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AFC West Rivalry INTENSIFIES—Kansas City Chiefs Game Changers MUST Step Up vs Broncos!

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Kansas City Chiefs defense faces a pivotal test as Week 1 looms—can George Karlaftis and Chris Jones disrupt Bo Nix and a revamped Denver Broncos offense? With new threats like Jaylen Waddle joining Denver and key questions around injuries to Chamarri Conner and Alohi Gilman, the defensive lineup could see unconventional adjustments. The battle in the trenches intensifies, especially as Peter Woods and Khyiris Tonga look to anchor the interior line against a run-heavy Broncos attack.

The conversation focused on the Chiefs’ strategic options, from utilizing rookie Delane in the secondary to deploying linebacker blitz packages if a standard four-man rush falters. Concerns about linebacker depth and the health of Nick Bolton and Drew Tranquil raise the stakes. Will Kansas City’s defensive game changers step up, and how will Steve Spagnuolo adapt his schemes to counter Denver’s multifaceted offense? Chiefs Kingdom gets an early glimpse of how these critical pieces shape a championship run.

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AFC West Rivalry INTENSIFIES—Kansas City Chiefs Game Changers MUST Step Up vs Broncos!

Locked On Chiefs - Daily Podcast On The Kansas City Chiefs

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Locked On Chiefs - Daily Podcast On The Kansas City ChiefsAFC West Rivalry INTENSIFIES—Kansas City Chiefs Game Changers MUST Step Up vs Broncos!. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.

This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by the Dell XPS. I'm Wes Goldberg from Lockdown NBA Daily and Lockdown Heat. So what does it feel like to have a better laptop like the Dell XPS powered by Intel Core? With a premium design that's thin and light, it feels smooth. With a responsive touch screen, it feels fast and precise. And with long lasting battery life, it feels like non-stop energy with a laptop that can keep up. Built for those who want better, the Dell XPS. Built for you. Hey, Drake May here. As a pro quarterback, I know I can't do it alone. I have to trust my team, and that goes for my money too. Which is why I use Betterment, the trusted investing and savings platform. Their automated investing tools always add my back. Just like my old line, over a million people already trust Betterment to build their wealth. So I know I'm in good company. Start building yours at Betterment.com or download the app.

Investing involves risk. Performance not guaranteed. Paid client ad. Views may not be representative. See App Store and Google Play reviews. Learn more at Betterment.com slash ambassadors. This team is not just an offense that defense has to come through as well. From the land of the free and the home of the chiefs, this is the Lockdown Chiefs podcast. You are Lockdown Chiefs. Your daily Kansas City Chiefs podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. Welcome in Chiefs Kingdom. Thanks for bringing with us yet again. We're brought to you today by our friends over at Fandool $350 in bonus bets right now. Guaranteed. When you bet $5 and every day for seven days, join it all at fandool.com. That's how you get into it. We're getting into it right now. We're going to go over the warning signs. We have to pay attention to this week as the chiefs get ready for their opening week game against the Denver Broncos. That's coming up later in the show. Before that, it's a all out call.

Game changers, we need you. That's what this team should be going for. Who can answer that call that's coming up in a little bit. We start with job number one for this chiefs defense. It comes down to taking a step forward against an AFC West divisional foe. Everything matters more than getting after and disrupting bone nicks. All offseason, people been talking about Patrick Holmes and his miraculous recovery. Well, bone nicks recovered as well. And he's back from all accounts here in Denver. It looks like he's playing pretty well. They feel confident. Sean Baton feels like they're able to take the next step forward. The one thing that can disrupt that is pressure in his face. And that is the name of this game. We're going to preview it all for you later in the week. We'll talk with Matt tomorrow about it as well. But this is the overriding point for me. No, it's a huge point. They have to take care of it and they have to be prepared for bone x. And their passing game should be better than it probably was in 2025. They added jail and water.

Jail and water is going to be a threat. And I mean, that's just the way this is. It's a question of how does all of it play into how it's all played together? That becomes the question. But again, yeah, it's getting to bone x. But the bigger question for me is, ask him Jalotti right now. Is he going to play? And it's not necessarily even is he going to play to be able to give you past rush? It's is he going to play because if Jalotti plays, that helps in the running game way more than I'm worried about him helping in the passing game. And that could be huge because if you slow down the running attack and they have to go through the ball, then you could put in a guy like Armason Thomas and feel a bit more comfortable with it or Felix and you DK use Alma. This is just having Jalotti out there and trying to get after the passer and probably not having the explosion you want him to. Can he have the anchor and hold the edge? Yeah, I mean, Kudos to Armason. He's been getting some good pub about his play in the preseason and that's all well and good.

But make no mistake. He is a designated pass rusher. He is not out there to be on first down. That is a liability at this point. And I can't say the fear of San Dekor was almost much better out on the edge at least. I do feel he plays the run better inside a tackle when he's lined up in a gap rather than on the outside tried to set the edge. So yes, actually is key. This is again, another injury that I'm fairly comfortable with and I feel pretty positive about. Maybe I'll be surprised and he won't be able to go, but I am most concerned about what happens on second down because first down, I'm pretty sure that Sean Payton is going to be pretty Vadella JK Dobbins backed up by RJ Harvey and now they have Jonah Coleman as well. Coleman is a rookie, but he is a battering ram played at Washington was able to get a ton of yardage done when it was dirty work. And that's what I think rounds out the rushing attack. Yes, Tadad baddies on the roster as well for the Denver Broncos, but this is a Broncos run game that is built to attack the chiefs and they continue to do that.

That's where they have to come back to first and foremost in order to get to the pass rush downs. Yeah. And that's, that's really, I guess, my point is that you have to look at this from the perspective of you have to stop the run against the Broncos. Yes, you have to be worried about bonics. Don't get me wrong. You have to get past rush on bonics and that is going to be a huge key, but you have to be able to stop the run because there the other thing that the run does for the Broncos is it keeps the ball to Patrick Mahomes's hands. Like that is all of what they're trying to do. And that's exactly another reason like what we talked about on Monday show that you have to be looking at this going, OK, the chiefs need to be trying to run the ball to keep the not necessarily keep it out of bone mixes hands, but to keep their defense off the field as well. That's part of it is trying to keep your defense as fresh as you possibly can because nobody is going to be ready for week one the way that they used to be ready for week one just because of how much they played in the preseason. But beyond that, they're still not going to be ready for week one, even if they had their normal snaps because they haven't played a full game yet.

This is going to be a different experience for the entire roster, same with Broncos. Yeah, there's no way around it. It has to be through that particular rush. And we're going to talk about all the key matchups in our preview show coming up from Monday night. So make sure that you join us for that as well as the rest of this week. But one that I don't think is going to get to the prime matchups is this one. Ben powers looks like he's the left guard. They did bring in the rookie from boys, the state cage. I just, I don't know that he's going to be any kind of factor here. So it's that spot against Chris Jones that they're going to have to double because I see him as the weak point on their offensive line. So Wattenberg, their center is going to have to come over, which means in past fresh downs, it's woods that's going to have the single matchup. He has to make that pay if they want to make sure that they get quick pressure in Bose face because most still despite the ankle from everything that I've seen in camp footage and on preseason, he still can move pretty well despite having a foot injury is what he's

coming back from. It's on an ACL for him. So I really see unfortunately, this is going to be a lot of emphasis on woods play up front week one. Yeah. And woods and Tonga and I understand you're not thinking Tonga is going to be in there for past fresh, but the problem is is they're only going to have really three defensive tackles that I think they're going to feel great about because woods is going to be one of them. Chris Jones is going to be another. You just went out and got a guy that is mostly a one tech, mostly to back up Tonga. I would expect he's going to be active in this game unless you're going to sit him and you're going to bring up Marcus Harris, but you're not going to have a ton of past rush that you're going to be able to pick from at your defensive tackle spot. Unless you go to a scenario where they showed in the preseason how they put our Mason Thomas in FAU as defensive tackles and they use car and we know they've used car loft as defense as a defense attack all at times. Now, obviously, it's not an every down thing, but that gives you more rotational guys that you can use in the past rush department on the interior to get after the quarterback,

which is what you're going to need. So it just becomes a question of how are you going to mix and match all these guys? And I don't know the thing. No yet, specifically, I know Spagnot has some ideas, but past Tonga and woods and Chris Jones, I don't know that you really feel great about your depth getting after the past because the hormonal and lots on pup and won't be back for at least six weeks. Yeah. And what I'm concerned about right now, as we say here today is we don't know what that's going to look like in terms of what they go to next rather than a four man fresh, four man rush. I'm concerned about what the possibilities are, but we're going to talk about that later in the week this week. So make sure you're subscribed so you get all of that. But Bowen X is going to be the focus of how you take away that game. If they run on you, they run on you. And I know that Steve Spagnot is going to be all right with that. Bow has to be it in order to win the matchup against Bowen X, you got to make plays. Game changers are what's needed. There are several options in there next.

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so you never miss a call for businesses every call can be an opportunity and missing one can mean missing a customer. Quote brings calls, text and voicemails together in one place. So team C the full conversation respond quickly and stay organized. It can also be set up in minutes on any device keeping an existing number and add teammates as the business grows. Coahe helps businesses stay reachable and professional without being complex and with an optional AI agent for after hours calls, businesses can ask questions and book appointments even with the team is off line. If I call business and nobody answers, I'm probably moving on to the next option for a small business that missed call could be a customer they never get back having quote keep calls, text and voicemails organized gives the team a better chance to respond quickly and keep that customer. Money is on the line. Always say hello with quote, try quote for free plus get 20% off your first six months when you go to quote.com slash locked on NFL. That's Q U O dot com slash locked on NFL. She's need game changers all over the place and against this Broncos particular team,

at least what we know of them right now. There are a couple that stand out to me of who needs to make those plays for this defense. And unfortunately the number one guy that I feel is going to be in a position because of what I feel the Broncos are going to try to do with Waddle on crossing routes, et cetera, trying to get up the field vertically. The guy that's in position the most if he's aligned is tomorrow Connor because he has a knack for making plays in the open field and now that he's back in a true safety role and shouldn't be lining up at nickel specifically against Jalen Waddle when he's in the slot. There's no way Connor can cover him. So I need them to do everything they can to get Connor in a position to make plays and be that game changer. The question is, is he going to be healthy enough? I feel like it's another situation where the injury is just coming along and I think it's going to be no problem, but that's yet to be seen. Yeah, and that's going to be the big question. That's what we're going to be looking for when we start looking at the defensive side on the ball on Wednesday when they report back to practice is Connor practicing.

Is he going in full or is he on the sidelines? That's going to be the big question. If he plays, I agree with you. He needs to be a game changer. The guy I'm looking for, honestly, and I know this isn't a fair position to put him in, but it's going to be delaying. And the reason I say it's going to be delaying is because they're going to attack the lane. I truly think that they're going to go after the rookie, expecting that they can be the rookie. And I think he showed enough in the preseason that maybe they shouldn't necessarily consider doing that, but I still expect that they're going to do it because he's a rookie. So they're going to try to beat him and expect that they can. If he can step up and just have a good game, it doesn't have to be excellent. But if he can just have a good game, that puts this defense in a much better position where you can start talking about getting to the quarterback and getting to the boat next a little bit easier because they're holding the ball a little bit longer. Yeah, absolutely. I think it's hard to predict because everybody's going to go at a rookie until they know what the rookie is, or at least they feel they know what the rookie is. So that makes a lot of sense.

But in order to do that, back to our first topic, the quarterback has to have time to direct that kind of attention. We'll talk about the matchups in the secondary later in the week and going into the preview show. I don't think it's going to be a one guy on delaying most of the day. I don't feel the Broncos are going to do that. So the other side of that coin is who has to be a game changer that has the ability. It could be Chris Jones. I expect him to be double teamed all day long. So I don't know that it'll be him. For me, I have to see the guy that should be the next up, be the next up. George Harlotte has to get to Bonix. He has to move him off of his spot. He has to disrupt his reads, particularly when he's trying to go out to both right to George's side of the field, whether that's batting the passes down or whatever it has to be, George has to affect this game and be that guy that changes the momentum up front. Well, and I think George can be that guy. My big thing is when you start looking at this, I think Carl Optis needs to, I agree with

you. He needs to step up. He needs to be that game changer and a guy that steps in basically with, with right behind Chris Jones getting double team and getting to the passer. I, a thousand percent agree with that. The one that I'm going to be really interested in and what I'm going to be, it's not even really a specific player, but the entire defensive line and linebackers, if they're up close enough to the line as primates to rush the passer, get your hands up. Look at what we saw in the preseason. It doesn't matter. Like, getting to Bonix is going to be great. Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to say I don't want them to get pressure. I, sure, I want them to be able to get hits and pressure and, and sacks. That would be fantastic. But if you can knock down three or four balls in this game, it completely changes what the Broncos are going to be able to do on. Because you're going to be getting passes, batted down in situations that are high leverage for the Broncos. And if you can consistently do that all season, it changes the way, I'm not saying it has to change the way that you play your defense, but it changes the effectiveness of your defense.

Because even if you don't get home, you're getting, you're getting it to where it's not going to be a play that can be, you know, a positive for the Broncos. That's what you need. Yeah, absolutely. A PPU is a PPU. It doesn't matter whether it comes from somebody in the secondary or a batted ball at the line. It's still the same effect that they lost that down and got zip out of it. That's what they have to be going for over and over and over. If you can do that, and I do think there'll be opportunities to get negative plays in the run game. And so long as they are prepared for it and the only question that I have is to say to linebackers that'll come up here probably when we talk to Matt, if not the day after, in order to get those TFLs in particular to put them in long yardage situations, it is complimentary that you have to play the run first, especially on early downs. That's where George comes in though, because I think he's grown into a player that has past responsibility and he can play the run well. I don't have any problem with that, but he's got to be more of the catalyst.

He's got to be the guy that is Chris isn't on the field or Chris is getting too much attention. I have to go make these plays. Yep. And quite frankly, I mean, you talk about George being that guy. I think he can be, but the other one is where we get from Peter Woods. And I'm not seeing he has to be a game changer. I know it's where we're trying to focus on, but he can be a game changer. It's the question of what did we see in the preseason? We saw in training camp what he was doing. He was destroying people early in training camp. He had a quiet preseason. Is that because he is adapting to the NFL and adapting to the game? Or is it because they just generally were going very vanilla in the preseason and he's going to be changing the way he plays? Because if you get the interior past rush with Chris Jones getting doubled, that makes it easier for everybody else. Yeah. And honestly, another situation where health comes into this as well because he did have an ankle in the preseason. Let's hope that this extended period with the late game week one allows woods to recover

a bit more than maybe he has in the past because that is one of the big signs that has to go into a warning state. And there are a number of them. We're going to cover them all coming up next. Support for today's show comes from indeed sponsor jobs. When workplace chaos hits and you need to get the right hire, indeed sponsor jobs helps connect employers with candidates who's match the specific skills, certifications, locations, everything that you need so that less time is spent searching and more time is spent finding the right fit. People are finding quality hires on indeed right now. In this minute, then I'm telling you about it 27 hires will be made on indeed, according to indeed data worldwide. I'm always looking for everyone who can help me from copywriters to image creators, all the graphics we need for some of the shows as well as writers to cover the rest of the leaks. So I can focus on our chiefs. That means you have to have a specific skill set. You have to be able to work indeed helps me find that spend less time searching and more

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is very, very much in that transition to getting on the field with all new ways to get their offers surprises things that creep up on you every week all the time. Check at the Fandall app to see what's waiting for you. I always like getting in there and looking around to see who's underestimating who what can I make out of it, especially for the Kansas City. Jeez because there are plenty of underestimation going on right now. Make the most out of this reward season the best one ever with Fandall visit Fandall dot com to get started. Playing signs are a plenty and they all start with the injury report for me. Now we were talking about about game changers in particular and one of the warning signs here is we have had a one player in particular in the defensive side be playing out of position all camp all preseason long and that's Chris Roland Wallace. He's been playing at the nickel starting at the nickel most of this season but that could be thrown all out of whack if either.

Which Mark Connor who we already spoke about or a low e-gillman are not able to go both of them missed time last week and the week before I again feel like they should both probably be back after the sex arrest. But if one of them misses the most logical progression for me is that you move CRW back to safety where he actually practices more than he does at nickel corner. Because that's what you got to shore up is the deep middle as far as I'm concerned. No and I agree with that. I think that's going to be a big question but the other side of that is like generally speaking they've been having sneed it seems like or at least the last preseason game they had sneed play the nickel and is that how they're going to align and is that what they're looking at because to me that really becomes one of those questions is if they have a luxurious need is your nickel corner then Chris Roland Wallace can come in and be your third safety which is I think what they want because it sure still doesn't seem like they want Hicks to be on the field like just based on kind of the way the stuff is gone.

So we'll see if that changes this year but Hicks is going to be active because he's going to be a core special team where I guarantee you that I would imagine Roland Wallace is going to be active just for special teams as well although I do think he'll be the third safety so I do think that there's stuff there. One guy that we didn't mention the game changers that I think we should have and I know we're talking warning warning signs but game changers going to be Nick Bolton in the running game in my opinion and when you start talking about running warning signs it's a question of are they getting four to five yards a carry in that game that becomes a problem and if Nick doesn't have a big game that could be the case. It could be I am I'm reluctant to put that on Nick Bolton to start the season given that he hasn't played much he hasn't been on the field much and the last couple of years has made me start to wonder about like what is the thing that you can do to protect Nick because when he's on the field he's going to go all out there's there's no question about that. So how do you keep it so he doesn't have to miss games.

Honestly the same thing could be said with your tranquil because the linebacker group on the defensive side is probably the most brittle position group on this roster. For sure. If one of them misses you are at a significant disadvantage by running either Jeff Baza against the run or Cooper McDonald against the past you're at you're the significant loss no matter who that is. Well, Nick Bolton and to be fair to Bolton Bolton's not great against the past either but it would be a significant loss to lose Bolton in the passing game on top of that to Baza or to you know or to McDonald's. So I mean yeah you're not in a good situation with the linebackers and that's a group that we talked about going into this season of if with the waiver wire and specifically for the next couple of weeks because the waiver wire doesn't reset until week four I believe. So you have the ability anybody that gets cut that subject to waivers you can get at the ninth spot. I hope Kansas City is watching that closely and pick somebody up because that linebacker position really scares me if I'm being honest like the depth at that position is extremely

thin and if they lose somebody and that's the other part of it when we start talking about the defense that they're going to be playing. I don't know that they're going to I don't know that you're going to have three lamb backers on the field for 15% of the plays for the chiefs this year. I wonder because it feels like Denver wants to run against them and emphasize that there's now a two back tandem in Las Vegas as well and for those of you in fantasy don't discount my Washington what he's going to be able to bring in that offense. I feel like most of the division there's two headed monster and Los Angeles as well. If you're like all the teams are going to want to run first and look to where this chiefs defense down. Yeah, but that and that goes back to me thinking the simple fact that what you should be doing if you don't trust your linebackers that's a situation where I think you bring Hicks down in the box as a third safety and let him play more of a hybrid type role not necessarily a linebacker role but closer to the line of scrimmage to try to help you in the running game because I don't know that they trust Cooper McDonald or Boston to come in and be that third linebacker form at this point.

If you don't you're much better off having Hicks out there a guy that you know likes to thump and likes to go hit and place closer to a linebacker size than safety use that to your advantage. Yeah, if you can he still can't go take on guards though that they don't really have an answer for trying to take on offensive line blocks. That's the problem. That's the problem. Cooper do that. But so far I'm not seeing that at all. Did you? No, I didn't see it. That's the problem. Are you going to put a guy out there that can't do it and still be in a bad scenario or you're going to put somebody out there that at least gives you the ability to somewhat cover the past if they go to a passing situation and can still get in there and try to help you in the running game like McDonald. I don't think has the upside. I don't think he's going to add enough to the running to the run defense to make it worth the dealing with his deficiencies in the passing attack because if they go to the three linebacker set, I'm guessing they're going to be trying to attack the linebacker level in the passing game like that would be how I'd want to attack them.

So in my mind, bring down the third bring down a third safety and Hicks and try to take away that passing thought process and try to play the run. That may be I think when it comes down to it too, if you're unable to get the past rush with just your down four, I think they have to shift more towards a linebacker blitz package rather than what we've seen in so many DB blitzes. They do have guys that are fast, CRW has proven it, obviously, Lajaris sneak and blitz every down if he needed to. But those two guys out of the nickel are very precarious in that Lajaris. We don't know how long we're going to have him, how many snaps he's going to be able to play and CRW has to be in position to play coverage. So I want to see them use McDonald who I think we saw come off the edge some last year in what was a pseudo Leo Chagall role. I think he can be a good blitzer from the inside and that's another way to get center gap pressure on bonics and anybody else. Well, and I'm curious to see what they do when you start talking about the other corners

and that's and I will say this, we didn't talk about this enough. That's one reason I'm really glad that Sneed is back because that is a skill he has that is superior to just about any other corner in the chiefs have ever had. He is able to rush and time it and all that. He can bring that to the young DB room and I'm not saying that they can be Lajaris Sneed because obviously it's a skill set and everything like that. But it's his setup for it that makes it so effective. Can he teach that to the younger guys? Can he help bring that to the younger guys? That can make him that much more effective and that much more of a bigger help for this defense. Yeah. In the end, when we look back at the end of this season, I wonder if we don't know what we don't come to the conclusion that Jerry Sneed was, was there to mentor and and a player to force a multiplier. Yeah. To make them all better. Yeah. Because the one thing they can't have in at least in my estimation is they can't roll out there with Kennedy. So if tear W has to move back, tear W will start this game, I'm sure in one way or the other, either at nickel or in safety, if one of the other safety can't go, but candy

can't be out there when you look at the fact that you have a second year player and a rookie as your outside corners. There's got to be somebody out there with some experience. And I think that's more key than most people realize. And the bigger question is, what are they going to do with Fulton who's still on this roster? Because is he going to even be active on game day? We're not going to know that until we actually get to game day, but you're going to have to limit who you have active on game day. And it would not shock me if Fulton is one of those guys that's inactive just because of the numbers crunch and he's not going to be a core special teams guy. But all that comes back down to who you're going to have play nickel. Is it CRW or is it a luxurious need? Is Sneed even going to be able to play? That's also a question just because of the injury stuff. Is he going to be healthy? I would hope that he is, but we don't know that right now. And then you get into the safety group is who's going to be active in that safety group? Because that'll affect where CRW is able to play. If you don't have Gilman or you don't have Connor, that changes the method who is going to be able to be active in the corner room.

Yeah. We really should in terms of like getting ready for game day and who's active or now we should really think of it at this point as a DB room because there's more crossover between Sneed and being able to play inside outside and CRW being able to play both positions. There's more crossover than maybe we expect or that we've seen over the last few years with McDuffy, you know, generally sliding in. It's not the same process, but it changes the math. And if you look at the DBs as a whole, I think it gives us a better idea of who can do what in the special team to race is. Yeah. And there's going to be a lot of questions is who's going to play what role and I'll be very curious to see once you start getting into the regular season, who comes out in the kickoff roles, who comes out in the punt coverage roles just because you're going to see who they're looking at in those roles. And it's going to be guys that are going to have to play a little bit of either offense or defense. You can only have what 46 guys active on game day. So you're going to have issues of playing guys that are going to be getting normal snaps

regardless of whether or not there somebody that is out there on a regular basis every, you know, 50% of the time. Yeah. Experience, breed success. Let's hope that they can get there. We are going to have some success with Matt Dare tomorrow joining us from the beaten at the new look of this week. What this team looks like is they get ready for the Denver Broncos week one of the regular season. We'll have content for you all week long about where they are and how they're prepping. So make sure you join us. Have a great one. We'll talk to you tomorrow. Running a business shouldn't feel like surviving a software group project. One app for accounting, another for inventory, another for sales and somehow none of them talk to each other. That's where Odo comes in and all in one business management software that brings every part of your business together from sales and accounting to inventory and marketing all in one powerful platform. No messy integrations, no bouncing between tabs and best of all, no spreadsheets, stop managing software and start managing your business with one unified system. Try for free today at odo.com slash locked on. That's Odo.com slash locked on.

Hey, NFL fans. I'm Brian Peacock and that is Matt Williamson hosts of the NFL six pack part of the Lockdown podcast network. Your team every day. NFL six pack brings you the latest NFL news and analysis and breaks down all of the weekly action. A six pack of takes daily on the playoff pushed in the 2025 season or if your team's in draft mode, yeah, we'll hit that too. All right here every day. I'm the locked on podcast network. The NFL six pack subscribe on YouTube or everywhere you get your podcasts.

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