Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - REVEALED: Broncos 1st-Round Strategy Obvious After Sean Payton, George Paton Comments?

Starting point is 00:00:00 George Peyton and Sean Peyton may have spilled the beans about what the Broncos are going to do early in the 2026 NFL draft. You are locked on Broncos. Your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the locked on podcast network, your team every day. The Denver Broncos might be going big early on in the 2026 NFL draft. We're going to get a chance as the scouting combine rolls along to see how these big men work out. but 2026 might be the ideal time for the Broncos to invest in the trenches with their top picks in 26. We're going to talk about that on today's bonus episode, Locked on Broncos. Welcome in everybody.

Starting point is 00:00:47 My name is Sayre Bedinger, co-host here of Lockdown Broncos, as well as the site expert at predominantly orange.com. And we appreciate you so much for tuning into Lockdown Broncos every single day. Cody and I are so excited to be able to be bringing you some bonus content. here in the off season. Thanks for rocking with us. Hit subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts as well as on YouTube. And thanks for tuning in right here on the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network.

Starting point is 00:01:17 The Broncos, I have a feeling, are going to go big in the 2026 NFL draft early on. Now, I did a mock draft earlier this week where I had the Broncos taking Texas A&M offensive lineman Chase Bessantis with their top pick. But I believe after hearing George Payton and and Sean Payton speak to the media in their press availability earlier this week, I think I'm even more certain than ever before that the Broncos are going to go with an offensive or defensive lineman with their top pick. And I know that a lot of fans out there may not like that, right?

Starting point is 00:01:50 I saw some comments on the mock draft saying, no, go for the sexy pick. Go for the playmakers. Well, historically speaking, we know that Sean Payton has invested a ton in the trenches. I mean, just countless first and second round picks on the offensive line, countless top picks on the offensive line. And we've seen when he got to Denver in 2023, he was like, we're reshaping that offensive line. We are going to invest in the O line. And the Broncos didn't have a draft capital to do it at the time. So they signed Mike McGlinchie to a big money deal in free agency.

Starting point is 00:02:24 They signed Ben Powers to a big money deal in free agency. And effectively, those two guys were essentially Sean's first. two top draft picks for the Denver Broncos, two offensive linemen that he felt he could build around. And we saw the Broncos turn around and do similar on the defensive line, right? You bring in Zach Allen. You trade for John Franklin Myers. You bring in other guys like Malcolm Roach and certainly others along the defensive line who have been huge for this team in just the way that they've been able to turn things around quickly. What we talked about at the time is that when you raise the floor of your trench play, offensive and defensive line play. It raises the floor of your entire

Starting point is 00:03:07 team. Because if you're not getting pushed around all four quarters of a game or all 17 games of a season, you're able to stay in games. If you can hold up on the offensive and defensive lines and the Broncos, I would say, I've done a little bit more than just holding up. Well, you can do a lot of damage. And we've seen how quickly this team has ascended even without prime NFL draft real estate in 2022 and 2023. They've been able to get back really quickly because of the play of their offensive and defensive lines. The Broncos have done really well grading out as some of the best run blocking,

Starting point is 00:03:41 past blocking offensive line play in the NFL as well as obviously in back to back years now, setting franchise record in sacks. And of course, that pressure comes from all angles. And, you know, I think this is the ideal time. for George Peyton and Sean Payton to reset the clock when you've got Garrett Bulls, who's entering his age 34 season. Mike McGlinchie is above the age of 30. Ben Powers, I believe, is heading into his age 30 season.

Starting point is 00:04:10 And it also is coming off of a year in which he dealt with a long-term injury. You just re-signed Luke Wattenberg, gave him a big money deal. Quinn Miners has a big money deal. So there's not only the element of age when it comes to the offensive line specifically, but there's also the fact that, man, you just need to get younger and you need to get cheaper, right? You want to have guys that George Peyton said it in this, and I referenced this. The press conferences for both of these guys really led me to believe that this was going to be an area of emphasis. Well, what George Payton had said that kind of makes me believe this.

Starting point is 00:04:46 Listen to what he said. He said, you always have to look at your offensive and defensive lines, especially the offensive line. What is the age? says you don't want them to age at the same time. So what we have here is clearly the, the timer has gone off for the Broncos in their draft room, you know, in their draft preparation. They're saying, oh, yep, okay, we've got to, we got to reset the timer because that timer has run out. That's what's happened with Ben Powers now entering a contract here. Garrett Bulls getting older, Mike McGlinchie getting older, right?

Starting point is 00:05:24 And there's only so much that you can expect out of former undrafted guys that you've brought in and developed like Frank Crum, Alex Palseske. Even in late round pick like Alex Forsyth, he looks like he's going to be a backup only, a good backup, a quality backup, somebody that you trust to start when needed. But the Broncos really need to get an influx of young talent with rookie contracts to build that offensive line up around Bow. Knicks as you have to reset certain things contractually around the roster. You look at the salary cap pie for future years. You can invest in the offensive line, absolutely. But can you have five big money contract players at the same time for a long period of time?

Starting point is 00:06:10 That's probably not as realistic. So for the Denver Broncos, you've got to start thinking about resetting the clock. And the comments of George Payton right there talking about you don't want them to age at the same time. well, that's happening with Bulls, with McGlinchy, with Ben Powers, and then I guess you could argue as well with Luke Wattenberg and Quinn Miners, although those two guys are a little bit younger than the other three. So the Broncos need to reset the clock on the offensive line.

Starting point is 00:06:37 Whether they use a top pick on there, that remains to be seen. But I think the same could be said for the defensive line. You can never have too many pass rushers. We're going to make the case for offensive and defensive line in this year's draft. And I'm going to tell you why I think this class is the, the perfect reason for the Broncos to go all in their top two picks on the offensive and defensive front. We'll get into that and much more coming up on today's bonus episode, Locked on Broncos. This episode of Locked on Broncos is brought to you by Indeed.

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Starting point is 00:11:18 as we get close to the NFL draft, look, I'm with everybody out there in Broncos country that wants to see this team upgrade at playmaker positions, right? Give me some, give me a tight end. Give me a receiver. Give me a running back. I don't necessarily think that is the strength of this year's NFL draft, although really good wide receivers, really solid tight end group. I think the meat of this NFL draft is the offensive lineman. It's big men. It's defensive linemen.

Starting point is 00:11:47 It's these guys that you look at, you want to build the foundation of your team to be something that is unflappable, something that when you think about the identity of the Denver Broncos right now, they've got, you sleep well at night knowing that you've got a great offensive line and you sleep well at night knowing that you've got a great defensive line. The Broncos have those two things and they've got depth. They've got players that they've developed from the ground up. they've got players that they signed in free agency. They've got so much going for them on both sides of the ball, but eventually the timer does run out, like I mentioned before. And when you're looking at this draft class on both the offensive and defensive lines, there just seems to be such great value at those particular position groups.

Starting point is 00:12:35 I'm going to pull up Daniel Jeremiah's top 50 prospects from this year's draft. And look, there's players late in the first round right now, ranked in the 25 to 50 range. If you look at offensive and defensive lineman, I'm going to rattle off some names. Georgia offensive tackle Monroe Freeling, Texas Tech defensive lineman Lee Hunter, Keldrick Falk, a defensive lineman slash edge rusher from Auburn,

Starting point is 00:13:01 Caden Proctor, an offensive tackle from Alabama. Caleb Lomu, an offensive tackle from Utah. I mean, it just goes on and on. I don't know how to pronounce the Arizona State guy's name, but he's number 34 on the list. Caden McDonald, Ohio State defensive tackle, Caleb Banks, Florida defensive tackle, Peter Woods, Clemson defensive tackle.

Starting point is 00:13:23 So what we're getting, Christian Miller, Georgia defensive tackle. And then obviously the guy that I picked in our mock draft earlier this week, Chase Bissontas, an offensive guard from Texas A&M, there's so much talent on the offensive and defensive lines in the range where the Broncos are going to be picking there at the back half of round one.

Starting point is 00:13:42 it just feels like not only is it the right time to address the trenches, but it also could present the best value in round one. And so I feel like the Broncos will need a new starting left guard sooner rather than later. I feel like there's a chance they'll need a starting tackle sooner rather than later. On the defensive line, you have to think about the fact that John Franklin Myers is not just the exception, but could eventually be that, you know, DJ Jones, is he going to be with the team very much longer beyond this season? We're fixing to find out. We'll see what happens. Zach Allen continues to get older and older. And I'm not saying that these guys are going to be gone. What I'm saying is that you need to have depth, even some of the best players on the

Starting point is 00:14:29 Broncos defensive front only play 45, you know, percent of the snaps or roughly that, right? 45 to 55% these guys don't play every single snap they need to have depth they need to have options they need to have different you know different skill sets and yes you're expecting this year in yoma uazerrique step into a bigger role say beyond jones you expect him to step into a bigger role but you want to draft talent on your offensive and defensive line so that you are never lacking in those areas that's so important to having sustained success in the nthel You can get skill players on day two, day three. You can get secondary guys to supplement the depth that you already have.

Starting point is 00:15:13 You need big men and you need to invest there. The Broncos haven't drafted a first round tackle or any tackles since Garrett Bulls in 2017. They haven't drafted really any offensive linemen on day one or day two of the draft since Quinn Miners in 2021. So it's been a long time since the Broncos have invested in the, that area. And look at their defensive line right now. How many top 100 picks do the Broncos have that they've drafted on their defensive

Starting point is 00:15:44 line at this current moment? And it's worked out for them, right? I mean, Zach Allen, phenomenal. Malcolm Roach, phenomenal. DJ Jones. Awesome. Love it.

Starting point is 00:15:53 You're losing John Franklin Myers, potentially this offseason, most likely losing him. They did trade up to get Savian Jones in the back half of round three. But I think what you'll see is that the urgency is ramping up for this Broncos. team to draft big men on both sides of the ball. And I think that would be a wise use of their top picks in this year's draft. So let us know what you think, Broncos country. We're excited for the NFL draft. We're excited for the offseason. We're excited to continue bringing bonus content

Starting point is 00:16:22 every step of the way as well. We appreciate you tuning in today. And we'll catch you on the next episode of the show.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - REVEALED: Broncos 1st-Round Strategy Obvious After Sean Payton, George Paton Comments?

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