Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Sai'vion Jones Is Denver Broncos NEW BEAST On Defense

Episode Date: May 6, 2025

The Denver Broncos addition of Sai'vion Jones in the 2025 NFL Draft strengthen the Broncos' defensive line. His strength and high motor are two traits that will put him on the field instantly for the ...Broncos defense. Where does he factor into the rotation with Zach Allen, John Franklin-Myers, and Jordan Jackson? 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!UpworkVisit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free to connect with top talent and grow your business today! Skylight CalendarRight now, Skylight is offering our listeners $30 off their 15 inch Calendars by going to Skylightcal.com/NFL. Amazon Fire TV Stick 4kDid you know your Fire TV is also an Xbox? Turn any TV into your gaming and entertainment hub with Fire TV Stick 4K devices — no console required. Head to Amazon.com/firetvlockedon to get started. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and compatible controller required. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton added valuable depth to the defensive line in the 2025 NFL draft. Savian Jones will play right away here for this team in 2025. We'll tell you how that's going be possible on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. What's happened in Broncos Country, welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you so much to the everydayers out there in Broncos Country. Thanks for tuning in, making us your first listen, however you choose to do so.
Starting point is 00:00:44 And if you're not yet in every day, it's easy to be coming. All you got to do is hit that subscriber or that follow button, and you're never going to miss out on what's going on with your favorite team. We bring you a daily Broncos episode every single day all year long, even throughout the entire offices. We got you covered here, Broncos Country. As always, I'm Cody Roark. Broncos reporter from Mile High Sports.
Starting point is 00:01:02 And I'm Sarah Bedinger's site expert of predominantly orange.com. And here's what you can expect on today's episode of the show. Broncos Country, we're continuing our player profile series. We're looking at Savion Jones, the Broncos defensive line edition in the 2025 NFL draft. We'll tell you where he stands here on the depth chart and why he's going to get some playing time early on this season for Vance Joseph and that defense. But we'll also go through his strengths and his weaknesses. What will keep him on the field?
Starting point is 00:01:28 what are some things that could take him off the field in certain situations? You're going to get all that in today's episode of the show. There, let's talk about Jones here and maybe how he fits on the depth chart right away. I mean, obviously, as the NFL draft was unfolding, you had the Pat Bryant pick, which we previewed and broke down on yesterday's episode show for anyone who missed it. Make sure you go check that one out. But now it's like, all right, hey, what are the Broncos going to do with this other premier capital, which, you know, we knew they were involved in some trading up,
Starting point is 00:01:54 moving back a little bit to acquire better Premier Capital and some of the other later rounds of the draft. Denver ends up trading back into round three as we were recording our podcast during the draft here and they take Savion Jones out of LSU, just a, you know, a big guy that could play defensive end, man. And there's just so many ways I could see him getting on the field early on here for this Broncos defense. It's really exciting after you watch the Super Bowl and you saw how the Philadelphia Eagles got after the Kansas City Chiefs and just kind of blew up their offensive line with wave after wave of pass rush. The Denver Denver Broncos, they can do that, right?
Starting point is 00:02:30 They led the NFL and Sachs last year, and they added a strength to a strength. It was so much fun during the draft. It was already a bonus episode. And then we did an emergency clip within the bonus episode because the pick happened right, or the trade up happened as we were recording or right after we got done with that bonus. So it was fun. But I love this pick. And I think kind of just based on where the pick was placed and the fact that it was kind of
Starting point is 00:02:54 last minute on day two, it's almost the most under. rated pick the Broncos made in the 2025 NFL draft, isn't it? It's like we talk a lot about RJ Harvey and a lot about Pat Bryant. And then we talk about the punter. You know, you talk about the basketball playing tight end. And this guy kind of flies under the radar, doesn't he? I mean, even as you and I were prepping our kind of just this series that we're going to talk through every player, you reminded me after I was like, yeah, Pat Brian and then Lov Q Robinson. You're like, yeah, Savion Jones, too, is in there. And it's like, oh, yeah, that's right. The Broncos have this guy. He's good, Cody. He's really good. I enjoyed watching him play over these last,
Starting point is 00:03:32 you know, week plus, just kind of seeing the tenacity with which he plays. And when you look at the Broncos defensive line, isn't that just a theme with everybody that plays out there? Like, these guys are all hair on fire. You don't want to have to block this guy one-on-one types of players, whether it's Zach Allen, John Franklin Myers, DJ Jones. These guys give offensive linemen such fits and to have that as a contagious quality amongst your D-line, it's so much fun to see. And these guys play, I think this guy's going to fit in perfectly with everybody else in that group. I wonder when we heard from George and John in the pre-draft press conference, remember they
Starting point is 00:04:12 talked about the depth of this year's NFL draft class, you know, specifically running back in defensive line. And they said, you know, we have a guy that we feel like can be ready to go day one. I wonder if they were talking about him considering the fact that. that they traded up back into the end of day number two to be able to get him. I'm very curious about it because right now, I mean, Sarah, going into the NFL draft, the Broncos defensive line in terms of starters is said, right?
Starting point is 00:04:36 You got Zach Allen at the end, John Franklin Myers at the other D.N spot here, DJ Jones, you got Malcolm Roach behind them. And then you got Jordan Jackson, who rotated in quite a bit last season, was an impact player. The Broncos at George Payton have acknowledged publicly that they are very high on. So now you add in another guy.
Starting point is 00:04:54 And Sarah, you and I kind of touched on this a little bit. How does this impact the Broncos with contract negotiations with Zach Allen? It doesn't. John Franklin Myers, however, I think this probably could impact the most here. But let's take a look here at the depth chart and where Jones fits in and why he's going to play here right away. I already mentioned the starters there. The other defense event on this roster right now is Matt Henningson. You know, you factor in other guys at D-Line on this roster that we haven't talked about.
Starting point is 00:05:22 Inoma, Uwazareke, who's six-foot-s. 36, 320 pounds. I think in Yoma's roster status going into the season is largely in question. But I think the Broncos are looking for a fourth guy essentially, right? Because you factor in. When I talk about four players at D-N, I'm talking about Zach Allen. I'm talking about JFM. Those are two, Jordan Jackson, that third guy.
Starting point is 00:05:45 Savion Jones is that fourth guy. I mean, he has all those traits where he's going to plug into this defense, which is coached by Jamar Kane, who coached him back at L. you. There's the ties that bind there. There's a reason they went out and they got this guy. But man, you watch him on tape. He's got such a high motor for a guy his size. And I really think this was the Broncos saying, hey, in case we can't bring back a guy like JFM after we extend Nick Benito, Cortland Sutton and Zach Allen, we need to have a backup plan in place. I feel like Sabian Jones is a backup plan as an insurance policy there.
Starting point is 00:06:19 But he wasn't drafted just to be a backup plan. I think he's got potential here in two, three years to be a starter here on this defense. And you need guys that have that positional versatility, right? When we, the ticker came across the screen. The Broncos drafted Savion Jones. The initial thing on NFL network said, edge out of LSU. And so you and I were like, wait a second, an edge guy, what the heck are we talking about here? Then you look up his measurables and things like that.
Starting point is 00:06:46 I mean, this guy is big, Cody. I mean, 6.5 and change. So with cleats on, he's going to be 6, 6, 280 pounds, 33 and a half. half inch arms, 80 plus inch wing span. You can float this guy all over the defensive line. And as as teams are living in their nickel formation or as, you know, that 4-25 sort of becomes the mainstay as far as what defenses are doing in today's NFL, this is the type of player that you can put on, you can put him at
Starting point is 00:07:14 defensive end, you put him outside the shoulder of the tackle or you could put him outside the outside shoulder of a guard. I mean, you could line him up inside. Yeah, let's go. three tech. Let's put him off the nose and say, hey, go, just cause havoc out there. I mean, you're going up against a way shorter armed linemen at that point if you're playing against a center. So go use your length to your advantage. Go bowl this guy over and free up, you know, Zach Allen and JFM on the other side of you. It's going to be fascinating to see how he
Starting point is 00:07:43 gets utilized. But as the NFL trends toward that positionless sort of style of defense, you can't help but wonder the vision for this guy early on has got to be. be especially if he is like you said the player that George Payton and Sean Peyton were saying hey we feel like there's a guy on day two day three who could play right away if this is that guy you've got to think that his versatility is going to come into play it has to be him I mean just based on what George and Sean said and I mean I'm trying to figure out what other guys are because we know this was a very deep defensive line class in this year's NFL draft but you look at obviously his time at LSU really this past season is
Starting point is 00:08:20 when he turned it just flipped on and you know another switch became just a player than what he was in his first other years combined. I mean, 43 pressures on the season this past year, Sarah, for a guy of his size, I think when you look at how the Broncos defense, how it attacks and how it tries to generate pressure, the different stunts that Vance Joseph and Jamar Kane like to run and coordinate there in certain situations, I mean, it kind of seems like a great match here for a guy like Sabion Jones.
Starting point is 00:08:47 And look, I'm excited to see if there's going to be an impact as well. I couldn't find a statistic on maybe like passes batted down to line of scrimmage. But because he's got that six foot five height, I think that's going to play a factor into him getting his hands up at the line of scrimmage. That's going to make it harder for quarterbacks in their passing windows. There's a certain DNA that the Broncos are bringing in on that defensive line with the guys that they have and the guys that we have seen emerge. Savion seems like a seamless fit. And I think that's exactly why. So it's like what, what is our expectation here? I think right now, Sarah, he is going to be that fourth guy right next to Jordan Jackson where they're going to rotate in when when Zach Allen, which I imagine if Denver finds a way to extend him. Part of me is wondering is like, we know how hard you work. We know that you never want to come off the field.
Starting point is 00:09:32 But there's times where you need a break. You need a breather for even just a couple of snaps there. We know we can put a guy like Jordan Jackson, Savion Jones in and know that, hey, you're going to get that same level of effort. That to me, I think, is going to be a selling point here to keep Zach Allen fresh to protect the Broncos investment if they extend him. But then you get these younger guys, some looks as well.
Starting point is 00:09:51 I mean, Sarah, you have to win in today's game. You can't just have your normal 11 guys on defense. It's the guys when you rotate in your different personnel packages. Can you win with those guys as well? We talk so much about the 12th man. Well, ideally, these guys rotating in are really trying to establish that. I think he's in a perfect position to be a 12th man here for the Denver Broncos defense this upcoming season. We'll see, obviously, rookie minicamp coming up this week and get our first glance at the Broncos rookie.
Starting point is 00:10:17 But Broncos country, we're not done yet. We've got a lot to break down on today's episode of the show. One thing we're going to get into are the strong. strengths here of Savian Jones, not to mention the power that he possesses. How can the Broncos use that to their advantage? We'll dive deeper to that. Much more here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Today's episode of Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by Fanduel.
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Starting point is 00:12:07 Cody and I are going to tell you what that means and why that can get him on the field right away for this Denver Broncos stellar defensive line, one of the highest graded position groups on the team, according to Sean Payton and George Payton. But Broncos country, before we get into the positives of this guy's game, what he brings to your Denver Broncos. I want to say thank you to all of you for making us your first listen of the day every single day.
Starting point is 00:12:28 If you haven't already subscribed to Lockdown Broncos, do that right now. Take a couple of seconds wherever you listen to your podcast or on YouTube or both. If you haven't done both already, hit subscribe and make us part of your day because you know your boys got you covered everything that happens with your favorite team. And Cody today, we're nothing has happened. We're just analyzing one of, I think, the most underrated picks of the Denver Broncos, 2025 NFL draft class, Savion Jones. We talked about where he could potentially fit on the depth chart.
Starting point is 00:12:57 You and I both kind of agree right next to Jordan Jackson could probably push for Jordan Jackson's snaps that he had last year, in fact, in my opinion. So I think that what we need to talk about now is like, what are the strengths of his game? What caused the Broncos to trade up for this guy? Because they moved up a considerable amount, I think 10, 11 spots, something like that, to go ahead and get him. And so they felt strongly about him. And he brings a lot to the table.
Starting point is 00:13:22 There's no doubt about that. I mean, we talk about the size that he has. I think that's obviously very impressive. You know, he's not necessarily built like a defensive end that's got some speed rush to him. He's more of a power guy, which I like that. I think the Broncos need a good combination of that because I look at JFM. JFM is dominant in terms of power, but JFM can also move pretty well. Zach Allen, we know is an elusive guy, high motor.
Starting point is 00:13:47 The thing I like about Savion Jones is that he has a very, very, very, similar high motor. I mean, I watched this guy against Alabama. And look, LSU got the brakes beaten off of them by Jalen Milrow in Alabama this past season. But one guy that stood out to me defensively on tape was Savion Jones. He had to figure out how to stop Jalen Milrone, his dual threat, you know, athletic ability. And the one thing I liked is that on the Alabama tape, he showcased, you know, the ability of kind of not playing a spy, but he was eyeing the quarterback, especially when they would run some read option looks like he would squeeze down the end of line of scrimmage. We call it hill line depth where he's just kind of, he's punching with
Starting point is 00:14:26 his outside hand against the tackle, or if there's a downblock, he's squeezing, he's not getting too far up field, but he's squeezing down the line of scrimmage. And that way, if the quarterback hands the ball off, he can squeeze it down and wrap it up, like he's playing the dive. If he hands it off, like if he doesn't hand it off and gets to the outside, he can at least chase at an angle where he knows he's got outside help, right? And if that guy forced him back in, he's going to go right back into him. I'd say he's a smart football player, high football IQ. You can definitely see that on tape.
Starting point is 00:14:56 He makes up for a lot of things that he doesn't have in speed with, I think, strength and power. And I think that's one reason why the Broncos decided to go and get him. They're adding a little bit more power to their defensive line unit. And I agree with you. I think he is one of those guys that could push Jordan Jackson as that first guy rotating in a defensive end. I think that's going to be a competition to watch here during training camp.
Starting point is 00:15:16 Well, we talked about the size in the first segment. obviously six five and change, 280 pounds, 33 and a half inch arms. He scored in the 95th percentile in the 10-yard split. So he's got some explosiveness off his getoff. A 9 foot 11 inch broad jump was in the 80th percentile. So the athletic traits are there a 9.20 on the Rast scale overall, which is really good. It might have been the highest of the draft class, I think, other than Jada Baron potentially. but regardless of his athletic traits, Cody,
Starting point is 00:15:50 what you see or what I see when I turn this guy's game, you know, highlights and tape on and things like that is I describe it as the bat out of hell. What does that mean? Well, there's just kind of a diabolical intent when the ball is snapped. And there's sort of a, you know, a measured form of chaos with his length, his explosiveness, his effort, his tenacity. Like you mentioned, those secondary rush moves.
Starting point is 00:16:14 If he gets caught up in the first, you know, in his first past rush move. He's going to absolutely do whatever it takes. And just it's, it's like this flailing that happens that there's guys that I would, you know, kind of compare it to. I'm not saying he is Chris Jones, but like when you watch Chris Jones play, the guy has such long arms and he's coming against guys who are so much smaller and shorter arm than he is that it almost just looks like a fracas of activity out there. And so that bat out of hell mentality is like, hey, I'm here to cause chaos. If I got to get my hand up in a throwing lane, that's what I'm going to do. If I got to use a secondary rush. That's what I'm going to do. It may not always look the prettiest,
Starting point is 00:16:51 but my effort is going to get me there. And there's a section of our zoo here in Omaha, Cody, where there's just bats that are just sitting out. And I'm not going to lie. I'm terrified of these bats. They're just sitting there. And there's a sign that says, like, hey, just so you know, these bats, they have the freedom to fly around after a certain time every single day. And so you're walking around, you're just kind of waiting for the bats to start flapping their wings. that's kind of what this guy is going to bring to the table, in my opinion. Offensive linemen aren't always going to know how to deal with him because you can't just absorb him and he'll be out of the play.
Starting point is 00:17:24 He's going to find a secondary way and a third way and a fourth way to get to the quarterback. You know, a guy who can impact the A and the B gaps, but also be able to play the outside, you know, C gap or the E alley a little bit. I think that's one thing we always talk about is can you do a little bit of everything? Like I think when you look at this Broncos defense, we talk so much about positional versatility not saying that Savion Jones is going to line up as a zero technique, which is head up on the center or one technique, which is either shoulder of a center.
Starting point is 00:17:52 But I think he can do that. He certainly can, but he can play a three technique where he's on the outside shoulder of an offensive guard. He can play inside shoulder of the offensive tackle, which we call that a four-eye technique, or he can play outside, you know, just to be able to crash in it and just depends on what the Broncos have personnel-wise.
Starting point is 00:18:09 But the thing I like here about Jones as well is, you know, you talk about that motor, but for a guy of his size to be able to play in the trenches the way that he has, here's the stat that stood out here from 2024. And obviously his season at LSU, he finished the season with eight total tackles for a loss behind the line of scrimmage, right? And look, that's an important metric in today's game. I think Malcolm Roach last year when the Broncos signed him in free agency,
Starting point is 00:18:34 had one of the best overall win rates in terms of TFLs before he became a Denver Bronco. And we're like, hey, why are the Broncos going out there and getting this guy? Well, it made a lot of sense then. And obviously you saw it on the tape. Now the Broncos, they really believe in winning at the line of scrimmage, whether that's by a stunt or whether that's by, hey, we want you to draw a double team and we want everybody else to win a one-on-one. That's the identity of this attacking style of defense that Vance Joseph loves to play.
Starting point is 00:19:01 So I like that. And I also found the stat on getting your hands up at the line of scrimmage. Sarah, he had two passes in defense at the line of scrimmage last year. So not the number that was necessarily that stood out here. but he did have two force fumbles on the year, one fumble recovery as well. And he had one game last season to start the year where he had two sacks. That was against USC when LSU lost that game 27 to 20. But man, I think you talk about bright spots.
Starting point is 00:19:27 When you think about LSU, a lot of people are looking at linebacker. They obviously had a very talented linebacker this past year. You look at the secondary because a lot of people say, hey, that's like a DBU place, LSU. I looked at LSU's defense. and I saw, I was like, man, Sabion Jones is a guy who stands out. Now I'm curious to see what number he's going to wear at the NFL level. We'll certainly see that because if I'm not mistaken, I think he wore number 35, which
Starting point is 00:19:51 it's a little weird for a defensive end to be able to wear that. But we'll see what the case is here. We'll see what numbers the Broncos have available here. But Broncos country, we've highlighted some of the strengths here about Jones and his game and what he's going to bring to the table for the Broncos defense. But what are some areas he can improve on the most? We'll tell you why maybe being able to drive his feet a little bit more, might help him in securing some tackles instead of missing some.
Starting point is 00:20:13 We'll dive deeper to that. Much more here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Today's episode of Lockdown Broncos is brought you by friends over there at Skylight Calendar. Say goodbye to sticky notes, scribble plans on the fridge and overlapping calendar invites in your phone. The Skylight Calendar is here to bring clarity to the chaos and help families stay organized without the stress.
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Starting point is 00:21:45 that we're going to use here. I love it. I know you'll love it as well, especially with Mother's Day coming up. Right now, Skylight is offering our listeners $30 off their 15 inch calendars by going to skylight cow.com slash NFL. Go to skylightcall.com slash NFL for $30 off your 15 inch counter. That's S-K-Y-L-G-H-T-C-A-L-T-C-A-L.com slash NFL. Get yours today. The fourth quarter action of today's episode, Lockdown Broncos is here. We're breaking down Sabian Jones and his fit here on the Broncos defense following the 2025 NFL draft. Ricky Minicamp is this week. Broncos, countries will stay tuned. We'll be there covering practice. You'll get recap here. Bonus episodes here, locked on Broncos throughout the weekend when that event takes place.
Starting point is 00:22:32 at Broncos Park powered by common spirit. But Sarah, let's go through some of the perceived weaknesses here of Sabian Jones. Now, obviously, there is no perfect candidate. There's no perfect prospect out there. There might be one or two that maybe we have seen over time. I'd be very curious to see who people think in the comments who was a perfect draft prospect from top to bottom in the scouting process. Not in this year's draft, but maybe in any NFL draft that has led to player's success.
Starting point is 00:22:57 But Savian Jones, we highlighted the strengths like his power, his size, his high motor, his football IQ. But there are some things, I think, when you look at the tape here of Sabion Jones that certainly stand out as areas that he can improve and get better on. I'll say the first thing, the one thing I noticed in that Alabama game specifically, he's doing a great job squeezing it down the line of scrimmage. But there's times where he'll go to make a tackle on a guy in the A gap or the B gap. Sometimes he shoots his upper body.
Starting point is 00:23:25 And so he leaves his feet a little bit, which means that he may not have all the momentum because, hey, he's a big guy. He's going to land hard. sometimes guys run through some of his tackles if he leaves his feet. So I would say he can work on squeeze, get down tighter, wrapping up and securing and then driving his feet a little bit more. This is just my critique from what I've seen. But what are some of the other weaknesses that maybe have been notable here about Jones
Starting point is 00:23:47 that he can improve on at the NFL level? Well, I think anytime you're dealing with a guy whose biggest strength is his aggressiveness and tenacity and hustle and, you know, being a tryhard out there, that can also be your own worst enemy at times, right? when your aggressiveness works against you. And then, you know, teams and quarterbacks start realizing like, hey, if I just wait for this guy to get in my periphery, all I got to do is step up because he's going to over pursue every single time or all I got to do is stop on a dime here and cut the other
Starting point is 00:24:17 way. And this guy's going to over pursue. That's where I think you got to start working smarter, not harder, right? I mean, there's a, there's a time and a place to be the try hard. But there's also a time in a place where you've got to be that one who, hey, I'm going to be the best, I think Jonathan Cooper figured this out, Cody, because early on in his NFL career, that was what kind of defined him as, man, this guy has got some serious effort and hustle to him, but he couldn't stay on the field consistently because there was a little too much of the overpursuit,
Starting point is 00:24:46 a little too much trying hard. I think that's where Savion Jones can get himself into trouble there too, is just being a little overaggressive at times, overrunning plays, getting too deep of an arc, you know, on the, on his pass rush, things like that. And so it's one of those types of things where you're like, yeah, my weaknesses, I, I, I care too much. You know, that's what it kind of sounds like, right? But I think that it really is the top area of his game that he can clean up is like, don't always work harder, work a little smarter at times. One, I think maybe, and this is, I don't feel like a great weakness for some of the pinpoint,
Starting point is 00:25:23 but somebody, you know, mentioned he's not a speed rusher. I don't think that's his game is to be a speed rusher. I think he's got a great, I think he's got a fast first step and a high motor. really that's all you need. But for him to be a speed rusher, I mean, if we're talking about that, then ideally we'd be thinking about edge rusher, outside linebacker.
Starting point is 00:25:38 He's a defensive end. He's going to play inside. He doesn't need to be a speed rusher. So I think some of the critiques of that, I think, are a little unfounded because that's not the role or the vision. I think that the team certainly has for him. I mean, but you know, you nailed it there. Like we talk about controlled chaos, right?
Starting point is 00:25:54 Or contained chaos. Within your role, you don't want to overpursue to a point where maybe you cut in front of somebody else and you do like trying to do their job. We always did that. And when I was coaching one thing, we always touched on with our defensive ends is you have a certain job, right? If you are keeping contained, you cannot let anybody get outside of you. If you're going to rush inside, then you have to stay on your pass rush trajectory and you
Starting point is 00:26:19 can't pivot it because then you might get in front of another rusher. Then it creates an opening for a back or a quarterback to keep it and go. I don't see really these being an issue with Savion Jones. He doesn't have that on his tape. But I think the ideal thing is for him to get experience here, special teams-wise. Is that going to be an area where he's going to play here early on? I don't think it'll be on punt return. I don't think it'll be on punt.
Starting point is 00:26:42 But, you know, PAT, like point after try on the offensive side, maybe you bring in a guy like that. I mean, block, PAT block. Certainly that's going to be an area here. Because who carved out a little bit of a name for himself in the NFL, who was on the Denver Broncos, before he became a starter, a defensive end for Denver. Trivia question here, Sarah. And when we see a Broncos country picks it up before we give the answer away, had a special team's impact before he became a defensive end starter,
Starting point is 00:27:09 got his hand up at the line of scrimmage, and ended up blocking a kick. This is in recent memory in the last six to seven years. Do you know who that player is off the top of your head? I'm trying to think of guys who blocked a lot of kicks. I think of Shelby Harris immediately. Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, there you go. Nailed it.
Starting point is 00:27:25 I love it. I'm with it. for it. If this guy becomes that type of impact player, that's exactly, that's kind of almost exactly the archetype that you're trying to teach these guys to be nowadays is like, do everything that you can with the snaps that you're being given, whether it's on, you know, field goal block or whether it's, hey, if you get out there for kickoff coverage, because you're going to need bigger athletic guys out there now to make tackles, to make plays. That's what you got to do. You got to maximize every single opportunity. Shelby Harris kind of defined that, whether it was getting his hand. up in front of a field goal or whether it was getting his hand up in the throwing lane and then eventually, you know, really refining his craft as a pass rusher, stopping the run. That's one thing that Savian Jones did really well last year at LSU. I think he was ninth best in the country in terms of run stuff according to PFF. So really, really good stuff from him. It's just going to be about maximizing now those snaps because you're not going to be playing 700 plus this coming season.
Starting point is 00:28:23 Yeah, and that'll be nice. I think that'll benefit him. You're like, you don't want to have to play that many snaps. I mean, I'll see the college game. There are a lot of teams that run no huddle. So there's going to be times where you're going to be planting, you know, making a tackle and getting up and going. That's that wears on you if you're a big guy, you know. But I wanted to ask you this as well.
Starting point is 00:28:40 We have seen this. And I think with the Broncos specifically, like when they had really good teams with Peyton Manning and they had solidified starters on the defensive line over time, who have we seen emerge at various positions defensively? We, you know, we just mentioned Shelby Harris, but guys who were special teams players first before they became starters and impact players. Wesley Woodyard is another name that comes to mind here. David Bruton,
Starting point is 00:29:04 Kvon Webster, though I wouldn't say he necessarily was a key. He wasn't a starter. He had to start a few games due to injury, but man, he was such a pivotal role player who really carved out his niche there on special teams. Justin Simmons played special teams a little bit before he became the safety of the Broncos that we all know and love,
Starting point is 00:29:22 obviously to this day. So I think for these guys in this year's NFL draft especially the guy we're going to be talking about on tomorrow's episode of the show. I think it's important that you get out and you carve a role for yourself, whether it be a rotation or roll defensively right away, but special teams has to be a factor when you're talking about a 53-man roster and you're really trying to make the best decision from a roster construction point. If you're George Peyton, Sean Payton is,
Starting point is 00:29:46 what do we need to assemble a team that's going to be not only competitive, offensively, defensively, but also on special teams? How can they make a unit that was good even better? They had some holes and some things they actually had to put some blemish on there a little bit. But Darren Rizz is going to come in and he's going to transform the special team side. And I'm very excited to see how it's all going to play out here. But Broncos Country, that I'll wrap up today's profile series review here on Savion Jones defensive end out of LSU. He was going to play D& here for the Broncos.
Starting point is 00:30:14 Let's know your thoughts on him, your perceived strengths and weaknesses from things that you've seen of him, what you would like to see from him going into training camp. And on top of that tomorrow's episode for all you every dayers out there, I want to take a look next to Q. While the pass rush department might look a little steep for him in terms of getting on the field for defensive playing time, special teams might be the way that he gets on the field and has an impact for this Broncos team in 2025. We'll break him down and much more on tomorrow's episode of the show.

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