Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Why Denver Broncos Can Get To Super Bowl 60 In 2025

Episode Date: February 12, 2025

The Denver Broncos can get to Super Bowl 60 in 2025 because of Bo Nix, Sean Payton, and a variety of assets that will allow them to be aggressive in NFL Free Agency and the NFL Draft. How can Nix grow inside of the Broncos offense this upcoming season and how can Payton use his experience to further push the culture towards winning or competing for a Super Bowl? 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!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.PrizePicksDownload the app and use code lockedonnfl to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL FanDuelRight now, new FanDuel customers can get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Bonus Bets if your first FIVE DOLLAR bet wins!Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. 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.

2025 is officially here. And with every team at zero and zero, we'll tell you how the Denver Broncos, they can headline Super Bowl 60 in Santa Clara. We'll break that down and much more on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast,

part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's happening in Broncos country? Welcome into another episode of Lockedon Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you all the everydayers out there in Broncos country.

Thanks for making us your first listen for all your Broncos news, content coverage, analysis, and more that you get objective points of view from straight to the point. No fluff, no BS. You get that here on the show every single day. I'm Cody Roark, Broncos reporter from Mile High Sports. Join, as always, by Sarah Bedinger, site expert, predominantly orange.com and Broncos, country. We got a lot in store for you here on today's episode of the show.

We'll tell you why the Broncos can make a push. for Super Bowl 60 here this upcoming season and Bo Knicks's second year. And that's because the Broncos, they have the offseason assets to go big this off season. We'll tell you why Sean Payton gives the Broncos an advantage and an edge to get to the Super Bowl. And we'll also talk about how the Broncos can utilize Bo Knicks to get to the big dance here 10 years after they won Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara, which Super Bowl 60 happens to be back in Santa Clara. So 10 years later, can the Broncos get back to where they last won? That is the theme.

That is the goal for them this upcoming season. You get down today's episode of the show. So, Sarah, I mean, let's start off here with the primary reason why the Broncos can get to Super Bowl 60 here in 2025, 2025, the 26th season. And that is because of Bo Nix. The Broncos, they finally have their franchise quarterback. No more carousel, no more going into the offseason wondering, is this the guy? The Broncos found their guy last year in Bo Nix. He clearly proved it.

And there's still so much that Bo can do to continue to get better himself that could put the Broncos on the right track. Cody, when's the last time the Denver Broncos went into an offseason knowing like we have a quarterback that we can really build around? I mean, to go from starting the full season the year before to coming into the off season saying, man, like this is the guy that we're going to be building around when it comes to our roster plans. When it comes to every trade that we consider, we have Bo Nicks or our quarterback in the back of our mind. it has to be Peyton Manning. I mean, obviously we know that they kind of built around Drew Locke in the 2020 offseason. That off season, however, included some serious hurdles in and of itself, right?

And so, I mean, I guess Russell Wilson is the guy that you could say. I mean, I don't know. I guess he wasn't the quarterback, though, in January or February at that point when the Broncos had him. So, or when they traded for him anyway. So, I mean, just racking my brain off the top of my head. Going into the offseason, Peyton is the only one, right? So when you have back-to-back seasons of a quarterback and that being a victory for the franchise,

I guess that's kind of sad, but also great news, like you said, for the Broncos. We shut down the carousel. Nobody's getting on the ride. It's going to be the Bo Nix experience for the Denver Broncos and Broncos country for the foreseeable future. And I do believe that he has Super Bowl winning quarterback type of medal. We saw it this past season. I know a lot of people might argue, you were one in six or whatever it was against teams that had a winning record or you were one in six in one score games and things like that.

And man, I just feel like if you watch the Broncos this past season, right, Cody, you feel like Bo Nix has that it factor that can help you win these big games. And the Broncos didn't close out every game, but I don't feel like Bo Nix was necessarily the reason why they lost against some of those great teams or why they couldn't seal the deal against some of the teams with winning records. No, 100%. And I think that was the point I was just going to try to make here. When you look at Denver's losses this season,

you can maybe pinpoint early on in the year that maybe weeks one and weeks two. Maybe that's the reason that the Broncos lost those first two games was because Bo Necks, those were his first two games in the NFL. And then from that point forward, we saw something changing bone. It all started on the road in that week three matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield when that team was, I mean, Sarah, at that point, they were the high scoring offense in the NFL in the first three weeks. And then obviously a Pat Sertan defensive player,

they're shutting down Mike Evans and company. But then the Broncos and Bo Nix, they come out slinging it a little bit. And then Bo's using his legs. And all of a sudden, Denver, they manhandle Tampa Bay there. And it kind of accelerated a little bit of a run for them. But the thing I think we've seen from Bo is the evolution of him in his first season, right? Early on in the season was trying to figure, okay, what throws can he make? What throws can't he make necessarily?

And then Boe started to get comfortable. You notice how comfortable he got. And I think you saw it against the Atlanta foul because, I mean, now he's ripping NFL throws. Like he's at one point there was a stretch. I think it was during the four game win streak that the Broncos had midway through the season where we're like, wow, Bo Nix has made big boy NFL throws in four straight games and has, you know, made what we could call maybe candidate for throw of the year essentially. To me, I think nothing was more impressive than the Marvin Mims one though. I think that 93 yard touchdown,

the placement, just the velocity of it and where it ended up. I mean, that was a perfect play. And it was against really good coverage too there. So that I think is, is it. You mentioned the it factor here for Bo Nix, but it's just the confidence that this guy has. When he's on the field, just you see the competitive spirit from him. And he doesn't get easily rattled. Like that's the thing I like about Bo is that it factor, you see the swagger. You see the, you know, the excitement. You know, when he throws a 93-hour touchdown, he's doing the airplane all the way down

the entire field celebrating with his teammates. But then when there's something that's happening, you know, like he has the three interception game against the Colts, it doesn't rattle him. And he comes back and he still finds a way to throw three touchdown. in that same regard. He's got the confidence. He's got the swagger. And I think he's got the belief in his teammates, too,

which I think is the most important thing. These guys have all bought into Bow Nicks early on. And I feel like if they didn't have that buy-in in Boe, maybe in some of those games where he struggled, maybe that would have shot Bo's confidence a little bit. But, I mean, they're so confident in Bo. And I think that's going to be a big reason why. And here's the number one thing, too, Sarah.

And I'm anxious for your thoughts on this. When I'm Broncos Country, yours as well as you're watching or listening to the show here is now the Broncos in our position to add pieces around Bo here in his second season. I know everyone's watching and they're eyeing. How do you avoid a sophomore slum? Right. And that is going to be something that obviously everybody is wondering. Like, how is Bowdo Nix going to progress?

Because we know that progression in the NFL is not always linear. I mean, sometimes you take two steps back before you take another step or two forward. And I don't think that will necessarily be the case because of Bo Nix, mastering the Sean Payton offense. He kind of made an illusion at the end of the year when he was doing his final, you know, locker room clear-out interview that he felt like, you know, I think somebody asked him a question, like, what would you go back and tell yourself at the beginning of the year, you know, like what your rookie season is going to be like.

And I think he basically said, I was kind of surprised at how quickly the game slowed down, essentially is what he said. I'm paraphrasing that's so nice. But it is really nice because I think there was a bit of like, you know, not necessarily being scared, but you get a little, I can't imagine, Cody, being not being intimidated by stepping onto an NFL field as a rookie, especially going to Seattle and then playing a top defense like Pittsburgh in your first two games. But I think Bo was really impressed at how quickly he was able to adjust and adapt to the speed of the NFL. And we got a

glimpse of that against the Raiders when they're trying to get into his head in Las Vegas. And Bo, you know, he gave us that clip and the meme, the gift that will last, forever where he's like, I don't bear nothing, you know? And it's like, dude, this guy's got a little tinge of crazy in there, which is a good kind of crazy, right? You have to love it. And so that's the type of competitor that you need to have at the quarterback position. Do we care if Bo Nix is leading the NFL in EPA type stuff or adjusted this, that, and the other? No, we don't really care about that. I was having a great conversation with my brother, as I have a couple of nephews, one is a Chiefs fan. One is a Broncos fan, you know, and we were talking like about the Super Bowl and things

like that. And he said, you know, people are asking a really bad question, I feel. And he's like, people are asking, is Jalen Hertz going to be in the all time great conversation? And I think that's such an unfair question for Hertz, but I think it speaks to the situation with Boe Nix as well. Like, who really cares if you get to that point of like, is he going to be an all time great quarterback? If you can help your team win and win championships, like all. I care about is that Bo Nix gets one of those pictures where he's holding the Lombardi like Jalen Hertz was in the hallway, you know, where he's got the cigar and the backwards hat and the trophy, you know, as he's sitting on the floor, like a Michael Jordan type thing. That's the stuff that

we care about. Like I could care less about his stats, his advanced stats, EPA, adjusted ADOT. It doesn't matter. I don't care where he's going to rank in the all-time grades. I feel like this guy is a player that can help you win games and win big games at that. You know, the thing that, and I'm going to nitpick here a little bit, I think Jaden Daniels is obviously offensive rookie of the year, hell of a season, deserving of the award. I don't see why people aren't talking about Bo Nix more because everyone's like, you know, Jane Daniels had this historic season.

Yeah, you know, they made it to the playoffs, sort of the Broncos. And look, granted, the commanders went a little bit further, but Bo Nicks had better numbers overall in terms of stats in terms of overall touchdowns, passing touchdowns, passing yards. So why is it that Bo Nix's season is kind of getting glossed over? we were like Peter Schreger said at Radio Row that you know people we talk about both was for Jane Daniels's historic season like I understand the magnitude of what jaden was able to do where he was able to do it but why is Bo just all of a sudden just getting like the backside treatment

essentially because like you look at the numbers bo obviously had the better numbers in those aspects that I just mentioned there to me it's a little weird but obviously both those guys very deserving congrats to jaden Daniels but yeah I think people should be talking about boonex and he is going to be a primary reason I think that the Broncos if they get to the Super Bowl 60, he's going to be a big reason why they do that, especially if they add some pieces around him. But Broncos country, we're not done yet. Still on today's show, we're going to tell you why Sean Payton gives the Broncos a Super Bowl

edge. You're going to get that much more here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Today's Lockdown Broncos podcast is brought to you by friends over there at Fandu. And when the game tips off, the NBA action is just getting started. And there's no better place to get in on it than Fandu, America's number one sports. But you got Nicola Yolkitt. dropping 40 bombs on the Portland Trailblazers. You also got him nearing an average triple double almost every night he plays.

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That's Fandul.com for your shot at $150 in bonus bets. Make every moment more with Fandul an official sports betting partner of the NBA. Love him or hate him. Sean Payton is probably going to be one of the biggest reasons why the Denver Broncos win a Super Bowl, especially if it's going to be Super Bowl 60 this coming season. Sean Payton is one of the best head coaches in the NFL and in NFL history, quite frankly. And Cody and I are going to talk about why he's one of the primary reasons why this team can and potentially will win Super Bowl 60 this coming season. Broncos country, we appreciate you so much for tuning in every single day.

However you choose to do so, all you every day is out there, you know that your boys, Cody and Sarah. We got you all throughout the course of the off season. not already an everyday listener or a first, you know, every single day. Go ahead, hit subscribe. Get us at the top of your podcast feed and your YouTube algorithm right now. Do that right now. Cody, let's talk about the idea of Sean Peyton being one of the biggest reasons why the Broncos. I mean, let's just put it out there.

We're saying why they can and will win the Super Bowl this year. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility. I think initial odds out there. Anything is possible. Kevin Garnett told me that back in the day. I know it. So I believe it. He said it.

But look, I think Sean gets a lot of, he gets a ton of negative publicity for some reason. I know he's just kind of a, he's a little bit brazen, maybe sometimes a little bit crass. And not everybody likes that, especially in the media. But look, the guy is a great football coach. And he's been to the mountain top before. And I think that's the biggest reason why the Broncos can get there in 2025. Well, and I think when you look at Denver's story franchise history, I mean, it is an organization that has always had high expectations and it's had championship ambitions.

It was always championship or bust. That was the standard. And the Broncos at one point had one of the highest winning percentages in all of pro sports, you know, alongside some of the other top teams there. I know that was during the Peyton Manning reign when obviously Manning was the QB here for Denver, two Super Bowls and four years in terms of appearances, one Super Bowl win in those four seasons. And I think that the number one thing that stands out to me about what Sean Payton brings is he's done it. He talks to talk, but he's also walk to walk a handful of times.

And you've seen him transform it. And I always find it funny, Sarah. You get fans of other teams saying, well, Sean Payton's only won one Super Bowl. You know how many coaches would love to win a Super Bowl that have tried their whole entire career and I've never done it? They're chasing it, right? You still got coaches chasing it. So I think if you're trying to insult the coach by saying, oh, he's only one one

Super Bowl, I think that's a pretty cheap insult there. I mean, I would take it. I'd take one championship win, you know, if I was coaching, you know, that's the goal. That's the ambition. That's the dream for every player in the national football league. So Sean's got that expertise. He knows what it takes to get there. And I think when you look at all the players that he is coach that have come out and they've talked about Sean,

they say he gets the most out of you. And it's not always easy, but it's worth it in a sense. And I think that feels that competitive nature inside the Broncos locker. And look, Sean came in right away. And, you know, his first season, it's like analyzing, okay, hey, they've got this culture here, you know, in the locker room already, is it going to fit with what I need? And then you start to weed players out.

You start cutting and releasing players. They don't fit that culture anymore. You make changes. And all of a sudden in 2024, we start to see the Sean Payton culture come to fruition where it's like this young team who everybody has counted out, they don't pay attention to the outside noise. They just come out there and they compete and they ball their tails off at that point.

To me, that is a sign that Sean Payton is already working his magic since taking over as the head coach. And now that you have created that culture in that locker room, now you build around that. You've got your quarterback now. And for Sean Payton, it's no longer trying to say like, okay, hey, what are we going to do here? He has a plan in place that he's going to put forth here once free agency hits

and once the NFL draft hits. And that's going to get the Broncos there. And the goal was like Sean's got a lot of confidence here. You have alluded to it several times here where he believed. He said if we could have beaten the Buffalo bills, we felt very good about our chances going into Kansas City. and winning there. Sean doesn't believe this team is far off from where he thinks that they can be. But now the stakes rise up a little bit more. And obviously,

as a time we're sitting down and recording the show. We now know it's official. The New Orleans Saints have hired Kellynne Moore as their next head coach, which now means John Payton probably has the all clear to hire Darren Rizzy as the team's next special team's coordinator. That's something that could be coming down the pipe here in the next 48 hours. So we'll keep you posted here on lockdown Broncos. But I think a coach of Sean Payton's expertise who's done it. That that means everything. He knows what it takes to get there. And it's just about him being able to get that vision and carry it over so the players understand that. I think he's got a good, I think he's done a good job of that so far.

He really has. It's all about the details with Sean Peyton, isn't it? I mean, and you can tell that because the Broncos have gotten a lot better at the details over the last couple of seasons. I mean, so much better these last two years in terms of red zone efficiency, third down efficiency. I mean, you talk about a team that was one of the youngest in the NFL with 90 million in dead cap, which we bring up pretty much once every episode of this show, because it's worth noting. I mean, to take a team that was one of the youngest in the NFL with 90 million in dead cap to the playoffs with 10 victories is no small feat, especially when you consider even if you omit the Kansas City game in week 18, eight of the nine other wins are by nine or more points. And that speaks to coaching because, I mean, a lot of folks in Denver, fans of, you know,

the Broncos and people who cover the NFL for a living didn't think this team was going to be any good at all. And then you have people the same types of people that will say, well, they did what they were supposed to against bad teams. It's like, well, I thought the Broncos were a bad team. So, I mean, I guess I don't know exactly where the disconnect is happening here that is the team bad and they did what you're supposed to do. I don't, I don't know how you fit that equation together. But to me, Cody, Sean Payton, with the details is so much, so much bigger than anybody. even realizes. Like to to fire Ben Codwica and hire potentially Darren Rizzi is an emphasis on the details because special teams kind of crippled the team in certain moments last season. And

Sean Payton's not going to stand for that. He's not going to tolerate it. And again, not everybody likes that kind of stuff, but if you see an upgrade potentially out there, you go for it. Like we went from talking about the, and I was excited about this as anybody. You can go back and find episodes of the show where I advocated for Nathaniel Hackett, but we went from talking about excitement over Tuggalicious to now having a legitimate top 10 scoring offense in two years time and a top defense as well. Like the details matter to Sean Payton. And he puts, I guess, feet to what he says when he starts talking about these things.

When you talk about the top 10 scoring offense and what's crazy about that is that's all without a good run game. That's without a tied in. And these are areas I think that Sean is going to emphasize here. And obviously we talked about the possibilities of them. adding a receiver, whether that's free agency, whether that's trading for a Cooper Cup or a Debo, Sam. We got episodes here, Lockdown Broncos,

where we've highlighted the pros and cons of that. If you've missed that, make sure you go check it out wherever you get your podcast for more of that in-depth breakdown of that. But, I mean, I also see a comment too from, you know, from Broncos fans, like, well, the Broncos aren't just one or two pieces away. How many teams, realistically speaking, Sarah, when we look at the NFL, 11 versus 11, how many teams truly are one piece away, right?

I think that's a, I think that's just an easy talking point. That's like a little bit of a narrative that gets spread out there when the reality is you don't necessarily like you can, you need to beefing up certain pieces of your roster. But the idea that one player is just going to be the missing piece that's prohibiting you from getting to the Super Bowl is kind of crazy to think about because it takes so many players. It takes 11 guys on offense, 11 guys on defense, 11 guys on special teams and good backups in the event your starters get injured. There's not a one piece fits all type of approach. here, but it's do you have the right guys in that locker room where you have a culture that has been fostered and created where these guys can step in and they can plug in even if something happens. It doesn't derail your whole season. I think teams that have a good

foundation, they thrive in that. Like for example, even though they got bounced in the playoffs, look at the Detroit lines. They still finish with the record that they did despite all the major injuries that they had because I think they have a great culture where they had some guys come in and plug in and play, and unfortunately didn't do them, you know, enough in the playoffs because ultimately it all catches up to you. The war of attrition definitely wears down on you. Like, look at the Washington commanders. It wasn't just Jaden Daniels that got them to where they were. It was, okay, hey, you have a new head coach and Dan Quinn. You have some pieces around. You add a guy like Bobby Wagner and Freedancy. Like, it's not just one piece, push the needle for them.

And to be honest with you, I think we can look at the commanders as a great example. nobody thought that the commanders would even sniff the playoffs in 2024, even though they added Dan Quinn, even though they added Jaden Daniels, nobody had a belief in that. I think a lot of people said, okay, hey,

they're going to head in the right direction. They got some nice pieces around them, but they're not going to do much this year. It goes to show that maybe our expectations can be either too high or too low on teams going into it. So that's why I always say, like, hey, the off season, you're zero,

everyone's starting out at a baseline. And now it's like, what do you do to maybe get yourself better? right for the Broncos case the one score games that they've lost this year can you add pieces or can you find a way to use that experience say okay hey we've been in this position before now let's flip that to our advantage to where we're losing these one score games now we're winning these one score games and now our record is over double digit wins here once again it's more than 10 it might be 11 it might be 12 but it might even be 13 when you look at where the broncos were at a few of those few of those plays

were the difference in them winning 10 games then winning 13 games this season which would have changed the storyline drastically of this team. So Sean Payton, I think a lot of that, you got to give credit to him in this front office for what they have built here in Denver. And now they have a chance to add onto that even further, which I think should be exciting for everyone in Broncos country. We still have a lot more discussed here on today's show. Broncos country up next. We'll discuss why the Broncos have the assets this off season to fill major holes and potentially be big spenders if they want to. Here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Today's Lockdown Broncos podcast is brought to you our friends over there at prize picks and football season.

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The fourth quarter action on today's episode, Locked, Broncos is here and we're highlighting why the Broncos can get to Super Bowl 60 and win it here in 2025, 10 years after the fact they won it in Super Bowl 50 back in Santa Clara. We've highlighted why Bo Nix can be a primary reason there. We've even talked about the edge that Sean Payton has given the Broncos, but now, Sarah, the more important part in Broncos country, Denver's got the assets this offseason to make some big moves that can push the needle a little bit further. Yeah, Cody, I feel like this team has everything that you.

you want when it comes to from the top down, right? Ownership that is supportive of every area of the team, not meddling in the football aspect of things to the point that, I mean, how bad would it be to be? I mean, just the NFL equivalent. What's the NFL equivalent of what the Dallas Mavericks have in their ownership right now or their management? I mean, I don't know what the NFL.

Jerry Jones? Maybe Jerry Jones? I don't know. But, I mean, I was just talking to one of my best. It may be. That might be it. And that's good news for the Denver Broncos, if so. But I was just talking to one of my friends this morning who's like, man, I'm going to be jumping ship on the Mavs because look, how do you do that?

How do you trade when you're? So the Broncos ownership is the polar opposite of that, right? They are extremely supportive, cash rich, the richest owners in American pro sports. So you've got the ownership that's willing to literally rip the field out if it means helping the players stay safe late in the season. You've got an ownership group that's building a state-of-the-art training facility that players are going to want to play at, right? And an ownership group that's showing like,

hey, we're going to support, you know, things outside of football. Like these people actually care about others. And I think that's often not the case with maybe billionaires or at least the perception, right? And so just everything about this ownership group, Cody gives me confidence that the Broncos are going to have whatever assets they need at their disposal.

We know that the salary cap matters in the NFL in which the Broncos are top 10 in terms of salary cap space at roughly 35 million according to over the cap. And that number can increase even further with a handful of moves that this team could make. So the salary cap, not an issue anymore, despite the fact that you saw $35 million in dead money from Russell Wilson's deal. So I think those are two major factors.

When you talk about having offseason assets, the ownership and the ways that they're upgrading the facility, looking to upgrade other areas of the team outside of just, you know, the roster, I think that's huge. but also salary cap and the ability to use that cash that the ownership group has on hand, major assets for the Broncos in 2025. Yeah. And if you could explain a little bit too, because I also bring this up,

like we mentioned the cash richest ownership group in all American sports. And people are like, what does that have to do with the salary cap? It has nothing to do with the salary cap, but it more so has ways that you can maneuver around a little bit because you can structure contracts a certain way. You can allocate. You have the cash for these signing bonuses you could give players.

And to the analogy in which you say, said, it's like, people are like, well, let's just kicking the can down the road. To your point, the NFL is growing almost every year in revenue. We don't know what the salary cap officially is going to be so far this year that has not yet been announced. That's going to come very soon because free agency is legitimately just a month away from today. So that's going to have to obviously be formulated here. But with the increase in revenue and everything else, like the bill is always going to come

do, but you're also going to have money, Sarah. And you've made a great point that I think a lot of us can resonate with, right? there's things like a firm or you know what is what is the thing you use when you make a purchase or clara right you may do that and it's like all right hey i can just make some payments on this and i get a delay but it's like Denver i think has been very smart with how they do certain things to where it's like all right they know the bill is going to become due eventually but they're going to be in a better spot financially where it's like when that bill comes due they can restructure they can renegotiate or they can obviously just even say like hey we're going to take whatever that that money is there like that's what Denver did with the russell wilson thing and And after this year, that $35 million, boom, it's gone. Now 2026, the Broncos have even more to work with. They're going to have their draft picks intact, barring. They go crazy in terms of trading, you know, a lot of capital for some maybe some big name players, something that they could do.

I don't think that's going to be what the Broncos decide to do. But having assets there and having flexibility to move up in the draft, to move back, to do all these things and to sign a few big players in free agency, that right there just gives the Broncos ammunition to be able to say, hey, we can be aggressive, but if they're going to be aggressive, and Greg Penner has even said this, and George Payton has said this, if we're going to be aggressive, we're going to be smart about it. And if they're going to be aggressive, which I feel like they will, I'm very curious to see how they are smart about being aggressive in the ways in which they do it and what they decide

to attack because Denver can add some pieces that will help them, you know, win a couple more games this season. And hopefully, like I said, you have the best training staff right now in the NFL where a few years ago, you're the worst in terms of games lost due to injury on injured reserve. Then you go from first in Sean Payton's year. Then this year, you're second in games lost due to players being on injured reserve. That investment in Bo Lowry in the medical side of here is paid dividends. It makes the Broncos a hot spot. And now you have the assets to go out there and recruit guys.

And you got players like Nick Benito recruiting guys like T. Higgins on the phone. This stuff, I think the little details. And people see it. Even Debo Samuel, who we talked about, was at Radio Row and said, I think the Broncos could be something special this upcoming season. I believe for all these reasons, absolutely, the Broncos can't get to the Super Bowl this year at Super Bowl 60, and I think they also can win it.

But so much is going to change between like what they do now and what they do in the regular season and how things go. Like there's not just a one size fits all. It's how do you adjust to some of the obstacles that get created in that path? And certainly that Super Bowl 50 team saw a lot of that as well. Having a quarterback makes all the difference, doesn't it? I mean, when you talk about the long-term situation at that position being figured out, the Philadelphia Eagles are such a great example.

I mean, Howie Roseman built two completely different teams that were Super Bowl contenders within just a handful of years from each other, despite the fact that Carson Wentz turned out to be a bust after signing a big money contract. Like, they were able to recoup some picks from that. And yes, I know that the Eagles have had multiple drafts in recent years where they had multiple first round picks. But at the same time, they had similar hurdles to overcome in terms of the salary cap percentage that was being occupied by a guy who was no longer there in Carson Wentz.

And how did they overcome that? Well, by kicking the can down the road with a lot of their best players that they wanted to keep around, foundational guys, did they trade a number of players who were part of that previous 2017 Super Bowl run? Absolutely. They did. They got rid of a lot of those guys and moved on from a lot of them. but there's a reason why there's,

I mean, Fletcher Cox was there for so long. Jason Kelsey, Brandon Graham, all these different players that you can look at who are basically lifelong Eagles because I think Sean Peyton and the Saints

setting the example of these void years they are adding to the contract. What happens? Let's say you buy a Broncos jersey, right? It's 120 bucks on fanatics. You do Klarna on that. That means that you're paying, what, 30 bucks per situation?

When you buy the jersey, you have $150, in your account. So $30 comes out. The next time the next $30 installment comes out, you got paid by your job. So now you have $3,000 in your account or whatever it may be. And the next time it comes out, you had even more money. So like that's how the void years work. It's like it's the same recurring payment. And yet you keep on getting paid. Your bank account keeps getting bigger. That's how the NFL salary cap is working. The cap keeps going up and up and up and up, which means these void years that you're adding to the contract, they take up less percentage of the salary cap high, allowing you to keep guys on your roster longer

and kick the can down the road with other players and just kind of keep repeating that process. So it sounds easier than it probably is, Cody, in all reality, but a lot of players are amenable to this. And it's one of the only ways you're seeing teams keep continuity on their rosters in the NFL. And that's so important. I think in today's NFL, you have a consistent rate of high roster turnover. It's hard to establish a culture. It's hard to establish rhythm and consistency. And I think you see some teams that have some really good players that they have this constant rate of turnover. And yet they're still struggling. I think that Jacksonville Jaguars are a great example of that right now when you look at it in the NFL. So the road to get to Super Bowl 60 for the Broncos isn't going to be easy. We know who they're going to play.

We don't know when the NFL schedule is going to be officially released yet. But we know the Broncos, they're going to play the Raiders, the Charters, and the Chiefs twice in 2025. And because they finished in third place, the Broncos, they'll host Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals. and the Green Bay Packers, so two really good quarterbacks and two really good teams there, who finished third place in the AFC North and NFC North, respectively. And then the Broncos, they'll visit the New York Jets this upcoming season. And then they will also face the AFC South, the AFC, so Denver will host the Jaguars, the Titans, the Cowboys, the Giants, but they'll also travel to play the Texans, the Colts, the Super Bowl champion, Philadelphia Eagles, and the Washington commanders.

So that's going to be, you know, the road there is not going to be easy. but you know what? I think this is a season. This is a schedule or the Broncos. They can go out there and they can prove a lot of naysayers wrong. And I'm excited for it. We got a lot to cover out through the entire offseason. Free agencies coming up. The scouting combine is coming up. We got you covered every step of the way here. Locked on Broncos for all your Broncos news, content coverage, analysis, and more. We'll see if there's any headway on some potential coaching moves here by Sean Payton.

Could Darren Rizzie be heading here to the Denver Broncos? It's something that could be coming very, very soon. We'll have you updated here on lockdown Broncos. for all you everydayers out there. That's what you can expect this week here on the show. We'll see you tomorrow for a brand new episode, Lockdown Broncos.