Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - MOCK DRAFT: Denver Broncos TRADE UP for Jalon Walker | Add Stud RB/TE Afterwards

Episode Date: March 24, 2025

In the latest Mock Draft Monday, the Denver Broncos trade up for Jalon Walker, a stud linebacker out of Georgia to pair up alongside Dre Greenlaw in 2025. What would he bring to the Broncos defense? If the Broncos were to realistically consider moving up in the 2025 NFL Draft, why is Omarion Hampton the player worthy of being traded up for? Plus, the Broncos add Quinshon Judkins and Terrance Ferguson with their final two picks of the Top-100. 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!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when 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.

In the latest mock draft Monday, the Denver Broncos add a partner in crime next to Drey Greenland by trading up to take a stud linebacker from Georgia. We're going to break that down and much more 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, your team every day.

Thank you so much of the everydayers out there in Broncos country. Thanks for tuning in making us your first listen. However you choose to do so, and if you're not yet in every day, it's easy to become. All you got to do is hit that subscribe or that follow button. So you never miss out on what's going on with your favorite team. All your favorite Broncos news, content coverage analysis, and more every single day all year long.

You get that here on the show. I'm your host. As always, Cody Roark, credential Broncos reported for Mile High Sports. You could check out my written work over there. Highsports.com. Join, as always by Sarah Bedinger, longtime site expert over there, predominantly orange.com,

where you can check out his written work every single day. On top of that, you can see us in the podcast here. But Broncos country, we've got a jam-packed episode for you here today. It is mock draft Monday. And our rule this week was you have to trade up five spots to pick number 15. And there are a multitude of options the Broncos could have went with.

We'll highlight the day two haul that the Broncos got in terms of adding a running back and a tight end into the mix. And we'll also maybe ponder the idea. Who would be a reasonable player to move up for in this year's NFL draft if that were the case? But we're going to kick things off by going through our rule here and talking about the Broncos moving up five spots to draft a stud linebacker. Sare, you conducted this mock draft. You followed the rules here and the Broncos taking a linebacker here with the 15th overall pick, which is going to, I think, draw a lot of discussion here on today's episode of the show.

Yeah, we took Jalen Walker after moving up with the Falcons, which Cody, I mean, Terry Fontano would probably not even have his job after the draft with the Atlanta Falcons if he would trade the pick that he could take Jalen Walker himself to Denver. But crazier things have happened. And look, there's not a ton of blue chip talent in this draft class. You hear a lot of folks say the difference between pick 10 and pick 35 in this year's NFL draft is not going to be all that substantial. So if a blue chip guy does fall out of the top 10 picks, it might be worth the Denver Broncos potentially making some calls, especially, you know, since Sean Peyton knows Terry from their days in New Orleans together when Terry was in the front office there. And George Peyton has already struck a couple of trades with Terry as well during the draft. Remember the Javante Williams trade up back in the 2021 draft. So I like the idea of Jalen Walker on this team, Cody. He's somebody who he talked at the NFL scouting combine about the fact.

that, I mean, he played off ball linebacker, but he played the star position on that defense a little bit. He's played off the edge. He's lined up on the interior defensive line. Like, this guy can really do a lot of different stuff for you. And so if you're a creative defensive coordinator and you're kind of thinking to yourself, all right, we need a chess piece that we can move around. I think the Broncos are kind of a great situation. Like you mentioned, he can line up next to Dre Greenlaw and your base formation. And then when you shift into other different alignments and formations, things like that, he can rush the pastor. He can do a lot of different things for you. He can match up against maybe tight ends. He can match up against running backs. He's super athletic. He is one of the guys

that I do feel like in this draft. If the Broncos do trade up, which everybody's got their eyes fixated on offense and understandably so. But I think he's one of the few guys that I would trade up for in this instance, Cody. Well, when you told me your mock draft results, I was thinking myself, I was like, oh, okay, he went with the defensive player. I was like, I don't know how Broncos country is going to feel about that. But I like what you brought up here because let's not forget what we just saw in the month of February in the Super Bowl. Okay, the Philadelphia Eagles who had a really good defensive line, right, a four-man front and a really good linebacker play. They made it very miserable.

They made it very difficult for Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs to generate anything in that game. It was a dominating victory in the Super Bowl for the Eagles. And obviously Denver going out there and getting Dre Greenline Free Agency. man, that's a monster move there. And you can definitely tell by how San Francisco 49ers fans and other media were reacting about his departure, that's one that's one that's going to sting for quite some time for them. That's one that they're all gutted about here.

So you pair him up with a guy who's obviously very athletic as well. And then all of a sudden, now you have two linebackers who instantly have the ability to play maybe that same exact role, right? You're not necessarily designated one guy just as the Mike linebacker or one guy just as the will. It's like, hey, you can have guys play both because as, we know on the back end at safety, Vance Joseph and Sean Payton have really emphasized this, is that, hey, we don't have a free one of strong.

Like, if you're going to play a strong safety, you also know to play the free safety position. Those safeties have to work in tandem and have to know those same positions there. You know, that's the counterpart. That's the opposite of them. Same thing with linebacker. Now you get two versatile pieces at safety. You have two versatile pieces now at linebacker. You have the secondary that you do with Pat Sertan, Riley Moss and those guys, and you've got a pass rush where each of your guys are coming off double-digit sacks and you got a guy in Zach Allen who is causing a lot of havoc, John Franklin Myers, and he'd bring back DJ Jones.

This right here, Sarah would move the needle for the Broncos defense here. I like it. I like defense. You know me. If I had it my way, you know, I'd go some of the best defensive players possible, but I also understand, hey, offense is important, but you did address offense in this draft. We'll highlight that a little bit later on here in the show, especially on day two.

I wanted to get your thoughts on this in terms of your thought process, because when you run the various mock draft simulators, there's, it almost changes up every time you run a simulation as to like, okay, if you're going to trade up to 15, you know, this player might not be available versus one simulator you run. He actually may be available. What was your decision making in your thought process here in going away from maybe offense, right? Because I know, as you mentioned, a lot of people in Broncos country are talking about that. Right. And I mean, they're like, Omerian Hampton from North Carolina was on the board. And I think Colston Loveland was on the board when I made that selection.

And obviously, you know, Matthew Golden, the Texas receiver, they were all on the board. So there's offensive guys there in the simulations that you run. But I mean, this is a guy, Cody, who I think in Daniel Jeremiah's latest mock draft just a few days ago or last week, he went fifth overall to the Jacksonville Jaguar. So you're talking about a player that is, is it within the realm of realism to even be talking about this? And I think that's where you kind of get into this idea, like if this guy falls out of the top 10, do you make, a move to go get him because right now the Broncos aren't solidified at offball linebacker. I mean, even the Drey Greenlaw contract, they protected themselves by basically making it a one year deal worth, what, 11.5 million, something like that. And so they protected themselves there.

You've got Singleton potentially coming back. Drew Sanders potentially being a fit and doing what you hoped he could do when you selected him in round three a couple of years ago. But for Jalen Walker, it's like one of the best defensive playmakers in this draft and truly a blue chip talent. And that's what I think you trade up for in this guy. And look, it's, it does help the offense. Sean Payton said it at the scouting combine. He's like, we can help. We can help Bo Nix by drafting offensive skill players, pass rushers, et cetera,

because if you're stopping the other team, you're getting extra possessions for your quarterback. And that's, that gives you more room for error. It gives you more margin for error, which how many times on last year's shows after games did we say? The Broncos just don't have that margin for air yet. They just don't have that margin. Don't have that margin.

You build that in by being a dominating defense. Like you mentioned in the Super Bowl, I mean, one big swing in that play defensively took it from being a close game to being a blowout in the first quarter. So I just feel like this is the type of a guy, a playmaker on that side of a ball who shrinks the field, gets your offense extra possessions.

He can be a superstar in this league. He's one of the few guys in this draft. I think you can say that about. It's definitely a guy worth trading up for. Well, and I can look at all the arguments too about, you know, hey, go offense with your round one pick. I mean, there's still quality players you can get round two, round three, round four, you know, and that's the thing.

It's like, it doesn't matter. Like you can draft an offensive player round one and they might not produce. They may not turn out the way that you wanted to, right? And what we have seen historically here from George Payton, from Sean Payton, in the two years they've been together. What have they always done? They've gone best player available. And obviously, I think last year was a little different.

in a sense because their best player available was Bo Nix. That was the guy that they targeted all along. But then like every other pick was, hey, we're taking best player available and we're adding to what we need and what we feel like we can do to continue to build the foundation for the future because it all goes back to we want to bring in a draft class that's going to help set the stage for what we are going to become, maybe not immediately, maybe two, three years down the road.

And in some cases, you find a rookie class that is special and contributes in the way that I think the Broncos had their rookies do last year. I'm not opposed to this. I like this pick. I think, you know, adds a strength to probably one of the bigger question marks facing the Broncos right now is that linebacker position next to Dre Greenland. We don't know what that's going to look like. There are a lot of questions surrounding a lot of the different players already at that position

is we've highlighted with Alex Singleton, Justin Sternad, Andrew Sanders. So Jalen Walker says, they're getting a little spicy in today's locked on Broncos mock draft Monday episode. In Broncos country, every week, we're going to create a new role. And we're also going to be doing some mock drafts that allow you to send it. yours here in the future. We'll break down some of the best ones here on the show and some coming episodes of Lockdown Broncos. But we're not done just yet, Broncos country. We're going to talk about some players we would realistically move up for in a 2025 NFL draft. Omari and Hampton being one of the top targets. We'll tell you why here on today's episode of the show. Today's episode

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but Cody and now we've got some other names to keep your eye on Broncos country and some guys that Sean Peyton and George Payton, they may get aggressive in April to go up and get. But I want to say thank you. First of all, for all of you that makes Lockdown Broncos your first listen of the day, every single day. And we appreciate you all so much for your submissions for this mock draft Monday. We're going to talk about those as well as, hey, take a couple seconds. Hit subscribe right now wherever you're listening or if you're watching on YouTube so

you don't miss a single episode of the show as we progress through what has been a very fun offseason, Cody. And it would give folks a lot to talk about if the Broncos would trade up in this year's draft because I think that right now the perception is, hey, they're being aggressive in upgrading this roster. They believe that they're as good as maybe some people are saying now, which they weren't saying last year or, you know, maybe Sean Payton and George Payton, they're putting their money where their mouth is when they say we want to host playoff games. If they trade up in this draft, especially for an offensive player, I feel like it will

prove this teams. I know we've already said they've proven this and I don't think they have to really prove anything else to us, but trading up, especially for an offensive guy in this draft would show like, man, we are all in on Bo Nix. Yeah, 100%. And look, I mean, it's easy to see why. You know, you have a quarterback that makes the right decisions. He's hard to sack. And you know we can produce offensively if we have some other areas to address, right?

What did Denver go on do? They found their joker. They added to the tight end position. That was one of the bigger areas of concern for them in the off season. And then we all knew the run game was far too inconsistent. You had national media folks last year saying, oh, the Broncos, they have such a really good run game. It's really helping Bo Nix out. We're saying, what are you talking about?

Bo Nix is the offense. Bo Nix is the leading Russian over a 30-year game, and he's the number one producer for you. You know, we can make the joke about QB1, wide receiver one, RB1. Bo played a little bit of all that last season here. But we said, okay, if Bo has a consistent run game where the Broncos are just pounding the rock,

and then you can use him on play action. You can use them in his drop back there. You just make it harder for defenses to defend you. And when you add playmakers around, it's nice to have. And look, you've seen certain teams like the Cincinnati Bengals. They have playmakers all over that offense, right? And they couldn't stop anybody defensively.

Well, the Broncos, they have a really good defense. They've gotten even better on the defensive side of the ball. They have a young offense with a quarterback who we have all seen firsthand can't compete with some of the best in the National Football League and is not afraid of that big crunch time situation. We've seen it against Mahomes in Kansas City. We've seen it against Joe Burrow. We've seen it against Justin Herber and some of the other top QBs in this league. And certainly you're going to see a little bit more of that in 2025,

some of the opponents of Denver is going to face. For me, you build around Bo Nix by adding the best overall players around him. That's going to elevate not only him, but I think other positions there. If you have a running back who is a game-changing dynamic player, you know, that can help your offensive line in certain situations. That can help your quarterback in certain situations. That can help your receivers. It takes all the pressure off of one position to have to try to produce as much as you can.

And I think Bo did a lot of that last season here for Denver. So I'm with you. So let's talk about maybe who the Broncos would realistically move up for here. I mean, they can move up offensively, defensively. As we said, they're in a position to pick the best player available here. They're not necessarily in a need to move up unless there's a guy that they identify, we really want this guy. To me, it's Omari and Hampton at running back.

If Denver's going to make a move up, look, Hathen is probably going to be that guy. But there's questions about, is he even going to be available? Because you look at Ashton Gentie, who I'm sure, if the Broncos had a chance to move up and get him, they would. he's likely going to go in the top seven. You know, you got to worry about Chicago potentially taking a guy like Omar and Hampton because of Ben Johnson and what they were able to do with Jamir Gibbs in Detroit when he was there. So you have to look at all these things and say, hey, like the guy we want might not be there.

But if he is like in striking range, can you find a way to move up? That is the question. Like for me, I would want the Broncos to move up for a guy like Amari in Hampton at this point. Yeah, if he's the top guy on their board and it's possible, there's already rumors floating around that like, he could be the top running back on some teams boards over even Ashton Genty, which is very, very interesting. And look, the NFL draft is where craziness happens.

It's where we have to expect the unexpected. Like, would it not be crazy if at six overall the Raiders took Hampton and Gentie, left Gentie on the board, right? I mean, like I'm saying, like that's the kind of stuff that tends to happen in the NFL draft. You just,

right when you think you've got it all figured out, you don't. And that's just the way of, things. But those two guys are guys that I would move up for, Cody. I mean, realistically speaking, I think a person or a player that you trade up for in a draft like this has to be one of two things. It has to either be the number one guy at one of your positions of desperate need, which would be like, you know, running back, obviously would be one of them. Or it has to be a blue chip player on your board. Like these teams all organized by different categories, right? You have

certain guys in the blue chip category, certain guys in the injury risk category, certain guys this, that, and the other, there's not going to be many blue chip players every single year, right? And so if you have one of those guys who falls within range to where you're saying, hey, can we justify trading up like a giving up our third round pick this year or next year

to go and get this guy? Like he's one of our blue players on the board. That's something that I think you consider doing. Now, who would that be from this class? I mean, obviously, like Travis Hunter, Mason Graham, you know, the guys that we've mentioned, Gentie is probably one of them. And looking at the tight ends, too, even though it sounds like the Broncos would go a different

direction there. And maybe Jedi Barron, Cody, who we've talked about a couple times in the show, the DB out of Texas. He could be another one of those blue chip guys who's routinely kind of creeping closer to the top 10 of mock drafts nowadays. Yeah. And I think when you look at it this way, you mentioned the point about if you have to give up some capital from next year to maybe move up to get a guy.

You look at the opportunity cost. I think right now it's pretty good, right? Why? Because look, the Broncos are still expected to extend guys like Nick Benito, Corlin Sutton, Zach Allen that creates salary cap space and flexibility. But we know next year, Denver is going to have drastically more salary cap space available to make even more moves in free agency. And look, there will be a pecking order of new guys available.

The Broncos can continue to build this team in the right facet. And I think what they've been able to do with. the lack of draft capital they've had in the last couple of years. I've been very impressed by. Certainly you're still waiting for some guys to move the needle for you. But Denver's heading in the right direction here. And now you give them an opportunity to do that by maybe moving up and getting a guy. I'm with you.

I don't think they're going to move up for a tight end. But like if they could they move up for a receiver? I want to ask you that because, you know, some of the mocks that you do run, there are a handful of receivers available. Like the one we ran, Matthew Golden was available. Obviously, he would be a very intriguing guy to look at. and even a Mecca, Ibuka from Ohio State would also be available in this current mock draft simulation. Luther Burden, there's a lot of conversation about where a guy is or isn't going to go.

And really, it doesn't matter. Like you have your consensus board and you're like, all right, this guy we believe is going to be, you know, maybe 27th overall here. All it takes is one team to change that conventional line of thinking and saying, hey, no, we're going to go get this guy. Great example is the Atlanta Falcons going out there and getting Michael Pennix Jr. last year. That was the biggest shock in the first round of last year's draft. something nobody saw happen. So like I said, the conventional line of thinking sometimes goes out of the way here in the NFL draft. I realistically think the positions Denver would move up for.

I could see it at a defensive line if there's a guy available that they really like they feel like they feel like a wide receiver. If there's a guy, they feel like, hey, we really need a pair of this guy up and, you know, opposite of Cortland Sutton and to mesh in with our younger guys. Or if they're like, hey, you know, we can't come to terms with Cortland on a contract extension. We know he's going to play out his final year here in Denver. you have to be very forward thinking in that facet. So you have to have every option on the table.

And I think that the Broncos, they're in a position. They don't have to be desperate. But if you're going to move up for a player, running backs intriguing, receiver, D-line, secondary, possibly linebackers we talked about. The Broncos have plenty of flexibility to sit back and say, hey, we can let the draft kind of fall to us. Not to mention John Payton, his history that he's had of trading up historically when he was with New Orleans.

That was something that it was very common throughout his entire coaching regime down there and Nullo. So we'll see where things pan out here for the Broncos. But make sure you let's know Broncos country. If the Broncos were to trade up, who would you realistically move up for if you had a chance to do just that? Make sure you let's know here on today's episode of the show. We're not done yet, Broncos country. Stairs, remainder of his mock draft here in the top 100 is out in the Broncos. They address offense by reuniting Bo Nix with one of his former college teammates and getting him a game-changing running back. That can create a dynamic that the Broncos offense might not have right now. We'll break that down. And much more here on today's

episode of the show. The fourth quarter action of today's episode, Lockdown Broncos is here. And as always, we want to say thank you once again to everyone in Broncos country. Thanks for tuning in making us your first listen every single day. Thanks to all the every dayers out there. You make lockdown Broncos exactly what it is. And we couldn't do it without you. Make sure you become an everydayer if you're not yet already one.

If you're a brand new listener of the show and you're loving everything that you're hearing, we bring this for you every single day wherever you get your podcast. All right, Sarah, let's get to the rest of your mock draft here in terms of the top 100 picks. I think the common consensus as we do mock drafts is, you know, rounds five, six, seven, and even rounds four, it's wildly unpredictable us to where a guy is going to go. I think it's very subjective. But I do feel like the top 100 is probably your most important area. If you're any team, nailing your top 100 has to be the biggest priority here.

You obviously moved up for Jalen Walker to number 15 and round number one here. Day two, your hall here is quite impressive. You obviously went with Quishon Judkins in round number two running back out of Ohio State. Now, I want to know your thoughts on this. Like what was your reasoning? What was who else was available? Were you leaning in the other positions beside Quinshot? No.

Once we went with Jalen Walker in the first round, I was pretty earmarked on like, hey, we're going running back with the next pick. And you want to get one of the best guys on your board. And I think this year's draft, you're afforded that opportunity within the first two, possibly even three rounds, but I don't know if the Broncos want to take that risk right now, Cody. And I know Judkins came into the facility or is coming to the facility for a visit. I can't remember who initially reported that. So I can't give proper credit there, but I did see that reported by either, I think it was either Mike Cliss or somebody.

So he is coming to the facility for a visit. And that's interesting to me. And now he was on the board. Caleb Johnson from Isle was on the board. I don't think you can go wrong with either of those guys. And that's one of the great things about this draft is the fact. that at running back, I kind of feel like, like we were talking about in round one. Could you trade up for Hampton?

Absolutely. Great. Could you trade up for Gentie? Absolutely. Great. Stay put at 20. Take one of those guys if they're still there. Awesome.

Take Trayvion and Henderson if he's still there. Awesome. Round two. The options, there are plenty. So it's not like there's a really bad scenario in my opinion in the first two rounds, potentially. Now, do you get into the danger of, you know, the trap of saying like, oh, yeah, this guy will for sure be there at pick number 50.

one. Well, we don't have any clue if that's going to happen. So if one of those two guys or if both of those guys are there, I think you can't go wrong. And then of course, Cody, taking Terrence Ferguson has become a very popular thing in Broncos mock drafts out there right now. But it just makes a ton of sense, doesn't it, to get a guy who can develop alongside Evan Ingram, Bo Nicks, former teammate, like super athletic, Colorado kid. I don't know. That pick just to me makes a ton of sense if he's still on the board. Yeah. And look, I think there's a good chance he will be on the board. And when I look at to what he's been able to do, Sean Payton, George Peyton, when they were scouting Bo Nix and they're looking

to everything that Bo Nix is doing, they're looking at Troy Franklin tape. They obviously paid attention to who number three for the Oregon Ducks was as well during Bo and Troy's time there at the University of Oregon. So that's probably something they kept in the back of their heads like, hey, we want to maybe tag this player is like, ah, this is interesting. Let's see what happens. He obviously goes on to have a productive season. You know, we saw him move at the senior bowl in terms of how he worked and one-on-ones against guy's big body target and obviously showcase the ability to be able to create separation from some defenders not necessarily like a burner speed but hey he's got big size to him he can make guys

miss and he can also box out smaller defenders with his frame there and he's a good possession type of receiver that i think the broncos would benefit from a relationship a prior one they had with bow knicks obviously at their time at organ that obviously pays dividends those guys know each other. They could vouch for each other. And I know if, you know, if Sean picks up the phone during the draft says, hey, Bo, you know, we really like Terrence here, you know, what kind of player are we getting? They're already, they probably have already met with him. But like I'm saying is, you know, you get that from the player and both said, coach, we need this guy. He's going to make our offense better. He'd be great to pair alongside Evan Ingram, Adam Troutman. Let's get him in the

building. I guarantee you, Sean, if that is on his mind, is like, hey, we're on the fence about this. Bo will probably help influence that decision if there's an opportunity. So I like that. I think that there's a handful of other tight ends that could be available. Obviously, in round three, in this situation, you obviously had to give up your round three in order to move up five spots there to pick number 15. So that wasn't necessarily in the equation. When we run a mock draft next week, we're obviously going to keep all of our picks. We're going to stay put at number 20 to see how the board falls to us. So I'm very curious to see how it goes.

But I really think the bread and butter, the meat and the potatoes of this thing here, Sarah, the top 100, nailing that always has, I think has to be your biggest priority for every NFL team. And so being able to be a mock draft general manager here, it's kind of tough because it's like, hey, there are a handful of really good players out there. And you get access to some of their scouting reports, what they're able to do? But at the end of the day, what matters, Sarah? How do they fit within the system, the team culture that you have there? Terrence Ferguson's a guy that fits into that. Quinn Sean Junkins is a guy that fits into that as well.

I'm not opposed to. I think the number one thing here regardless, if the Broncos go with another position besides running back in round one, I think in round two, you have to go tailback. You have to go tailback with one of your first two picks in this year's draft in my opinion. I like this hall here. If your top 100s, Jala Walker, Quinn, Sean Judkins, and also a guy like Terrence Ferguson, I'm happy with that alone. It doesn't matter what they do in the rest of the mock draft to me. Yeah.

And does it set the Broncos up poorly, do you think, to wait to take a running back? Because in the second round, I mean, they're picking 51st overall. That's what, the 20th pick or the 19th pick in the second round. And so obviously in that sort of a scenario, Mario, you're liable to get jumped. If you put all the writing on the wall and say, like, look, running back is clearly one of our biggest needs. We're literally going into the draft without a starter.

That's kind of where I think maybe you start to creep into the discussion again about a veteran running back coming in before the draft to kind of just conceal maybe your plans a little bit to say, hey, just like last year, you trade for Zach Wilson. And you figure like everybody's thinking, well, we're targeting this one guy in the draft. And if we don't get him, our backup fallback is, you know, trying to, you know, use Zach Wilson as a reclamation project. So I think that that vantage point is interesting. And we saw a lot of the user mock drafts that were submitted, Cody. A lot of them did include trading up for Jalen Walker and, and then doubling up with Quinn Sean Judkins or taking Jadai Barron and taking Judkins in round two.

That was kind of a popular combination that we saw, which I like. I like that idea. But again, do you get into that trap potentially of missing out on whoever it is that you're trying to get in round two by putting all of that out there is to say, hey, we are like we're taking a running back in round two. And that's just kind of is what it is. Somebody could really jump you in that situation. Yeah. And look, the Miami Dolphins back in 2021, we're mad that the Broncos jumped them to take obviously Javante Williams. Could they maybe try to get a little bit of revenge?

So I think it is important to have some necessary smokescreen put out there in certain. situations here. But Broncos country, want to know what you thought of Sears Top 100 here on this mock draft Monday. Jalen Walker of 15, Quinn Sean Judkins in round number two. And then Terrence Ferguson in round number four here. It's a roundout Sarah's top 100 here. His latest mock draft Monday here on Locked on Brockes and always a disclaimer. A little Broncos country, I feel like we have to say this. Mock drafts, they're just a fun exercise. They really don't pinpoint where a player

will go or is expected to go. The boards, the algorithm. them. They all fall a certain way. But you know what? It's just for fun. And we're excited to see how the real thing pans out here in just about four weeks time. You're going to get all the action, all the buildup here on lockdown Broncos. But what they said, Broncos country, tomorrow's episode of the show, Sarah and I are going to discuss the departure of one Bronco who left in free agency. Little Jordan Humphrey is off to the New York Giants, who can replace what he was able to do? And is it really a big loss here for Denver? We'll debate and discuss that on tomorrow's episode of the show.