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Jeff Legwold joins Moser, Lombardi and Kane 3/14/24 · Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports

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  Mosure, Lombardy and Kane. Did you hear that last night? And I
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  hear. We believe the audacity of those guys, those Vancouver people. They
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  don't mess around. Vancouver's had a history Mosure of rubbing the aves the wrong
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  way. Do you remember the whole national anthem thing back in the day I
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  was there for you remember that? Oh yeah, Well, Jeff Legwald,
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  I gotta tell you last night, when the Avs were losing three nothing in
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  Vancouver in the second period, they cranked up all the small things at Rogers
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  Arena in Vancouver, and I'm like that, you absolute troll bags. Anyway,
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  go ahead, Brett, I'm sorry, it just it torked me off.
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  Uh So, there is Jeff LAGWALDESPN dot com and joins us every single
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  Thursday. First of all, good morning, Leggy. Secondly, I'll just
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  start this off real easy. A grade so far for the Broncos, How
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  they've handled some releases, some cap space issues. How do you think as
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  a letter grade they have fared so far in free agency? Well, if
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  you take into the account, you know they were starting at the biggest disadvantage
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  in the league. You know, you give them, you give them a
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  ceat average. I mean, they've handled their business, but that doesn't mean
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  it's good. You know, it's I still think, I know there's this
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  sort of narrative right now that it's not so bad. You know, it
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  went okay. Well, they still don't have a quarterback on the roster,
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  most of the free agent guys are gone and positioning in the draft for help.
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  This year is going to be better for non quarterbacks than it is for
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  quarterbacks. So I you know, I think they've handled their business the way
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  they needed to, but I think to give them a good grade, I
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  think I don't think they've managed this probably as well as they should. And
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  I bet they would admit right now it's it's going to be painful and it
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  has been paidful. I sense a tinge of disgust in your voice, Jeff
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  Lick, Well, when you when you discussed this, and I need to
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  ask you, I need to ask you just before we move on, what
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  did you expect them to do? What would what would made you approve of
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  what they've done over the last six months in this process? Ck, you
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  know all they don't care if I approve or not, and I know it,
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  and I get it. I'm just a sportswriter guy, But uh,
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  keep rush one more year, and a franchise whose best weapon is its checkbook
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  could actually use its best weapon. And right now, I keep saying it,
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  they've positioned them themselves to take the one thing their biggest advantage over every
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  single other franchise in the NFL, and they can't use it because they've positioned
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  themselves to be unable to use it. All right, So whose fault is
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  that? Whose fault is it that they could not tolerate that relationship for one
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  more year? Well, I mean, ultimately, you know, I sense
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  that this came down to the organization's in agreement. Look, Greg Penner,
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  the owner is in agreement with this in some fashion, or they wouldn't have
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  done it. But of course, obviously this is a head coach quarterback relationship.
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  And I mean, I see what's coming out since from various reporters and
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  outlets, and you can tell everybody's working everybody right now to make it sound
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  like it's the other person's fault. But I think organizationally, cooler head should
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  have prevailed for one more year because there they still don't have a quarterback solution.
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  And I am I'm always in favor of not making a move, whether
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  it's firing a head coach or cutting a quarterback, until you know what the
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  solution is. And they did this without knowing in any fashion what their solution
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  was. Jeff, if you're going to stink anyway, and I fully believe
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  the Broncos are not going to be a very good football team whatsoever, you're
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  doing what they have for like six months. Yeah, you're right about that.
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  I probably will be because I was reminding Vic earlier that he's like,
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  well, they're doing this, and they're doing that. I'm like, great,
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  but they're still not going to be good. When we get into September
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  and October, you're going to be pissed. You're going to be angry that
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  they're losing games. And it hurts to be in that situation. But Jeff,
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  if if there is no quarterback solution and they don't like anybody out there
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  in the free agent market, and who does what's wrong with just riding stood
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  them for a year and and uh and stinking and then and then trying to
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  get your act together at that point? Well most I mean, he didn't
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  sign here for two years because they don't like him. I mean they believe
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  he's got some good quarterback play in him and I and I think ultimately that's
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  been their insurance in all this, that they think he can be a productive
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  player in their system. But I you know, you know, Sean Payton's
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  talking at the combine about putting the next name on the list of quarterbacks and
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  not crossing it out, and they're not in a they're not in a position
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  to do that right now. And uh, you know, we'll see how
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  the draft unfolds, but twelve is not the sweet spot for you know,
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  future franchise quarterback unless the organization is coming to an agreement on one or two
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  of those guys down the board. And you know, ultimately those guys probably
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  aren't ready to play much, if at all, as rookies. So you
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  know, if ultimately they come away with the long term solution out of this
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  draft, then you know, all of this is wasted chatter. But I
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  mean, my point is is their cap is one eighty right now, roughly,
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  not two fifty five. So and we can all say, oh,
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  they did the right thing, and they adjusted the cap and they did all
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  this, but their tap is one eighty because of what they've done, and
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  that puts them at a severe disadvantage. Can I ask you just a general
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  question here, because I know that this has been a sentiment from the Broncos
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  fan base about George Peyton is not good at his job. Now, I
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  think you could make a strong argument that when you go through different coaches and
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  different systems, it's hard to pick out players in the draft or free agency
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  that will fit three different systems. Right, how would you assess George Payton
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  overall four years in his Broncos GM. But you know, he's always going
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  to carry the Wilson stuff because but he was a GM without an owner,
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  so you know, he's out there sort of on his own. So and
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  ultimately it was you know, he was at the forefront of all that,
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  the negotiations and everything, but he was not at the forefront the decision to
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  end the Russell Wilson experiment two years in. I don't think any general manager
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  I know in the league would would recommend that in any fashion. But I
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  think George Payton can find good football players, but the Broncos just incessant change
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  over the last I mean, George Payton's already tried to find football players for
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  three different coaches and we have now seen the ultimate in coaching decisions about personnel
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  in the release of Russell Wilson. I mean, that's the most drastic ever.
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  But that happened. It's all over the depth chart. When you get
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  a new coach, you know everybody wants five. I mean, look at
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  the Broncos. I think five of their moves in free agency are ex Saints
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  right now. Five And that tells you what it's like if you're a general
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  manager trying to appease a coaching staff. And yes, he's always gonna wear
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  the Russell Wilson thing, but I think ultimately he finds good football players.
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  But the Broncos have had no consistency at any level since the Super Bowl win.
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  And I think that's been a big part of the problem. Is firing
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  everybody and change all the time. While it's always requested when losing happens,
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  it's not working here right now, and that's been their biggest problem, and
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  it's still a problem. They're still filling a depth chart for a new coaching
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  staff. And I think, no matter how great you are as a general
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  manager, that's gonna be tough. I mean, you think the Steelers have
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  a hard time picking players. Mike Tomlins want of the same guys for seventeen
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  years, so it's a lot easier job. Leggy. You and I may
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  have opposing views on a lot of this, but it doesn't mean that you
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  don't have a right and entitled to an opinion. And this is your opinion.
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  A lot of people chiming in saying, oh what is what is?
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  Leg Leggy knows more about football in this process than we will ever hope to
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  know. So that's number one. And if he feels a certain way,
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  that's his right, and that's why we ask of his opinion. I do
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  need to ask you this everywhere I go, and I'm sure you get the
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  same thing. People wonder how long is George Payton for the job and how
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  does he still have the job? And you know how it works with GMS.
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  The draft comes and goes and all their work is done for draft day.
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  Is is he a long term guy here or perhaps should he be wondering
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  what happens after draft day? Well, you know again, I'm going by
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  I'm taking people at their word right now, and and my understanding is George
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  Peyton and Sean Payton have a very good working relationship in the building, they
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  talk all the time. Uh, there's none of this. You know,
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  you stay on your end of the building and I'll stay on mine. There's
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  there's none of that. They're they're discussing players and personnel moves and draft stuff
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  all the time, and so that's that's all happening. I will say with
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  scouts and general managers, Uh, their contracts usually sort of run draft to
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  draft in a lot of ways, you know, most years. So if
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  they were going to make a change, you know that they might do something
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  then. But I mean they've obviously brought in another you know, person in
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  personnel that that Sean Payton worked with in New Orleans, So there have been
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  change is but he he's still doing all of that draft work and I think
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  Sean Payton knows, you know, they need football people in that position.
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  Coaches can't grind all that all the time. So I mean, right now,
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  again, I keep being told by everyone in the building that I know
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  and talk to that they have a good working relationship that you know doesn't mean
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  ultimately something happens, But I don't get that sense at this moment. But
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  you wouldn't get that sense right now anyway. They're they're worried about pro days
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  and and on campus workouts and Top thirty visits and doing zoom calls with all
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  these with all these draft prospects. So uh, you know, we don't
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  know what what were the what were the meetings like when the Russell Wilson thing
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  was discussed? We don't know a lot of that. Was it combative?
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  Was their different opinions? Uh? I don't think many people know much about
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  that. But you know, I think Sean Payton believes he's right on this
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  one, and he may ultimately be proven he is. But you know,
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  I think they're in a tough spot right now because they've done it right now.
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  That's all, you know. You know what's weird is it? I
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  was gonna ask you about the a f C and who did the best so
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  far in free agency or even the AFC West, But I really don't care.
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  It's not going to matter to the Broncos this year. I guess from
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  my own curiosity, you and I can have this conversation at a different time.
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  But finally, for me, where's Justin Simmons going? Where do you
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  think he'll end up? Man? I think he'd like to win most so
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  I think he's hoping he can latch on to to, you know, somebody
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  at the front of the line in terms of the playoffs. But last couple
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  of years he talked that, yeah, not not yet. That's not where
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  you're going. If that's your if that's your if, that's your vibe.
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  But Josie Jewell got a lot of money, though, I'll tell you you
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  know, the Broncos weren't going to be able to handle that, and weren't
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  going to be able to handle what Cushion Barry got either, sou But I
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  think Justin wants to win. I mean he just said that over and over
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  the last couple of years. Anytime I talked to him about almost any topic
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  was just I just I don't care what the new slogans are. I just
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  want to win. And I think I think that's where he's about, and
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  I think he will go to the best situation he can he can find just
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  one thing real quick, Legy, because you and me are on the same
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  page with this. I get very leery about teams that spend a whole bunch
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  of money in free agency and think they fixed all their problems, because I
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  see some teams doing that right now. You have to build through the draft.
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  If I have this correct, and I think I do, do the
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  Broncos have a single player from the twenty nineteen or twenty twenty draft class left
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  on the roster. You know it have to look at all those but they're
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  not you know, this is what happens when you change coaches. These aren't
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  all bad players. They're not all bad picks. That are not all bus
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  A lot of them are playing other places. You know, that's kind of
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  how you gauge it. You know, how many of these guys are playing
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  other places right when you change coaches. I mean, to me, the
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  stat that the two stats and I've said them on your show that hurt the
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  most are they have two of their own number ones on the roster. Now
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  that's never good. And they've only picked three times in the top forty five
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  and the last four drafts combined, and that total will go to four picks
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  in the last five drafts this year because they don't have a two debt.
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  But just a follow up to that, I mean, you're you talking about
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  first round draft picks. Who has the better chance to resurrect their career?
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  Is it Russell Wilson In Pittsburgh or Jerry Judy in Cleveland. Russell and Pittsburgh,
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  because I don't think he has far to go to quote unquote resurrect.
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  We all act like twenty six touchdown passes is just going to be ea he
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  to replace. You know, I would say twenty six touchdowns after fifteen games
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  is a pretty short list, no matter how ugly you think it looks or
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  how bad he think he plays. The guy got the ball in the end
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  zone. And next year at week fifteen, I'm going to ask you,
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  guys, if the quarterback has twenty six touchdown passes. I got to ask
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  you this then because if Russell Wilson were to shine for Pittsburgh, if he
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  leads the Steelers through playoff appearance and he looks great better than this year,
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  how much pressures on Sean Payton and how much blame will Sean Payton take?
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  I think the pressure is on him anyway. Vic. I mean, he's
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  a head coach for what is a foundational franchise, and you know he he's
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  made it very vocal. Move here. You know that this is the right
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  thing. Now they still haven't you know, they did all this after they
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  were in the public. Guy at the combine, so that organization really hasn't
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  spoken to it yet. They did it for a reason. Then we talked
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  about it that that's exactly why they did it, did it the way they
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  did. Now, everybody's working hard behind the scenes, Russell's people, Broncos
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  people, everybody's twisting arms behind the scenes to get Russell didn't work very hard
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  or they said they would bench me. I mean, all of these things
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  are just swirling now behind the scenes as everybody works the back room. Uh.
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  But the bottom line is, you know, no matter what you think,
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  if you think the Broncos are doing the right thing, and they might
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  be, but my point is is they've made their cap sixty seven million dollars
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  less than everyone else's and you can't fudge that. You can't work contracts to
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  change that and make it one eighty or one ninety. You No, they're
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  sixty seven million dollars less of cap space than they should have and they did
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  that on purpose. Is Jeff Legwald ESPN dot com. He joins us every
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  Thursday. Thank you, Leggy, I appreciate the time you bet see you
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  letter. And is Jeff Legwell at ESPN dot com. Back after this