Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - STOCK UP: Denver Broncos WRs Troy Franklin, Pat Bryant Stock SOARS After Minicamp

Episode Date: June 13, 2025

The Denver Broncos stock is rising with young wide receivers Troy Franklin and Pat Bryant, who had impressive showings during Broncos minicamp. Audric Estime and Blake Watson's stock fell during minicamp and they'll have an uphill battle once training camp starts, while we look forward to seeing more of P.J. Locke and JL Skinner once Broncos training camp rolls around. Cody Roark is a credentialed beat reporter for Mile High Sports and covers the Broncos daily in person. Sayre Bedinger is the site expert for Predominantly Orange. Both bring Broncos Country the most in-depth and objective coverage of the Denver Broncos. WANT MORE DAILY DENVER BRONCOS CONTENT?For all of the latest Denver Broncos news today -- Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOBroncos?sid=YouTube Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL Follow on Twitter: @CodyRoarkNFL and @SayreBedingerFollow the show on Twitter: @LockedOnBroncos Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. Skylight CalendarRight now, Skylight is offering our listeners $30 off their 15 inch Calendars by going to Skylightcal.com/NFL. FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Following the Denver Broncos offseason program, we'll tell you why Troy Franklin and Pat Bryant, their stock is rising here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, Broncos country.

Welcome into another episode. Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, where you notice your team every day for all your Broncos news. content coverage analysis more. This is the place to be every single day all year long. A special shout out to all the everydayers out there in Broncos country. Thank you so much for tuning in, making us your first listen of the day, however you choose to do so.

And if you're not yet and every day, become one. Hit their subscribe with that follow button so you never miss out on what's going on with the Denver Broncos. I'm Cody Roark, Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports, where you can check out my written coverage of the team, boots on the ground in Dove Valley every single day over there at Milehyports. dot com. And I'm Sarah Bedinger's site expert at predominantly orange.com where you can find my writing work every single day as well. You know him, you love him. He's got an immense of hat collection as well. We see you, hear you loud and clear Broncos country. But here's what you're going

to get on today's episode of the show as we go through our stock report following mandatory minicamp in the offseason program. We'll take a look at stock up and why some of the Broncos young wide receivers like Troy Franklin and Pat Bryant, they're taking a step forward as the 2025 season comes up. And they'll be under the micro. scope a little bit as training camp comes forth. And on top of that, we'll also take a look at the stock down and looking at players at running back like Audrick Estimate and Blake Watson with the addition to J.K. Dobbins, their stock has fallen.

Can they find a way to make some plays to impress to rise up during training camp in the preseason? We'll look at that. And then we're going to take a look at some players. We'd like to see a little bit more of during training camp, including PJ Locke, who dealt with an injury. And it was obviously in recovery mode during the offseason program. And on top of that, how the defensive line is progressing with some of the guys. there in the linebacker battle. You get all that and more here on today's episode of the show.

Sarah, I love doing our stock reports here as we take a look at maybe who stock is rising. You know, first and foremost, I think we're going to highlight. We'll talk about Bonnicks here in a little bit. He's obviously a guy who stock is up. But I feel like we should definitely talk about some of the younger guys that we've certainly coming into the office season, wanted to see a little bit more of and wanted to see maybe some defined roles happen from a second year player, Troy Franklin being one of them, from a rookie, Pat Bryant being one of them. And I'll tell you, we saw a lot during the offseason program. I think that gives us some comfort in what they were able to accomplish here.

They are on the stock rising. Let's talk about Troy Franklin first. Yeah, for the time being Cody, I think Sean Peyton effectively called his shot, right? The interview that he did with Kay Adams way earlier in the off season where he's like, I don't know if the wide receiver position is as much of a need as some people are saying. Now we're getting to find out a little bit why. And Troy Franklin is front and center of that. the second year player out of Oregon, size, speed, teammate of Bo Nix is at the college level.

Everything seemed to be adding up for him to be this awesome, you know, superstar rookie alongside Bo Nix. If certainly felt like if Bo was going to have success that Troy was going to be part of it, it was a really disappointing rookie year for him. A lot of drops, bad timing with he and Bo Nix. Certainly other issues were there. But man, in year two, he seems more confident. It sounds like he's practicing well.

Sean Payton even referenced that at the practices, the media is not even at. He's making a lot more explosive plays that you're all not seeing. And so Sean Payton is talking him up. He's saying that he's more confident out there rocking his New Jersey number 11. So, Cody, I'm excited for Troy Franklin. The second year breakout hype seems to be very real here throughout the entire offseason program. Yeah, and it's evident too.

And one thing that Sean mentions is that he's five pounds heavier. He's bulked up a little bit. added some muscle to his body, but he's still just as fast. But here's where I think that the stock for Troy has risen, right? The Bronco is all last season as a rookie. They were really trying to find a role for him. And that was hard because you had guys like Devon Vele, who was a little bit more ahead of schedule, Cortland Sutton, Marvin Mims,

even though early on the season, Marvin's utilization wasn't anywhere close to what we saw down the stretch there. We saw a little more great Dulcich in the beginning part of the season, little Jordan Humphrey had an extensive role. So really for Troy, the first few weeks of the regular season, he was inactive. Then Josh Reynolds has that injury. So for us, we saw Troy kind of thrust in. And the one thing they wanted to do was, okay, hey, can we get them on a scissors route or a post wheel where we can get him behind the defense if the corner goes with the post and doesn't, you know, roll out to, you know, obviously the wheel where Troy was at as the number two receiver.

But everything that we saw primarily for Troy was, hey, let's just throw the ball down field of this guy. He had the drop against the Raiders. there was that. That would have been a touchdown. I would have made that a final score against the Raiders and that first matchup in week five a little more appealing on paper. And obviously, you know, maybe it would have been Bow Nix's 30th touchdown of the year.

And maybe the miss by boat of Franklin against the Baltimore Ravens would have been 31, which would have tied him, I think, for Justin Herbert all time by a rookie quarterback. But, you know, you're going to get what you can as it comes. And I think the development of Troy has been monumental. I think we've seen him utilized on some of the routes and some of the passing concepts that you and I for, I think, as long as he's been on the field, even his rookie season, we were saying, why don't we see Troy doing more of this?

Like, why aren't the Broncos coaches putting him in this situation? It very much seems like they are understanding how to use Troy a little bit more. They want to go back to what worked well at the University of Oregon with he and Bo Nix. We are seeing that. That has me excited. But I'll tell you this, I think Broncos country should absolutely get excited about the rookie wide receiver, Pat Bryant, number 13. And Sarah, look, this was arguably when the draft pick happened,

Broncos country was like, who is this guy? Why did we get him? This guy was available. There was a lot of skepticism, 4.640-yard dash. Well, Pat Bryant has, I think, turned in a tremendous off-season program, dating back to rookie minicamp where you watch him move, Sarah. And people have seen me on my video reports. If you haven't, I've posted clips of what Pat Bryant does.

This guy moves well. I'm sticking firm on my stance. I think he's going to be the best route running wide receiver the Broncos have. Four six speed, that doesn't matter. This is a guy who's been creating separation. He makes tough contested catches in traffic. That is a dynamic to this Broncos offense really outside of Cortland Sutton hasn't had. I think Pat Bryan is the type of guy that takes it as a personal mission like,

hey, I'm going to go get the football. Plus, I think he knows how to track the football at different trajectories, whether it be over the shoulder, over the top, outstretched. this is a guy that I think Broncos country is going to see at training camp or even in the preseason and they're going to be like, I can't wait to see number 13 in the preseason and the regular season here. He's got such innate ability at the catch point, doesn't he? I think that's what comes across really when you look at what he did at Illinois and what he did consistently over the last three years plus, right? Which is why I think Sean referenced the fact that, hey, we leaned heavily on Jim Leonard in that evaluation process there.

you're drafting people as much as you are drafting players. And Pat Bryant proves that the Broncos have a certain type of person that they want in their locker room, a certain way that guys go about their work habits. And Pat Bryant does those sorts of things. I think he could be one of the biggest steals of the draft. We caught win from an article that the Jaguars were trying to get him. And obviously, everybody was trying to slow play that one. It's like when you're in a fantasy draft, right?

And, you know, there's a Broncos player out there that you really want. want so bad and everybody else in your league. They're not Broncos fans. So they're not going to take the guy, but you take, you're going to take R.J. Harvey or you're going to take whoever it ends up being way higher than everybody else because you love him and you believe so much that he can be awesome for your team. That's kind of what the Broncos did with Pat Bryant, right? Because they were not originally at the 74th overall selection.

They were deeper down the line. So they effectively moved up to get him in the whole wheeling and dealing that they did on day two of the drafts. And yeah, he has explosiveness. He's got after the catchability. He's got great hands, hand-eye coordination, body control. He's got a big frame. He's physical.

He's one of those types of guys, Cody, that, man, how many names do we have to throw out there that ran a 4-5-9 or a 4-6 or a 4-6-1 or whatever? Cooper Cup, Puka Nukuah, obviously Amman Rae St. Brown. Those guys didn't run great 40-yard dash times. Pat Bryant, he can still find a way to carve out a very successful career for himself. somebody had told me i was talking to someone in the you know the bronco's building and the one thing that they told me was we think pat bryant can be what we wanted jerry judy to be so that might be an exciting development to watch unfold i i'm not always a fan of saying hey let's go out there and let's say hey we want you to be what jerry judy should have been for this team i think that's

unrealistic early on but if they think that's the potential and where he can get all right let's maybe see but i'm not going to place that tag that pressure on him as a rookie. That would be absolutely laughful. He's going to continue to grow and get reps. Bo Nix, obviously a guy whose stock is up from training, minicamp here going into training camp, leaner in terms of a muscle sense,

but also bulkier and adding muscle mass. Just looks like he's got a lot of confidence to him as well. He's had a great off-season program. I think the pass rushers in which we've highlighted as well, Dondre Tillman, Q Robinson, Zach Allen. I mean, that defensive line group has been great. And I know we're going to focus on maybe that defensive line, the progression of some of these guys a little bit later on the show, but I definitely feel

like stock up. There's a lot to invest in with that pass rush group at outside linebacker, including Cooper and Benito. But Broncos Country, we're not done yet. We're going to go through and talk about our stock down from Broncos mini camp. And we'll tell you why Audra Kestime and Blake Watson, they have a little bit of a mountain to climb in order to raise their stock in training camp. We'll highlight that and much more here on today's episode, Lockdown, Broncos.

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We gave you the good news before the bad news, Broncos Country, but you know what? Training Camp is now on the horizon and everybody's going to have a chance to maybe wipe the slate a little bit more clean here. Adrick Estime, Blake Watson, their stock, we got to consider it down right now after the addition of J.K. Dobbins and R.J. Harvey in the draft. And R.J. Cody sounds like had a really good minicamp for the Broncos, as did Jaliel McLaughlin. So guys that didn't perform as well or didn't stand out as much, maybe their stock could be perceived as down. There's others that you could maybe say. But ultimately, without too much contact out there at mini camp, it's tough to really.

say. I think you kind of got to look at the offseason program as a whole. Maybe guys who got hurt. Let's start with the running backs, though, obviously for all the listeners out there today and talk about why the stock is down. It should be obvious, but I think there's maybe more than meets the eye that, you know, oh, they signed J.K. Dobbins. So obviously, Audrick Estimate stock is down. What did you see from Audreyk out there that might have lead you or might lead you to believe that his stock is kind of down right now? Well, look, without going into too much detail, because there's certain things I'm not allowed to report on as it pertains to like which guys were practicing with which units. I would say we saw more Tyler Badegh, R.J. Harvey, J.L. McLaughlin with Boe Nix and Jared

did him more so than we saw Audrake Estimate. You know, it seemed like those guys got more first looks in comparison to estimate. There were times where obviously Estimate will get reps with Bo Nix, but it seemed like he was kind of down on the totem pole a little bit. And look, even for a guy like all this to be considered. Blake Watson injured. We didn't see him during mandatory minicamp. He was on the team's side field. Expect him to be ready for training camp,

but missed time on the field, missed time on task. And now they go in, they add J.K. Dobbins. It's all right, it's tough. And when Jalbbins sign, like everybody's talking about, oh, Jalilil McLaughlin, he's gone.

No, that's, I would say it's the far opposite of that. One thing I asked Sean Payton following the final day of minicamp practice, I asked him, you know, hey, like the evaluation process is, so important when it comes to pads. How do you and your coaches evaluate these guys without pads? And Sean Payton said alignment, assignment, execution. He said the three things that you really need to make a roster, are you doing what your coach to do?

And what is it looking like? Are you like there's all these factors that go into it. I don't know if this is us just looking at, but if you ask me, if you ask any other reporter that has been there at practice, they will tell you, it seems like Audrick Estimate has a uphill battle to climb here. And look, I think some people are perceiving as like us dogging on Audric. No, absolutely not. Like, Sarah, how many times have, you know, I come on the show or you come on the show and

we said, hey, we want to see more Adric Estimate. Adric's got this power running style that we saw effective at Notre Dame. We've seen flashes of him as a rookie. We want to see that come to fruition. And then he's enacted for the playoff game, which there were some context of that being related to a loyalty to Javante Williams, but other guys were getting looks and there might be something on behind the scenes and this is just speculation but it's weird to me that audrick isn't getting these first looks in comparison to other guys like tyler bidet jel

mclaughlin r j harvey he's very much not a priority in that rotation but he is getting reps and sean does say he is getting touches but sean also told us as well he says i know you guys are counting don't count you're going to be wrong so coach speaks smokes smokes screen but it's hard to ignore that the signs right now scream stocked down for Audrake Estime, Blake Watson, that these guys, they're going to have a long hill to climb here, I think, to turn heads, and they're going to have to have a very important training camp performance, I think, in order to maybe change that narrative. Yeah, you've got to go out there at training camp when the pads come on, especially if you're

Audraeusimé, and you've got to start showing some stuff in the preseason as well, when you're in game situations, you just have to take advantage of every opportunity you get, can't be putting the ball on the ground, have to be. cracking some face masks and pass protection, all those sorts of things. You've got to prove your reliability now, especially with J.K. Dobbins coming in, Cody. And by the way, what an impressive dude. I watched the interview that he did with the Denver media out there with you guys. And he's just, he reminded me of PD from, remember the Titans.

He's got that same. I bet you he thinks football is fun. You know what? I bet you he would say that. Hopefully he's not PD is like the running back PD in terms of like production-wise. Personality, great. Production of PD though, hopefully that's not the case. Yeah, no, we're talking about Donald Faison.

Okay, I know the actor's name because I'm a huge Scrubs fan. Shout out to all the Scrubs fans listening. I know Donald. Greatest football movie ever made. Greatest, oh, absolutely the greatest football movie ever. No question about it. I showed my wife that for the first time, by the way, Cody. She had never seen it before.

She's 34 years old. Yeah, she had never seen Remember the Titans. So, you know what? All the listeners need to, you know, come onto YouTube and comment, like, you know, oh, I'm so thankful you showed your wife that movie. But look, I think when you talk about stock down, like it's definitely the running backs, but then also guys that maybe, you know, we talk about the old Rod Smith quote all the time. You can't make the club if you're always in the tub.

And that is so true, right? And you don't want to see guys get injured. We don't want to bag on injured guys, but you have to talk about it. A.T. Perry wasn't out there. All of mini camp, pretty much all of OTAs, right? I think even a tryout guy. was wearing his jersey number out there. Will Shepard. So you get a guy like that that, okay, we're talking about,

let's try to find a way to force A.T. Perry onto this roster. Can they, will they keep seven guys? Could he beat out a Trent Sherfield? Could he beat out somebody else? You can't make the club if you're not on the field, right? So you've got to be out there. I hate it for him because I know I'm sure he wants to be out there worse than anybody that's rooting for him wants to be out there. but I think you have to look at a guy like that as stocked down, you know,

when you didn't do anything on the practice field all throughout the offseason program. I think the good news, though, as Sean Payton said, he said, A.T. Perry could be, you know, a little bit later on, like, he may not be ready for the start, but maybe a week after training camp starts, he may be ready to go, which I think, like, we were just speculating, but that to me tells me it's injury related, right? And I think that's, you know, you got to be able to get that grace. Now, if he comes into training camp fully healthy and balls out, okay, great. But that wide receiver room, gosh, they got, they got so many dudes in there.

Courtney Jackson, Jirwan Newton, Joaquin Davis. They got three undrafted guys there. And obviously, Will Shepard didn't make the, you know, obviously he was a trial player for minicamp. Didn't necessarily get an invite, but he's going to be on the radar. Like if the Broncos make some roster moves and something frees up, Will Shepard, I think will likely be brought back. I think he's that type of player. But, man, that's a deep room right now.

You got a bunch of guys competing. We've already talked about that wide receiver room for the most part. being set in stone. So who is it really going to be like if you're going to have an extra spot? Okay, Trent Sherfield play special teams. Okay, A.T. Perry, in my opinion, I think he's going to have to play special teams. If he's going to make the 53-man roster, I think he's very, very talented. And that's the thing.

Like, I enjoyed watching him in practice last year, big, explosive. He has the height and the athletic archetypes that Sean Payton is looking for. But you're just buried on the depth chart right now. When you come back, you're going to have an uphill climb as well, like Blake Watson and Audrake Estime. I would agree with you. I would say that these three guys probably are on the stock down. Two of them because of injuries, not necessarily their fault,

but also the emergence of other players at those positions. You know, for me, I'm trying to think of another guy whose stock went down during practices here. I really can't think of anybody else. I think defensively, everybody looked really good for the most part. I think there are a couple players on the defense that are going to fall into our next category here about players we want to see more from and more of at training. camp, but that's a good sign here early on.

There's not a lot of negatives that come out of mandatory minicamp or OTAs, unless there's an injury, right, or unless there's a blatantly bad performance, whereas you're watching practice unfold, these guys, the reps that they're having, they're clean. There's some mistakes here and there, but it's nothing that's like, oh, my gosh, like this guy, unbelievable, it continues to make mistakes. Nothing of that statured just yet. But when training camp rolls around the pads come on, we're going to find out.

That's where the real football evaluation really begins. But Broncos country, we've shared our stock up. we've shared our stock down. And one thing we are going to dive deep into is training camp comes up in the month of July. Who are some players that we want to see a little bit more from here as training camp rolls around? Sarah and I are going to tell you why PJ Locke is one of those guys we want to see a little bit more of, plus some of the younger defensive linemen as well here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos.

When training camp rolls around next month, we want to see a handful of players, obviously that didn't get as much time on task during OTAs and minicamp. We want to see what they do, especially is there some deep competitions that are unfolding at several positions offensively and defensively. We'll break all that down. Sarah, I think more importantly, as we look at players, we'd like to see more of or hear more about during training camp, I've had my eyes on this entire roster.

There's a lot of names. There's a lot of people to pay attention to. But is there anyone in your opinion you want to see or hear more of or more from when training camp rolls around in late July? Well, I think we're all excited to find out how the linebacker battle continues to transpire, right? we're all excited to see those guys out there with pads flying around. Hopefully,

Dre Greenlaw at full speed by that time. So I think everybody will be excited to see number 57 leading the charge out there with that defense. Obviously, Alex Singleton, Drew Sanders, the competition between those guys. And we heard Sean Payton kind of allude to the fact that maybe Justin and Sirnaud has the advantage of now last year he played a lot. And, you know, Drew didn't. So, I mean, he wasn't necessarily making a direct comparison between, hey, this is a

advantage Sternard, and this is a disadvantage for Sanders, but he kind of did swing the pendulum a little bit, Sternod's way in that comment that he made, in my opinion, just my perception of it. So I think that linebacker position battle going to be a really interesting one to monitor. I know we've talked about it a few times, but certainly that's going to be in focus as you get those guys all out on the field. Well, and I think another thing, too, when we talk about this linebacker group, I think we have to throw Alex Singleton in there, right? Because for him, he had the season-ending injury last year.

He participated in team stretch and individual period during the, you know, off-season program mandatory minicamp. But he's going to get his first team action come to start of training camp. And so with these guys, Justin Sternard, Drew Sanders, those guys getting reps ahead of Alex, you know, where is Alex at? Because I know as well as anyone, Alex is one of the toughest dudes mentally and physically. Obviously, to play a whole entire game after tearing your ACL, toughest dude in the world. I'll give that guy all the credit in the world because I've, I've torn my ACL.

It's torn now. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy in this entire world. And I think that's also an obstacle, though, when we talk about the mental aspect of it, I think he's got a good edge to him. But for us, it's an unknown. We've got to wait and we've got to see how it unfolds because he's also competing for a starting job. And so I think the fact that Drew and Justin, these guys were getting a lot of reps here during the offseason program, we know that they were in competition to start next to Dre Greenlaw.

Drake Greenlaw is the only unquestioned starter right now. So Alex and those guys are going to come in and compete. I think you've had some younger guys at linebacker like Lavelle Bailey, I think had an impressively nice offseason program. I think he leaned up a little bit. He looks a little faster. He looks just a little more springy than what we saw last year. So I'm excited to see how that kind of plays out.

And he got some undrafted guys as well. I know Carine Reed, he didn't participate much in mandatory minicamp. He's dealing with an injury from what I have observed there. So, you know, there's that. J.B. Brown. They had a couple of trial guys in. Once again, I aren't going to be invited to the training camp roster initially. So I think really there's an advantage to be had here for a guy like Lavelle Bailey,

but there's questions here with a guy like Alex Singleton. How does he respond coming in and just having a full workload here? Is he going to have a practice schedule where he practices two days, has that third day off what we've seen Sean Peyton and Bowlery kind of do? I'm curious to see where that's at. But I am also excited to maybe see a little bit more about the cornerback competition here with the guys that they have there. We've highlighted the top four guys there, right?

With PS2, Riley Moss, Jada, Barron, Jekyllam, Macmillan. I think Broncos country is going to be excited with how, if these guys stay healthy, how the Broncos will use these guys based on some of the things I've seen in a practice. Unfortunately, I can't share, which makes it rough, Sarah. Like, I want to be able to share some of these things in the thing, but we're not allowed to if you want me to still be able to cover the team. So I just think Broncos fans are going to be excited. excited about that. You want to see, obviously, Chris Abramsdrain is going to get a lot of playing time here in the preseason.

And then DeMarie Mathis, those guys are really kind of competing here. And Damari's got more, I think, of a chip on his shoulder. He's got a little bit more of an uphill battle compared to these other guys. So to me, I'm excited to hear or maybe see how Damari responds to some of this pressure here as he's in the final year of his contract. Yeah, he's one of the guys that I think you could float into the stock down category almost, right? just because he gave jk. Dobbins the shirt right off his back. You know, I mean, he gave him his jersey number. It's like, that's a tough one right there, Cody. I mean, obviously you want to be nice to the guy. It's the number that he wants to wear to play him, but also Damari has been playing in that number.

Maybe he feels like a number change or things like that can help just kind of renew his own self-confidence because the Broncos, they have made a habit of drafting a lot of defensive backs under George Payton. Damari was obviously one of them, but he's buried on the depth chart. I mean, Chris Abrams drain, I think a lot more folks are talking about him than Damari at this point. So I'm sure he's in good spirits. Like he's a professional and he knows that he's going to have a job no matter what. But with Denver, it's like it's almost kind of hard to see, all right, where do I fit in this puzzle? Like what are you guys going to ask me to do?

Am I just going to be an injury replacement? Or can I go out there at training camp and actually carve out a roll? like could he take jquan macmillan's job on this route i don't know i don't know if that's going to be the case but be interested to see him out there as well whatever number he's wearing as well as p j lock too cody the guy that we've been teasing i think p j's role in the defense going to be fascinating being that he was a starter last year him and jquan macmillan starters last year now relegated to likely backup or rotational roles what do you think for p j lock like what do you envision that for him Well, you know, for me, the biggest thing that I know about PJ, from my understanding, if you look at his Instagram, he posted a video several months ago where he's kind of highlighting a docu series, right? And it's evident he had some type of surgery. We don't know what it exactly was. But I'd say the good news was he was in team stretch. He didn't participate in individual or team for the first two days of mandatory minicamp. On the final day, he was out there with individual period, working with the safeties in the corners, doing the

the everyday drills that they always do in season. So that's a good sign. He's going to be ready to go for the start of training camp. You know, for PJ, I mean, I think you look at the injury history. You know, Brandon Jones dealt with a couple injuries last year. Tolanol who found his injury history. You know, you have to factor in. Like, it's a physical position and there's a chance that these guys could get banged up. So you need to make sure your guys, if you're going to lose one of those guys,

who's capable of stepping in starting. PJ, in my opinion, is the safest guy in terms of saying, hey, like, you need a guy who's got starting experience. Okay, PJ's the guy. But in the meantime, as Sean Payton even told me, and he answered this question as well, he said, hey, like the key in the path to making the roster at safety, if you're not a starter, it's special teams. PJ made his hay, became a name in the NFL because of his impact on special teams,

then stepped into a starting role. J.L. Skinner is another guy that I think is very, very qualified to be able to play and start for you and maybe take on a little bit of a bigger role. I think they're going to envision him for maybe a specified role this upcoming season, and maybe as a big nickel or maybe as a dime linebacker, it just depends on what you want to do with your safeties. And I think it's contingent upon matchup who you're facing. But I'll even say this as well.

I think I think Kedron Smith. I think Tanner McAllister. I think those younger safeties, Devon Key. I think those guys have also had an oppressive offseason as well. Like this is a loaded room. And I haven't honestly, haven't brought up Sam Franklin Jr. much, you know, number 42. Haven't seen too much just yet. We'll see where that goes, obviously, when training camp rolls around.

But, man, I think the safety room is one room we probably want to hear and see a little bit more of, just for some clarity purposes as training camp rolls around. 100%. And I'm excited for that competition. I'm excited to see the guys in the trenches with the pads on, right? I mean, when you talk about who do we want to see more of at training camp, man, I want to see the big, nasty, ugly guys down in the front right there, right? I want to see those guys. I want to see the developmental players on the offensive and defensive lines,

what they're able to do in terms of the pads are now on. You can go out there, be more physical. Who's going to stand out? Who's going to stand out in terms of getting that push on the – because I think the offensive side has a bit of a disadvantage against the guys they've invested in defensively. There's a third-round pick out there now, third-round rookie and Savian Jones. There's a fourth-round pick in Yoma-Wazerike.

There's other guys the Broncos have resigned, and, you know, they're so deep on the D-line. but on the offensive line, it's like the money ball guys, right? Yeah. We got Alex Palchesey. He's been wading in the wings. You got Frank Crum. He's developed. He's getting bigger and more physical.

Nick Garjulo, Clay Webb, the rookie free agent. Calvin Throckmorton's been getting a lot of run too. Calvin Throckmorton. So all these guys that I think that, you know, we don't get to hear much about because the pads aren't on and you can't be asked physical. How do they fare against each other? Those two battles, the top two position groups, according to the head coach and the general manager, going at it, I want to see more of that.

Well, and look, I realize this on day one, a mandatory minicamp. You realize Quinn Miners cut his hair. He cut his hair. He no longer has the locks. But man, he's muscular. He's big now. So I'm excited. You just want to see him play with that intensity he's always had there.

Hopefully cutting the, you know, the hair is not like a sign of like losing. your powers. It's kind of like when Thor got the haircut right after having the long hair. He gets the haircut and it's like an adjustment period. Maybe he's just tapping into his, you know, his inner. What is Thor anyways? I forget. Like I don't even know what the lineage is. God of thunder. God of Thunder. The God. Well, yeah, God of Thunder. So Quinn Miners. Can Quinn Miners is this new nickname going to become Thor? Maybe. We'll see here. But yeah, we don't know. Rocko's country. We appreciate you so much. Thank you for tuning in. Rocking with us. All the everydayers out there. Thanks for making us your first listen. Sarah and myself.

We're so excited to be able to cover this team for you every single day, wherever you get your podcast or on YouTube. So make sure you let us know which players you'd like to see and hear more of as training camp approaches as well. I will not be on the next episode. Sarah's got you cover for a few days here coming up the next week. I'm off to getting married. Sarah's going to open up a mailbag for all of you in Broncos country.

And I know Sarah's going to hold down the fort as he always does. So make sure you stay tuned over here, lock down Broncos. Because next time you see us, Sarah's going to answer your Broncos questions. We'll see you next time. Broncos country enjoy your weekend