Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - RUMOR: Denver Broncos, Courtland Sutton EXTENSION May Be Done Before NFL Draft

Episode Date: March 6, 2025

The Denver Broncos could lock down Bo Nix's top offensive target Courtland Sutton before or after the NFL Draft according to a recent report by Mike Klis. How important is this for the Broncos offense and how can it increase their flexibility from a salary cap standpoint. Should this change the Broncos approach to free agency? Plus, Zach Wilson is trending to be the best fit as Nix's backup, but could Denver take a look at Mac Jones or Daniel Jones? 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: @LockedOnBroncosSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!ChewyChewy has everything you need to keep your pet happy and healthy. And right now you can save $20 on your first order and get free shipping by Clicking this link: https://prf.hn/click/camref:1011l3Huc8/creativeref:1011l164602 FanDuelRight now, new FanDuel customers can get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if 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.

Denver Broncos wide receiver, Cortland Sutton, is trending towards getting a brand new contract. But could that come before the NFL draft? We'll highlight that and much more on today's brand new 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 happening in Broncos country? You know what time it is. It's time for a brand new episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast network where you know it is your, team every day for all the Broncos news, content coverage, analysis, and more that you can't get

anywhere else. Lockdown Broncos is the place to be. Thank you to the everydayers out there in Broncos country. Thank you so much for making us your first listen. However, you choose to do so. If you're not yet in every day or become one by hitting that subscriber, that follow button, so you never miss out on what's going on with your favorite team. I'm Cody Rourke.

Broncos reporter from Mile High Sports. joined as always by Sarah Beninger, site expert of their predominantly orange. dot com. And look, Broncos country, the NFL free agency frenzy is just several days away at this point. There's going to be a lot of rumors, a lot of rumblings, but more importantly, there's going to be a lot of conversation here that you're going to expect maybe some bonus episodes going to the next week. There's going to be a lot of stuff going on here if you are a Broncos fan. But here's what we're going to talk about on today's show. The Broncos, they brought back all of their exclusive free agents going back into 2025, their exclusive rights, guys. And we'll also

open up the mailbag a little bit. And, ask the question, who will be the Broncos backup quarterback behind Bo Nix? What's the best ideal fit for Denver? But we're going to kick things off by talking about a little bit of news that we should keep our eyes on here for the next month or so. Cortland Sutton, maybe a new contract expected for him before or after the NFL draft. Yeah, Mike Kless of nine news there in Denver, our good friend, Mike.

He's been reporting some interesting stuff about the Denver Broncos offseason plans in the last couple of days. And obviously, you know, we don't know exactly what's going to unfold. And I don't think necessarily Mike does either. But I think in regards to Cortland Sutton, it's great to hear him say that he expects a contract to be done either before the NFL draft or shortly after the NFL draft. And look, Cody, I'm all for it happening ASAP. If the Denver Broncos believe that Cortland Sutton can be a key player for this team going forward, you and I have talked about that, how he's developed into Bo Nix's number one tar. target rather quickly. And so, you know, although we, we kind of talk about this in previous episodes,

like is Cortland Sutton a wide receiver one? That doesn't really matter to the discussion at this point. It's really about keeping him on the roster for the foreseeable future, which is this next window of time during Bo Nix's rookie deal. And it sounds like the Broncos are going to do that, which means that I think we can kind of start discussing, okay, now we know that Cortland is going to be back. First of all, what's the price going to be on that? And second of all, what does that mean for the guys that they're looking at adding potentially in free agency? Because you and I had a discussion on yesterday's show about kind of our ideal free agent acquisitions. Does an extension for Cortland Sutton change, at least in the perception of us and those that are listening,

the level of player that this team might go look to add? I don't think it changes it one bit. And obviously, Mike, look, and I'll say this to Broncos country, I don't think there's anybody more plugged into what's going on with the Broncos than Mike. I see Mike every day in Dove Valley. Mike is at every event. Like you talk about being an everydayer. Mike does the work. He puts the work in.

And look, for him, I think he's got more of a clue as to what's going on than a lot of the other reports out there where people are speculating on what the Broncos are going to do, where they're leaning. Mike has made mention that, you know, the Broncos are expected at a wide receiver of note in free agency. But even in his latest Mike drop podcast over there, you check it out in nine news.com. It's up and run. And I also shared it in all my social media feed at Cody Work NFL. Mike talks about in depth specifically how the Broncos are looking at adding a wide receiver to the mix, right? So you're talking about going out there and getting what we believe is to be a playmaking,

a veteran stature type player at this point. And now you combine that with the news of, hey, we're working on getting a contract done here for Cortland Sutton either before or after the NFL draft. And I like it. I'm here for it. And look, you still have your young guys at Shine.

Peyton has acknowledged ad nauseum that they believe that they're in a better position than most people think at wide receiver. But as you know, sir, you can never have enough playmaking weapons. One guy goes down, you need someone to step up. Like when Josh Reynolds last season went down for the Broncos initially with that hand injury, I think we were all saying like, hey, who's going to step up here at receiver for the Broncos? And we saw Troy Franklin start to make some catchers. So Devon Bailey start to make some plays, right? But you need more because, you know, in the NFL season, 17 games, nothing is ever guaranteed.

Ideally, you want to be at full strength, but things can happen. You need to have contingency plans in place while you're still nursing the development of your younger guys. I don't think it changes how Denver approaches free agency one bit. Now, I want to ask you, could this big splash that they could take, you know, they've mentioned that. George Payton has mentioned big splash several times as a possibility while being measured. Do you think, I know we talked about linebacker maybe being a big splash? Do you see a big splash potentially here, a wide receiver maybe in the next week or so? I think it could be a bigger splash than people are expecting and anticipating, right?

And I've said this on previous shows, but I think whoever they add, it has to be better than Josh Reynolds has to be better than like the Tim Patrick's of the world because they already said, like, we don't need those guys. They cut Tim, cut Josh Reynolds. So if you're saying you don't need those kinds of guys by cutting them, and I know there's other circumstances at play, I think that it's got to be somebody bigger name than people are maybe expecting. And I think Adam Schaefter posted a list of free agent wide receivers early in the week. And it kind of just outlined that the supply and demand at the position is going to be very interesting to monitor because there's so many big name veterans out there.

And that's going to drive the price down. Like the demand for these guys is not going to be as great as it was four or five years ago. So the Broncos might get a bigger name receiver. And somebody who like, okay, you think about that guy in, 2021. That's where that's the names that are available right now, right? Like Devante Adams, Cooper, Mike Williams, Keenan Allen, Amari Cooper, Stefan Diggs. There's so many big name receivers out there. So what the Broncos do at wide receiver, I think is going to be rather interesting,

Cody, because they, if they're paying Cortland Sutton, and I expect that to be between 16 to 20 million per year on a new deal. Yeah. I think that it's going to be a, you know, 10 plus million. per year investment at next wider's people they bring in i don't know if you think that's fair um i don't necessarily think that's going to cost 10 million on the cap but i think it's going to be one of those types of players signed the you know two-year deal worth 20 or 24 million or three-year deal worth 30 million something like that and uh i think that's going to be the caliber of player that they bring in yeah no i i agree with you there and i also think too it also expands maybe what the broncos can do in free insie right you talk about getting a contract extension done with court

Sutton, what does that do? That increases your overall salary cap space this year in terms of what you have because you're going to have a lower cap hit there. Denver could also work on the Zach Allen, the Nick Benito extension at this point, lower the initial cap hit. So Denver has flexibility to maneuver.

And then when you get those guys extended, I mean, Sarah, you can go through and you would already have this guy with Pat Sertan, Quinn Miners, Jonathan Cooper. You can go into maybe next year's offseason cycle where Denver's going to have significantly more cap space.

But even if you wanted to make another big splash or a few big splashes so to speak. You could go through and ask those guys to restructure their deals, converted into a signing bonus because guess what? You have the cash richest ownership group and all the football. That's where that matter is more so than anything when we talk about creating flexibility within the cap. And to your point, I saw your tweet that you put out this week, too, about what George

Peyton said to our good friend, Mike, about, you know, you can manipulate the cap. I don't know why people have a hard time believing that you can't do that. The Broncos have done that for quite some time. They did it last year. The Saints previously have done it. It's about how you do it. can you do it in a way that is smart? Because even if you're kicking the can down the road,

is that bill going to be more expensive down the line? Are you going to find a way to increase and amplify your opportunities to make it a little bit of a lesser hit? I mean, we're seeing teams around the league making moves. We've seen the Kansas City Chiefs get rid of an all-pro offensive linemen via trade to the Chicago Bears just so they could create some more cap space. You don't want to be in a position where you have to offset some of your foundational guys to be able to do that.

And I think that's where Denver's at right now. Yeah, and the good news is that for teams like Kansas City and even the Eagles who are cutting guys that are big name, notable players or trading guys that are notable players is like they've already reached the mountain top. Like Kansas City won three Super Bowls with Joe Tuny. And obviously the Eagles just won the Super Bowl with Darius Slay, who they cut. And, you know, so I think that with those types of situations, that is exactly why you do these void years on the contract. Why you kick the can down the road because you're trying to what? trying to win games. It doesn't work out for everybody, but it is the strategy for teams that are winning. Like the Eagles and the Chiefs, they've added a lot of void years to a lot of contracts

to be able to fit the guys that they have on their team. And yes, the bill comes due eventually for everybody, but it is a strategy that's worth doing if you're a team that expects to compete. And so, yeah, for Broncos country, I know that there's been a lot of pushback with that idea that you can manipulate the salary cap because I'll say that and I'll get a ton of people that are like, you can't, the cap affects everybody. You can't keep everybody, blah, blah, blah. It's like, even the general manager of the team is like, yeah, you know, you can manipulate the cap any way that you want to or need to.

So I think for Broncos country, it's really about embracing this idea that there's a new way of building teams in the NFL. It requires spending. It does. There's just no doubt about it, Cody. I mean, you want to draft and develop, but you've got to sign the right guys. You've got to go out in free agency and get the right guys. Joe Tune wasn't drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs, was he?

I mean, let's just be real about it. They stole him out of free agency from the Patriots, I believe. So I think that, look, it's one of those things that you have to be mindful of the future. Like you can't mortgage your future, but at the same time, what are we worried about down the line right now, right? Cody, I mean, we've got Pat Certan extended. You've got Quinn Miners extended. What are you worried about with the kicking the can down the road? I think for the Broncos, it's time to be aggressive.

and I love that they're getting ready to potentially do that. Scared money don't make money. That's the motto in the national football league. You've got to maximize the window in which you have with Bo Nix on a rookie deal here. But Broncos Country, we expect that deal to potentially happen around the NFL draft or shortly after when that does occur. Sutton expected to stay with the Broncos long term. How do you feel about that?

Make sure you let us know here on today's episode of the show. We're not done yet. Broncos Country up next. We're going to open up our mailbag. And Broncos Country wants to know who will be the backup quarterback to Bo Nix. in 2025. We'll share our thoughts on that and maybe debate it here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Today's Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by our friends over there at Chewy folks. And you've probably heard of Chewy before. They really do have everything that you need

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We hope that Bo Nix can emerge into a top 10 NFL quarterback here in 2025. But who's going to be on the sidelines holding a clipboard standing next? to Davis Webb. Who's going to be the Denver Broncos backup quarterback in 2025? Thankfully, it's not that big of a deal because you got Bo Nix, but also Broncos country, you got to have a good backup quarterback in today's NFL because just two seasons ago, 67 quarterbacks started games around the league. So a big question being sent in in today's mailbag episode, locked on Broncos. And we're going to talk about exactly that. But Broncos country, thanks so much for making us your first listen of the day every single day. If you're not already in every

day listener. Hey, take a couple of seconds, hit subscribe, get us to the top of your podcast feed and the top of your YouTube algorithm so you don't miss a single episode of the show as the offseason rolls along Cody. And we're certainly going to be doing an episode at some point here in the near future about who is the Denver Broncos backup quarterback for Bo Nix in 2025. Mike Cliss, as we continue to reference his reports in recent days here, he stated in the podcast that you mentioned that expects Jared Stidham to leave the Denver Broncos in free agency, which makes sense. Stidham will be 29 this season and he wants an opportunity to start. Remember after Bo Nix was named starter last year?

He said, I want to be a starter. I believe I'm a starter in this league. I think he's going to go after that. What do you think is the next step, though, now for the Broncos? Because we got a question sent in from John on our, you know, a mailbag inquiry about who's going to be the backup QB. what do you see as the next step if Jared Stiddam is out the door? Well, I'm very curious to see where Jared Stidham would end.

Like if he wants to start and he wants to play, I'm trying to think of scenarios right now. Like, where would that be? Like, will he go back to Las Vegas to be the starting quarterback, you know, under Pete Carroll? You know, I think there's been rumblings about a peak Carol and a Russell Wilson reunion there, which will make the AFC West very, very interesting going forth. But, you know, there's a chance maybe the Broncos face two of their former quarterbacks. Maybe in 2025, you know, in Las Vegas. We'll see how that kind of plays out here.

But for me, Sarah, I've been all aboard the Zach Wilson train as being the backup. And surely Zach is also a guy who wants to go out there. He wants to play. He wants to compete. And I think it's a matter of time, right? But, you know, so much of what we've talked about here in terms of finding the right backup quarterback fit here for Bo Nix, I think so much of it is how can you find a player who has similar traits that can plug into your offense and learn it? That way, if you do have something happened to your starter, you're not experiencing much of a drop-off.

like in terms of the operation, you don't have to change the look and design of it. Though I will say Sean Payton has been very good in the past of changing his offense. When Drew Breez had an injury, they completely changed it to something different. When Taysam Hill was the quarterback, when Teddy Bridgewater was the quarterback, when Trevor Simeon was the quarterback, they've been able to change that before. But I also think with a young team, Sarah, that's hard to be able to do, right? You have to have a foundation. At least when Sean Payton did that in the past, they could run the football in New Orleans.

That has not been evident as being a possible factor so far with the Broncos in Peyton's first two years. The run game has been very abysmal, and that's putting it lightly here at this point. So you have to have a quarterback who I think has similar traits to your starting quarterback from an athleticism standpoint. And I think Zach Wilson, he's got the big arm. I think he's deceptively elusive. And the Broncos, they saw that firsthand a couple of years ago when Zach Wilson came to the Mile High City as a member of the New York Jets. He is a guy that can hurt you. but I also think he's growing a little bit more in Sean Payton system.

So maybe, maybe it's a one year deal for Zach Wilson to be the backup and then he gets an opportunity. But to me, it's Zach Wilson or bust at this point. Now, I did see your tweet on social media, Sarah. And I don't like it. I don't agree with it. But this is what discourse is for. You did pull it out there that you'd be okay with Mack Jones or Daniel Jones coming to Denver to be the backup. I'm curious to hear why.

And then we'll debate and discuss it. Yeah, so I mean, we know Sean Payton and never saw a reclamation project he didn't like, right? Obviously, we go back to New Orleans. That was his first pick as, you know, quarterback was Drew Bree's guy who was being discarded by the Chargers. And people will split hairs over whether or not he was a reclamation project all day. That's neither here nor there because we have James Winston. We have Teddy Bridgewater. We now have the example of Zach Wilson being acquired via trade.

I know for a fact that Sean Payton liked Mac Jones in the 2021 NFL draft, Cody, because he said so. He really likes Mack Jones or did, you know, four years ago when he was coming out of the draft. And so I feel like he could be a natural option. Daniel Jones, however, is interesting because he was previously teammates with Davis Webb, the quarterback's coach of the Denver Broncos. And Davis Webb said he's the smartest quarterback he's ever been around regarding Daniel Jones. And Daniel Jones has played in and started a playoff game and won a playoff game on the road. Mack Jones has played in and started a playoff game, learned and operated the Josh McDaniels

offense as a rookie in the NFL. These are two smart guys who are going to be able to come in and absorb the offense very quickly. And I think if Sean Peyton and the Broncos are looking for the next rehab project at quarterback, like these two guys, they started games last year. They've played last year. they can still place. And you mentioned a stylistic similarity. I mean, Daniel Jones athletically, I think, can hold up a little bit with Bo Nix. He might not be as fast, but he was pretty dang fast coming out of Duke. He's got some good speed to him.

I think that it would be interesting to see him reunited with Davis Webb. And I think it would be interesting because there were rumors of the Saints were going to trade up for Mack Jones, kind of be interesting to see Sean Payton finally get his hands on Mac as a backup now. Was that the year? No, I don't think it was. I was thinking, was that the year of E. In Book? Is that when they landed Ian Book or was that the year after? It might be because that that would have been the last.

2020, 2020. Yeah. So it would have been the last draft class. Yep. Ooh. The last class for Peyton. Now did he, now did he like about Mac Jones?

Obviously, he played a Bama, but did he like that Mac Jones played with arguably one of the best receiving cores in college football history, the, you know, that they had there at Bama with it. It was unbelievable at the time.

all the guys that, you know, Saban had there. And that Mac Jones had to throw to, obviously, when they won the national championship. I go back and forth, you know, on this. Like, if I had to debate and analyze it, if I prefer Mac Jones or Daniel Jones at this point, like if it was really between those two guys, I feel like Daniel Jones would probably be that fit. You talk about the cerebral ability. And one thing I know that Sean Payton really loves, he loves quarterbacks who were smart. The one thing about Daniel Jones in New York, and I don't know if this was a byproduct of that

system that they had there in Brian Dable, where they asked. were they asking him to be too aggressive? And so with that, are you taking more chances? Are you putting the ball into harm's way there? Don wants his quarterbacks to protect the football. And once again, that's going to have to be something he gets out of his system because Danny Dimes, I remember he had a lot of fumble issues at one point. You know, and he's turned the ball over left and right a handful of times.

That's going to be something that I think will hurt him in terms of maybe where teams may be interested in. But obviously, the Minnesota Vikings picked him up on the practice squad. last season after he was released. So maybe there's that QB collective mindset right there. And maybe he is a player that Sean Payton's willing to monitor. But for me, Sarah, I'm all in on Zach Wilson as the backup quarterback. If it's not, Zach, I feel like I'll definitely be a little frustrated by it. But I'm very curious to see if Denver goes a different direction there,

if it's one of those two guys or if it's maybe even somebody else that we haven't even talked about yet. I'll be very curious to maybe break down the pros and cons as to why Sean Payton made that decision. That's a great question sent in from John and our. mailbag here today. We've got another mailbag question coming in from our good friend Wes who asked the question whether or not the Broncos will re-sign some players before free agency. Well, guess what? They've already tendered five of them. We'll talk about that much more

here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. The NFL legal negotiating period, as we like to call it, the legal tampering period begins on Monday, 2 o'clock p.m. Mountain time here. That's where deals can be agreed upon, but not official until the new league year, which begins next Wednesday. is March 12th at 2 o'clock p.m. Mountain Time. Sarah Pettinger, myself, we're going to be on standby almost every minute of free agencies for the first two weeks leading you up with brand new episodes, breaking news episodes. You're going to get so many different episodes. You're not going to know what to do with yourself here.

Broncos country as Denver looks to build a powerhouse going into 2025, opening up our handy dandy mailbag here on today's episode of the show. We got a question that got sent in from our good friend, Wes. He asked the question, do you see the Broncos? goes resigning any players that are in-house before free agency begins on Wednesday. Denver took care of five guys. It wasn't necessarily re-signing them, Sarah, but it was putting tenders obviously on their five exclusive rights,

free agents, including one of the younger, more promising nickel cornerbacks in the game right now in Jayquan Macmillan. Yes, J-Quan-McMillan will be back in the fold this year. Dondre Tillman back in the fold, the breakthrough pass rusher, who came in as a UFUFUFN. star and nobody knew really what to expect. He'll be back. Jordan Jackson,

Devon Key, obviously. And then, Cody, you rounded out with Lucas Krull. What the exclusive rights free agent tender means for anybody that's like, well, what the heck? And what the heck does that mean? They've been tendered or whatever. Basically, nobody else can negotiate with these guys, but the Broncos. So they could either resign for what essentially amounts to the veteran minimum,

or they can, you know, negotiate a new deal with Denver. And I would, I guess if you look at that list, Cody, I wouldn't be shocked if maybe Macmillan was a guy that negotiated a new contract entirely to give him a bit of a substantial raise and kind of keep him around longer, but also get him at a value right now. That's probably going to look like a steal in a couple of years. Remember the Broncos once did that with Chris Harris Jr. when he was an emerging nickel and slot player for them. So Macmillan could be in a similar vein. But I don't know. in terms of unrestricted guys, do you see anybody getting picked up before free agency? Because the clock's ticking now, Cody.

As of the time we're recording this, we've only got five days before these guys can agree to deals with other teams. I don't think DJ Jones is going to get an offer before the start of free agency. When you look up and down the list, is there anybody that, I mean, he stands out as maybe the best player. There's been no talk of Cody Barton or Justin Sternod getting offers from the Broncos to come back before free agency. Do you see anybody that stands on on this list that's potentially like guaranteed to get an offer to come back? I think Justin Sternod will, but I think that'll come in like either the second or the third week of free agency. I think Justin's going to mull over his options there. There are going to be some teams that are going to be interested.

I imagine the Carolina Panthers will probably have interest in him once again. They were close to signing him last year and, you know, he decided to stay because he got another offer from Denver last minute. And Denver is where he wanted to be. I don't know about Cody Barton. I obviously I think DJ Jones will be back, but I don't think that's going to happen before free agency begins. And I don't think it's going to happen in the first couple of days. I mean, I would hope that would be the case,

but I think the Denver's going to go to trout to try to get their big fish first and then take care of those guys. But at that same time, when you have that approach, you risk on losing out on a guy like DJ if a team like San Francisco with Robert Sala coming back as the defensive coordinator, they may want DJ Jones back. And our good friend Brian Peacock over there, a lockdown 49er said that DJ Jones has,

one of those guys at 49ers fans kept saying like, hey, we love this guy here. We can't believe we let him go that he got away. And I think that was the year. Obviously, it was K. Juan Williams. And it was DJ Jones, two 49ers coming over there. And I think DJ is a guy that San Francisco would more than likely look to bring back, especially because he's going to be 30.

I know his estimated market values like a one year, nine point something million dollar contract at this point. We'll see what the numbers look like and where that overall flexibility is. But I think Justin nods, a guy. Traymond Smith's obviously another guy that I think could be brought back to the mix. You know what we haven't talked about? And obviously we don't really talk about these guys much unless something bad happens. Mitchell for Bonney, the Broncos only restricted free agent.

I believe that they're going to have to try to negotiate a new deal with him because I think him being tendered as a restricted free agent, I think that price tag is a little bit higher than they would like to pay him. So that's going to be very interesting to see how that plays out. He's been fantastic for Denver. To your point about Jayquam MacMill, and making some money. He's going to make some more money this year,

I believe he's going to make just a little over $1 million this upcoming season. I think it's like $1,300, $1,357,000 at this point. So we'll see where things are at in terms of, you know, the Broncos. But is there any guy here, Sarah, that you feel like will be back, we'll not be back? And I also want to get your thoughts too on the five ERFAs. Out of the five, who do you think will have the biggest impact besides J-Quan going into 2025? that's on this list. I could really see it being Dandre Tillman,

considering the fact we know going into the offseason, of course, it's maybe a bit of an overreaction, but I mean, Jonah Ellis does have the shoulder issue that has popped up now. It was an issue before the draft last year. It's now again an issue. So you hope that's not a thing at the start of the season,

right? You hope we're not talking about the shoulder, but I could see Dondre playing a significant chunk of snaps this year. And I wouldn't be surprised at the Broncos like the development. of Jordan Jackson as well, a little bit better than maybe fans see. I think you have to go watch some of the film from last year to really see the impact that he made in a limited number of snaps. But to me, I mean, when you make an impact and you, people are like, who's 94?

Like if you're out, if guys on the field for 300 or less snaps a year and somebody's asking who's that jersey number, that guy probably going to be back on the team again the next year because you're making a splash and limited opportunities. So those two guys outside of Macmillan, I could see making the biggest impact. Well, until your point, Dondrey Tillman, probably the more impressive body of workout of all those guys there. I mean, you talk about the transition playing in the UFL, going straight, you know, having a little bit of time off, and then going straight into training camp and OTAs and all that stuff.

And it's like, ah, you got to start over again. You got to go through another grueling training camp process. But for me, what stood out about Dandre that I really liked was his preseason work. He was a training camp standout on a consistent basis. with somebody that you and I were always talking about every day after, you know, a training camp practice. But in his 12 games that he appeared in last season, you mentioned it, five sacks there. But here's the staggering on there.

He only played 29% of the Broncos defensive snaps in 2024. So to me, you look at that body of work, you look at that production for a guy who's really your last edge rusher to have that type of production. It just goes to show how impactful Denver's defense was last year. But also, you watch him specifically on the field. Man, he's got the size. He's got the deceptive athleticism off the edge. He can be a good run stopper for you.

There were several times last year he came up with a big sack and key opportunities. And his breakout game really came in week three against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers against Baker Mayfield, where he had two sacks, one that pushed them really out of the red zone, which was a key play by him there. They like him. I know they like Jordan Jackson a lot. Those two guys had a really big ascension. Jordan Jackson probably the biggest rise from a player returning of that group there.

And then even Devin Key had impactful moments at safety. Yeah, he had one pad game, in my opinion, against Baltimore. It's going to happen there. But he was a core four specialist all season long on special teams. He was the personal protector, which I know is the most important role when you have your punt unit out there. Key was one of those guys. And Lucas Crowell, you know, like I said, led the team in catches that tied in with 19, which you look at that. That's not good.

Like he had 150-something yards. Adam Schroffman had like 180-something yards. the tight end production was not where it needed to be here for the Broncos, and that's going to be an area where they have to improve. And Crow is obviously going to be in the mix when it comes to training camp with Adam Troutman, Nate Adkins already, Thomas Yasmin coming back on a future deal. But Denver is probably going to add to this position maybe in free agency or the NFL draft. I would like to maybe see a combination of both potentially there and try to revamp that room entirely,

because that has to be better here for the team going forward. Yeah, let's throw out a name just off of the. top of my head here. I was having a great discussion with our good friends on on Twitter. And Tommy Trembal is a name that came up. Cody, only 24 years old, former Carolina Panthers, tight end, got some athletic upside, maybe got some ability to be that kind of Brandon Jones of this year's free agency, if you will, somebody who didn't play a full-time starting role at his previous destination, but still young enough with the upside, did enough on the snaps that he was given, the targets that he was given to show flashes. Maybe that's a name.

there at tight end because this is not a tight end class in free agency that you're looking at saying, oh, there's a joker that the Broncos need to go after. There's a, there's a couple of guys that that's not the case. The NFL draft is loaded with those guys. But I don't think you can go away from free agency completely just to say, hey, screw it. We're going to the draft. I think bringing a guy like Tremble and raise the floors, get some competition in there. Because even if you draft somebody, hey, Greg Dulcich, right?

I mean, even if you draft somebody, it doesn't guarantee that they're going to work out. So raise the floor in free agency. Maybe that guy does it for you. Broncos country, that'll wrap up our mailbag episode here on today's episode of Locked on Broncos. We've highlighted Cortland Sutton, the potential deal that could come before or after the NFL draft. We've answered mailbag questions on who will be the Broncos backup QB in 2025. And then we just wrap things up by talking about the ERFAs that the Broncos took care of overnight here. And that'll wrap it up for today's episode of show here.

but Broncos country, as always, thank you to all the everydayers out there. Thanks for making us your first listen for tomorrow's episode of the show. We got more in store for you as free agency is creeping up. Could the Broncos make some moves? We'll take a look at maybe what the first domino effect could be in the NFL free agency. You'll get that much more on tomorrow's episode, locked on Broncos.