Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Nik Bonitto MISSES Tuesday's Denver Broncos Practice

Starting point is 00:00:00 As the Denver Broncos prepare for week two of the NFL preseason, Nick Benito was not on the field for Tuesdays. Broncos practice. We'll share our thoughts on that and more here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Broncos country was happening. Welcome to another episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast network, your team every day. Thank you so much to all the everydayers out there in Broncos country. Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen.

Starting point is 00:00:39 However you choose to do so wherever you get your podcast. And if you're not yet and every day or become one, it's easy. Hit that subscribe to that follow button and you'll never miss out on what's going on with your favorite team. Every single day all year long. I'm Cody Roark, Broncos reporter from Mile High Sports. Join, as always by Sarah Bedinger, site expert of their predominantly orange.com. We got a lot to break down. A little bonus episode for Broncos Country following Tuesday's training camp practice.

Starting point is 00:01:03 We'll go through Nick Benito not being on the field dressed in pads as the team got back onto the field following Saturday's preseason game. Is there any reason to be concerned about that? We'll go into that. Plus the return of Dre Greenlaw and Alex Singleton. We saw them back out on the field, but in what capacity as week two of the preseason rages on. And then we'll also go through the Broncos offense. Still a work in progress. And that was definitely on display during Tuesday's practice.

Starting point is 00:01:28 Sarah, great to be back to here. A little bonus episode for everyone in Broncos country here. We've recap Tuesday's practice. You know, when we all got there and we're going about today, obviously a few days after the Broncos played against the San Francisco 49ers. We found out that their plane had a little bit of a delay, had some issues coming back home. So they didn't end up getting back home to like 3 a.m., which was something that peeped, Sean Payton. But we noticed no Nick Bonito. He was not dressed in pads.

Starting point is 00:01:55 And I think everyone's kind of monitoring this a little bit, but not too much reason to be concerned here. Now, no reason to be concerned at this point. Sounds like he's going to be back at practice on Wednesday when the Broncos put the pads back on as well. So that's great news for Nick Benito. Obviously, we saw him kind of slam his helmet in a bit of frustration there when he went off the field after that three-play stretch where he just completely dominated the 49ers and showed off why he probably deserves that contract extension sooner rather than later, right? But obviously he slammed his helmet in frustration. and then I swear, Cody, I saw him later in the game jumping up and down on the sideline when Jonah Ellis made a play. So at that point, I was kind of like, oh, well, he must be all right then because I know some people were concerned that a trainer came over to him on the bench and things like that.

Starting point is 00:02:41 And I was like, all right, we're kind of holding our breath a little bit here. But then when you see a guy jumping up and down on the sideline after his teammate makes a play in the preseason, probably a pretty good sign that he's okay. So I just think that this is a situation now where, okay, you've got a little injury scared. even if it's minor, even if it means nothing, even if you're going to be back on the practice field, I wonder if this maybe tips the scales a little bit in the Broncos favor in terms of Nick wanting to get a contract done even more quickly. Well, I mean, if we're followed on the trends, there was a time where Cortland Sutton didn't practice during training camp and it was a lead up to a contract extension.

Starting point is 00:03:18 So hopefully something is close there with those guys. But for Sean, one thing he told us after practice that it was a little bit of a foot injury. Now, I did see that as well in terms of the slamming helmet, the frustration. I honestly didn't think during the game that I had anything to do with, you know, any kind of injury. I know that he had a slight limp after coming off that third and final play there, or he forced Mack Jones to throw it away, really running backwards 20 yards to do it. I thought the frustration was more so that he missed him initially on that and he wanted that playback. But, I mean, you know, could be a cleat thing, could be a field surface stuff.

Starting point is 00:03:53 But Sean Payton did say that he is going to be back for Wednesday's practice. more than likely. He was out there observing practice, was in a jersey, sweatpants and a hoodie. But the Broncos, we've seen them take this approach with guys who maybe suffer, not necessarily an injury, but, you know, or maybe banged up a little bit. I mean, there was a day last week where Brandon Jones didn't even participate in the joint practice against the San Francisco 49ers. He goes out there and he plays in the preseason game. So I think so much is about just taking care of your guys. And maybe it goes back to what Sean said earlier about last year. His snap count was too high. Maybe they're just monitoring.

Starting point is 00:04:25 and wear and tear because the Broncos do that. They look at all these guys and they have these things that track their on-field movement performance. This just could be also a day where we can just get him extra rest, extra treatment. That way he's ready to go because realistically, the main event this week is going to be a joint practice against the San Francisco 40-Nus, the Arizona Cardinals, excuse me. That's where that is going to be. And of course, Kyler Murray, Trey McBride, you're going to get some good work there against the Cardinals there. That the Broncos probably are going to evaluate more into that than they do the actual preseason game.

Starting point is 00:04:55 not to be concerned at all. And obviously with Benito out, it was Jonah Ellis's opportunity to get reps of Jonathan Cooper in the mix there. So, you know, some good things here for the Broncos, getting guys back on the field in shells during Tuesday's practice. We also saw the full-time return of Alex Singleton. He had not a club, but kind of like a protective glove on the hand where he had surgery. He was back in individual and team drills. Drake Greenlaw, I think was more so individual drills, not team drills just yet. So the Broncos being very smart with how they approach him.

Starting point is 00:05:28 So a lot of Alex Singleton and Justin Sternad. Yeah, you get to get these guys kind of ramped back up into action. Obviously, the two projected starters at linebacker, Alex Singleton, Dre Greenlaw. And of course, Greenlaw is expected to be the type of guy who really takes the defense to another level this coming season. He's, I mean, he's an impact player to the highest degree, right? There's even debate whether or not he's a top five linebacker in the NFL when healthy. So he's an impact player that the Broncos just haven't had at the linebacker position for quite some time. I don't recall the last player of that caliber that they've had out there, Cody.

Starting point is 00:06:05 I mean, some guys have gotten close to that, but I don't think anybody's ever really been recognized league-wide as being as good as Dre Greenlaw. So they need him week one. We've talked about that. If you don't have Dre Greenlaw, week one, it's a failure. So whatever they got to do to get him to that point, I think it's fine for Lavelle Bailey and Justin Sernad to be getting more reps. I think it's great for those guys to be out there with the first unit because history will tell you that you're just going to have to rotate players no matter what throughout the course of a season. It's very rare that you would see all 11 projected starters play an entire season in the NFL and you have to be prepared in any contingency. And I just don't think the Broncos were properly prepared last year when Lavelle didn't play.

Starting point is 00:06:48 He could have had an opportunity. I guess he wasn't ready or whatever the case may be. They felt like those street free agents could help more. So I think getting ready now and getting these guys prepared now for defensive roles, if that need arises, it's just a it's a blessing in disguise for them at this point in training camp. Yeah, and you want to get these guys as many reps as possible. And I even said this as well. Corrine A. Reed, stock continues to evaluate.

Starting point is 00:07:12 I've done a few radio hits this week. And people are asking me if you had to pinpoint one guy who, you know, is not the not so obvious guy that you think will make the roster, who's that going to be? I said, I think it's going to be Karen Eiret, is maybe that fifth inside linebacker here. You know, Justin Sternad getting those reps there, obviously alongside Alex Sigmunditin. Really, it's that top four is solidified. Lavel Bailey in that mix as well, you know, especially when Dre Greenlaw comes back. He could very much be that fifth guy here for you.

Starting point is 00:07:40 So I think that we should just continue to monitor the trends here. Hopefully this unit continues to stay healthy. I think that's going to be one of the bigger things to follow is obviously training camp practice rolls around and the preseason. And you nailed it perfectly. The goal is to get these guys to the regular season. There are two weeks. And I know one thing that Sean talked about after Tuesday's practice that I agree with is that this is kind of different in terms of routine.

Starting point is 00:08:03 He's used to maybe like a week two joint training camp practice with the team. He's not necessarily normalized or used to having two joint practices back to back, one being week one and then week two. He says normally it's week two. We get that one joint practice. And then we can kind of still focus on ourselves a little bit. So this is also a little bit of a new period. that this Broncos team is kind of transitioning into where they can get, I think, more valuable

Starting point is 00:08:27 reps here in practice against another team than we can evaluate in a preseason game, which a lot gets over analyzed there, but that's another conversation for another day here. But obviously, good news with Alex Singleton's return, Drake Greenlaw, the Broncos being smart with him. We'll see if Nick Benito does return on Wednesday. That is the expectation here. But Broncos country, we're not done yet here on today's bonus episode of the show. will tell you why the Broncos offense is still very much a work in progress.

Starting point is 00:08:54 We'll go through Tuesday's highlights here on today's episode of the show. This episode is presented by Yahoo Fantasy, and it's the best time of the year because NFL kickoff is almost here, and that means that fantasy football season is back in full swing. And this year, Yahoo Fantasy, they are turning things up with a fantasy football experience like never before. This year, myself, Sarah Benger, all of us at Lockdown Broncos and the Lockdown Podcast Network. We are all playing on Yahoo Fantasy, and you should too, whether you're you're a first timer or a veteran that's making your millionth league.

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Starting point is 00:11:13 And Cody and I were going to tell you all about what went down. at practice on Tuesday. Broncos Country. We appreciate you so much for tuning in every single day, including to bonus episodes like this one right here. Don't miss a single episode. Hit subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts as well as on YouTube. We really appreciate you being part of the community.

Starting point is 00:11:32 Cody, disappointing, showing for the starting offense in the first preseason game. I know Sean Payton said during, you know, right before halftime in the moment, he's like, I'm not excited about the way the defense played. I'm not excited about the way the offense played. he's now had some time to digest it. The offense has also had some time to, you know, recalibrate and get back out on the field.

Starting point is 00:11:52 But it sounds to me like what you were observing at practice, what everyone else was observing at practice, was a little bit more struggling from the offense out there. Yeah, the offense had some good moments. They had some bad moments as well. But I would say once again, the defense continues to win the day here. The Broncos probably had more success overall offensively during Tuesday's practice when they got into seven-on-seven.

Starting point is 00:12:14 It was a third down emphasis, and it was a very efficient showing, not only from, you know, the Broncos starting offense there with Bo Nix, the second team offense with Jared Stidham. You saw a handful of guys getting in the mix. That third and three play, Bo Nix on third and three found Lucas Kroll for a 10 plus yard gain up the sideline. It was a nice play there. And then on the next play, it was a third and six play because the Broncos are manufacturing these different down and distance looks here. And then they're running different situations there. Bo Nix found Evan Ingram for a seven-yard completion on a nice little catch and run inside there. And then third and five, there was a play where coverage kind of tightened up a little bit.

Starting point is 00:12:50 The Broncos had a different personnel package in there. Bull kind of had a scramble drill scenario where he found, you know, pre-scoring for, you know, a catch. But I always viewed seven on seven. If it's more than four seconds, it counts as a sack, but they want to obviously get some continuation. Because the NFL, you're going to have that. You're going to have scramble drill scenarios pop up and you want your quarterbacks to go through what that looks like. You want your receivers to do that as well, especially when they are covered there. So there was that.

Starting point is 00:13:15 And then I thought he had a fantastic play. It was a third and nine. He found Cortland Sutton for 11 yards working back against Patzer 10. So it was an efficient reds, not a red zone, but an efficient seven on seven third down period for them. But really is when Nix and the offensive struggles kind of came. It wasn't because like Knicks was playing poorly or anything like that. The defense, they made some great plays here. The first team period saw the defense swarm J.K. Dobbins.

Starting point is 00:13:39 And you also saw Jonathan Cooper blow up a play. That was a design quick play to get the ball to Dobbins in space. He made a terrific play there. And then I think what everyone's talking about is kind of that move of the ball period toward the end of practice. It ended with both throwing an interception to J-Quain, Macmillan, Macmillan right on the sideline there, trying to get it. I can't remember who the receiver was off the top of my head,

Starting point is 00:14:01 but it was picked. Before that, it was going great, the team period, to move the ball because he was finding Troy Franklin for a big catcher run. Marvin Mims, these guys were moving the chains for first down, and then it kind of tightened up down there right before the Broncos got into a little bit of a red zone situation. So Jayquan Macmillan making a terrific play. This offense, Sarah, is still very much a work in progress, but we are seeing the hysteria a little bit about, you know,

Starting point is 00:14:28 hey, like, why is the offense struggling? I think it's a valid question, but for us to be, like, for a lot of people to be overreacting because it's trendy camp in the preseason, say, let's hold our horses a little bit. remember last year the Broncos offense led by Bo Nix, they looked really good in the preseason, right? The operation was very efficient, but what happened in the first four weeks of the season?

Starting point is 00:14:49 It was a slow and sluggish start for Bow and the offense to get going. So I would rather there be this premise, okay, hey, maybe you struggle now, you're slow now, but maybe this is going to make you ready to start fast in the regular season. We don't know if that's going to be a guarantee, but certainly that's the hope. Well, and I think this team in general kind of just needed a little slice of humble pie, right? After everybody said all the negative things that you could possibly say last off season,

Starting point is 00:15:14 they carried that chip on their shoulder into the year, made the playoffs, won 10 games, like proved everybody wrong. Now you're not proving everybody wrong. Now you're trying really hard to prove everybody right because I know Kay Adams was at practice on Tuesday. She's calling the Broncos potential Super Bowl contender here this year, maybe saying they're one of the most complete teams in the league. People are saying good things about the roster. People are saying nice things about Sean Peyton again. People have even started saying nice things about Bo Nix, Cody. I don't even know what world we're living in.

Starting point is 00:15:45 But I do think that this team needed a little slice of humble pie because I know they hear the negativity. We also know they hear the positivity. And I think that kind of stuff can get to you in both ways, right? And if you allow it to. So it's a great opportunity for them to reset. It's a great opportunity for Bo Nix to have those failing forward moments. And how often have we set on this show that development in the NFL,

Starting point is 00:16:08 is not always linear. We expect because of video games like Madden that the overall rating of a player is going to go up in year two and he's just going to instantly make progress because that's what happens in Madden. The overall rating goes up, players obviously better and the team's going to obviously be better. And it's just this straight line of progression that goes up.

Starting point is 00:16:27 And oftentimes it's not like that, right? Just ask CJ Stroud. Even Sean Payton was asked about the sophomore slump stuff a couple of weeks back. And he's like, I can't really think of an example and somebody in the media was like, well, what about C.J. Stroud? And he was like, oh, yeah, he wasn't able to just be like, oh, no, he said, yeah, they still made the playoffs, but he kind of had to acknowledge that there

Starting point is 00:16:49 was a decline last year from C.J. Stroud. And I'm not saying it's practice, it's preseason. I'm not sitting here saying Bowenix is going to decline. I'm just saying that like progression is not always what we dream it up to be in our minds, that he's not just going to go out there and start dominating every day at practice because if he was, then we'd be having a different conversation on this podcast about should we be worried about the defense? Are they really going to be the number one defense? I mean, there's no winning when it comes to practice and the results of each individual play. Yeah, it takes a large body of work. It takes time, repetition. These guys are getting used to it again. I mean, being on the field and having that physicality there. And now you're getting just fresh out

Starting point is 00:17:30 of a game situation. And you've got to build right back up to it because it's only going to get tougher from here or not. But that's why these guys play the game. You know, you got to deal with the hype. You got to deal with the criticism. There's a lot of different things that can serve as distractions. I still sit here today. I'm not worried in any way, shape, or form about this team unless a big injury happens. That's the only reason I would be worried. I'm not worried about Denver. That's why you make the moves you made in the off season to hopefully add different pieces to the offense. That takes the pressure off of Bow. It's just not solely placed on, okay, the offense is going to go as as Beau goes, it's like, yes,

Starting point is 00:18:03 Bo is a major part of the offense, but can you have other pieces around that can support and hold them up, especially on like games or days where maybe he's not even at his best? Because Bo is going to have games this season, folks, believe it or not, where he doesn't look like the guy we saw last year. He's going to have some games where he struggles or might throw a pick or two. It's just about not getting caught up and being a victim in the moment.

Starting point is 00:18:23 Let's see how things continue to breast. The offense for Denver is a work in progress. They're not unloading their playbook. They're not going out there in these practices and showcasing the schemes that they're going to really run in the regular season. We are very much seeing here and in the preseason a vanilla formulation of what Sean's going to actually run. It's very, very watered down compared to that.

Starting point is 00:18:44 And we're going to see it unleashed a little bit because it's going to change on a week-to-week basis based on the opponent that you're playing. So with that said, Broncos Country, thank you for rocking with us here today. That I'll wrap up today's bonus episode of the show. We appreciate you so much. For all you every dayers out there tomorrow's episode before training camp practice, you're going to get an episode where we sit down and we talk about three players or three elements of this team that we want to see have a little bit of a better week. And it's going to all start with Bow Nix and the starting offense having a crisper look against the Arizona Cardinals.

Starting point is 00:19:15 You'll get that more on tomorrow's episode of the show for your second list of the day. Go check out our friends over there at Locked on Fantasy Football, especially if you have your Fantasy League starting up, especially over there at Yahoo Fantasy. Brockos Country. We'll see you tomorrow for another episode of the show.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Nik Bonitto MISSES Tuesday's Denver Broncos Practice

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