Latest / Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports / Jeff Legwold joins Moser, Lombardi and Kane 6-18-26
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Let's sit out.
- 0:00Speaker 2: So the Ramos Law Hotline, Car Accident, Ramos Law Medical
- 0:03Speaker 2: Doctor and Attorney, ramas Law dot com or Joined as
- 0:05Speaker 2: we Are every Thursday by Jeff Legwall of ESPN dot com.
- 0:08Speaker 3: Hello, Leggy, morning Fellas.
- 0:11Speaker 1: A terrific, terrific, terrific article. Terrific.
- 0:14Speaker 2: Yeah, I got a question about that. Not a big reader,
- 0:17Speaker 2: but I read that so.
- 0:20Speaker 1: Read well hit myself.
- 0:23Speaker 4: Jeff writes in a way that big readers you don't
- 0:25Speaker 4: have to be. Oh, I know, a big reader.
- 0:28Speaker 1: I mean, we've locked in.
- 0:29Speaker 2: But the crux of the article here is how the
- 0:32Speaker 2: Broncos navigated this dead cap from the Russell Wilson money
- 0:36Speaker 2: and other teams. Maybe it opened up an avenue for
- 0:39Speaker 2: them to say, maybe we can do that too. When
- 0:41Speaker 2: you see the two uh contract that they're taking on
- 0:44Speaker 2: in Miami, you see Kyler Murray in Arizona. But do
- 0:47Speaker 2: you think that the Broncos were a little bit special
- 0:51Speaker 2: in the way that they were set up to do
- 0:54Speaker 2: it with a great defense, great old line, great everything else.
- 0:58Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I tried to make that clear. They
- 1:00Speaker 3: sort of had a almost perfect storm type of thing.
- 1:06Speaker 3: And I think it's even in there somewhere that folks
- 1:10Speaker 3: around the league say, you better have a solution at
- 1:14Speaker 3: quarterback if you're really going to navigate it, and especially
- 1:18Speaker 3: if the player that's going to be the dead cap hit,
- 1:23Speaker 3: which most often the biggest ones are quarterbacks, So you
- 1:27Speaker 3: better be at least have a solution there, or you
- 1:31Speaker 3: better be looking at a quarterback draft in the coming
- 1:35Speaker 3: April after you do it. And the Broncos had that.
- 1:38Speaker 3: I mean, they had a draft board that tied the
- 1:43Speaker 3: record six first round quarterbacks and it was the first
- 1:47Speaker 3: time ever that six quarterbacks went in twelve picks, So
- 1:51Speaker 3: they didn't just have a quarterback draft, they had a
- 1:55Speaker 3: historical quarterback draft waiting. And they also had uncommon health.
- 2:01Speaker 3: You know, I think eighteen had eighteen players start thirteen
- 2:05Speaker 3: games that year, So your depth isn't challenged, which is
- 2:09Speaker 3: where you know, salary cap problems really show up, uh
- 2:15Speaker 3: with the teams that get people hurt, and they don't
- 2:18Speaker 3: have any solutions after those starters because they can't sign solutions.
- 2:24Speaker 3: So a lot of things came together and that people
- 2:27Speaker 3: kind of said it got people thinking that because that
- 2:33Speaker 3: was that wasn't just a little over the previous record,
- 2:37Speaker 3: It was twice. It was double the previous record any
- 2:41Speaker 3: team had ever taken on for a single player. So
- 2:44Speaker 3: it just it just didn't like set the bar. It
- 2:48Speaker 3: pushed the bar out where people thought it would never go,
- 2:51Speaker 3: which is why I started. I sort of started asking
- 2:54Speaker 3: around after the Dolphins released Tua and people were kind
- 3:00Speaker 3: of saying, you know, yeah, I think it made people
- 3:03Speaker 3: sit down and say it didn't have to be, you know,
- 3:08Speaker 3: a death now, but they had they had a roster,
- 3:13Speaker 3: a pretty good roster in place. The defense is really good,
- 3:17Speaker 3: they have a quarterback draft waiting for him, and oh
- 3:20Speaker 3: guess what, they have more cash than anyone else in
- 3:24Speaker 3: the NFL.
- 3:25Speaker 4: So the Broncos, I don't want to say they were
- 3:27Speaker 4: uniquely set up to be able to do this, but
- 3:30Speaker 4: they were in a good position. And I think when
- 3:33Speaker 4: you look at the Cardinals, Jeff and the Dolphins, there
- 3:37Speaker 4: is doing it to do it now.
- 3:38Speaker 1: Because there's eating the pain.
- 3:40Speaker 4: I mean, the Broncos went to the postseason the next
- 3:42Speaker 4: year and then obviously the next year to the AFC
- 3:44Speaker 4: title game. So it's it's one of those things where
- 3:45Speaker 4: it kind reminds me of the Tortorella thing. Jeff, where
- 3:48Speaker 4: now teams. Is going to become more normal to gas
- 3:51Speaker 4: your coach in the last month of the season, bring.
- 3:54Speaker 1: Somebody else in.
- 3:55Speaker 4: You know, if you've got a team that you think
- 3:57Speaker 4: is underachieving, that can make a run and go that
- 4:00Speaker 4: rout it. I just it feels to me like they
- 4:02Speaker 4: have to have unique circumstances for it to work. So
- 4:06Speaker 4: even though other teams may do it, is it really
- 4:09Speaker 4: the wisest thing.
- 4:10Speaker 1: I don't know. I guess we'll see how the time
- 4:12Speaker 1: plays it out.
- 4:13Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think you know, the folks I've
- 4:15Speaker 3: talked to folks in Miami, I think they see this
- 4:18Speaker 3: as more of a real rebuild. I think they don't
- 4:22Speaker 3: think they're going to be able to come right out
- 4:25Speaker 3: of this with a playoff spot. And they and look
- 4:30Speaker 3: what they had to do, you know, they they didn't
- 4:32Speaker 3: have a quarterback draft in front of them. They had
- 4:35Speaker 3: to go sign somebody for sixty million dollars. So you know,
- 4:39Speaker 3: it was a different a different deal. But you know,
- 4:44Speaker 3: just in general, it's just because the Broncos took it
- 4:48Speaker 3: where no one else had gone before. I was curious
- 4:51Speaker 3: to ask around and see, you know, is that going
- 4:54Speaker 3: to make people think more about it? You know, because
- 4:59Speaker 3: for so long it was thought, you can't do it,
- 5:01Speaker 3: you just can't do it, you won't survive. And because
- 5:06Speaker 3: dead money is impossible to escape, and you know, everybody,
- 5:11Speaker 3: it's very common on social media or whatever to say, oh,
- 5:14Speaker 3: that's salary, Kevy, do whatever you want with this. No,
- 5:17Speaker 3: you can't escape dead money. And for the Broncos to
- 5:21Speaker 3: do that, I think you will. I think ten years
- 5:24Speaker 3: from now people will look back and see how rare
- 5:28Speaker 3: back to back playoff appearances are out of something like that.
- 5:32Speaker 4: We'll get back to the Broncos at the second yet,
- 5:33Speaker 4: But why do you think Miami gave Malik Willis all
- 5:36Speaker 4: that money?
- 5:37Speaker 3: They had to have a quarterback solution?
- 5:40Speaker 1: And what was my guy? My guy's my guy?
- 5:42Speaker 2: Was therea Wilson?
- 5:44Speaker 3: Yeah? Guy guy.
- 5:48Speaker 4: The guy's completely and totally unproven in this league. I mean,
- 5:52Speaker 4: he's got he's got six career starts, and you're giving
- 5:55Speaker 4: him that kind of.
- 5:56Speaker 1: I mean, it is four hundred yards last year.
- 5:59Speaker 3: I mean, and it's weird that it's the Matt Flynn.
- 6:03Speaker 3: The Matt Flynn. I don't know if you guys remember
- 6:09Speaker 3: one really good game in Green Bay and gosh, where
- 6:13Speaker 3: did Malik Willis have his really good game, and but anyway,
- 6:18Speaker 3: it's uh, you know, a guy like Zach Wilson, it's it.
- 6:22Speaker 3: It's amazing how often I talked to NFL people and
- 6:25Speaker 3: they all talk to me about evaluating players. Now you've
- 6:30Speaker 3: got to make your own judgments and everything. It just
- 6:32Speaker 3: seems like when guys like Zach Wilson get pigeonholed, they
- 6:35Speaker 3: never get out, uh, and never get an opportunity to
- 6:40Speaker 3: prove what happened before is was wrong. Uh. I've seen
- 6:46Speaker 3: better from him, and I know it was just practice
- 6:48Speaker 3: and and all of that, but uh, that's a guy
- 6:51Speaker 3: I wish somebody would just take a look at and see.
- 6:56Speaker 3: But man, once sometimes in the NFL, once they put
- 7:00Speaker 3: you in a lane, it's really hard to get out sometimes.
- 7:03Speaker 2: Jeff label with this as he is every Thursday all
- 7:06Speaker 2: conversations with Leggy about you by the International Brotherhood of
- 7:08Speaker 2: Electrical Workers IBW Local sixty eight start with a job
- 7:12Speaker 2: and with a career. I think I've driven people on
- 7:14Speaker 2: this show, listeners of this show nuts on this topic.
- 7:17Speaker 2: But I can't stop thinking about it because you and
- 7:20Speaker 2: me are kindred spirits on this Let me take you
- 7:22Speaker 2: down the rabbit hole. In twenty twenty three, Marvin Mims
- 7:27Speaker 2: was drafted as a second round wide receiver. In twenty
- 7:30Speaker 2: twenty four, Troy Franklin was drafted, he played immediately. Twenty
- 7:33Speaker 2: twenty five, Pat Bryant drafted, played immediately, and then he
- 7:36Speaker 2: traded for Jalen Model. And then I see this offseason,
- 7:40Speaker 2: Marvin Mims changes agents in the final year of his contract,
- 7:43Speaker 2: and shortly after that, Sean Fresh, the best punt returner
- 7:47Speaker 2: in the UFL, assigned to the Broncos.
- 7:49Speaker 1: What's going on here?
- 7:51Speaker 3: Well, I think they're covering all the bases.
- 7:53Speaker 4: But.
- 7:55Speaker 2: Covering the bases for what for them making a move
- 7:59Speaker 2: at the end of camp or awaiting maybe Marvin Mim
- 8:01Speaker 2: suggesting a move.
- 8:04Speaker 3: I think either one. I think, you know, and I
- 8:06Speaker 3: don't know that there's anything nefarious going on. I don't
- 8:09Speaker 3: get that sense. But look, you know, Marvin understands. He's
- 8:14Speaker 3: a smart, smart guy. He understands how the business of
- 8:18Speaker 3: the NFL works, and he spent a two time Pro
- 8:23Speaker 3: Bowl returner. If he were on the market, he would
- 8:27Speaker 3: draw interest. And you're you don't have that many cracks
- 8:31Speaker 3: at your contract in the NFL, And I think switching
- 8:35Speaker 3: agents is proof that he wants to make the most
- 8:38Speaker 3: of this next swing, and I think, I don't know
- 8:42Speaker 3: that he'll ever say it out loud, but I think
- 8:44Speaker 3: he's resigned himself to have to move on. Yeah, but
- 8:48Speaker 3: I mean, you know, look, we heard the same thing
- 8:50Speaker 3: at mini camp this week. Got to get him the
- 8:54Speaker 3: ball more. You know, it's like there's some phantom person
- 8:59Speaker 3: in charge of calling plays for the Denver Broncos who
- 9:03Speaker 3: won't throw the ball to Marvin Mims. They act like
- 9:06Speaker 3: there's a third party out there. They've outsourced play calling,
- 9:12Speaker 3: and they can't figure out how to tell the the
- 9:16Speaker 3: freelancer how to get the ball to Marvin min It's
- 9:19Speaker 3: not you know, That's the part of it that always
- 9:21Speaker 3: makes me just, you know, make faces at them because
- 9:26Speaker 3: I just can't understand, well, everybody acts like there's somebody
- 9:30Speaker 3: else in charge when there's not, you know, just and
- 9:35Speaker 3: I have a hard time believing after watching how they
- 9:38Speaker 3: lined up in mini camp. I mean, I know the
- 9:40Speaker 3: season is a long way away and a lot can change,
- 9:44Speaker 3: but he wasn't.
- 9:45Speaker 4: In the.
- 9:47Speaker 3: First level rotations. And I don't care what anybody says,
- 9:52Speaker 3: Jalen Waddell is getting a lot of targets, and those
- 9:55Speaker 3: passes are coming from somewhere and Courtland Sutton's targets aren't
- 9:59Speaker 3: going anywhere. So you tell me how anyone else is
- 10:03Speaker 3: going to get the ball a lot in the passing
- 10:06Speaker 3: game in the Bronco offense.
- 10:07Speaker 4: Well, you always say, Jeff, there's a finite amount of
- 10:11Speaker 4: time to get your money as a player.
- 10:13Speaker 3: Right some more, you get two chances. Really, yeah, I'm
- 10:19Speaker 3: your first chance and free agency and maybe if you're lucky,
- 10:23Speaker 3: you get a second swing.
- 10:25Speaker 1: So I don't blame him if he says, you know,
- 10:28Speaker 1: trade me, blame your trade.
- 10:30Speaker 4: I wouldn't blame him because he's got to If they
- 10:32Speaker 4: won't play him, how does he have the ability to
- 10:34Speaker 4: try to make anything on that next contract.
- 10:37Speaker 1: It's just he he's in a tough spot.
- 10:40Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean he's he's gonna be you know. I
- 10:43Speaker 3: know in his mind, you're you're the best returner, one
- 10:46Speaker 3: of the two or three best returners in football, So
- 10:49Speaker 3: you already have that value no matter what happens. So,
- 10:53Speaker 3: and I think if I talk to GMS all the time,
- 10:58Speaker 3: when you look at when he's played, there's impact. So
- 11:01Speaker 3: his his game film will speak loudly for him. He's
- 11:06Speaker 3: just not going to have the numbers where when a
- 11:09Speaker 3: team signs him, fans go, oh, yeah, that's a you know,
- 11:14Speaker 3: he's got X number of catches. And I don't know
- 11:18Speaker 3: that Marvin is, you know, is a wide receiver one.
- 11:21Speaker 3: Probably not, but he's definitely as good as many wide
- 11:27Speaker 3: receiver twos. I just feel like the Broncos simply won't
- 11:32Speaker 3: admit he doesn't fit the physical profile they want for
- 11:37Speaker 3: receivers and leave it at that. But you know, I
- 11:41Speaker 3: just know every time they put him in the game,
- 11:43Speaker 3: good things happen. And but again, you know, they can
- 11:48Speaker 3: talk all they want about getting them the ball more.
- 11:51Speaker 3: They they just traded multiple draft picks, including a first rounder,
- 11:56Speaker 3: to get Jalen Waddle, and the offensive player on the
- 12:01Speaker 3: field and the offseason workouts was Jalen Waddle. So if
- 12:05Speaker 3: you're not gonna throw him the ball a ton, then
- 12:08Speaker 3: I don't know what you're thinking about, Jeff.
- 12:10Speaker 2: I was just reading this article that was best and
- 12:12Speaker 2: worst case scenarios for every team in the league. Now
- 12:14Speaker 2: the Broncos are the ones that you know, we've talked
- 12:17Speaker 2: about and we kind of know already. I'm curious what
- 12:20Speaker 2: you think about this because I was digging through some numbers.
- 12:24Speaker 2: The Chiefs are going to be better, obviously, with Mahomes
- 12:27Speaker 2: coming back and being healthy this year, they'll have a
- 12:29Speaker 2: better record, They'll probably be competitive in the AFC again,
- 12:32Speaker 2: and all that different stuff. But if you go back
- 12:36Speaker 2: to the last time their offense was incredibly dominant, it
- 12:40Speaker 2: came out of time where Travis Kelcey was way younger,
- 12:45Speaker 2: and as he's continued to age, the Chiefs offense has
- 12:51Speaker 2: looked more and more like league average as far as points, yards,
- 12:55Speaker 2: all that different stuff. Travis Kelsey had a year in
- 12:58Speaker 2: twenty twenty three teen hundred yards and twelve touchdowns. That's
- 13:01Speaker 2: when mahomestreet for five thousand yards forty some tds.
- 13:05Speaker 1: They ran the league.
- 13:06Speaker 2: Are they now just a normal offense, normal good offense
- 13:10Speaker 2: in the league or do you think they solve the
- 13:12Speaker 2: potential to light people up.
- 13:16Speaker 3: I think they're at their best. They're probably somewhere in
- 13:19Speaker 3: between that, you know, if that makes sense. I they're
- 13:24Speaker 3: they're having the same struggle teams that have great runs
- 13:29Speaker 3: always face you know, how long do you keep trying
- 13:33Speaker 3: to hold it together? And you know, the Kelsey questions
- 13:37Speaker 3: a tough one because he is not. I mean last
- 13:41Speaker 3: year was a clear example. And look what he's done
- 13:45Speaker 3: is canton worthy. You know, that's Hall of Fame profile
- 13:50Speaker 3: stuff that he's had in his career. So you're never
- 13:54Speaker 3: cheap in that. But nobody escapes, you know, time in
- 13:59Speaker 3: the NF fell he up to Well, he can't not.
- 14:03Speaker 3: I mean, the fact he's done what he's done is
- 14:05Speaker 3: already the rarest of the rare.
- 14:08Speaker 4: Uh.
- 14:09Speaker 3: You just can't possibly keep that level at that position
- 14:14Speaker 3: for so long. It's just it's just inhumanly possible impossible.
- 14:18Speaker 3: So uh, you know, I think that's part of the
- 14:22Speaker 3: issue is I don't think they've done as good as
- 14:25Speaker 3: some other teams as bringing having an influx of of
- 14:30Speaker 3: athleticism and youth in there somewhere. I think they've tried
- 14:33Speaker 3: so hard to keep familiarity as it's as the key
- 14:38Speaker 3: component when I think sometimes if you surround Kelsey with athleticism,
- 14:45Speaker 3: I think it's a different story. And I think that's
- 14:47Speaker 3: where they've sort of failed a little bit in that regard.
- 14:52Speaker 3: They should the young athleticism makes Kelsey a different player.
- 14:59Speaker 1: But they still the Witch as long as they have
- 15:01Speaker 1: the Witch man I've.
- 15:02Speaker 3: Never known, and that that's why teams try to hold
- 15:05Speaker 3: it together because they have the ultimate trump card. I
- 15:10Speaker 3: mean it's look look at the team some of the
- 15:12Speaker 3: teams John Elway dragged into the super Bowl personnel wise.
- 15:17Speaker 3: I mean, that's that's what happens when you have a
- 15:19Speaker 3: great quarterback. You don't always, you know, make the decisions
- 15:25Speaker 3: in a vacuum like you should. You make them with
- 15:28Speaker 3: with sort of clouded by the greatness of your of
- 15:31Speaker 3: your quarterback, and that that's not always the best way
- 15:34Speaker 3: to do it.
- 15:35Speaker 2: I don't think, Well they tried with you talk about athleticism,
- 15:38Speaker 2: I mean, Xavier Worthy around like a four to two four,
- 15:40Speaker 2: but it looks like he might just be a speed
- 15:42Speaker 2: guy with not a lot of actual wide receiver ability.
- 15:45Speaker 1: Is that does that seem like the case?
- 15:48Speaker 3: Well again, it's it's this is what you you know,
- 15:50Speaker 3: this is what Sean Payton talks about a lot. Look
- 15:52Speaker 3: at his physical profile. In the NFL, it is much
- 15:57Speaker 3: harder for those guys to get free because a in
- 16:01Speaker 3: college that you don't face press coverage, man coverage, physical
- 16:07Speaker 3: coverage hardly ever, so you just get used to running
- 16:11Speaker 3: free and catching the ball. The NFL is a totally
- 16:15Speaker 3: look at Pat Sertan. Look at the physical profile of
- 16:18Speaker 3: Pat Sertan, and I'd just send a five to nine
- 16:23Speaker 3: receiver one hundred and seventy five pounds. I don't care
- 16:27Speaker 3: how fast you are, patser Tan is going to engulf
- 16:30Speaker 3: you each year you're not catching the ball, and that's
- 16:34Speaker 3: part of the issue. Worthy tremendous athleticism, but the physical
- 16:37Speaker 3: profile makes it hard for him to have a very
- 16:40Speaker 3: big route tree because he can't create space in a
- 16:45Speaker 3: lot of the other routes that would that would take
- 16:47Speaker 3: full advantage.
- 16:48Speaker 2: Jeff Lagwell ESPN dot GOWM joins us every single week.
- 16:51Speaker 1: As appreciate it. Ley, thank you, thanks fellas using that's
- 16:57Speaker 1: a really long article. You haven't written one that long.
- 16:59Speaker 4: And don't think in a why we even had like
- 17:00Speaker 4: little chapters on it, right, it's really good little chapters.
- 17:05Speaker 1: But you know you have like a little start to
- 17:07Speaker 1: a little Yeah, how long does it take you to
- 17:10Speaker 1: do that?
- 17:10Speaker 3: Man? That took me like twenty minutes. That was good. No,
- 17:14Speaker 3: I mean I was gonna say that the interview part
- 17:18Speaker 3: is what takes like just gathering the information. I probably
- 17:20Speaker 3: talked to forty people.
- 17:22Speaker 1: And then use bang it out.
- 17:24Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I I have a weird way of writing.
- 17:27Speaker 3: I write from start to finish in the first draft.
- 17:32Speaker 3: So the minute I start the first draft, I write
- 17:36Speaker 3: the story all the way through, and then you start
- 17:39Speaker 3: fixing it. The editors come back to you and say,
- 17:42Speaker 3: this part really stinks. Why don't you fix it? Type stuff?
- 17:46Speaker 2: Uh, one last thing thirty seconds here while we got you.
- 17:50Speaker 2: If Brendan Soresby didn't have the gambling stuff hanging over
- 17:53Speaker 2: his head, he is a what round draft pick do
- 17:55Speaker 2: you think as a prospect?
- 17:57Speaker 3: For me, he would be a second rounder, but a
- 18:00Speaker 3: second right now I had to but you know, you
- 18:03Speaker 3: guys know I have a stricter curve than Yes, I
- 18:08Speaker 3: just a normal first round and a normal first round
- 18:11Speaker 3: where there's between fourteen and seventeen first round picks on
- 18:16Speaker 3: teams boards. He would probably be a late one for
- 18:19Speaker 3: some teams in early two.
- 18:21Speaker 1: I've seen him play in person.
- 18:23Speaker 3: Man, I.
- 18:25Speaker 1: Don't know that he's that good. I mean, I think
- 18:26Speaker 1: he's good, goodege quarterback.
- 18:29Speaker 3: He's a total projection, but again, physical profile means a
- 18:32Speaker 3: lot six.
- 18:34Speaker 1: Yeah, he's a stud.
- 18:35Speaker 3: Yeah, an athletic can move all those things that it's
- 18:39Speaker 3: a projection pick. I'm just telling you where right now,
- 18:42Speaker 3: I'd probably have a two on him, and if he
- 18:46Speaker 3: didn't have a good year, I might even push it
- 18:48Speaker 3: into the third. But as a physical prospect, you know,
- 18:53Speaker 3: combine as a combine prospect, he's he's he's a legit
- 18:58Speaker 3: player people would take a looked at. But like I say,
- 19:02Speaker 3: it ain't it ain't ten bets, it's nine thousand wagers
- 19:07Speaker 3: and that's going to be a lot for people to
- 19:11Speaker 3: to take on.
- 19:12Speaker 2: Like you're the best, Thank you, see your fellows like
- 19:15Speaker 2: ESPN dot comback after this