Latest / Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports / Jeff Legwold joins Kreckman and Lindahl 4-28-25
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Jet Legwald is our Broncos insider Altitude Sports Radio ninety
- 0:05Speaker 1: two five Pro Football.
- 0:07Speaker 2: The insider I've covered while.
- 0:09Speaker 1: Jef Legwall his appearances are always must listen radio. We
- 0:13Speaker 1: learn a Lot, brought to you by the International Brotherhood
- 0:16Speaker 1: of Electrical Workers. Start with a job and with a
- 0:18Speaker 1: career IBW Local sixty eight. It's Leggy Well on Altitude
- 0:25Speaker 1: Sports Radio ninety two five. Yeah, it's Jet Legwald. Time
- 0:33Speaker 1: here post draft, Leggy a lot to dive into. We
- 0:37Speaker 1: talked about Jade barn on the Friday edition of the show.
- 0:42Speaker 1: We got rounds two through seven since we last spoke,
- 0:46Speaker 1: and obviously, uh, the story of this draft that the
- 0:49Speaker 1: country cannot stop talking about is a fine wide receiver
- 0:54Speaker 1: out of the University of Illinois snagged in the third
- 0:57Speaker 1: round by the Denver Bronco was Pat Bryant. Mister first
- 1:03Speaker 1: down himself. Pat Bryant joins the Denver Broncos. I can't
- 1:08Speaker 1: think of a single story out of this draft that
- 1:10Speaker 1: the nation has been more captivated by than an a
- 1:14Speaker 1: line I going orange and blue to Orange and Blue
- 1:17Speaker 1: and joining your Denver Broncos.
- 1:20Speaker 3: Yeah, I've been fielding calls all day about that one.
- 1:24Speaker 3: Do you really see Michael Thomas in there as?
- 1:27Speaker 4: Because really are well Lewis Riddick said it in their
- 1:31Speaker 4: draft analysis on ESPN, and then I know Sean said
- 1:34Speaker 4: it at the podium. What do you think can you
- 1:37Speaker 4: squint and get to Michael Thomas with him?
- 1:40Speaker 3: You know?
- 1:40Speaker 2: I you know, if you're breaking it down in the
- 1:43Speaker 2: nuts and bolts football, there's Michael Thomas in the release.
- 1:47Speaker 2: He gets off the line of scrimmage and creates, you know,
- 1:51Speaker 2: immediate separation with his release because he has to. You know,
- 1:55Speaker 2: he was he was one of the slower wide receivers
- 1:58Speaker 2: timed at the combine. So if you're gonna have that
- 2:01Speaker 2: many catches, you know, in big time college football, you
- 2:04Speaker 2: got to get open somehow. And he gets open with
- 2:07Speaker 2: his release and his ability to body up on the
- 2:10Speaker 2: on the ball. So you know, we're gonna have to
- 2:13Speaker 2: see how that translates against dbs that are a lot
- 2:18Speaker 2: faster than he is.
- 2:20Speaker 3: I think that will be the issue for him.
- 2:22Speaker 2: But he's physical, tough, you know, he he's he's playing
- 2:27Speaker 2: a ton of games, He's got a ton of experience.
- 2:30Speaker 2: You know, he's one of those safe guys. You know
- 2:32Speaker 2: exactly what you're getting Now, you know, I and a
- 2:36Speaker 2: lot of other people I know in the league. You
- 2:39Speaker 2: know I had him in the day three, yeah, instead
- 2:42Speaker 2: of day two. So but the issue is the speed,
- 2:45Speaker 2: not not performance. You know, he ran four to six
- 2:48Speaker 2: at the combine and he struggled a bit at the
- 2:51Speaker 2: senior ball, consistently keeping people off of him, and that'll
- 2:55Speaker 2: just be the question with him going forward.
- 2:57Speaker 1: No, I agree with you, leg you that's my dude.
- 3:00Speaker 1: As an a line I fan, I joke, but in
- 3:03Speaker 1: all seriousness, I thought he was going to be like
- 3:04Speaker 1: a fifth rounder. So denver taking him in the third,
- 3:07Speaker 1: I'm still excited. I'm excited to have Pat Bryant. Uh.
- 3:10Speaker 1: Don't don't rather quin us on this thing, dude, Come
- 3:12Speaker 1: on now. Uh, but let's let's talk about R. J. Harvey,
- 3:18Speaker 1: the back out of Central Florida. We knew that the
- 3:21Speaker 1: Broncos were gonna have to get a running back. They
- 3:24Speaker 1: get one. They get a dude with some serious wheels
- 3:27Speaker 1: and a four four forty h Your evaluation of Harvey
- 3:31Speaker 1: and his fit in Sean Payton's offense.
- 3:35Speaker 2: Well, you know, Sean preferred he likes vision runners, and
- 3:39Speaker 2: this is he had some of the best you know,
- 3:41Speaker 2: you talked to running backs coaches before the draft, and
- 3:45Speaker 2: and he was rated as a guy running back coaches,
- 3:49Speaker 2: the position coaches really liked this player. When I when
- 3:53Speaker 2: I pulled around and asked them, his name came up
- 3:56Speaker 2: with the position coaches more than everybody else. And that
- 4:00Speaker 2: that tells me they like, uh, every running back coach
- 4:04Speaker 2: I know grades vision, uh, pretty high on the docket
- 4:09Speaker 2: rather than some of the other you know, speed, home
- 4:12Speaker 2: run ability and all that stuff. Running back coaches like vision,
- 4:16Speaker 2: and they like guys who will will block on third
- 4:19Speaker 2: down and do those things. And he's the vision runner
- 4:23Speaker 2: of the of the group. He He's got sort of
- 4:26Speaker 2: that darting capability, you know if the if the one
- 4:30Speaker 2: door closes quickly, he moves down and finds the next one,
- 4:35Speaker 2: you know, before the play is busted.
- 4:37Speaker 3: And I think that's that translates well to the league.
- 4:41Speaker 3: You know.
- 4:41Speaker 2: The question for me in terms of the big value
- 4:44Speaker 2: is how quickly will he be a third down player
- 4:49Speaker 2: or a longer yardage player because he he hasn't been
- 4:52Speaker 2: asked to catch the ball a lot in college, and
- 4:54Speaker 2: he hasn't been asked to pass protect a lot, and
- 4:58Speaker 2: that's not his fault nobody, nobody had him doing. But
- 5:02Speaker 2: he has flashed receiving skills. And you know, when I've
- 5:06Speaker 2: talked to the Broncos about him, they thought at his
- 5:09Speaker 2: pro day he really showed the potential there. So you know,
- 5:14Speaker 2: he was after genty, who they had no shot at getting.
- 5:19Speaker 2: He was, I believe one of their two top backs
- 5:23Speaker 2: on the board. So they really really liked him, and
- 5:27Speaker 2: they liked him a lot more.
- 5:28Speaker 3: Than some teams did.
- 5:30Speaker 2: But again, when I talked to running back coaches, this
- 5:34Speaker 2: was often the first name that came up after genties.
- 5:38Speaker 4: Are you surprised they had to wait as long as
- 5:40Speaker 4: they did for a tight end? And what do you
- 5:43Speaker 4: think of the one that they got?
- 5:46Speaker 2: Even you know, Loaner's a developmental prospect. I mean, if
- 5:50Speaker 2: they can find a way to get him on the
- 5:53Speaker 2: field before twenty twenty six, I think it would be unbelievable.
- 5:59Speaker 2: I mean he's only played since the seventh grade. He's
- 6:02Speaker 2: only played what fifty nine snaps fifty seven snaps in
- 6:07Speaker 2: college football and all of that this past year. Now,
- 6:11Speaker 2: I did cover NCAA tournament basketball games he played in.
- 6:15Speaker 2: And he's a hell of an athlete. So he's got
- 6:18Speaker 2: a lot going in his favor. You don't see many
- 6:21Speaker 2: guys his size with like a thirty nine inch vertical
- 6:24Speaker 2: or whatever, so tremendous athlete, and they're obviously you know,
- 6:31Speaker 2: I told you guys last week, the back of this
- 6:33Speaker 2: board was really thin, and I thought we'd see teams
- 6:37Speaker 2: taking players who would have been undrafted players in other years.
- 6:43Speaker 2: But this way they didn't have to compete for him
- 6:45Speaker 2: for signing bonuses and the rest of it. They just
- 6:48Speaker 2: used the picks to take him. And I think he
- 6:51Speaker 2: was one of those guys. I think they're excited to
- 6:54Speaker 2: see what he can become. But you know, I think
- 6:57Speaker 2: it will be very surprising if he's not on the
- 7:00Speaker 2: practice squad, you know, all of the coming season.
- 7:03Speaker 1: Yeah, project to be sure, Jeff Legwald is with us
- 7:06Speaker 1: here on a Monday post draft. Jeff Legwald brought to
- 7:08Speaker 1: you by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers IBW Local
- 7:12Speaker 1: sixty eight. Start with a job and with a career.
- 7:15Speaker 1: You had saveon Jones along with R. J. Harvey. By
- 7:18Speaker 1: the way, in the close but not quite category of
- 7:21Speaker 1: the top one hundred, Leggy, you look at Jones six
- 7:24Speaker 1: six eighty, I mean he absolutely looks the part of
- 7:28Speaker 1: what you want in an edge rusher. Where should we
- 7:31Speaker 1: set expectations for him and what do you see as
- 7:34Speaker 1: kind of a ceiling in his development.
- 7:37Speaker 2: I think he's in the rotation pretty fast. I mean,
- 7:40Speaker 2: he's uh. The one thing about him is, you know,
- 7:44Speaker 2: in the secre you're competing against the best lineman there
- 7:49Speaker 2: are college football. And I think the one thing that
- 7:52Speaker 2: struck me about this this player looking at him through
- 7:56Speaker 2: the pre draft was a he's got the tremendous length
- 8:00Speaker 2: you want in a in a defensive lineman, just a
- 8:03Speaker 2: big reach and man, this guy plays his pedals to
- 8:08Speaker 2: the floor all the time. He plays all the time
- 8:12Speaker 2: you get you don't get cheated out of any football
- 8:14Speaker 2: from him. If the whistle hasn't blown, he's still working
- 8:19Speaker 2: it and that will translate really quickly. I knew they
- 8:24Speaker 2: liked him going into the draft, actually took him. I
- 8:27Speaker 2: think they took him three or four spots I had
- 8:29Speaker 2: where I had him, but U but I think he's
- 8:33Speaker 2: in the rotation really fast, and he plays really hard,
- 8:36Speaker 2: and that that'll make him a quick study.
- 8:39Speaker 1: I do want to add, by the way, he was
- 8:41Speaker 1: in the close but not quite category of Jeff Legwalt's
- 8:44Speaker 1: top one hundred. He was Draft one hundred first. Well
- 8:47Speaker 1: there you go, definition of close but not quite. What
- 8:51Speaker 1: about Q Robinson? Does he like barbecue? Where'd we get
- 8:55Speaker 1: the queue from?
- 8:56Speaker 4: Anyway? What are we getting there? I mean, there's a
- 8:58Speaker 4: guy that I saw right away. They can't remember one
- 9:01Speaker 4: of the draft experts, and maybe he wasn't even a
- 9:03Speaker 4: draft expert. It might have been Chris Harris, but somebody
- 9:05Speaker 4: put out there. He's probably a guy Vj's usual to
- 9:08Speaker 4: rush up the middle right away. What did they get there?
- 9:11Speaker 3: Actually?
- 9:12Speaker 2: And he's one of the best special teams players on
- 9:14Speaker 2: the board, So a lot of teams had him in
- 9:21Speaker 2: the fifth or sixth round area, but he was you know,
- 9:25Speaker 2: when I quiz people on a lot of stuff before
- 9:28Speaker 2: the draft, he was considered one of the two or
- 9:30Speaker 2: three best special teams players on the draft board. So
- 9:34Speaker 2: he will play there immediately for this team and you know,
- 9:38Speaker 2: getting the you know, getting the jersey on game day,
- 9:42Speaker 2: and he's gonna have to find a role on offense.
- 9:44Speaker 2: They don't often have just special team specialists up for
- 9:49Speaker 2: the game day roster.
- 9:51Speaker 3: But he could make that a tough.
- 9:53Speaker 2: Decision because he he already will be one of their
- 9:56Speaker 2: best special teams players before they've run a play this season.
- 10:01Speaker 2: I really liked him in that role. And you know
- 10:03Speaker 2: he's a one year starter at Alabama. But he again,
- 10:07Speaker 2: you have to temper that. You know, on the surface,
- 10:10Speaker 2: you're gonna say, oh, he's only good enough to be
- 10:11Speaker 2: a starter one year. Well, then you got to look
- 10:14Speaker 2: at who some of the pass rushers Nick Saban had
- 10:19Speaker 2: in the previous years. You know Dallas Turner, you know
- 10:23Speaker 2: Will Anderson. I mean, they were loaded at pass rushers.
- 10:27Speaker 2: So even the fact he played fifty games, I believe there.
- 10:33Speaker 2: You know, he's got pass rush potential and special teams
- 10:36Speaker 2: right out of the gate. Beyond that he might need
- 10:39Speaker 2: a little time.
- 10:39Speaker 1: Yeah, every defensive dude they drafted out of the SEC,
- 10:42Speaker 1: which is not a bad strategy. Jeff Legwold with his
- 10:45Speaker 1: post draft All right, Leggy, you warned us over and
- 10:48Speaker 1: over again. So many teams did not have a first
- 10:51Speaker 1: round grade on Shador Sanders. Yeah, but why did he
- 10:55Speaker 1: end up being a fifth round pick?
- 10:58Speaker 3: Well, you know, some of it is group think.
- 11:01Speaker 2: You know, people start talking to themselves, well, what do
- 11:04Speaker 2: they know that we don't know? Why did the teams
- 11:07Speaker 2: who needed a quarterback pass on them. You know, if
- 11:10Speaker 2: they don't feel like they have the information, they're not
- 11:13Speaker 2: going to roll the dice. A lot of the times,
- 11:17Speaker 2: you know, we don't want to talk about, but he
- 11:20Speaker 2: didn't have an agent, and a lot of times if
- 11:22Speaker 2: you're not drafted where people think you are, the agents
- 11:25Speaker 2: work in the phones calling gms, asking hey, what do
- 11:29Speaker 2: you think of my guy?
- 11:30Speaker 3: Where do you see him? Where can he go?
- 11:32Speaker 2: All of those things, And then quarterback is a weird
- 11:37Speaker 2: position in the draft because they're so coveted.
- 11:40Speaker 3: If you don't go early, there's routinely.
- 11:43Speaker 2: A big gap before the next group goes because the
- 11:46Speaker 2: teams that really needed him didn't pick him. So it's
- 11:50Speaker 2: really more a question of, you know, why the Giants, Browns,
- 11:54Speaker 2: Raiders and Saints didn't like him, not why the league
- 11:57Speaker 2: didn't like him, because when he gets to the second
- 12:01Speaker 2: in the third round, it's teams talking amongst themselves about
- 12:05Speaker 2: do we think he's worth bringing in as a developmental backup?
- 12:10Speaker 3: You know, with all the swirl around him.
- 12:12Speaker 2: Then you know it becomes that question, and you know,
- 12:16Speaker 2: the fifth it just becomes such an easy value pick.
- 12:20Speaker 2: Somebody was going to take him. I thought he would
- 12:22Speaker 2: go Day two. But it's not unprecedented the big gap
- 12:28Speaker 2: that we saw. I mean the last five drafts alone.
- 12:32Speaker 2: You know, the quarterbacks taken in rounds two, three, four
- 12:36Speaker 2: are three or zero last year because six went in
- 12:40Speaker 2: the first round, but then three, two, three, two, and
- 12:46Speaker 2: you know this weekend it was two going in rounds two,
- 12:50Speaker 2: three and four. So it's not unprecedented what happened. It's
- 12:54Speaker 2: just he happened to be the guy that got that
- 12:57Speaker 2: got left out of all that moves.
- 12:59Speaker 3: But I think it's a conglomerate of things.
- 13:02Speaker 2: But he was not a first round pick by and
- 13:06Speaker 2: I think it was a disservice that he spent so
- 13:09Speaker 2: much time being reported or being publicized as a as
- 13:13Speaker 2: a top five pick, let alone a first round.
- 13:16Speaker 1: Pick, including by his own dad.
- 13:19Speaker 4: Yeah, so I'm curious because there was a reporting on ESPN,
- 13:22Speaker 4: you know, Saturday. I watched it as you can imagine,
- 13:24Speaker 4: and they said, this is the NFL telling Shador and
- 13:28Speaker 4: the people that come behind him, you're not going to
- 13:31Speaker 4: dictate to us our interview process, our pre draft process,
- 13:35Speaker 4: the way that you tried to do. You think some
- 13:37Speaker 4: of that played in or was that just a talking
- 13:40Speaker 4: point for draft day.
- 13:41Speaker 2: I think, you know, in my opinion is that's an
- 13:43Speaker 2: easy mark other players. I mean, Eli Manning said he
- 13:49Speaker 2: wasn't going to play for the Chargers. I mean, it's
- 13:51Speaker 2: it's not unprecedented for a player to try to assert
- 13:55Speaker 2: power and leverage. But if you're going to do that,
- 13:59Speaker 2: in my opinion, I think you should do a little
- 14:02Speaker 2: more on the field before the draft. You should go
- 14:05Speaker 2: to the senior ball, you should go to the Shrine Bowl,
- 14:08Speaker 2: you should work out.
- 14:09Speaker 3: At the Combine.
- 14:11Speaker 2: You should put a little more out there before all
- 14:15Speaker 2: of that happens. But he ain't the first to try
- 14:18Speaker 2: and dictate interview or workouts or the rest. You know,
- 14:22Speaker 2: let's not get ourselves. Guys have been doing that for
- 14:26Speaker 2: as long as there's been a draft, you know, it's
- 14:29Speaker 2: just now it's very very public. All the whole process
- 14:34Speaker 2: is so much more public than it used to be.
- 14:36Speaker 2: But my opinion is he would have had more leverage
- 14:41Speaker 2: in the interview process had he done a little more
- 14:44Speaker 2: on the field.
- 14:45Speaker 3: You know.
- 14:45Speaker 2: I think that's when you get out there and and
- 14:49Speaker 2: winging around a little bit, you know, and show people
- 14:53Speaker 2: at least pick one. You know, you don't have to
- 14:56Speaker 2: do multiple but pick the Senior Bowl, or pick the Combine,
- 15:00Speaker 2: or pick the Shrine Bowl because it's close to your house.
- 15:04Speaker 2: You know, Shrine bowls in Dallas, in Frisco. You know, go,
- 15:08Speaker 2: you know, work out there for you know, practice two days.
- 15:11Speaker 2: Don't play in the game, you know, but just give
- 15:15Speaker 2: somebody something on the field. And I think if he had,
- 15:18Speaker 2: in my opinion, if he had done that, he would
- 15:22Speaker 2: not have had what happened to him happened to him.
- 15:24Speaker 1: Like you, just to put a bow on this conversation
- 15:28Speaker 1: your top one hundred, the Broncos had four picks in
- 15:32Speaker 1: the top one oh one. Only one of their four
- 15:37Speaker 1: picks in the top one oh one were in your
- 15:38Speaker 1: top one hundred. Technically, there were a few guys in
- 15:41Speaker 1: the sort of others receiving votes category. H Jade Baron
- 15:45Speaker 1: you had at number eight. Denver got a number twenty.
- 15:47Speaker 1: Fantastic value. You told us on Friday what a great
- 15:50Speaker 1: pick you thought that was and a wise pick on
- 15:52Speaker 1: the part of the Broncos to get the best player available.
- 15:55Speaker 1: But based on your pre draft evaluations, do you come
- 15:59Speaker 1: away from this draft saying that Denver came up short.
- 16:04Speaker 2: I don't think they came up short just because they
- 16:06Speaker 2: didn't follow my my little model.
- 16:10Speaker 1: I thought, that's what I loved, Jeff, I use your
- 16:13Speaker 1: little model.
- 16:14Speaker 2: No, I appreciate it, and I work hard at it.
- 16:16Speaker 2: But you know, I think Harvey was a bit of
- 16:20Speaker 2: a reach. I think Bryant was a reach.
- 16:23Speaker 3: Jones. I liked right where he is, and that's that
- 16:26Speaker 3: that pick belongs.
- 16:27Speaker 2: And you know I had a fifth on Robinson, so
- 16:30Speaker 2: that's close to that. You know, punter, he is the
- 16:34Speaker 2: best punter in the draft. Just decide what you think,
- 16:38Speaker 2: you know, and and the seventh rounder that that was
- 16:41Speaker 2: purely a developmental pick. And if they get it right,
- 16:45Speaker 2: you know, oh man, are people going to go crazy.
- 16:48Speaker 2: I mean, the guy's an unbelievable athlete. But in my world, yeah,
- 16:54Speaker 2: they You know, I thought there were more impactful running
- 16:59Speaker 2: backs on the board compared to Harvey. Doesn't mean I
- 17:02Speaker 2: don't think Harvey's a good player. He is, but I
- 17:05Speaker 2: just liked other running backs better, and I liked other
- 17:09Speaker 2: receivers better than Bryant. But the Broncos, with Sean Payton
- 17:14Speaker 2: at coach, they're gonna pick players with very specific traits.
- 17:19Speaker 2: They're not looking at the sort of the the body
- 17:22Speaker 2: of work per se. They're looking for far more defined
- 17:26Speaker 2: slices of the pie chart that they're gonna make important.
- 17:31Speaker 2: And each of these players fulfilled some of those And
- 17:34Speaker 2: I think that's why they picked him, uh, because on
- 17:39Speaker 2: their board, it's exactly.
- 17:41Speaker 3: What they're looking for.
- 17:42Speaker 2: So it's just a matter of organizational philosophy. And you know,
- 17:48Speaker 2: I think Harvey's going to contribute right away. I mean,
- 17:50Speaker 2: there's no question. I think he's that kind of runner Bryant.
- 17:55Speaker 2: He could contribute. It's just a matter of you know,
- 17:59Speaker 2: are you gonna have an easier time than you you know,
- 18:02Speaker 2: or with coaching and the scheme, are you gonna have
- 18:05Speaker 2: an easier time finding some space to work in the
- 18:08Speaker 2: NFL game Because there's plenty of guys that have been
- 18:11Speaker 2: four to six and flourished at wide receiver, you know,
- 18:16Speaker 2: you know, Larry Fitzgerald being a very prominent example of
- 18:20Speaker 2: it and saving on Jones plays right away too. So
- 18:25Speaker 2: if you get four or five of these guys playing
- 18:27Speaker 2: right away, that's a good draft.
- 18:29Speaker 4: Clap All right, Here's what I know, you know everything.
- 18:31Speaker 3: I got to know this.
- 18:32Speaker 4: When you go from Baylor to BYU, do you have
- 18:35Speaker 4: to hit the transfer portal? In the religious division as well.
- 18:38Speaker 1: And what.
- 18:40Speaker 4: That's that's a diverse group that you've now been around.
- 18:44Speaker 3: That's uh, that's I think there's a test involved.
- 18:47Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yes, yes, sounds about right.
- 18:51Speaker 1: Jeff Lakewald, everybody, espn uh get his Broncos coverage right there.
- 18:56Speaker 1: We talked to him every Monday and Friday on the
- 18:58Speaker 1: Craig Ben and Lindahl Show. Leg Yeah, just I hope
- 19:01Speaker 1: you know I pit every GM against your top one
- 19:03Speaker 1: hundred when I evaluate the quality of an NFL draft class.
- 19:07Speaker 2: I want you to know that, no, I appreciate it,
- 19:09Speaker 2: and I you know, I will say I have had
- 19:11Speaker 2: some wins over the years, so I'm just saying I'll
- 19:14Speaker 2: just leave it at that.
- 19:15Speaker 1: That's right, Jeff Legwald, everybody, Illinois legend, take that Pat Bryant,
- 19:19Speaker 1: Jeff Legwald with us there on a Friday or excuse me,
- 19:22Speaker 1: a Monday edition of the show. We'll also talk to
- 19:24Speaker 1: him on Friday.