Latest / Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports / Jeff Legwold joins Moser, Lombardi and Kane 8-27-26

Transcript

Jeff Legwold joins Moser, Lombardi and Kane 8-27-26 · Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: By the way, shout out to Anthony Chavez, who was
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: our qualifier from last hour for our Rock Paper Tickets contest.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Did you just pronounce his name like the Dodger Stadium?
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: Chavez.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Well, I had a football coach in high school whose
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: name is spelled just like that who is Chavez.
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: Chavez.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Coach Chavez.
• 0:21
  Speaker 4: Anyway.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Hey, Chavez is out there.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Is it Chavez or Chavez?
• 0:24
  Speaker 4: Chavez.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: We'll head out to the Ramos Law Hotline. Car accident,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: you need Ramos Law. Medical doctor and attorney, RamosLaw.com. Jeff
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Legwald of ESPN.com. You're a learned man. Would you consider
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: that Chavez? Or what'd you say, Vic?
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: Chavez. Chavez.
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: A lot of Chavez friends growing up. Chavez. Jeff, when
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: he says Chavez, all I can think of is young guns.
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: When Dirty Steve goes, Chavez, you dang Navajo. That's all
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: I can think of. Go sleep with your horse, Chavez.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: You might be the only one who made that poll.
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: You're probably right.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Hey, what's this Tyler Rapp situation?
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: Taylor Rapp. I'm sorry.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: What's, what's his deal?
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: Just, uh, uh, my understanding is he had some things
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: he had to take care of, you know, on the
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: personal side. It wasn't like, uh, uh, you know, some
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: kind of, do I want to play football still type
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: of thing. It was more, he had some personal things he,
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: told Sean Payton I could use a little more time
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: to take care of it. And, you know, I think
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: it's just one of those things. They probably would have
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: waited to sign him if they had come up a
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: little sooner or maybe he thought he could just be
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: here for a little bit and see how it went. But, yeah,
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: they're going to bring him back, or at least that's
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: their plan right now is to bring him back for
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: the same reason they had him here in the first place.
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: And that's other than, you know, Devon Key– I don't
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: think they feel like they have another backup safety who
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: they'd be comfortable playing in the defense right now.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Who do you consider, as we enter Sunday, which is
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: cut-down day, maybe the guy who's most surprisingly going to
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: be on the chopping block for the Broncos?
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: Well, they've got some tough, tough decisions, and there's going
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: to be some guys who've been here who aren't here
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: this time. And I think the biggest reason for that
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: is I honestly think the rookie class has come into
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: a 14-win team and been much better than they thought.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: And I think there were eight or nine personnel guys
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: from other teams at the preseason game Friday night. And
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: I'm here to tell you, I know some of those guys,
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: so I always go down and chat. with the one
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: or two or three or however many I know. And
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: the binoculars were not on the Packers. Let's just say that.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: So they, this, I think the Broncos are going to
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: end up sitting in the meeting this weekend thinking, can
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: we really get this player through waivers to get to
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: the practice squad? And that's going to influence some of
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: the decisions. Like when they kept, frank crumb last year
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: they weren't going to play frank crumb at tackle in
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: any games if things went the you know went right
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: i think they're going to have one or two guys
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: like that on this 53 because they're going to be
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: afraid they can't get them through waivers will they make
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: trades no you know i'm certain they'd listen to people
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: if they were interested you know we'll Will anybody be
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: interested in one of their quarterbacks? I mean, that's a
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: tough one because most teams prefer, even if they're giving
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: up a little ability, they prefer guys who've been in
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: their building all offseason. It's kind of silly to invest
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: in a quarterback for four months and then trade for
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: another guy right before the season.
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: Jeff, how does that work, though? Because you now have
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: this giant pool of players on Sunday who are going
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: to be available. All the fish are dumped into the pond.
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: When are other teams allowed to talk to the representation
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: of those players?
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: As soon as it happens. As soon as the player's
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: been notified, usually is what's generally. The veterans are just
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: free agents. If you're a vested veteran, four years or more,
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: you're a free agent. The young guys go through waivers,
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: and the claiming order in waivers is the finisher. the
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: reverse finish, the draft order, essentially. So, you know, that's
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: a lot of teams to get through who weren't very
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: good and who are a lot thinner on the depth
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: chart than the Broncos are. Like Cage Casey, I had
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: a GM tell me, if Cage Casey's on the waiver wire,
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: I'm claiming him. And, you know, that's the kind of
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: thing they're facing right now because I think they– They
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: like these rookies a lot and believe they have big futures,
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: but how much are those guys going to play this
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: year would probably be limited for a lot of them,
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: but they're not going to be able to get one
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: or two of those guys through waivers if they try it.
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: If we're talking drama, though, the backup quarterback situation, we
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: brought you up earlier in the program. I said, well,
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: Lakey keeps saying that, look, They convinced Ellinger to stay
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: on the practice squad and bounce up and down for
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: a reason. And he could have been on a 53.
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: Why would he stay? Well, and I said, maybe it's
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: his to lose. Maybe they said, hey, listen, we really
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: like you. And then, you know, earn that backup spot
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: in training camp. How do you see that right now, Jeff?
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: I think they're still trying to decide. I think in
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: a perfect world, they want to keep all three. They
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: can pull it off. They want to keep all three guys.
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: And the question, you know, I asked Sean Payton yesterday,
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: are you still going to be able to keep three?
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: And he said, that's a good question. Because of what
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: we're just talking about, this rookie class performed better. And,
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: you know, people have their eye on these players. I mean,
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: if you're with a team that didn't make the playoffs
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: last year, you're always going to be swirling to see
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: what players the play, you know, the heavyweights release because they,
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: their rosters were deeper and the Broncos have done something I've,
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: I've never seen a team do. They brought back 51
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: of the 53 players that were on the roster for
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: the AFC championship game.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: That's amazing.
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: 51. Yeah.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: I mean, that's unbelievable. There's no room, you know, for
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: new people on this team. You know, Jalen Waddell, sure,
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: there's room, but that's going to cost them a receiver
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: who was on the roster last year. But that's why
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: they're going to be– I will be stunned if there
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: isn't at least 12 teams at the game tomorrow night
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: looking in on the warm-ups just to see, you know,
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: start doing the math.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: That number you just gave us, the retention rate of
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: the Broncos, which was unreal, is a big reason why
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: training camp, by and.
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: Large, was boring.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: There weren't the many storylines because, you know, starters are set.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, there aren't many jobs up for sale here.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: I do want to ask you about Jonathan Cooper, who
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: faces arraignment, I believe, on Monday.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: How soon, if, you know, I don't know what to
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: expect from arraignment or any, how soon do we hear
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: about his status?
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: Well, that's their, the... Broncos are sort of saying they'd
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: sure like to have some indication from the league. I mean,
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: I think the feeling in the Broncos building is he's
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: getting suspended at some point. And will that suspension begin
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: in the beginning of the season? I think that's their feeling. Now,
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: they can do several things, but they're worried that if
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: they don't have an indication of the suspension... They keep
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: him on the 53 Sunday and he doesn't go to
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: reserve suspended or the commissioner's exempt list or whatever, that
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: they lose a player, you know, because they can't get
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: a guy through waivers or they have to cut one
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: other player when he's not going to be available for
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: the first six or the first eight games of the season.
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: That's their concern. Now, you know, the league isn't just,
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: you know, there's all kinds of, collective bargaining issues there.
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: They can't just tell the Broncos, this is what's going
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: to happen and all that. But I still keep hearing privately,
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: quietly around the Broncos. They believe some kind of settlement
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: or plea deal will come down Monday, whether it's the
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: charges are pled down to misdemeanors with probation and whatever
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: else comes with it. But that's still separate from a
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: league suspension that the league doesn't have to wait to
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: suspend them. They can do it whenever they want and
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: he can appeal it and all of those things. But
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: the Broncos would like to know before Sunday, if, if,
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: when a suspension would be coming. Cause I, I think
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: their feeling is, I don't want to speak for them,
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: but just from everybody I've spoken to there, I think
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: their feeling is he's getting suspended at some point. And
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: I think that's how they're going to approach it. It's just,
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: they'd like to know, to adjust, you know, to keep
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: them on the 53. And then a week later he's
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: suspended that that may cost them a player. And I
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: think that's their concern.
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: Jeff Legwald, ESPN.com all conversations with leg year brought to
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: you by the international brotherhood of electrical workers, IBEW local 68,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: start with a job and with a career. Um, So
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: the NFL has basically thrown their hands up on the
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: player cut from training camp going back to college thing, saying, hey, NCAA,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: this is your problem. This guy, he's just not allowed
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: to be redrafted, so he's a free agent. But is
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: there anything you think the NFL is worried about down
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: the line? And the example I was trying to come
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: up with, and I don't know if this would be
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: a problem or not, but when you have a guy
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: like Chris Harris Jr., who's an undrafted free agent who
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: makes the roster, and his rookie year got paid $ 355, 000.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: if LSU and Lane Kiffin were like, Hey, instead of
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: that deal, do you want to come back to college
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: for another year? And I'll pay you 3 million. Is
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: that something that they'd ever run into? Can you do
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: a buyout as a college team of a contract in
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: the NFL?
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: Is that allowed?
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a, you know, I wasn't at law school
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: the day they taught law. So I'm not sure how
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: that would shake out. I do know that the, the
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: big 10 and the sec has already done some of
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: the heavy lifting for the NFL. They've already said, we're,
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: we're not going to allow it to cut. You're not,
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: we're not going to allow you to come back. And they're,
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: they're the two most drafted conferences for the NFL. So
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: I think that the fact that the two biggest conferences
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: have already stepped in and done their own legislation, as
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: it were, I mean, that's where it's going to have
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: to come from because the conferences can just say, Oh, this,
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: you know, do whatever you want in court, but this,
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: you're a member of the conference and these are the
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: rules have a nice day.
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: The big 12 has also jumped in on that too.
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah. The conferences are doing the heavy lifting for this.
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: I think that, you know, it's really just that one
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: year of players. It's the 2022 players that this is the,
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: the injunction applied to. So it is already a small
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: group of players and it's already smaller now that the,
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: the biggest conferences have said, no, thank you. But it
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: is a mess. And I talk to guys all the
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: time who are trying to get their draft list ready
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: and all this stuff. And they, they just feel like they,
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: you know, they're just guessing on what the draft class
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: could look like in April. Just who's coming out, who's staying,
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: you know, NIL, all the rest of it.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: Have you heard from Chiefs camp? It's widely believed that
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: Mahomes is going to be there for the opener, right?
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: We're not going to get some, Last second. Oh, we're
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: just joshing you guys. He's going to miss a month.
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: I don't think they, you know, anyone, everyone I've talked
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: to thinks he's going to play. It's just a matter
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: of where you're at. You know, I, you know, I,
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: I haven't seen anything in the last week or so,
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: but the last time I watched video of him throwing,
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: he still had the heavy brace on, which is the
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: rehab brace on the knee. So, but that doesn't, that
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: doesn't mean much. It's just something that stuck out to me.
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: I will say, after seeing the Broncos' defense in training camp,
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: I'm already intrigued by that matchup just because I'm not
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: sure that's the game you want to come back for
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: if you're coming back from knee surgery.
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: Last thing on that, Jeff, I was reading an article
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: on ESPN. I forget who wrote it. Nate Taylor.
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: You know Nate? Yes, I do.
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: Okay. And he said that Andy Reid said that teams
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: are looking at our run game. They're just not, they're
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: not worried about it. They're not honoring our run game.
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: They see it, but they're like, who cares, right? So
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: it was a big problem for the Chiefs. So they
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: go get Kenneth Walker. Where are, where do you think
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: they are right now? I mean, seriously, can they be back?
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: I guess that's what I'm afraid of. Back to old chiefdom.
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: Well, I don't, I don't know that they're as strong
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: up front as, I think that's the real issue. They're,
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: they're not, they're not honoring the run game because they
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: don't block it very well. I think they've had runners
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: people thought could produce, but, and I don't know that
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: they've improved enough up front. You know, I, that's one
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: place I think receiver and offensive line is where the
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: erosion has really hit them. You know, when you're a
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: good team and they haven't just been good, they've been
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: the team with, you know, multiple Superbowl appearances and, the
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: erosion gets you at some point, if you're not really
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: good in the draft and they have not been really
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: good in the draft, they've let April slip and you
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: want to take a good team and make it a
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: mediocre one. Don't be good in April. You know, everybody,
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: we all fans, the media, everyone, we all talk about March,
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: but April is really where you stay good. If you're
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: going to be a team that gets through the, the
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: sign in the quarterback to the nine digit deal, but,
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: I think upfront back to your question, I think upfront
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: has been their issue. And I don't know that they're
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: better there than they were last year. And, you know,
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: my homes has been under siege a lot more. His,
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: his air yards per attempt is way down. Cause he
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: has to get rid of the ball quicker and they're,
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: they're not as good at receiver. And he's, you know,
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: he's just forced to carry a lot more things. And
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: I think they're still in that position, frankly. And that,
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: you know, Until they show something different there, I think
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: they have the same issues.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Leggy, last thing for you. Last year, Bo Nix led
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: the entire NFL in passing attempts.
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: He had 612.
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: Yes, he did.
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: Yes, he did. There were only two guys with 600
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: in the whole league.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Yep, him and Dak Prescott. 612 passing attempts. Now enter
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: Jalen Waddell.
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: That ain't happening this year.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: And that goes into my question. You would assume that
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Cortland Sutton and Jalen Waddell are getting 100 targets apiece.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: Probably. That's why I keep telling everybody, stop asking me
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: about WR3 because they just signed a guy who's going
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: to get, they're probably going to be 250 targets between
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: Cortland and Jalen Waddell.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: So that's 250. You're going to get targets for guys
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: out of the backfield. You're going to get targets for
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: Evan Ingram. Who do you think gets the least targets
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: out of that wide receiver room right now in the
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: top five?
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: Well, I always just tell people I watch how they practice.
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: That's what tells me where things are right now. What
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: are the rotations? What are the progressions? Where's the ball going?
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: I chart all that stuff. And in practice, I don't
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: know if this is going to work this way in September,
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: but in practice, Troy Franklin has lost the targets. Now,
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: we'll see how that is moving forward because Pat Bryant
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: has been a revelation in this camp.
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: He is.
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: They're going to use Pat Bryant. It's like when they
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: saw Jonah Coleman run for 13 yards and yanked him
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: out of the game. You know, they've seen those plays
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: from Pat Bryant in practice. And most importantly of all,
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: the quarterback likes very much throwing to him in stressful situations.
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: So he's going to be on the field for stressful
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: downs because the quarterback likes him in those situations. So
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: I think right now, if you're watching practice, now it
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: can turn out any way of a million ways in September, October, November.
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: But right now, Troy Franklin's been the guy who's had
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: seen some targets and some snaps go away.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: Jeff Lightwell, ESPN.com, joins us every week. Thank you, Lakey.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: Always appreciate the time.
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: Thanks, fellas. We'll see you.