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The Denver Broncos are heading in a promising direction under George Paton and Sean Payton, and the latest NFLPA Report cards indicate such. How does Payton's coaching dynamic influence his grade, while his coaches benefit from his approach. Plus, Greg Penner and Carrie Walton-Penner have changed the game with their highest grade mark yet and George Paton received incredibly high praise. Denver's lowest grade was their locker room and the ownership group will have that fixed in the next couple of months.
Cody Roark and Sayre Bedinger react to the Broncos NFLPA Report Card and more.
Cody Roark is a credentialed beat reporter for Mile High Sports and covers the Broncos daily in person. Sayre Bedinger is the site expert for Predominantly Orange. Both bring Broncos Country the most in-depth and objective coverage of the Denver Broncos.
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The top secret NFL PA report card got leaked in Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton has the same grade that he had last season
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What's up Broncos country happy when's they welcome into another episode of locked on Broncos your daily Denver Broncos
Podcast part of the locked on podcast network the number one sports podcast network in the country all thanks to all
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Thanks for tuning in making us your first listen however you choose to do so it's back to school kind of here
It's the tip of Broncos NFL PA report card for the 2025 NFL season
Released we'll go through on today's episode of the show Sean Payton receiving the same grade that he did last season
Not improving in that category. We'll give some context behind that but Broncos ownership Broncos GM George Payton receiving high marks in
Their grading category on top of that Broncos coaches had a lot of improvement in their grading and on top of that
We'll go through where the Broncos improved in a lot of major categories as they look to get even better grades going to
2026 if it leaks. I'm Cody Roach credential Broncos reported from Ohio high sports joined as always by sir
Battinger site expert over there predominantly orange dot com ESPN's Kaylyn Collar she received all the information all the NFL
PA report card grades and she was thankful enough to publish it all the way to ESPN where we got the screenshots of it and
We learned a lot about how the Broncos how players specifically and these were given out in the months of November and December
How they graded the Denver Broncos and almost every category top the bottom
But let's start things off there by focusing on Sean Payton's grade
Sean received a B for the second consecutive year in a role
By the players in terms of grading and people also have to factor into the context of rankings if he ranked 26 out of 32
Coaches you'll see there are a lot of coaches with A's or some coaches with A pluses A minuses B pluses B's
Like it it is skewed in a sense. It doesn't necessarily tell the full story
Yeah, and Sean Payton's grade quite frankly. I mean a B is not a bad grade
Necessarily, but Sean ranks pretty low in this category in particular
I mean when we're talking about overall among all NFL head coaches like he was just above some of the guys that got fired
He was 27th out of 32 in terms of his efficiency with time ranking and then when you look at like locker room feedback
Addressing team needs he was ranked 29 out of 32 so like Cody
I mean, this is it's not necessarily good news for Sean Payton
I know that nothing has changed from last year. So I guess it's nice that it didn't get worse in terms of that overall grade
But I would be really interested to know, you know, what is it like working for him?
Why is this the perception? What are the players because this is a group in the Broncos roster that is largely been
Intact for the last three years and if they're the ones voting on this
I mean, what are they trying to say like what what do you make of this because to me I was I got a little second-hand
Embarrassment reading this and thinking like oh dang like if that was me and I was ranked to that low on this list
Like that would make me
Uncomfortable so I'm interested to hear your perspective on that
Yeah, I mean it doesn't bother me and I think it's because this is the role that Sean takes on Sean
Essentially takes on the role of being bad cop and his coaches are good cop
We've talked about that dynamic here on the show before and so Sean
I mean he sets the standard and look I think where the Broncos are at right now Sean Payton is a very large reason
There is a method to the madness long
Calis training camp practices, you know, you travel to you know the green Briar at times or you know
You're gonna go do stuff and London like you have a structure
Sean has his days or players days at the team facility structure to a point where there's a mission behind it
There's not a lot of time where guys are just laying around there's times of recovery rest and treatment things like that
But it is very much like hey, this is your job players are at the team facility for probably
12 to 15 hours per day in season whether that's meetings lifting practice everything else in between
There is an expectation. Hey, there's work to get done here
And I think that's good though. I think the Broncos need that type of structure
So Sean like when you go through this survey and where it says the 80% of Broncos players feel their head coach Sean Payton is efficient with their time
That is a good ranking. That's a good category there because he wants him to maximize everything now
He's not gonna put them through the gauntlet so a sense to burn these guys out like he doesn't want to do that
Sean ultimately wants just guys to be at the facility doing their job without burning them out
He doesn't want coaches to miss some of their more important events as well
Like there's a good balance to be had there
But it's like hey when you're here at the team facility
We're doing this this this and this and it's not negotiable
And that's where I think it comes to the fact where it says players feel that Payton is moderately receptive to locker room feedback on the team's needs
ranking 29.32
That's more so
These guys say Sean can we do things this way? You know Sean is not necessarily like it's not a democracy with Sean
And it's not a dictatorship either. I want to be very clear. It's no. Hey, this is what we're doing
This is why we're doing it and I think when we look at the results at the end of the season Sarah
15 total wins this season winning a playoff game getting the AFC championship game
That is the opportunity cost players are giving up some comfort ability for the idea of going a little bit further
So for me, I don't necessarily view this as a bad thing you look at the AFC West counterpart
Jim Harbaugh he got a C-plus
Sarah in this
Ranking category which I think if we look at like the social media perception of Harbaugh
He were like man, he's just such a great raw raw coach, you know this now
But there's a reason like he got ranked the C-plus there are also some coaches
I believe if it was I think Mike McDaniel
I think he got an A minus he got fired or he got a B plus there was something along those lines
But he also saw some fired coaches have higher grades so to speak than Sean Payton at that
So I think the beauty is really in the eye of the beholder
But there's so much context behind these grades that not everybody I think is aware of I think unless you know
You're covering the team you pay attention to the team and certainly Broncos fans have been staying in tune all year
With what's been going on with Broncos and was Sean so I think that they may be understanding
I think that's why there's some confusion about a B grade
Yeah, no doubt and I think that that helps clarify it a ton which is big
You know, we know Sean Payton is not for everybody, right?
That extends from I guess to the players to the media to other coaches things like that
I think that that's okay
I think that he runs things the way that he does because he learned from Bill Parcels
Like he's learned from the best and so when you implement those sorts of things
There are non-negotiables that don't necessarily fly with everybody in a workplace
And that's just the way that it is and
The success speaks for itself
I want to talk to about the locker room getting a D grade Cody
I think last the year before that it was an F
I remember that very distinctly because the Broncos locker room has been tight quarters
It's old it's outdated
That's why they're getting the new training facility
And I think that this is going to be the area that we look at and say hey from a 2024
Until 2026 the locker room the facilities the amenities that players have at their
disposal is going to it's going to be the biggest glow up around the NFL
You're going to go from an F in 2024 to now a D in 2025
And it's going to be an A plus most likely by the end of 2026
Yeah, and look I think I've gotten a lot of questions about this
Why is the locker room right? It's a little this is not the stadium locker room
This is the team facility locker room folks by the way and the reason that it got a D
The reason I hadn't had net before is space
It really is space where players lockers if we're interviewing let's say Nick Benito
It's a big scrum right it takes up about three players locker spaces
And so they have to wait for us to be done interviewing players in order to get to their locker to get to their stuff
And like just the space there's not a lot of privacy
Because of that that is the reason why it graded out so low
And people are like what are they doing directives like folks they're building a new team facility
Have we not been paying attention that in May which is the team facilities expect to be done sometime in May
We'll get a tour of it
It is going to be significantly better
That's why the Bronco's ownership they got these first round of grades
They're like you know what we are going to prove this we're going to improve improve player foot traffic
We want to do this another one. I want to touch on here is treatment of families
Okay, I think a lot of people's like all they treat families poor if they had a D1 year last year's grade in
2024 was a C- this year it was a B and the biggest reason for these and this is why I think
There needs to be clarification in the wording of it treatment of families
It had more so to do with after games
Do players and their families have a place to congregate and meet that was not the case necessary the Broncos
They ended up clearing out this room next to the the press conference room in
You know on the on the lower field level floor where families and kids they get to go in there
And then players get to go see their family after the game they they've made room for that now
Obviously this is something that it's hard to do because you can't just build on to the already current stadium
That is there that's why if they build a new stadium
This is going to be factored into the equation as well players will have a built-in place for their families to go
And then the other part of it has to do with there being access to daycare the Broncos on Saturdays before games
They have families out to practice. It's always a family day so to speak so families get a go out there and watch practice and be around there
so
Denver has taken necessary steps here to improve this which I think like when you look at treatment of families
But like
Depending on the grade people are like wow they must treat people poorly
It's just it's resources. It's amenities. That's really what it is at the end of the day the Broncos are very much
All in especially with the Walton Pender family ownership group on making sure that families have as much access to
Everything as possible there. They want to see make sure families are treated well. They really believe in that
So dig that's an area that they've obviously done a really good job of trying to rectify and obviously improve that grade there
So to speak so
Those are the interesting elements of this report card here
But Broncos ownership general manager George Payton they receive high marks from Broncos players will go through that survey here on today's episode of the show
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Denver Broncos ownership and general manager George Payton made the deans list on this year's
grades that are handed out the NFL PA report cards
They were leaked and certainly you feel good about where the Broncos are at in terms of the people in charge of building this franchise from the top on
Down ownership George Payton got high grades. We're gonna talk about that break down exactly what those grades mean on today's episode
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Cody the Dean's list is out and the Broncos owners are on it. I think that
These are it's a group of people that's got a lot of background in the education realm
They obviously had to work really hard to get to the point that they're in in terms of the business world
And all the things that they've been able to do in terms of getting to the point to being able to purchase the Denver Broncos
So we know these are some good students out there and when they get a bad grade
I know I know what it's like because I'm married to one and
If a student gets a bad grade on a report card that's that takes pride in that they're gonna be like
What do I got to do to get an a plus? You know, what do I do? I got to do extra credit Broncos ownership Cody
I mean they knock it out of the park and
Their grades in this report card reflect that yeah, I mean for them to get an a plus that's huge last year
They got an a this year. They got an a plus and that so much of this grade
What factors into it is obviously ownership's
Commitment to winning the players
Almost 99% of the players believe that Broncos ownership is fully committed to giving them the on field resources
The off-field resources everything necessary to win
There's a commitment to that but also the community involvement away from football
The Broncos love that obviously the ownership is as invested in the community as anything here
But more importantly, it's you have an ownership group Sarah that is boots on the ground
I mean Greg Penner carry Walton Penner. They come in they talk to players individually. They ask players
What do they like what you know? What's what don't they like?
Yeah, I can't go into the extent of that with some players what they have told me those conversations ever regarded around
But you have an ownership group that wants to hear what's going on like they've invested so much money in this team
And obviously they're still committing that type of money you know into the day-to-day when it comes to the team facility
Obviously the building a brand new team facility that's gonna be ready here and the next couple of months
Obviously, there's ideas about a potential new stadium that has players excited has the fan base certainly excited
And questionable in some regards there, but this is also a privately funded effort
Which I think as well that you know players and fans certainly appreciate that
But I just think the commitment to going around and getting player feedback is something that
Players believe they have a very hands-on ownership group
But it's also to the point where they don't metal in things that maybe they don't understand
And that's what I really like about Greg Penner and carry Walton Penner
They're involvement without
Mudding the waters of things that they don't necessarily understand
Right, and I think that's absolutely huge for
Well, you see a team like the Dallas Cowboys where Jerry Jones does metal in everything
And he gets to the point of making it personal with their best defensive player and all of a sudden now
You go from having a chance to compete for a championship to you got no shot because your defense is one of the worst in the NFL
I mean, that's the opposite of what you want in terms of ownership and yeah
You want your owners to want your team to win you want your owners to be willing to do whatever it takes to help the team win
And that's what I think you get from the ownership group
It's not okay. We're gonna you know, we're gonna trade our best defensive player because he wants too much money
What they do is Cody they're like hey
The field needs to be replaced. We're gonna have it replaced in a just a blink of a blink of an eye right there at the drop of a hat
We're gonna do that or you know, we need this equipment for this high school, you know cohort that we support
We're gonna just invest all this money in the equipment or we want to go out and free agency
We got the cash on hand to be able to do exactly that. What do you guys want to do here?
I think that what this ownership group has done
To reshape the culture and to bring the spirit of Pat Bowen back into the mix
It's like we want to win. We want to be the best team in the NFL. We'll do whatever it takes to do that
And they're not they're not meddling. They are putting their assets toward there's such a big difference between that
It's like you don't you don't know necessarily all the football things if you're Greg penner, right?
Greg knows that Greg is like I'm gonna let George Payton make the football decisions and Sean Payton make the football decisions
But I'm gonna give these guys whatever assets I can in order to make those football things happen
That's what I love about this is that there's a self-awareness
amongst billionaires that doesn't typically exist of what you see and what you assume about people with that much
wealth and that much you know success in the financial realm the business room
They have that level of self-awareness and humility that's like they'll put they'll go into the locker room after the games
They'll tap up the players after the games and that's that's what it's all about but man it kind of is to a degree
Yeah, it shows that they care and that's something that players obviously acknowledge and look
I'll say this quickly as a former high school coach
I love the fact that they did the all-in all-covered initiative which grants every
Player for every high school football program new helmets helmets that are up to standard with that really are invested in player safety
For our future generation of potential NFL players college football players
And even as it's going they've grown the game too with making girls high school flag football and actually
State sanctioned sport here in the state of Colorado that initiative has been so huge as well
They're very invested in growing the game, which is important
Let's get to George Payton here actually, you know also kind of that because we talked about the field
The home game field was given an a grade by the players which to your point you acknowledge it
They make sure the field stays fresh that it's not run down
I know that was a huge issue for some teams in this survey across the NFL
But uh the Broncos not a problem for them
George Payton a grade this is kind of a new category. They didn't include the general manager in prior years grading
George gets an a and I can tell you this based on talking to all the players that I talked to man at the end of the season
During the end of the year exit interviews George is very open very honest about player situations where the team is at
He doesn't just give them lip service
That's one thing I've heard players said they really appreciate about George is that he is honest and he he does ask them
What is it that you feel like we could do more for you? What can we do better like what did you what did we not do well enough for you like
Those are the types of things he goes into and I think George is very very close here sir to a contract extension
I think so too and deservedly so I know that a lot of fans will say well
What about the Nathaniel Hacker higher?
Well, we know he was trying to get Aaron Rogers to the Broncos which pretty much everybody in the fan base wanted not a hundred percent
But I'd say probably 98 percent of the fan base wanted Aaron Rogers so George was trying to do that
I mean there's reports out there that say that's what was happening there
Well, what about the Russell Wilson trade? Well, didn't we all want George to take a swing at the quarterback position?
Didn't we all believe him when he said this team is a quarterback away?
It says yep roster as a sleeping giant
We all wanted that at any cost in to get the next version of Peyton Manning so I don't fault George for the Nathaniel Hacker higher because
I think that those paths were supposed to lead to Aaron Rogers
I don't fault George for the Russell Wilson trade because we all wanted that kind of move to happen
And the way that this team is recovered and rebounded is astounding the drafting probably needs to get a little bit better
Obviously, we've seen like okay, hey the rookies coming in are they being drafted to actually play or what's the vision with some of these guys?
You know, so I think honestly you can be fair in critiquing George Peyton
But the way that this roster is built right now man, they're built for some long-term success
So I love what he's doing with the team and rewarding players that was something he declared right when he was hired
He wants to draft develop get guys to second contracts. That is happening actively every year over year
So I think it's great. He's done a great job and I think the grade is is worthy
Do you know what I think to be funny like the amount of times we see the goalposts move surrounding George Peyton right when Sean Peyton came in
It was oh George is on his way out like Sean's you know, and then still we still see it like Sean has complete say and and the roster and all this stuff
And then you know when it comes to drafting like if they're draft picks that you know, I think fans don't like they're like oh George Peyton
Did terrible like when it's a good draft pick. It's obvious Sean Peyton did such a great job
Huh, I wonder how that works folks. It doesn't necessarily work that way. This is on both George and Sean
What happens in info draft not one way towards the negative not one way towards the positive
Collectively, they're both responsible. I think that's always important to point out here
But coming up next year Broncos country Sarah and I are going to talk about Broncos position coaches actually great
Hi, including Joel and Barti getting a higher grade than Sean Peyton. Hmm. We'll bring it down. You know today's episode of the show
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The Debra Broncos coordinators this past season graded out well in the NFL PA player report card and a better overall indication of a grade
How they've been playing the role of good cop bad copic comparison to Sean Peyton's big grade
We'll discuss that where the Broncos improved in terms of categories and so much more here on today shows want to say
Thank you once again to everyone in Broncos country for tuning in making a sure first listen however you choose to do so
We appreciate you so much sir. I kind of tease it right before we got to this segment here
Jolombardi receiving and a better grade so to speak then Sean Peyton did and a minus this past season
I know some Broncos fans are asking is this great about Davis Webber is it about Jolombardi?
This these surveys were conducted back in November and December of last year
So not necessarily an indication of Davis Web though. He does fall into one specific category. We'll get into
Yeah, I think when you look at the a minus given the Jolombardi
I mean, obviously he's done a great job to be able to stick around in the NFL
It's not like he's just been on Sean Peyton's coaching staffs for his entire coaching career, right?
So he's been an asset to a number of different NFL teams may not be the best play collar, right?
I mean, we saw him with the chargers and we've seen him with other teams
He may not be the best play collar
But I think it's fair to say that he's a good coach and he's he's worth having a route like we know the the only reason the Broncos let him go
Is because they wanted to promote Davis Web and Jolombardi wasn't necessarily getting fired up in the organization
You know, so give him an opportunity. He's already landed on his feet elsewhere
I'm sure it was fine working for him. I'm sure I'm sure he brings a lot to the table in terms of his knowledge of the game
His understanding of offense in the quarterback position and all those sorts of things
So it doesn't surprise me honestly that he was given a good grade because I think there's a reason why he's been around for such a long time
Well, I encourage some of you and Sarah if you want to do this if you have time
I encourage Broncos fans to go back to some Jolombardi press conferences from this past season
I want you and you can obviously find them on the Broncos YouTube page
But find the ones at Jolombardi that run long and then look the next week
It runs a little bit shorter the thing I appreciate as a reporter when we got to talk to Jolombardi
Joe wasn't afraid to answer some of things Sean wouldn't necessarily answer
I think at times that got Joe into trouble maybe behind the scenes because we'd get like a seven-minute presser one week
Joe the next week would be a two-minute and twenty-second press conference
So it was more so like hey you said too much now I'm cutting your time on that
That's kind of our perception here in the media of kind of what we saw
But Joe was always willing to answer some of those questions about you know
Bose performance the running backs the receivers, you know
I think that there were also sometimes where
We would ask a question about maybe a unit or the group that was struggling
And I felt like Joe would give us an honest answer as to like what they need to do to not struggle
And that's something I always appreciated about him as I mentioned before
These Broncos coaches and I don't know if Sean said this directly to them
But like I said, I think Sean's role is to be the bad cop to be the guy that makes things tough
And you need the coaches to be good cop so to speak so I think Jolombardi was a good bridge between offensive players
And Sean at times last year and as you mentioned there, you know, there's no way that like
Lombardi's gonna lose the title of offensive coordinator than all of a sudden rise up in the coaching ranks
Or like the positional ranks in terms of where the Broncos are at it was hey, it was a new opportunity
And we got this young guy there that we really need to see something out of he's gonna be calling plays this year
And I think that's the direction that Sean ultimately went there is with Davis
And I think that's why we saw the grade obviously that Joe Lombardi got his he was just
I don't want to say a yes, man
He did a lot of stuff that Sean said, but he also did a lot of stuff that was in benefit of the players too
Yeah, no doubt and that's where like you said the good cop bad cop is necessary
But it's I love Star Wars Cody you know that the listeners know that there's got to be balance in the force
You have to have coaches that bring balance to the force
So if Sean patents the bad cop you got to have guys who are good cop speaking of
You know players
Can't speak highly enough of frankly
I'm surprised that Vance Joseph didn't get an A plus I know he got an A on this report card
I'm a little surprised that he didn't get an A plus based on the way players talk about him
Based on the way players were campaigning to have him back
I mean obviously nobody is unanimously liked you and I know this
Yeah, it's the nature of our job. So
You know as much as you want to think that Vance he was one of the best
Assistant coaches in the entire NFL last year. So like that like I said
I'm a little surprised he didn't get an A plus on this report card and A still very good
But what what was maybe missing to get him up to the A plus on this one
It's a great question too because I also wonder too how do offensive players vote when it comes to the defensive coordinator
So to speak like oh this guy's just dialing up the blitz. I don't like that
I'm gonna mark him down or it could be maybe a player who believes he should be a starter
That's not starting maybe that's what factor do I mean there's so much context in this that we probably don't know and
Will never know. It's just hey, these are the grades. We have some context behind it, but not the full thing
I agree. I feel like Vance would have deserved an A plus
I mean
I talked to the Broncos defensive players quite a bit in the regular season man nothing but high praise for VJ
I don't think I've ever came across any starter that was disgruntled about their role or frustrated by what they were doing defensively
I think very much at times last season like this defense had Vance is back in a sense like if there was ever any kind of like
Strife between he and Sean Payton. I'm not saying that there was I'm saying that if there was ever a situation where
Maybe Sean was that wrong about something, but you know, you see them sometimes on the camera arguing or whatever
Maybe your Sean may seem passionate like the defense will always have Vance is back like that's that's just the nature of it
Like these guys will go to war for Vance and that has nothing to do with anything bad about Sean Payton
It's just that type of relationship and dynamic that certainly has been built and you saw what Jonathan Cooper kind of spilled the beans a little bit about Vance's
Decision essentially to stay and not take a head coaching job
You could tell that these players are so excited about that. They feel like they're growing here
Under Vance's direction, which I find to be good. They're in Rizzy
He got an eight-minus as well. I think obviously
Players like Rizzy, you know the way he coaches. He does coach things hard
But I think that he's very fair and balanced as a coach in terms of players that I've talked to
Just seeing him coach. I think he he's willing to give us answers
You know, so to speak on uncertain areas that one of the special teams was struggling last year
He was very open and saying that's on me. I got to fix this and so I and there were times where hey guess what?
They went out and they fixed it
So there is a level of accountability there position coaches though got to be which I'm very curious
I wonder which coaches kind of influenced this great. It's not Davis Web
I know those guys love Davis Web, but we saw a couple of coaching changes
I'm curious to what led to the B grade here the only thing we can do right now is speculate
I know I would be as well and like you said we saw Carrie Colbert the wide receivers coach
He was fired this off season
Addison Lynch a defensive backs coach was let go and then of course
You know like Jim Leonard would be in that mix from last year. He was another defensive backs coach
There's a lot a Zach Streif who is one of the you know assistant head coaches on the team the run game coordinator offensively
Very interesting Cody because I feel like the Broncos have assembled a pretty darn good
You know group of coaches other than a couple of guys who obviously got let go
After the year was over
But that's an interesting one right because like you said players are voting on this and what's the perception from other position groups
What is I'm Jim arcane seems like he does a great job with the past rushers right and I mean
There's just a lot of different layers to that that okay
Somebody must have had a really low grade to bring it down because you feel like there's enough guys to bring it back up
I wonder if they gave this grading law like hey, how would you rate your position coaches give it one grade
I imagine that players probably received a
You know, maybe it was split up by position coaches right like position groups had to vote on their specific position versus
You don't have all I'm invoting on the DB coach and how he's doing right
But certainly maybe one of those players or a couple of players
You know had a bad grade and it does bring down the overall collective score of position coaches
And maybe they tally up all that at the end between all of them and then you have your average concurrent grade across the coaching staff
So maybe that is something that that went into it, but uh overall the one thing I do want to highlight the Broncos
In this year's NFLPA report card. They improved in eight categories
They got marked down in two in comparison. I believe it was nutritionist being one of them nutritionist dietician
They took a step back in that and
That there were the other one I can't remember off the top my head, but it wasn't necessarily
You know an important one so to speak
But they improved they upgraded their grade from last year in eight categories
That is huge
That's probably going to get better as well when the new team facility opens in the month of May here
But I'm excited about it Sarah look NFL free agencies just about a week away
We're very excited. We're gonna be plugged into the legal tampering period or the legal negotiating period and then
NFL free agency the frenzy is going to begin so expect a lot of Broncos news in the coming days
And we care we're gonna have you covered every step of the way here locked down Broncos with your daily regular episodes
Plus you get a bonus episode every single day Broncos country
We appreciate you so much for rockin with us. Sarah and I will see you tomorrow for a brand new episode of the show
I
I will see you tomorrow for a brand new episode of the show
Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos



