How Denver Broncos DECISION With Ja'Quan McMillian Impacts Jahdae Barron

After many questions heading into the office season, the Debra Broncos are bringing back

J-Quan McMillan for the 2026 NFL season, and that answers a question about the Broncos

second-year cornerback, Johnny Barrett.

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The NFL Combine is over and coming out of it, the Denver Broncos, ahead of NFL free

agency, placed a second round tender on cornerback, J-Quan McMillan.

He's going to be back in 2026.

What does that mean for players like Johnny Barrett, a potential move to the outside,

could be in line for him.

We'll talk about that on today's episode.

So plus, the Broncos, not tender and running back to Illumac Laughlin, but that doesn't

mean that his road in Denver has necessarily finished.

We'll highlight all that more here on today's episode of the show.

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I'm Cody Rourke, credential Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports, stored as always by

Sarah Bedinger, site expert over there at predominatelyorange.com, Sarah, what a week

in my man.

Testing out the NFL combine was crazy.

I know we'll focus on that on tomorrow's episode of the show for all the everydayers out

there.

But some news surrounding this Broncos team ahead of NFL free agency, which is just about

a week and a half away.

We're really close to the legal negotiating period.

But for the Broncos, one player who was a restricted free agent, cornerback, J-Quan McMillan

obviously, very, very impressive player, everydayers in the everydayer club could check out

the film breakdown.

We posted on him.

They placed a second round tender on him, Sarah.

And I think there's still some confusion.

I think for some fans that have asked me, what does it mean if they place a second round

tender on him?

What does that mean for his status on the team going forward?

He is on the team of 2026 now at guarantees that, but there are also potential contingencies

that could fall into place with that.

Yeah, absolutely.

I think that at a basic level, what it essentially is, is a mini franchise tag.

So what the second round tender just means that if another team were to give an offer

sheet to J-Quan McMillan, and he would sign that, and the Broncos would say, we don't

want to match that.

Well, they would get a second round pick as compensation.

It's basically a pre-agreed upon trade, as well as a preset amount for that tender that

is fully guaranteed to the player.

So that's where it kind of acts like a franchise tag.

And if and when J-Quan signs this, which we assume that he's going to sign it, the Broncos

will have roughly 22 million in salary cap space.

We also know that the NFL salary cap is officially set at 301.2 million.

So it's a small chunk of the salary cap pie overall.

It's a very reasonable price to pay for somebody of J-Quan McMillan's caliber, who we just

saw the big play that he made in the playoffs.

But shoot, he's made a ton of big plays besides that over the last three years.

And certainly you feel like this is the stepping stone on the way to a contract extension

in the future.

But what this does is it allows the Broncos time to get that all figured out because right

now with NFL free agency looming, they're maybe not necessarily saying, hey, we need to get

a deal done with J-Quan because we have this RFA tender in our back pockets use.

It's a reasonable price for us.

It's a substantial raise for him.

And it likely throws other teams off the scent that nobody's trading a second round pick

for J-Quan McMillan, at least that we don't think that's going to be the case.

But if somebody wanted to that bad, they would have to sign him to a contract that the

Broncos would have to be like, wow, I mean, we can't match that.

And so you kind of figure, it's not worth it for teams to try.

There's not enough juice worth to squeeze.

Well, I remember his agent as well on Friday even put something out there that if a team

were to have interest in trading for him, they would have to sign him to an extension.

They said around 16 to $16 to $18 million essentially is what they'd be looking for.

I think per year, or I believe that's exactly what he said, something along those lines

that it wouldn't be.

It's not just going to come easy.

You just don't get to trade a second round pick for him.

There's contingencies attached to that with what that would look like, the type of contract

he's going to get.

But I found things to be very interesting about this because I think a lot of Broncos friends

were running like, okay, like, what does this mean about an extension?

Sarah, this really now opens up kind of the opportunity for the Broncos if they wanted

to.

They could find a way to extend him two to three years or now.

What does sound like the plan is for him to stay in Denver for the long term right now,

especially emerging as a starting player as George Payton called him a core player here

for Denver's defense and for their team.

But I mean, obviously, let's take a look at his 2025 season.

I mean, from a nickel position, Sarah, four sacks last season, blitzing from the nickel.

He had two in one game, obviously against Patrick Maholens, he had won against Cam Ward,

but two interceptions, nine passes defense, two force fumbles, five TFLs, 56 combined

tackles, four of those being solo.

I mean, I put the film out there in the everyday club for Broncos fans who were interested

in that.

Make sure you check that out here.

It's in the show notes down below, but you see just the type of player he is.

I mean, you see these teams trying to throw screen passes his way.

And what does he do?

He blows it up.

He tackles the guy for a loss behind the line of scrimmage.

He's a very good tackler.

He's just aggressive.

Like he reminds me a lot of Chris Harris Jr. in some ways, but I'll say this, I feel like

strength-wise, he's a lot stronger than Strap Harris ever was, which isn't a shot at

Strap.

Strap was a finesse player and was tough, strong, but I think physically, I think Jake

Juan obsies a stronger player.

And I think that translates well in today's game.

Yeah, it absolutely does.

He is tailor-made for today's NFL to be a slot corner.

And he matches up so well, like you said, with a variety of different players as a result.

I love what he's brought to the table, just, I mean, the very first opportunity that

he got.

We often reference this on Lockdown Broncos, but he gets an opportunity.

I think it was the last week or one of the last weeks, it's going to be going to season.

He has to go up against Mike Williams, who's like, you know, seven inches taller than him

or whatever.

And he picked it off and took it back for six.

Unfortunately, he didn't get credit for it.

But the point remains that this guy has that dog in him as people like to say.

And he just has that sort of mentality that I can impact the game in so many ways.

I mean, you mentioned some of the moments from last season, but he sealed the deal against

Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.

He sealed the victory against Cam Ward and the Titans.

And I think up until the Nick Bonito had one in the postseason, I believe the J-quan Macmillan

strip sack on Cam Ward was the only strip sack the Broncos had last season up to a certain

point.

So it was him making play after play.

Remember how big he was in helping the Broncos win in Buffalo back in 2023?

I mean, there's so many moments that you can point back to him and be like, dang, this

J-quan Macmillan guy.

I mean, he made some huge plays.

I also believe he's the only player to ever pick off and sack Patrick Mahomes in the

same game.

So he's got a lot of good things on his resume at this point.

And he's certainly somebody that I remember.

This is the mark of a great player in my opinion, Cody.

My son, who is eight years old, going to be nine later this month.

He said during the playoff game after J-quan Macmillan's interception, he's like, Dad,

who's number 29?

Like, I want that guy's jersey.

Well, you know what?

I think a lot of Broncos countries should be thinking that way like J-quan Macmillan

is a Jersey guy.

He does everything so well.

He just embodies that excellence, that toughness.

But man, yeah, getting him signed to a long term extension now, that's where the focus

really shifts.

He's too good of a player for the Broncos to have just been okay with letting him go

in free agency, right?

And I understand everyone's like, well, you know, maybe get a, maybe get a comp pick in

the next year or something, based on like, where he signs, how he plays things like that.

It's not worth it.

Like, draft picks, you know, yes, there's a lot of young talent.

We're going to approach draft pick for it.

I know you got a bonus episode of mock draft dropping later here for Broncos country.

But, you know, draft picks are gambles yet they're not necessarily a guaranteed thing

to pay off, right?

We all understand that.

Whereas you have an unproven player who literally share, in 2022 season was an undrafted

rookie.

Just wait, you know, was waiting for his opportunity.

Got it against Mike Williams at the time where Mike Williams was one of the peak players,

peak receivers in terms of best, one of the best jump ball guys in the NFL.

And this was before he was, you know, he suffered a knee injury, so to speak.

And he just, he shut him down.

He locked him down.

You know, you mentioned the game against Mahomes and the Chiefs this year.

They did that without Pat Surten.

He was arguably the most important player there.

I would say that defensively, do you need a clutch player?

It's J-Mac.

J-Mac is the Broncos clutch player on defense and Vance Joseph believes in him.

He's got a really established role.

And that's not a shot against rookie Jade Baron.

It's just, hey, right now, J-Quan's just the best player.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

But that also leads us to our next conversation here because coming out of the news about

the second round tender, J-Quan's agent actually mentioned something along the lines of what

I think the Broncos have indicated the plan is for Jade Baron.

We'll discuss what that is here on today's episode of the show.

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Jake Juan Macmillan's agent may have spilled the beans about the Broncos future plans for

Jade Barron, the team's first round pick in 2025.

Jade might be moving back to the outside.

What does that mean for him for Riley Moss?

We're going to talk about that on today's episode of the show about Broncos country.

Thanks.

Once again, to all of you, every day is out there that make us your first listen of

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If you haven't already done so, Cody and I want to invite you to join the every day

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We're going to be here every single day bonus episodes, regular episodes, all of it.

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Cody, let's talk about this because you and I mentioned, I mean, we're trying to the

depth chart is always like a game of Sudoku and you want to figure out a way to fill out

the board.

You want to figure out a way to like have this perfect grid or whatever.

But man, there are going to be roster casualties for player development.

And I mean, it just, it happens all over the place in the NFL.

The Broncos aren't exempt Riley Moss.

He might, I don't know if he commuted, like if he's going to communicate with George

Peyton, Sean Peyton, after hearing this, but the report that came out that was written

by Luca Evans talking to Jayquan Macmillan's agent, kind of makes it sound like Jade is

going to be taking the outside corner job, potentially from Riley Moss, because we know

Pat Sir Tannate losing his job.

So I'm interested in your thoughts on this because it seems like things behind the scenes

might be a bit more straightforward than what we perceive to be a big time competition

coming up this season.

Yeah, I feel like Jaymax agent, the comments that he had were certainly interesting about

indicating that, hey, like Jade or you know, going into second year, he's going to be

an outside guy.

And everyone's like, wait, what does that mean?

Like, okay, like we already knew too.

And you and I have had discussions here on the show saying, like, if Jayquan returns

and obviously it's not an indication that, you know, the Broncos are going to move on

from any of their corners.

But what does it mean for Jade Baron?

Does it mean that the Broncos was made a mistake in drafting him?

It's trying to figure out what that vision looks like.

And Sarah, sometimes I forget that during the by-week, Vance Joseph won on Peter Schroger's

podcast.

And one of the things that he talked about with Baron was, you know, we've created these

situations where he fails in practice.

So he doesn't fail on game days, doesn't fail out there on Sundays.

But then even mentioned that the long-term vision for him is on the outside.

I forgot about that until just kind of going through this whole saga of trying to piece

the timeline together with J-Mac and where the Broncos are out with him.

And you and I have had these discussions.

What could that potentially look like?

I did a bonus episode on it and it seems like that may play out.

But it almost makes it seem like George Payton or the Broncos, whoever J-Mac's agent

talked to, basically indicated that, hey, J-Mac, that's spot on the slot.

That's his.

That's his spot.

It's not in question right now.

Now the rookie is going to be a second player.

He's going to play on the outside.

Now that doesn't mean that he's going to instantly jump Riley Moss in that spot.

I think it does set up a cornerback competition between those guys.

And I would even throw the third name in there and Chris Abrams drain.

I'm very curious for your thoughts on this, too, because like for Jade, like where I struggle

with maybe the idea of the outside is just knowing that I think Sean prefers taller corners

on the outside.

That's typical in today's game, but I don't think if a guy can play, you can't hold

that against him.

Look, I wasn't the tallest corner.

I was a 510 corner, and I could play outside, I could play inside the slot, but it's different

at the NFL.

I didn't play the NFL.

I played in the 80s, but for a guy like Jade versus a guy like Riley Moss, Riley's

tall, Riley's fast, Riley has the physicality and the tools.

Like right now on paper, at least in the offseason, Jade's going to have to have a great

offseason.

In my opinion, Sarah, to just up and Riley, how do you see this competition potentially

playing out if it is, in fact, bear him moving outside?

Well, I think it's going to end with somebody getting traded.

I mean, that's the only reasonable outcome here, isn't it?

Because Riley's entering a contract year.

So to me, that's where I would say, hey, right before the start of the season, or maybe

during the season, like he could get traded for somebody at Jade, isn't able to take

that job, which I think in the long term is probably the best case for the Broncos.

Because if you take a guy in the first round, he's got to play.

I mean, that's the, that was the first rating part about Jade's rookie season.

It's not only, not only did he not really play all that much, but then you saw other

guys around him that were drafted by other teams playing well and making an impact.

And when you take somebody in the first round, I get that it's not always going to be year

one impact.

John Peyton talks about there's different visions for different players that, you know,

year one, year two, year three, but also Jade was a bit older coming in as a rookie.

So the fact that he didn't play very much as a rookie was disappointing.

And we all thought he's going to be the starting slot corner.

Like, Jake Juan Macmillan had some penalties back in 2024.

And we remember that.

Like he struggled a little bit at the very least.

And there were some questions about is he going to keep his job?

Like now you've got a first rounder out there.

And that didn't turn out to be anything.

I mean, he responded actually the opposite as opposed to laying down and laying the first

rounder take his job.

He's like, no, you're going to have to play him somewhere else because I'm going to play

that good.

But Riley, there's a question mark because the penalties and the big plays that he allowed

and now we have a two year sample.

So the pressure is on big time for Riley Moss to step up this off season.

Yeah, and I'm very curious to see how it'll play out in camp because, you know, if there

is a true legitimate competition, I don't know if they're going to come out and tell

us that.

Right.

I think we could assume though that there's going to be one.

It's all about the consistency stacking days and it's not just going to be practice.

You know, they, they've, Sean has historically said how these guys play in practice.

That certainly factors into, you know, their evaluation.

But it is, it's more so like, hey, you have a joint practice with another team.

How do you compete against other people, right?

How do you play in the actual games?

Because practice for so many guys can be a lot different than the games.

You know, Riley, I think despite some of his struggles in terms of the penalties and

things like that, Riley's been a good player for you.

But you're at this point now from a roster standpoint where, and you mentioned this too,

like player development, it, it, it, it could lead to roster casualties in terms of like,

hey, like we had this plan, but this guy came out of nowhere.

It happens all the time and there's nothing wrong with that.

That doesn't mean that you were wrong in your process.

So to speak, I still think the drafting Baron in the first round, I think for people

was like, wait, why did they do this?

Like this guy was drafted to replace this guy and it didn't work out.

That's not an indication that Baron just didn't play well or was bad.

It just, it rose the level of play for another guy.

So I still think the future is bright with Baron.

And I think that there's still some roles that they can define him.

And especially even when they go dying, he'll, he'll probably still slide to that slot

position there in those packages.

But I see multiple corners playing next year opposite of PS2, Sarah.

I just think of today's game with all the wide receivers, all the skill players that

are now coming out obviously in this year's NFL draft as well.

It's going to be a premium to get, you know, your base defense now being nickel,

being dime personnel, depending on what type of offense you're going against.

You're seeing this emphasis on, we need more skill players to counter the skill

players on the other side of the ball.

So I think there's value to be had there, but certainly it does raise the question like,

very similar circumstance like where Bradley Chubb was at.

Bradley was in the last year of his deal in season, right?

And maybe this does lead to an in-season trade, maybe not even before the season depends

on what happens around the league.

But it was basically Bradley gets traded, gets a new contract extension.

If that were to be the case hypothetically with Riley, he would only get traded if that

other team would be willing to work on an extension right then and there for him versus

them renting him for half a season, so to speak.

That's a big risk for a lot of NFL teams.

So this is a storyline.

I think that we absolutely continue to have to follow here.

We'll obviously be monitoring the tea leaves.

We know the Broncos won't be stepping on the field for any football stuff.

Until June, so a little bit later than normal because of how late, how far they made it into

the post season.

So we still have a few months of just playing the guessing game, but the NFL draft free

agency, the Broncos approach will tell us a lot about how the team plans to maneuver here

going forward.

But Broncos country, let's know your thoughts here on what Jay Max agent said about Joday

Baron and where that Broncos may have plans for him on the outside.

Let's know your thoughts on today's episode of show.

We appreciate you so much here.

But Broncos country coming up next, we're going to talk about the Broncos not tendering,

running back to Olympic Laughlin, does that mean that his time in Denver has ended?

That's not necessarily the case we'll discuss here on today's episode of the show.

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game time today.

We know that Jake Juan Mack Millan will be back with the Broncos in 2026 after receiving

a second round tender, but Denver did not tender running back to a little McLaughlin.

What does that mean for a guy who's been so good behind the scenes here for the Broncos

is they may be looked to revamp that running back room, especially for what we saw in

the NFL combine in terms of testing this past week and with the running backs.

It makes it easier for Sean Payton to evaluate their options here, but once they think

he wants to gain to everyone in Broncos country all the everydayers, thanks for taking

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Lockdown Broncos brings that to the table here.

Look, I coming out of Friday, obviously with with J Max News of him getting the tender,

it was announced by ESPN's Jeremy Fowler that the Broncos were not going to tender

Gillil McLaughlin and Fowler's language said he is set to be a free agent, which is true,

right?

They're not tannering him, which opens him up instead of being what was an exclusive

rights free agent.

I think he was that or he was restricted one of the other.

Instead of them having to worry about that, them not tannering him allows him to negotiate

with other teams, but that doesn't mean that he won't necessarily return to Denver.

Let's talk about this.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

So, Gillil was another restricted free agent going into this offseason and the tender

price is just prohibitive in terms of like, let's just give a for example, I believe

the lowest tender for a restricted free agent this year was somewhere around the 3.5 million

range or something like that.

Well, that's what the Broncos paid for JK Dobbins essentially last year.

So there's just no way that your third or fourth, I guess in this case, running back

on the death chart is going to get the same amount of money as they just paid to the starter

last year, especially when you're going into an offseason where you kind of want to revamp

that position.

So, it's just he's going to come back if he does at a minimum deal, like the veteran minimum

come compete, you know, come continue to do what you've been doing in terms of setting

the example, getting here, the first one here, the last one to leave sort of thing.

That's what Gillil McLaughlin does, that's who he is.

That's how he kind of got noticed in the first place, right?

So, but the restricted free agent tender is just prohibitive in terms of that price tag.

You're not paying that for somebody who may not make your team, especially when it's a fully

guaranteed contract for that player.

So it just didn't make sense for the Broncos.

I don't even know how much sense it really makes to bring him back at the lower price.

The same could be said of Tyler Bade, who's an exclusive rights free agent.

So it just feels like, hey, it might be the right timing for both sides to be moving on.

I wouldn't be surprised if Gillil waits it out through free agency, see what the Broncos

do and make a decision from there.

Yeah.

And it wouldn't shock me though.

If some team comes out and says, hey, we want to grab you, it would not shock me in

the slightest.

If the San Francisco 49ers cow Shanahan somehow swooped him up or the Los Angeles Charter

because Mike McGaniel likes some of those faster running backs, you could see Gillil

here inside the AFC West, if the Broncos do not, in fact, bring him back.

I know that they would like to, but they're going to have to essentially compete first

services.

And I guarantee if there's a team out there that's going to offer him a little bit more,

Gillil is going to end up elsewhere.

Now, obviously shout out to our good friend, Luca Evans of the Denver Post.

He did also bring up the fact that some of the rumblings out of the NFL combine suggested

that the Broncos have interest in bringing Tyler Bade back.

I'm kind of on the boat now and you know how like, it comes across as like, I don't

like Bade, I like Bade a lot, like he and I both went to Mizzou, we had some of the same

professors.

I've, I've had really great conversations with him, but in terms of like where the roster

is at, from a roster building standpoint, the Broncos have to improve this area.

Like, unless Denver saying, you know what, we like Bade and past protection, but we're

going to give him the ball a lot more.

He's got its closeness to him, Sarah.

And it's like, the Broncos, that's the thing that frustrated me about his role specifically

is that they were not running him.

He was in there for past protection and screen passes.

And he was essentially a decoy that defense is new exactly what was going on.

If they actually gave him the ball, maybe we would see something from that.

But like right now, I view that role in the lens of last year saying, in my opinion,

it's just not worth it, especially when the Broncos right now have Cody Schrader and

Duce von signed a futures contract.

Okay, there's two backs right there on top of RJ Harby.

There's three.

Well, you could bring a guy back at free agency.

There's four.

You could draft guy in the NFL draft.

There's five guys essentially that you're going to have to work with right there.

So bringing all these same names back, I think it just muddies the water a little

bit in comparison and I'll be very curious to check out your bonus mock draft a little

bit later on.

I want to see if you end up grabbing one of these backs that, I mean, I think it was the

fastest 40 yard dash times between all backs and NFL combined history, which collectively

is pretty dang crazy.

So stay tuned for Sarah's bonus episode later on for that.

I just want to know your thoughts here.

When it comes to Joliel, Tyler Bade, are you turning the page or are you leaving the

light on?

So to speak.

I would be turning the page.

I really feel like it's in the Broncos' best interest not to tempt themselves to run

it back with everybody, right?

I think that you have to consider the fact that yes, this was a great team last year.

The Broncos were awesome and they won 14 games, a 15th in the playoffs.

They were a good team, but there's clear areas where the talent on the roster needs to

be upgraded.

And if you tempt yourself to run it back with the same guys and eliminate the possibility

of upgrading talent in the process, well, then I've got a bit of a problem with that.

And that opens up and invites a lot more criticism.

If you bring these same guys back after saying shoot, like we can't figure it out.

We can't figure it out.

We can't figure it out.

And then you keep on what do they say, right?

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

So whereas I get it, you watch Javante Williams leave and have success and now you're thinking

yourself, wait, so was it us or was it him because we said it was him.

And then he goes out and has a great season is the same true for somebody like Jalil McLaughlin.

I don't necessarily think so.

I think you can upgrade the talent, reset the clock, get some fresh blood in there and

work with somebody new.

I would say for the last three years, you know, since Sean 2023, 2024 last season,

they have run it back with these guys.

Jalil and but they have been on the Broncos roster for the last three years.

So he's going to make this magical jump in year four.

I think for Jalil, you got to just get him more touches.

That was an issue last year was the consistency.

He was by far the most effective rusher down the stretch in terms of productions.

He was averaging almost five yards of carry, but he would get two carries come off the

field and never see a touch maybe for the rest of the half or, you know, the rest of

the game in some situations there and to me is like, that was, that was an internal

problem.

How much of this changes with Davis Web now is the play color.

I don't know.

I imagine we'll see more run pass balance, but it's going to be with the same group.

I don't know if that's going to be the case, especially, you know, I think with free

A&C heating up where also the rumor came out that if Breast Hall did hit free A&C, he

would have strong interest in coming to Denver.

Like that was something that came out there.

So that obviously changes things.

If that does in fact happen, which I mean, the New York Jets are probably going to try

to what is it?

I think it's in the next two days or so.

They'll probably have to place that franchise or that transition tag on him.

So to speak, I'm very curious to see how it all plays out.

So there was that.

But then all the testing from all the running backs in this year is combined.

And I understand testing is not the end all be all, but the athleticism, the speed and

the physicality and the size of some of these guys to see the numbers that we saw put up.

How does that translate on the football field?

That's where Sean is known for.

That's what George Payton is known for.

So do the Broncos go the free A&C route with RJ Harvey and adding a running back?

I think that's the best plan.

Where do you stand?

I do too.

And I think that double dipping have the talented position groups in both free agency and

the draft is the best way to go.

You and I talked about it.

It's not just about upgrading starters.

You know, it's not just saying, hey, let's wash our hands of Gillil McLaughlin and Adam

Tropman and Alex Singleton and Justin Sternad and all these guys.

That's just washing your hands of those guys.

It's upgrading the depth behind everybody because when you needed players to step up at

running back this year, we didn't have them because you cut Audric Estima.

You didn't have guys at linebacker because you haven't drafted anybody in recent years

other than Drew Sanders who hasn't been able to get on the field.

So it's just, it's really frustrating the idea that this team would continually just,

it's like being in a hamster wheel and being stuck in there.

And I think you just can't, you can't just run it back.

You have to upgrade at least the depth.

If not, go after new starters at these positions.

Wow.

Brockwood's country.

Make sure you share your thoughts with us here on today's episode of the show.

We appreciate you so much.

Brockwood with us.

That'll do it for today's episode.

Make sure you check out Sarah's bonus mock draft Monday episode is going to hit later

on here.

And we'll see where he goes and takes your Broncos after the NFL combine.

Make sure you share your mock results with us as well.

But tomorrow's episode of the show, Sarah and I, we are going to sit down.

We are going to react to some of the craziness over the weekend, specifically the testing

at the NFL combine with tight ends and running backs and linebackers, which happen to be

the three biggest needs for the Broncos this off season, who turned heads, who landed

on our radar.

We'll go through all that and more on tomorrow's episode of the show of the show.

We'll go through the show.