Nick Kosmider, Broncos Reporter for The Athletic

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Visit knorr.com to get quick and easy recipe ideas for your home-cooked weeknight dinners. It's not fast food, but it's so good! Who covers the Broncos for the Athletic? Nick, thank you for taking the time to join us. Absolutely, JR.

Thanks for having me, man. Without a shadow of a doubt, this is a Denver Broncos team. I mean, for all of the ups and downs and the Russell Wilson of it all, they went 8-9 last year. They draft Bo Nix, they bring in Zach Wilson, they have Stidham. I guess from the quarterback perspective, what can we look for? Is it like Bo Nix is likely to start this year, or is Stidham going to take a few games?

Yeah, it's going to be interesting to watch. I think, overall, the plan is to get Bo Nix ready to play this season and at the start of this season. They took him 12th overall. He was the sixth quarterback taken, but he was a guy that...

I talked to Greg Penner, the owner. He said that Sean Payton and George Payton, the general manager, they fell in love with Bo Nix about two months out from the draft. He was a guy that they had targeted, understanding that they weren't going to be in position to take a guy like Kayla Williams, of course, but really targeted him.

I think they've pushed that forward. Well, let me get this guy's name out of here. What is Zach Wilson going to be doing in another, I don't know, two months?

It's a great question. He's clearly third in the pecking order now. They've taken him out of the first string reps. He had just one of those during camp.

It seems like he's third. I think Zach Wilson was something of an insurance policy. If the Broncos weren't able to get a quarterback that they wanted to draft, then maybe they would have gone to the offseason with Jarrett Stidham and Zach Wilson left to battle it out and perhaps search for another free agent from there, whatever the case might have been.

Now that that didn't play out, look, Bo Nix is Sean Payton's guy. That's the guy he targeted. That's the guy they drafted in the first round, the first-round quarterback drafted by the Broncos since Paxton Lynch in 2016 who lost it all of four games here.

That's their guy. So Wilson, they might work him behind the scenes. It's possible they keep him as a third quarterback. But again, one year left on his deal, something of a reclamation project. I think he'll be a behind-the-scenes type of developmental player for the Broncos this year. Nick Kosmider is joining us, covers the Broncos for the athletic. You know, Sean Payton came on last year. We heard all the back and forth between he and Russell Wilson and his camp about his contract, his status.

We know he's now in Pittsburgh. Is this year the first year for Sean Payton? Is he getting a little bit of a mulligan or is people looking at him going, man, you better make this one work?

Yeah, you know, it's something of a mulligan. I think he came into that interview process last year. He understood what Russell Wilson's contract situation was.

I think the idea was, hey, I'm going to see if this can work. We have a lot of veteran players. He's here.

He's the big money quarterback guy, had a really bad 2022 season. But let's see what we can do. Let's see if this can mesh.

And it just never did. Stylistically, they're kind of worlds apart in terms of the way that they play. Sean Payton is very much predicated. His offense is very much predicated on getting the ball out quickly, taking very few sacks, being able to throw over the middle, all those kind of things that Russell Wilson at this point in his career struggles with.

And then just personality-wise, they're just different guys. And so I think this is his chance to kind of have his own quarterback to develop it. And it's something of a restart, but he will be kind of on the clock.

This is a group that isn't really expected to make the playoffs or anything like that, but they need to be showing that by the end of this season, it's a group that going into 2025 and they've got all their draft capital, free agency money to spend, that they can be ready to go ahead and win. Well, Nick, you know, Russell Wilson isn't the only guy from the offense who's gone. Jerry Judy, although overall, I would say he was a disappointment. He did rack up more than 700 yards receiving last season. We know Courtland Sutton will probably be target number one. Who else do you expect to eat up some of those yards that were lost with Judy now gone?

Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, you're going to have a lot of guys that are sort of in new roles for this team. A guy to watch that's been really good in training camp is Josh Reynolds. They got him on a pretty team friendly deal.

I think it was two years, 9 million guaranteed, up to $14 million can be earned in that contract. But when you look at his numbers across the board, they didn't compare that disfavorably to what Jerry Judy did here last year. He's a little bit taller. They really like the way that he blocks in the run game. And in camp, he's been a downfield threat.

I got a staff for EJR. Last year, there was 102 receivers in the NFL who caught at least 40 passes. Josh Reynolds was 13 out of those 102 in terms of average yards per catch at 15.2.

He's a guy that they think still has a ceiling to reach. He's a guy to watch. The other one is Marvin Mims. He was a rookie last year, second round pick out of Oklahoma, had some really big games early in the season, and then sort of struggled for them to find snaps for him behind Jerry Judy. He's going to take some of that spot now and be a guy to look for in terms of getting him out in space and letting his speed work. Those are a couple of guys to watch, but it's a pretty deep room in terms of competition, and it's going to be interesting to see who kind of steps up into one of those roles. Nick Cosmiter is here, covers the Broncos for the Athletic.

This is the JR Sport Reshow. You know, Jerry Judy, I don't think many folks are going to miss him. On a defense, though, Justin Simmons got the boot. He's still a free agent. What was the full deal there? Is it financial?

What's the deal? Yeah, that was another interesting one, right? He was the longest tenured player on this team. He was the only homegrown player that had experienced a winning season in Denver. That was during his rookie year in 2016 when the Broncos went 9-7, but still missed the playoffs. That was the first of now eight straight years in which they haven't made the postseason. But in these sort of lean years, he was a bright spot.

He's 30 interceptions since he entered the league more than anybody else in the NFL. But I think part of it was the crunch in part of the Russell Wilson decision to let him go and the Broncos $85 million in dead money over the next two seasons. And they took the bigger chunk of that this year, $53 million in dead money to have Russell Wilson go play for Pittsburgh. And so that had a lot of cascading financial ramifications where they don't try to re-sign a veteran linebacker like Josie Jewell. They don't try to re-sign a center who had had a great year last year and Lloyd Cushinberry.

They let those guys walk in for agency and replace them with kind of lower cost veterans. And it was the same deal at safety where Sean Payton partly read the safety market. There was a lot of guys that were in sort of that same position as Justin Simmons where the bottom just kind of fell out last year, or this offseason rather.

And he just kind of got caught up in that confluence of factors. And it is interesting, he's still a talented player, has been durable. Like I said, the ball production for Justin Simmons is there, but still not in a camp here on August 1st. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out. I wouldn't be surprised if he maybe ends up back in Philadelphia with Vic Fangio who obviously coached him for a few years here in Denver. Well we certainly know the Eagles have done a whole lot of drafting, a whole lot of signing to fix their own defensive back issues. Speaking of defensive backs, Pat Sertan is probably the biggest name on the Broncos defense now that Justin Simmons is elsewhere, elsewhere looking for a job. Not a lot of household names. Who and what should we look out for or expect from this Broncos defense?

Yeah, that's a great thing. That's part of the reason that people are not on the outside very high on the Broncos because you just look at the roster. You said it, JR. Everybody knows Pat Sertan. He's arguably the best cornerback or one of the best three cornerbacks in the NFL. Young player, already a two-time Pro Bowler, first team All-Pro.

He's that dude. But behind him, who do you even say is the most recognizable player on the Broncos behind him? It already might be Bo Nix, the quarterback, Quinn Miners, the guard is probably their next best player, but obviously that's not a name that's gonna really resonate league-wide. Alex Singleton's here.

Yeah, Alex Singleton. That's what we're talking about here. But the thing that the defense is really honing its hopes on is this ability to have the continuity of scheme pay off. This is the first time in years that the Broncos have had the same head coach, the same two coordinators come back and have the same schemes working. And I think you've seen that in camp.

They seem a little bit more connected. They understand what they're doing, but it is going to very much have to be a team thing. They've got pass rushers. Jonathan Cooper, Baron Browning are guys that are going into their fourth year. Took some leaps last year.

So they're looking for guys like that. Sort of somewhat under the radar, but now have some experience to hopefully take a leap this year. That's really what it's gonna take from a group like that. And then lastly, they did add in the front seven. Obviously John Franklin Myers from the Jets there. They pulled that trade off right as the draft was going on to really solidify, they hope, a run defense that was really poor last year. Also got Malcolm Roach, a run stuffer from New Orleans who had played for Sean Payton before.

Angelo Blackson, another veteran. They expect that group to be a lot better. It's looked better in camp. So those are some of the ways that they're trying to paint a picture of a defense that's going to be better this year, but there's a lot of unknowns based on just what you're saying.

A lot of new faces that are going to have to step up. And Nick Cosmona joins us courtesy of The Athletic. Sean Payton is obviously, he's the star of the team, right now at least.

There was so much beef whether he was talking about Nathaniel Hackett or whether he was getting into it with Russell Wilson. Does he smile? Does he seem like a happy guy? Does anybody like him in the building or does the fan base like him?

Who likes him? It's funny, the way that he said it last year, he came in trying to pee on all the trees. Stake his territory was sort of his words. He definitely came in hot last year and I think he did it so differently than Nathaniel Hackett. And I think more than he needed to wanted to just make that known.

And so that kind of created this energy early on that was kind of out in front, a little bit aggressive. This offseason has been different. He's been a lot more laid back.

He's been really kind of these long interviews with the media, very gracious in terms of the time that he's given to answer questions and things like that. I think part of that is ownership. They've connected in a way where it's just like, hey, we can be honest with each other about some of the things that we think we need to improve on. And I think having a quiet offseason and really trying to rid, you mentioned the word drama. There was a lot of drama around the Broncos last year, whether it was all the Russell Wilson stuff, the Sean Payton stuff that you mentioned that happened right at the start of training camp and kind of sizzled in the background all last year. That's the kind of stuff that they're trying to avoid and just keep it about ball. And I think so far this offseason, that's what you're seeing.

As a writer that enjoys kind of being able to write about some of these things that have national attention, I'm saying, hey, where's the juicy stuff? But honestly, that's kind of what this franchise needs is sort of this reset, work behind the scenes, under the radar, whatever it might be, and let the play do the talking. Well, Nick, you take a look at the AFC West.

We know who's at the top. It's the defending champs, the Chiefs. The Raiders are looking for their quarterback, at least maybe between two guys. And the Chargers, unfortunately, today we learn that their quarterback is going to be in a boot for a few weeks and they have a new head coach and a new system. Where do the Broncos slot in in all of this? Are they bottom two or are they fighting with the Chargers? What's the best case scenario or likeliest scenario for the Broncos this season?

Yeah, best case scenario is second place. I think that's what everybody's playing for, that you're second in the division, that you're good enough to put yourself into the mix for a wildcard spot. That's the thing about the AFC West now. You're not so much measuring yourself against the Chiefs. You're measuring yourself against the Texans, the Colts, the Jaguars, these teams that are kind of on the periphery, perhaps, of the playoff race. That's kind of where your focus has to be because when a team has a stranglehold over division, we saw it with New England for years, that's not your path to the postseason. And I think if you make it that, you're kind of setting yourself up to fail. But that being said, I think this is a group that, this AFC West group that you look around and exactly what you said, the quarterback uncertainty exists with the Raiders, with their first-year coach in Antonio Pierce.

So there's a lot for them to figure out. That's a group that I think is going to take some time. And the Chargers obviously have a guy in Jim Harbaugh who's won a lot of games at every level he's been at. But we'll have to see obviously with the Justin Herbert injury, whether that lingers into the season and all those sort of things. The Broncos just have to get off to a better start. They played some good football at times last year.

You mentioned that they were 8-9, but they were 1-5 to start the season, lost a couple close games. They probably soon enough, that's really the only chance that they have to kind of exceed the low expectations is go to Seattle week one, find a way to get a win there, come home, beat Russell Wilson at home before you go on a two-game road trip to Tampa Bay in New York. They've got to get themselves off to a better start.

And then you can kind of say, all right, well now we can look at the schedule and say, we can steal a couple here and maybe give ourselves a chance. But yeah, behind the Chiefs, it's kind of wide open. They got to start with beating the Raiders. They haven't beaten the Raiders since 2019, which is crazy when you consider that the Raiders have kind of been a dumpster fire themselves over that time. So that's where it's got to start first and foremost for Denver. Hey Nick, there's no 70-point ass whoopings this year, right? Not this year, right?

Oh man. You know, it's funny, I was saying to somebody today, how open do you think that the Broncos players would be if I wanted to conduct an oral history of that event one year later, you know, rehashing that? I don't think they're quite ready to visit that. You know, they talked about it in hushed tones. I was there that day in Miami, man. That was something I'll never forget. Well, at least you were there in Miami. That's the positive part of it, right?

That's the consolation prize. Yeah, absolutely. My man. Hey Nick, thank you so much for taking the time to join us. Where can people find you online and follow all of your great work with The Athletic?

Yeah, go to TheAthletic.com slash Broncos would be the first thing I'd say. You know, camp updates every day, feature stories, and just, you know, we got a great setup there to kind of keep track of the team all year long. Hey listen, for your sake, I hope we get some drama. For mine too. We'll talk to you soon, Nick, okay? All right.

Yeah, thanks a lot, man. There it is again. It's like music to your ears, or more like music to your nose. That freshness is irresistible. Let's get a Downy Unstoppables bottle shake. And now a sniff solo. And now a sniff solo. Nice. Get six times longer lasting freshness plus odor protection with Downy Unstoppables and wash scent beads.