Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Troy Franklin STOCK RISING With Bo Nix at Denver Broncos Training Camp

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

Troy Franklin's stock continues to rise with Bo Nix at Denver Broncos training camp. How has Franklin evolved from last year and what plays did he make during Tuesday's practice? Plus, with several players getting a veteran day off, how did Nix look with three new offensive lineman in place and Sean Payton has a strong roster on deck that will make the roster cutdown for them difficult. 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!5-Hour ENERGYGo to 5hourenergy.com today and use promo code LOCKEDONGOLF to receive 20% off your order. This offer is only valid until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions. The code is not good on subscription orders. Yahoo FantasyPresented by YahooFantasy #YahooPartner. Play Now at https://yahoofantasy.com/lockedonnfl. 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. FanDuelRight now, new customers can get $150 in BONUS BETS when your first $5 BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnfl 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.

Denver Broncos wide receiver, Troy Franklin's stock is rising at Broncos camp. And we'll tell you why he's got the biggest turnaround of any player going into year two. We'll break it all down and more here 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, Broncos country? Welcome into another episode of Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast.

Part of the Lockdown Podcast network, your team. every day for all your Broncos news content coverage analysis and more this is the place to be so a special shout out to all the everydayers out there thank you so much for tuning in and making us your first listen for all your Broncos news and analysis you get to hear every single day all year long if you're not yet and every day or become one subscriber follow by hitting that button down below so you never miss out on what's going on with your favorite team i'm cody roark brocco's reporter for mile high sports joined as always by sarah beninger the site expert over there at predominantly orange dot com we're wrapping up tuesday's training

He can't practice in Dove Valley just one day before the Broncos travel to Santa Clara for a joint practice on Thursday with the 49ers. And we'll go through on that final Denver Day practice here. Troy Franklin, another standout day for him, another big performance inside of the Broncos team periods for him. We'll highlight his big day and how he's turned things around. Plus, we'll also go through the Broncos mixing up the offensive line a little bit with several players getting a veterans day off. And then Darren Rizzi, Broncos special teams coordinator, highlighting the Broncos roster. depth and how that's going to make for some very tough decisions when it comes down to the roster cut down day. You'll get all that on today's show. Sarah, great practice on Tuesday. It was a hot day.

It was probably the hottest day of the year so far at practice. The Broncos were back out there in full pads and just a lot more focus. I'd say just a different level of them being locked in before they have a travel day tomorrow and then obviously a Thursday joint practice. But big day for Troy Franklin and the Broncos offense who won the day. It's exactly what you love to hear when it comes to training camp, right? You want to hear about the young guys that you expected to have great training camps, having great training camps. And Troy Franklin is one of those players who, man, he was in the fan's doghouse last year, wasn't he for dropped passes, not being in the right place whenever his number was called in games. And certainly due to the fact that we saw that chemistry on display with him

and Bo Nix at Oregon, right? It was meant to be. It was they got to the NFL on the same team together. And it should have just been clicking right from the start. And last year at training camp, I remember, Cody, you and I were talking about it. Everybody was talking about how, man, Troy's really kind of struggling with drops at training camp. He's kind of having a rough go in his rookie camp. And it couldn't be more opposites this year, right? That's exactly what you want. You wanted to see this guy take that step forward. I know we jokingly talk about it a lot, but it's funny how players have brought up just the jersey number change and the confidence level has gone through the roof for this guy. And he's making play after play stacking days out there at camp.

I mean, it couldn't be a better case scenario for the Broncos because it sounds like every receiver is really stepping up that's going to be playing a role on this team. Yeah, and I had a chance to ask Broncos offensive coordinator, Joe Lombardi after practice, just his thoughts. I said, you know, it feels like you have a lot of flexibility at the wide receiver position, a lot of depth there. And he kind of went through the list of guys and highlighted some of their strengths

as to what's going on. And, you know, for Troy, the one thing you see is obviously, we've highlighted it here with him. He's put on muscle this offseason. He's still just as fast, if not faster than he was last year. But he's also just a physical, willing blocker. That's one thing I'm liking, you know, even when it's a, you know, a run play. I'm seeing Troy go out there and try to block Pat Certan.

I'm seeing him try to go block Talanoa Hufanga. And for me, I'm looking at it. I'm like, you know what? This guy has got the willingness. The mentality shift here in Troy, you could just tell that there's a new level of confidence in him that he didn't have last try. I think last year he even acknowledged this in the end of the year interview that he was just thinking a lot. And that coming into the season, it was really simplifying it. And he's doing this all while learning, playing that zero, but also playing in the slot.

And he's become a key part here of this Broncos offense early on here in Trinity camp. I mean, Sarah, we talk about just stacking good days on good days. I'd say he's probably been the one player, the best player in training camp so far. When you just talk about who's consistently standing out and, you know, people go back to the drops. he had one drop in Saturday's scrimmage, and he was able to shake it off. I mean, he caught everything. Let's go through why he had a big day here during Tuesday's practice. The Broncos initially had a seven-on-seven red zone period early on in the day.

Bo Nix found Troy in the back of the end zone for what, you know, I think we all thought was a touchdown. You know, offensive players were high-fiving Troy. Defensive players were waving their hands incomplete. There are no officials there. So, you know, we're just going to assume just based on the celebration there was a touchdown. But he also came and caught a touchdown. from Jared Stidman at same seven on seven period as well. But really the team period is where Troy Franklin shine.

It was a move-the-ball scenario here for the Broncos offense. Kay, tie game, fourth quarter on their own 28-yard line with one minute, 28 seconds left, one timeout on the clock, and Bo Nix was able to move the ball downfield with ease. First play the game, he finds Troy Frank for about a 10 to 12-yard gain. Okay, so first down, you're moving. It's up-tempo. And then the next play, you know, he throws a pass short to, I forget to who else.

That's a three-yard gain. It's like, all right, now you've got second and seven coming up. Then you just see Nick's what I would say is the play of the day here for the Broncos and Tuesday's training camp. He's got pressure coming from Nick Benito and Zach Allen. He's staying firm and patient in the pocket. He delivers a strike to Troy Franklin who makes a diving catch at about 20 yards depth. And that keeps the chains moving.

And it puts the Broncos in very comfortable field position, which they eventually got downfield. It would have set up a game-winning field goal for the. the Broncos, but Troy in what we call crunch time scenarios here for this Broncos offense, at least in the move of the ball period. What do you think this is, Cody? Do you think it's a mental hurdle that he got past? Do you think it's, okay, I've really got the offense memorized really well.

Now I know my landmarks or whatever it is. I know exactly what I'm supposed to be doing here or, you know, I started getting some momentum. I'm on kind of a hot streak. What contributes to this sort of breakthrough for a player like this? camp because as of last year, I would say up until kind of late in the season, you could probably say that Troy Franklin had the football equivalent to the yips, which, you know, that's where pitchers, they can't hit the strike zone to save their life. And it's just a, it's almost like a plague that comes upon them that they can't shake. It seemed like Troy had the football equivalent

of that last year, where, man, no matter what they try, if they'd get him the ball on a screen, if they try to get him the ball on a slant, if they try to go deep, you know, whatever it was, it just wasn't working. What is the biggest contributing factor do you think to a guy like this and maybe even specifically in his situation experiencing this type of emergence? I think a lot of it is just overthinking, you know, learning the playbook, you know, this will be a reference. Some of my, I mean, even some of us, well, I'm 31.

Sarah, you're in your 30s, people that love to still play college football, you know, especially the new one that just came out. Think of it as like Road to Glory, right? I think for Troy, you come in, you're got to work your way up the depth chart, right? So that means you've got various things you've got to achieve. I think so much for Troy, it was about mastering the playbook and understanding, okay, this is your role. Last year, he was really kind of buried behind, you know, Cortland Sutton, Marvin Mims, Devon Valey, Josh Reynolds as one of those guys, you know, so it was a little frustrating for him because he just,

his opportunities weren't as a plenty as they are right now. He wasn't getting as many reps in training camp last year. You know, he's getting relegated to the third team offense and, you know, maybe getting a couple of reps from time to time on the second string quarterback last year. But that just wasn't, I don't think it was clocking on him. Now he's standing on business at this point. But he's figuring it out and he's just got this level of confidence. He knows the playbook.

And now he knows how we can attack certain levels of defense. But the Broncos are also doing a great job, in my opinion, of putting him in positions to succeed where it's not just, hey, Troy, run the go ball. We want to get you behind the defense. That's it. It's, no, we're going to attack every level of the field with Troy. And you're seeing that Oregon Ducks, Bo Nicks. Franklin connection, what saw them thrive in the two years that Bo had at the University of Oregon.

You're seeing that play out in front of your very eyes right here at Broncos practice. I can't help but wonder if this is part of the reason why the Broncos allowed things to leak this offseason. Like, you know, their cursory interest potentially in Stefan Diggs or, you know, the fact that Cooper Cup really wanted to play in Denver potentially if the if the two sides were, you know, wanting to play ball. And same thing with Debo Samuel. I mean, like, that stuff doesn't really leak out of the Broncos building these days. So you can't help but wonder if maybe some of that stuff did come out this offseason as a motivating factor for these young receivers to say, no, we're turning down opportunities to go get guys that could help this team now that would ultimately be making you a sacrifice. Like you would be the sacrificial lamb on the altar of Stefan Diggs or, you know, whoever X, Y, Z could be any veteran receiver. Thank God they can do that.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, that's, and that was the dilemma early is like, do we want the instant gratification of, I've brought up this analogy a number of times before Cody, but it's like the kids in the room with the one marshmallow, the guy's like, hey, I'm going to leave the room. You can have this marshmallow, but if you don't eat it by the time I come back, you can have two. It's kind of like the same situation with these young receivers in Sean Payton early in the offseason saying, hey, I don't think it's as big of a need as everybody's saying. And then people like me are sitting here interpreting that as he said, oh,

he said that they need a veteran receiver. He's just saying it's not the number one must have. Broncos didn't bring in any veteran receivers other than Trent Shurfield. And you and I were kind of, I mean, at least for me, I was very dismissive of even that move. But these guys have gotten that vote of confidence from Sean Payton. And I can't help but think that, man, hey, we're passing on digs. We're passing on Cooper Cup. We're passing on Debo, Sam.

We don't want those guys. We want you guys to step up. I can't help but feel like maybe that's a contributing factor to their confidence level. Well, and certainly Troy's the type of guy who will find motivation. You know, he doesn't necessarily, I mean, he's got his own personal motivations as a human being and as a player. But, yeah, you talk about outside circumstances beyond your control. Certainly, I think I could light a fire under him. And I just think that he's going to be such a big part of this offense this upcoming season.

Alongside Pat Bryan, we'll also talk about him as well. The Broncos mix things up a little bit, though, during Tuesday's training camp practices with several players getting some veteran days off. We'll tell you how the Broncos' offensive line looked without Garrett Bulls. and Ben Powers and Mike McGlenshey. We'll break all that down here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. This episode is presented by Yahoo Fantasy, and it's the best time of the year, folks,

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So the young guys got a chance to go out there and go up against this star-studded pass rush of the Denver Broncos. Cody's going to tell us how they looked out there. And maybe what we can look forward to with this preseason game coming up because these young guys are going to get a lot of snaps, a lot of opportunities to prove themselves out there. But Broncos country, I want to say thank you once again to all of you that make us your first listen of the day.

every single day. And if you wouldn't mind, we'd love you to take a couple of seconds. Hit subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts as well as on YouTube. Let's talk about mixing up the offensive line, Cody. In the offensive line preview that I did about, you know, a couple weeks ago before training camp, really felt excited about the depth of this group. A lot of young guys with potential, not really many drafted young guys, at least highly drafted young guys, but it sounds like with a few veterans getting the day off.

off, these young offensive linemen got a chance to show what they can do against that top defensive line. Yeah, and look, we told listeners a little bit earlier about Bo Nix and the move the ball period that the Broncos had. And that was against the Broncos aggressive defense led by Nick Benito, Zach Allen, DJ Jones and Justice Sternard, LaVelle Bailey, and obviously the starting secondary there for the Broncos. So think of that what you want. But, you know, I felt like, you know, with Mike McGlenshy, Garrett Bulls, and, you know, even look at Ben Powers getting a vet day off, it'll for the Broncos to get, you know,

look at some of the other guys that are probably in line to be the key backups at those positions and some flexibility with some swing guys there. But at left tackle, you had Frank Crum getting reps here with the offense. At left guard, you had Matt Pert getting reps. Center, it still stayed Luke Wattenberg, right guard. It still stayed Quinn Miners. And then at right tackle, you had Alex Palchewski, you know, getting in the mix there for Mike McGlischy.

And these guys got some good work. And I thought they did well, you know, for a large force day. So not only did they get reps with Bo Nix, but these guys would then stay on the field for reps with Jared Stidham. Some guys would mix and match a little bit with Sam Ellinger and that third team offensive line. So a lot of reps here, which I imagine, a lot of these guys are going to play probably more than the starters do in Saturdays preseason game against the 49ers here.

But very interesting to see. And look, one guy I think we want to see kind of steps forward from a little bit is Frank Crum. Frank has moments, right? And I still think for where he's at, you certainly see the athleticism, the elite athleticism that Sean Payton talks about. I think it's just about piecing it together and being able to just get your steps right and being able to adjust when you're going against Nick Benito, who is not only physical and very strong, but he's very explosive, very athletic.

You have to figure out as a young offensive lineman, how am I going to protect the quarterback and how am I going to do it against this guy that's got a wide arsenal of pass rush moves? That's always a challenge there. Frank Crum had a play during the day that I really kind of, you know, Andrew Mason and I were standing next to which was he was like, whoa, was that Frank Crum? It was with Jared Stid him in the second team offense. Jonah Ellis, very, very strong offseason training camp for him,

rushing off the edge. Frank Crum got his hands on Jonah and he kind of ragged all of him. He tossed him and Jonah rolled, you know, away from the play there. So for Frank, it's like, okay, Frank can get hands on guys. It's good. It's good. It's very good. It's just when he doesn't get hands on guys,

it's still kind of a work in progress for him. Yeah, when he doesn't get hands on guys, it's kind of like if you watch Lord of the Rings, you see the ants moving from one end of Middle Earth to the other. You know, it's like, and that's a big dude that moves slow when he gets caught in the quicksand, right? But obviously when he is getting hands on and when you can see that athleticism shining through,

it's like the, what do they call them, the dancing bears out there, right? That's what you want to see from Frank. And I think that certainly when you get to the preseason, you're going to get opportunities to see this guy playing some left tackle and seeing how much he's improved this past offseason and spending a ton of time with. I think every picture I saw of Bo Nix this offseason, Frank Crum was somewhere in the background or hanging out with him.

So he's spending a lot of time with these guys. And I feel like he's one of those players that gives you that, I don't want to say future starter vibe, Cody, but maybe the Broncos do view him that way. We've never heard them really talk like that, but they prioritize him after the draft. I know that's still a lottery ticket more so than it is a, it's not like a Drew Sanders situation where you drafted the guy 60 something overall and you believe that he can be a starter. It's more of a lottery ticket to say, this guy's got the physical skills. We believe we can develop those physical skills.

Zach Streif has proven he can get the best out of these offensive linemen. So it's a worthwhile lottery ticket, maybe a little bit of a, you know, extra something there. So that's what I'm excited about with him is to see that year one to year two progression. And if he's ragdolling guys like Jonah Ellis, man, he might be one of the standout players of the preseason. Well, what's one of the most important things you need to know? I mean, outside of knowing if, hey, you know what you're starting offensive line looks

like? It's what does it look like if there's an injury? Like, who is the next guy up? And can he come in and the offense doesn't fall off, you know, a peg just because of that. I think that's important. And we were wondering that last year, I think specifically, when Mike McGlenshey went down a week two against the Steelers with the MCL injury, Alex Paucheski comes in.

And when Pauco was in, we're like, wow, like we were having conversations and discussions. Like, could Mike McGlenshy move to left tackle if the Broncos don't re-sign Garrett Bulls and could Pauco be the starting right tackle? Like, that's where our minds go a lot. But, you know, you need to make sure that if some guy goes down, you at least have someone who is capable of stepping and not saying they can play at the same level. Like if Quinn Miners were to ever miss a game, it's hard to experience. expect anyone to come in and play like Quinn Miners at right guard. That's hard. You know,

there's a rarity with that. But you need to make sure at least it's capable and that you can stand in and swing and throw punches against other teams. I think that's huge. And I think the Broncos have the depth right now to do so, even though they're still playing around with it right now. Yeah, it's going to be fun to see the combinations that they use throughout the preseason because you almost get the sense that they could keep up to 10 offensive linemen, depending on which guys they really like amongst this young group. I know that they brought up Nick Garzullo late last year to protect him from potentially signing elsewhere. We haven't really seen or heard much of Alex Forsyth who started a couple games for the team last year. Clay Webb was one of their

highest price undrafted players. So a lot of intrigue on the backup offensive line category where, I mean, the Broncos haven't really invested a ton of high draft capital there. They just haven't. I think they're due to potentially do that going forward. But maybe this preseason will be a huge determining factor for the pro scouting department and saying, all right, yeah, we got to start making plans here going forward for drafting some, you know, guys in the top 100 or the top four rounds, whatever it may be, we've got to start drafting some more alignment because these guys just, they're not developing at the pace that we need right now and we need some more talent in there. So this will be a huge preseason for them.

I would say Alex Forsyth is having a very solid preseason, you know, he's one of those guys that we talked about the other day about falling into the guy, the quiet cat, the quiet cat a little bit and quiet is good. Now I'll say behind him, Joe Machowski continues to struggle. I mean, we're seeing quarterback center exchange issues there. And I'll be honest,

I'm a little surprised he's still on the roster because of that. But then again, if this happens in Saturdays preseason game, I guarantee you next week the Broncos are more than likely start mixing a match in Nick Garzulow with some guard center reps or maybe Clay Webb with some guard center reps with that third team offensive line. Because Sam Ellinger, I mean, he's balling.

he's having a terrific gap himself. And, you know, if you've ever seen the movie Sinners, it's when the vampire comes in and he goes, Sammy. Every time Sam Ellinger makes a great play, I'm posting that on Twitter during the game so all of you can see that. Having fun with that. But, man, it's been rough. Like for Sam to shine with some of the exchanges,

some of the snaps he's received, it's been a little remarkable, at least from my vantage point. So we'll see it all play out here when the preseason game rolls around on Saturday against 49ers. Of course, you're going to get coverage here. lockdown Broncos leading up to it and also the post game afterwards. You're getting to the aftermath as well. Lockdown Broncos is going to keep you busy all year long.

Broncos country. We appreciate you here. We still got a lot to talk about, though, including why the Broncos' roster depth has coaches like Darren Rizzi saying, ah, the team, we're going to have to make some tough decisions when it comes to the roster cutdown date. We'll highlight that and more on today's episode of the show. Today's Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by friends over there at Monarch money.

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with this app. It's amazing. So take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NFL at Monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That's Monarchmoney.com code locked on NFL for half off your first year. The Denver Broncos roster has a multitude of players that are young guys, rookies, undrafted, free agents, and veteran guys. They're going to make the roster cut down initially after the third and final preseason game more difficult.

And this coaching staff is publicly aware. about that. We'll dive into that here on today's episode. Lock on Broncos Sitter. Today was a day where we had a chance to actually catch up with the coordinators now. It wasn't at the podium. It was off to the side separate. So you can check out those interviews if you miss them. It'll be on the Broncos official website and also their YouTube page. But we had a chance to catch up with Joe Lombardi, Vance Joseph, and Darren Rizzy. I thought Darren Rizzi had said something very interesting, right, because he was a big hire by Sean this offseason. And those two have had a really great working relationship historically.

the time that they've been together. But Darren Rizzi said something about this Broncos roster from the young guys, the veterans that stood out to me. And certainly from what we're seeing at camp, it reigns true. When it ultimately comes down to the roster cutdown, if this team stays healthy as is going throughout the entire preseason, the Broncos are going to have to make some very difficult decisions because the competition is elevating this team at a multitude of spots on offense,

on defense. But special teams is a big part of that. Here's what Rizzi said. Rizzi told us after practice, he said, I don't think that I've ever been a part of camp. This is my 17th year in the league where there's going to be as many tough decisions as we're going to have. Is this a good thing or is this a bad thing here for the Broncos because of the fact that Sean also doesn't want to lose out on guys who maybe land elsewhere and have success? It's definitely a double-edged sword, right?

Because you want to have a great roster. You want to be getting in position where you might be letting go of some players that could go contribute elsewhere because your team is just that good. now for the armchair general manager in me, I want to say, let's try and trade some of these guys. You know, let's get some value because if you're not getting value for guys and they are going off and having success elsewhere, that's where you're kicking yourself a little bit. If you're George Peyton, because then you're saying, well, shoot,

this guy was good in our camp. He was good in the preseason. We liked him in the pro scouting department. We liked him in the college scouting, you know, in the development process, all that. And then we just cut him. We put him on waivers and didn't even try. to trade him because we were having this internal dilemma about, well, we want to keep this guy.

We want to see it through. You know, you have to get value for these guys. If you have such a good roster that you're going to be cutting good players, don't cut good players. Trade the good players, right? And George Payton has been an expert at this in the past of getting a fifth and a seventh round pick for Trinity Benson. And with all due respect to Trinity Benson, that was a highway robbery of a trade because

ultimately, I don't even think he really played all that much. for Detroit. It was just a, he parlayed a great training camp and preseason into an opportunity elsewhere. And the Broncos have to leverage those sorts of things. They have to get these things out there now where, I mean,

the good teams out there, the teams that are on the fringe of being good, they're not going to be able to sit on waivers this year. They need to get aggressive. If they want to upgrade their rosters, if they like some of these guys, that's where having joint practices with the 49ers and the Cardinals is going to help.

You have friends all over the league. You got friends in high places like New York. York with Darren Mugi there. Make trades to get future assets, if nothing else, that don't leave you feeling like, man, we just let this guy go and now he's playing well somewhere else. Well, heck, the other day, the Jets signed Mario Goodrich, who was the cornerback, the Broncos had released him initially, gets picked up there. And I was thinking to myself as like, all right, maybe the Jets are paying attention

to this Broncos roster a little bit. I imagine Darren Mujing those guys are. And when he have the close ties, and I imagine that third final preseason game against New Orleans. I'm sure they're going to be paying attention a little bit to Denver's roster, maybe at some spots with some of the younger guys. But, I mean, sir, I agree with you. I had a chance to ask Sean Peyton the other day about evaluating these young guys, right? We have three preseason games that we luckily get a watch.

I know some fans don't like the preseason. I love it because I want to see these younger guys play. I want to see who has the chance to maybe emerge down the line one or two years from now. And the depth, you think it's super important. And the one thing, you know, Sean said is eventually that's going to change to two because the NFL is looking at an additional regular season game. And Sean gave me a great answer where he said, that's why we really try to schedule these joint practices.

Denver's got two this year. This is the first time they've had two joint practices in quite some time. Usually it's one a year. Now it's two a year. And we might see this be the strategy going forward with the reduction in preseason games. But now you get a little bit more of an extensive look against another special teams unit in a joint practice where it's like, we've got this on tape now. That's how the Broncos discovered Christian Welch last year.

year in the whole process in the preseason and he was on the regular season, played in a few games for the Broncos before he eventually got released by the team. So that is, I think, the value of elevating these younger guys, the guys who could play special teams quite a bit. And I'd say those standouts, J.L. Skinner had a heck of a special team's play where the Jeremy Croshoop boomed a punt, high angle. It bounced at the five and popped up and Skinner just sat there on the one, like hills barely before the goal line, caught it, kept it in bounds.

the ball would have been placed on maybe like the inch yard. And that would have been great for the Broncos defense that they currently have if that was a real game scenario. Chris Abrams drain shining on special teams. I mean, we're going to get a great look at some of these younger guys enjoy practices, but also Saturday's preseason game. It's going to be crucial. I think always,

and I think a lot of Broncos country thinks about how Terrell Davis made his big splash. I think that was in Japan, you know, on special teams. And that got him, his ticket to the roster and then the rest is history sort of thing. And you just never know when a special teams play can be parlayed into something else. I mean, wasn't it, Wesley Woodyard made his hay on special teams for the longest time. Danny Trevathan, a lot of different guys initially stood out on special teams before they played. David Bruton, absolutely.

I mean, Kavon and Webster became a core piece of the special teams for that Super Bowl 50 team. And guys do just play special teams now. It's an absolute, it's not just the third phase that you kind of forget. about or you only think about when things are bad, it can be a huge difference maker for, especially for a team like this, to where you may have the number one defense in the league. If you're pinning teams deep consistently, that is, that's more of a weapon than sometimes even like having a decent drive. Like if you go three and out, you punt the ball down to the one, how many safeties did

the Broncos have last year? I mean, they can do those sorts of things. They had two in one game against Seattle. It did. That was the first time. Was that the first time in like 50 years or 30 years that that had happened? I think there was something like that. So, man, it's a huge asset to these guys.

And yes, they do have to get it right. Because if somebody else goes elsewhere and has just a monstrous season, we're all going to be pointing back to this point in time and wondering what went wrong. I want to ask you a question. And Broncos country, feel free to chime in as your paying attention to the show here. Sir, if you were an NFL player, which situation would you take here? year, would you, if you had to play in the NFL for, let's say, you got five seasons, but you were a player who is a key special teams guy, you maybe rotated in, whether

he'd be on offense or defense, would you take that five year window or would you take the window, you only play special teams, but you're in the league for 10 years? Which one are you choose? Ten. Give me the 10 years. Give me the longevity. I mean, if you do something that well, to be that reliable, to stick around for that long, that means you're really good at what you do, you know? So I would take 10 years. I would. I would, I'm interested in no way you would say. Not being a punt or a kick or two, I should have included that. You got to be something besides those two positions.

Can't be a long snapper either, I would say that. Yeah, that's tough. I mean, it's just a gamble, right? Because it's like, all right, you may rotate in or there's an injury. You maybe play a couple of games on defense. I would want to play defense over offense. Yeah, I'm a defensive guy at heart. I would take the 10-year special teams just because I love that element,

especially like coming in. That's where I kind of made my haze. player early on in my developmental trajectory. I was a kickoff machine, man. Anytime you, I was on kickoff, it was a tackle. So I would love that aspect. I loved being a gunner and a jammer. I always thought that was fun as well.

I would take the 10 years. As long as I got to do that, that role as a gunner, jammer, and just being a guy who runs down on kickoff and makes the tackle on the guy, I would do that for 10 years. Yeah, I love that because, I mean, hey, you get a jersey and shoulder pads. You're playing every game. I mean, you get one of the, you get one of the Spies. 53.

the money's good, right? I mean, you get to go hit somebody. You might make a game-changing play here and there. Maybe the ideal scenario would be to be like a great return man who also can be the gunner, too, right? Because, you know what? I got the playmaker, Gene and me, Cody. I ain't really fast or anything like that, but that's always been my dream.

This will be like, all right, I'm going to be the Devin Hester or the Deshaun Jackson taking it back win game late on a return. Oh, man. I would love to that. Funny story one time. And then obviously we'll close out the show here. I returned one punt in my career, right? It was my senior year.

I got maybe 10 yards. That was it. You know, we didn't get off the field quite a bit my senior year. We gave up a lot of points. But my only kick return touchdown that I ever had in my career, I took it for a touchdown. And I was like, all right, I can hang my hat on that. So we'll go with that. Broncos country.

That's a little question for you here today. What would you prefer, you know, several years playing offense or defense plus being primarily special teams? Or would you take the 10-year career as a. Special teams enthusiast. Let us know your thoughts here. But Broncos country, Denver is traveling tomorrow to take on the 49ers. They'll arrive in San Francisco.

Thursday will be the joint practice. So no football activity on Wednesday, but Sarah and I, we're going to sit down and we're going to talk about what we want to see from the Broncos offense against the 49ers in joint practice. We're going to also talk about what we will see from the defense against the 49ers' offense. You're getting a joint practice preview on tomorrow's episode, Locked on Broncos.