Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - SOON: Denver Broncos QB Bo Nix RETURN Looming Toward Minicamp

Starting point is 00:00:00 As the Denver Broncos wrap up week one of OTAs, quarterback Bow Nix is inching closer towards a return. You are locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. What's happened in Broncos country? Cody Rourke, Sarah Bedinger here as we break down. Broncos OTAs here from Thursday. I was at practice. We'll go through and talk about Sam Ellinger, having a sharp day from the quarterback position during OTAs. he connected with and how the offense was rolling. But more importantly, we're going to kick things off by giving you the avid listeners in

Starting point is 00:00:41 Broncos country on updates surrounding Bo Nix. His return is inching closer and closer. And that is something that Sean Peyton revealed to us here after Thursday's practice here. Sarah, man, I tell you, well, there's nothing like getting back on the football field. Just being there, the grass was cut. The sun was out. You could smell the freshly cut grass. And you can hear the pads, the whistles.

Starting point is 00:01:02 Football's back, my friend. We got a little bit of a taste of it on Thursday. I'm excited. And I'm excited to hear about what your thoughts were about the new facility, because I believe this was the debut, Cody, right, of the new facility for the Broncos out there and kind of just like getting to see that in person and it's the finished product, right? So obviously we want to talk about Nix, who we know wasn't practicing, but Sean Payton delivered a positive update after practice to everybody who was able to listen. And, you know, really stating that sounds like he's going to be back for mandatory minicamp from the timeline

Starting point is 00:01:34 that he kind of gave as far as, you know, when you guys get to be out there for all three days. That was when he said you can expect to see Bo Nix. So, yeah, I know you can't wait for that. But yeah, let us know what it was like out there. Obviously, the vibes of practice, even without Bo Nix under center. Yeah. And tomorrow's episode, folks, we're going to have a larger deep dive into Thursday's OTA practice, key standouts and more just kind of going through the basic like updates here.

Starting point is 00:02:00 This was a big one here. Obviously, to get this news on Bo Nix from Sean, post-practice. practice about the fact that mandatory minicamp, those three days, June 16th, 17th, 18th, but we'll be there. We'll see him throwing during that time. But I think the promising update, too, with that, Sarah, was that he did say Bo has been throwing. Now, from what I know, Bo has been working in the mornings going through his rehab program with Bo Lowry doing some on-field stuff, and then he goes and gets treatment.

Starting point is 00:02:24 But he is inside the meeting room when they're going through team meetings and also individual meetings with the quarterbacks as well. So that's obviously a promising update there. So it's not like Bo is just like the hidden guy off. to the side somewhere, though at practice, I will say that he was not actively participating at practice, but he was hiding at practice. He had a hoodie on. He was talking to coaches watching a couple of plays before he ended up going back inside. So he was spotted briefly for an appearance, but was not actually on the field doing anything for those out there in Broncos country that may

Starting point is 00:02:55 have been wondering. But the vibe there was good. I mean, in terms of just guys, it seems like, you know, first couple of days of OTAs, I imagine, they, I mean, they don't have to open it up to us, but you saw the rookies acclimating with the veterans in the stretch lines, getting used to the new stretch routine that they have. The veterans know this, right? But a lot of these new guys coming in, they have to learn some of the stretches. They got a little bit of work on that in rookie minicamp. But everybody together, you see these guys interacting the vets with the young guys.

Starting point is 00:03:22 It's something I really like to see. And we even saw that with the running back room as well. And I came away just very impressed with the overall vibe from the practice field there with the players. And look, the running backs, they got some. individual work done in front of us, but the energy there, like J.K. Dobbins leading the way there, R.J. Harvey, Jullel McLaughlin, always being the first guy doing things. Man, I'll tell you this, and we'll dive deeper in this tomorrow, but Jalil's looking a little bit

Starting point is 00:03:47 jacked. He put on some muscle noticeably bigger than what we saw from last year, which is, I think, a sign where he's trying to evolve his game. But, man, just the best updates you could probably account for going into OTAs. Denver made it through three days without any significant injury, which is good because you look at other teams around the NFL right now. some injuries that are piling up. Some guys losing players for the year with already season ending injuries in OTAs. Denver came out of it pretty healthy for the most part. Which is the number one goal.

Starting point is 00:04:14 Obviously, you want to be tight out there on the field. You want things to be looking good in terms of the operation. But ultimately, we know and we saw last season how much it matters to stay healthy and to have your best players healthy throughout the course of the entire season. I know that, I mean, in terms of guys who finished last season on injured reserve, It sounds like a lot of them were back out there, right? Brandon Jones. I believe I heard Drew Sanders is practicing.

Starting point is 00:04:39 You mentioned J.K. Dobbins. So a lot of guys who were out at the end of last season were back on the field. And it's always great to see those familiar faces as well. Yeah, it is. And look, you know, Drew Sanders getting an opportunity. Once again, seeing him on the field doing stuff, that's always a great sign. I know he's got a lot riding on this summer for him in terms of his roster status and maybe even a future going forward. here with the team. It's going to ride on how he does this summer.

Starting point is 00:05:06 Staying healthy is a big part of it. But it was nice to see Brandon Jones back from the pectoral injury that he suffered down the stretch last season. Talenoa, Hufanga met with the media and talked to us after practice and was excited to have him back. And in between when the Broncos are going through their special teams period, he and Hufanga, they're conditioning. They're sprinting in between periods. They're just getting that extra working. But you can tell that they're comfortable playing alongside one another. And that's going to be a strength of them this season, I'd say defensively. Some players, though, too, mentioned that we did not see at practice there.

Starting point is 00:05:37 Obviously, we did not see Center Alex Forsyte, not sure where he was at, and not sure if he was there day one or day two prior. And then tied in Caleb Loner, we did not see him at practice as well. And obviously, right now we're never going to get an update on that because this portion of the offseason program is voluntary. Where we may find out is when mandatory minicamp rolls around who's there, who's not there, and just hoping everything's all good with. that. But you know, you think the guys that have stake, you know, to make the roster would be there. So obviously,

Starting point is 00:06:08 you know, if he missed, it was for a good reason. We'll find out what it is here maybe in the next couple of weeks. But good to see those guys back. Luke Wattenberg back out there. Ben Powers back out there, though they did not participate in any team specific drills. I know tomorrow's episode will dive a lot deeper into that. I mean, there's so much when you have a 90-man roster to try to go through. But overall, you saw a lot of good work from the Broncos here during Thursday's OTA practice. And I know we're going to dive deeper into it, but first impressions of Jalen Waddle, obviously. I know this is everybody was waiting for the official Broncos account to finally drop something. Like, give us some content of Jalen Waddle in a Broncos uniform.

Starting point is 00:06:47 Well, I know you were out there capturing some of your own. What popped out the most to you about him? I know we'll talk, you know, deeper about that practice in general. But, you know, let's hear about Jalen Waddle. I think that's one of those things, too, one of those updates that everybody's like, hey, how did he look in his first practice in orange and blue that the media was able to see? Yeah, I mean, the thing about him that stands out, this dude is fast. I mean, attacking up the field vertically fast, his ability to cut left, right, break.

Starting point is 00:07:14 He stops on a dime very quickly. His ability to just climb as if he's running deep and then just all of a sudden just we almost kind of kind of like pound of the drum, just to pound the drum and sit as quick as he can. The quick twitch on J.L. It is evident. I mean, I'm so excited to see what this is going to. They do in Cortland Sutton, obviously, had high praise when we talked to him after practice about this. But Jalen, he looks the part, sir.

Starting point is 00:07:37 He looks the part. Now, he's got a new look. He cut his hair. So a brand new look here for Jaylon Wattle is I'm sure fans got to catch the press conference there of him. They don't see, you know, he's got a shorter haircut now. But for him, man, he attacks every level of the field. He's going to be a real legitimate problem for, I think, opposing defenses, depending on how they want to cover both he and Cortland this season.

Starting point is 00:07:58 It was exciting to see him. He was working against Riley Mossa. lot. And I'll tell you this. I can go dive deeper to listen to Marshall. Riley had a nice play. And obviously, there's going to be some competition at cornerback. Sean Payton confirmed. Obviously, in his press conference, but a lot of good news. And no, it's coming out of day three of OTAs. There's going to be, obviously, week two next week. We'll get access to Thursday's practice again next week as well. So I'm very curious to see what guys can build off of from then going into that now. But Bracko's country coming up next. One guy who stood out in a big time way, no Bo Nicks on the field. But Sam Ellinger, he was

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Starting point is 00:10:34 Well, if you're wondering about a surprise player who stood out at the first open available media session at Broncos OTAs, we got it for you. Sam Ellinger, I don't think was on anybody's bingo card when it comes to, hey, what underrated players could stand out at Broncos OTAs or in the offseason program in general? I mean, Cody, it might bring up some interesting questions here coming up as we talk about this backup quarterback situation. but it is just one practice.

Starting point is 00:11:01 However, if you read the tea leaves over the course of the offseason, you might be on to something here in terms of what Sam Ellinger can do in this competition for QB2 in Denver. We're going to talk about that on today's episode of the show. Broncos Country, we appreciate you so much for rocking with us every single day. And you know what? You can get your locked on Broncos fix every single day,

Starting point is 00:11:22 completely ad free by joining the Every Day or Club today. Start your seven-day free trial right now and get closer to your favorite team. the Denver Broncos without the interruptions, click the link in the show notes or go to lockdownbroncos.supercast.com. Cody, tell us about Sam Ellinger out there because there's very few questions that Sean Payton gets asked. There's a couple of responses that he has that when I hear him respond in a

Starting point is 00:11:48 certain way, I know that he really likes the question that was asked. One is when he just literally says, good question. And the other one is when he is like, oh, yeah, you saw that basically. Like, you know, he's like, oh, yeah, I'm glad you asked essentially because somebody pointed out, hey, Sam Ellinger looked like he was running the offense pretty sharp out there at practice. And Sean was very excited to wax poetic a little bit about how he looked. Tell us what you saw and what conclusions, if any, are you drawing from his great practice today?

Starting point is 00:12:21 Yeah, I just thought he was sharp. I mean, it started from the moment the Broncos got into seven on seven. They did that first. Obviously, there's a rotation with the quarterbacks. If ball was there, it probably would have been 4-4-4 in terms of the quarterbacks getting reps. But in this situation, it was four reps for Stidum. It was four reps for Ellinger. And then they did kind of two on, two off between the two of them.

Starting point is 00:12:40 But Ellinger was sharp, decisive, getting the ball of his hands quickly. I'd say even knowing where to go, right, from the time he's snapping the ball, whether he's under center, whether he's in shotgun on his dropback. There's no hesitation. He's getting the ball out. And he's knowing exactly where to attack. And he did a really good job a couple of times attacking the soft spot of the Broncos. zone defense finding Troy Franklin on one play for about 14, 15 yards where Troy just found the

Starting point is 00:13:04 soft spot of zone sat there. Ellinger got the ball to him quick. And then you got yards after the catch. He also connected with little Jordan Humphrey, Marvin Mims, Jonah Coleman, even Evan Ingram was one of his favorite targets in this practice here today where Evan caught a couple of passes from him. Just I would say the decision making, you can almost tell too. He just looks a little bit more comfortable than he did last year at this juncture. And I mean, to the point of what Sean Payton said earlier, He said quietly last year we had competition for that QB2 spot. Now I really do wonder if Denver is going to amplify a backup quarterback competition here between Sam Ellinger and Jared Stidham.

Starting point is 00:13:39 Stidham was fine, but he had a couple of passes where he was off, you know, through one pass to Tyler Badey. There was a little too far inside. He had to body adjust and catch it. But aside from that, I would say Ellinger just, he looked in command of the offense. He looked very comfortable. And at least in the practice that we got to see here on Thursday, That was the defining standout performance that we saw from any of the QBs.

Starting point is 00:14:02 And it came from Sammy. Wouldn't it be something if the opportunity that Jarrett Stidham got to start in the AFC championship game ultimately ended with him being replaced as the quarterback too in Denver? I mean, certainly it's not the ideal outcome for anybody. The Broncos gave him a two-year contract, believing that he is not just one of the better backups in the league. But I know they've talked about him as they feel like he's one of the first. of the 32 best quarterbacks in the NFL.

Starting point is 00:14:30 Like that's how highly the Broncos think of him. But, and I know there was the circumstances in the second half of that game where the weather was a factor and all those sorts of things. But it would be really interesting to me if that game was sort of the beginning of the end for him in Denver. And Sam Ellinger was able to take his job. And I don't think it's impossible. I mean, the financial aspect of it is a factor in the decision making there,

Starting point is 00:14:55 whether or not somebody wants to trade for Stifold. them and the Broncos could even get a little something back in return would be a factor there, how likely it is that Sam Ellinger wants to spend all year shuffling up and down off the practice squad again is a factor here. So there's so many different areas that you can look at and say, hey, I can make this make sense why this guy will be quarterback two in 26. And this isn't the first time we've talked about that. Like you said, Sean said even earlier this offseason that there would be competition for

Starting point is 00:15:27 quarterback too. It's a storyline that's flown way under the radar because there's a million other things to talk about, even without the Broncos adding a bunch of players, right? But it is one of those situations. I think as the offseason program progresses, especially because he's getting a little hype here at OTAs, maybe pay attention to Sam Ellinger Jarrott Stidham's job as QB2 behind Boe Nix. And part of me is wondering, too, would Sam get these adequate opportunities if Boe was healthy here in OTAs, right? At the start, of it. Would he be getting the same amount of reps? The one thing I do like that Sean does, and certainly this has been on display since Sean has come aboard, we even see this in training

Starting point is 00:16:05 camp, all these quarterbacks, even the second and third team offensive line guys that are rotating in, you've got Pat Bryant, Cortland Sutton, Jalen Waddle, Marvin Mims. You've got all these guys that play with the ones that are getting reps with the twos and the threes, just so you can give those QBs some valid looks. And it gives the coaching staff, the adequate on-field reps saying, okay, how does this guy do when he's throwing to this guy versus throwing to this practice squad guy? I mean, you want to see what you can do here. And so I thought Sam did a really great job of taking advantage of that opportunity. Sean had a lot of high praise for him. So I think naturally going into week two of OTAs next week, can he continue that? And look, here's the thing too.

Starting point is 00:16:44 Like, it wasn't the sharpest day necessarily from Stidham. Stidham didn't have any necessarily bad or, you know, bad plays or mistakes that were quantifiable that you can look at and say, job, you know, that would have been painful if he had to play in a regular season game. I'm just saying, you know, when we only get access to one day, we don't know what day two. We don't know what day one looked like between the QBs, right? Jared could have been super sharp day one, day two, and maybe this was Sam's day and Jared just had an off day. We don't know that. So with that context, there's so many more snaps to be had with these QBs.

Starting point is 00:17:15 But for Ellinger, to the point of what Sean Payton said about competition. And he said this not only just for QB or quarterback, which we'll talk about tomorrow, was Jaday Barron and Riley Moss and guys on the outside there. But the opportunity, I think, across the board on this roster to elevate and for the team to go through and say, if we feel like this guy's in a good spot, it may allow us to make this change and bring this guy along and bring your other younger guys on the back end up. I mean, there's always opportunities for the roster to grow in that way. So that was my main takeaway. And Sarah, I'm so excited because tomorrow's episode, we're going to be talking about Chris Abrams drain, getting some reps opposite of Riley

Starting point is 00:17:49 Moss while Jaday, Baron, Patrick Sertan. They, only participated in individual drills, no team-specific drills for them in that one, plus so much across the board, including Talanoa, who Fonga reflecting on what he believes the defense needs to do better, what he as a leader needs to do better, so much more and key standouts from OTAs.

Starting point is 00:18:07 You're going to get that on tomorrow's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Broncos country, make sure you stay dialed in. We got you cover every single day.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - SOON: Denver Broncos QB Bo Nix RETURN Looming Toward Minicamp

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