Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Chad Jensen on the Denver Broncos, Training camp underway, Forecasting the AFC West + more

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Chad Jensen on the Denver Broncos, Training camp underway, Forecasting the AFC West + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

0:04
Speaker 1: You were listening to the Sean O'Connell Show, your source
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Speaker 1: for the best humans football coverage. Here's oc from the
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Speaker 1: Murdoch Hyundai Studio of ESPN seven hundred ninety two to
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Speaker 1: one half as.
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Speaker 2: Plugman. Now number three on the Sean O'Connell Show.
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Speaker 3: We got Chad Jensen from Mile High Huddle right now
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Speaker 3: talking to little Denver Broncos who are for a lot
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Speaker 3: of people to de facto home team here in Salt
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Speaker 3: Lake City since we don't have one.
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Speaker 4: Of our own.
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Speaker 2: Chad, welcome back to the Shan O'Connell Show. How are you, sir?
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Speaker 4: Doing great show? Thanks for having me.
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Speaker 3: Uh, this is a we're the home of the Utes, obviously,
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Speaker 3: as you're aware, and this is a Broncos team that's
0:45
Speaker 3: got at least in the preseason roster. They got a
0:48
Speaker 3: chance of fielding a bunch of utes. Here six guys
0:51
Speaker 3: right now listed on the preseason roster. Of course, Garrett
0:56
Speaker 3: Bowles his spot is pretty secure. There's guys like Caleb
0:59
Speaker 3: Loner who sort of an experimental developmental player. You've got
1:03
Speaker 3: Dallan Bentley, the rookie coming in also plays that tight
1:06
Speaker 3: end position. Karenne Reid, Jonah Ellis, You got all these
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Speaker 3: guys with the fringe type players, the Caleb Loners and
1:14
Speaker 3: a rookie and somebody like Dallan Bentley. What are the
1:18
Speaker 3: early reports about what the Broncos think of these guys?
1:22
Speaker 4: Man with Bentley, Honestly, he's in a little bit of
1:25
Speaker 4: a log gym where it looks like rookie year probable
1:29
Speaker 4: case for him is practice squad. But hey, that's okay.
1:34
Speaker 4: He's got some time to learn, and the Broncos they
1:37
Speaker 4: are high on him. It's just a matter of kind
1:39
Speaker 4: of guys that are a little bit ahead of him
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Speaker 4: on the depth chart. Caleb Loner, however, second year, basically
1:45
Speaker 4: spent all of his rookie year on the practice squad,
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Speaker 4: but learned a lot, developed a lot, even passed up
1:50
Speaker 4: an opportunity, by the way late in the year to
1:53
Speaker 4: sign to another team's fifty three man practice roster the
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Speaker 4: active roster even though he was on the practice squad.
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Speaker 4: But he may good use of his rookie year, and man,
2:02
Speaker 4: he looked good in the offseason. He ended up missing
2:05
Speaker 4: a little bit of time because of a surgery, so
2:08
Speaker 4: we're gonna see him in the flesh again this week.
2:10
Speaker 4: But Loner's kind of more of the dark horse in
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Speaker 4: terms of the tight ends. Ellis he could end up
2:15
Speaker 4: being way more of like starter guy this year because
2:18
Speaker 4: of the stuff that's going on with Jonathan Cooper so
2:20
Speaker 4: as and Reid. By the way, Reid, I mean, he's
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Speaker 4: got as good of a shot at that number three
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Speaker 4: and number four linebacker spot as anybody on the roster.
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Speaker 4: So it's looking pretty good for these kind of fringe
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Speaker 4: bubble utes. And by the way, go utes.
2:33
Speaker 2: Love to hear that.
2:35
Speaker 3: I mentioned Garrett Bowles because you know, he's one of
2:38
Speaker 3: the staple sort of leadership council type players on this
2:42
Speaker 3: team now, and his career in Denver was not without complications.
2:48
Speaker 3: It was a rough transition early in his career and
2:50
Speaker 3: he's really cemented himself and obviously he's been rewarded for that.
2:54
Speaker 3: He's not as young as he once was, He's not
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Speaker 3: yet old, but you know this football goes fast. Garrett
3:02
Speaker 3: Bowles heading into his what this is tenth eleventh year,
3:05
Speaker 3: he's thirty four years of age. Now, what's the prognosis
3:09
Speaker 3: on the Garrett Boles career from the Bronco standpoint, Well.
3:13
Speaker 4: He's definitely turned the corner and that really happened for
3:15
Speaker 4: him around twenty twenty is when he kind of everything
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Speaker 4: clicked for him and he started I think that, Yeah,
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Speaker 4: that was the first year he got some actual Accolade
3:24
Speaker 4: second team All Pro, but last year was the first
3:27
Speaker 4: time he got both All Pro recognition and Pro Bowl
3:30
Speaker 4: First team All Pro. By the way, so he's one
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Speaker 4: of the best pass blocking left tackles in the NFL,
3:35
Speaker 4: and as we all can remember from his time as
3:37
Speaker 4: a ute, he's a mean run blocker and Broncos love
3:40
Speaker 4: that about him. But the good thing about hey, he's
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Speaker 4: thirty four tackles nowadays that they can manage to kind
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Speaker 4: of avoid the injury bug. They can play deep into
3:50
Speaker 4: their thirties, you know, they so he's got some time.
3:53
Speaker 4: The one good thing about Bulls that kind of helps
3:56
Speaker 4: in that respect is, as yous fans will know, he
4:00
Speaker 4: served an LDS mission, only played one year of Division
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Speaker 4: one college football. So for a guy that's going into
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Speaker 4: year ten, the tread on his tires, he still got
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Speaker 4: pretty good tread, you know, relative to his time in
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Speaker 4: the league. So he's just a phenomenal success story. And
4:15
Speaker 4: you know, going back for I was just writing about
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Speaker 4: this the other day, just kind of reflecting on that
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Speaker 4: first two three years. Man, he was known in Denver
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Speaker 4: as Garrett Holds because of all the penalties, leading the
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Speaker 4: league in penalties, and it's like he just couldn't get
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Speaker 4: out of his own way. And then suddenly, you know,
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Speaker 4: that worm turn for him in twenty twenty and he's
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Speaker 4: really developed into something special.
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Speaker 3: Big picture outlook for this team right now, I mean,
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Speaker 3: you've got you've always got to contend with the division
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Speaker 3: first and see where you're at there. And you know,
4:45
Speaker 3: we've seen some movements, some important player movement in the
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Speaker 3: NFL offseason that could potentially either cement teams as Super
4:53
Speaker 3: Bowl contenders again or maybe insertain some people into that conversation.
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Speaker 3: So the outlook for this Broncos team from your you know,
5:01
Speaker 3: how deep they can make a run, Well.
5:04
Speaker 4: It's kind of tough because their first six weeks, let's
5:07
Speaker 4: just say the first half of their schedule is the
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Speaker 4: toughest in the NFL. There's no getting around it. I mean,
5:13
Speaker 4: they got to play the Chiefs twice in the first
5:14
Speaker 4: eight weeks, they got to play the Rams, the Jags,
5:18
Speaker 4: the Niners, the Seahawks. That's just the first eight weeks.
5:21
Speaker 4: I mean, it's brutal. But the good news is the
5:23
Speaker 4: flip side of that coin, they have the easiest second
5:26
Speaker 4: half of the schedule, and their two toughest games really
5:29
Speaker 4: in the second half of the schedule are both at home,
5:32
Speaker 4: which is Buffalo on Christmas and then the Chargers in
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Speaker 4: the season finale. So if they can weather that early
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Speaker 4: storm and even if they emerge from the first eight
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Speaker 4: weeks at five hundred, you know or better, you know,
5:44
Speaker 4: if it's better, hey, it's all the better. But that
5:47
Speaker 4: I like their chances of at least winning the division
5:50
Speaker 4: because of how tough their schedule is this time around.
5:52
Speaker 4: I mean, they get the first play schedule across the board.
5:55
Speaker 4: Plus the AFC West has drew the AFC East and
5:59
Speaker 4: the NFC West, which produced five playoff teams last season.
6:04
Speaker 4: That's tough. But if they start, you know, they can
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Speaker 4: manage that first eight games, I think they'll finish strong
6:09
Speaker 4: and they got a really good chance to win in
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Speaker 4: the division because you know, newsflash, the Chiefs, the Chargers,
6:15
Speaker 4: they also have to play the teams of the AFC
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Speaker 4: East in the NFC West, so that's kind of a
6:19
Speaker 4: little bit of a leveling of the playing field, So
6:22
Speaker 4: it might not be enough just because of this schedule.
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Speaker 4: They might not be a a you know, fourteen win
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Speaker 4: team that gets the one seed again. But I actually
6:29
Speaker 4: really like their odds of repeating as division champs and
6:33
Speaker 4: then as you know, you get into the tournament, anything's possible.
6:37
Speaker 4: So they're kind of in a posture of, man, they
6:40
Speaker 4: feel like everything they worked for kind of got robbed
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Speaker 4: from them with the bow Knicks injury, like right going
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Speaker 4: into the AFC title game. So as a team, their
6:48
Speaker 4: mindset is kind of not revenge, but kind of like,
6:51
Speaker 4: hey man, we're looking to make up for lost time.
6:56
Speaker 3: We're talking a little Denver Broncos football here with Chad
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Speaker 3: Jensen from Mile High Huddle. As the Broncos coming off
7:03
Speaker 3: a really good season, but you did have an injury
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Speaker 3: at the most important position back in January, and that's
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Speaker 3: always you know, the timelines on recovery are different for everybody.
7:14
Speaker 3: I hear bo Nicks is cleared, but what's the word
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Speaker 3: on how smooth the recovery process has been and the
7:22
Speaker 3: expectations of how quickly he can get back to form.
7:25
Speaker 4: Yeah, so there was a little bit of a blip
7:28
Speaker 4: in the in the situation. So what happened was the
7:32
Speaker 4: Bronco said, yeah, yeah, he's going to go under the knife.
7:34
Speaker 4: He's going to get surgery on his ankle, which is,
7:36
Speaker 4: by the way, the third time in his career that
7:38
Speaker 4: he's fractured that right ankle. But he'll be good to
7:41
Speaker 4: go by OTAs. And then about a month before OTA's
7:45
Speaker 4: not quite a month, but report broke that he of
7:48
Speaker 4: course had to go back under the knife for a
7:50
Speaker 4: little cleanup procedure. That kind of reframed his timetable and
7:54
Speaker 4: instead of he'll be good to go by OTA's, the
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Speaker 4: new message from the team was he'll be good to
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Speaker 4: go by training camp, which kind of, you know, set
8:02
Speaker 4: some uneasy feelings within Broncos country, but you know, there
8:05
Speaker 4: was not much to it was kind of a much
8:08
Speaker 4: ado about nothing situation. You got to OTA's he wasn't
8:11
Speaker 4: a participant, but in mandatory mini camp he participated on
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Speaker 4: both day one and day two, and then they cut
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Speaker 4: it early cut to where we're at now with training
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Speaker 4: camps starting today that Broncos reported today, bo Nicks did
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Speaker 4: not he was not placed on any of the pre
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Speaker 4: camp injury lists that you would if there was any
8:31
Speaker 4: kind of limitation expected for a player due to injury,
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Speaker 4: so it appears that he's going to be good to go,
8:36
Speaker 4: like fully cleared. He said at the podium middle of
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Speaker 4: June during mandatory mini camp that he's like, dude, I
8:42
Speaker 4: feel good enough to go now if they would let me.
8:44
Speaker 4: The team said, Sean Payton, you know he'll be cleared
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Speaker 4: by the end of June. So all signs point to
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Speaker 4: him being cleared, but hey man, there's no way of
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Speaker 4: knowing for sure, right like with injuries the third time
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Speaker 4: on the ankle, I feel optimistic. I feel confidence just
8:59
Speaker 4: from every thing I've heard and everyone I've talked to
9:01
Speaker 4: and just kind of reading the tea leaves. But what
9:04
Speaker 4: I worry about is one of both superpowers, is that
9:08
Speaker 4: mobility and pension for making things happen with his legs
9:12
Speaker 4: when things break down and you know, doing stuff off schedule.
9:16
Speaker 4: I hope it doesn't affect that in any way, but
9:18
Speaker 4: it'll be some time yet before we'll really be able
9:21
Speaker 4: to see if that's been compromised at all, and it
9:23
Speaker 4: might initially, you know, he might be a little bit
9:26
Speaker 4: slower to do some of that stuff initially as he
9:28
Speaker 4: kind of builds up his confidence in his body. But
9:31
Speaker 4: according to his off season throwing coach Ben Neil, who
9:34
Speaker 4: he works with at QB Country in Birmingham, Alabama, that's
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Speaker 4: a non concern. He's been running around. He looks good.
9:41
Speaker 4: So you know, we just got to lay eyes on
9:43
Speaker 4: it and that'll happen this week.
9:47
Speaker 3: How many Jalen Wattle jerseys are Are we going to
9:49
Speaker 3: see it mile high this year?
9:51
Speaker 2: Are people excited for him?
9:53
Speaker 4: Oh? Absolutely thrilled. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's definitely a common
9:57
Speaker 4: that's got to be a common purchase. I haven't looked
9:59
Speaker 4: at the stats, you know, in terms of the jersey
10:01
Speaker 4: sales and all that, but Broncos fans are definitely thrilled
10:04
Speaker 4: because that's just been one of the components missing from
10:07
Speaker 4: the Bonnicks attack, is that speed, you know, not just vertical,
10:12
Speaker 4: but that short area of burst. And you know, he's
10:15
Speaker 4: a guy that you can throw a screen, he makes
10:17
Speaker 4: a guy miss and then watch out. He can go
10:19
Speaker 4: eighty yards like Damarius Thomas back in the day. So
10:23
Speaker 4: a lot to look forward to. I mean, Davis Webb,
10:26
Speaker 4: the new offensive coordinator who Sean Payton relinquished play calling
10:30
Speaker 4: duties too. He drew some interesting parallels because you know,
10:33
Speaker 4: he was playing in the NFL as of twenty twenty two,
10:37
Speaker 4: he was a backup quarterback with the Giants. He told
10:39
Speaker 4: the story just real quick that he's kind of reminded
10:43
Speaker 4: with Wada landing in Denver Bonicks going into year three
10:46
Speaker 4: of his time as the backup to Josh Allen in
10:50
Speaker 4: Buffalo's circut twenty twenty when the Bills acquired Stefon Diggs
10:54
Speaker 4: via trade, and how that kind of sparked Josh Allen's
10:58
Speaker 4: big year three leap, and how he sees similar things
11:01
Speaker 4: unfolding for Bonix and Jalen Waddle this year. So it's
11:05
Speaker 4: exciting times.
11:07
Speaker 3: It always trips me out when a guy like Davis Webb,
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Speaker 3: who I was covering when he was in college not
11:12
Speaker 3: so long ago, gets a job this big offensive courter.
11:16
Speaker 3: I mean, there's there's a handful of guys. What there's
11:18
Speaker 3: like a half dozen or more guys on the team
11:20
Speaker 3: that are older than him that are still playing football
11:23
Speaker 3: for this Denver Broncos team.
11:25
Speaker 2: But I mean there's not really a question there.
11:27
Speaker 3: It's just wild that we've trended so much younger in
11:31
Speaker 3: coaching positions now, even at the top.
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Speaker 4: No doubt about it, and even Sean Payton he talked about,
11:37
Speaker 4: you know, age being a little bit of a factor
11:40
Speaker 4: here that he thinks that in terms of being on
11:42
Speaker 4: that cutting edge of innovation offensively in the NFL, that
11:48
Speaker 4: it really is, as much as it pains him to
11:51
Speaker 4: admit it as a guy now north of sixties a
11:54
Speaker 4: young man's game, and that he feels like some of
11:56
Speaker 4: the you know, some of the problems he's had, especially
11:59
Speaker 4: with Bone sort of the first couple of years, like
12:02
Speaker 4: especially getting play calls in on time and stuff like that,
12:05
Speaker 4: he thinks that, you know, a lot of that is
12:07
Speaker 4: due to his advancing years. And one of the first
12:10
Speaker 4: things Davis Webb did when he was given the keys was, hey, man,
12:14
Speaker 4: I got to streamline these play calls, Like we can't
12:16
Speaker 4: take you know, fifteen seconds just to get the play
12:19
Speaker 4: call in and then for Bo to relay that in
12:21
Speaker 4: the huddle. So they're streamlining that with Davis Webb making
12:25
Speaker 4: it easier to get the play call in so that
12:26
Speaker 4: Bow has more time to pre snap, read and you know,
12:30
Speaker 4: do what he needs to do before the ball's even snapped.
12:33
Speaker 4: Then the other emphasis is tempo, and if you look
12:36
Speaker 4: back at Bo Nicks's you know, biggest moments of execution
12:40
Speaker 4: and where he shined as a pro. You think about
12:42
Speaker 4: like the fourth quarter comebacks and the situational football. He's
12:46
Speaker 4: a killer in the red zone. A lot of that
12:49
Speaker 4: is when the Broncos Sean Payton's had no choice but
12:51
Speaker 4: to go tempo because they're behind or whatever, and bo
12:54
Speaker 4: Nicks man he just that's where he really thrives. So
12:56
Speaker 4: I think you're going to see a little bit maybe
12:58
Speaker 4: not like Peyton Manning's circa you know, Denver Broncos twenty
13:02
Speaker 4: twelve through fifteen no huddle, but a lot more no
13:06
Speaker 4: huddle and high tempo offense to keep both in rhythm
13:09
Speaker 4: and keep defenses on their heels.
13:13
Speaker 3: I know you said you think this Broncos team will
13:15
Speaker 3: win the division, and I no reason not to believe
13:17
Speaker 3: that heading into a season.
13:19
Speaker 2: But handicapped the rest of it. Are the Chiefs still
13:22
Speaker 2: the Chiefs?
13:23
Speaker 3: I mean, how how tightly contested do you see this
13:26
Speaker 3: division being?
13:29
Speaker 4: I honestly think the Chiefs are. They're going to be
13:33
Speaker 4: a scary team once again this year. Like I think
13:36
Speaker 4: last year was the outlier. I think, you know, injuries
13:39
Speaker 4: and a lot of other things that piled up and
13:42
Speaker 4: you know, after so many years of just dominating the world,
13:45
Speaker 4: they kind of needed that reminder that they are indeed
13:48
Speaker 4: human and fallible. And with Mahomes coming back off that injury,
13:52
Speaker 4: that's the biggest question mark. But I think the Chiefs
13:55
Speaker 4: are hungry. They're out for blood. You know, the Broncos
13:59
Speaker 4: stole the Division from them for the first time since
14:02
Speaker 4: twenty fifteen, So all those intervening years the Chiefs won
14:05
Speaker 4: the Division and consecutive I mean, it's basically a decade
14:08
Speaker 4: long rain, and so they're hungry, they're pissed. They aren't
14:13
Speaker 4: as deep as they've been in some of these Super
14:15
Speaker 4: Bowl teams they've had, like especially on defense, especially their secondary,
14:19
Speaker 4: although they did draft you know, a corner really high
14:23
Speaker 4: six overall this year. Still I think their secondary is
14:25
Speaker 4: a little bit questionable. But nevertheless, that offense is the
14:29
Speaker 4: is the straw that stirs the drink, as we all know,
14:32
Speaker 4: and Patrick Mahomes and all that. So I think they're
14:34
Speaker 4: very much the force to be reckoned with that everyone
14:37
Speaker 4: should has kind of come to know them as. But
14:40
Speaker 4: at the same time, this isn't the Broncos circle, you know,
14:44
Speaker 4: twenty sixteen through twenty twenty two. This is a different animal.
14:47
Speaker 4: So Bonnicks would be undefeated against the Chiefs in his
14:51
Speaker 4: two years with the Broncos, were it not for one
14:54
Speaker 4: freak like you just boggling of the mind block field
14:59
Speaker 4: goals time ran out. That was Chip shot. So anyways,
15:03
Speaker 4: I like the Bronco It's not that I don't fear
15:05
Speaker 4: the Chiefs. I think the Chiefs are going to be
15:07
Speaker 4: back in full effect. It's just that the Broncos are
15:11
Speaker 4: on their level now, so it's gonna be a battle.
15:15
Speaker 2: What about Chargers and Raiders.
15:16
Speaker 4: I mean.
15:19
Speaker 3: I could see the Chargers with another step forward. I'm
15:22
Speaker 3: not a believer in the Raiders really until they give
15:25
Speaker 3: me a reason to feel differently.
15:27
Speaker 2: But I want your thoughts.
15:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely. I mean it's really weird because we've known
15:32
Speaker 4: Jim Harbach coached teams to be very physical, detail oriented, disciplined,
15:40
Speaker 4: all that stuff, and then they usually not only qualify
15:42
Speaker 4: for postseason play, but hey man, they'd go deep and
15:45
Speaker 4: they do their thing. The Chargers, though in the two
15:48
Speaker 4: years he's been there, they still find that their way
15:50
Speaker 4: to Charger. You know, when the chips are down, whether
15:53
Speaker 4: it's late in the season, but especially in the playoffs.
15:55
Speaker 4: Questions around Justin Herbert as a playoff quarterback, like he
15:58
Speaker 4: sets the world on fired during the regular season and
16:01
Speaker 4: then all of a sudden disappears in the playoffs. But
16:04
Speaker 4: you know, that's often the story on young quarterbacks and
16:06
Speaker 4: then they have that turning point moment in their careers,
16:09
Speaker 4: like that was if you can remember back, that was
16:11
Speaker 4: the story on Peyton Manning before two thousand and six.
16:14
Speaker 4: You know, he can't win the big one. He's you know,
16:16
Speaker 4: comes basically can't do it in the playoffs, right whatever,
16:21
Speaker 4: And so at some point I do expect that worm
16:23
Speaker 4: to turn for Justin Herbert and the Chargers. I'm just
16:26
Speaker 4: not sure it's going to be this year. I don't know.
16:30
Speaker 4: I'm not huge on what they did in the draft.
16:32
Speaker 4: I don't think they did that much to really improve
16:34
Speaker 4: in free agencies. So they're going to be a factor
16:37
Speaker 4: and this could be a division that puts three teams
16:39
Speaker 4: in the playoffs. We'll see the Raiders though, I mean
16:44
Speaker 4: Kubiak is completely untested. We don't know what to expect
16:47
Speaker 4: from him, and the Raiders just have that, you know,
16:50
Speaker 4: I say the Chargers are going to charge her well,
16:52
Speaker 4: the Raiders are going to Raider as well. We'll see
16:55
Speaker 4: they've They've got a lot of talent now Mendoza, they
16:58
Speaker 4: brought in Kirk Cousins. We'll see how that quarterback situation
17:01
Speaker 4: shakes out. But I'm not too worried about the Raiders
17:05
Speaker 4: this year.
17:07
Speaker 3: Is there a team that everybody in the league, including
17:09
Speaker 3: the Broncos, are are chasing and obvious Super Bowl favored?
17:13
Speaker 4: For you?
17:14
Speaker 3: I know that they're the Seahawks, obviously coming off of
17:17
Speaker 3: a very successful year, and the Rams are loaded up
17:20
Speaker 3: personnel wise. Is there anyone that you're looking at and
17:23
Speaker 3: saying everyone's chasing them?
17:26
Speaker 4: I think in the AFC, you know, it really is
17:29
Speaker 4: for the Broncos anyway, it's it's the Patriots.
17:33
Speaker 1: Now.
17:33
Speaker 4: I don't think the Patriots are going to have near
17:35
Speaker 4: the success they did last year, just because people forget
17:39
Speaker 4: how easy their schedule was, Like they didn't play anybody
17:43
Speaker 4: except the Bills, and they only played the Bills because
17:45
Speaker 4: they're in their division in terms of the regular season.
17:48
Speaker 4: So I think they're going to get a pretty solid
17:50
Speaker 4: reality check. But I do think that the coaching staff
17:54
Speaker 4: is of equality and Drake may is of a quality
17:56
Speaker 4: that they'll weather that storm. But they're not going to
17:59
Speaker 4: be another fourteen win team, but they are a team
18:01
Speaker 4: that Broncos want their revenge on. That is absolutely for sure.
18:04
Speaker 4: They want another crack at that. And then you know, hey,
18:07
Speaker 4: we talked about the Chiefs. We'll see what the Ravens
18:10
Speaker 4: look like with the new young head coach and Jesse Minter.
18:14
Speaker 4: And then hey, can Joe Burrow stay healthy and the
18:16
Speaker 4: Bengals be a thing once again? And then of course Buffalo.
18:19
Speaker 4: You know, I guess, if I really got to boil
18:21
Speaker 4: it down, I go answer the question, it's either the
18:24
Speaker 4: Patriots or the Bills. And the Bills are the ones
18:27
Speaker 4: this time around, you know, with the bone to pick
18:29
Speaker 4: looking for revenge on the Broncos. So those those are
18:32
Speaker 4: the class. I think those are the teams that are
18:34
Speaker 4: the class of the AFC that the Broncos are gonna
18:36
Speaker 4: have to worry about when they get to the tournament
18:38
Speaker 4: and playoff seed.
18:42
Speaker 3: It's probably is a weird question, but what is the
18:46
Speaker 3: relationship between ownership, fan base? And I guess you put
18:51
Speaker 3: the players somewhere in that love triangle as well.
18:54
Speaker 2: With the Denver Broncos.
18:55
Speaker 3: Right now, we're seeing all these stories in pro sports
18:59
Speaker 3: of bad leadership and what it can do to franchises
19:03
Speaker 3: and how it can erode a lot of goodwill with
19:06
Speaker 3: fan bases and suddenly, I mean, no NFL owner is
19:09
Speaker 3: ever going to be in a financial crisis based on
19:12
Speaker 3: what we just saw from the Packers financial statements. But
19:15
Speaker 3: obviously there are levels to all of this stuff. So
19:18
Speaker 3: how is that relationship right now in Denver?
19:21
Speaker 4: You know, it's interesting you bring that up because during
19:23
Speaker 4: the Pat Bowlan era, it was the pinnacle of trust
19:28
Speaker 4: and enthusiasm that fans had and faith in the team
19:31
Speaker 4: and in ownership. But then when he had to step
19:34
Speaker 4: down because of his fight with Alzheimer's and the team
19:38
Speaker 4: went into what was called then the Pat Bowlan Trust.
19:41
Speaker 4: It was managed by Joe Ellis at the time, the
19:44
Speaker 4: team CEO, which was Pat Bolan's right hand man for
19:47
Speaker 4: years and years. It was supposed to be a short
19:49
Speaker 4: term solution to help them figure out who within the
19:51
Speaker 4: Bolan family was going to succeed Pat, but it ended
19:55
Speaker 4: up just being this never ending thing and the team
19:57
Speaker 4: suffered that they couldn't get it right. Money wasn't there
20:00
Speaker 4: the cash to put to pay free agents. I mean, everybody,
20:03
Speaker 4: the teams are all kind of slaved to the salary cap.
20:05
Speaker 4: But the teams that have good cash flow and cash reserves,
20:09
Speaker 4: which is based on ownership and money and money they
20:12
Speaker 4: make available, they tend to win a lot more when
20:14
Speaker 4: it comes to free agents and keeping players around, signing bonuses,
20:18
Speaker 4: stuff like that. And so the Broncos that slowly started
20:21
Speaker 4: to erode, and you saw it in the product on
20:23
Speaker 4: the field. I mean we're talking five win teams, six
20:26
Speaker 4: win team, you know, a good year over that stretch
20:28
Speaker 4: with seven wins. And then when the Walton Penner ownership
20:32
Speaker 4: group took over, everything has changed, Like they have invested
20:36
Speaker 4: in the team. I mean, they just unveiled a multi
20:38
Speaker 4: billion dollar news, state of the art facility that the
20:42
Speaker 4: Broncos players for the first time today are getting to experience,
20:46
Speaker 4: and that's blowing their minds. I mean, it's out of
20:48
Speaker 4: this world, state of the art, cutting edge. And so
20:50
Speaker 4: that combined with a lot of other stuff like the
20:53
Speaker 4: improvements they've made to the stadium, the turf. They're looking
20:56
Speaker 4: at building a new stadium in the Burnham Yard area
21:00
Speaker 4: of Old Town, Denver, where it's going to be kind
21:03
Speaker 4: of a Bronco version of Jerry World with the Dallas Cowboys,
21:06
Speaker 4: where it's not just the stadium being state of the art,
21:10
Speaker 4: but like an entire kind of mini township that is
21:14
Speaker 4: meant to be like a Disneyland for Bronco fans that's
21:17
Speaker 4: coming down the pike sometime between now and twenty thirty two.
21:21
Speaker 4: In terms of completion, they're still pretty much in the
21:23
Speaker 4: early phases. But I digress point being Walton Penner group,
21:27
Speaker 4: they came in, they invested in all the right areas,
21:29
Speaker 4: including the right head coach, you know, spared no expense
21:33
Speaker 4: in having the money ready to meet whatever Sean Payton's
21:36
Speaker 4: demands were, and now they're cooking.
21:39
Speaker 1: You know.
21:40
Speaker 4: It's a big reason why the Broncos have been able
21:42
Speaker 4: to turn the ship around over the last couple of
21:44
Speaker 4: years is the Walton Penner group sparing no expense and
21:48
Speaker 4: just being a first class ownership group. So it helps
21:52
Speaker 4: that they are the wealthiest owners in the NFL coming
21:54
Speaker 4: from that Walmart money. But man, the proof is in
21:57
Speaker 4: the pudding. Thirty three wins, well, yeah, no, thirty two wins.
22:02
Speaker 4: Pardon me. Over the last three years sind Sean Payton's
22:04
Speaker 4: been the head coach Division Crown one Seed, there were
22:07
Speaker 4: a Bonnets injury away from the Super Bowl. So that
22:10
Speaker 4: goodwill and that enthusiasm that was dimmed somewhat in Broncos Country. Boy,
22:14
Speaker 4: ol boy, it's back with a vengeance.
22:17
Speaker 3: Well, much to my chagrin, there are a lot of
22:19
Speaker 3: people here in Salt Lake that called this hometown of
22:22
Speaker 3: mine Broncos Country as well. So yeah, I think a
22:25
Speaker 3: positive outlook for things in Denver this year. Chad, appreciate
22:29
Speaker 3: you giving us some time today. We'll be checking in
22:32
Speaker 3: throughout the season.
22:33
Speaker 4: All right, sounds good.
22:34
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me, Chad Jensen. Go check them out
22:37
Speaker 3: at Mile High Huddle. And look, there are six youths
22:43
Speaker 3: that could make this roster that would make them, of course,
22:47
Speaker 3: the most ute laden team in the NFL if it
22:50
Speaker 3: all goes that way. Quick break here Brett Siancia joins
22:55
Speaker 3: us next. Pick six Previews is the number one most
22:59
Speaker 3: accurate preview magazine of the college football season ten years running.
23:04
Speaker 3: We got Brett on next on the Sean O'Connell Show.
23:07
Speaker 3: It's ESPN seven hundred and ninety two, NFM