Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Trent Sherfield SOLIDIFIES Denver Broncos WR Room

Starting point is 00:00:00 Denver Broncos wide receiver, Trent Shirtfield, looks like that lock for that sixth and final spot on the 53 man roster will highlight his performance and what he can mean for this offense in 2025 on on today's episode of the show. You are locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. What's up, Braco's country? Welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast. part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Special shout to all the everydayers out there. Thank you so much for tuning in and making us your first listen of the day. However, you choose to do so.

Starting point is 00:00:43 If you're not yet in every day, Broncos Country, what do you wait for? Come on one. It's easy. It's simple. Hit that subscribe for that follow button so you never miss out on all your Broncos news, content coverage analysis, and more. I'm Cody Roark, Broncos reporter from Mile High Sports. Join, as always, by Sarah Bedinger, site expert over there at predominantly orange.com.

Starting point is 00:01:00 And we're going to go through on today's show and discuss why, Trent Sherfield looks like he's locked up that final spot at the wider receiver position as it looks like six could be the magic number for the 53 man roster here. We'll highlight what we've seen from him. Plus, we'll go through our thoughts on Jonah Ellis and how he looked in the Broncos first preseason game and how he factors into that pass rush rotation ahead of what looks to be a big second season for him. And then we'll talk about whether or not we are concerned about punter Jeremy

Starting point is 00:01:27 crush on his shaky rookie debut here in the NFL. is this something that Broncos country should be panicking on? We'll look at all that. And more here on today's episode of show. Sarah, look, a lot of good things. I think when you go back and you watch the game, certainly you can analyze what happened with the starters, what happened with the bench players.

Starting point is 00:01:45 There's so many good little details you can pick up on and where this team is at, what they need to obviously improve on. But one thing, I think when we talk about standouts, Trent Sherfield was a huge bright spot here for the Broncos, has had a strong training camp. And of course, we saw him follow it up with a very impressive performance with Jared Stidham and the Broncos preseason win on Saturday.

Starting point is 00:02:05 Yeah, and I've got to eat a little bit of crow here with Trent Sherfield because I felt like he was going to be sort of a bubble guy or somebody who, look, we talked about in the off season, he got like 1.5 million in guaranteed money from the Broncos. That doesn't necessarily guarantee you anything in today's NFL, especially when you got young guys fighting for jobs. And so for the Broncos, of course, we were thinking like, well, shoot, somebody else played. special teams? I mean, is that really all this guy can do? Well, he showed us in the preseason debut for this team that special teams is not all he can do by any stretch of the imagination. He was out there making a ton of plays, including that big 36-yard touchdown and really showing off the vertical speed, showing off that he's maybe got more big playability than

Starting point is 00:02:49 anyone really anticipated when he came in. Because if you look at his numbers, Cody, from before he got to Denver, I mean, it appears as though there's a pretty good reason why he's a journeyman because he doesn't always contribute offensively, certainly not last year with the Vikings. I think the last time he really did was when he was a member of the Miami Dolphins. And so he keeps bouncing around the league, but at the same time, he does all those little things well. And this is one thing that I thought was really interesting when you think about him replacing a role in the offense. Of course, the Broncos lose Tremont Smith and Free Agency. You figure Sherfield's going to play that role on special teams, but they also let go of Lil Jordan Humphrey

Starting point is 00:03:29 in free agency, maybe Sherfield is poised to play a much bigger role as that blocking receiver that they believe can help them after the catch and deep down field. Well, I feel like one thing that we saw from him, and this has certainly been a trend so far throughout training camp, reliable hands. I mean, he's catching passes in traffic. He's catching them over the top. I mean, his touchdown catch that he had, that's a difficult play to make for a lot of wide receivers, good focus in tracking the football there for him.

Starting point is 00:03:55 But I also love the contributions outside of when he's not getting the ball. he's out there. He's blocking his tail off in the run game for the running backs to be able to open things up on the outside. You're seeing just this guy who obviously is a very, very polished special teams player. But maybe he's at a point now of his career where, I don't know, maybe he's in the right system. Maybe he's in the right environment for him to develop or maybe accelerate a little bit more as an offensive player here. And not saying he's going to come in and be wide receiver two or wide receiver three. At the end of the day, I really don't believe for Sean Peyton that he believes in this, okay, we got a wide receiver one, a wide receiver two. You have Cortland Sutton is never going to

Starting point is 00:04:31 really come off the field for you. And then you got everybody else that's going to rotate in. And I think that applies with Troy Franklin, Marvin, Mims, Devon, Vele, and obviously Pat Bryant and Sherfield, as we're talking about in here, I think you're going to have five of these guys rotating in and playing a multitude of different roles here. And I'm excited to see that because for a guy like Sherfield, imagine this. You know, he's, people are looking at the perceived depth chart. Let's say he's the last guy. Like he's that six guy when the Broncos make roster cuts here.

Starting point is 00:05:01 And he's that six guy there. Not a lot of people are going to go into the weekly game plan saying, hey, we're going to watch out for Trent Sherfield here. But he's the type of guy that could just get plugged in. And I think he could have an impact, whether it be with Bow, Knicks or anybody else. I think he's a good fit to this offense. And certainly, I think Saturday's game proved a lot of that.

Starting point is 00:05:19 Does he kind of remind you a little bit as well, Cody, of remember Andre Caldwell in the Peyton Manning years. I think that's kind of maybe a good callback here, is that somebody that, okay, he's got speed. He can play special teams and he can be that extra asset offensively that you never know what game it's going to be, but he's going to become something for you at some point.

Starting point is 00:05:39 And he's going to make a big play for you occasionally. The Broncos don't need him to go out there and eat up, you know, 600 offensive snaps. They don't need him to go out there and catch 50 passes. They needed him to catch a passer. two every single week and take advantage of whatever opportunity he's given. And certainly what we saw in the preseason, like Cody, he was feeling himself enough that he got called for a pushoff in this

Starting point is 00:06:01 game. I mean, he's out there really just, he's playing aggressive. He's playing fast. He's not, you know, he's being physical. That's what the Broncos need from this type of guy, because what did little Jordan Humphrey not do very well? We didn't see a lot of production on downfield throws for little Jordan Humphrey. He was a yards after the catch guy. And the Broncos did fabricate touches to get him the ball quickly after the snap. I never liked that they did that because a guy with that kind of size, you want to exploit downfield more often than not. You don't want to be, if you fabricate touches for mims,

Starting point is 00:06:34 for Troy Franklin, for Devon Valey, get your faster guys at the ball in space. I think with Trent Sherfield, you have a versatile skill set to where this guy, he can do that stuff after the catch, but it's a much more well-rounded game that he brings to the table. I'm wondering, do you think maybe he challenges Devon Valey's role a little bit? I mean, we haven't seen much from Velae.

Starting point is 00:06:57 I know you've seen more than I have out of practice, but this preseason game, he had one catch. It was kind of a buggled ball. Do you think there's a discussion there to be had? I don't know if there's necessarily a discussion to be had there. I think so much it's still a work in progress here. I still believe, and like I said a minute ago, I think the wide receiver rotation is just going to focus on five guys here. That's going to be the slogan in Denver. guys in the rotation.

Starting point is 00:07:22 So much could be matchup contingent, right? Let's say Denver's facing a defense. Let's say they're a primary nickel defense where they run dime, but they got smaller cover guys. That's where valet size really comes into the equation, whereas it's like, you got Cortland, who's 6-4, Velae who's 6-5, Evan Ingram, who's got good size to him. Troy Franklin's got 6'2 size to him, whereas shirt filled, he's kind of that doing the dirty work there, can play in the slot, can play on the outside, can attack the middle of

Starting point is 00:07:50 the field. I think he's good at recognizing soft spots against zone coverage. You've seen with some of the speed he has to be able to beat man coverage. I don't know. I mean, I don't have a real solidified answer for that. I just know that I think that Sherfield's going to play a big role. And I don't think it's going to come at the expense of any of these other wide receivers. I think that Don theoretically wants to package these guys and just get a lot of reps and take advantage of certain matchups. I'm excited to see that play out. And look, yes, it's one preseason game.

Starting point is 00:08:18 How does he do this against the Arizona? the Cardinals this week and even in joint practices this upcoming Thursday, how does he use these guys? It seemed like Sherfield is a little more featured than Devon Veil. And I don't know if Devon Veilay's snap count was reduced a little bit just because he's been dealing with an injury. He's been trying to overcome dating back to the mandatory minicamp portion of the offseason program. But I think it's a valid question to ask. I think that one week you could see Veilay heavily featured. I think one week it could be Trent Sherfield. The guy does the dirty work. And I think Sean's got that wide receiver room that,

Starting point is 00:08:51 you know, he said, hey, you know, everyone's sleeping on it except us. We like that room. I think yesterday's game showed us an exact reason why.

Starting point is 00:08:59 Yeah, then this is the development that we're really looking forward to finding out is we, we know, we understand that Sean's going to use a ton of different personnel groupings. And we believe that he's going to keep six wide receivers on the 53 man roster, but are you going to use six in games? Like Cody's saying, the rotation seems to be typically five games.

Starting point is 00:09:19 guys. And if you have one of them like Sherfield, who's going to be playing special teams for you in the core four, I mean, Marvin Mims going to be your primary return guy. And Troy Franklin, he's having way too good of an off season to keep off the field. So Cortland Sutton, we know he's the number one. Pat Bryant, Cody, he made some nice plays. I just feel like there is a discussion to be had about a guy like Vele, who he seems to have been almost handed the wide receiver to if people want to say, I've seen a lot of stuff. Regardless of how much, many different personal groupings you have. A lot of people are saying he looks like the second guy with Cortland Sutton, right? That's what that's been said plenty of times. I've said that too.

Starting point is 00:09:58 Yeah. You've said that. So I, so I think that there's that right there that we have the fact of the matter that he is playing that role maybe in practice, but then also everybody else seems to be making more plays. So I didn't want to make this. It's a positive segment about Trent Sherfield. It's not a negative on Devon Valay, but at the same time, I think it's an opportunity for Velae to really step up here against the Cardinals. Well, Brockos country, we want to know how you feel about the wide receiver room. Do you feel like Sherfield makes up that six spot? Is that a solidified number here for Sean Payton when roster cuts happen here in just about two and a half weeks time? Make sure you let us know here on today's episode of the show.

Starting point is 00:10:35 We're not done though. We're going to continue recapping some of the standouts from Saturday's preces when, including Jonah Ellis and why he looks primed for a big second year. The National Football League will highlight him and his performance and more on today's episode of the show. This episode is presented by Yahoo Fantasy. And it's the best time of the year because the NFL kickoff is almost here. And that means that fantasy football season, it's back and it's in full swing. And this year, Yahoo Fantasy is turning things up with a fantasy football experience like never before. And this year, myself and Sarah Bend you're here at Lockdown Broncos,

Starting point is 00:11:07 we are playing on Yahoo Fantasy. And you should too, whether you're a first-timer or a veteran that's making your millionth league. Well, the veteran making their millionth league, that would be me this year, Cody, I've been playing Yahoo Fantasy for years, forever. And the updates that they're rolling out this month, they're wild in the best possible way. To celebrate 28 years of fantasy football greatness, Yahoo Fantasy is dropping 28 big new features over 28 days throughout August. And to kick it off, they just dropped Yahoo! Fantasy Guillotine Leagues, a killer new way to play fantasy football on Yahoo, where the lowest scoring team gets eliminated each week until there's just one team left standing with the season around the corner.

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Starting point is 00:12:24 of the day every single day. Cody and I appreciate you so much for helping us grow this community of awesome Broncos fans who if you subscribe to this show, wherever you listen to podcasts or on YouTube, you won't miss a single episode. Get us into your algorithm, everybody. And don't miss what's going on with your favorite team here. But let's talk about Jonah Ellis, Cody, because I've said this before, I think, I think I'm kind of articulating it correctly here. It feels like there hasn't really been a manifestation of this big breakout year and year two for Jonah Ellis because it's not exactly a necessity for the Broncos. Like last year, for example, it was a necessity for Riley Moss to break out. Like they were putting him in that position to start. He had to break out. This year

Starting point is 00:13:07 feels like Troy Franklin is that type of guy. There's not necessarily a lot of pressure under, you know, for Jonah Ellis from the fan base, honestly, right, to be that breakout player this year. But he might be one of those guys that if he was in a starting position or in a position to take a job, that we would be talking about him being the breakout player on this team. Well, one thing you want to see with your guys who are in the rotation at a certain position is, are they ready if there's an injury at any point or if a guy gets banged up and you need him to go out there and start for you, can he do it and can he do it well? I felt like we saw a more mature version of him last year as a rookie compared, I think, to where

Starting point is 00:13:46 everybody expected him to be. And for him to finish with five sacks and limited action last season as a rotational guy, man, it was nice to see. You could see the power. You could see the athleticism, which I feel like he's deceptively athletic, but you just see the discipline off the edge. When we talk about discipline off the edge, we talk about guys who do a really good job of keeping contained, not getting too far upfield, not getting too far sucked into the mix there,

Starting point is 00:14:10 where guys can get outside of you in the run game. I think he just does a really good job of tracking quarterbacks and making sure that they don't get outside. And, you know, we're seeing him wrap up plays. I felt like his play that he had in Saturday's game against San Francisco, he comes up and wraps up around the quarterback, knocks the ball out of his hands. And unfortunately, you know, it rolls out of bounds.

Starting point is 00:14:28 But, man, what a great play by him right before halftime there and just looks like he's got a high motor. And I know there were a lot of questions with Jonah that had nothing to do with his production or play. A lot of it was, hey, he got injured in the play. playoff game against the bills had that shoulder surgery. What's that strength looking like? I could say based on what we watched,

Starting point is 00:14:47 that strength doesn't look like it's lacking. And Jonah himself has said he's 100%. He looks like it. And the fact that he doesn't have this pressure, in my opinion, to break out or to be this breakout player, he can just sit back and play that role that he's in. And he can unleash a little bit. I like where he's at.

Starting point is 00:15:03 And I love what we have seen from him so far this off season. I love it too. I think what we saw from him that. backside pursuit play against the run where I think the 49ers gained a couple yards, but he came over from the other side of the formation and made a play from behind. Like he just, like you said, he has that relentless pursuit, that way about him, that, yeah, he's going to pop you with his initial hand placement or whatever, but he's going to absolutely chase down every single play.

Starting point is 00:15:30 Even Ryan Harris was surprised on the broadcast, Cody, about the effort that he was giving on a play like that to rush down that quarterback. I really love what he brings to the table. I think that there's such a value in having a guy like this who's a legacy player, right? Remember his dad played for the Broncos once upon a time, was the team chaplain once a time played for a while for the Lions as well. He's just got that in his blood. And you can tell it with guys like Pat Sartan and Jonah Ellis that, man, they can, they just,

Starting point is 00:15:58 they are football. Like football is just part of them. It's like, you know, I have one of my, my kids are musical, right? And it's just like there was, they had no choice because I play instruments. and I do all these sorts of things. It was like these guys had no choice but to be good at football, the Ellis brothers out there. And he just,

Starting point is 00:16:17 that's what he looks like to me, Cody, just such a natural playing off the edge. It doesn't look like he's struggling with, you know, getting slow off the snap. He doesn't look like he struggles in any particular area in terms of setting the edge or speed rush or secondary moves. Like,

Starting point is 00:16:34 I'm not a professional pass rusher by any means, but I feel like Jonah has really taken his, game to the next level in all of those areas to where the Broncos are going to be able to to trust him with more snaps. It doesn't look like there's a lot of weaknesses in his game, which is great, right? And you never want to have the mindset as a player that I, you know, I've got it all made. And I don't think Jonah does. Jonah is one of the most humbled guys I've been around, you know, when you talk to him in

Starting point is 00:16:56 the locker room, just such a nice young man. You could tell that he was raised the right way, has good standards and, you know, loves to work hard. And I think that's just a testament to him coming back from the injury and going through the rehab process. He attacked it vigorously and it was in a good position here coming into the offseason program and also got stronger on top of that. Now, for me, I look at where Jonah's at and one thing you worry about in today's NFL, right, is pass brush depth. There were a few years ago, remember Nick Benito's rookie year where the Broncos went through so many different pass rushes due to

Starting point is 00:17:26 an injury and it wasn't great. And I think when you have guys who can contribute like Jonah, I think Don Dre Tillman and, hey, Q Robinson showed some flashes a little bit in that 49ers preseason game. You feel better about where your defense is at, knowing that you have the guys on the trenches there on the interior D-line and that your pass rush, your outside linebacker group, it seems pretty stout here for Denver on paper. And you want to see this room continue to grow and be a strength of this team. Where do you think that his season could take him? Because last year he had five sacks, right? He made the all-rooky team. And that was really nice production to have. We've heard Sean Payton talk about how Nick Benito and Zach Allen, those guys played

Starting point is 00:18:06 maybe too many snaps last year. So I think that we're going to see that the plan is to back those guys off a little bit this year. What do you think is the ceiling for a guy like Jonah? Like do you think it's okay, but maybe every other game type of thing where he gets a sack, like eight sacks this season? Or what do you view the ceiling as being for him because of, I mean, the workload that he's going to get?

Starting point is 00:18:30 Do you feel like it's going to be substantial enough for him to even come close to reaching that double digit mark? I mean, it really just depends. There could be one game where he just goes off and gets two or three sacks in one game. That can elevate obviously where you're out over the course of a 17 game regular season. You know, for me, I think last year he and Dandre splitting five sacks each and combining for 10 between the two of them. I felt like there was a great starting point for obviously Dondre who has worked his way up through the UFL, Jonah being a rookie where he's at. I do think that he could get close.

Starting point is 00:19:01 Double digits in his role would be hard to achieve. I mean, we're talking about ridiculous production. That's not even factoring in what we think the Broncos' defensive line with Zach Allen can, you know, achieve and attain there. So for me, I would say maybe that seven or eight sack mark would be an ideal landing spot for him, but also with that maybe three or four force fumbles at the point, too, you know, not just necessarily like, hey, seven or eight of his sacks, if he gets those, are going to, you know, four of them are going to force a fumble. I'm talking about this is a guy who I think will obviously hold up well in terms of stopping the run, could force a fumble on a running back, but I think we'll get a couple of strip sacks and one

Starting point is 00:19:36 obviously that we saw in Saturday's preseason game just a couple of days ago. I think that's something we'll see. And look, I even think when asking to drop back into coverage a little bit, we saw that late down the stretch for Vanjose Joseph and this defense and for Jonah a little bit exclusively in the Raiders game last year. But another level of confidence being able to get out there in the past coverage game, I'm excited about it. That's where I think his ceiling is at.

Starting point is 00:20:02 and, you know, knock on wood, hopefully there's no injuries. But if there is an injury, I feel like I'm very confident in a guy like Jonah Ellis being thrust into the starting lineup and not worrying about production necessarily falling off if that's the case. Broncos country, how do you feel about Jonah Ellis, what we've seen from him, your thoughts on his performance on Saturday, and your optics as to where he lines up here in this rotation going into his second season. We're going to continue to talk about things here that are important on this episode of lockdown Broncos, including whether or not Broncos country should be concerned about Jeremy Crosha, the rookie punter, had a little bit of a shaky debut. Is this something that we should all be worrying about?

Starting point is 00:20:39 We'll talk about that and more here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Today's episode with Lockdown Broncos is brought to our friends over there at the Game Time app in Broncos country. We've all been there logging on early and waiting forever for concert tickets to go on sale, only to lose your spot for the show that you've been dying to see. And live music should be about making memories and not dealing with the stress of ticket shopping. And that's where game time comes in because game time makes getting concert tickets faster and easier than ever because prices they actually drop the closer it gets to Showtime. And you can save up to 60% off with their killer last minute deals. There's nothing worse than buying tickets for a show based on like the blueprint of the arena or whatever venue it is that you're going to thinking you got a great deal on a seat.

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Starting point is 00:21:54 Download GameTime app today. Last-minute tickets, lowest price, guarantee. The Denver Broncos had some rusty elements in their preseason opener against the 49ers on Saturday. And you saw the debut of several young players, including rookie punter Jeremy Crosha. How did he look in his first action in the NFL? We'll highlight his performance and more here on today's episode show real quick. Thank you once again to everyone in the Broncos country. Thanks for tuning in and making us your first listen.

Starting point is 00:22:22 We appreciate you so much here. Sarah, you know, obviously on social media, one thing we open up the conversation to is, you know, what were your thoughts on this player? And I've had a lot of Broncos fans in my mentions on Twitter, ask me about Jeremy Croshaw, and should we be concerned over his debut in week one of the preseason? And I don't think we should because, look, punting is definitely a dynamic that you have to be on your P's and Q's for.

Starting point is 00:22:48 I feel like it's a little different for the punting position when you talk about what you see in practice, what you get in practice, because a lot of the times you're not actually punting much in practice. You have a dedicated special team spirit, but in training camp, fans who have been there have seen this, they don't really punt. They use the jugs machine to simulate the coverage guys getting downfield

Starting point is 00:23:06 and cross out will punt some here and there. But your first actual game action, part of me is going to say, I'm not concerned about this yet, right? And I think that consistency is something we've been talking about with him, kind of dating back to the initial start of training camp. Can he be consistent? Can he find that consistency? I think this is one of those games where it wasn't his best look here,

Starting point is 00:23:28 but what does he look like here in week two against Arizona? I think then we'll maybe have a little bit of a better idea on how to answer this question. But I want to ask you, were you concerned over Croshaw's debut on Saturday? No, no concern. I just think it's another thing that was kind of just like annoying. You know, I mean,

Starting point is 00:23:45 you hear all these things about how every time he hits the ball at practice, it's like a cannon is being fired. And so when you hear that kind of stuff and then you get to a game, it's like a, you know, it's like flicking up paper football a little bit. It's just like, underwhelming.

Starting point is 00:23:59 You know, it doesn't go nearly as far as you feel like you can flick that thing. So I feel like that was just another disappointing element to a game that included many, right? The first drive by the defense, the performance of the starting offense. And then obviously, Croshaw's performance in his rookie debut. But concern, no, I think the Broncos have the best special teams coordinator in the game in Darren Rizzy. I believe that he is. I believe that he can develop these guys really, really well.

Starting point is 00:24:24 And I think when you draft a punter and you're just in it, for the long haul, right? You're in it for whatever they're going to struggle with as a rookie. You drafted the guy. You spent the capital on him. You're going to have to live with the results there. And that's just the reality of the situation facing the Broncos is you have to let these rookies grow and you have to let them go through those low moments. And thankfully, this was a preseason game. So he's able to kind of now reevaluate and he's able to get back out there and go do it again, go be better. And the only good punt that he had, the ball bounced in his favor. So maybe a little bit of a good omen for the next time.

Starting point is 00:25:00 But like we talked about, we want to see him holding for a lot more extra points. I believe Cody, we were three and three in this game, or maybe it was closer to four and three, but he was doing more as much, if not more, holding instead of punting in this game,

Starting point is 00:25:14 which is what we want to see him out there for anyway. Yeah, you want to see that ratio kind of lean towards, hey, we're scoring points instead of, hey, we have to punt and change possession of the ball here. And look, I also think with every punt, too, there's a different context. You know, the first one, I think what?

Starting point is 00:25:28 The Broncos were on their own 49 yard line. So the idea here, like, so much of it is strategy and placement. You know, everyone's like, oh, well, he didn't have a 65-yard punt. Well, when you're on your own 49, the idea is to punt it high and try to get it to a corner or at least to a spot where it can land and bounce inside the 20-yard line, allow your coverage guys to get down there. I think his first punt was fine. It was just the coverage dynamic.

Starting point is 00:25:52 The Broncos coverage guys couldn't get downfield and it led to a big 20-plus yard return. That obviously wasn't a great start from what you wanted to see. It kind of like the start of the offense, the rough start of the defense, and then all of a sudden now you have this punt. It was like all three phases had a little bit of a letdown to open up this game here for Denver on Saturday. But his second punt, I think that one definitely was a bad punt. And you don't think he got the placement that he wanted with it. And then you mentioned that third one, a nice little bounce in a roll there to go for 50 yards.

Starting point is 00:26:23 But I just think that with every punt, there's a different circumstance, answer, there's different context behind it based on whatever field position you're at. Like if you're backed up on your own 20 yard line, you want to boom the heck out of that ball, right? But you want to be smart. You don't want to boom it directly to the middle. A lot of this is directional where you want to punt it either to the right side to the left side, depending on where the ball is placed on the hash mark, you punt it to the middle of the field. It opens up every dynamic to be able to return anywhere. And that's kind of challenging, whereas you can dictate with your coverage unit.

Starting point is 00:26:52 Hey, if we're on the left hash, we want to be able to punt it to the short. side of the field here because we have our guys that are coming from the right side to squeeze it off. We want to force a tunnel for that returner there. So just a little bit of a shaky debut, but I'm not worried about it. And this is what it's all about. Week two of the preseason, what did you do wrong or where were you rusty in that first game and what can you shake off a little bit? That's what we want to see answered this week, not only for CrossShaw, but for the Broncos

Starting point is 00:27:19 offense and defense as well. And the special teams in general, we saw a number of guys getting opportunities, Cody. I know there was a different guy out there for punt returns than all of us are used to seeing. I believe that was Courtney Jackson, the undrafted rookie. And he seemed to struggle a little bit catching the ball, had one nice return and was out there quite a bit because the 49ers had barely 200 yards of offense. So they were kicking the ball away quite a bit, giving him a lot of looks. I saw different guys out there for kickoff return as well. I would love to see more of the dynamic kickoff return for the Broncos.

Starting point is 00:27:53 but of course, you're only getting the ball via the kickoff return when the other team is scoring. And if they're barely able to get to midfield, well, you're not going to be returning many kicks. And so I'll be interested to find out who they throw out there for the second preseason game. No offense to the guy. I love that he's on the team. Love that he's a great practice player. Don't stop throwing Michael Bandy back there for punt returns. I don't understand it, Cody.

Starting point is 00:28:18 He's not like, it's not, stop making fetch happen. You're not going to make fetch happen. Stop trying to make fetch happen. It ain't happening. Okay. So throw somebody else back there that might have a shot to do it and see what they can do. But I was interested by that wrinkle that they threw in as well. We'd love to see it be a running back.

Starting point is 00:28:37 It's hard to figure out who to put back, especially at a part of turn. Usually you want like a wide receiver body type to do it. That's a challenging one. You know, I think the last running back type to do that that we saw Excel at it was Darren Sproul. I mean, he used to be a nightmare. in the AFC West for the Broncos when he was with the Chargers. Heck, I think there was a game when he was a rookie where he had a kick return and a punt return for a touchdown.

Starting point is 00:28:59 The same exact game. I think that was the one of the Broncos won 39, 38. Jay Cutler had to throw it. Kind of went behind him. Ed Hockley called it an incomplete pass. And that kind of saved the Broncos tails, finds Eddie Royal for the two-point conversion. Now I'm just showing off here on my old school football knowledge dating all the way back to the Cutler days. But, no, I'm with you.

Starting point is 00:29:19 I would love to see the kick return dynamic be. Tyler Badey and Blake Watson. Can we get both of those guys back there at the same time and just see how that kind of works? I love the flash. I love the speed that we have from them. And obviously, their ability to contribute on special teams,

Starting point is 00:29:34 that's going to help determine what this running back competition is going to ultimately boil down to and who's going to make the 53-man roster. I'm excited about it. Broncos Country, we hope you are as well. Make sure you let us know your thoughts. Are you concerned over Jeremy Croshaw and his punting debut with the Denver Broncos?

Starting point is 00:29:51 Make sure you let's know here in the YouTube comments or wherever you're listening to your podcast here. Thank you so much, Broncos, country for tuning in. That'll wrap up today's episode, the show for all you every dayers out there. Sarah and I, tomorrow's episode, we're going to focus a lot on three of the position battles. They're going to fall a little bit more under the microscope after the first preseason game, leading into preseason game. Number two, who do we have our eyes on this week at a handful of key position battles? You'll get all that. But for your second, listen after today, show, make sure you go check out our friends over there at Locked on Betts,

Starting point is 00:30:21 wherever you get your podcast or on YouTube. Broncos Country. We'll see it tomorrow for a brand new episode of the show.

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