear, you know, we learn from. I hope that's, they talk about these things specifically as terms of,

because why would Sean go on and say, hey, we need the must have joker we need you know receivers in need uh and then we look at linebacker we look at safety and it's like all right well what does that look like this is where i think we get more follow up more clarity on that overall going forward but with that said broncos country let us know your thoughts on today's episode of the show to these three questions specifically in what we hope we learn from george and sean here today and what we hear from that's what we're aiming for here make sure you drop a comment or you send us a message on social media or reply on Twitter X threads,

Blue Sky, wherever you're at, at Cody Workin' NFL, at Sarah Bedinger. We got you covered. For all you every day is tomorrow's episode of the show. We're going to get the best clips that we can from George and Sean's press conference. We're going to dive deep. We're going to microanalyze almost everything that we can,

the important stuff and break it all down for you, the avid listeners in Broncos country on tomorrow's episode, Locked on Broncos.