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Jeff Legwold joins Kreckman and Lindahl 6-13-25 · Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Did a pap Ran get on your radar? It sounds
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: like we got leggy. I want to get back to this.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: I want to know a Pat Bryant, one of the rookies,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: some newcomer who got on your radar.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Why do you ask that question of Jeff Lankwill was
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Jeff Legwald? I don't need to know.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: I already know who got on one of the guys.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: You know what, Jeff, I'll just throw it to you.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Kean Robinson's one of the guys that got on your raider.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: I think did he not?
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah? Because I think you know already he was. He
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: was one of my favorite or best highly ranked special
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: teams guys on the board in the draft. So just
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: start there. But uh, I think even without the pads
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: on it, you know, you're not going to get the
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: full story. But you can see some some pass rushed
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: skills and some you know, he's got an awareness about him.
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: I think he can compete in what is a tight rotation.
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: You know, there aren't going to be a lot of
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: snaps to go around for a lot of these rookies,
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: and that may be the story of this camp is
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: you know in next month is just how few positions
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: are up for grabs, it's really how many snaps are
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: up for grabs. But you know, in a group that
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: you know already includes, you know, Jonah allis trying to
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: get some snaps in there with and Drew Sanders trying
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: to get some pass Russ snaps in. I think he
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: will make a push to be on the fifty three
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: and then you know, not only that, but being in
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: uniform on game.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: Day along those very lines. Leggie and we talked about
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: this the other day, but don't want to get your
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: reaction to it. What did you make of Sean Payton
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: saying he wanted to lower the pitch count for Nick Benita?
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, you know, I'm not quite sure. I've
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: even sort of asked to follow up to him later
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: about it. I think I think he's more talking about
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: having an awareness of where the line is for Benito,
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: not everybody's Zach Allen. You know, Zach Allen has an
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: inordinate snap count for an an interior alignment. In a
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: three to four, he's a defensive end. But in a
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: three to four you're fighting on the interior a little bit,
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: and he has an extraordinarily high snap count. And I
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: think sometimes they can get lost and you know, he's
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: playing ninety plus percent of the snaps and other guys
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  Speaker 3: just aren't gonna be able to do that. I think
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: they're trying to find the line. You know. Certainly they
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: love Benito's output thirteen and a half sacks last year.
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: I think that's third in the league. But I think
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: they just want to have an awareness about making them
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: the premium snaps for him on the edge. And like
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: we were just talking about getting some of these other
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: guys some snaps along the way, you know, in a
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: defense that's going to be very very good, you know,
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: unless they just are decimated, you know, by injuries at
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: some point. But there aren't a lot of snatchs to
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: go around, and then they have to adjust guys like
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: Bonito and Jonathan Cooper to get some other guys in
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: the mix and some situational duty.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: I'm kind of interested here, Jeff, and I'm not trying
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: to just mix it up for the sake of sports
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: radio discussion here, but uh, for Nick Benito, who has
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: not been paid yet, right, how would that comment go over? Like,
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: is a guy that is on the precipice of getting
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: his life changing contract, is he really excited to hear
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: we're gonna try and get you off the field a
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: little bit more.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I bet he wants a clear answer,
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: but September rolls around. But I you know, I don't
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: see it as I didn't take it as gonna limit
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: Nick Benito, but it is the first thought that crossed
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: my mind is is you know, here's a guy that
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: I mean, he's setting paid regardless. You know, the Broncos
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: can trudge his snatch all they want, but there's already
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: people in the league that think he's one of the
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: best pass rushers, you know, under thirty. So you know
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: he's getting paid. And I'm not sure the Broncos can
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  Speaker 3: influence that, you know, in any way beyond almost not
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: playing them, and that would be really spiting their face,
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: you know. At all of that, you know he's gonna play.
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: The more he produces, the more he's playing. Because in
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: the end, Sean Payton, the head coach, will not see
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: the defensive rotations until the game is over, you know,
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: until somebody tells him these are what the snap counts
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: were on defense. He's that's not on his radar during
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: the game. So, uh, they may talk about that in
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: training camp and and all of that. But in the end,
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: if he produces, you know, the defensive coaches are going
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: to keep putting them out there, all right.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Not your favorite question to answer, but I kind of
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: discussed this the other day as well. They brought up
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: how Patrick Certan signs a deal. Luckily for the Broncos,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: the extension came before the Defensive Player of the Year award,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: and now he's already the fourth highest paid corner of
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: the year, you know, or a corner in the league.
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: Right now.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: You've talked about how they've got a pay Benito. Of
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: course they win to pay Zach Allen. And if bo
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Nicks continues to project upwards, we know what a quarterback
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: contract does. Are they gonna have to start minding their
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: cap smartly here, Jeff, Is there a chance that even
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: maybe Cirtan wants to talk about that deal a couple
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: three years from now.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: Well, I think they fully expected to, you know, I
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: think you don't do a deal with that like that,
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: with a player like certain early. You know, they did
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: that deal early, so they know full well, you know,
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: having gotten the luxury of getting him early on a deal.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: There's always a very good chance he's coming back around.
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: You know, who's to say he can't win another Defensive
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: Player of the Year award in the next two or
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: three years the way he's going and with metrics, you know,
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: helping that cause. Frankly, but I think they would fully
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: expect to have to do something with him if it
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: just continues even remotely close to this pace. And I mean,
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: that's every good team, if you're going to be a
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: playoff contender, if you're going to be a super Bowl contender,
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: managing the cap is one of your biggest, you know things.
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: I mean, just look at what the Bengals are going through,
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: and they haven't even really had much playoff success other
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: than the one super Bowl trip, and they're already you know,
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: battling those things. And so if you're going to be
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: in the mix, you are going to have to worry
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: about it a lot. And it's why the draft becomes
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: always as important or more important than anything else, because
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: that's your only way of restocking because you won't keep everybody.
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: You know, your goal is to keep the ones you
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: really really wants, but you're not going to keep everybody,
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: so that the draft has to keep your covereds well stocked.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Or in the Bengals case, you can draft them and
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: then get into a contract dispute with them immediately, which
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: is really something to see. Leggie, I want to ask
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: you about the the forgotten man, so to speak, in
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: the cornerback room. And I can't believe I'm saying this
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: because there's a defensive Player of the Year in that room,
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: and there's a first round pick in that room, Riley Moss,
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: who's a really good player, but like he kinda he
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: kind of slides down the scale a little bit this year,
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: at least in terms of attention and notoriety, which is
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: crazy because he's a white cornerback and those are about
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: as rare as panda bears. But still, Leggie, Riley Moss,
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: where should we set the expectations for him this upcoming season?
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Because he was phenomenal last year and you saw the
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: way the defense suffered when he couldn't play.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: I mean, it's a good biggest one of the bigger
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: reasons they took Baron in the draft is because of
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: what happened in the games Riley Moss didn't play. You know,
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: I can only go by the snaps we've seen so far,
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: and he's ditting plenty of snaps. You know, the Baron
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: certain Roley Moss mix was was clearly evident, and I
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: think that's their goal ultimately on many of the passing
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: down is to have that have those guys in the nickel,
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: and you might see because of Baron's physicality, they could
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: they could play what is rare in the NFL and coveted,
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: which is a four corner nickel. Uh you know, and
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: and maybe you know who found it is the safety
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: in that mix, So they've they've got options. I think
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: all those guys are going to play. We don't know
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: how all the slices of the pie are going to
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: look yet, but I'm just judging from what I've seen
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: in the OTAs in the MIDI camp, all those guys
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: are gonna play in some fashion, and I think they're
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: even themselves are working it out how it will look
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: in the end. But I think Riley Moss is playing
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: because they want him on the field on a lot
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: of those downs. He's tough, he competes, he's unafraid, and
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  Speaker 3: if a bad play happens, he lines up on the
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: next one ready to go. And that's that can be
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: hard to find.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: You know, what you have to appreciate the fact we've
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: got this far into the interview. And I asked you
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: about JK. Dobbins jet because I know you've talked about
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: it plenty, but here it is LEGI tell us what
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: you think the role for JK. Dobbins is sure looks
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: like it's just Javonte's role. Do you see any flex
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: from that?
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: I think that's probably up to him and his health.
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: But you know, to me, this is a and they
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: they won't admit it, and Sean Payton would admit it,
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: but to me, this is a clear They got through
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: the rookie minutie camp, they got through the initial okas,
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: and they were they were charting what they wanted to
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: do and install for the mini camp, and the head
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: coach decided he was uncomfortable how that position looked on
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: third down, and Dance showed you know a few of
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: us are standing around and asked Vance Joseph, just you
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: know your perspective as a defensive coach on Dobbins, And
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: one of the things he said immediately was third down intelligence.
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: And you know, to me, that's there's no bigger flag
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: as to why they signed him in June, because they
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: got there and decided they needed a little more third
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: down experience. And where it goes from there is probably
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: up to him. You know, he's gonna have to show
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: he's healthy in camp. He's gonna have to show he
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: can practice and be a regular contributor. But I think
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: for anybody to say they know how the carries they're
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: going to look come September October, I think you're kidding yourself.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I really view that Leggy as one of
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: those things that is just gonna to evolve over the
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: course of a season. So we'll see how that all goes.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: Jeff Leagwaald of ESPN with us here on a Friday afternoon.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: Jeff's appearance brought to you by the International Brotherhood of
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: Electrical Workers IBEW Local sixty eight. You start with a job,
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: you end with a career. Year number two of the
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: career of bone Nicks, Sean Payton said yesterday, less pause,
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: less hesitation, with the play call in the huddle. That
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: was his I guess I suppose glowing review of bon
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: Nix's Mini Camp, Jeff, after a few weeks of OTAs
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: and Mini Camp, what stood out to you about to
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: play at bon Nicks?
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: Well, It's always funny, Nate, because you know, the play
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: callers always talk about getting in and all the huddles,
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: and like most most fans, I know, that just makes
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: their eyes roll back on their head. But it is
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: huge if you talk to any play caller in the league,
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: and the skill of simply getting everybody organized up to
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: the line of screen just coveted and undervalued by most,
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: and they love it. And that is where you see
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: a guy's comfort level, because guys who aren't comfortable with
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: the playbook hesitating the huddle because they're thinking about the
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: play they're calling, thinking about what it looks like, what
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: they're going to have to do while they're calling the play,
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: and it slows everything down. And I can't tell you
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: how many quarterbacks I've watched in camp over the years
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: lose a quarterback battle because they can't get guys in
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: and out of the huddle. It was a huge problem
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: for Drew Locke, for example, and it always in the
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: end cost him playing time until he got it better.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: So that was a huge thing. I also personally love
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: the starting quarterback edge. You know phone Mix showed, you know,
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: he gives it to the defense pretty good. He competes
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: on every play, and you know, he doesn't let the
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: tempo drop. And I guess the compliment I would pay
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: him in that regard is Mike Shanahan would have loved that,
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: because that's what he liked about Jake Plummer. You know, it's,
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: of course what he liked about Elway, because you know,
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: tons of things to like about Elway, but just that
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: I'm the starting quarterback, you know, aura about it. He
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: showed much more of that in these workouts, and I
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: think in camp it will be even more evident when
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: they're going eleven on eleven in the two minute drill
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: with the clock running and the whole bit.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: All right. I was talking with our guy at water.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: He was talking to me about Drew Sanders. Said he's
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: loving what he saw out there. Thought he's moving faster.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: This is a guy you've talked about plenty of the
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: last couple of years. Do you think Drew Sanders finally
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: just focusing on one position has helped him well?
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: And I think being healthy and that is well, you know,
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: just knowing what his responsibilities are. But that's another I mean,
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: you think about it, how well they played defense last year.
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: If they somehow find a way to get the athleticism
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: of green Law, Hufanga, Baron and Sanders. You add that
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: collective athleticism to that equation, and I mean, they really
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: really have a chance to be really really good a
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: lot of fronts because there are not a lot of spots.
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: A healthy Denver Broncos defense can't answer a problem with
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: an athlete, and that's tough to do these days in
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: the cap Era, and they're poised to do it again.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: It's just the always the caveat of keeping everybody on
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: the field for fourteen fifteen sixteen, you know, seventeen games
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: somewhere in there.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: Yep, that's always healthy. But Broncos have had pretty good
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: health in recent years, and Sean Payton is hyping up
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: the strength and conditioning staff in order to be able
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: to prove that point. Jeff Legwald of ESPN, everybody, Leggy's
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: summer vacation is upon you. Enjoy it, hopefully the Broncos
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: and they're assorted players and staff members don't do anything
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: silly that make you have to go run to a keyboard.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: What are you doing, by the way, you're gonna give
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: us a pissy Sean Peyton answer on the way out
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: or what what are you doing, Leggy?
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: That's it.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: And he's out, folks, Leggy, thanks dude. Thanks Jeff Legwald
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: with us there on a Friday afternoon