Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - KEEP ROLLING: Denver Broncos Expecting AFC West DOG FIGHT with Las Vegas Raiders

Episode Date: December 3, 2025

The Denver Broncos are expecting an AFC West dog fight with the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday as Bo Nix and Sean Payton look to win their 10th-straight game. With Denver feeling like they still have more in the tank and more room to improve, does it truly matter if Denver wins close or in blowout fashion? Cody Roark and Sayre Bedinger discuss this and what the addition of Elijah Moore means for the Broncos wide receiver room. 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!  Aura FramesFor a limited time, save on the perfect gift by visiting https://AuraFrames.com to get $35 off Aura’s best-selling Carver Mat frames - named #1 by Wirecutter - by using promo code LOCKEDON at checkout. FanDuelIf you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Las Vegas Raiders may be out of the dance this year, eliminated from the playoffs, but the Denver Broncos are expecting a dogfight. We'll break it all down 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. Happy hump day, Broncos country. Welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network.

Now the number one sports podcast network in the country, all thanks to all you, every dayers out there in Broncos country. Thanks for taking time, however you choose to do so and making us your first listen every single day for all your Broncos news, content coverage analysis, and more. I'm Cody Rourke, credential Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports. Join as always by Sarah Bedinger, the longtime site expert over there, predominantly orange.com.

We've got a lot to break down here on today's episode of the show. It is Raiders week. The Las Vegas Raiders, they may be out of it, but they have a lot to prove and they can poke holes in various team seasons down the stretch before the season even ends there. We'll go through while the Broncos are expecting a dog fight against the Raiders and why the Raiders' offensive identity could be entirely different from the time they faced off on Thursday night football.

Plus, the Broncos feel like at this juncture, they have more left in the tank to give, and they haven't reached their full potential. That's what Bo Nix and Marvin Mimson will highlight that. Then we'll close things out by talking about the Broncos, adding a savvy, wily, veteran-wide receiver to the practice squad, some familiarity in terms of getting burnt by him in the 2024 NFL season.

You'll get all down today's episode show brought to you by our friends over there at Fandu. And right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets you can use all throughout the entire app. Sarah, look, Sunday, we're excited. It's an AFC West showdown. It's another opportunity for the Broncos to improve their conference record

and chance for them to win their 10th straight game. And it's not going to be easy, though, because the Raiders, as we've seen, they know how to play the Broncos tough. They certainly have done Thursday night football. I couldn't help but think when watching the Monday night football broadcast beforehand, the pregame of the New England Patriots and the New York Giants. They were talking about Drake May and how he's got a chance to win 10 straight games.

And I'm like, hey, Bo Nix is one game away from that as well. How come no one's talking about Bo Nix? So, you know, I feel like we're going to have a lot more to talk about on that. But that's something that just kind of tick me off a little bit. Yeah, you know, it's it kind of comes with the territory, right, of being a good team in the NFL. You get disrespected, right? That's kind of, I think we've seen the chiefs. They've become the great villains of the NFL, you know.

And at the end of the day, I mean, yeah, that's part of the gig. And it does feel like the Broncos get slighted. Of course, you know, ESPN being out there in the upper northeast part of the country. They're going to be all over it if the Patriots have a franchise quarterback. And Drake May has done a great job for the Patriots. I'm looking forward to hopefully a chance to see the Broncos going up against Drake May and the Patriots, maybe in the playoffs. Maybe in Denver. If they can keep on winning, we'll see what happens.

Hey, 10 years ago, we keep talking about all these parallels, right? I mean, the Broncos and the Patriots, that was the AFC championship in Denver 10 years ago, the rights to go play at Levi Stadium for the Super Bowl. I mean, the stars are aligning here. If we are being honest about it, it's kind of crazy to think about. But yeah, Cody, I think when it comes to this Raiders game, look, the Broncos, they've won nine straight games, right? They're 10 and 2.

They're just 2 and 1 in the AFC West at this point. So a loss of the Raiders will put you at 500. your division. You've got to be thinking about that if you're the Denver Broncos right now. I mean, 10 and 2 is awesome. But let's go dominate this division play. Let's go, let's get another just easy win. Let's, hey, the fans have been sweating. They've been on the edge of their seat. They've been growing extra gray hairs. Let's give them an opportunity to sit back and just, you know, enjoy a game. Let's go dominate these guys. Let's not just beat the Raiders. But as I was saying on the squad show with our guys, Nick and Enelow, Cody, I was saying,

let's go embarrass the Raiders in this game. We know that it's going to be a dog fight, right? The Raiders always show up to play the Broncos. So no matter what the line is, no matter what the expectation is, they're going to play tough, but the Broncos, they need to prove a point in this one, in my opinion. Yeah, and I'm curious to see where the Broncos defense is at this week, coming off of, I think, the disappointing performance that we can all say

that was Sunday night football, them giving up over 400 yards, not being able to get off the field on third down. And more importantly, I mean, it didn't look like the game plan they had. had against Marcus Marietta was something of value here. Now, look, you're going to face Gino Smith, who, you know, the Broncos got after him six times in Thursday night football the first time that they played. You know, Brock Bowers came back in that game against Denver on Thursday night. Well, guess what the Broncos have Patrick Sertan, the second back in the lineup, which is nice.

But from everything that we've seen with this Raiders team, they fired Tom McMahon after that Thursday night game. They fired Chip Kelly, who they had made the highest paid coordinator in the NFL just prior to signing him initially. They fire him. He didn't even complete his first season. And it was because he was running his own style of offense, which apparently was not known to the upper echelon of the organization or even Pete Carroll. So now in my head, I'm thinking about that. And it's like, all right, this Raiders offense is probably going to be called a lot differently now that Chip is out of the building.

I don't know exactly what it's going to be like. I think we've seen some sprinkled in the last couple of games. But I imagine they're going to try to get Ashton Genty a little bit more involved this week. and obviously Brock Bowers as much as they can. This is going to be an interesting one on paper here early on, Sarah. I agree with you. I think it is going to be a dog fight. And ultimately, you want to see the Broncos pull away there.

This is the time to keep riding that high. Improve your conference record. Improve your division record because you've got some tough games coming up against the Jaguars, the Packers, short turnaround to face the Chiefs on Christmas Day. Then you close out the season against Justin Herbert in the Los Angeles Chargers in a game that could have massive, massive implications for the AFC West and playoff seating. So the time to take care of business is certainly now.

Yeah, take care of business while the ball is in your court, right? I mean, honestly, for the Broncos, you're at 10 wins right now, but in the AFC playoff race, that is, it's meaningless, you know, with five games left to play. I mean, I'm not saying it's meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but there's a lot of teams in the AFC that have eight or more wins right now. So you're playing for seating. Sean Payton talked about that.

You're playing for seating. right now. You're playing for the right to win your division, to have home field advantage in the playoffs. You've got to beat teams like the Raiders on that path to getting that number one seed. I mean, and once again, does it really matter if the Broncos win with style points? Absolutely not because like you mentioned, Cody, winning's winning. It don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile, right? So that's the truth of the matter is you've got to get this win. Get your 11th victory. That is critical for, you know, really just the AFC. running through Denver, where you've been white hot for the last, what, 10, 11 home games.

You haven't lost. You've got to make sure that the playoffs come through the Mile High City. This is your opportunity to make that happen. And Denver's been road warriors this year as well. They've won in some tough places on the road. You know, in London, at the New York Jets. I mean, essentially they're tough road game regardless. At Philadelphia, you know, to be able to go on the road and do that.

I just think that this Broncos team, they're battle tested, they're ready for it. And it doesn't matter if it's a close game. Look, I think that's the thing. Like people are looking at the New England Patriots. They're watching them. They're looking at the Denver Broncos. They're watching and they're like, well, New England's clearly the better team because look at how they're blowing teams out.

I don't necessarily think that makes them a better team. I think, you know, a lot of respect to England. They have a good football team. They've got a great coaching staff in place. But it doesn't matter if they win and blow out fashion. We've seen that sometimes lead to, okay, hey, you can blow out people in the regular season, but then sometimes those teams that are doing that, they get bouncing the first round of the playoffs sometimes if they don't have that first round by, essentially.

So for me, I just think that Denver's just got to. to go out here and they got to figure out how to run the ball effectively, offensively. That's going to be the big key here. You're going to develop more rhythm and run with RJ Harvey, with Jullum McLaughlin, obviously here. But can you get away from the tendencies that become so predictable? And I think that's a question for Sean Peyton this week. You've seen the emergence of Evan Ingram on Sunday night football. So how you continue to take those aspects of what you've been able to do,

Bo Nicks performing well over the course of the last two games, can you carry that over into this game and just go out there where Broncos country, we know, travels well to Vegas. can you take care of business and hostile territory? That's what I want to see here this week. Yeah, and it is going to be a lot of pressure. And Bo Nix talked about after the game that pressure is a privilege, and he embraces that. I think he really does.

And we've seen that manifest on the field, right? With all the comeback victories, the clutch play in the fourth quarter, and even against the Raiders to a degree, right? I mean, that was there for this Broncos team. It was not a pretty game. It was not a good game. It wasn't a fun game to watch. It wasn't exactly the kickback and relaxing.

type of game that we had all hoped for. But definitely another opportunity when you're tired as a team, when you're worn down, when you're getting the other team's best effort, at least defensively from the Raiders in that game for sure, you still found a way to pull through. So this is a division rivalry. It's, you know, we know Max Crosby gets up to play the Broncos. I reckon he hates the Broncos and the Chiefs more than anybody else out there. Maybe Justin Herbert is near the top of his list now, Cody.

I saw him knock Justin to the ground this weekend. But we know Max is going to be ready to play, and he gives the Raiders the vibe of having almost 12 guys out there at times. So it's just, it's a divisional matchup. The Raiders are not to be overlooked, no matter what they've done this season, no matter who they've fired, no matter what, because they've got playmakers that can burn you, Brock Bowers, Ashton Genty.

I mean, these guys will get after you if you let them. So the Broncos have to do everything that they can to not let them do this. that. And Sean Payton said after the first time they faced off is that they, the Raiders played them a lot differently than they anticipated from a scheme standpoint. I wonder what he meant by that. I wonder what changed specifically and if they're going to have a counter for that here. Obviously, the game is going to be Sunday, 205 p.m. Mountain time.

You know, we're going to have you covered up to kickoff. We're going to have it the post game show, the squad show. There's so much you're going to get here in the lockdown Broncos podcast every single day all year long. But Broncos country coming up next, we're going to go into telling you why the Broncos have more left in the tank than most people think, and they could be using that energy at the right time. You'll get all that here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. Today's episode, the show is brought to you by our friends over there at ORA frames, and the

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We want to see a 45 to 10 victory. We want to see a blowout Broncos win. Are we going to get it this week? This team, they feel like they have more in the tank. It's not just the fan base that's being critical. We know in that locker room they believe that they can do it. We'll see if they can do it against the Las Vegas Raiders. And we're going to be talking about it all week here at lockdown Broncos.

and we appreciate every single one of you every day for making us part of your day. However, you choose to do so, whether you're listening, whether you're watching, and we appreciate all of you so much. You know, you get locked on Broncos every day right here, the lockdown podcast network, the number one sports podcast network. Cody, we talk about it. Winning is winning. There's no question about it.

It's one of these tough things. It's like receiving a gift that you weren't expecting, right? I mean, it's a gift, right? you're not going to complain about getting a gift that you didn't expect. So it's the same way with winning, right? You get a gift. Oh, you won the game. The story that's told within the four quarters, however,

is where I think Broncos country can get a little greedy at times. Let's be honest. If you're listening out there, I know I'm guilty of this at times. We want to see the blowout win. We want to see the game where we can just kick back. It's, you know, 31 to 10 at halftime or 31 to 7 at halftime or something crazy like that where you just get to, just get to enjoy the rest of the game.

You already let that win settle in. This team, I think, believes it, Cody. You're in the locker room every day. What are your thoughts on this? Bo Nick said it after the game. They feel like they have more in the tank. I think that's a great sentiment to have, even after you've won nine straight games.

Yeah, no, it is. And the challenge of it all, certainly. People don't realize how hard it is to win nine games in the NFL. It is the hardest thing to do it. If winning was easy, you'd have every team fighting and chopping at the bit to be in the playoffs. every year. That's why that push, those top seven seeds are so important. That's why division winners are so important. But if it were easy for everybody, you'd see the Jets in the

playoffs. You'd see, you know, but the thing is, is I think there's this constant need to, I think, overanalyze something, right? We call it paralysis by analysis, so to speak, where, okay, well, they're winning, but it's not looking like this. I don't know if we've ever seen a situation, Sarah, where winning, like, or doing it like the way that, let's say, the New England Patriots went undefeated in the regular season. You know, they were winning. They were beating everybody. Then all of a sudden, they lose in the Super Bowl, right?

Or the Denver Broncos in 2013. They have the most high-octane historically scoring offense in NFL history. Peyton Manning set a record that still has not yet to be beat despite the fact that the NFL's added an additional regular season game to the mix. And then they get molly-wopped in the Super Bowl. And it's like, oh, like what happened? The devastation. It is hard.

The NFL, this game's hair is truly weak. to week, right? And I think as nice as it would be for us to go out there and watch the Broncos dominate by 30 plus points. Gosh, that would be so nice. That would just make it like cruise control for a week for us instead of like hyper analyzing everything. But the reality of the situation is you never know what you're going to get on a week to week basis. I think the expectation coming out the by week from the eyes of the fan base, I was guilty of it myself. I thought that the Broncos were going to dominate and blow out the commanders. That certainly did not happen on Sunday night football. that we're treated to a little bit of a thriller, a stressor.

That's been the name. Broncos country's got their heart rate medication right next to them every single game that they watch. But the reality is like, you can play like that. We've seen Denver look terrible one week, but then look good the next week, right? But they're not winning by 20 plus, 30 plus points. And I think that's okay, though you want to see them eventually get to that point. I would say I would be a little more concerned about that. But I'm also looking at other teams around the NFL, some of the teams that people view as powerhouses.

And I'm watching them scrape by as well. well, Sarah, by one score, like the Packers at times, the Lions at times. Nobody's truly separating in a sense of that. And I think that's why I'm okay with where the Denver Broncos are at right now. And if Bo Nix says that they have more in the tank, I believe it. And maybe it's about preserving it to when you get to the more meaningful parts of the season, which not to discount and say it's not meaningful now. In the playoffs, you need to be playing your best.

So hopefully that's what they're saving it for. And I think what this team is building right now is just a battle tested mentality. right there's no situation that you can draw up that the broncos aren't currently prepared for i mean i'm not saying anybody can go out there and dominate a game but like it is those those Dallas cowboys types of games right where doc prescott gets pulled from the game you bring in the backup quarterback it's a foregone conclusion by midway through the fourth quarter that you've won the game you're kind of moving along you're pulling starters like those types of games anybody can handle those types of games If you get in that situation as an NFL team, great.

That's hunky dory. It's totally fine. But the Broncos are getting tested situationally. I think I know Chris Collinsworth takes a lot of flack for the way that he talks about Patrick Mahomes and stuff. But the guy actually made some great points during the game on Sunday night football where he was talking about I want to see Bo Nicks in this situation. I want to see how the Broncos execute in this situation. I want to see what their offense can do in this situation. I'm not saying the Broncos have purposely put themselves behind in fourth quarters.

I'm not saying they've purposely put themselves in rough situations in two-minute drills. But those things are going to help them so much over the course of the season to execute situationally. I feel like that's more valuable at this point or equally valuable. I'm not saying execution offensively is not valuable. But you get what I'm saying. Those situational moments that always inevitably happen in the playoffs, the Broncos are going to be more prepared than pretty much any other team that gets to the postseason. I'm glad you brought that up because I would say watching this team and knowing being around Sean,

especially during training camp in the off season where they're really just doing and emphasizing on teaching key things. The situational awareness that we've seen from these teams from Denver specifically, I like it, especially let's say Denver is getting the ball to start the second half. You see how Sean Payton approaches things. Now, look, I think it was different because Washington was getting it coming out of the second half on Sunday night football. But the Broncos and Sean, he was calling his timeouts a little bit early on with like three and a half, four minutes left in that second quarter just so they could maybe have the chance to possess the ball once more. And what did they do? They did. They

went up tempo. Bo Nix leads a touchdown drive to Cortland Sutton. It's like, all right, they're playing smart in these need-to-habit moments, I would say. And that to me, I think, is the mark of a good football team. Nine straight wins in a row. That's not a fluke. That's not luck. And I hate the word. I think it's so disrespectful to say that a team is lucky. That's not the case. If you missed the rant that we had yesterday about the national media, moving the go post,

go check out yesterday's show. We talked about it quite a bit. But this is a team that understands the situational emphasis that Sean Payton has outlined. And you're seeing them in these clutch moments, step up and play big and give their best. And I think it helps when you have a defense that can make big plays at any given time. And it helps when you have a quarterback who understands and his, welcoming that pressure because it certainly doesn't face him.

No, it really doesn't. I mean, you can accuse Bo Nix of a lot of different things. You can use as many advanced stats as you want to to make a case, but you can't argue the fact that he is unflappable in pressure situations. And that's one of his greatest qualities. And I think it's one of the things that makes people hate him so much, Cody. I really do. And I think that's a weird thing to say.

It is. It's silly. But look, that's what people can't stand. because they can't make heads or tails of why he's so great when the Broncos do go with tempo or when they are in a do-or-die situation or backs against the wall situation, have-to-have-to-have-have-it situation. He's so good situationally. So why isn't he great when the Broncos are trying to operate their offense within quarters one through four?

He's been better past two games. There's no doubt against the Chiefs, he was very good. Against the commanders, he was almost perfect other than that interception. And so I think it's just one of those things that drives people nuts about him. You can't figure him out. And that's okay at this point. I think he is going to continue to improve. And so is this offense as the season goes along.

Yeah, the good with Bo, far. And I mean far outweighs any bad or the concerns that certain people have with Bo Nix. He's continued to grow. He's continued to develop. Getting more reps, that's going to help him. That's going to be better for the overall sense of this team. And I hope that Sean Payton does some. other things that can help blow out a little bit because dropping back 45 times to throw in a

game that's not good for anybody that puts a lot of stress that puts a lot of pressure on you in a sense not in like a good way like in terms of what bow can respond to but it's like what do you expect the quarterback to do when there is no run game that's helping him out so to speak and i think that's going to have to be a big emphasis down the stretch here but one emphasis that the broncos certainly have made is that they're always looking to upgrade the wide receiver position they added a player who burnt him last year elijah more joins the broncos practice squad will tell you what it means here on today's episode of the show. Broncos country. Today's episode of the show is brought to your by friends over there at

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visit Fanduel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. Fan duel, the game moves fast, so can you. Elijah Moore is a Denver Bronco after signing to the practice squad on Tuesday morning. What does this mean for the wide receiver? And we'll tell you here on today's episode. I want to say thank you once again to the everydayers out there in Broncos country. You're loving the show so far. If you're a brand new viewer or listener,

make sure you hit that subscribe button. So you never miss out on your favorite team. That is the Denver Broncos every single day all year long. Sarah, Elijah Moore signing to the Denver Broncos practice squad. I found us to be a little bit interesting. Just considering what we've seen with the Bronco is at the wide receiver position. who they certainly added on the active roster. They got five guys active right now.

And then they have some other guys on the practice squad. The addition of Elijah Moore instantly makes him, you can make the argument, the best player that Denver has on the practice squad right now that could have a big impact on offense if you in fact decide to get him into the lineup. Yeah, and I don't think he signs to the Broncos practice squad unless there is some sort of, hey, promise that he's going to play relatively soon, right?

I think that was probably a requirement for wherever he was going to go next. Although I do also view this as a potential move with an eye towards the future. I think this is a very interesting overall discussion, though, Cody, because the Broncos traded Devon Veil before the start of the season. They just recently admitted defeat on the Trent Sherfield signing. They brought back Will Jordan Humphrey. There's been quite a bit of shuffling at the receiver position on the practice squad.

We didn't really even talk about it, but they had in Touret, the former Packers draft pick. They cut him off the practice squad. they've seemingly been looking for something. And I don't know what it is. Is it somebody to take away even more of Marvin Mims's offensive reps? Is it somebody to come in and be another just depth piece? Like I said, I think that this guy's probably going to play sooner rather than later. So what does that mean for the game day roster?

What does that mean for the current rotation and lineup? Because Pat Bryant, he's been playing decent. He's been improving. We've talked about that. Troy Franklin, he's made some clutch plays. Cortland Sutton, he's established. What does this mean for a guy like Elijah Moore coming in with likely the promise that he's going to play relatively soon? Yeah, and you have flexibility with him too because now you can elevate him from the practice squad to the game day roster three times.

And it doesn't really impact you negatively. To your point about the other wide receivers, though, I mean, especially with what we're seeing from Pat Bryant, the impact of Troy Franklin as well is very important to monitor. because on Cortland Sutton's touchdown that he had where Bo had the incredible throw, Pat Bryant's running a corner, Troy Franklin is running a snag route where he sits and he's pulling three defenders. He's pulling Bobby Wagner and two other linebackers and a nickel. He's pulling them down, which leads Cortland Sutton wide open where the safety's trailing him and Bo just fires a beautiful throw.

So it's like the route concepts at Denver's running certainly are giving them an advantage in terms of being able to open up some opportunities for guys like Cortland. and maybe even Evan Ingram, as we saw on Sunday night football, I look at a guy like Elijah Moore, and it's like, all right, this is a guy I think who can run great routes. I remember we watched him towards Levi Wallace on Monday night football. Heck, against the Broncos last year, folks, he had eight catches, 111 yards on 14 targets, specifically in that game there.

He's played nine games this season for Josh Allen, the Buffalo Bills, but they released him after they signed Brandon Cooks. So now maybe, maybe Elijah Moore's got a chip on his shoulder. Hypothetically speaking, let's say the Broncos end up somehow, matching up with the Buffalo bills in the playoffs. Maybe he's got a little bit of extra chip. Maybe he could be used in some way, shape, or form. But I look at it right now, and I say he is the best player that Denver has on their practice squad.

But I'm just trying to figure it out in my head once again. How are you going to get all these guys on the field? What is the role specific to a guy like Moore? And how can he play without necessarily taking away from the development of your younger guys that you already have? That is the question for me. Yeah, and it's confusing. It really is. I mean, I'm all for having depth.

I'm all for taking shots, especially at receiver. Anybody that's. 100% to the show following along with me, that you know I love the wide receivers and the playmakers and all that stuff. But it is difficult to figure out what's the vision here. So hopefully Sean Payton will, you know, shed some light on that in terms of, you know, he's not going to give away.

Here's the game plan for Elijah Moore. But what is the vision for a guy like this? Because he was a high draft selection. Like 34th overall pick in the 2021 NFL, draft. That's a high draft pick. He was acquired by the Browns for a pretty decent hall of draft picks. Like they thought that he could be a upper tier receiver, develop into somebody that could be a big time playmaker. And I'm not writing him off because of the way things went in Buffalo either, Cody, because what wide receiver has played well there since Stefan Diggs left? Nobody.

Nobody. Straight up. Nobody. So I don't know what it is about that whole Bermuda triangle for receivers in Buffalo, which makes no sense because you got the MVP at quarterback. But I do feel like with Sean Payton asking guys to run these longer developing routes and help create openings for other guys, create yardage after the catch, I feel like Elijah Moore could be an interesting little play here. Maybe somebody that could be not a high volume target for you, but maximize the targets that he does get. I think that's going to be important as well.

And maybe you get a separator because I do think we. see a lot of a lot of conversations in Broncos country. Denver doesn't have anyone that can create separation. I don't think that Denver's offense there is designed for them to do that. They have guys that can create separation. Troy can do it. Marvin certainly can do it. Pat Bryant can create separation. Cortland at times can do it as well. But I think it is just the system. I mean, we've heard Sean Payton talking about the quarterback's footwork marrying up with the routes on a five, a three step, a five step, a seven step drop and how everything is important to be in sync. That's the Broncos offense in a nutshell here.

So I look at it by design, Denver isn't doing a lot to say, hey, we just have guys that can just beat everybody, whether you're zone man to man, we're just going to run these guys on routes. It's methodical. And I think at times it could be frustrating, but that's how Sean likes to call the offense. And we'll see, obviously, what, you know, this kind of brings to fruition here. I wanted to ask your question here real quick, because as we're sitting in your recording

this yesterday, what was it, Darius Slay of the Pittsburgh Steelers got released. by them in favor of Asante Samuel Jr. He's going to have to go through waivers here. Do you think Denver maybe have interest in maybe adding a veteran cornerback like Darius Lay? What would you think of that? Because I know Slay loves Sartan. And obviously, we'll find out here today if he gets claimed or picked up on waivers.

But I felt like that would be an interesting thing to throw out here before we close out. Yeah, very interesting. I can't remember what kind of contract he signed. But I think if he passes through waivers, that does become an interesting conversation overall because he's capable of playing inside, outside, he could do a lot of different things for your defense. I think the Broncos are loaded enough at corner, maybe say pass, but you never know when it comes to being deep for the playoff run.

I mean, you can't have too many corners. How many times people say that? But I would guess that Darius probably wants to go somewhere and play a more prominent role than what Denver could offer. Yeah, I'm curious. Do you want to go play for a contender again? Or you want to go play where you're going to get a lot of snaps potentially? I'm curious.

I don't think that Denver would need to add a player like Slavis. I just think, you know, hey, veteran guy, maybe it's something you do late in the season, so to speak, if he became available. But, you know, I'm happy to see Asante Samuel Jr. back in the league after his scary back injury. He had he had fusion surgery. So glad to see him back in the mix. I was always one or two before we knew what happened to him. I was like, how come he's still a free agent? Like, what's going on?

There was a lot of stuff we didn't know behind the scenes there. But obviously, he's now healthy. I was going to get some decent run here with the Pittsburgh Steelers, unfortunately, for him. So with that said, Brockos country, make sure you share your thoughts. out to us here on today's show on Elijah Moore, whether or not you think the Broncos maybe should take a little bit of a look at Darius Slay to the cornerback room there. But on top of that, your thoughts on this week's Raiders game.

For all you, every dayers, Sarah's going to sit down with your boy Q tomorrow for crossover Thursday to preview Sunday's AFC West matchup between both of these teams here. So make sure you check it out, wherever you get your podcast. Broncos country, we'll see you then.