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Jeff Legwold on Kreckman & Lindahl 1-5-24 · Jeff Legwold ESPN Broncos Reports

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  It's Krekman and Lindahl. Brought to you by Colorado off Road Colorado Grown,
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  Colorado. Oh's online at cooof roa dot com. Altitude Sports Radio ninety two
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  five. Jeff Legwald is our Broncos insider Altitude Sports Radio ninety two five Pro
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  Football the Insider. I've Jeff leg Wall. His appearances are always must listen.
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  Radio You Learn a Lot brought you five Betsafe Colorado, the exclusive club
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  for passionate gamers and betters across the state. It's Leggy on Altitude Sports Radio
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  ninety two five. I Got a mother. Yes, it is Jeff Legwall.
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  Time here on a Friday after noon. Jeff Legwald joins us on the
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  ramos Law Hotline. Car accident You require ramos Law. He is a medical
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  doctor and attorney. Ramoslaw dot Com is the place that you go. So
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  Broncos Raiders in Vegas coming up here Sunday afternoon, an opportunity to be able
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  to snap an almost unfathomable seven game losing streak against the Silver and Black.
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  Jeff Lakewald, how are you man? I'm great? Are you guys?
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  We're doing good? Leggy. When you get into week eighteen, you start
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  to sort of look at the who's motivated and who isn't factor. Uh,
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  when you start to look at some of these games, who has something to
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  play for? Who doesn't. The Raiders are painting this and DeVante Adams spoke
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  to the media of you know, win one for the Gipper. We gotta
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  get Antonio Pierce here full time as our head coach for the Broncos. Do
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  they have any such sort of emotional stake that they could bring into this game
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  to perhaps match that energy? Well, Nate, I think they've they've all
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  framed it as a winning scene and mean something to him. You know that
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  that threw it all, you know, the one in five start, that
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  the historical blowout you know against Miami, all of that. You know,
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  if you if they could finish with it with a nine and eight, you
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  know, first winning season since Kobiak's last season here, that that would mean
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  something. And they've you know, that's something Sean Payton has been pounding away
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  at all week and at practice today they were you know, uh, you
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  know, he was intensely correcting people on pass routes. You know of just
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  a few you know, you've got to move over a few feet you've got
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  to move a step. So uh, I think he kept it much the
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  same this week that this game was like if they were still battling for the
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  wild card spot. And I think that was very intentional on his part.
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  You know, Lake, I don't know really where to go with a lot
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  of things that it comes to this game, because we all know that it's
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  been you know, an all too familiar position of this game is gonna help
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  you get into the playoffs. And I know it's for pride and all this
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  and that Natives come up with a few salary cap machinations here that they could
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  do with the impending probably divorce between them and Russell Wilson. I need the
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  leggy stamp of approval on what Nate thinks they need to do here. Is
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  that all right? I guess yeah? I mean I put my limited salary
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  cap hat on. Yes, we can all be amateur capologists. This is
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  all makes sports fun. That's exactly right. This is uh, you know,
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  like you had, you know, I dove into the last couple of
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  days, the over the cap, the spot track, all that good stuff.
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  Dove into the numbers. Okay, So first off, Jeff and you
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  know Adam Schefter sort of wrote about this and painted all the various different scenarios
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  are we right now, and there's a little bit of speculation here, but
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  the most likely scenario would be the Broncos releasing Russell Wilson with a post June
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  first designation, thus splitting up the eighty five million dollar dead cap charge over
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  two years. Correct. Yes, And I will tell you dead money is
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  not Like a lot of things about the salary cap, it is very difficult
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  if not you know, unable or you're not able to do it, it's
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  very hard to adjust for dead money in some fashion. Then this would be
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  the biggest two year cap hit or the biggest total cap hit by double Yeah.
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  It's there's no way to paint it is pretty Now you break it up
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  over two years, you're looking at a thirty five point four million dollar dead
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  cap charge in twenty four which is exactly what Russ's salary, what his cap
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  number would have been had he been on the team. So it's a thirty
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  five point four million So regardless of that situation, like the Broncos go going
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  into next year already twenty seven million dollars over the cap. I mean that
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  that doesn't change regardless of whether or not Russell Wilson is on the roster.
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  Again, given the post June first cut and thirty five point four million being
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  the number that you would have to deal with, so Leggy, by my
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  calculations, you start looking at, okay, where could savings come from the
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  greatest via either release or trade. And again, these are things the Broncos
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  would have had to do regardless of whether or not Russ was here. I've
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  got Garrett Bulls, Justin Simmons, Tim Patrick and DJ Jones as the four
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  names of guys going into the final year of their deal. Thus, those
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  moves would give you the greatest cap relief just using those four names in particular
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  as a for instance, save you fifty million, get you twenty three million
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  dollars under the cap, and give you the flexibility to at least do something
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  next season. You you had to assume they were probably going to be making
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  these kind of hard decisions again, regardless of whether or not Russ was on
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  the roster. Yeah, I mean, is it possible to do all that?
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  It's it's hard for me to believe, after what you've done to Russ
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  that all of those players are going to renegotiate right in such a fashion that
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  it will help the team in the maximum amount. I will tell you.
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  To me, it's it's sort of fool's goal to say, oh, the
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  dead hits equal to his salary, because you don't have the player sure you're
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  paying for. So your quarterback room will probably add twenty thirty million dollars depending
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  on who you sign or how big you try to go to get a player
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  who's even Russ's equal. So I you know, I think his sad part
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  of it is, I don't think that's negated. They're also, yeah,
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  I'm doing this on the assumption that this is like gay Janus Winston's sorta like
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  that. That to me is the isle that they're shopping in right now.
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  Yeah, and but they you know, I would, I would tell you
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  they already have a ten million dead money next year already, yeah, before
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  they do anything with Russ. So uh, I don't think they will not
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  have flexibility. I mean they can. They can get under the cap and
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  do things to draft and participate some in free agency. But no matter,
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  even if all those guys bite and say, okay, give us the cash
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  and we'll give you some relief. Uh, they're still not going to be
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  flexible. They're going to be working at the bare minimum. My guess is,
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  like, if you look at for guys to renegotiate with, you could
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  probably do so. Garrett Bulls, thirty two year old tackle, multiple leg
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  injuries. Maybe that's a guy you could do that with. If I was
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  justin Simmons, I would tell him to pound sand Tim Patrick gam played football
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  in two years. If we you know, if we change this and make
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  it incentive based going forward here, you can make some money back. Like,
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  maybe you could do that, But the Broncos were going to have to
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  make some painful choices here with guys at the end of their contracts, again,
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  regardless of whether or not Russ was going to be on the roster.
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  So that's that's sort of what I'm operating on right now. Is just the
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  straight up hard numbers of it all. Yeah, And I don't dispute any
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  of that, but I just say there were there were four teams this year
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  that opened the year with paths of gad money of at least sixty million.
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  There were four, and the three teams that were able to do it were
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  the Rams, the Packers, And I can't remember Tampa, but they Tampa
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  yep uh, and those three were they were number one, number two,
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  and number eight youngest teams in the league. That's how they were able to
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  deal with it. The Broncos, yeah, they gotta they gotta flip some
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  stuff, there is no doubt about that. But what's wild is the issue
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  is the youth and they don't have many guys, especially their own first round
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  picks, on contracts that are even sort of suitable for redoing. So I
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  mean they're up against it. Mathematically, Yes, they will get under the
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  cap. The challenge is going to be the level of talent. Are they
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  given to be even able to remain at the talent level they have right now?
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  Would be the question, Oh, there's no doubt, Like they can't
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  like that, that's not even an option for the Broncos. But again my
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  greater point here being they had to do all this anyway, and and so
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  like they wouldn't have had to do as much. I mean, they're taking
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  on and it could be even worse next year. I mean that dead money's
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  bigger. So if if you kick the can down the road without doing it
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  with cash, and if you start adding years to contracts to spread things out.
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  All you're doing is delay in the pain, which Greg Penner has said
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  that they don't want to do too much of that. And so I look
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  at this to sort of use your expression here, Leggy, like there's an
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  opportunity for the Broncos to take their medicine, eat their vegetables, however you
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  want to phrase it right here, this upcoming season, flip this roster around
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  to get younger and get back to a place in twenty five. And yeah,
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  Russ's dead cap hit is huge, but that's actually less than it would
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  have been had he been on the roster. Plus you have more cap space
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  opening up that season anyway. I think Schefter said they could have as much
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  as one hundred million dollars in cap space for twenty twenty five. Like the
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  Broncos, they're trying to flip their roster to get back to getting younger right
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  now, which that again they were gonna have to do all this anyway.
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  But when you say one hundred million, do you know how many guys are
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  under contract? Because like when we're talking about the dead money hits right now,
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  would you say, Leggy, only forty guys are in the contract for
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  next year? They have forty some guys next year. I have to look
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  at it. I'm not I don't have it in front of me. But
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  they they don't have anywhere close to fifty three under contract for next year.
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  Oh no, and you wouldn't. But but I really you know again,
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  Nate, I just I don't like the whole Oh that's the salary he would
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  have made. Anyway, they don't have the player, so you're paying double
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  right, But see I but I disagree with that point because he was a
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  player that they didn't want anyway, Yeah, paying for him, So it's
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  your fault you didn't want them. Again, there's no doubt about that.
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  But like the pain of Russ's contract extension existed whether or not he was on
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  the roster, and in this in the new world that they're walking into,
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  and this is their choice, and we can certainly debate whether it's the right
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  choice or not. But in the in the world that they're walking into,
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  they're not a free move. It's no, it's it's not at all.
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  Money. Yeah, it's not at all. Like the the dead money is
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  is not a preferable situation. But again by cap number, because who cares
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  about cash? The Waltons are. You know, they're they're flush, they're
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  doing okay via cap number. They're in the exact same boat that they would
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  have been with Russ on or off the roster. And you know they could
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  make the decision here to say, okay, Jared Stidham, you are going
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  to be our number one bridge guy, will draft a young quarterback, will
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  stay cheap in that room until we can get out from under the You know,
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  the the weight of Russ's hit. But there's nothing ideal about what the
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  Broncos are walking into. But it wouldn't have been ideal with him on the
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  anyway, like they would have been paying premium for a quarterback that they didn't
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  want that doesn't lift his team the way that they're paying him to. Well,
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  I guess I don't know would he have lifted his team if they were
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  better at mixing what he can do to what they want to do. I
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  think they've been stubborn in in the system. I think they've been stubborn in
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  their approach, and they were stubborn in the negotiation. So I don't know
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  that this couldn't have worked because we haven't seen them try very hard to make
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  it work. Yeah, I can't debate that point, Leggie. I'm just
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  going off of like what's done is done. I mean, yeat, mathematically,
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  it can all work. No, He's has done it, sure,
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  but they are in uncharted territory. No team has ever tried to do this.
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  I mean the biggest biggest dead money hit ever for one player is just
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  over forty million. So they're not just an uncharted territory. They're like deep
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  off the compass in uncharted territory. Hey, real quick, everybody fell in
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  love with Michael Pennix after that Bowl game the other night. What were you
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  telling me about him? The medicals? Where where is your orry there?
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  Is he for a surefire first round or what do you think is going on
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  there? I never say surefire first round or this time of the year,
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  But the medical exam at the Combine, he might have the biggest medical exam
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  at the Combine in recent memory. He's had acls in both knees and he's
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  had shoulder surgery. So you know, his play is certainly amazing, but
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  I don't think he made it through a full season in Indiana, and this
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  year teams have to decide is this the aberration or is this what you're gonna
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  get and Indy will tell the tale for Michael Pennix. If teams get comfortable
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  with what their medical staff say is his stock will rise immensely. If there
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  are a lot of questions, then then his stock value will well very huge
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  from team to team depending on what each medical staff besides they can live with.
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  Well, I got some good news for you guys. Do you remember
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  what happened the last time that Sean Payton got himself a quarterback coming off of
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  a major shoulder injury. He didn't have two knees either, But that's okay,
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  I got you. I've seen Drew Brees play football before he had two
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  knees. Yeah, I got you. Now, Sean Payton's buddy. Yeah,
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  I don't know where all this love is. I mean, were you
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  as excited when he called two timeouts the last drive in New England or what?
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  I didn't have a problem with those timeouts, Okay. He was trying
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  to win the game immensely. Yeah. No, he was trying to get
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  he was trying to get the ball back. He was trying to get your
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  guy rust the ball back and win the football game. It's you know you
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  you don't think that Bailey Zappi is gonna is gonna torch you and beat Patrick
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  Certan for what was that thirty six yards on third down? Like I like
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  the aggressive nature of let me get the ball back and try and win this
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  thing. In regulation, I was, I was not opposed to that usage
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  of timeouts. It burned him. But that's the risk that you take against
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  Bailey Zappi. I will say, Leggy, Nate, if Nate were a
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  coach, you would probably be the most aggressive in history. Damn right,
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  you would be. Yeah, you would be. Dan Campbell's got nothing,
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  Leggy, Let's get you in this room Monday. Let's all just sit around
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  and talk it out. I'm not sure I've ever seen native this much love
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  to anybody. Oh man, I'm no. It's it's it really is right
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  now, Leggy, like the Broncos were, I just don't like. I
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  don't like the narrative that, oh, this is a wash because Russ makes
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  a lot of money. People just start thinking it through. It's but again,
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  but it is like by the math problem a lot, But he didn't.
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  He would have been far better at dealing with this before was a lot
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  less. If it was really a lotch Sean Payton doesn't want to play the
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  guy anyway, And and so given that circumstance, like, well, don't
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  you think, don't you think paying thirty five for a backup quarterback? My
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  question to you would be, what happened between the job interview and the benching?
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  Then right well, between the job interview and the benching he watched him
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  play fifteen games? Was nobody who? Was somebody not truthful in the interview?
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  I mean, what happened? Do you think? I mean, Leggy,
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  this wouldn't be the first time that an NFL head coach didn't tell the
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  truth in a job interview. I mean Mike McCarthy sat across from Jerry Jones
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  and said, I love analytics, and then a few months this latter was
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  like I kind of made all that up. I guess I would ask you,
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  what chance do you think there is the quarterbacker starts next year finishes with
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  more than twenty six touchdowns? I don't know. I couldn't tell you that
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  for certain, but you know, you certainly hope that it's an offense that's
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  better than fifty percent in the red zone that actually, you know, and
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  gold to go situations can get themselves up to league gaverage that you know,
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  throws to wide receivers, throws intermediate routes. Like, I'm just telling you,
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  this is what the head coach wants in his offense. And that's why
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  we're in this world that we sit here right now. Like, regardless of
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  your feelings of Russell Wilson, the only reality we live in is the one
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  where Sean Payton doesn't like the guy. I get all that, But all
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  I'm saying is, I think the narrative is it's fine because he doesn't like
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  him, is not really taking all of the items into consideration. Yeah,
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  I don't. I don't think you're wrong in all of that. But again,
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  like the Broncos can only operate under the decisions that the front office is
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  making or has made, and their decision is not our dude, And so
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  like they it's not as home. They got they have to field a football
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  team next year. Yeah, good luck. Yeah, I think they'll they'll
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  be able to run fifty three out there. Leggy. Hey, Jeff,
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  real quick before we let you go, because I don't want to run out
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  of time right here. Leggie, what was your bold prediction that you had
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  on ESPN dot com for this game coming up here on Sunday. I read
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  this. I was floored your bold prediction for Broncos Raiders. I got the
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  man sty throwing two TV passes to tds against a pretty good Raiders past defense.
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  Tonio Pearce was bragging, they know him. Yeah, so we'll see
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  maxic six Crobies wants to wants to get after him. Hey, throw him
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  on the ground and stuff. But anyway, you know, you know,
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  they really need to find out if if Garrett is going to be in the
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  discussion or not. So I think they've got to let him play a little
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  bit more than they did last week. Yeah. I don't uh, I
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  don't see a world in which he is in Jeff Legwaald, everybody, ESPN
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  dot Com, Leggie, that was spirited. We enjoyed it. Thanks many.
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  Yeah, that was probably the quietest least yelling disagreement in radio history.
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  It's uh, hey, hey, we're just it's work. This is an
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  exchange of ideas is what this is. Okay, a regular Iroquois round table.
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  That's why I want Leggy and studio next time. Yeah, let's uh,
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  LEGGI, let's do it in studio soon when uh as soon as Andy's
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  not gonna give you the play. Yeah, we'll figure it out. Thanks
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  Fellows, all right, JEFFLEGWADESPN dot com Jeff Legwald Brought to you by Betsafe
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