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NFL free agency is a week away, and the Denver Broncos are expected to make a big splash at the running back position. Jonathon Jones of CBS Sports reported that part of the reason the New York Jets tagged running back Breece Hall is in large part because they wanted to prevent the Broncos from making a competitive offer. With that, Kenneth Walker and Travis Etienne remain viable targets for Denver. The Broncos are also expected to take a look at wide receiver, linebacker and tight end when free agency starts. Join Aniello Piro, Cody Roark, Sayre Bedinger and Nick Ferguson as they preview the Broncos approach to free agency. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! TurboTax This year you’re getting a major upgrade — Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. FanDuel FanDuel is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a College Basketball Parlay Profit Boost. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game. Betterhelp This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Sign up and get 10% off at http://BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON. 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)
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I'm an elope hero and reports indicate that Denver Broncos might be making a big splash
at running back.
I'm Cody Rorgon.
If you don't want Kenneth Walker, you'd best get to running.
I'm Sarah Bedinger, the Broncos need to get on the Rams level.
Get aggressive this off season.
And I'm Nick Ferguson.
Could there be some teams vying for Jared Stidem's talent in the trade?
Let's break it all down on today's lockdown.
Broncos Squad Show, let's get into it, fellas.
From the South stands, it's the Broncos Squad, everything Denver Broncos, every week, covering
all the big hits and game-changing plays from the Mile High City, who weigh only the Lockdown
Podcast Network Hand, Gear Up, and Squad Up.
The Broncos Squad Show starts now.
Yo, yo, yo, it is your Lockdown Broncos Squad Show right here on your Lockdown Broncos
YouTube channel and audio feed.
Hope everyone in Broncos country is doing well out there in and around the Mile High City.
We've got the full squad for you today.
I need a little pyro, Cody Works, Sarah Bedinger, and Nick Ferguson breaking down all the news
and notes in the world of Denver Broncos football.
And boy oh boy, we got a good show lined up for you guys today.
A bit of a meat on the bone, as I like to say, as it pertains to Denver's free agency plans
at running back.
Who's getting a phone call?
Who's messing up the cold open?
Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, I'm playing on playing.
But yeah, we'll dive into the running back stuff that we just got windowed about an hour
or so ago.
We'll talk a little Jared Stinem, I'm happy that Nick brought that one up.
We've seen some thoughts about him floating around on social media as well.
And I like Sarah's thoughts too about being aggressive for the Broncos, much like the
Rams have been this off season.
But what's up fellas?
How are we doing today?
Another day, we're just, you know, two days away enjoying the nice weather here in Denver
before a free agency frenzy next week, which Monday is going to be very fun, the legal
negotiating period.
So I'm excited.
Yeah.
That makes two of us, man.
I had a little break, was out of town over the weekend.
I'm happy to be back.
I did not think I would actually miss some of the cooler weather.
I know it's like 60 degrees out here in Colorado, but I was down in Scottsdale.
And I was telling Sarah, it was like 92 degrees out there.
And normally I'm a warm weather guy, but even I was like, oh my gosh, like I can't wait
to get off the plane and just feel some brisk, cool air running through my hair.
So I'm happy to be back in Colorado and talk to some Denver Broncos football, but all
as well, gentlemen, how are we doing Sarah Nick?
What's up?
Doing great.
Doing great.
I love this time of year, you know, Cody and I recorded an episode for Thursday's Lockdown
Broncos show.
And it's just, this is the best.
I don't know about you guys.
Like if you ever get asked questions about like what you do in terms of media stuff, but
I was joking with Cody that, you know, people ask me what I do and I tell him what I do.
And they're like, oh, so like this must be kind of just like a downtime for you then because
there's no football going on.
I'm like, absolutely not.
This is busier than when the season is going on.
And I love it.
Like this is my favorite time of year, team building, rumors, trades, free agent signings.
I mean, everybody is on the same playing field.
It's like you have a game going on at all times when free agency frenzy is ongoing.
Yeah.
There's really no offseason in particular when your team makes a deep playoff run.
Like if you're like one of the worst teams, like let's say we're a car.
But the gardenals coverage right now, I know they just released color Murray or their
intention to be like, after the season, you probably get a couple of weeks to slow down,
but like the Bronco season ends and it's like, what went wrong?
How do they improve free agency preview?
Combine, boom, boom, boom, boom.
Like it's all one thing after the other.
So I guess that's a good thing for us, Nick.
Yeah, what happens this time of the year is really exciting because there's a lot of
anticipation.
And here's a part that sucks for teams that had deep playoff runs.
The same thing happens in basketball.
The love of offseason that you have from a player is very short.
That window is really tiny.
And before you know it, you thrust right back into it.
But for the coaches and the scouts, man, it never says die.
And everyone is trying to look at their roster and they're trying to treat it like a fantasy
roster to say, okay, well, if we could, which of these top flight guys will we want to
plug into questionable positions?
And there's no guarantee that you're going to get that guy because remember, I think
last we were talking about this when he came to the running back position, well, we had
we all got a little boards out and we started writing things as far as our wish list for
running backs.
But it seemed as though, you know, the whole process of the football is taking a lot of those
guys off the board, like, you know, Breeze Hall, like he was on the top of all of our boards.
But guess what, Darren?
Moo, you say, well, we're not letting him out of New York.
We're going to slap the tag on him and that is now going to set a lot of things into
motion that a lot of guys who we probably didn't think that the Broncos were looking at are
now going to be on the Broncos boards.
Yeah.
And that's a good segue.
Let's talk about Breeze Hall because it's not just about Breeze Hall not being a Denver
Bronco.
I think it's also the Broncos in a way, almost forced the hand of the New York Jets to
slap the franchise tag on him.
Here's a report that came out this morning from CBS Sports Insider Jonathan Jones.
He says, quote, Denver is the reason why the Jets
use the franchise tag on Breeze Hall rather than the transition tag according to sources,
making sure Denver wouldn't get the opportunity to put together an offer the Jets would refuse
to match.
You continue here.
The Broncos are poised to make a splash at running back next week.
Denver would ob would be an obvious landing spot for Kenneth Walker III, but the team
could opt for Travis ETN as a more affordable running back.
So a lot to unpack there.
Let's start with the Breeze Hall dynamic here.
It confirms the thought process that we've all had throughout the course of the off season,
which is running back is going to be one of if not the top priority for the Denver Broncos
come for the agency, but the Broncos kind of forcing the Jets to play a little defensive
chess here, knowing that they would probably be taking a look at Breeze Hall in the open
market, making aggressive, offered towards Breeze Hall, and they essentially forced the
hand of the New York Jets to franchise tag on him.
Yeah, I mean, there were some rubblies coming out of the combine that if he were to hit
free agency, Breeze Hall would be interested in Denver.
And I sit here and I think of the franchise tag, of course, what is it for Breeze, isn't
it like 14 something million right now?
14.25 I think.
You know, so he's going to get paid well, but here's the thing that I think about with
Breeze Hall.
They're like, you know, we're going to franchise tag him, we want to work towards a long
term deal with him.
I was like, just Breeze Hall want to work towards a long term deal with the New York Jets.
I remember on the Super Bowl, I remember Breeze Hall specifically tweeting out, man,
I can't wait to hopefully be on a stage like this one day.
And I was like, well, brother, it ain't going to be with the New York Jets ever.
Who knows?
Maybe, I mean, Derek Moody, I think it's a smart move for the Jets to do because obviously
if they want to retain him, they're going to try to do whatever they can to go through
and try to entice, you know, obviously his agent, his representation for a deal.
But if Breeze doesn't want to deal, maybe he does play a year on the franchise tag.
I mean, they could tag in the next year too, which would absolutely stink.
Like, this is just maybe their leverage saying, hey, like Derek Moody's like,
I know how George and Ask Outing Department work because I was part of it.
And he's a guy that obviously would probably pluck up Breeze Hall at this point.
Still, I imagine that's probably why the decision happened.
But still, I mean, there's still a chance that maybe if the Broncos wanted him,
they could try to trade for him.
Yeah, I don't, we can get into that too.
I don't think that would be the case.
But I also think like going back to our conversation from last week,
like, it's just probably figure this out at the combine last week
in Shroom Cocktails out there at St. Elmo's, right?
Like that, that's probably how it goes down.
That's the conversations that happen there at the combine.
And look, I think Breeze Hall would have been an excellent option for the Denver Broncos.
And to your point, Cody, if they really are enamored with him,
compared to that of Kenneth Walker, Travis ETN, Tyler Algier,
some of the other guys that are on the open market, they can still make a run at him.
And it's not like he's completely off the table.
I just think the likelihood of Denver now bringing in Breeze Hall's share
goes down pretty considerably.
Yeah, I mean, the jets get to control that situation at this point,
which is to their, to their favor.
I mean, it's good business on their part.
Like you have an asset like that.
We've talked about the fact that the franchise tag for the running back position
is roughly 4.7 or 4.6 and change percent of the salary cap.
And that's the way that it needs to be looked at it.
That's the, that's such a minuscule percentage when it comes to a team like
the jets that already lacks talent.
You're reloading your roster.
You're going to have a bridge quarterback this year, most likely.
So why would you just let Breeze Hall walk in free agency?
Because he wants to play for a winning team.
I mean, you wouldn't.
You would trade him for something good.
And I don't think the jets can realistically expect the non-exclusive
franchise tag trade, you know, the preset price of two first round picks.
You can still trade for a player who's got the non-exclusive tag.
You don't have to pay two first round picks.
You only have to do that if you try to sign him to a deal and allow the jets
to, you know, not match that offer.
So a trade would have to be agreed upon first before you offer him a contract
in that case for anybody who's kind of wondering about that.
Because let's say the Broncos were like, Hey, let's throw an offer sheet at
Breeze Hall.
Well, they'd be saying, we don't care about our next two first round picks.
That's what you'd be doing.
So you would talk to Darren Moosey about a trade first.
But that's where I think like all this talk, we know this that very little
actually leaks from this Denver Broncos building.
And so like not even coaching moves are coming out in the week in which
they're happening.
So like, why do the Broncos want everybody to know this information?
They, they're putting this out there.
Like they want, they're telling all these reporters like we're, we're going
hard after running backs.
Breeze Hall wants to play for us.
We would have signed him, you know, if he would have hit free agency, we're
going to be in on the running back market.
Like David Montgomery, all the, the only reason the Texans gave up a fourth
and player and another pick is because we offered a fifth and they had to beat
our offer.
It's like, all this stuff is coming out.
Why that's the question that I'm wondering because you know me guys, I like
to put on the tin foil hat and I like to wonder these things.
Like, why do the Broncos now, you know, the Brian Windhorstein?
Now, why would they do that?
Why are they doing this?
I'm interested for your guys perspective because they don't let stuff leak.
And for some reason, they want everybody to know we're in on running backs.
And maybe it is just the obvious that they're in on running backs, but maybe
it's something else.
Well, I'll say this is always two things can be true at the same time.
And the first part is, hey, you want to make sure you are telling your fans.
We know that that we have been deficient at this particular position for
the past couple of years and we haven't got received great production.
So we want you guys to know, we feel the same way that you do.
We running back is a priority.
So you want to make sure that you're telling your fans that you're shooting
your shot at some of the top running backs.
So as you fall short of that, they know going in.
Yeah, you know what?
You know, we settled for a JK diamonds, but at least the team told us that
they were doing this and think about most teams.
They don't really tell you exactly what they're doing because the second part
of it, it could be smoke and mirrors.
We're telling you, we're looking at this position when all the while we're
going in the right different direction because remember doing the draft
when we were looking at, well, was the Broncos going to take JJ McCarthy?
Or were they going to take a guy like Bo Nicks?
The idea was that Sean Payne say, look, hey, man, I use the Jedi mind
trick on some of these teams and they did exactly what I wanted them to do.
So we could take the guy that we wanted to take.
So this is the line season where people are going to say, we were doing
this one thing when they were thinking about doing something else.
So definitely keep that in mind.
Yeah, I agree with that.
And I think there's probably more than meets the eye when it comes to this conversation.
Let me ask you this there.
I was trying to keep tabs on this stuff when I was gone.
I don't, were these leaks from like lists?
Like who was reporting this type of stuff like about Montgomery?
Like where did that come from?
Because it could also come from the other side, right?
Like we're hearing through second part, second and third parties that the Broncos
are being aggressive towards these running backs.
And by the way, I would have loved David Montgomery in the origin.
I guess he was the origin blue with the bears, right?
And previously with the Detroit Lions as well.
But I like David Montgomery a lot.
Yeah, he would have been a nice pick up, right?
I think I'm trying to find exactly where that did come from in terms of
I've just seen it kind of floating.
Oh, Jeremy Fowler.
Okay.
So that makes sense.
You know, I was going to say if that's just a group chat thing, then, you know,
I'll go ahead and, you know, eat some crow on that.
But yeah, I thought somebody, you know, reliable had said it too.
I think that's the thing.
It's like, you got to cast a wide net when it comes to a position like this.
You can't be laser focused.
Like we all knew there was a chance that Breeze Hall was going to get franchise tagged, right?
I mean, so there, and you're not trading a first round pick for Breeze Hall.
Like that's just, that's not good business to do that.
And so I just, and maybe they will.
And maybe I'll look stupid for saying that.
But I just don't think you do that.
You know, and so I think you cast a wide net, you let it be known.
We're in the market.
We're willing to pay because you can't talk to players right now.
You can't talk.
I mean, we know that stuff's happening behind the scenes, but you have to let it be known.
Like we're in the market where interested.
This is a good landing spot.
You should want to come here.
And I think that's what's going to happen is that the Broncos will cast a wide enough net
that they'll get a good player at a reasonable price.
Because these players know they're going to take care of us.
Hey, guys, I want to add something else to the mix because based on, like I said, when
the line season, because there are certain broadcasters who have relationships with certain
agents.
And sometimes to, when you're in negotiation, you need to have leverage.
And the way you gain leverage is having someone else being introduced into the mix.
So I'm not saying that Jeremy Fowler did this, but I know this happens.
And using that relationship, saying, hey, listen, we're building calls from these other
teams.
Now you go ahead and you tweet about it.
And then now you're thinking, well, teams are saying, well, we don't know that that was
our guy.
Now we got other people coming in.
We now, now we need to go ahead and make a move.
So we're going to see a lot of that happening too.
And the same thing happens with the draft as well.
It was the first time that we've seen a national reporter report on something.
The player comes out, disputes it and is wrong.
Essentially, the player that is disputing it gets community noted.
I was one of the funniest things.
The game within the game, welcome to the NFL offseason, ladies and gentlemen here about
a week away now from the start of NFL free agencies.
So it looks like Breeze Hall will be off the table.
Again, there's maybe some way if the Broncos do want to give up that type of draft capital
that they could bring him in, but it's going to look like the Broncos going to turn
their attention to a couple of other guys.
And why don't we hit our first break when we come back.
Let's take a look at some other options here for the Broncos at running back.
And also some additional thoughts about what does the definition of success look like
for the Broncos at the running back position this offseason?
All that and more.
When we come back right here on your laptop, Bronco Squad Show, back in just a few books.
All right, you guys real quick.
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Okay, good conversation about Breast Hall and the Jets Decision of Franchise Tagging.
But I think the larger conversation at hand and Sarah was kind of hinting at this is,
and Jonathan Jones essentially confronted this morning as well, is the Broncos are expected
to be Uber Aggressa.
I mean, the quote in the words that Jonathan Jones uses here is, make a splash at running
back next week.
So with that in mind, I don't think it's unfair to say that if the Broncos just bring
back JK Dobbins and lean on RJ Harvey to progress, I may be relatively disappointing in the
hearts and minds of Broncos country.
Despite the fact that I like JK Dobbins, I know we all like JK Dobbins to a certain extent.
But with the conversation that we've heard about David Montgomery and out Breast Hall and
this making a splash narrative that has been thrown out there.
I think the expectation right now, Cody, is that Broncos are going to go out there and
try to sign one of Kenneth Walker or Travis ETN.
Yeah, I mean, I would not be shocked if that is their plan now, considering if let's say
hypothetically, Breast Hall was at the top of the list now, that option was off the table.
It would not shock me one bit if the Broncos want to go out there and upgrade that.
Kenneth Walker, obviously, Super Bowl MVP, I see a lot of people down playing Kenneth
Walker what he can do.
Man, big body back, hard to bring down.
He was the difference maker in that game against the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.
And what was a defensive sludge match between both sides, all of a sudden, you need something
to break open.
Bang, Kenneth Walker, where is he now?
That's what the Broncos could have used in the AFC Championship game against the New
England Patriots.
You tell me Kenneth Walker wouldn't have made a difference in that game?
Okay, there's that Travis ETN, obviously the Broncos have seen him up close.
They played against him this year.
He's got some really good traits to him that obviously involve things.
I see a lot of people talking about what the Broncos really need is they need a running
back who's just great in past protection.
And one thing that we've seen is people highlight Kenneth Walker, that's not necessarily his
greatest strength, so to speak.
I understand the importance of being able to have a running back in for past protection
from time to time.
But the idea is that you bring in a running back to be a difference maker downhill, hit
me a gap when you need to punch it in the goal line.
That's what the Broncos need.
They need a downhill runner at this point, someone who's effective in between the guard
and the center that can bounce it out between the tackles from time to time that is patient
as a runner.
That's what we saw the Broncos thrive with previously with JK Dobbins, but you're looking at these
couple of other players.
I think those guys are upgrades.
Can I play Devils Advocate for just a moment on Kenneth Walker?
And I like Kenneth Walker.
This is a guy who have had on my fantasy team a number of different times.
Just want to throw that out there.
But do we think that there's maybe some recency bias because I know Breeze Hall was kind
of like the one guy that I think we're all unanimously in agreement on of like this is
a legitimate upgrade.
And obviously Kenneth Walker would be as well.
But is there some recency bias with the fact that he went out there and one suitable MVP
looked as good as he did in that game?
I mean, the reality situation is with Kenneth Walker.
He split carries virtually the entirety of his career primarily and recent memories,
Zach Sharman, he has two seasons in which he's rushed for over a thousand yards.
His rookie season, he rushed for one thousand and 50 and last season, one thousand and twenty
seven.
So he's just crossing that one thousand yard threshold.
He's never scored double digit touchdowns in a single season.
And so again, I think Kenneth Walker is a good option for this Broncos team.
And frankly, with the, and I know it's Davis Web now calling the plays, but I don't know
if Denver is ever going to have a tried and true workhorse type of running back.
I would imagine that there will be some consistent splitting of carries throughout the course
of the season.
What do you think, sir, that maybe we're overvaluing Kenneth Walker because of what he did
in the Super Bowl compared to what his body of work has been for majority of his career?
Well, I don't think he's like Malcolm, whatever the guy's name was who was Super Bowl MVP.
The, now the guy who is, is it Malcolm Butler?
Who was the guy who won Super Bowl MVP when the Seahawks destroyed the world?
And he had that guy crash his press conference.
You guys remember?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Exactly.
I mean, we can't even remember his full name.
And that's what I'm saying.
It's like, I don't think he's like that guy where it's like, oh, shoot.
He just had this generational playoff run and nobody's ever heard of him before that.
Or he's only a role player up until the playoffs.
And then he just explodes like I think Kenneth Walker has a solid body of work, considering
the fact the Seahawks have overhauled their coaching staff, their roster.
Malcolm Smith, somebody in the comments, Daryl in the comments and also Graham, thanks
for that help there.
Yeah.
Malcolm Smith.
I think that he's got a solid body of work, changing offensive schemes, you know, changing
this, that and the other, changing quarterbacks.
Like, I'm not saying that you can't produce as a running back when all those sorts of
circumstances are changing, but obviously it is a factor when it comes to your overall
production.
If the scheme is constantly changing, the eyes that are on this, you know, everybody's
perceiving that roster differently who's coming in there and coaching up those guys.
And so Kenneth Walker to me is still the guy at Michigan State who absolutely just dominated
everybody.
I couldn't even believe he went as low as he did in the draft.
And so I feel like he's still got the ability to evolve as a player.
He's only 25 years old.
And I think the biggest concern that I have is not necessarily a recency bias.
But what I think the concern is is you're the highest volume passing attack in the NFL.
And this guy struggled in past protection last year.
And so that's the recency that I'm maybe most concerned about it.
And the Broncos, I know need runners.
They need somebody to come in and carry the load, not necessarily worrying about past pro,
but you do have to think about that because you were the highest volume pass attack in
the NFL last season.
Woo.
I'm going to say to help with all those people who were talking about, you know, Kenneth
Walker and the ability to pick up a blitz because I look at it like this.
When you look at his body of work, what are we talking about right now?
What he was able to do in the Super Bowl, but let's not kind of just kind of focus solely
on that.
Think about everything that led up to that particular point, who they leaned on the
most.
Obviously, sharpening was one of those guys, but when you needed a big play and explosive
play, a game changing play, who was that guy that was always showing up?
It was Kenneth Walker.
So when we started to measure the value of a running back and said, well, how many rushing
touchdowns did he have like inside the red zone?
That's not the way that this was built.
Clint Cubiak being Gary Cubiak's son and learning from that Mike Shanahan tree.
It was all about running the rock.
And the idea was he was going to use Kenneth Walker to get them in place and let Sam
Donald throw a touchdowns because guess what, they still throw touchdowns inside the
red zone, which for me being a defensive guy, I'm like, run the damn ball, right?
Because you shrink the field.
But when I think about Kenneth Walker and his ability in this offense, it would be great.
And if your concern is about having guys to block, well, you got five offensive linemen
and have those guys block.
Oh, by the way, bringing a damn inline tight end that can actually block not one of these
pass catching tight ends, bringing a got inline blocking guy that that's all he does.
Like if you wanted to go get a guy like Mo Ali Cox, who's a free agent from the Indian
apolis coast, bring him in and that's your soul job, right?
Chris Manhurts.
That's your show.
Soul job.
We're not throwing you the ball.
We want you to come in and just block.
If the Broncos looked at it that way, they would be able to have explosive player and Kenneth
Walker.
That would go well with both mixed ability to run the ball because defensively, now you're
trying to defend the dynamic skills of both of those guys and that would make it really
difficult.
And oh, by the way, if we don't like the fact that Kenneth Walker, you can say he's not
a great pass blocker, don't put him in that situation.
Get him on the edge.
I can tell you, it was scared to hell out of defenders because guess what?
You know he can run through you and he can run around you.
To what Sarah was saying just a bit ago about the most passing attempts in the NFL this
season.
You know where the Broncos had that because they just didn't trust their run game consistent
of Sean Payton.
Exactly.
So you know what?
You mitigate that by running the dang football and Kenneth Walker is a guy.
The one thing I'll say about that is like watching Seattle this year from afar, collectively
him and Sharba Nay, they were an incredible duo together.
I mean, even go back to that even playoff game against San Francisco 49ers, Kenneth Walker
hit over 100.
I mean, San Francisco couldn't stop the frickin nosebleed in that game and they had Fred
Warner back in the mix in that category there.
And granted that defense wasn't the same without boss of the man.
I just remember watching him like man, big chunks.
It was third and 15 Kenneth Walker picks up 19 on a run.
I saw that and I was like, you know what?
That is a type of back that the Broncos need.
Look, here's the thing you're not going to, you know, hopefully beg him to run for an
80 yard touchdown.
I mean, that would be nice.
He's got the capability of doing it.
But you need a bigger back that can methodically wear down a defense to wear.
For example, I think if Denver here at the mile high city, they want to take a picture
of what they did against the Green Bay Packers.
You have a back as big as Kenneth Walker that can wear down the legs of opposing defenses
when they're down.
They got their hands on their knees.
He's the type of guy that can absolutely just break it open at that point.
And we also forget in the Super Bowl, he had a 70 yard touchdown called back due to a
holding call.
So just all these things, I just think people were looking at price tag and they're saying,
no, we don't want to do anything with the price tag.
It's not our money at the end of the day.
And you know, what if the Broncos want to spend that money?
They know what they're doing.
I think the other thing that I would throw in there is, I don't think it's a question
of who they sign.
It's how do they use who they sign?
Like that's what it's going to come down to.
Are they going to utilize Kenneth Walker the right way if they bring him in?
Are they going to utilize?
Right.
They don't right way.
What is that?
That's fair.
And I guess the reason I bring this up to is before it was her, I mean, JK Dobbins,
you know, was on pace who essentially matched Kenneth Walker's numbers last year.
I mean, he finishes Dobbins does 772 rushing yards and average of five yards per
carry.
Kenneth Walker finishes with just like I said, 1027 rushing yards, 4.6 yards per carry.
Dobbins had four rushing touchdowns.
Kenneth Walker had five.
This is in the regular season, of course, we know what happened in the playoffs.
But I guess like the point that I'm bringing up is like, maybe the gap, at least with
the numbers are telling us, isn't so far off from Dobbins to Walker.
And I agree with you.
I'm just telling us with the number show that you're not getting from Dobbins.
Okay.
But he's different.
Walker's dealt with some injuries too.
His average is, he's playing at least 16, 17 games per season.
He's not, he's not missing any.
I think for him, there was one year, it's rookie year where he, you're right in 11 games.
He played in 12 and 20 or after he got hurt in week 11 and then missed the remainder from
that point.
But I mean, ideally, he's on average playing a full season for the most part.
And then look, keep this, keep this in mind as you talk about the comparison between
JK Dobbins and, you know, a guy like Kenneth Walker, well, Kenneth Walker in Seattle,
he was splitting those carries with Charbonate, another physical down here runner.
When you look at JK Dobbins, okay, well, he was kind of like the feature back, even though
Sean would rotate guys in, but a lot of those guys were not as productive.
So, so as you tried to make that comparison, keep that in mind because if all things were
equal and they were receiving the same amount of carries, or better yet, if JK Dobbins was
splitting carries with a guy like Zach Charbonate, what was his, what was his overall numbers
actually be?
So keep that in mind.
No, it's a good point.
And again, I'm on board with Kenneth Walker, I think if you're a really nice addition
for the Denver Broncos, I just, I wonder, you're going to have to sign a guy at the peak
of his market.
I think it also says something in Seattle who just won the Super Bowl, who was their Super
MVP, opted not to place the franchise tag on him.
So I'm just trying to have the thought discussion per se.
Under the position, man, remember a couple years ago, Christian McCaffrey, all the running
backs, the unionized, so to speak, there was almost kind of like this whole concept
of like, hey, collectively, let's hold out because running backs deserve to get paid
more.
I mean, it is true, but you would think Seattle would want to bring him back, right?
Well, that's why I'm surprised franchise tagging work towards a deal.
That's what it's for.
They don't have, they have financial issues like Kansas City.
That's why they've got, I mean, Donald, Donald signed a three year deal last off season.
This is year two, which effectively means that deal is over after this year.
So they've got to resign, Sam Darnold, Devin Witherspoon needs a new deal.
Jackson Smith and Jigba needs a new deal.
Kobe Bryant is leaving to Rick Woolen is leaving, they've, they boy a mafia is leaving.
They need a pass rusher like their offensive line was incomplete rebuild as of last off
season.
So like Seattle from a team building perspective to spend 5% of the cap or, you know,
roughly 5% on a running back when you have Zach Charbonne and when you've been able
to identify all these other guys at every position, basically, like for them,
it's like, hey, go let him spread his wings and fly.
We got this covered like Seattle traded DK Metcalf.
They traded Gino Smith, like they don't care about their own guys.
John Schneider, you want to talk about ego and he's right.
Like he knows what he's doing, but like he doesn't care about those guys that they've
developed and drafted in house.
He's not George Payton.
He's like, the windows over send move on time to time to go.
And yes, they have cap space this year as Darian pointed out, but they have to use that
cap space.
They have to use the cap space to get corners to get a safety.
Maybe two, they have to get a pass rusher.
They might need a interior offensive lineman, which those are going to cost you 20 to 25
million.
So like, yes, they have money, right, they need to spend that money elsewhere.
Like they need receivers like, I mean, they do Rashid Shaheed free agent.
They traded for him in season.
So like they have all these other spots.
Like I don't view Seattle letting Walker go as a negative for him.
I view it as like they're allowing him essentially to get market value, which once again, 14
million a year for a running back, even if he gives you, let's say he gives you 1200
yards from scrimmage and seven to 10 touchdowns or even six to 10 touch.
Like you wouldn't pay 14 million to have that guy on your team last year for the Broncos,
even for just one game to have kind of walkers.
So I think it'd be huge for the Broncos.
So I'll tell you this for those individuals who are listening to us and watching us and
they're thinking, okay, well, that's a hefty price to pay for a guy like Kenneth Walker.
Well, let me walk you back maybe a month ago, two months ago in that fourth and one situation
where Sean Payton had to decide whether to kick the field goal or go for it on fourth
down.
Imagine even if you had Jarrett Stinem at your back of quarterback, you're running back
as Kenneth Walker.
What do you think happens in that situation?
And the thing that's effective, right?
You handed to Dan Kenneth Walker, right?
Right.
So you said that option in the playoffs.
That's right.
To not have that option is that's what we're talking about here.
Like people want to they want to split hairs over spending money, which by the way, it's
not your money anyway.
So what do you really care?
It doesn't matter to you.
It's the Walton Pender's money.
And I know you want to say how the Broncos should spend their cap space and stuff.
Like I resonate with the fans in that way.
It's like we all want to have our cake and eat it too.
We want to have Kenneth Walker, but we want him for half the price of what it costs to
bring him in because we also want the big money free agent at linebacker and oh, we want
to tie it in and we want to upgrade that wide receiver.
And it's like, I get that mentality because in 2014, like that happened.
They brought everybody in and they won the Super Bowl two seasons after that.
So I just think you have to look at this as a, what was this team missing last year?
How much of a difference could it have made to have whoever they're about to sign in
free agency on that team?
Because the majority of that team is coming back.
It's interesting.
I would have loved and we knew what the Broncos were getting into when they signed J.K.
Davins with like how different would the offseason conversation be if J.K. Davins were
healthy for that championship game, right?
Like that's a large reason why we're here right now.
So no, it's interesting for sure.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
Let's hit a quick break when we come back.
Kenneth Walker is not the only option for the Broncos that are running backwards.
Let's talk a lot of a little travesty TN among some of the other guys and then we'll talk
a little Jared Stinham as well as the show goes along.
All that and more as we continue rolling on here on your lockdown Broncos squad show.
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All right, welcome on back into your lockdown Broncos squad showed to put the cap to our
friends at locked on lions for taking care of that read for us.
Anilo Piro, Cody Rourke, Sarah Bedanger, Nick Ferguson hanging out with you here, good
conversation on Kenneth Walker in the running back room as a whole.
We can kind of go in succession here.
I think Travis ETN is obviously the next best name.
If the Broncos weren't to sign a Kenneth Walker or trade for a breeze hall, I've kind
of talked to you guys.
We've all talked about it already about Travis ETN.
I think you'd be a good fit for this team.
I think there is a question about does he want to play in cold weather?
And I know that maybe sounds like a little childish and you'll probably go wherever the
money is, but it is something that he is on the record saying that he likes playing
in warm weather.
So I don't know if that dictates his decision, won't worry the other, but he'll be a good
fit if Broncos, if the Broncos do go down that route.
I mean, cold weather, we didn't really see too much cold weather in Denver outside of
the AFC championship.
We've had one bad day of weather in Denver.
Hey, if you change, we'd be the worst possible day.
Literally, it's like a conspiracy theory of as to it.
And we've had what?
Yesterday was 73 degrees here in Denver in February of all.
Yesterday was?
Yeah, bro.
I thought it rained yesterday.
Oh, no, two days ago, two days ago.
My plane ride back was, well, bumpy coming down.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
But it's like, that's the thing is like, oh, you know, the motivations are very interesting
for some players, but look, I understand some guys that refuse to go to a place where
they don't, you know, where they have to get taxes, you know, taken out and where they
like to play in there's no income tax, I understand that.
Weather is certainly a factor.
I wouldn't want to go play Buffalo Buffalo has a chance to be colder than anywhere else,
but in Denver, Denver be a great spot, I think for a lot of people.
I forget if ETN is from Florida, like, obviously, I know you played in Jacksonville with the
Clemson, but I'll use the Deon Sanders analogy because like Deon's like, I'm a Florida
boy, right?
Lives in Texas.
And it gets a little chilly in Texas during the winter, but like, I remember when he
first became head coach of the Colorado Buffalo, he's like, I don't think it was going
to be this nice, right?
Like a lot of people like just don't understand that like you think Colorado and you think
skiing and snowboarding as you should, and that's up in the mountains, man.
But to your point, Cody, I know it's been an abnormally warm winter, but like, you
know, you could usually count on both hands, like the amount of like terrible days we have
in the winter, where it's like, you don't want to be outside.
It's snowy and slushy.
There's no humidity here, which is a nice bonus as well.
So again, I don't know if that's a motivating factor.
I just bring that up because he did say that on the record, but if he comes out here,
maybe he'll understand that it's not as bad as people make it out to be.
But I do think Travis ETN, the football player, Sarah Man, that's a guy that I get pretty
excited about if Denver went down that route.
Yeah, 100%.
And I mean, once again, just to have that option on that fourth and one play, like if we're
talking about how the season boiled down to Travis ETN is somebody who has, he dictates
what defenses have to do.
He's that good of a pass catcher as well.
And we really saw his game taken to the next level under Liam Cohen last year, in my opinion,
I know that there was some talks about Travis being traded before Liam Cohen and James
Gladstone got there.
They stuck it out with him and put him in a great position to be able to cash in and free
agency.
I don't think he's redundant with RJ Harvey, nor do I think you approach or can afford
to approach your team building process from that vantage point this off season.
You need impact players.
This is not a baseball lineup.
You're not saying, oh, who are we going to put against left handed pitching?
Who are we going to put against right handed?
You know, this guy throws 100 miles per hour.
This guy has six pitches.
You don't build a football team that way.
I understand that you want variants.
I understand that the Broncos need somebody who can maybe carry a bigger portion of the
load.
But I also go back to the fact that Sean Payton said that the run game scheme was part
of the problem here.
So if you plug these players into what theoretically should be a better scheme.
If you fix that aspect of it, then you get impact players.
I think that's the biggest thing is go for the best players that you can.
Don't worry about, well, is Travis ETN 225 pounds because if he's not, I don't want
him.
I think that's how a lot of folks are thinking right now is that they would rather not
have Travis ETN or, you know, whoever XYZ running back because they're not 225 pounds.
I just don't think that's the right way to approach this team being built for a Super Bowl
title.
The whole idea is that the Broncos haven't run the ball well over the past couple of
years.
And if you want any examples, look at Javante Williams.
Javante was here and everyone, you know, said a lot of negative things about him.
He came back from the injury and everyone was owing an eye and the training camp.
I think Cody, I might have been standing next to you when we were like, wow, man, he doesn't
look like he had surgery at all.
And then we watched the Broncos say, you know what?
I Javante, you are not doing it for us.
And then he goes to Dallas.
And for the first time in his career, he rushes for more than 1,200 yards and he got
a bag.
So the idea is that maybe there's some issues with the scheme and the scheme needs to
be changed.
That's why things are going to be turned over in some capacity to Davis Web to say, well,
how can you bring some of that young energy, innovative energy to the run game and make
it a little more creative?
And if that's the idea and the concept, you need, like Sarah said, you need guys who are
going to make defensive coordinators change what they do.
And a Kenneth walk in and Travis ETN, those are both guys.
Now ETN is from Louisiana and have planned and Florida and Jacksonville for a period of
time.
Gotta get used to playing in the warm weather.
But here's what people don't understand about the mile high city.
The mile high city has more sun days than most cities have 300 by themselves, right?
So you can sell that in, oh, by the way, if we're talking directly to Travis ETN or any
other player who feels the cold weather, you're going to get paid a crap ton of money, right?
So know what you can buy.
If you need one of those kind of school resuits that help you with the cold weather, you can
buy one of those, right?
Or if not, take some of that money they pay you and stuff it in your pants.
I'm sure that was keep you warmed up about that.
Here's something that, you know, I always look at like in this whole conversation about
the Bronco's run game, Juvante Williams, the most touchdowns he's ever had at the Denver
Bronco was four rushing touchdowns in a season.
He had five rushing touchdowns in the first five weeks for the Dallas Cowboys and it's
just like at what point and maybe this does factor into the Sean Peyton discussion a little
bit and maybe this is why he handed off play con pun intended, maybe it's maybe, maybe
it's us.
Maybe it's not the player.
Maybe it's offsets the problem.
Maybe it's our scheme.
That's the problem.
Sean has made mention of that as well as also talking at the NFL combine when he did
his interviews, you know, when he made the rounds there, his press conference, like he's
even made mention of the run game scheme.
He talked about it was, you know, after the absolute championship game, he went up the
Zach Street.
Like, at what point like maybe that's the admittance right there of, you know, maybe our scheme
is the problem.
I could tell you this.
I can't tell you which players have said it.
I know some Bronco's offensive players feel that way about the run game scheme.
I'll take it a step further.
I don't think it's a maybe.
I think it's darn near a definite and I think Javante Williams, like if you want to use
him having another year to come off the injury is, you know, reasoning for that go ahead.
But I think again, going back to what I brought up with Kenneth Walker, it comes down to
whoever they sign, whether it's JK Dobbins, Walker, each year and Algier, any of these guys,
how will they be used?
Because the Broncos have shown us, at least under the command of Sean Payton, they don't
really have like a definitive like one A game plan.
They have like a couple of different ideas.
I mean, Philip Lindsay was probably the last guy where I was like, and that was a team
that was a disarray, right?
But it's like, you knew Phil could get the ball and go out there and run like they've lacked
and they've lacked an identity in the run game for a handful of seasons right now, which
is why again, I love Kenneth Walker.
I love ETN.
I think I was here to be a nice fit.
The question for me, Sarah, is how do they use those guys?
Right.
I mean, that's and I think it's a fair question.
I think the combination of Davis Webb taking over as the play collar, as well as just
the stark like reality of the running game, having to be better in order for the pressure
to be off of Bo-Nix to really help him and his development.
I think part of these last two seasons, it's not, I think at times, you know, we joke
about it.
There's maybe some nuggets of truth to the joking like Bo-Nix is getting opportunities
to throw the ball in the red zone when you should just run it three times, you know,
because Sean wants him to have a passing touchdown in the situation.
I think, you know, we joke about that stuff, but maybe there's a nugget of truth to that
to some degree, but also like his development for the first two years is so crucial.
And if you can't lean on the running game, like how many times did we say Bo-Nix is running
back one for this team?
He's the best, he's the most effective runner on the team.
I mean, I know that the scheme needs to be addressed, but like there was a four game
stretch in 2024 when Javante Williams, I think, had one game where he had one yard, and
there was another game that he finished with negative yardage, and then there was another
game within that four where he had like three.
So it was like, it's not like he's not getting chances, it's not like he's not getting
opportunities, he's not seeing stuff, he's not breaking tackles.
And I think there's, there's truth to all of these things, which is why when it comes
to the utilization of the backs, man, now you have, you have Davis Webb calling the
plays, Sean is going to obviously have his input on player personnel, the packages, things
like that.
But it's going to be different in terms of what I think, how much these guys are a threat
to the opposing team, like there's not, there's not going to be, I hope, as much predictability.
And so that's why I think right now is that you bring in the best possible players, and
you just, you let Davis Webb do his thing.
That's what I think.
Yeah.
Let him go.
But if the whole idea is, hey, get a runner back and just run the ball, which I've heard
a lot, that really doesn't change anything, right?
It just, oh, run the ball, run it more.
Well, I think you have to be a little more strategic with how you choose to run the ball
in the utilization of the runner back.
And for me, I always go back to what I know, what made it difficult for me, defending
as a defender, and what I've seen in practice, to me, you got to lean on what we've seen
from Sean McVey, Kyle Shanahan, and maybe this is the reason why so many of those coaches
who come from that tree are getting jobs.
You need a lot of movement.
You need both, you know, that pre-snap movement to get guys into position because the game
of football, guys, and we all know this, it's about angles.
How do you create angles?
How do you put your players in positions?
So we're talking about inside zone, we're talking about outside zone, we're talking
about traps, whamps, we're talking about pin and pulls, we're talking about a variety
of ways to utilize your running back, and also, oh, by the way, you get a pass catching
running back.
Now, you can kind of put him on the linebacker, and you can force team to say, well, are
you going to be in your base defense, or are you going to have to play us in your
nickel defense the entire game because you need a more cover type of guy to cover our
running back?
Because guess what?
He can run freaking routes.
Look at the Broncos roster last year, right?
From the JK Dobbs, which of those running backs do you feel, or you feel had superiority
and rock running from a running back standpoint, I'll wait?
Um.
UTM would fit the profile, and I know it's David's webcoin plays, but just like the overall
profile is Broncos offense.
Yeah.
RJ had too many drops, unfortunately, but also I would say he also had a lot of pass catching
touchdowns as well.
You know, I like he can evolve there, but I agree.
I mean, could you imagine, like, let's say you have RJ, who's continuing to evolve,
he's continuing to work.
You have a two back system.
Let's say you have two backs on the field at the same time, RJ and one of these guys that
we've talked about, man, that's what I want to see a little bit more of, because then
you can't get creative.
You open up the toolbox for Davis Web a little bit.
That to me is what I think Denver needs to have.
And I think so much of this too with Davis column plays, you know what he's going to ask?
He's going to go to his corner and say, Hey, what, what do you need?
What can I do to help you?
That is what I'm here for.
I'm excited about that because I think that's probably the reality that we will run into
in comparison to Sean.
Yeah.
I would agree.
All right.
Let's, let's hit our final break.
When we come back, let's wrap up the show.
Good conversations on the running backs today, couple of house keeping notes.
We'll get the Jared Stidham and the Kansas City chiefs made a trade.
How does that impact?
And Broncos, we'll talk about that next right here on your lockdown Broncos squad.
All right.
Welcome on back into the program full squad here, AP Cody works here, Ben and your Nick
Ferguson.
We appreciate each and every one of you for rocking with us out there in Broncos country.
Free agency is upon us cannot wait to see what the Denver Broncos do.
Not just the running back, but also tight end wide receiver linebacker.
And we'll dive into some of those other positions on Friday show and kind of give you a preview
there at what they might do with those different positions.
But let's start with Jared Stidham here real quick to kind of round that out.
Nick, I know you brought that up in your open.
It seems like Jared Stidham is maybe a hot commodity.
Someone that's been talked about, you know, by a handful of different teams in trade markets.
What do we make of this news, Mr. Ferguson?
Well, I think it says a lot about what teams think about Jared Stidham, even though the
first time we actually saw him in action was in a pivotal game for the Denver Broncos where,
you know, we had the cold weather and the Broncos didn't run the ball or they were not
efficient from the offensive productions standpoint.
But it also tells you that other teams are desperate.
Think about Arizona.
I think one of you guys brought up the fact that Arizona is going to release Calamari.
I mean, they need a quarterback, right?
And I wrote down some other teams that need quarterbacks too.
Think about Minnesota Vikings, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the New York Jets, the Miami Dolphin.
All of those teams need quarterbacks.
And I know last show we talked about Anthony Richardson and what we like to see him here
with the Denver Broncos and listen, only if, you know, there's no Stidham and you could
just kind of sign him off the street.
But in this particular case, if you're the Denver Broncos and teams are calling you for
Jared Stidham and we know how Sean Payton has kind of raved about, you know, Stidham,
he calls him Stity, right?
So if you're going to call the guy Stity and everyone was talking about put on for our city
Stity, then if there's value for him and you can, and you can pick up some draft picks,
why not move him to make your team better?
That's a lot.
What's his value?
He's well, like, what could you get for Jared Stidham?
Fifth, sixth, eighth, eighth.
Yeah, you can get a fourth, maybe a fifth.
You know, you know, one of these teams who are really desperate, hey, man, they may be
so desperate.
They may be willing to give with, you know, hey, earth rounder, right?
You know, you never know.
I hate you.
Yes.
So the idea is that if you find out these teams are really desperate.
They really want him.
You test that and say, well, what are you really willing to give us for a guy like Stidham
who has experience in the league and he played an AMC championship game, right?
He didn't play that well, but he played nonetheless and you don't have that on your team.
Here's one.
I did a bonus episode.
Oh, sorry, sir.
You go first.
No, you good.
You're good.
You're good.
I was going to say, I did a bonus episode of Lockdown that's going to go out tomorrow.
We talked about kind of this whole trade idea around Jared Stidham.
How serious is it?
I mean, I don't know.
But like what Nick had said, here's where I think Jared Stidham would fit perfectly in
the situation, right?
Let's think about these teams that are going to be in need of a quarterback, right?
Let's say they want to go younger.
They don't want to go with the veteran guy, so to speak, and spend big money on a veteran
QB, right?
But let's say they want a veteran.
Anybody in this year's NFL draft, let's say there's a quarterback, you know, the Jets,
the Arizona Cardinals.
Let's say they get a quarterback at some point in this year's draft, whether it be round
two, three, whatever, Jared Stidham, in my opinion, would be the perfect bridge quarterback
short-term solution for some of these places where he could go in, play a year, expound
his knowledge a little bit, and you know what, maybe he reinvents himself, right?
Maybe.
We've seen it happen, not necessarily Guarantee, Sam Donald went and spent a year of quarterback
rehab with Kyle Shanahan and San Francisco before he went on to go and get more opportunities
for himself.
So now it's a Seattle contract extension Super Bowl champion.
But like for Jared, he would be, in my opinion, a great bridge option for a team like the Arizona
Cardinals that isn't likely to compete this year for the Jets who aren't likely to compete
any time in the near future.
And then you have a young guy that learns behind him that there's a team willing to give
up capital for that.
That's fine.
Now, what does that look like for the Debra Broncos?
Who's the backup quarterback to Bow Nicks?
Spoiler alert.
I even put it out on Twitter.
I'm bringing Zach Wilson back to be the backup to be behind the opponents.
Previous familiarity, similar athletics style profile, not saying that Bow is Zach or
Zach is Bow and anyway, but I'm saying you have a guy who has backyard football traits
to him that could have been useful in the AFC championship game to me.
I would be okay with that.
Some fans are completely on board with Sam Elejor.
I'm like, wait, Sam Elejor over Zach Wilson, I don't understand that respectfully.
No.
This is the perfect off season for so many teams around the league to not go by groceries
at the store, but to get an Instacart delivery of just a couple of things that you need.
You know what I'm saying?
And you pay a premium for the Instacart delivery, but these teams, they can't draft Fernando
Mendoza.
And even if they did, you know, for the Raiders, like other teams might be saying like,
wow, that's go ahead.
Let's see how it works out for you guys because the 2027 draft is where you're going to
go shopping for some groceries.
You're going to say, hey, we're going to Costco in this draft.
We are going to load up.
We're going to get all the things that we need because that draft is just so much better,
especially at the quarterback position.
These teams are going to want a guy like Jarrett Stidham because one of two things could happen.
Either Jarrett being a veteran quarterback at a reasonable price for them could raise
the floor of what previously they had, let's say the Jets, or he's going to help you accomplish
the goal of getting archmaning in next year's draft.
Like Jarrett Stidham is worth the 4th, 5th, 6th round pick, plus 6.5 million in salary
or whatever it is to say, hey, we're going grocery shopping next off season.
This season, we're going to fill, we're going to fill some more needs.
We're going to take shots in the draft and we're going to get a guy who can come in
Darren Moogie.
I guarantee you trust what Jarrett Stidham brings to the table and Aaron Glenn being part
of the Sean Payton coaching tree.
Who do you think is getting the best possible evaluation of a Jarrett Stidham as a bridge
quarterback?
Plus the Broncos need to do right by Jarrett and give him the opportunity to play.
He wants to play.
He believes he can start and it's, yeah, he signed up to stay in Denver, but you can
bring back Zach Wilson.
That's, and by the way, you guys hated my Anthony Richardson trade idea.
The Broncos made that trade two years ago when they traded for Zach Wilson, so they've
already done it once.
And I think, yes, they should bring him back.
Talent is there.
The wild card factor is there, but I just think, yes, trade Jarrett Stidham, get him to
a new place.
It saves money like Darian in the comments is saying and it gets you an additional dart
to throw in the draft.
I think if a Stidham trade of materialized, we'll have to get closer to the draft because
like I think the jets, like you made a compelling point.
I think Aaron Glenn, though, like I think he's coaching for his job in year two.
Like if I got to be honest, I'd be surprised that the jets don't end up with a Kyler
Murray or Malik Willis type myself, but you know, we'll see Jacobi resets out there,
dude.
Like, yeah, I agree with you though, Jarrett Stidham does want to play.
He said that a handful of times in the locker room the last couple of years, right?
And I think now will be the opportunity to, and you know, maybe the Broncos get some
draft compensation out of it, whether it's a fourth, probably more like a fifth or
a sixth, maybe even a team gets desperate and offers a third.
I don't know if that's going to be the case.
And I think you'll need to see Murray and, you know, some of these other guys moved
before we see Jarrett Stidham get traded anywhere.
That's just my personal.
Murray's going to the Vikings.
Murray's on the bike.
It's basically at this point, like he and Malik Willis go into the Cardinals like that's
my opinion with, yeah, Gino Smith.
I mean, and Gino, I think, is going to stay with the Raiders because I don't think the
Raiders are sold that Fernando Mendoza can be a day one starter.
Like he's not that great of a prospect.
He's the only guy.
Like you, you're left with one date to the dance option.
And so you, you, that's all you got.
That's your only option.
That's what the Raiders are stuck with right now.
I just think this is the worst, like the Broncos having bow nicks right now.
It's great for them.
Their division is in shambles, like the, the chiefs, like we haven't even got to talk
about that.
I love it.
The chiefs are in shambles.
Patrick Mahomes is really, he's posting on Twitter.
He's lamenting.
Like that's how good of us position the Broncos are in Max Crosby, about to be out of here,
about to be on the, the bears or something.
Like the Broncos need to be aggressive.
Well, this is why you absolutely right.
The Broncos should take advantage of it.
And if there is a team that wants Jarrett Stidham, use that draft capital.
You're talking about the Kansas City Chiefs.
Mahomes is coming off of ACL, probably was worst record as a member of the chiefs six
and eleven, and we knew Brett Beach was having financial issues because written his finally
come due.
They kicked the can down the street for so many years, but now they have to deal with
it.
I mean, what's going to happen with Chris Jones?
Like Trent McDuffee could have been like the first Domino to fall, and then you sent
him to the Rams.
Now Kansas City Chiefs now have two first round picks and that would make three picks in
this draft all from the Rams.
The first round pick they just got from the Trent McDuffee pick, a fifth rounder and
the sixth rounder all from the Rams.
Now, how well would that make the Kansas City Chiefs?
We really don't know because you can't really count on guys being drafted in the first round
coming in at any position, making any type of impact at all.
So this puts Kansas City kind of what they would say, well, you know what, we are okay.
We're fine.
We're just going to rebuild and we're going to be right there.
We're going to allow you Denver Broncos fans to just kind of take the AFC West, but guess
what?
In two years, we're going to reclaim it back from you.
So it's going to be real interesting to see what the Chiefs do with those first two
picks.
Everything I've heard is this is a draft like obviously you want to have picks, but it's
not like last year's draft, but there's just like a heavy of talent, right?
Like it's just, it's not as deep as, you know, previous drafts.
So.
Is that tight end running back and linebacker, but like even the running back though, like
you're not going to see a lot of teams spend a premium first round pick.
Jeremiah loves probably going to be the only guy that gets drafted around one, but really
it's going to be rounds one through three where a lot of these were all the good players
going to be gone essentially.
Yeah.
Who's the chiefs tackles?
Who's the chiefs guards?
Who's the chiefs edge rushers?
Who's the chiefs linebackers?
Who's going to play corner?
Who's going to play safety?
Like Patrick, Travis Kelsey hasn't been resigned yet and they're still in cap trouble.
So like, yeah, what's their receiver room?
Like race is not a lot of play.
There's going to be a lot of restructuring when we just saw today, that press got restructured
his deal.
Yeah.
So, so when we think about the salary cap and everyone looks at the salary cap like
it's the boogey man, but the salary cap isn't when you learn how to manipulate it and,
you know, and once again, you can kick the king down the street like Brett Beach is doing
in Kansas City.
Brent would have come do, but in the in the interim, you find ways to make things happen.
Think about what less need to do with the Rams, right?
When they got, you know, was it Sam Donnell, I'm not not Sam Donnell, but Matthew Stafford,
right?
They say, okay, but we're not super bow window.
So you get Jalen Ramsey, you bring over Bond Miller, right?
You add Odell Beckham Jr., and you say, you know what, we were finding a way to make
things work in the interim, and they still did, and then they just got better by adding
Trent McDuffey to their, to their defense.
So it all depends on the team, their philosophy, the ownership, how patient can you be?
And if you're in these roles, you're not listening to these damn fans.
You don't care.
I don't care if you don't want me to make these moves because it's our money, it's our
team, right?
But once again, what is your long-term vision, and if you can stick with that, and the ownership
is patient, you're allowed to make moves, and guess what?
The Rams are going to be right back there again.
I would agree.
Well, there are plenty of moves that need to be made, and I guess lining up to make those
moves as free agencies a week away here, obviously, as we do this show on March 4, so when we
get to next week, we'll have some news to hopefully sink our teeth into.
We'll see what the Broncos do.
I think the Broncos, and we can talk about this more on Friday, like I expect them
to come out and make a sign here to off the rip.
I know a lot of different teams do that, but what, because didn't they sign who Faga and
Greenlaw pretty quickly last year, Cody?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Follow your shot.
Who's it going to be?
I don't, I feel like Greenlaw's wasn't as quick, I feel like it was like, it was that
night.
I remember, because it was a Monday night, it was like, wait a minute, like, because then
it was like, oh, between this team and this team, imagine us during the squad show, I think
we should do a live squad show on Wednesday when three agencies happening just because of
chaos.
I think that could be fun.
That could be fun.
I'm into that.
We'll see.
All right.
Anyone have any closing thoughts before we get out of here?
We'll be back on Friday.
Like I said, we'll do a wide receiver linebacker and tie it in, maybe some other positions
as well.
But until then, anyone else kind of anything they want to get off their chest.
Yeah.
Damn, damn, the torpedoes.
Spin that money.
Make this team better.
Oh, let's go.
I would agree.
Yeah, I would agree.
Yeah.
What are you?
What are we waiting for?
Chips in.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Enough of this.
Enough of the almost.
Like, I can already see guys.
I can already see it happening because, like I said, at the beginning of the show, why is this
running back stuff getting reported?
Like, why are the Broncos letting that out of the building?
Because I think partially because they want everyone to know, we would have been in
on Breeze Hall if he would have gotten, if he would have gotten out there.
And that's why you can't be upset with us because when we settled with JK Dot, like you
guys were saying earlier, too, that's the thing that I'm afraid of.
Like enough of the, don't be the Justin Herbert of free agent, you know, general managers,
George Payne.
Don't be the if man of free agency.
Let's go freaking make some moves.
Let's go get the, get the less need T shirt, wherever he got that shirt from with your face
on it that says F them picks.
And let's take that mentality.
It's about Lombardi Trophy's man.
It's about winning it all this and you have better chance than ever before.
Chiefs are down bad.
Raiders are rebuilding.
The chargers have nobody on their team on the trenches on either side of the ball.
And you have an opportunity to do something big time.
And this is, this is where you have to be aggressive.
Do these savages, dawg savages, savages, you almost have me, you don't even have your
heart.
Oh, I love it.
I love it.
I really do.
All right.
Broncos country.
You guys are the absolute best.
We appreciate you guys rock and roll with us here today.
As I said, we'll be back on Friday, probably sometime in the early afternoon as well.
We'll do those other positions and we'll get you guys all primed up and ready to go for
NFL free agency.
But for Cody works, Sarah Beddinger and Nick Ferguson, I am a Nilo Piro signing off another
episode of your Lacton Broncos squad show in the books.
I'll talk to you guys in a couple of days.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos
