Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - UNLIKELY: Denver Broncos NOT EXPECTED to Use Franchise Tag This Offseason

Starting point is 00:00:00 The NFL franchise tag window is open and the Denver Broncos are not likely to make a move. We'll tell you why. You're 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, Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockedon Podcast Network,

Starting point is 00:00:29 the number one sports podcast network in the country. And that's all because of all you every dayers out there in Broncos. The Broncos country. Thank you so much for tuning in and making us your first listen, however you choose to do so every single day all year long. We appreciate you so much there. In today's episode of the show, the franchise tag window has opened around the NFL. And we're going to go through some of the options the Broncos have two franchise tag, but we'll tell you why it's unlikely they do that. Plus, the Broncos, they added a new coach to the coaching staff as Doug Belk comes in as a defensive backs coach. What will his role look like? Plus, we'll also tell you about Troy Franklin wanting to put on some wait this upcoming season and what that could do to his game. You're going to get all that here on today's episode of the show. I'm Cody Roarck, Credential Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports. Joined as always by Sarah Bedinger, the site expert over there at predominantly orange.com. Sarah, let's get into this here.

Starting point is 00:01:21 Franchise tag window every year, you know, everyone's looking at potential candidates for that the Broncos have several names that I think are franchise tag candidates. But I think the price tag is a big reason why they won't use it. They haven't been at this crossroads for a while. I think the last person that they franchise tagged, if I'm not mistaken, was it, was it Justin Simmons that they franchise tag? Did they franchise tag Bradley Chub when he was a member? I can't recall.

Starting point is 00:01:47 That's a great question. I don't know. Maybe one of the listeners will remember because I don't remember who's the last player they franchise tag now that you, now that you mentioned it. It must be Justin. It's got to be Justin Simmons. That's the last one I remember.

Starting point is 00:02:00 Yeah. If it was who wants to be a millionaire, I'd be putting my, you know, I would have brought it down to a 50-50, you know, and then I would have picked Justin Simmons for that. So I guess we're fixing to find out. But yeah, the franchise tag, Cody, like you mentioned, seems like it's at a prohibitive price for any of the Broncos players who would be even semi-viable candidates.

Starting point is 00:02:20 I think you have to start with John Franklin Myers, right, who is probably the team's top impending free agent departure. And the price to retain a defensive end or defensive tackle doesn't matter how he would be classified in terms of those, it's over 27 million. So that automatically wipes that option off the board. If we've been talking all offseason about at 15 million per year, the Broncos likely, you know, potentially not in on John Franklin Myers, not even that price.

Starting point is 00:02:48 I mean, certainly a 27 plus million fully guaranteed one year deal that affects your cap substantially, well, that's certainly got to be off the table. Yeah, I mean, and that's the idea. It's cheaper, Sarah. it's cheaper to just find a way to extend some of these players, right? I think if you were to look at any of the players that Denver could potentially place the franchise tag on, I mean, which one would you do it as a placeholder, right? Because sometimes that is what it's used for as a placeholder essentially for a deal.

Starting point is 00:03:17 I don't think you do it at linebacker. JFM would be the only guy that you would do that for, right? But I think that the idea is, hey, we're going to place the franchise tag on you. And the hope is that, what is it, by June or July that we'll try to get the terms on a new contract, it's only kind of like this, hey, we're going to do this just so we don't lose you in NFL free agency, so to speak. I don't see that necessarily happening. Or, I mean, for example, you can look at several players around the league. What is?

Starting point is 00:03:43 I think the Dallas Cowboys are expected to place the franchise tag on George Pickens, which opens up the idea for potential trade. But usually in these situations, like, hey, if you are trading for this player and giving up capital, the contract extension essentially has to come with the trade as we have seen previously. But yeah, I mean, financially, it doesn't make sense for DeVar to place a franchise tag on any of these guys here. The best bet is to try to negotiate. And look, if you're really worried about losing one of these guys in free agency, you may just essentially, or players sometimes do this, they price themselves out of maybe going back or, you know, to certain destinations there. They play the hardball game where they wait and see what the market says.

Starting point is 00:04:24 But how many times have we seen that kind of backfire for certain players where they hold out and they hold out? Justin Simmons is a great example of that where last year in NFL free agency, there were several teams that were interested in him. Obviously, the former Broncos all pro. And I just don't, I think he held that a little too long. It impacted his market. And he didn't land on any NFL team, which is crazy because Justin Simmons should have been playing football for somebody last season.

Starting point is 00:04:49 So I think for Denver, the wise decision for George Payton, for Sean Peyton, certainly since they have been running this team. Sean Payton has never placed the franchise tag on anybody here since coming team in 2023. It just doesn't make sense for them to do that. So in your opinion, is there any player on another team out there? I mean, we mentioned George Pickens. It could be franchise tag that probably won't return to their team that maybe Denver

Starting point is 00:05:17 could have interest in potentially trading for. I think George Pickens is one. I think we talk a lot about Breece Hall as well on this show, right? And I think the Jets moving on from Breece Hall seems like a bit of maybe too easy. of like a foregone conclusion at this point. Maybe the Jets have interest in bringing him back. Or maybe they're saying, hey, you know what? We're not just going to let Breece Hall hit free agency.

Starting point is 00:05:39 We're going to trade him for something. And they could easily afford franchise tagging him because the franchise tag for running backs, which anybody that's wondering, hey, what about J.K. Dobbins? Well, it's over 14 million fully guaranteed to slap the franchise tag even on a running back these days. So that's not going to happen. But you think about those types of players or maybe obviously Travis, with the Jaguars trade somebody to the Broncos? I don't think so.

Starting point is 00:06:04 But there's got to be plenty of candidates out there as well that you would look at Devin Lloyd, another player who could get the franchise tag, although that would also be substantially higher because linebackers are now lumped together. And the NFL doesn't have proper classification between off ball linebackers and pass rushes. The linebacker franchise tag number is over 27 million as well, are projected at this point.

Starting point is 00:06:29 And these are all semi-projected figures until the salary cap is officially set. But roughly, this is what they'll be. So for somebody like Devin Lloyd, if the Jaguars want to tag him, that's going to cost over $27 million when the going rate for off-ball linebackers is, you know, closer to $20 million or less per season. So it's really, it puts teams in a bit of a bind here with good players because of the way these distinctions are made, especially at those types of positions,

Starting point is 00:06:59 whereas for somebody like a running back, this is a huge help. I mean, you're not necessarily just going to get 14 million average annual value on the open market as a free agent running back. So it's just beauty in the eye of the beholder, but the Broncos don't really have anybody who necessarily looks like a legitimate candidate for this distinction.

Starting point is 00:07:22 Yeah, it doesn't make sense this year. Maybe in future years, a few years down the road, Who knows? I mean, I hope the Broncos continue to manage and navigate their salary cap as wisely as they certainly have here. You know, I'd also say, too, maybe the franchise tag. The numbers kind of make it a little worthwhile, I think, for some players to play with that risk, right? Because typically, players do not play on the franchise tag. As we've seen, there have been several players over the course of history that have played on the tag. They've gotten hurt, and subsequently it has impacted their market completely. And some of these guys have never landed on teams again, or they get a lower overall estimated contract value when they have a chance

Starting point is 00:08:01 because, like, well, you just got hurt. And it's like, well, I played on the franchise tag. And sometimes those teams, especially the team that they played for on the franchise tag, they don't bring them back. That to me, I think, is why there's such a negative connotation on the franchise tag. But I do think was the overall market valuation of some of these deals. Like, hey, if you do play on the tag, you are going to make a lot of money here. year, but that doesn't mean in their future years. And I think that's where the dilemma

Starting point is 00:08:27 certainly is kind of brought to the table here for it. But yes, Broncos country between J.K. Dobbins, Justin Sternad, Alex Singleton, John Franklin Myers, it is highly unlikely that Denver places the franchise tag on any of these players. It simply wouldn't make sense at this standpoint, unless it was just a placeholder in terms of a contract extension. But you feel like you've got enough good faith with these guys because of the value that they brought to the table last year, because of the team culture that Denver has that we wouldn't need this. We would negotiate outright with your agent if we truly wanted to bring you back where we didn't need to put this on as a placeholder.

Starting point is 00:09:03 That's what I think is a benefit to the Broncos not tagging anybody as well. Yeah, for sure. And I think if you look at some of the guys who resigned this past year, maybe even the most likely option to get a tag based on that would be somebody like Will Lutz, based on the price. I mean, even if, let's say even if, if Malcolm Roach was hitting free agency. I don't think the Broncos would franchise tag him at $27 million.

Starting point is 00:09:29 Luke Wattenberg, are you going to franchise tag him at the price going rate of interior offensive? I mean, I just don't think that would happen. That's why you get those long-term deals done early. And that's the benefit of it, right? For foresight from this Broncos front office is that you've worked hard to get those key extensions done so that you don't have to deal with this so that you can take that drama off the table and focus on like,

Starting point is 00:09:52 going to in a future episode this week, the future extensions, as opposed to all throughout the summer, we're dealing with, all right, do we get an extension done with this guy or not? You're eliminating that drama from your offseason program, taking care of your players, setting a good culture, and building on the foundation that's been put in place. Yeah, imagine Zach Allen or Nick Benito in the franchise tag dilemma. That's why it's always wise. If you view a player as a long-term face of the franchise or an impactful piece for the next three years. That's why you just take care of them. You don't play around. You don't get into the games with it. That's what I like about this Broncos front office. They don't play around with that. But to your point, we are going to talk about those future contract extensions here in tomorrow's episode of show here. But Broncos country coming up next, Sarah and I, we're going to talk about the Broncos new defensive backs coach Doug Belk, where he comes from a little bit of background on him and whether or not he's going to fill two potential coaching roles on the defensive staff here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos.

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Starting point is 00:11:39 in coverage at ethos.com slash lockdown NFL. That is, ethhOS.com slash lockdown NFL. ethos.com slash lockdown NFL application times and rates may vary. The Denver Broncos have a brand new coach for their deepest position group on the roster. Doug Belk is coming over from the USC Trojans coaching staff as another intriguing hire out of the college ranks by Sean Payton and maybe another rising coaching candidate on the staff in Broncos country. We're going to tell you all about this hire as well as much more on today's episode of Lockdown Broncos. But thank you to every single one of you out there that considers yourself an everyday listener of the show. And you know what? If you haven't already done so, Cody and I want to invite you to join the everyday club.

Starting point is 00:12:28 The off season, it doesn't exist for the everyday or all access club. Join the group chat to talk about the Broncos year round. And you'll get every episode of the show ad free plus more exclusive content. So head to the show notes to subscribe to that today. Cody and I really appreciate you doing that. And Cody, I think this is fascinating because. As Sean Payton has said, you know, quick to fire, slow to hire. That's kind of an interesting tactic when it comes to building your staff,

Starting point is 00:12:55 but we've seen it come to fruition multiple times, right? He puts action behind those words. He does make quick decisions, as we saw at the beginning of the offseason, you know, getting rid of Joe Lombardi, moving on from wide receivers coach Kerry Colbert and cornerbacks coach Addison Lynch. This move to hire Doug Belk from the USC staff, it really does feel like the first step in, well, obviously, replacing multiple guys in the defensive backfield, but certainly getting another ascending coach for that position group, which could be the deepest on the team.

Starting point is 00:13:27 Yeah. And I think the big question here, too, is like with Belk coming over, this is his first jump to the NFL, right? Previously, he's always been a college coach. He started off his career at Valdoz State, has worked his way up, was a graduate assistant in 2014 with Nick Sabin at Alabama. And then he went to West Virginia, where he coached the secondary. And he started to elevate and grow a little bit more. Then he became the defensive coordinator at Houston and became an assistant or associate head coach for that program before. And then obviously that ended once his head coach initially got fired there. But then he obviously made the jump to USC where he was the coach there for the last two seasons. My question here with Belk is because of the fact you had the departure

Starting point is 00:14:06 Jim Leonard, who was the defensive backs coach, but he was also the passing game coordinator. And then you'd mention the departure of Addison Lynch, the cornerbacks coach. Is this one of those draws because he has coach corners and safeties. Is this one of those moves, maybe where Sean Peyton says, we're going to have one coach who's going to coach both safeties and corners. I mean, the Broncos, they previously did that with Ed Donatel, so to speak, when he was the DB's coach. He coached both corners and safeties.

Starting point is 00:14:31 He had all of those guys working through everyday drills together, whereas with Jim Leonard, you know, the Broncos, the corners and the safeties, they would all work together at the very beginning period of Indie, doing back pedal, doing certain drills. But then they would break off to corners. Then they'd split off with Jim Leonard, who would go. coach the safety's there. And also, I mean, is Sean Payton's plan here? Is it going to be defensive backs coach plus passing game coordinator here for Doug Belk?

Starting point is 00:14:55 A lot of these things we do not know right now, but I imagine is the NFL combine. It happens, which obviously takes place next week. We'll hear from Sean Payton. I wonder if he's going to give us a little bit of an update on some of these coaching vacancies plus what Belk's true rule really is. All we know, he's going to be coaching defensive backs. And you do wonder part of it is too, like, okay, will we see those other hires kind of in the interim?

Starting point is 00:15:19 But with Jim Leonard and the past game coordinator title, was that more so just trying to keep him around and keep other teams from being able to just poach him easily? Or you give him a raise, so you also give him a boost in title, right? And not that it wasn't necessary, but you know, you can kind of see on the offensive side of the ball, too,

Starting point is 00:15:39 that they've eliminated some cooks from the kitchen, so to speak. And we'll see if Sean adds those cooks back to the kitchen, or if he kind of just condenses the staff a little bit. Maybe he felt over this last year that there were just too many voices contributing and he wants a few, you know, fewer, I guess, or a couple fewer in that realm. So to me, Vance Joseph is a defensive backs guy as well, Cody, right? So he knows what he's doing in terms of helping develop those guys,

Starting point is 00:16:05 but he's also the defensive coordinator overall. Did they look back at this year and think, okay, having Vance as the defensive coordinator plus Jim as the past game coordinator was just a little bit to we we weren't always on the same page and we needed to be you know or whatever I mean it's not that these things are always positive right I think that that's that's the reality of any work environment so to me I'm interested to see number one are there going to be any additional hires and number two I really am fascinated by the fact that you went to the college ranks again because what is their main objective at the college ranks it's to develop players I mean that's the

Starting point is 00:16:44 reality. You've got to have a fast track development system for all these guys in order to compete. And I like that the Broncos are going that route. It's kind of interesting. We've seen Sean have a little bit of an unconventional approach. He hasn't shot away from hiring guys that have been in the pros, right? But he's also dipped into the college room, as we've seen. He's also dipped into the high school world as well and bringing guys who were high school coaches onto staff as quality control or assistant coaches. Logan Kilgore is a great example. Was coaching high school. was coaching Arch Manning in high school, then came over to the NFL as an offensive quality control coach, and now he's the quarterback's coach here.

Starting point is 00:17:21 So there is this realm, and I'm curious to see what questions. We'll never know this, but I'm curious how Sean interviews these guys. And also more important, like when it comes to defensive staff hirings here, how much say does Vance Joseph have in that? That's one thing that I am not aware of. Ultimately, Sean has the final say, but my hope is that at least Vance was included in the collaboration process here, because if he's going to have guys coming in on to his staff that are going to be coaching up his players, as to mesh within the scheme that Vance has created.

Starting point is 00:17:52 100%. It does. Cody, we have some breaking news as we're recording this episode, too. The Dolphins cut Tyreek Hill. And Bradley Chubb was also already released as well. So it's a little quick aside to the idea that, okay, hey, that Broncos Dolphins game back in 2023, 70 to 20,

Starting point is 00:18:10 how crazy things have gone differently for both. of those teams. Maybe we'll do a bonus show at some point on that situation. But I think that you're right, Vance should have say in this because ultimately the Broncos have to consider, are we going to lose Vance soon? I mean, they were planning on the likelihood, maybe even the reality that he was going to leave here in 2026. So as you move toward the future, do you kind of put one eye on who could be our succession plan? Now that Jim Leonard is gone, I think Vance has to have a role. in maybe assessing that as well and saying, I think these are some coaches that I want to pour into

Starting point is 00:18:48 or some coaches that I feel like could really pick up the culture of what we're doing here, the scheme, like they're really sharp in this way. And I'm sure those gears are already turning behind the scenes for the Denver Broncos. But it does make sense to me that if you want continuity on the coaching staff, you don't want to reset and overhaul everything, that you would get a bunch of coaches who, you know, they agree with and they can mold and adapt to Vance Joseph's style of coaching and continue that if he does get a head coaching gig in the future.

Starting point is 00:19:20 Yeah, I'm curious to see what Belk is going to bring to the table. Obviously, you mentioned the connections about, hey, your job at the college levels to develop these players and becoming draftable well, that also brings forth the point of what Sean Payton has referenced so many times that, you know, you look at the coaching trees or you look at the trees or the branches that connect players to coaches all across the league.

Starting point is 00:19:40 I mean, look at Pat Bryant, Jim Leonard, when he was an assistant, obviously, at Illinois. That was one thing that stood out there. So I think all these things will be interesting. I know a lot of people now are going to throw maybe some USC secondary players into their mock drafts in the future here. But very interesting to see kind of how everything connects here for the Broncos going forward in Broncos country. Or if you're a USC fan, you're happy to be a Broncos fan as well. Let us know what Doug Belk will bring to the table here for this Broncos secondary. But coming up next, Sarah Bedinger and myself, we're going to dive into Troy Franklin.

Starting point is 00:20:10 And at Radio Row, he indicated he wants to put on more weight. We'll talk about what that can do for the Broncos offense here on today's episode of the show. Today's episode with Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by friends over there at Indeed. Workplace chaos, deadline stacking up, inbox overflowing in the one position you have to feel is still sitting open. When the pressure is on and you need the right hire, this is a job for sponsored jobs. Indeed, sponsored jobs helps you reach the people who actually fit what you're looking for, the skills, the experiences, the location. So you're just not hoping that the right candidate stumbles across your post. You're making sure that they find it.

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Starting point is 00:22:19 the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Troy Franklin took a massive jump from his rookie season to his sophomore campaign in 2025. And now as he prepares to answer his third season in the NFL, he wants to put on more weight. How can it help the Broncos offense going forward? We'll dive into that here on today's episode show. I just want to say thank you.

Starting point is 00:22:37 Once again, to everyone in Broncos country. Thank you so much for tuning in and making us your first listen, however you choose to do so here. Sarah, let's talk about Troy Franklin here, 23 years old, right? He's a young guy, six foot two. He played this past season at 180 pounds, and he mentioned he wants to put on five to 10 pounds more of muscle and weight. How do you think that might impact him and his role, right? Because I think for a guy who's at six foot two, 180, Troy, I think is a great route runner. I think he's arguably the best separator on the roster here.

Starting point is 00:23:11 And we saw him see a lot more attention from defenses after the first handful of five weeks of the season, right? Because primarily at the beginning of the season, teams were taking away Cortland Sutton. That was the focus on third down. When teams shifted that focus to court, Troy Franklin really started to emerge as Bo Nix's go-to target on third down. Then the attention shifted a little bit from there. We've seen Troy have some big games. There's still some moments where obviously in Troy's game, he can improve. but for him to be thinking about adding five to 10 pounds of muscle,

Starting point is 00:23:40 how do you think that might impact his game and his style based on how he's already playing? It's interesting because, you know, for a guy whose game, you would like to say a lot of it is predicated on speed and separation, like you said, and getting vertical. Troy has kind of been a factor after the catch in the red zone. He's kind of been more of a factor in ways that you would think of a bigger bodied receiver being effective, at least in the,

Starting point is 00:24:06 the Denver offense. And so maybe for him, he's thinking, okay, number one, adding weight is going to help me be more durable. Number two, it's going to help me be more physical. Number three, I mean, obviously you just get literally physically stronger. You're able to, you know, kind of maybe do a little bit more mossing out there against some defensive backs. I mean, strength is is crucial when it comes to winning at the catch point. You know, you can improve your vertical jump. If you can improve your lower body strength as well. So like adding muscle, Cody, in, in what I like to do in my personal life. And I know this ain't the squad show,

Starting point is 00:24:41 but we'll get into a little bit of this. It's like when I'm adding strength, I'm not thinking about explosiveness at all. I'm thinking about, okay, I want to get bigger. I want to get more, you know, aesthetic. And for a football player, it's completely different, right? Because it's not about the aesthetics. It's about how can I hold up over the course of a season.

Starting point is 00:25:01 How can I keep my explosiveness while adding another element of physicality? how can I be better at winning at the catch point? What was I missing in situations where I maybe fell short in my second NFL season? How can I get to this goal of a thousand yards or whatever his goals are for this coming season? So to me it's fascinating because he's always kind of been that lanky sort of frame, right? 6-2, 6-3, 180 pounds. I mean, that is a thin frame. And so for him, I think it's got to be, and it's not necessarily the Broncos facing a ton of man coverage either.

Starting point is 00:25:34 So is he trying to get off press? What's your take on this too? Because, I mean, I didn't play football at that high of a level. So I don't know what exactly would be his motivation for trying to add this weight. I think maybe as well as just maybe taking some shots over the middle. I mean, there were a couple of times this year, he got popped. He got popped. And that's not necessarily a him thing.

Starting point is 00:25:55 That's just, you know, the speed and velocity of a defender coming his way, the size that those guys have. I mean, especially with the safeties in today's game, the linebackers, that might just be an element for. for Troy, he wants to add, maybe just to be able to, you know, brace for contact across the middle, knowing that he's going to probably have that type of role, knowing he's going to probably have to take some of those shots. Maybe it's just by saying, hey, I need to get my body as right as it can. The one thing I want to see here with Troy, especially if he's going to be adding weight here

Starting point is 00:26:20 is, okay, is there a balancer, right? Because if you add on weight, that doesn't necessarily mean you lose your speed, right? I think if you're adding 15 to 20 pounds of muscle, then we'd have that conversation. But I think for Troy, can you build up maybe your lower leg. mass a little bit more, right? Because of the fact that, you know, hamstring injury, he's been pretty durable so far throughout his career, right? But the injury that he sustained there, soft tissue, the hamstring, that was problematic. That impacted his ability to play in the AFC championship game, unfortunately. And it took him away from the divisional game, right?

Starting point is 00:26:52 Really, his second true playoff game where I think he could have had a big impact, maybe in that second half, but it dwindled the Broncos receivers down to three. We saw Troy make several clutch catches this season for Denver to set up some game winning opportunities for them. But maybe this is just about saying, hey, in order to make it through a whole 17 game season to make it extra games into the playoffs, I just want to have my body be a little bit more durable from that standpoint. Because I think at 6 foot 2, you can do a variety of different things as we've seen guys like Pat Bryant do. You don't necessarily need to have the speed dynamic to be a big time threat. And also, we didn't see Troy use hardly as much downfield as we

Starting point is 00:27:31 saw maybe in his rookie season. So is this more of a, hey, my role is evolving. I'm going to be a primarily short intermediate guy. Of course, they'll take some downfield shots there, but I need to be able to have that role. I kind of envision him playing a little bit of the role that Devon Veil had when he was a rookie for Denver. Yeah, I could see that for sure. And I think when we talk in terms of after the catchability, that's one of his great strengths, right? And when you add lean muscle to your frame, you're able to withstand, you know, contact much better. And I think like, you know, even just for me personally, Cody, I'll be, you know, I'll be bragging all my, you know, with my kids around. I'll be like, hey, guys, look how strong dad is or whatever.

Starting point is 00:28:11 And I'll be like, try to, try to hang from my arm or, you know, try to, if you can tackle me, I'll give you $5. You know, you just feel like invincible. When you feel strong, you feel like, all right, this guy can't take me down. Like nobody's going to be able to tackle me at first contact. Nobody's going to be able to take me down if I have a full head of steam. So maybe Troy's kind of thinking this will help take his game to the next level in terms of just, you know, you figure out, okay, I belong in the NFL. Like I can make these plays. I can make these catches.

Starting point is 00:28:41 I can win with speed. But how can I now take the next step in terms of not just belonging in the NFL, but being somebody that teams have to game plan for? This is really a necessary step in that direction, I think, for Troy to be able to unlock maybe the fullness of those skills that he brings to the table and to have that mental. confidence going into every matchup that he faces. I also wonder if this is also coming from Sean Payton, right? Because usually Sean likes his players to be at a certain weight, you know, guys that are certain heights, he wants them at certain weights or based on their skill set.

Starting point is 00:29:12 And he's very big about guys making weight. Was this a recommendation from Sean to say, hey, Troy, can you get five to 10 pounds heavier this off season? Or is this just Troy saying, hey, I want to do this because I don't know if Troy would go through with this unless he gets the approval from Sean, because ultimately it's what does Sean want his guys playing at. That to me, I think you look at little Jordan Humphrey. I mean, he was a heavier weight type of guy, right?

Starting point is 00:29:37 Decent size to his aspect, though, granted taller than Troy Franklin. So is this more of a for Troy wanting to be more physical, wanting to be able to sustain contact, wanting to be a better blocker, so to speak? I thought Troy did a really good job as a blocker last season. I thought this receiving group actually was very underrated in that department in comparison to years past where you and I were saying, Hey, can the Broncos find someone to block anybody to get the run game going? They got the guys that are willing to do that.

Starting point is 00:30:02 So I think these are things to monitor here as the offseason continues here for the Broncos. If Troy adds five to 10 pounds of muscle Broncos country, what do you think it means for his game? Let us know here on today's episode of the show. For all you every day, tomorrow's episode, Lockdown Broncos, Sarah and I, we're going to sit down and we're going to talk about three potential contract extension candidates. The Broncos could look to extend going into the off season or during or before training camp to avoid some of those things. we talked about of the franchise tag going forward in years ahead. We'll debate those contract extension candidates on tomorrow's episode,

Starting point is 00:30:34 Lockdown Broncos.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - UNLIKELY: Denver Broncos NOT EXPECTED to Use Franchise Tag This Offseason

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