Latest / Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports / Jeff Legwold joins Kreckman and Lindahl 6-2-25

Transcript

Jeff Legwold joins Kreckman and Lindahl 6-2-25 · Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Jeff Legwald is our Broncos insider.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Altitude Sports Radio ninety two five Pro Football, the insider
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: I've covered Chef Legwald.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: His appearances are always must listen radio.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: We learn a lot, brought to you by the International
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Start with a job and for
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: the career IVW Local sixty eight, it's Leggy Ye on
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Altitude Sports Radio ninety two five.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: All right, we start our number two with our buddy,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Jeff Legwald of ESPN. Jeff, I I ask you the
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: question directly pulled from the headlines, why is Pat Bryant
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: a perfect fit for Sean Peyton? You got your first
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: look at big number thirteen there last week during OTAs.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Why is Sean Payton so enamored with Pat bryan out
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: of the University of Illinois?
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: You know, Nate, I think because there's a role in
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: that offense for the quick hit receiver, you know, the
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: flash routes, crossing routes, the end cuts. It's all a
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: big part of his offense. And if you look, you know,
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: I believe there was only one quarterback in the league,
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: Jared Goff, who had more passing yards on crossing routes
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: than bow Nicks last year, So that shows you where
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: the you know, there's production to be had. And the
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: one thing Pat Bryant did better than almost everyone on
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: the board at wide receiver was get off the line
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: of scrimmage, you know, the release of the receiver. He
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: was one of the best at it on the board.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: His issue is he ran four to six, you know,
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: in the forties, so he gets open quick and then
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: what happens after that is a concern for some scouts,
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: but for Sean Payton, he prefers the big you know,
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: six two six, three, two hundred pounds receivers who get
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: open early in the route because the quarterback gets the
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: ball out of his hand. Then if you're open on
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: the release, the quarterback's gonna give you the ball. And
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: that's what he wants, the ball out of Bonix's hands
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: until he thinks the vertical. You know, it's time for
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: the vertical play. You know that they have things set
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: up for the vertical plays. So that's why he's a fit,
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: you know, and you know when he drops. Michael Thomas
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: is his name. With all of that, you know, I
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: think some of that's hyperbole because he's excited. Uh, you know,
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: they drafted a player he wanted. So, uh, but you
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: know he he is really really good off the release
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: and you could see that, you know last week when
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: we were out there just in the limited things they
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: were doing.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: The decision to draft Brian and in particular to hone
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: in on his skill set read the tea leaves for
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: his Leggie. What does that tell us about how Sean
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Payton and George Payton, for that matter, how they feel
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: about the rest of the receiving corps here. Why did
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: they want to add Pat Bryant.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: Because I think they think they have the you know,
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: everyone had them pointed toward the vertical explosive receivers, you know,
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: Matthew Golden and some of those guys on the draft
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: board when in house. Uh, they think Troy Franklin and
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: Marvin Mims are already there. So I think this was
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: a way of you know, now, you know, Devon Valley
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: is sort of this kind of receiver, but but Briant
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: was far more accomplished in college than than Veley was.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: So I think this is a way of adding more
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: physicality and size. I mean, Sean Payton talks about big
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: receivers all the time that he he prefers them. Thinks
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: this is what the NFL is at wide receiver, and
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: if you're going to be a smaller receiver, you're gonna
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: have to convince him why you should be on the field,
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: you know, and Nims has done that, but by and large,
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: he prefers the big guys at wide out. And you
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: can all I gotta do is look at their depth
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: chart and you can see that is the profile at
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: the position.
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: All right, I'm gonna come at you with an unorthodox
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: question a little bit, but you triggered this thought in
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: my head talking about when it's time to go for
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: the deep ball. There was an article in The Athletic
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: talking to a bunch of coaches about their favorite plays
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: and when they draw them up and when they pull
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: them out and call them. And we got Sanford on
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: Friday and Sanford was chatting about what some of his
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: favorite plays were and he said sometimes he even waited
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: too long to call play. What from Europe's observations, what
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: do you think Sean Payton's favorite play is.
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: I think he likes those, you know, like all play callers,
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: the big splash play down the field when you when
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: you have fooled the defense, or you have taken advantage
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: of a little something they do. You you throw into
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: the blitz and you find the hole. I mean, all
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: of those things I think are his favorite play. You know,
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: I he you know, he will always talk about you know,
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: we had a couple of of those plays and the
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: game plan and we we didn't get to them. And
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: I think that's what he's talking about. You don't get
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: the you don't sort of jab enough to throw the haymaker,
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: and that I think he likes to throw, you know,
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: the big play down the field, you know, the one
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: in the playoff game right away. That's that's I think
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: that would be on the short list of his favorite things.
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: Is when you get the you get exactly the look
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: you expected at exactly the time you hoped it would come,
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: and you have the right play.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Talking to Jeff Legwald here it's a Monday afternoon, leg
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: you let's talk about the defensive side of the ball.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: How is Denver's depth inside linebacker right now? Given the
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: part where they're you know, missing their two starters out there.
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: I think I think they feel like depth in September
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: will be good, which is kind of their goal, you know,
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: right now, But uh, you know, if for some reason, Nate,
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: they get halfway through August and green Law and Alex
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: Singleton aren't you know, up to full speed, then I
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: think we're having a whole different conversation. But I think
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: they're their medical staff has given them the green light
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: that these guys are going to be ready for for
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: training camp. And I think if if that's the case,
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: they feel very good about it. And uh, I think
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: for good reason, they would have three three, three guys
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: that feel comfortable as sort of starter quality, uh for
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: two positions. And I think you go from there and
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: that you know, they've got some people who've been around, uh,
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: you know, here last year too, So again, you know,
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: if Greenlaw and Singleton are both healthy, then they feel
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: great about it.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: Where where are you setting the expectations for for Drew
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Sanders coming into this year because it's been such a
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: just such a stop and start to his NFL career.
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: And you liked him outside, didn't you, lady.
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: I like him in a pass rush role no matter
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: where you put him, you know, if you want to,
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: they really think he's got that inside athleticism rush capability
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: in the nickel and you know, I'd like to see
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: that more. I just know when I watched him before
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: that draft, I saw Legit, you know, edge rusher on
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: the NFL level who had one hundred tackle season in
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: the SEC, and I just you don't, you know, you
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: don't come across those guys very often. But you know,
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: I think a lot of the times, if you can
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: do a lot of things, sometimes you don't really find
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: the one thing that gets you on the field right away.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: And I think there's some of that, and I think
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: that's why they've just left him at inside linebacker, because
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: they they just want him to find those, you know,
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: one or two things he can really do well and
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: just have him do that for a little while. But
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: I think as a pass rusher on third down or
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: long passing downs, I think he can give them something
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: right away.
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: I am curious with you know, and we talk about
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: the preseason, or Nate and I were talking about the
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: preseason the other day, and I'm you think bo Nicks
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: will look different this preseason when we not see him
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: play as much. How do you think it kind of
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: looks when we get to camp, Because you know, Legi,
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: there won't be the split of the snaps. He's just
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: gonna have the starter's role. He'll get the starters reps
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: with his guys. Will we not see him as much
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: in the preseas like when we not maybe even see
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: him till September this year. How do you think that works?
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: I don't. You know. Again, you know all things, and
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: I get that, but I would be really shocked if
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: Sean Payton ever decides to give healthy players a complete
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: waveoff of the preseason. So I think he will want
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: bon Nicks in game like situations. Now they are going
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: to have two sets of joint practices, but if those
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: are only two practices total, then I don't think that
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: takes the preseason off the table in much of a way.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: I think, you know, a quarter in two of the
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: games at least, you know, I think it's probably the
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: in my mind, the minimum we would see him in
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: the preseason. You know, you don't see him in the
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: third preseason game. Obviously I can see that. But I
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: would guess right now, if you're asking me, we see
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: bon Nicks at least a quarter of each of the
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: first two preseason games, all.
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: Right, you were telling us, and you'd even kind of
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: brought it up. I think on some other interviews as well.
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: How healthy is Bonnicks? Does he look right? You'd ask
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: him about what was going on with his throwing motion
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: in his and all this stuff after the surgery, and
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: how he felt and all that. After one of the
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: practices last week, How do you feel like he looked?
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: What did your eyes tell you?
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: He looked. He looked well prepared, like he's done the work,
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: and he looked healthy moving around, you know, which was
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: the other thing. You know that the arthur scopic surgery
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: was an ankle surgery. I believe a little slight cleanup
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: in the ankle, you know, the back stuff is obviously healed.
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: But I was intrigued to ask him because I, you know,
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: he had the arthur scopic surgery right after the season,
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: and I was intrigued that, you know, he didn't I
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: had heard he had not. He took some time off
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: throwing for the first time and probably his adult football life.
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: So I asked him about it, and that was the case,
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: and he said it was a good thing and that
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: basically he could see doing that moving forward, where he
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: just did drills and worked on his mechanics, he just
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: didn't actually throw the ball. And I thought that was intriguing,
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: and I think it's important because if you're gonna have
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: a long career in the NFL, you cannot throw like
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: college coaches tell these guys they got to throw, you know,
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: all through the spring, all into the summer, into fall camp.
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: They simply can't throw as much or as often as
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: a lot of college coaches put these guys on that schedule.
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: And Nick's even mentioned that, yeah, the only reason you
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: throw that much is because the people in authority are
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: telling you you have to that he didn't necessarily think
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: it was a good thing.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: He also mentioned leg I thought it was really interesting
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: was he kind of brought up like, you know, doing
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: the same workout as the lineman and everything else like that,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: like you know, the uniformity of how a guy like
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: him had to go about his workouts when he was
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: in college. Like it's so tricky, especially in a big
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: time college program, because there's two dudes right behind you
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: that like they can play, they're good, and you can't
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: give up your gig or anything else like that, Like
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: you've got to push so hard just to stay in
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: your position. I thought it was really interesting to listen
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: to Nick's talk about that stuff of just like, hey, like,
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: now that I'm a pro, it's almost like I'm better
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: off just pumping the brakes on all of this.
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, And I think some of that is college coaches,
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: especially at quarterback, feel the need to line up the
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: four star and the five star recruits at quarterback, and
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: often the recruiting pitch is, oh, you'll get a chance
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: to play, you know, at least some you know, whether
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: that means they're rotating snaps or finding situational things. But
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: I think there is some of that, and that's why
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: those guys do throw, throw, and throw and throw some more.
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: I've I've been on many pro days where you can
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: tell now the guys right at the end of the
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: of the candle as it were, on the on his arm,
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: that they've thrown so much to get ready for the
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: draft and Pro day that they are right on the
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: ragged edge of really you know, being having a having
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: an issue probably.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: But I also, just like Leggy, I think Nix is
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: such an interesting case because, like, this is a guy
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: that is, you know, he's a starting quarterback in the
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: NFL right now, but like all through COVID, he's a
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: he's a transfer guy. He's an NIL guy. Like all
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: of that stuff kind of happened, and now he's one
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: of the few guys that's like on the other side
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: of it, that's standing in front of a podium every
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: single day who can kind of speak to what that
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: experience is. Like, I mean, I know, we joke all
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: the time, like, hey, have you ever heard that Bonnicks
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: had sixty one collegiate starts? But like, seriously, he does
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: have a a bevy of insight on all of that
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: that I think could be useful for a lot of guys,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: especially when they enter the draft process.
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and Nate, I will tell you too that even
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: people who didn't like him as much as the Broncos
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: did as a player thought he had exceptional self awareness,
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: like the ability to look at what he does and
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: why he does it. And I think the Broncos have
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: seen that he is willing to look at what he's
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: doing and if it makes sense, and he's really willing
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: to look at the things he doesn't do well to
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: try and figure out why he doesn't do him well.
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: And I think the Broncos have seen that in this
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: first real full off season. And you know, Frankly, I
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: but I you know, I had heard he had dialed
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: back the throwing, and I wanted to see what he
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: had to say about it, and I thought it was
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: a really good answer that an awful lot of young
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: quarterback should probably read. And take heart with.
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: Jeff real quick before I let you go, because I
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: know you're dying to comment on a little bit of everything.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: Nine fifty.
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: Did you ever think you'd see a baseball team get
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: to June without ten wins?
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: And what happens? First?
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: I'm asking everybody today, twenty wins are one hundred losses?
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: What's first?
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: Man? You know, I know if some of the Cup
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: teams of my youth didn't get there, I never thought
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: i'd see it. But what is it? They've been swept
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: eight times already twenty series. Yeah yeah, okay, that was
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: two behind. That tells you how bad it is already. No,
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: it is an epic. I don't know how you could run. Look,
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: I'm never gonna have enough money to own a baseball team,
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: so let's just start there. I get it, But I
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: don't know how you can own something and watch this
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: happen and not really take a step back and say
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: what are we doing? Because I'm not sure you know,
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: many teams could even try to do this what they're doing.
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: Even if you were to tank, I'm not sure it
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: would reach this level of what they're at.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: I mean that there are teams that are tanking this year,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: like there are other tanking clubs.
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: Now, that's what I mean.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: And they're a lot better than Colorado.
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: And you just look at and the sad thing is
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: for look, I love baseball. I love it. I coached
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: baseball for over twenty years. I love the game. I
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: don't see a fast solution out of this at all.
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: And I think that's what as a baseball fan in
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: this town, that's what what I don't like the most
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: is I don't see, Uh, you got to get to
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: the point where you want a solution first one and two,
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: Once you've done that, had the honesty to do it,
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: I don't I don't know that there is really a quick,
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: you know, way out of this, even several years, once
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: you've even made the decision to try.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: And I don't think that a gain of a winning
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: record in five years, well, the.
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: Solution won't be the number and overall pick to any
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: taking guarantees they're gonna pick what eleventh or tenth Deig
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: they take it's brutally.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's brutal. Yeah, there's that's what I mean.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: I just don't see. And that's even if they come
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: to the conclusion, Okay, what we're doing isn't.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: Work, we should try.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: I'm not in the meetings. I don't cover them. I
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: don't know, but I don't get a sense that nobody
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: will meet they've lost, and I don't get a sense
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: where they think this is okay, we have a systemic failure.
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: We need to look at what we're doing. I don't
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: get a sense they're ready to admit that in any
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: fashion now now. And I feel bad for the players.
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: I mean that is they have to They have to
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: answer for it every day, and the owners. The owners
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: never do. It's always the players that have to answer
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: for all of this.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, or or Warren Schaefer who's now two and seventeen,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: has to stand up there and answer questions every single day,
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: which I guess that's what he gets the paycheck for.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Jeff Lagweld. Everybody ESPN read his stuff OTAs this week,
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Leggies all over it. Jeff Legwold, thank you, sir.
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: Tim Vallas