Latest / Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports / Jeff Legwold joins Moser, Lombardi and Kane 6-26-25

Transcript

Jeff Legwold joins Moser, Lombardi and Kane 6-26-25 · Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The Backus and Shaker Studios.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Their passion is Justice Kicks f MHD one Rufield ten
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: for Boulder g End It's Nate Krekman saying you Lindahl.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Join us for Gregman and Lindall Today at three. This
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: is Altitude Sports Radio ninety two five. Gel Langwald is
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: our Broncos insider.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: Altitude Sports Radio ninety two five Pro Football.
• 0:25
  Speaker 4: The insider I've covered while.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Chef Legwall his appearances are always must listen radio. We
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: learn a lot, brought to you by the International Brotherhood
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: of Electrical Workers. Start with the job and with a career.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Iv e W Local sixty eight. It's Leggy yet yeh
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: yeh On Altitude Sports Radio ninety two five.
• 0:54
  Speaker 5: Let's annatt for the Ramos Law Hotline car accident. You
• 0:56
  Speaker 5: need Ramos Law medical doctor and attorney ramas Law dot
• 0:59
  Speaker 5: com or join us. We are every Thursday at nine
• 1:01
  Speaker 5: o'clock by our good friend Jeff Legwaald of ESPN dot com.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: Leggy, what's up, buddy?
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: What are we doing? Fellas good?
• 1:08
  Speaker 5: I get a question right out of the gates. Why
• 1:11
  Speaker 5: is Johnny Barron not signed to a contract yet?
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: You know? Usually and I think in this case, it's
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: you know, it's guaranteed money, how you're getting it, when
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: you're getting it.
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: I don't think this will be an issue. The Broncos,
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: you know, including free agency JK. Dobbins signed in mini
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: camp let alone. They they they don't jump out as
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: quick as some other team, but they are only two
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: first rounders. But I don't I don't who are unsigned
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: right now, and I don't see this as an issue yet.
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: I think this is more of the details rather than,
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: you know, some kind of statement on either side. Those
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: things are slotted pretty close, so it's always about the
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: guaranteed at signing. Always key with us or fans or
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: anyone looks at a contract, don't ever read the words
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: worth up to. You want to know what's guaranteed at signing.
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: And I think that's what this is about.
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: If it should become an issue, because as you said,
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: the kid from Cincinnati's only other kid, right, that.
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: One's kind of ugly. I think the Bengals for some
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: reason are hard really hardline in that one. I'm not
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: sure of all the details, but I don't think the
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: Broncos case is like that one.
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: But specifically, let's say, I know coach likes it at all.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: How much would Sean Payton hate it? In your opinion?
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's why I don't think it'll happen, right. I
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: think they have plans for this young guy in the defense,
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: you know, and I you know, coaches, especially Sean. He's
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: been around long enough to know the business is business
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: and it will get done when it gets done. But
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: I think they have a lot of contract wheels in motion.
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: I would think one of these, you know, veteran guys
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: is going to get an extension at the start of
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: camp or right before camp two. So there might be
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: some of that in there. And frankly, they're like the
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: rest of us when many camp ends. That is really
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: the only legislated off time of the of the off
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: season in the NFL, and frankly, everyone goes. They don't
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: like admitting, Hey, I was gone for a couple of weeks,
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: but everyone goes this time of year, and I would
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: think this will get done. And unless I hear something differently,
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: I always say that, but from what I've been told,
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: this is not an issue.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Well that's good to hear. I still don't understand why
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: it would be for some teams. It becomes one for
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: the Broncos. They've taken care of everything. Hey, how about
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: that story that was unearthed a couple of days ago
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Pablo torrean company about possible collusion. In the end, the
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: way we read it we went through, it just sounds
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: like negotiations. The Broncos didn't want to give Russell Wilson
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: seven years guaranteed?
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: Who would, right? And you know, this was a grievance that,
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: I mean, everybody knows owners don't want to give fully
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: guaranteed contracts in the NFL. They just don't. And everyone
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: knows that all of the owners thought the Cleveland Browns
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: made a horrific mistake. But this was a result of
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: a grievance, a very specific grievance file that the owners
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: had participated in talking to each other about limiting guaranteed
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: money at the owners meetings that followed Deshaun Watson's signing,
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: and that they had given a presentation about let's be
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: careful about all this guaranteed money you're all handed out
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: and all of those things. That's what this grievance was about.
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: And the arbiter ruled, Yeah, the proof is they did
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: discuss it, the possibility of colluding, but that they didn't
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: meet all of the three levels of things you have
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: to meet to legally have colluded. But they did talk
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: about it, and that's what this ruling said. Here's some emails,
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: here's the presentation they talked about to me that and
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: it hasn't been talked about a lot. If I was
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: a player, you know, you know the owners don't want
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: to give you guaranteed money. There's no news there for me.
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: But I'm intrigued why the players union did not reveal
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: this document and participated in sort of keeping it quiet.
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: And if I was a player rep for a team,
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: I'd be asking that question, you know right now. Why.
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: I mean, there are emails in the ruling from J. C. Tretder,
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: the former player president of the NFLPA, of criticizing Russell
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: Wilson and why they shouldn't give him guaranteed money. That's
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: not what you do as a union guy. I mean,
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: my dad was in the railroad. You're all about getting
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: as much salary for your membership as you can. It's
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: not you don't rip the other guys to limit their pay.
• 6:27
  Speaker 5: Just on that subject, I know that the players would
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: obviously want fully guaranteed contracts and I know the owners
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: obviously would not. Let's just say that it happened that
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: all of a sudden, you know what, everybody gets a
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: fully guaranteed deal. Do you think that helps or hurts
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: the NFL product?
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: You know, I think the underlying thing is that a
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: lot of the stars already have guaranteed almost fully guaranteed
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: deals almost right down. Like Peyton Manning hasn't played, he's
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: in the Hall of Fame, he's been out for a year.
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: His contract with the Broncos had almost every single dollar guaranteed,
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: and that was back in twenty twelve when he signed it.
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: So this has this has existed for the star players.
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: This is really about, you know, fully across the board guaranteed,
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: you know, down the depth chart, through everybody. And the
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: issue for the owners always is that even the players
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: say the injury factors one hundred percent, and you know,
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: even in the ruling they had emails from owners presenting
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: you know, look, you know, I'm fine giving guaranteed money.
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: I just don't want to give it to bad players.
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: So that's that's a lot of the issue. But you know,
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: again it's you know, a lot of rookie contract you know,
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: the entire first round. All of those rookie contracts are
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: almost fully guaranteed already, so it's a lot like life
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: at the top of the food chain. Everybody's doing great,
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: but the middle class and the lower middle class are
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: having a lot tougher time. And that's why I think
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: the PA should spend a lot more time about healthcare
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: after guys retire. You know, that's what would take care
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: of some of these other guys because if you're on
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: the you know, most guys, if you're on the roster
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: for the opener, your contract that year is guaranteed. So
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: there's a lot of textures to this, but I don't
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: think it'll ever be like baseball or even the NHL,
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: but that most can speak to more than I can
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: think all guarantee.
• 8:44
  Speaker 5: It is really interesting that you mentioned that, because that's
• 8:46
  Speaker 5: something I've noticed over the last few years in the NFL,
• 8:49
  Speaker 5: and I think the NBA has this problem too. There's
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: a middle class problem in those leagues where it's just
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: like they're non existent. It's either somebody who's making a
• 8:56
  Speaker 5: boatload of money or people are making like none know,
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: minimums and stuff like that, which I don't even know
• 9:03
  Speaker 5: how you mitigate that, especially a quarterback. You know, how
• 9:06
  Speaker 5: many times do we see the example of the quarterback
• 9:08
  Speaker 5: who's not worth the biggest contract in the league, but
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: they're going to get it because they're just the next
• 9:13
  Speaker 5: man up sort of.
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: Thing, right, you know? Market value, the old market value thing.
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: The market value is what somebody will give you for
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: all of us. You know, my market value is what
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: my employer will pay me, you know. And uh, I
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: think as long as you're going to have a salary cap, uh,
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: you're always going to have a tough ride for the
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: middle class because to be successful, you're gonna have to
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: have this tier of star players. You have to have
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: enough talent to be good enough to win. So if
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: you get to the playoffs, you're gonna have this tier
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: of star players. And it's already happening for the Broncos
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: and they just got back to the playoffs, you know,
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: for the first time in eight years. So h as
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: long as you have a salary cap, that's that's going
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: to be the issue in the middle That's why again,
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: I when when player reps have asked me through the years,
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: what do you think of this or this? I think
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: they should spend a lot more time on getting the
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: other benefits for that middle class. So at least when
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: they retire, they can go to the doctor whenever they
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: want to or whenever they need to, and that would
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: be far better for them than an extra you know,
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: X number of dollars, you know, when they're twenty seven.
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: So yeah, so.
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: If you if you blow up your knee and you're
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: out of the league and three years later, you've got
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: to have it sculped or what I mean, whatever, Right,
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: they're on your own, right.
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah, well, I mean there are. They just don't have
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: the kind of medical care. In my opinion, again this
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: is my nobody's asking me, but in my opinion, they
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: that's where they could do better for their rank and file.
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: Overall football question. We're sick and tired of Aaron Rodgers?
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: Are you sick and tired of Aaron Rodgers?
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: You know the only person.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: Is me and your bubble out of camp. That's the
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: only only time I've ever seen you sick and tired
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: of anybody.
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: Well, you know it's you're so chatty. That's the problem.
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: You know, I got I got a lot to do.
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: You're chatty guy.
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: He's got his binoculars, he's got his little notepad. He's
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: doing scribble scribble.
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: Look I I I fully admit during a football practice,
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: I am a jackass. There's no question to that. It's
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: are you can you?
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: Are you sick of Aaron Rodgers?
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: You know, I don't get bothered by because I sort
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: of don't participate in it. I don't have to cover him,
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: and I'm not really interested in what he has to
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: say on world events. He's I just move on.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Are you the second highest paid ESPN employee besides Steven A.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: Smith?
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: You know, I think there's a few people in between
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: me and Steve. I don't know about that. Yeah, it's
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: pretty close. Yeah, well that's why my wardrobe and the
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: rest of my you know what, because you know you've
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: known me a long time, Vic, you know how I
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: lived my life. It's pretty much a it's pretty much
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: a you know, making it Rain radio show to Vegas.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Leg you one last thing for you.
• 12:26
  Speaker 5: We just kind of went through the numbers last year
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: of the offenses in this division, and when you have
• 12:31
  Speaker 5: a division that features Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert, you
• 12:34
  Speaker 5: would think like, oh, well, the Broncos are still a
• 12:36
  Speaker 5: ways behind. They're totally yards per game between the three
• 12:41
  Speaker 5: teams were virtually the exact same points per game. I
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: know the Broncos defense added some of those point totals
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: up throughout the course of the year, but the Broncos
• 12:50
  Speaker 5: scored the most. Could you argue that the Broncos offense
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: is as good as either one of those teams I
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: just mentioned.
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: I guess I wouldn't do that yet because the Chargers
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: were adjusting to Harbaugh, and Harbaugh had been very public
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: about saying, hey, I'm dialing Justin Herbert back so we
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: can win more. So I would be hesitant about that.
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: And the Chiefs, you know, Mahomes was just pulling that
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: team along as they go through the transition of trying
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: to hold it all together and still win. So I think,
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: you know, like I think the ceiling for the Chiefs
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: is way above everybody else still because of who's that quarterback.
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: But the Broncos can get into that number two spot.
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: I think if they get the red zone figured out.
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: I still don't And even Peyton Sean admits this is
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: that they just didn't have that rhythm you need in
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: the red zone. You know, he keeps saying they have
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: to run the ball better. But you know, until I
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: see some of those plays coming off the play card
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: and getting called uh, I'm still gonna sort of not
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: believe him when he says that's the key. But I
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: think they can move into that next spot because look,
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: they have one thing nobody else has. They're bringing everybody
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: back on offense. I think I looked at it the
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: other day and I think the number is uh they have.
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: They have nineteen of the twenty two players on offense
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: in uniform for the opener last year still on the roster.
• 14:32
  Speaker 5: I think it's eighty five eighty five percent of their roster.
• 14:35
  Speaker 5: It's the highest in the league as far as bringing
• 14:37
  Speaker 5: guys back.
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: But specifically on offense. They had twenty two guys in
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: uniform for the opener last year. Nineteen of those guys
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: are still on this roster right now.
• 14:48
  Speaker 5: Jeff Leagwald ESPN dot com joins us every single Thursday.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Thank you, let you, I appreciate the time.
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: Thanks Bella's be good.
• 14:54
  Speaker 5: Seebout Jeff Legwald ESPN dot com. All conversations with LEGGI
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: brought to you by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
• 15:00
  Speaker 5: IBW Local sixty eight. Start with a job and with
• 15:03
  Speaker 5: a career