Latest / Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports / Jeff Legwold joins Moser, Lombardi and Kane 2/1/24

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Jeff Legwold joins Moser, Lombardi and Kane 2/1/24 · Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports

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Jeff is our Broncos insider Altitude Sports Radio ninety five Pro Football the insider I've
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covered while Jeff Wall his appearances are always must listen radio. You learn a
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lot Roughty vive Betsafe Colorado, the exclusive club for passionate gamers and betters across
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the state. It's Leggy on Altitude Sports Radio ninety two five Hotline and all
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conversations with Jeff Lagwalld of ESPN dot com and brought you by Betsafe Colorado,
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the exclusive club for passionate gamers and betters across the state. And he joins
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us from Mobile Alapara. The quote for uh, hi, Jeff, how
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are you? I have so many questions for you. First of all,
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I know you're at the Senior bull so I'll get to that in just a
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little bit. But I heard you yesterday on PhD and this idea of moving
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up in the draft and all that different stuff of going and finding one of
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these quarterbacks. Two part question Number one is moving up even viable with all
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the teams at the top of the draft that want to take a quarterback?
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Number two? How much risk are you willing to give up for a team
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that hasn't had first round draft picks in a long time to take an unknown
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commodity. Yeah, I mean I have two issues with trading up one.
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I don't think it's very viable, and I think history has shown that,
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you know, I think a lot of people are acting like, oh,
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if you just give up a player like certain it'll be even an even swap,
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And that's not going to be the case. And you know it's history
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has just shown it over and over. And if you can't get to the
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number one pick, I always say it's unless you formally see the guy you
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are sold on unanimously in your building, you should not make the move.
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So I have a hard time believing looking at this quarterback class that QB two,
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QB three, QB four, however you rank them, would be a
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unanimous pick in the building. I don't have any of these players graded where
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I had CJ. Stroud graded at this point last year. So uh,
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I don't. I don't see. Uh. He's a phenomenal athlete, a
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phenomenal player, and he will talk to scouts who will who will say he's
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you know, he is unquestionably the guy in this class. And I don't.
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I don't argue that point. I guess I'm just saying I personally,
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after a lot of years of doing this, I don't have any of these
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guys where I had Stroud last year, and I think the work at the
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Senior Bowl this week is proof of that. Frankly, beyond the top guys
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who aren't here. All right, I want you to look at this because
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I obviously value and respect your opinion of the draft, but I want you
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to look at this through Sean Payton's eyes, his glasses. He already gave
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a comment and that we've played numerous times from a year ago when he worked
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for Fox, calling Caleb Williams a generational player, the kind of player that
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could impact the lottery or actually impose a lottery on the NFL draft, change
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the way they conduct the draft. That's kind of player he thinks he is.
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If that's what he believes, well, then that's what he believes,
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then there should be no price to you high to go get him. Well,
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and you know, Dan, I would question, you know you can
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do that. Yes, if we're just gonna talk what's possible. Certainly they
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could construct a deal to get all the way, to give up enough to
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get all the way to one. My question or my comment, I guess
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would be, then are you not the Carolina Panthers putting Bryce in an undermanned
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roster with no chance of development anytime soon? Or I would also say Sean
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Payton said to us many times he thought Russell Wilson would blossom in his offense,
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and we saw what happened there. So I guess, you know,
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what folks say is not always how it plays out. But he obviously had
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a lot of love for Caleb Williams when he said that. I just said
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me personally, I had that same kind of feeling for Stroud and he you
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know it's you know, I'd put it on our website. He was QB
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one for me last year when when a lot of people were giving me some
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flak for that. But I think it played out that way and right now,
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I mean things could change going through the combine, And you know,
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I doubt Caleb Williams throws at the combine. I bet people don't see him
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pro again until his pro day. But I don't see him right now as
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ready to go as an NFL quarterback as Stroud was. But doesn't mean he
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won't be phenomenal and some team will get a spectacular player with all kinds of
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instinctive movement skills that are rare and ridiculous at times. But yeah, they
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can construct the deal. But what's left behind when they do? Because this
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is an old roster. As I keep reminding everyone, this is not a
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team equipped to do the rebuild they're going to have to do. And I
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don't think we know what Sean Payton would be like with a rookie quarterback.
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He did not show any patients with a nine time pro bowler, so I
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don't know what it would look like with a rookie quarterback. And for people
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who are new to the show, are new to Jeff Jeff, one of
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my favorite things he does every years, right before the draft, he puts
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out his top one hundred prospects board. And this is why I have a
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lot of respect for this thing that you do. First of all, it's
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pretty damn accurate compared to other people. But also you don't put an overvalue
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on qbs just because they're qbs, like people do when they actually draft these
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guys. And so for you, when you're evaluating a quarterback, Jeff,
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if I said the two most valuable traits to a quarterback that are entering the
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draft that you would look for. What are they? Processing and accuracy?
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Those are my two. Arm strength pretty far down on my list. It
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is important, certainly, you know that is part of the job actually throwing
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the damn ball. So but processing and accuracy will determine in the NFL how
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long you are a very good quarterback. And the guys who never quite make
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those two things mesh don't often turn what they can do physically into what they
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can do at quarterbacking. I mean, you watch Patrick Mahomes play. There's
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a physicality about how he plays, but that's all his brain. Man.
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That's the difference between him and a lot of other guys and going to the
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super Bowl for the last five years and you know, winning most of the
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big games you play in. Is processing an accuracy? I do agree with
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you. I heard you say this on our airwaves. If Sean Payton loses
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patience helping develop a veteran quarterback, what's he going to do with a you
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know, late first round or second round guy who is going to need two
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or three years of maturity. Pennix or anyone. Is there anyone out there
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near the middle of the draft or second third round that you could see Sean
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Payton falling in love with. Oh, certainly. I mean there's always quarterbacks
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on the board. An organization is going to say we think that's a good
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developmental prospect. That it's just the question of, you know, how much
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time you want to invest, you know after that. I you know,
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I think Michael Pratt from Tulane fits them, fits their offense in a lot
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of ways. But you know, he he's going to need some time.
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He He's had moments here, you know, in the first two days of
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practices and I'm going to head out in a few minutes here to the morning
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practice. But uh, he's had moments here when he's when he's looked very
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comfortable. But he is kind of the stand up pocket guy of this group
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of quarterbacks in this draft. And I do like him, and I you
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know, we did an exercise at ESPN where some of us had to chart
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sort of the off season, uh, you know, playing at quarterback for
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the teams they cover, and and I gave the Broncos Pratt in the draft
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in mind because I do think he fits. Uh, Jeff, I fell
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in love with Michael Pennix this year. I can't shake it. I'm still
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there. I'm in the infatuation for you want to talk about accuracy, he
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puts the ball in the bucket every single time he throws it. Give me
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reasons why I'm right to love him, and give me a couple of reasons
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why I have a blind spot with him. Well, you know, again,
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this is just you know, the scouting ten thousand foot view, and
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you know, you try to take the emotion out of it. His accuracy
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waivers when the pocket gets dirty. But that's a lot of guys, you
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know. Some of it is. The difference between a clean pocket in college
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and the pros is significant. So you've got to learn how to deal with
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people on your front porch, as it were. And he has struggled with
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that in the playoff. In the championship game, Michigan did a number on
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him with some of their coverage looks and it forced him to hold the ball.
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And he has struggled with it here frankly, on a few plays when
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they're in eleven on eleven here and they're not even really playing any exotic defenses
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here. It's just the athletes are so much better then you're going to face
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across the board, you know, especially corner. You know, now you've
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got good corners on both sides when you're going eleven on eleven at the Senior
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Bowl. So I think that would be something he's gotta, you know,
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he's that that would take the grade a bit down. He also does not
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engage his lower body as much as he needs to when he throws, and
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that's why his accuracy goes sometimes because he's gotten away with it. He's got
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a great arm, and it's really a live arm. You know, the
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ball really pops out, but you're gonna have to clean up that motion a
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little bit because you know, you can't afford to miss by four feet in
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the NFL. That's going to be a pick on a lot of plays,
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especially outside the numbers. So those are the two things. And the medical
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you know, and he is big for him, the combine is enormous.
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He could he could see full rounds of of elevation if if his medicals come
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back good. And he you know, I talked to him myself, you
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know, Tuesday, and he says he's going to clear medically that he has
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seen a very noted surgeon, Neil Latrage is kind of the doctor du jour
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in the league right now, and he has gone to see Latrage and he
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says Latrage has given him a clean bill, and that could be significant because
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he could certainly elevate because the arm is live and he I think he processes
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pretty well. It's just mechanically he's going to have to do some work.
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Well. I've cleared many of players when they've come to see me, because
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I clear a lot. But you are a doctor. Yes, I need
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to ask you this question because the Broncs currently have what is it, six
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picks? They have a first, a third or fourth, fifth, two
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fifths and a seventh. Uh day three. Because the word comes down from
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those who are operating the Senior Bowl and other scouts that because of the transfer
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portal, because of NIL, the depth of this draft just isn't there.
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You come up with your top hundred, you know about draft depth? Are
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they right? But yeah, Now, I've been saying it all along,
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Vic, that we would see the impact of NIL at some point in the
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back end of the draft, and we are this year and we still have
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some guys getting the extra years from COVID. You know that they had an
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extra year of COVID and then they've been injured you know, since and they're
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getting an extra year again. So you you do have some four or five
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six year guys staying in school now that would have been in the back end
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of the draft, and Day three is going to drop off pretty fast once
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they get in the sixth So some of those late picks. You're gonna have
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to be really good scouting in terms of picking guys who fit what you do
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specifically, have specific jobs for them in mind, and you will still find
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good players, but it's going to take more effort, and teams may be
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less inclined to get some of those throw in sevens in draft and deals you
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know, along the way, because they know it gets thin. The one
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advantage when it's like this as you start, if you're a team, you
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start taking guys you would have waited to be undrafted free agents and sort of
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compete for them. So this prevents you from having to compete for them,
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and it actually will cost the player some money probably, but from a team
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perspective, some of those seventh rounders will be priority free agents in the past
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that they'll say, okay, we can just make sure we get him instead
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of having to bid for him. Can I go back to the championship weekend
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and ask you two questions about it. Number One, your thoughts on the
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way that Dan Campbell coach that game and the way the line's lost. Well,
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you know, I've I love analytics, and I think it's been important
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for the NFL, and I get tired of people dragging their feet on it
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because it's here at it and it's real and it works, and the math
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is there. Uh. But I still believe there are moments in games when
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just just consider the situation that even if the math says one thing, you
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know your gut can say another. I still believe that's part of football.
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Uh. And one of those I would have kicked the field goal if it
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was me, you know, if I'm if I'm deciding my mortgage. Now.
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The math is very clear, there's no impact on momentum or whatever,
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you know, mathematical impact on momentum. I just think there is an emotional
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component of football, whether it shows up in the math or not. That
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that three points, you know, would have been okay in one of those
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spots. But you know, then again, he was being authentic. You
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know, it wasn't like he was doing stuff he didn't do all years.
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So I I think if you're going to coach your team that way and be
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that guy, I don't have a beef with that. You know so much
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that you know if you win, people are going to be carrying you around
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on their shoulders that you're the aggressive, right analytic, you know guy.
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I just think in one of those situations, I probably would have had him
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to get the field goal. Second thing here, and I think that this
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is maybe the most underrated part or underrated part of the stories heading into the
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Super Bowl. So the Niners win that game again, they end up in
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the Super Bowl, and everybody's focused like, oh, they're doing it with
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mister Orr elevant. How about this we were just talking about to the Broncos.
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First of all, do they have the ammunition even trade up in the
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draft to take a quarterback? What happens if you do that and you miss?
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They did. They traded three first and a third for a quarterback who
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didn't play for them, and they still continued to win football games. It's
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one of the craziest things in the world to me, Like they gave up
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on three first round picks for a quarterback who never played and they're still in
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this It's nuts because they stayed under the calf. They didn't take on eighty
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million dollars of dead money, you know, they did it another way,
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you know. And the quarterback they missed on quote unquote was on a rookie
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contract, so that that makes the calf ramifications. I mean they was under
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the calf all year. Ye hu. And these are again, these are
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draft built teams. That's why I get weary of this whole. Let's just
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trade a pile of draft picks to move up. We just watched four draft
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built teams play in the championship weekend. Why would you dismiss the draft?
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We just don't want to be patient. That's the problem. We don't want
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to We don't want to watch the team build the way you should because we
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want to fix now. Everybody wants to fix now. Well, guess what,
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uh, you had two roads to take with the Rough Wilson trade.
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You could either not make the deal because it's too expensive and do what you're
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doing now, which is look around, or be you could make the trade
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and commit totally to making it work for at least three or four years.
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The Broncos did neither, and now they're going to pay the price because they
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did neither They needed to pick one of those, they didn't pick either of
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them. And it's going to be painful. And if people think they're just
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going to trade their way out of it or write a couple of checks,
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you're dreaming. Because we just watched four Draft Built Teams show and guess what
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Mahomes is twenty eight. He ain't going anywhere, uh and he seems inclined
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to win every possible game he can and for the next however many years he
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wants to play. Harb I'm a draft guy, So wherever you take a
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guy and it works out, you did good. Brady's the sixth rounder is
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the greatest winner in the NFL has ever seen. I don't care where a
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guy's picked, it doesn't mean he's not good. Harvard and Herbert are coming
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to We spend so much time here in this town, in our town,
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talking about the quick fix. There ain't a quick fix this time because you
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had two paths with the Russell Wilson trade and you didn't take either one of
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them. And guess what that The one path that remains for you is very
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painful, and you can't sludge your way out of dead money. And for
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people to pretend that releasing Russell Wilson takes his salary off the books and makes
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it okay, then I would say you have not read enough about the salary
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cap that I would suggest to do you do that? Well, Broucko fans
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want boatox, not sunscreen. That's what it comes down to exactly. It's
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gonna take some sub secrete SPF four billion probably, but it's gonna take last
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question for the Jeffery because I know that you put together your top one hundred
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as the draft approaches, and I can't wait to read it every year.
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But you know it's rooted in a lot of research. And you're at the
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Senior Bowl. Now you'll go to the combine. Are you above going up
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to a potential draft pick and asking to measure his hand? You use stuff
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like that? Or no, you could just tell when they hold the ball,
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you know, Okay, you know I don't I don't need that.
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I don't need that. I don't need that. You know, you can
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just tell you. I can see I can see the leggy with a ruler
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out there. Hey, Penis, come over here, let me see,
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you know, stretch them slap it out their penis. I do nudge it
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up close because I know how tall I am, so I use myself as
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the as the reference point for tall people. That's how I know. As
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we let you go, Leggy, how's this for a text? Whoever you're
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interviewing right now? The smartest Broncos take I've ever heard? That is Jefflegwall
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the ESPN dot com, So go find him, Go find them. Jeff
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always appreciate the time, buddy, Thank you so much. Well, you're
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gonna have to look at mobile today, so all right later, It's Jeff
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Lagwell at ESPN dot Com brought to you. All conversations with Jeff brought to
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you by bet Safe Colorado, the exclusive club pro passionate gamers and betters across
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the state VIC. I know you want to get to this. I asked
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him about Dan Campbell analytics. You had an issue with an analytical problem that
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the NBA is dealing with that the Nuggets imposed last night that burned them.
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We'll get to it next