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Jeff Legwold joins Kreckman and Lindahl 6-9-25 · Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And Leggy is here on a Monday afternoon. H Leggy,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: you mentioned in particular at ESPN dot com about keeping
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: an eye on with that running back rotation is going
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: to look like, all right, this is I want to
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: ask you one of those assuming health questions, because that's
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the only way to really talk about football, assuming health.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Andy and I were talking about this the other day.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: All right, Alvin Kamara averaged two hundred and fifty seven
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: touches that's either rushes or receptions per year under Sean
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Payton Reggie Bush. His high was two forty three in
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  Speaker 1: one of his healthy seasons right there, Like you know,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: the number can get well up over two hundred. I
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: think Javonte was the team's touch leader last year at
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  Speaker 1: like one ninety one. Assuming health. Is R. J. Harvey
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: or whomever going to approach an Alvin Kamara like workload
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: here in Sean Payton's offense.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, judging from what we've seen in the
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: first couple of years of Sean Payton, it's hard for
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: me to believe a running back gets to Kamara's. He
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: had multiple eighty catch seasons in there. I mean Javonte
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  Speaker 2: got to fifty, right, I mean that's and that that
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  Speaker 2: seemed forced at times with an awful lot of dumpoffs
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  Speaker 2: and bailouts and screens.
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  Speaker 1: And he was only carrying the ball like eight times
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  Speaker 1: a game.
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  Speaker 2: Right, And it's really hard for me to believe there's
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: going to be an eighty catch running back in this
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: offense from the guys we've seen. So I don't think
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: that's the perfect world, you know, the Camara mold, and
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: I know we keep looking. You know, he sort of
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: stoked the joker fire himself a couple of years ago
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: and it still hasn't gone out really of who is it?
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: Who's it going to be? You know, are you looking
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: for one? Do you have one? All of those things.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: They don't have a player like Kamara on this roster,
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: so I think he'll have to adjust with that. And
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: you know, I think any increase in touches overall the
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: position will take a little movement on his part as
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: the play caller, you know, and when you know he's
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: he was sort of out front in the turn the
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: the Bill Walsh turn the run play into a pass play.
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  Speaker 2: That's a run play sort of thing, and I think
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  Speaker 2: he prefers that so that, you know, any bump in
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  Speaker 2: touches I think from these backs, except Harvey because we
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: don't know yet because he's a rookie, will be if
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  Speaker 2: if they get a few more carries in this offense
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: and sort of hold the status quo at receiver. But
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: you know, I think Javonte's receptions are probably getting at
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  Speaker 2: least half of those are probably getting spread out among
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: the receivers this time around.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: It's interesting too, because like Evan Ingram, presumably he's gonna
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: catch seventy eighty passes this year in this offense, you
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: would think, I mean, Lucas Kroll was the leader amongst
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: tight ends last year with nineteen receptions, so I mean, automatically,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: even if you're a wide receiver and Shawn has talked
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: about like it's not gonna be about snaps, it's gonna
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: be about touches. That's gonna be the tough thing to
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: divvy up now in this offense. But like Evan Ingram
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: is gonna apparently be biting into everybody's touches again so
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: long as he's healthy.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think if you want to just play
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: the drastic, you know, those are Javonte's fifty catches right there.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: You know, just take him off the table because he
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: he's getting enough targets. Probably if he's healthy and things
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: go the way the Broncos won, he's getting enough targets
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: to have fifty catches.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: Jeff, where is this team? Where is the most concerning
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: lack of depth? Obviously a lot of the team comes
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: back to start look good and the depth wasn't tested.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: A year ago.
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  Speaker 3: Where might they be lacking depth?
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  Speaker 2: I still see the O line as an issue if
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: they have a rash of injuries. But you know, it's
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: hard to fill all of the you know, the the
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: glasses to the rim as it were. And he you know,
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: they're they're deeper than many teams than most really, Uh,
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: you know, this roster has built. You know, if you
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: talk to GMS, this is probably a top eight, top nine,
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: top ten roster in terms of depth. But I think
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: O line, you know, if if they had the the
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: horrific double dip of Bulls and mcglinchy both missed time,
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: you know, more than one game or two games, I
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: think that would be an issue that would force them
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: to change an awful lot of things offensively, all.
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: Right, I was trying not to lead the witness and
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: I'm glad, because my question to you then, specifically is
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: what's going on with the middle linebackers?
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: What do you think of them?
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  Speaker 3: Of course, Cincinnati releases a middle linebacker today, Pratt, longtime
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: player for them. But I'm just kind of curious, Leggy,
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: how you know Singleton's coming back. I know Drew Sanders
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: from King Inside, we tried.
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  Speaker 2: Where are they at?
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  Speaker 3: How good do you think the middle linebacker group is?
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: Because I guess if I were to zero in on
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  Speaker 3: one place on the defense that I'm just going to
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: say not sure about, it would be middle linebacker or
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: inside linebacker, I should say.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's you know, I think that's a
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: position in a three four you can sort of schematically
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: get around just by moving your nickel nickel personnel into
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: different you know, suddenly Jade Barron is a is a
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: nickel dying linebacker, you know at times if you really
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: get thin. But I think their perfect world is Singleton greenlaw,
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  Speaker 2: early downs, physicality with Drew Sanders, and some the longer
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: down situations and they flip him out, you know, for
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  Speaker 2: Singleton at times in coverage roles and rush rolls. I
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: think that's their perfect world. But you know, Singleton coming
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: off in ACL and green Law, you know, we won't
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: see until training camp because of a thigh injury and
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: he's had you know, he'd still be a forty nine
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: Ers linebacker if they weren't concerned about his injury history.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: So you know, you got a couple maybies there. But
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: in their perfect world, they feel really good about it
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: because you know, green Laws are really good player they
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: got for a pretty good price and free agency, and
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: Singleton's done nothing but lead the team and tackles, you know,
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: whenever he plays. So you know, again it's the health issue,
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: but athletically and schematically, they feel good that they have
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: what they need right now.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Teth Lagwall brought to you by the International Brotherhood of
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Electrical Workers IBW Local sixty eight. Start with the end
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: with a career. Let's stay on the defensive side of
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: the ball. The guys behind those inside linebackers are the safeties.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: How do you think talanoa Hufonga's impact is going to
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: be felt the most on this defense?
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: Just the versatility he has and the physicality he gives
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: you another player you can move all over the place
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: and not have to worry. He's athletically overmatched at a task,
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: like he takes on blocks in the run game, he
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: forces turnovers in the passing game. He can play deep middle,
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: he can play up along the line of scrimmage. I
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: think he just gives a lot of options. I think
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: that's you know, what attracted them to Baron as a rookie.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: That Sean Payton's been pretty adamant that Baron will be
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: a corner, you know, first and foremost and almost always,
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: But he's another kind of player like that, Like you're
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: comfortable with him as a tackler, and you're comfortable with
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: him in deep coverage, and if you're the defensive play caller,
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: that gives you all kinds of options because now you
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: can almost make the ball go to certain And I
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: think that's ultimately, you know, they would never say we're
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: building a defense schematically for one guy to get more touches.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: But they have a lot more versatility with signing Hufanga
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: and drafting barn that people are gonna have a lot
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: harder time staying away from the things from where the
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: Broncos want the ball to go. And if you can
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: dictate on defense in the secondary, you're gonna be very
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: good and that's what the best defenses do, and Hufanga
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: gives you a lot of opportunity to do that because
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: you can put them almost anywhere and feel okay.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: Isn't there also just sort of an element of Vjay's
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  Speaker 1: defense of like you take a guy like green Law
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  Speaker 1: and Hufonga and two guys you know exactly what their
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: skill set are, and then it's like Vance Joseph's defense
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: is I'm gonna oversimplify, it's not like a football idiot
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: for a sec. But it seems to me it's just, uh,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: run around and create freaking havoc and hit somebody. Kind
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: of kind of seems to be Vance Joseph's defense, Like,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: I don't think there's gonna be a big warm up
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  Speaker 1: period for those dudes, Like I think there, I think
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: their impacts are going to be felt very quickly in
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Vance Joseph's proclivity to want to just create chaos.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's it's, uh, it's smart chaos, and these
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: are smart players and they they they went after it's
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: a coincidence they were on the same team, you know,
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: So it wasn't like they were going for Niners defensive players,
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: but they were going for these skill sets very specifically
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  Speaker 2: at a price they could afford for talent, you know
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: that maybe exceeded what they paid. You know, if Ufanga
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: plays like he did two years ago, right all pro,
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: you know, he's out way out over that contract. And
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: you know, I just know many people in the league
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: that think, if green Law isn't hurt in the Super Bowl,
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: the Niners win the game. And he was having that
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: kind of day. So these are very specific fits. And
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: you know, Vance Joseph has made no secret he thinks
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: defense now in this time in the league is making
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: life miserable for the quarterback on as many fronts as possible,
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: pressure them inside, outside, don't. I mean, they rotate looks
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: right before the snap as much as any defense in
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: the league because they can. They have the ultimate eracer
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: and coverage in certain so that gives you the option
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: of changing your look right before the snap. And that's
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: why they needed a communicator at safety and Hufanga. John
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Lynch is a Hall of Fame safety. He knows a
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: little bit about the position, and he has called Hufanga
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: one of the best communicators pre snap that he's and
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: that's big praise. And that is exactly what the Broncos
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: wanted and needed because they mistakes they made last year.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: You know, the Cleveland game sticks out always, but most
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: often they weren't athletic mistakes. They were poor communication right
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: before the snap. And this takes care of a lot
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: of that with him back there.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think he's going to be an awful lot
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: of fun. I think Broncos fans are going to fall
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: into quick love with toalanoa hufonga. Jeff Legwald, everybody get
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: his mini cam coverage all week long ESPN dot Com.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: We'll be talking to him right here on Altitude Sports Radio. Legie,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: we'll talk to you Friday man. Thank you.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: You bet see it