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Jeff Legwold joins Kreckman and Lindahl 5-25-26 · Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, let's jump right into it with Jeff Lagwall, brought
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: to you by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers IBW
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Local sixty eight. You start with a job, you end
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: with a career. We talk football with Leggy every Monday
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: and Friday here on the show Leggy. There are parallels
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: right now, when you, you know, get to the round
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: before the championship and then don't win, and then you're
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: finished and you head into an off season. So there
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: are parallels between what the Broncos did this past season
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: and what we're about to experience with the Avalanche. To
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  Speaker 1: completely throw dirt on them, yet it just feels highly unlikely.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: So I ask you this, Jeff. The Broncos this offseason,
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  Speaker 1: their approach has generally been run it back. They got
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: aggressive on the Jalen Wattle move, but the outside free
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  Speaker 1: agents they didn't do. They resigned all of their own guys.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: The Broncos looked at a fourteen and three season and
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: a one seed in a trip to the AFC Championship,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: and they said, no, we're really good and we failed
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: because of bad luck. To a certain degree, the Avalanche
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: could kind of make the same argument, well we're really good,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: but we failed because McKinnon and mccarr got hurt. Okay,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: they can try and make that justification. You've covered sports forever.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: You've covered good teams, you've covered terrible teams. You've covered
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  Speaker 1: good organizations, you've covered bad organizations. Sometimes the same organization
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: has been good and bad in your lifetime. But I
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: ask you this, Jeff, like, what are what are the
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: pitfalls of this of getting right there and then falling
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  Speaker 1: short that teams have to try to avoid.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I would say I think in terms
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  Speaker 2: of development and where they're at on the you know,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: sort of that slow chart, I think the Ads are
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: in a spot where the Broncos would be if they
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: don't get it done this year. I think that that
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: started or I would put that, you know, where where
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: they're at, what I know of the AVS contractual situations
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: and all of those things.
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: You know. I still Wattle was a big trade.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: But to me, the most significant thing the Broncos did
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: this offseason, and we don't know if they've really done
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: it yet, was for Sean Payton to say someone else
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  Speaker 2: has to call plays.
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  Speaker 3: That is an enormous thing.
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  Speaker 2: Now the question remains is if he's just going to
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  Speaker 2: install everything he wants and make call sheets, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the way he would, and have a very heavy hand
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  Speaker 2: in all of this. Then they have simply run it
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  Speaker 2: back with Jalen Wattle as an add on. And then
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: I think you're wrestling with big time questions at the
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  Speaker 2: end of this season if you don't at least get
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  Speaker 2: to the super Bowl, let alone win it. But I
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: think it's always the toughest thing for general managers and
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  Speaker 2: roster builders in any sport to determine.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, the Nuggets have gone through it.
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  Speaker 2: When you're good, how much do you keep everything together
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  Speaker 2: that has been good? And then how much do you
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  Speaker 2: look to change, yeah, and to keep it going? And
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  Speaker 2: what does that take that The thing football has that
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: the other sports don't I think is football gets perishable
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  Speaker 2: a lot faster. Like you people that the players age faster,
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  Speaker 2: the careers are shorter. It I mean it is a
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: they're thinking their windows are a lot tighter than the
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  Speaker 2: other sports. And I think hockey because guys can go
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  Speaker 2: way into their thirties and be very productive players on
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  Speaker 2: a more average or a more you know, numerically high basis.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: You know, they're a lot more productive thirty somethings I
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: think percentage wise in the NHL than their NFL, for example,
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  Speaker 2: in terms of top tier talent. So I think football
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  Speaker 2: forces you to make those decisions quicker. But they are
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  Speaker 2: the toughest, and they're the toughest for teams like the
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  Speaker 2: Avs and the Nuggets and even you know, to the
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  Speaker 2: Broncos now. But the Aves and the Nuggets have the
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  Speaker 2: best of the best, you know, on their roster somewhere,
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  Speaker 2: and it's tough to sort of determine what the cash
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  Speaker 2: should be around.
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  Speaker 3: That and what we'll get it done. You know.
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  Speaker 2: I think in hockey it's goal tending and strength up
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  Speaker 2: the middle, and and football it's the quarterback. You know,
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  Speaker 2: those are the sort of the foundational things.
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  Speaker 4: Jeff, what do you think how late we're going until
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  Speaker 4: we get some real on field work?
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  Speaker 3: Are you?
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  Speaker 4: What are you thinking of this season schedule? I'm so
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: thrown off because it's Memorial Day. We have not seen
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  Speaker 4: one on field practice yet. That's a little wild to me.
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  Speaker 2: I think he's you know, I think he's made a
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  Speaker 2: calculated reasoning for all of this. I think, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the cluster sort of remains the same. He gave them
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  Speaker 2: a week before and took away a week later, and
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  Speaker 2: I think probably if they went to the super Bowl,
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: he'd do it again, you know type of thing.
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  Speaker 3: I think he believes.
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  Speaker 2: This is the schedule you should do if you go
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  Speaker 2: late in the in the season now, and honestly, I
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  Speaker 2: think some of what we were just talking about factors in.
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  Speaker 2: You're bringing back everybody essentially with some rookies thrown into
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  Speaker 2: the mix. You're not you know, the installs are going
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: to the same guys, and Jalen Waldle's played enough football,
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: well that's not going to be a problem.
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: So I think if this.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: Team was a little bit younger or the turnover had
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  Speaker 2: been higher, I think he would have been tempted to
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: do it the other way like we always have, and
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  Speaker 2: there would have been something, you know, this this week
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  Speaker 2: or this past week.
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  Speaker 3: But I think the combination.
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  Speaker 2: Of playing so late and the group he has coming back,
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  Speaker 2: they feel pretty comfortable with that.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: I want to ask you an AFC West question. I
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: don't think we talked last week since the news that
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Rashid Rice is going into the clink for thirty days
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  Speaker 1: and the NFL is going to have to, you know,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: decide whatever they're going to decide on all of that.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: Can they suspend again for a parole violation legy he
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: already has served the suspension. Is there a double jeopardy
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  Speaker 1: thing going on there?
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  Speaker 3: You know?
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  Speaker 2: When I read the policy, it gives the commissioner an
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  Speaker 2: awful lot of discretion does to suspend guys for a
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  Speaker 2: lot of things.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so.
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  Speaker 2: Now I think the chiefs would lobby against that under
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  Speaker 2: what you're saying, right, you know, punishments punishment, Uh, And
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: there is some thought, uh, you know on the now
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: you know we you know, we live in Colorado, so
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  Speaker 2: it's a lot different. You know, it's still a parole
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  Speaker 2: violation on that level.
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  Speaker 3: But yeah, legally the NFL, yeah what we.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: What we would you know, now, it used to be
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: coaches and people. It used to be if you got
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: had any sort of drug infraction, you got suspended and
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: had to stay away. You couldn't go to meetings. And
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: there's there's people who have been argued that in the past,
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  Speaker 2: that that you should at least let the guy have
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  Speaker 2: some structure around him while he while he deals with
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  Speaker 2: all that stuff. But this this kind of thing is different, uh,
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  Speaker 2: and it it is completely in the commissioner's purview too
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  Speaker 2: to get him again, you know, as a multi multi offender.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I think that comes up in the power
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  Speaker 2: see as well too, that you're you're looked at more
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  Speaker 2: harshly if they're doing this again.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: Jeff, when you when you look at what Kansas City
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  Speaker 1: has has done this offseason, and obviously it is all
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: dependent upon getting Mahomes back. But I didn't think much
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: of the Chiefs going into last year, and and I'm
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: still not fully sold on them. I think the Broncos
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: and the Chargers of the class right now of the
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  Speaker 1: AFC West. What's your RD on it? Are the Chargers better?
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  Speaker 1: Are they a threat in the division?
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  Speaker 2: I think everybody's gotten better as the Chiefs have been forced.
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  Speaker 3: To do what you do. Yeah, when you have.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: The franchise quarterback and the Bronco and their team got old.
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  Speaker 3: I mean they went to look, they had a great run.
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  Speaker 2: Very few teams have that kind of run, and the
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  Speaker 2: quarterback gives them a chance to sort of keep it going.
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  Speaker 3: But they've gone to a bunch of Super.
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  Speaker 2: Bowls, They've won multiple Super Bowls, and you know what
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  Speaker 2: we were just talking about is true. The clock ticks. Yeah,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: in the NFL, and they've tried to hold it together.
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  Speaker 2: I think they could have done better on their draft
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  Speaker 2: side of the equation. Throughout, I think they've I think
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: if you're going to keep things going, you know, like
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: the Patriots had a multi decade runs, you've got to
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  Speaker 2: bring it pretty strong on the draft side. And the
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: Patriots lost their way a little bit when they weren't
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: as strong as the years went by. So I think
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  Speaker 2: the Chiefs have sort of stayed status quo and everyone
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  Speaker 2: else has gotten better. Or you know, even if the
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: Broncos stay status quo, that's pretty good.
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  Speaker 3: You know, fourteen wins last year.
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  Speaker 2: So I think the division has toughened up around them,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm not sure they've blipped.
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: Now.
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  Speaker 2: They're banking on the one thing you've bankor on. Their
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  Speaker 2: quarterback is the most proven in big game, big moment
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  Speaker 2: guy in the league right now, and if he's healthy,
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: you're instantly in the mix and it just doesn't matter,
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  Speaker 2: you know, then the coaches he's pretty good at managing
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  Speaker 2: those things. So but a lot of it is you've
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  Speaker 2: got to have youth coming through, and they have not
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  Speaker 2: I in my opinion, have not had enough youth coming
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  Speaker 2: through the lineup.
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: All right, week from today, we'll be talking to you
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: at this same time. Will Aj Brown still be will
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: you be a Patriot or still an Eagle? Or will
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: it finally get going? What and matter? Not just Aj Brown?
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: Who are some other guys that finally get some action
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  Speaker 4: next week? Because it's post June.
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: First, all that, well, everybody's kind of watching that one. Andy.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: Honestly, you know, whatever whatever else would happen would be.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: You know, there was a time when people thought, you know,
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: Deshaun Watson might be in the you know, but that
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: that does not look to be the case anymore.
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: But Brown and is.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: The one, and I think that's the domino that has
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: to fall before anything else happens. And I will just
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: tell you I don't know anyone in the league who
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: doesn't believe he's getting moved. I will have I have
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: had some people tell me they don't think it's a
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: given it's the Patriots, but you know, that is still
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: the most likely landing spot.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Is it possible?
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: Jeff?
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: Simply because of eyebrows being raised about some head coaches
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: relationships with certain insiders and reporters that may or may
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: not have been splashed across the tabloids over the last
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: few months that that's one of those deals the NFL
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: would go, uh uh, you're not doing that one. That's
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: a bad look.
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know how much they would really intervene.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: We've always heard rumors through the years, all of us
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: about how much they would get involved in certain things. Yeah,
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: you know Al Davis.
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Al Davis for one, never let that go and always
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: believe there were many other instances when when you know,
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: the league intervened. So I don't know how blatant and
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: overt it would be. I certainly think Uh. I think
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: that's a tough onboarding for the Patriots at this point
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: because they've tried to keep everybody under the radar, and
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: they've tried to cling to this hope that it would
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: somehow go away. But whatever you do, whether it's mini
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: camp or training camp or whatever, or this trade, it's
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: going to resurface and then it kicks up again and
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: you need a plan for how you're going to deal
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: with it. But I think it would raise some eyebrowser
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: around the league, and I think the Patriots at least, Look,
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: I'm not around them. I'm not speaking because I know
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: of it, but I'm just saying in house, you'd have
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: to have a conversation about how you would handle that publicly,
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: because people are gonna say there needs to be a
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: tampering investigation. And I can't imagine that every single executive
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: with every single team in the league would just be
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: okay with it.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think Roger Goodell's phone would be ringing a
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: little bit if that were to go down. He's Jeff Legwald.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Everybody go to ESPN dot com read Jeff Legwald's Broncos coverage.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: We'll be talking to him on Friday this week and
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: all summer long, as the OTAs are clicking along. Leggie,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: well done as always, man, Thank you, Thanks fellows.
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: Well say