Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - LOCK IN KEY: Should the Denver Broncos Re-SIGN Devon Key After His BIG Year?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Devin Key earned first team all pro honors for the Debrae Broncos on special teams in 2025. It is imperative. They bring him back for 2026. 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?

Starting point is 00:00:24 Welcome to another episode, Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network in the country. Thanks to you every day. There's out there in Broncos Country. Thanks for tuning in making us your first listen, however you choose to do so. Today's episode of the show, we are continuing our trend of analyzing the Broncos, 21 total free agents.

Starting point is 00:00:43 This time we're looking at exclusive rights free agents, which gives the team a little bit more cost control over certain players. But Denver has four players. We'll highlight Devin Key, maybe why he's in line for a contract extension after a historic season by him in the special teams department. Plus we'll highlight why Dandre Tillman is an important piece in Denver's defensive of rotation and how he took a huge step forward this past season. Then we'll get into the dilemma at running back three, whether or not the Broncos

Starting point is 00:01:09 should bring back or move on from Tyler. But day, you're going to get all that here on today's episode of the show. Brought through my friends over there at prize picks. Download the prize picks at today. Use code locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups. Do you play your first $5 lineup? I'm Cody Rourke, credential Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports, joined as always by Sarah Bedinger's site expert, predominantly orange.com.

Starting point is 00:01:29 I always love getting into these free agency discussions, because we've highlighted unrestricted. I think everybody knows what unrestricted is. I think there's always some questions about what restricted free agency means and what it looks like. We explained that in yesterday's episode. Exclusive rights free agency is another dynamic here, which really is more, I would say, team-friendly, cost-controlled,

Starting point is 00:01:51 more on the hands of the team than it is the player at that point. Before we get into Devin Key in his historic season, you want to explain to the listeners here that maybe don't know what exclusive rights free agency really means. Yeah, absolutely. So the exclusive rights free agent tender, it applies to players who have two or fewer accrued seasons, right? So these guys are young players typically have been in the league,

Starting point is 00:02:15 and they're typically former undrafted guys, former practice squad guys. And what they're essentially looking at is a little bit better than the, you know, minimum salary for an NFL player. And I think what makes it nice for the team is that it almost makes, if this guy has been a contributor to your team at all, it's essentially a really cheap short-term franchise tag to keep that player around. And then next year, they would have restricted free agent status, which as we explained previously is, you know, there's different tiers, first round tender, second round tender, original round tender. That stuff does not apply to exclusive rights for agents. you're going to get these guys for roughly 1 million or so,

Starting point is 00:02:58 depending on what percentage of the salary cap it ends up being. But these exclusive rights free agents, they're young players, two years or less accrued in the NFL. And essentially that team control allows teams like the Broncos and every other team that has exclusive rights free agents to bring these guys back without even hardly counting against your top 51 on the salary cap. So basically the Broncos and this situation with the four players

Starting point is 00:03:23 that they have as exclusive rights guys, They offer them a one-year contract, really essentially that $1 million deal there. No other teams can sign these players. So it gives really complete team control over it. And if the Broncos don't decide on some of these guys to say, hey, we're going to offer you a contract. They become free agents. They're allowed to go sign with whoever they want. But let's talk about Devin Key.

Starting point is 00:03:44 And there's no way, sir, no way that the Broncos let Devin Key go. I imagine they're going to offer him that exclusive rights tender, so to speak, that one-year contract. But would you be surprised if Denver gave Devin Key maybe a contract extension here, a two or three your deal? It's not like he's going to cost a ton of money. I mean, 26 special teams tackles this season. He was a first team all pro in that regard every single time. And this is why I think you love having a new kickoff rules being present.

Starting point is 00:04:14 This is a guy who every time you kick the football off, you knew where number 26 is going to be. It was wherever the ball was. He was there for him to get 26 tackles, which set a new franchise record, obviously. that was impressive. But on top of that, Devin also gives you, I think, value in terms of your depth at the safety position

Starting point is 00:04:30 where he has shown that he could step in and play if need be. Yeah, I thought he made a couple of nice splashes on the defensive side of the ball down the stretch this past season. But you're right, Cody. I mean, in terms purely of special teams ability, you have to bring Devin Key back. There's absolutely no question about it. And I don't even think that the Broncos will use

Starting point is 00:04:50 the exclusive rights tender on him because I do believe that there's, They're going to give him a legit contract extension. Remember, the exclusive rights free agent tender is just over a million dollars. And that is not. You could get Devin Kee for a million, you know, on it. But you look forward. You look ahead at this, right?

Starting point is 00:05:07 Because next year, he would be a restricted free agent. We already talked about, hey, what's the price for the lowest level of restricted free agents? It's expected to be around 3.5 million. So what you're talking about here is a, you know, forethought of two years down the road, one plus million this year, 3.5 million next year. So my mental math tells me, Cody, that's about four and a half million. So I think the Broncos should give Devin Key a two-year deal worth roughly $4.5 million or even a little bit more than that. Maybe say two years, five million or three years and seven and a half million, whatever that ends up being in terms

Starting point is 00:05:43 of what they're comfortable paying for an all-pro special teamer because those types, You don't see all pros with the exclusive rights free agent status very often. But this is where general manager, George Payton, and head coach, John Payton, obviously are going to get together, special teams coordinator, Dick and Rizzi. They'll all put their heads together on this one and say, hey, look, like this guy should be around for the foreseeable future. You want to reward guys who do their job well. And the Broncos have done that at, you know, every position group.

Starting point is 00:06:12 So do it for Devin Key. Give him a multi-year deal. Don't mess around with the exclusive rights free agent tender. or give him some more money than that. Prove to a player like this that you show out. You work your way up off the practice squad. You're going to get paid. And they have the flexibility to do that.

Starting point is 00:06:27 Well, and here's the thing that stands out too about Devin. I mean, you talk about if you're George and Sean Payton, how much they've emphasized since 2023 of player development, that we believe that we can develop players here and this and pump out really good players that these guys can eventually start for us. I mean, if they were to just say, hey, Devin, you know what? you were fantastic for us. You can go test the Fray and see Waters.

Starting point is 00:06:50 There might be a team out there that might pay you. I mean, certainly Denver could do that, but I think that would be a roster malpractice move from George and Sean that doesn't seem like their M.O. to let a player like Devin Key obviously go away here. Now, I've had the chance to watch Devin up close and personal for the last two and a half seasons, really just watching him and training camp saying, man, this guy,

Starting point is 00:07:09 hey, there's something here with him. You just see the high effort. He's making plays. We've seen him play and shine a little bit in the preseason. and then it's just continued to evolve. We've seen him take snaps in the regular season. We've seen him step in for players that have been injured. You know, I think last year it was for Brandon Jones

Starting point is 00:07:25 against the Cleveland Browns on Monday night football. And he did a really good job coming in. And as you mentioned down the stretch here for Denver, Taleno, Hufanga played a little banged up this year, right? And when you have Hey, or PJ Locke, you know, dealing with their own kind of injuries that they had respectively throughout the year, well now we saw Devin step on the field and make some plays, come up and tackle well, you know, have some nice plays

Starting point is 00:07:46 there in coverage, so to speak, and just the overall core four special teams impact. That is so important in today's game. And why let a player like that go, right? It doesn't make sense. It wouldn't sound like anything that is George or Sean's alley that they're like, hey, we're just going to let this guy go. I very much think that Devin is going to be back here. Now maybe the question, Sarah, is what can he do to take a, you know,

Starting point is 00:08:06 maybe a little bit of a larger role, whether it be defensively next season. I mean, Denver has Vance Joseph returning, which is obviously good. Vance has said himself, Devin Key could be starting on Sunday, and I wouldn't lose any sleep over. I think that's so important. It is. And he could take PJ Locke's spot.

Starting point is 00:08:24 As we've discussed, PJ is one of the team's top unrestricted free agents. And just the reality of the nature of the NFL is that you can't keep everybody. And there will be situations for the Broncos this year, even situations that some of us may not like, right, with John Franklin Myers or maybe PJ Locke fans out there, where you have to say goodbye to certain,

Starting point is 00:08:44 players. And that doesn't mean that you always do that, right? But when you have an opportunity with somebody like Devin Key who's maybe earned those increased snaps or he's earned that increased role and you can get him back on a multi-year deal, maybe that is something that you look at right there. So that would be what I would say. It's like, okay, you've got Jones, you've got whofong at the top. Last year, it was PJ Locke was the top backup to those guys. Maybe this coming season, it becomes Devin Key and he gets that trust moving forward from Bance Joseph. See, I should be a marketing guy because I was thinking like Devin Key, PJ Locke, there's a perfect segment there for like a lock and key duo if, you know, going forward. You know, maybe someone should pay me some marketing dollars to do that.

Starting point is 00:09:25 But no, I agree with you, Sarah. I'm very curious to see what Denver does. We'll find out March 11th when the new league year rolls around free agency begins. And we expect the Broncos to make some big splashes. We'll see what that looks like here. But the Broncos defense and special teams also had another key player who's an exclusive rights free agent. Don Dre Tillman made his impact felt. in 2025 and it's imperative.

Starting point is 00:09:46 He's back this upcoming season. We'll tell you why here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. Today's show is brought to you, our friends over there at Fandu, and it's the last call for football on Fanduil. One final Sunday, one last kickoff, the final chance to get in on the action

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Starting point is 00:11:46 Zocdoc.com slash locked on NFL. Thanks to Zok doc doc for sponsoring this message. Never scoff at humble beginnings for a player. Dondre Tillman came to the Denver Broncos from the UFL and he's established himself as a key piece of the best edge rotation in the NFL and the Broncos. They have a no-brainer decision to bring him back in 2026. We're going to tell you about it on today's episode,

Starting point is 00:12:10 Lockdown Broncos. But Broncos country, Thanks so much for making us your first listen of the day every single day. And Cody and I want to invite you to join the Every Day or All Access Club. You're going to get an ad-free episode of the show when you sign up for that. Check out the link in the show notes and you can get ad-free episodes, Lockdown Broncos all off-season long. And Cody, we expect there to be quite a few episodes of Lockdown Broncos here all throughout the off-season. As we know, the Broncos, they are always good for fireworks, always good for bonus episodes of the show.

Starting point is 00:12:40 and at one point, I think we're going to be talking about the team bringing back Dondra Tillman, who is our next exclusive rights-free agent that we're discussing. I think that it's, you know, based on what he's done this past couple of seasons coming up from the UFL, being a key piece off the edge in rotation, playing special teams. You know, I think, Cody, this one is set in stone almost, you know, when it comes to the price to bring a player like this back, you don't just let depth like this walk out the door when you can get a player like Dandre Tillman back for roughly a million dollars. Well, and when you look at his journey, being a former UFL, XFL guy and working his way to getting a training camp invite,

Starting point is 00:13:21 and all of a sudden during training camp, we're watching like, who the heck is this guy? Like, you know, he's moving well. And I think really this past season, we saw just the next step, right? I know Sean Payton hates the term next step, but if Dondre Tillman took a next step, he certainly did in 2025, because now we saw him not only used as a guy who can play off the edge against the run, obviously getting to the quarterback, you know, he had a handful of different sacks this season. If I'm not mistaken, I think he had somewhere along four sacks. But here's the thing where we saw him maybe evolve a little bit because we know Vance Joseph

Starting point is 00:13:52 in his scheme, specifically when they run some fire zone stuff. They'll drop the outside linebackers back into coverage. They dropped him back into coverage. And guess what? He ended up having two interceptions, which tied the team lead with J. Kwok McMill in this season in terms of being able to lead that roster there in that category. I just thought you saw a complete boost from him. You saw an overall uptick and overall snaps played defensively.

Starting point is 00:14:15 You saw the special team's impact. But you also saw, I think, his tackle total inclined by nearly 19 or 20 tackles this season compared to 2024. In my opinion, he's got a very solid spot in the rotation behind Nick Benito and Jonathan Cooper. And what do we see? Anytime that those guys were banged up, it's nice to have a guy like Dandre Tielman. Or, for example, when Jonah Ellis got banged up, we saw Donovan.

Starting point is 00:14:39 Andre Tillman step up and allowed us to see a little bit more of Q Robinson. You don't let Andre Tillman leave. You don't let him go to any other NFL team, even if you like where Q Robinson is at. And I know that there are a lot of Broncos fans. I know Von Miller himself wants to return to Denver, but I'm sorry at this point. You don't break up your young players for the sake of a nostalgic reunion as much as I would like to see Vaughn back in the orange and blue. I think Denver at this position, man, they're about as deep as anybody right now in the NFL,

Starting point is 00:15:07 and Dandre is a key piece to that. Oh, gosh, yeah, you're pulling out my heartstrings with the Von Miller thing. I know Von wants to be back so bad, and I want to see him come back for one last ride, but you're right. I mean, there's five guys coming off the edge right now that the Broncos have to, has to let them play. They just do. I mean, Q Robinson, we saw that guy can't be delegated to the sideline all season long again.

Starting point is 00:15:30 I mean, he has to play. He's so athletic and explosive. But, Cody, I've never seen this. You were talking about Dandre Tillman's numbers. I've never seen a stat like this. According to Pro Football reference, the quarterback rating that he allowed in coverage this past season was 4.9. And I believe the quarterback rating, if you spike the ball every time you snap it, is roughly like 35 or something like that. So it's kind of crazy to think about, yeah, two interceptions.

Starting point is 00:15:56 Lockdown. Lockdown. Absolutely. And after watching him run after the catch, too, some folks are like, man, get this guy a job at tight end. So I guess if Von wants to come back, maybe Dandre can switch over the offense. No, I'm just kidding. I'm joking. I'm joking.

Starting point is 00:16:10 But for real, I mean, his skills with the ball in his hands, that was pretty crazy to see. And to your point, over the last two seasons, this guy has maybe the quietest nine sacks of any player in the NFL, right? Nine sacks in two NFL seasons plus two interceptions this past year, eight total tackles for loss over the past two seasons. He had seven quarterback hits in his rookie year in the NFL. He had nine quarterback hits this past season, Cody. and get this, 12 pressures each at the last two seasons.

Starting point is 00:16:42 So he's getting it done, man. He's getting it done. In terms of snaps played, I mean, this is the kind of stuff that I love digging into in the off season because it really highlights just how underrated some of these guys are. He played 417 snaps defensively this past year, and he played 276 special team snaps. So this is a guy who quietly contributes more to the Denver Broncos,

Starting point is 00:17:05 And I think maybe anybody in Broncos country really realizes. And that's important, right? I mean, I'd say for Dondre, and he made the case himself based on his production to return. But if you're any NFL player and you want to have a reason for a team to bring you back, you have to contribute in more ways than just one, right? Like if you're not starting at a position on offense or defense, you better become a core four specialist on special teams and then shine in a rotational role. Like here's the thing.

Starting point is 00:17:33 And Vance Joseph and the Bronco, felt very good about this defensively. There were times in late crunch time situations, Sarah, where, hey, Jonathan Cooper, Nick Benito, aren't on the field. It's Jonah Ellis. It's Dondre Tillman. And it's like when you have that level of trust to say, hey, we have a rotation. We have, you know, pitch counts, snap counts,

Starting point is 00:17:54 whatever you want to mention on some of these guys. We're not afraid to say, hey, yes, we'd love to have Nick and John, Jonathan Cooper in this situation here in the final three minutes. But hey, we got these guys in. And you know what? If we get a timeout, we can bring those other guys back in. You're not worried about any really essential drop-off when those guys are in compared to when Nick and when Kupar. That's what I think is crazy.

Starting point is 00:18:18 And that's why I'm so glad that Vance Joseph is staying here in Denver because of what you've been able to see defensively. You and I, we've talked about JFM. We talked about the Broncos D line between the starters, each of those guys having seven plus sacks. But when your rotational guys are getting close to that same number, something is working. Something is right. And Dondrae, man, he's such a great scheme fit here in Denver, despite being a little bit of a bigger outside linebacker than really what Denver has on their roster. Yeah, he is.

Starting point is 00:18:46 I mean, and that was something you and I had talked about when the Broncos originally signed him, right? He was so big that I thought there's no way he's not playing defensive line. Like, he's that big of a guy, I think 270 plus pounds coming off the edge there. But that athleticism continually is on display and the strength, too. I think that's the thing with him is that you can put him in those crunch time situations, Cody, because you know that he's going to set a quality edge. He's a disciplined player. He doesn't necessarily win with that edge bend that we're used to seeing from some of the top

Starting point is 00:19:19 pass rushers in the league, right? Like what Von Miller used to do, take the shortest angle you possibly can to the quarterback and, you know, just blow offensive tackles away with your quickness off the snap. Dondre's game is very different, but it is so well-rounded, right? I mean, he's got the quickness off the ball, but it's more that hand punch that he wins with. It's winning with leverage off the edge and forcing plays. He doesn't make every tackle for loss, but he creates a number of them when he's out there as well by helping out his linebackers behind him. So I think at the price to bring him back, maybe he's another guy like Devon Key, Cody, that we talk about as more so being a,

Starting point is 00:19:56 let's try to give this guy a two-year deal as opposed to an exclusive rights tender, although the Broncos, they could get both of those guys back. know, for nothing, almost. Two million dollars? Two million. Yeah. I mean, I get it. Denver, if anything this year, Sarah, like, if they were still in the situation with Russell Wilson's dead cap on the books, I'd say, okay, now you can make that, you know,

Starting point is 00:20:19 argument saying, hey, you know, we got to do the one million for each of you guys. Now you have some money towards, like, we can actually take care of you guys. And more than likely, you probably won't count against the top 51 still regardless, which, for their roles, exactly. If you have, you don't want them to count against that. But man, you want to pay them. You want to reward them. I think that Sean Payton, George Payton,

Starting point is 00:20:40 will find a way to do just that. Broncos Country. Let's know your thoughts here on Dondre Tillman, his big season he had it here in 2025. Coming up next, Sarah and I, we're going to ask the question, is it time to move on from Tyler Bodey? Broncos Country seems like they have a lot of strong opinions on this one.

Starting point is 00:20:55 We'll share our thoughts, you know, on today's episode of the show. Today's show is brought to you by friends over there at Indeed, if you've ever hired someone who looked good on paper, but wasn't the right fit. You know how important that this is. When you want candidates who truly match what you're looking for, trust Indeed, sponsored jobs here today because if you're hiring, Indeed is all you need.

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Starting point is 00:21:53 Just go to Indeed.com slash locked on NFL right now and support the show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply hiring. Do it the right way with Indeed. Today show is also brought to you by friends over there at Quo. New year, new systems. This is the time when a lot of us look at the messier parts of how we run our businesses and think there has to be a better way. Well, guess what? There is. Streamlining your communication is one of the quickest upgrades that you can make. And that's why today's episode is brought to you by Quo. Spell QU-O the smarter way to run your business communications. Because when your team is reachable, organized, and communicating in one place, you're not just working cleaner. You're creating more opportunities to connect with customers. And I love how Quoam makes everything so simple. Your whole team can call and text from one shared business phone number so nothing gets missed. And Quo, smart AI tools automatically log calls, summarize conversations, and highlight next steps. So details, they never slip through the cracks.

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Starting point is 00:23:21 Just want to say thank you so much to everybody in Broncos country. All the every day is out there. Thanks once again for tuning in making us your first listen. And once again, even though that Denver is in the off season, for the true fan, there is never an off season. We got you covered every single day, year long all things devra brocco related more content as well plus on social media you can interact on tic talk and instagram and youtube we got so much heading your way so thank you for being a part of us and the show you make it exactly what it is so we appreciate you there sir polarizing topic here in broncos countries we take a look at exclusive rights freedoms Denver's got two more let's start off with probably the big topic here is it time to move on from tyler bidet the broncos rb three who really

Starting point is 00:24:01 didn't get any carries in the regular season, not really any in the postseason. And his role as time kind of developed a little bit further. And we saw this dating back to the Bill's game last year in the wildcard round of the playoffs. Teams kind of knew what to expect when he was in the game. Do you think he's back here in 2026? I think it's time for the Broncos to move on. And I think it's time to give all of his touches and all that work that he was getting

Starting point is 00:24:28 this past season and, you know, in prior years to RJ, Harvey, right? With what Sean Peyton wants to do with RJ Harvey in this offense, we know that RJ is not necessarily going to be the next Saquan Barkley or anything, right? He's not going to rush for 1,500 and have 700 yards through the air. He's going to be more of the Alvin Camara type. And I think that what people, you know, maybe not realize about Alvin is that he never had a thousand yards with Sean Peyton in New Orleans as a running back, as a rusher. So he's definitely racked up a lot of yards from scrimmage. Definitely. up a lot of catches, you know, and he became that quote unquote Joker, which is, you know,

Starting point is 00:25:06 basically the Voldemort of Broncos country, you know, he who must not be named. Please do not ever say that word again. But I think that's what you have to do is allow the Joker or allow your past catching back to be on the field and past catching downs. I mean, go figure, right? I mean, that's what RJ Harvey did better than anybody on the Bronco's roster this past season was create after the catch. and frankly, just really good strong hands that I was kind of surprised by.

Starting point is 00:25:33 I know he had drops just like everybody, but give those snaps that you were giving to Badee. Give them to RJ Harvey. That is what he's here for, to play on passing downs. And that would have given the Broncos such an advantage this past season. I feel like, Cody, if they had just said from day one, RJ, third downs, you're out there and sink or swim, right? That's, I would have, you know, rotate and prentice. That was the only thing is that past. protecting, right? Sean Payton said it during camp.

Starting point is 00:26:01 Tyler Badey's our best pass protector. That, I don't know, that's frustrating to me, that you take off your best pass catcher to be out there on third downs in those situations. So let RJ Harvey be that guy going forward. I'm with you. And look, Sean, we all know. He doesn't believe in the one back approach. He believes in a committee approach.

Starting point is 00:26:21 You can have a committee of just two backs and using those two backs primarily in those rules, right? Yeah, you need a third down guy. they make that be R.J. Harvey, you know, you can expand RJ's role without taking snaps away from him or maybe even another running back. And look, I think Devere, regardless of I have three or three or four running backs on their 53. In my opinion, you go out and free agency and you get a guy. All right, that guy is your primary ball carrier here. RJ needs to have his role.

Starting point is 00:26:49 You need a third back regardless just in the event. Something happens to one of those guys. But ideally, you shouldn't be seeing three different backs in the course of a game, in my opinion. opinion. I think it's different when you talk about the fullback position. You may give Adam Prentice a carrier so out of the eye formation on a short yarded situation. Fine. But in terms of your actual run game, it needs to be between two backs, not three. Like that has been so problematic here for Denver. And I think when you're bringing in Tyler Badee and you're taking snaps away from RJ or JK or whoever the next back will be here for Denver, to me, it creates these tendencies.

Starting point is 00:27:24 And what did we see? Defense is new. Any time number 28, was in the game. And I think the NFC championship game is a great example of that on the screenplay where Jared Stidham unfortunately fumbled the ball and it went to New England, a difference maker in that game outside of the fourth down call. But Jared was trying to get the ball. It was a screenplay, right? To who? Number 28. And what do the Patriots do? They made sure, hey, we're going to hold him behind the line of scrimmage because it's legal. We can do that. We're not going to let him have a chance to get the ball and ended up costing the Broncos in a big way. I think you've got to move on.

Starting point is 00:27:58 You haven't seen any production from Badee in a sense of on-field statistics, conversions in terms of first downs. It's been very unlikely. There's been a couple of times he's picked up a first down, right? But when you talk about the overall magnitude of 17 regular season games, it is not justifiable to say, hey, we're going to, we're content with this guy's role and his spot on the roster. This is the time to move on.

Starting point is 00:28:20 Now there's another player, Jordan Jackson, who last year played quite a bit for the Broncos in a rotation role. Sarah, this year, we hardly saw him. Yeah, I know the defensive line and the edge group that we talked about, Cody. I mean, man, those guys are, that's such a deep group, right? And we saw Jordan Jackson in 2024 get some action out there with the Broncos defense. But then within Yomo Wazareke coming back and then you've got, you know, Savion Jones, who you trade it up to draft and even he's in. active every week. Everybody else is staying relatively healthy.

Starting point is 00:28:54 Even when the Broncos had guys out with injuries like Malcolm Roach for a time. And, you know, it just, the snaps aren't there. And so I think that's the opportunity that you take as somebody like Jackson, you take that to free agency and say, hey, I played pretty well when I got the chance two years ago, but they kind of had me on ice this past season. And so I think that's where they, you know, the Broncos, they are so deep on the defensive front. They have so many guys. They can sustain a loss like that.

Starting point is 00:29:22 And so I think it is time for them to move on from both of these guys. So let's go through our predictions here. Four players. You tell me they're coming back. They're not coming back. Let's go Devin Key. Absolutely. Coming back, 100%.

Starting point is 00:29:35 All right. Now we're going to go to Dandre Tillman. Absolutely. 100%. Got to bring those guys back. Tyler Bade. I say no. I don't think Tyler Bade is going to be back.

Starting point is 00:29:45 Jordan Jackson. No, I don't think he'll be back. And would it be wrong for the Broncos to give ERFA tenders to either of those guys, Cody? I think given their experience, no, I think that that would be valuable. You bring those guys to camp and you take your chances on other talent. But if they're taking away snaps from anybody else or if they're taking away reps from other young guys that you want to invest in, then don't put that temptation in front of you. That's what I would say with those two guys.

Starting point is 00:30:13 Cheap enough to bring them back and justified if even, you know, with that in mind. but I would say if they're taking reps away from young players that you believe are going to contribute this year, don't bring them back. I'm with you. I think in the first two with Key and Tillman, you bring them back. I don't think you bring these other guys back as well. And you maybe look at what upgrades are out there and which guys maybe on your practice squad that you sign a futures contracts might be willing to step up and take on a bigger role. But now you give a guy like Jordan Jackson, I think who does things the right way, I think you give him a chance to maybe go shine elsewhere. I mean, he's got a good body of work.

Starting point is 00:30:47 He's now considered, at some point, he's going to be considered a veteran. I know that George Payton likes him quite a bit, but I'm very curious to see what the front office decides to do ultimately with these guys here. But what that said, Broncos country, that'll wrap up today's episode of the show. Let us know your thoughts on Denver's exclusive rights, free agents, Devin Key, Dondre Tillman, Jordan Jackson, and Tyler Badee. Who do you want to bring back? Who do you think the Broncos should move on from?

Starting point is 00:31:12 Let us know here on today's show. for all you every dayers out there tomorrow's episode of the show here is what you can expect Sarah and myself we're going to sit down and we're going to tell you the three biggest things the Broncos must avoid doing this offseason you'll get that more on tomorrow's episode of the show we'll see you then

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