Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - PRESSURE: Denver Broncos' Riley Moss Can SILENCE Doubters In 2025

Episode Date: June 20, 2025

As the Denver Broncos prepare for the 2025 season, Riley Moss, Sean Payton, and a position coach have different realms of pressure facing them. How can Moss silence doubters this season after receiving unfair criticism after he returned from injury. Plus, how can Payton overcome some of the challenges the team faced last year with playcall balance, winning division games and why is Lou Ayeni under pressure as the team's running back coach? 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 LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. 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. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnfl for 50% off your first year. 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.

As the Denver Broncos prepared for the 2025 NFL season, we'll highlight three elements of this team that are facing the most pressure going into this season. Here are much more 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. What's up, Broncos country? Welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos,

your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast network, your team every day. for all your Broncos news, content coverage, analysis, more. Make sure you become an everydayer here and a special shout of here to everyone out there in Broncos country. All the everydayers, thanks for making us your first listen,

however you choose to do so, whether it be wherever you get your podcast or on YouTube. So subscribe or follow so you never miss out on what's going on. I'm Cody Geroak, Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports, where you can check out my written work daily over there, milehighsports.com for all your Broncos news content coverage as well. And I'm Sarah Bedinger, the site expert at predominantly orange.com where you can find my written work as well.

And here's what you're going to get on today's episode of the show. Happy Friday Broncos' country. We're going to highlight three aspects of this team that are facing the most pressure in 2025. Is Riley Moss under the microscope a little bit more after coming back from an injury last year and struggling? We'll talk about how Riley Moss can change the perception of him this upcoming season. Plus, Sean Payton entering his third year as the head coach of the team, two years. He's had his quarterback. But now going into another year with Bo Nix as his guy, what must he provide this year to

some of the pressure maybe in optics on him. And then we'll also take a look at some other players going at a training camp who will be under pressure or under the microscope a little bit as contracts are potentially nearing their end for them. So we'll take a look at all that on today's episode show. Sarah, let's kick things off here with the obviously I think when we talk about pressure, I think if you look at any fan commentary, you look at Twitter, you look at even our YouTube comments.

I don't understand the massive 360 that this fan base has. has had towards Riley Moss. I know we talked about it a little bit last week on some of the shows here. But, you know, I'd say because of this dynamic that we've seen with the fan base, who for 13 straight weeks were singing Riley's praises, they're saying, wow, Riley and PS2 are the best cornerback duo in the league. They were creating nicknames for the guys, has a bad game, you know, against Cincinnati Bengals and T. Higgins.

And all of a sudden that, you know, everyone's like, ah, we're soured on Riley Moss now. I don't understand it. But because of the fan pressure, how can Riley Moss maybe change the perception of him here in 2025? Well, Cody, I think as with any player on the roster who's under pressure, I think you come out and you get off to a hot start, right, to the offseason, to training camp, to preseason. But certainly when we get to the regular season, if Riley Moss is out there making plays on the ball, I feel like fans are going to kind of remember pretty quickly what he was doing for the majority of last season.

And that's the really tough part about this. And you and I have had multiple discussions on this. We're like Mugatu on Zuland. We're like, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills over here. We're talking about Riley Moss and why fans are saying, maybe he should be benched or this guy should be playing over him or he wasn't really that good. And we were just kind of fooled by a couple of games that, you know, and a true, just like, I don't know, lightning in a bottle sort of situation that just went away for the Denver Broncos.

Riley Moss wasn't that. He was one of the best players on the defense before he got hurt against the Raiders. So I think to recapture that magic, Cody, all the guy has to do is get off to a hot start. And that's not the only thing. And I don't even think like there's this mandate. You know, well, Riley Moss has to get off to a hot start or else clearly he was a bust, you know, or clearly last year was not really an indicator of future success. I don't think that's the case.

I think that to ease the, I guess, unrest of some of the fan base, maybe that's what he has to do. But I don't know, you tell me, Cody. I think that it's one of the most interesting discussions we're having already here in the offseason. I feel like there have been a lot of false narrative surrounding the Broncos plans at the cornerback position and how it pertains to Riley Moss, you know, especially with Denver selecting Jade Bayron. Look, I still see fans will reply on Twitter. You'll see people post on Twitter that Jada Baron was added because, you know,

to replace Riley Moss. That's not the case. And people say, well, you know, Riley's a slot. Jade is going to be on the outside. And I just try to ask myself, like, where is this coming from? Because being at practice, we're not seeing that. It is Riley on the outside, PS2. And Jadae's been working in the inside with J-Qa-Machman-Mack-Millan.

Like, you haven't seen a lot of that. Like, when Riley's on the field, he's not playing inside the slot. PS2 is not playing inside the slot. It's J-Qan-Mach-Mallon-Mallon at the point. So this narrative that, oh, Jada is just going to be the outside corner opposite of PS2. That's not the plan. That's not the vision that this Broncos team has. And look, you know, while some of the fan basis perception on Riley Moss has apparently soured,

I can tell you with 100% certainty based on coaches I've talked to, based on a couple of people in the building. And based on what I've seen in practice, the team is not down on Riley Moss. And his teammates aren't down on him in any way, shape, or form. After the Cincinnati Bengals game, I had a chance to talk to him briefly. And I said, hey, you know, keep grinding. how you feel? And he's like, I'm good. He said, you know, hey, like, you're going to have games like this. Like, this is the NFL. You're going to have a bad game. He said, my teammates got my back.

That's the one thing that I care about. And I can tell you with that. Riley is a dog out there. He's going to have a big role here this upcoming season. And I can tell you that his spot at corner is not in danger in any way, shape, or form. And with that, too, I think it also goes to the reality of what happens when you have a guy like Pat Sertan opposite of you, right? The reigning, defending, undisputed NFL defensive player of the year, naturally, you're going to see. more targets if you're the other cornerback. And that's what I asked Sean Payton during one of the offseason OTA practices. I asked him how Riley's been doing where he's at in the mix. And he says, you know,

naturally when you're playing opposite of pat, you're going to get targeted a lot more. That was the case. And I think sometimes, Sarah, people will look at, well, I look at pro football reference and he gave up this many catches on this many targets. And this was the passer rating allowed. There's a lot of missing context into that, right? Because, okay, you could give up a catch,

even if you're playing six yards off the ball. But let's say you're playing zone and your coverage is the deep third responsibility. The quarterback throws a short hitch. You go up there and tackle because you're the nearest defender. That's how pro football reference accounts for targets, catches allowed, yards. And they factor all that into it. So it's not necessarily the gospel, but it is a little bit of, you know, something you look in. It's like, oh, people are drawing a conclusion.

Why I looked at this and, you know, this indicates that Riley's bad. People don't use their eyes anymore. They don't watch Riley play. Like for 13 straight weeks, we saw Riley. knocking passes away, covering guys, coming up and tackling, just being a dog, and, you know, in the passing game and against the run, and all of a sudden, he's like, yeah, Riley's there. He goes down with the injury.

We had people saying the Bronco season is over. Riley Moss got hurt. We don't know how long he's at, but man, the defense is in trouble if he's out. And then all of a sudden that narrative has changed. Like, it's so weird to me, sir. It's the weirdest development, I'd say, of 2024 all the way up until now in 2025. And that one game against the Bengals skewed not only the fans' perspective, but really skewed his numbers, Cody.

I can't remember exactly how many touchdowns burrow through to in his direction in that game. It was either two or three, two. So he allowed four total touchdowns according to the aforementioned pro football reference last year. So four total touchdowns allowed on the year in 14 games. Two of them came in one game. So half of his touchdowns allowed came against T. Higgins. One was against Godwin. One was against Godwin.

And that one was not. He had tight coverage on a couple of those touchdowns that he allowed. as well. So I don't think that there's really any reason to worry. I think that the reason to worry here is that the perception of him has gotten so sour that he might be a couple of rough games at the beginning of the year away from, okay, now everybody's going to be calling for the rookie, just like they call for the backup quarterback when the backup quarterback is struggling. And I think that's unfair to put that on him because he's a young player. We know that development is not always linear, especially when you're dealing with injuries.

And I think maybe that's the only knock right now, right? Is that he'd struggle with injuries in his first season. And then in second season, you go down with another injury. That's beyond his control, but it can cause frustration. I don't think that's done anything to diminish the way that he played last year, which was pretty darn outstanding. I mean, can he come out there and make more plays on the ball? Absolutely.

But when you look at his yards per target last season, Cody, 7.3 yards per target. into his coverage. I mean, the guy, he was targeted 103 times. So this is a high volume going in his direction, and he shut things down even when passes were completed in his coverage. So to me, I think that this is a player that the Broncos can build around. He's not somebody that's, I don't think, fighting for his spots. I think this is somebody that you really want to, hey,

we're going to put him in the lineup and let him finish out his contract as a starter and see where it goes from there. hopefully he's more along the lines of a big money deal than he is a all right we got to replace him with jade baron and these other guys that we got to the draft i think that's where riley moss is right now is he's more of a cornerstone piece to me than he is a question mark yeah no i agree with you and look you mentioned the poor touchdowns the two to t higgins the the overtime winner i would say from t higgins was probably you know the one where there was probably more separation than anything on anything he gave up. The one he gave up against the Carolina Panthers was a back shoulder throw that was well

placed by Bryce Young. One to Chris Godwin where Riley was in perfect position and Baker Mayfield put it at a spot where it was just perfect for him in the wild receiver, no matter how good the coverage was. And then what was the other one that he had there? I'm trying to remember. I think we were just talking. It was the other one to T. And he was, and that's where like T was in like that back end of the end zone where

Riley's hand is in the cookie jar there. and T's length was just obviously a difference maker. So I just think that the narrative is a little unfair. And I know certainly people are probably going to disagree. But you know what? That's why we had these discussions. Broncos country want to hear from you? Do you think that Riley Moss is under a lot of pressure going into 2025?

Make sure you're less know here on today's episode of the show. But as Sean Peyton gears up for his third season with the Broncos, having his quarterback in place, there are a handful of things that Sean Payton and this Broncos offense must provide here in 2025. And the pressure that comes with that, we'll talk about. that you're on today's episode of the show. Today's episode of Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by Fanduel.

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Head to Fanduu.com and place your first $5 bet. and if it wins, you get $200 in bonus bets. Make every moment mold with Fandul, official sports betting partner of the NBA. Most people didn't expect much from the Denver Broncos in 2024, but in 2025, which is year three of the Sean Payton era now. The pressure is on what do we have to see in year three of Sean Payton's tenure as the Denver Broncos head coach?

We're going to talk about that coming up on today's episode. Lockdown Broncos, mile high salute to every single one of you out there that makes us your first listen of the day every single day. Cody, really excited for year three of Sean Payton in Denver. I think you and I were both excited for year one. It's such a stark contrast from the way the Broncos had operated in any previous year post-Garie Cubiak. This team has operated at a, I would say, the best way that I can put it,

just feels like more of a professional football team. You don't feel like no one out there. Yeah, exactly. You feel like you have an adult in the room. And Sean Payton has completely changed the culture of this team back to what it was, which is at the expectation now, which was most of my upbringing, Cody, and I'm sure yours as well, that the Broncos would be good, that the Broncos would be playoff contenders,

that the Broncos would be at the top of the AFC West or competing for the top of the AFC West. What do you think is the number one non-negotiable for Sean Payton now that he's in year three as head coach to this team? Well, I think so much of it because Sean is in control of the offense. He's the play caller there. I think there's so much of the dynamic that Sean has with this offense that is going to be under the microscope a little bit more, right? I think first year you look at it trying to figure out that marriage with Russell Wilson was going to work out. You know, could Sean? Because one of the bigger things that Sean came into the, you know, that marriage in that relationship with was saying, hey, like, we need to be able to win within the pocket a lot more versus Russ's game, which escape pressure, you know, school, backyard football, try to make plays happen downfield by extending plays.

While that works sometimes, like, Sean acknowledged, like, you can't do that. That can't be your identity to try to win games in the NFL. It's different. You have to be able to win from within the pocket. And so you go out and you get a quarterback like Bow Nix, who is very good in the pocket and can make those plays. But that's not part of his game. Like being hard to sack, like, That was a thing.

Like Russell Wilson took so many sacks where Bo Nix didn't. Like Bo knew when to get rid of the ball and Bo knew how to get out of those situations where I'm not going to dance in a way. I'm going to try to get as north-south as I can here. For Sean, I think for him as the play caller, Sarah, you want to see more balance on the offensive side of the ball, right? We saw the Broncos at times get a little too pass happy last year. And granted, that could have been a byproduct of Sean not trusting the run game. But if the run game can get going and you have this balance, not only does that take pressure off of Sean as the play caller,

it takes pressure off of Bow Nix as the quarterback, and now that offensive unit might be able to put up even better numbers and be more consistent, have something that's a little bit more sustainable going forward. To me, that's one of the more important elements here for Sean Payton going into his third year is balance offensively. That's one of those pressure points. I think so too.

I think that's going to be really, it's the picture of the, when he was holding the card, you know the play sheet card at the i can't remember what game it was that basically said you know the chargers game where it was basically you know for lack of any uh we've got to keep it family friendly here but it basically said run the ball on the back right and so i think that that's the thing is like we got away from any sort of balance for i don't know what reasons you and i would talk on post games like why did they stop handing the ball to estimate when he was hot

why did they stop going to this when it was working i and so that frustration there it almost felt like at times like Sean was feeding that narrative. And I know this isn't the case. I'm just saying it felt like it at times that he was trying to like propel Bo Nix to a better season as a rookie, statistically speaking, to kind of prove people wrong. And I don't know. Again, I'm not saying that that's what he was doing. I'm saying that's kind of what it felt like at times.

It's like you need to run the ball here. Why is Bo throwing? So that's my personal frustration with that aside. but I think another thing that Sean Payton has to do in year three, Cody, we have to see better results in one score games, right? When the Broncos have gotten into one score games, they have struggled. At least last year they did.

I know that they had that nice little run in the 2023 season where they were kind of lucky in tight games. They were coming through in clutch situations. This past season, however, one and six in one score games. And everybody's like, well, that's because they couldn't beat good teams. I think that that's not the case. Broncos, they definitely should have beat the Chargers. They definitely should have beat Kansas City both of those games on the road.

And those one score games came down to ultimately what? They came down to small little breakdowns here and there throughout the game or just slightly missed opportunities here and there. So one and six in one score games, that's got to change. You got to stay where you're at in terms of beating bad teams, but you also have to elevate your game against the better teams. And in those tight games, you have to find ways to. to finish. Well, and I'm looking at it as well. Like obviously the Broncos finishing 10 and seven last

year. Like you factor in those one score games and you look at like, ah, 10 and seven and you were one and six in those types of games. We are talking about an entirely different perception on this Broncos team, right? And I think to kind of play into that, another aspect here for Sean Payton is you look at their record on the road. That's got to be an area they improved. They were four and five on the road. They were six and two at home last year. They took care of business. But, I think division play is going to be more important. Denver went three and three last year, right? They had two wins against the Raiders. They had one win against Kansas City. They lost a game in it. It's KC. and they were swept by the Chargers.

Division play has to be a little bit more of NIFIS where I think, Sarah, you look at, you have to win at least one matchup against every single team in your division, in my opinion. And granted, you want to sweep every team in your division. You want the Broncos 2025 to sweep the Raiders again. You want to find a way to at least split with the Chargers or sweep them. you got to find a way to obviously split with Kansas City. You know, sweep will be hard here. But Denver was very close to doing just that if it wasn't for a blocked field goal.

So that has to be an area of emphasis here. But I think more importantly, conference record is key. Taking care of conference games to where you're not worried at the end of the season. If you're in that playoff picture and it's like you control your destiny, take care of business. Denver, look, they got four wins last year against the NFC South. That helped them. Take care of business against your AFC conference opponents because that's really what matters.

That's what punches your ticket into the dance to get admission to it. And then if you want to be crowned, you know, homecoming king or whatever it may be, well, you need to make sure that you take care of business there in order to be able to do just that. I think those are going to be very big here for Sean Payton. And all of that ties into it, Sarah,

the play calling ballots, the taking care of business on the one score games. But I will say like Sean is a stickler on those little details, like everything you talk about in game management, which was why I think that free kick against the Chargers was a little frustrating because Don is very much of a situational. We walk through this every, you know, training camp practice, every practice or walk through during a week.

We go through every scenario. So maybe it's just about how do you get these guys to lock in on those a little better? I don't know. I mean, I think Sean's coaching about those little details have made a big difference in the turnaround from what we saw in 2023, which is why Denver was back in the conversation. But at some points, some of those lapses of judgment definitely hurt them last season. season. And I think that's where Darren Rizzy, he can be a secret weapon for this team in a little bit, right, or in a little bit of a way, right? Because he was the interim head coach of the New Orleans Saints. He's kind of always been known for his ability to game manage and find those little, because Darren Rizzy is one of the biggest reasons why the NFL is changing the kickoff rules, right? Because he's got all these innovative ideas of how to make the game more entertaining in the special teams area. And so he's one of those types of people.

that you have on your staff, you've got to listen to those types of guys throughout the course of the game because he's going to be able to give you that set of eyes that you may not be, even somebody has experienced as Sean Payton needs people like that to help him out in those sorts of situations. So I think that'll be big. And then I agree with you, Cody. I think that it's not that the Broncos haven't stepped up in big situations or against good teams. It's the fact that they've kind of found ways to get in their own way against those good teams, right? You could point back to those Chiefs and Chargers games last year as big reasons why they or how they got in their own way.

And then you could look at the other one score games that they ended up losing that were just so frustrating. Like getting three or four chances laid against the Cincinnati Bengals and you totally, totally drop the ball in those situations. I think that's another example right there. That's just so frustrating that you had these chances to do something special in a big opportunity and a big game against a good team. and you got in your own way, some way or the other. So that's another thing is that, okay, those things can't keep on happening. Why does all the good stuff happen to Kansas City? They seem to have all the luck.

You've got to get, you know, fortune favoring you in some sort of way. You've got to get the good luck on your side and the ball bouncing your way somehow. Well, you know, that's why we talk about it. Pressure either creates diamonds or burst pipes. And our conversation on pressure pushing down on me, pushing down on me, continues here on today's episode of Lockdown Broncos. going to talk about one coach on the staff that has a lot of pressure facing him this upcoming season.

You get all that much more here on today's episode, lockdown Broncos. Under pressure, dun da, dun, done. All right, we're talking about coaches here as we close out today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. We appreciate your Broncos country as always here. But, you know, we've highlighted Riley Moss, the pressure facing him, Sean Peyton. But let's get into some of the subcategories here because I think that there's an assistant coach that maybe has a little bit of pressure on him to perform or to have his unit perform.

this upcoming season. And on top of that, maybe a couple of young players as well. Sarah, let's kick things off. I think we look at this coaching staff. Sean Payton is, as he said, he's slow to hire, quick to fire type situation here. And obviously we saw him make some changes after lackluster production at several positions on the coaching staff. One firing had to do with an off-the-field legal issue. One of them was a production-based one. And that was obviously Greg Mniewski, the inside linebacker coach. I feel like we look at the.

running back position right now. I feel like Lou I any might have some pressure on him this upcoming season because he was brought in, highly touted, highly regarded. Sean Payton even acknowledged that, you know, the reviews about him and the hiring process were big, but we have yet to see production from that room be a strength of this team. And part of me is feeling like this is it. Like this is a big season here for that running back position to take the next step. Could RJ Harvey, J.K. Dobbins, alleviate that pressure for Lou I Annie. I, Certainly that's the hope. But I would say if we're looking at a coaching member on the staff,

Lou I Annie definitely probably has some pressure, at least from an optics standpoint. And Sean Payton kind of put it out there, didn't he? By saying that last year, I felt like there was a lot of meat left on the bone when it came to the running game. And so that if I'm Lou Annie, I'm saying that's a direct reflection on me and my guys. And I've got to get them right.

I've got to make sure that we're not wasting what many people believe to be these days, Cody, potentially the number one offensive line in the NFL. And when the Broncos are throwing the ball as well as they were last year, because they did throw the ball pretty darn well, you have to kind of be self-reflective and say, all right, why are, how every single week, we're seemingly not doing our part to help out in the offensive. We're not getting enough yards on first down. We're putting the team in too many second and eight situations or we're getting behind

the sticks. It's second and 11 because our backs are getting blown up in the backfield or they're, they're taking, you know, trying to take the ball to the outside and they're not trusting their blocks or whatever it may be. So I think this is a huge year for him and that position group in particular where now you've got somebody like J.K. Dobbins who's proven and you brought in R.J. Harvey that your general manager, George Payton, said, may have the best vision of any back in this draft, which we know was absolutely loaded at running back. So if that's the case, you've got to get your guys ready to go. And that has to be one of the most improved units on the entire.

roster in 2025. And obviously with a coach, you know, as good of a coach as I any is and how many people praise him, you know, you are right. Like that production is a reflection on you as a coach. And even if you're coaching up the right points and your guys aren't executing, that can cost you your job in the NFL. You know, we've seen it happen all the time, you know, whether it be on the Broncos over the last handful of years.

And when you talk about position coaches or even talk about historically in the NFL, you see guys released because that room doesn't produce. And so I think that's definitely something for us. to monitor here going forward. Maybe even as well. Like we talk about pressure. There's always this inherent pressure. If you are a player whose contract is expiring, there are a handful of players there

this year that are after 2025, they are set to be free agents here. I feel like there are a handful of players here on the Broncos that are certainly going to be a little bit under pressure when free agency hits here this upcoming season. Yeah. That obviously Zach Allen, Nick Benito, the guys that we've been talking about all offseason, and Cortland Sutton is another one. The big name players that they are deserving of new contracts, John Franklin Myers,

and then you go to the underrated guys like J-Quan Macmillan, he's played well enough to get another contract somewhere in the NFL. So, and will it be in Denver? I don't know if that's going to be the case. But this Broncos team is facing a very similar situation that they were last year at this time, Cody, to where you're kind of still trying to figure out which ones of these guys are going to be our foundation pieces,

because you're building that foundation now and you're taking advantage of that rookie window that you have with Bo Nix, which is going to last the next handful of years. If all goes well and Bo signs a big time extension down the line, that's not necessarily going to show up on your salary cap until way down the line, right? We know that teams can structure these deals to get low cap hits in the first couple of years. So the Broncos don't have to worry about that right now. What they've got to figure out is which ones of these guys are going to be part of our, you know, Super Bowl window that we believe we're going to be in for the next

handful of years, the next three to five years. That's where you have to make those sorts of decisions. And I think that those guys, all of them, especially the ones that maybe you're kind of on the fence about, like a lot of fans on the fence about Nick Benito getting a new deal, Cody, a lot of fans on the fence about whether or not you can keep both Zach Allen and John Franklin Myers going to be fascinating to see when the Broncos finally decide to start pulling the trigger on some of these contracts, which players they believe are part of that. window. Yeah, and look, there are 19 set to be unrestricted free ages.

And I feel like when we look at the list of guys here, there certainly could be a reality here where some of these guys don't make it to the 53 man roster this year and then obviously dwindles the list down a little bit. But I would also say that in this situation, and for the guys that you're talking about, the Alex Singleton's, maybe the JFMs, the Nick Benito's, the Zach Allen's, I think there's also pressure on the organization to identify which players are absolutely imperative to your operation and can you financially do it right like i do know the broncos they value nick benito i think that's going to take time to be able to framework a deal that is going to make sense because the market

is always changing and how is nick going to argue against like the max crosbys the miles garrets when you know this is a guy who's getting pick sixes or fumble recoveries for touchdowns and still getting double digit sacks you know that's where it gets a little tricky with his zach allen high pressure player you know guy who's contributing to the success of the rest of the defense in a massive way. He's making Passer Tans job easier. So when you look at the inherent value cornerstone pieces, there's as much pressure I feel like on the organization to get those guys locked in, including Cortland Sutton, as there is on those players to go out there and perform at a high level and maintain that and to be able to set that up for them. That is where I think that this is going to be an interesting off season as well, because as of the time that we're sitting down doing the show, no extension yet.

Jada Baron certainly hasn't signed his rookie deal just yet. RJ Harvey, they haven't found a way to do that. So you can't extend those guys until you get your rookies taken care of. I mean, hypothetically, you could in a sense, but you want to be able to have the bigger picture, you know, at stake. You got J.K. Dobbins who signed his deal. So how does Denver get these guys locked in is a big question that I have. And I don't know how it's all going to play out there.

Is there anybody else in your opinion that you feel like could be facing a little bit of pressure this season? I think young players who are sort of in make or break situations in terms of, I think about specifically Drew Sanders and Troy Franklin, Cody, I think that with Drew, his situation is such that if he doesn't step up as a starting caliber guy this year, you almost figure the Broncos are going to find a way to bring somebody in who's just going to be slotted in as a start. Just like Dre Greenlaw is slotted in as a starter,

and there's no question about that. They'll bring in somebody else next year that will take over the other spot if Drew doesn't seize the opportunity that he has this year where things feel a bit more open, even with Alex Singleton coming back from the injury. And then with Troy Franklin, it's another one of those situations where you've got so many other young guys at that position, can you step up and carve out that role for yourself before either somebody else takes your job or the Broncos go out and say, all right, it didn't work out. We gave it two years. We've got to find somebody else to come in and take that role. So I think those guys are incredible.

crucial situations to where it could be a make or break year for those players in particular to seize big time roles on this team. No, Bracco's country. We want to hear your thoughts here as we conclude today's episode of the show. Which players, coaches do you feel like are facing pressure here heading into the 2025 NFL season? We appreciate all your perspectives here as well. And we always appreciate you for tuning in locking in here on the lockdown Broncos podcast. Special shout out to all the everydayers first listeners out there.

Thank you so much. Here's what you can expect on Monday's episode. show as Sarah and I. We're going to sit down. We're going to talk about Bo Nix and Sean Payton and their pairing and what that means for the offensive identity for this Broncos team into year two with those guys and that marriage between them and how it's going to impact the Broncos. We'll dive deep and all that and much more on the next episode. Lock on Broncos.