Zach, how are you? JR, I'm doing great. How are you doing? I'm excellent.
I appreciate the time and you coming on. I guess the first question out of the box, we have heard Sean Payton be so effusive in the past about the selection of Bo Nix at number 12, and now he's kind of just slowed things down in naming a starter. What's he waiting for?
Yeah, he's waiting on the next 24 hours JR. I think in the next 24 hours tomorrow morning, I believe he's going to tell the team that Bo Nix is their week one starting quarterback, because like you said, he has been all in on Bo Nix. He put all his chips in on Bo. Despite being the sixth quarterback taken, Sean Payton has not talked about Bo Nix as the sixth quarterback in the draft. He identified him when he went out to Eugene to have a private workout with Bo, and this has been his guy. And throughout training camp, the final three weeks of camp, after a rough first week in camp, the final three weeks of camp, Bo Nix continued to just take off in his development, and obviously we've all seen it in the two preseason games, 23 of 30, 205 yards, two touchdowns, led his team to scoring every single possession that his tight end did not fumble. Six of seven possessions ended in scores. That one that didn't, he had a tight end that fumbled. So he is the guy.
It's only a matter of time until he's named the guy. Oh, Zach, what does that mean for the other two quarterbacks? We know Stidham is the most experienced. You can take a look at Zach Wilson. I've heard good things are happening with Zach. And so how does that bear out? Are they going to run around with three QBs on a roster?
You know, they very well might do that. And I got to give all the credit in the world to Zach Wilson, because the offseason was rough for him. He did not look good in OTAs. He did not look good in mandatory minicamps. In the first half at training camp, he did not look like he was going to make this roster. However, he really has developed nicely over these final two weeks of training camp to where he has a shot to make this team, but he would make it as the third quarterback on this team, because if Sean Payton stays true to his word, and it's about truly finding the best 53 guys on this roster, Jared Stidham is a better quarterback than Zach Wilson right now. But I could see them keeping three. And in fact, that's my guess is they do keep three because of Zach Wilson's talent and his development. And I know that Sean Payton thinks that there was no worse place for Zach Wilson to go to develop as a quarterback than the New York Jets. So he still sees that number two talent in Zach Wilson. And that's why I think Jared Stidham will be the backup and they will keep Zach Wilson as that third guy. Yeah, we all heard how Sean Payton feels about the Jets offensive coordinator in the thing.
Oh, yeah, we do. Zach Stevens is joining us. Denver Broncos beat. Well, is there a reality as we get into the season that if a quarterback goes down on another team, I mean, could a team look at Zach Wilson and go, we'll trade for him or is he kind of going to get stashed away on Denver? You know, that's one thing that I think if the Broncos were to release Zach Wilson, he would get picked up by another team. So there's a chance that the quarterback goes down that a team trades for him. But look, Zach Wilson is more of a developmental project right now. He's the Sam Darnold of one year ago, where Sam Darnold went to San Francisco, got to just breathe Kyle Shanahan's air that he was in. And then he goes out and gets $10 million on the open market. That is what Sean Payton wants to do for Zach Wilson.
Just have him be around him for a year, soak up that knowledge. And then he hopes Zach Wilson can ideally be the Broncos backup quarterback moving forward. Jared Smith has one year left on his deal. I don't expect the team to go out and make a strong push to get Zach Wilson to be their starter right now, especially after a poor preseason performance in the second game. He was really sharp in week one. But he could he could change that with a strong third preseason game this week where I expect him to play a lot. Well, Zach, you think about the quarterbacks outside of a Cortland Sutton. Who's going to be the guy to step up where they can get the ball of somebody reliable?
Yeah, it's a great question. And one of the things Sean Payton has tried to do with his Broncos team is make their receiving core huge. And that's what you have. You have Cortland Sutton who's 6'3". You have Tim Patrick coming back from back to back season ending injuries, who actually might lead the team in catches because he's going to be that Mr. Reliable for Bo Nix as a rookie.
And then you picked up Josh Reynolds from Detroit. He's also big. He's skinny, but he's tall. And then the Broncos have this seventh round rookie Devon Bailey out of Utah.
He is Tim Patrick 2.0. And he has been the best Broncos receiver that that's young. They've got Marvin Mims. They've got Troy Franklin, but it's been the seventh round rookie Devon Bailey who's really stole the show. And I mentioned Troy Franklin and Marvin Mims. Those are two speed guys.
They've kind of been nonexistent in training camp and in the preseason. So it's going to be a group of really big receivers. And Sean Payton points back to this game in 1998 where he was on the opposite side and the other team had tons of big receivers. And he said, that's what I want on this Denver Broncos team this year. And so that's what it's going to be.
It's going to be a receiving group by committee, but it's going to be a big committee in terms of their height. Well, Zach, you mentioned Troy Franklin. Is he kind of sticking around because he played at Oregon with Bo Nix? Like if he's not producing, is he just there to see if they build some type of camaraderie eventually?
Yeah, I mean, that's what it's looking like right now. Plus, the Broncos traded up in the fourth round to go and get him. So they've got a lot invested in him. But Troy Franklin was obviously the connection with with Bo Nix and the connection with just being such a big play threat that the Broncos offense is so desperately lacked.
It seemed like a home run pick. But Troy Franklin has dropped about half the passes that have come his way in training camp and he is not moving his way up the depth chart. In fact, it's looking like he's going to have a redshirt year really sitting back. And if it wasn't for his fourth round pick selection, he wouldn't be making this football team this year. Now, that's not to say that he's not going to develop into something, but people should be looking at 2025 and beyond for Troy Franklin, not 2024. Zach Stevens is here with us from DNVR Sports. Zach, the defense stunk last year.
OK, there's no other way to put it. Justin Simmons is now gone. You bring in a John Franklin Myers.
You still have certain. But overall, what's the expectation from this defense? How are they going to kind of keep things even with likely a rookie quarterback at the helm on the other side? Well, you mentioned they stunk last year. I don't think they're going to give up 70 points in a single game this year.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that. But it's all about making this defensive line better. You mentioned they lost some big pieces in the secondary. They lost Justin Simmons. They lost Kareem Jackson.
They lost their starting inside linebacker, Josie Jewell. But they beefed up their run defense. One of the biggest issues with this Broncos team last year was they could not stop the run for the life of them. In fact, they had a four-game stretch that was the worst run defense in Denver Broncos history. They gave up nearly 1,000 yards rushing in a four-game stretch last year. So that was the number one thing that George Payton and Sean Payton pointed to at the end of the season. They said, we need to go beef up our run defense.
And they did that. They got a guy by the name of Malcolm Roach from the Saints. Sean Payton knew him because Sean Payton brought him in as an undrafted rookie a few years ago. And he was one of the best run stoppers in the league.
They traded for pennies on the dollar. They got John Franklin Myers from the Jets. So they've got a much improved run defense. The key with the defense, because they still have Pat Sertan, I believe the best cornerback in the NFL.
The key is going to be can they get any pass production or pass rush production from a bunch of young guys that they have. A Nick Bonito who was a former second round pick. A Baron Browning who was a former third round pick.
He was the third round pick on Jonah Ellis this year. Can one of these guys get a double-digit sack season and be a beast in rushing the quarterback? Because they haven't had a ten-sack person since 2018 when Bradley Chubb and Von Miller did it. That's a long time without having a guy with double-digit sacks. In fact, in the NFL since that time, there's been 126 different players with a ten-sack season.
The Broncos have zero of them. I can relate. I'm here in Atlanta. We go back two more years prior to that.
So I can relate. Zach Stevens is here with us, Broncos beat reporter. The team started off awful last year. We're talking one and five.
They were able to basically even things out towards the end, eight and nine. What is the expectation from the fan base this season? From a general consensus, I don't think it'll be 500. This is strictly who's going to develop as we build for the future, right? The record is sort of irrelevant? Yeah, well it's all about the Bo Show. And it's if Bo Nix can become that guy to compete in an extremely competitive AFC West. We've got Justin Herbert.
You obviously have Patrick Mahomes. Thankfully, the Raiders don't have their guy in terms of a Broncos perspective because if the Raiders find their guy and the Broncos are without a quarterback, oh my goodness. That is not just going to be a tough year or two. That's going to be a tough decade for the Broncos. So it's really about finding the guy before the Raiders do to be able to compete in the AFC West. But what I will say is this Broncos team expectations are much higher internally than they are on the outside. I believe the Broncos win total in Vegas is five and a half right now. The Broncos and Sean Payton expect to blow that out of the water.
So from an external standpoint, people probably aren't looking at the Broncos as being a 500 team at all. Sean Payton will be very disappointed if this team is not as good as they were last year, which was a mediocre eight and nine. But they lost Russell Wilson, took on the biggest dead cap in NFL history to do that. They moved on from Justin Simmons. So I understand why the nation expects them to take a big step down. But Sean Payton thinks that they actually got better at the quarterback position, better on defense.
So the expectations internally are very different than outside. And how has Sean Payton been? His attitude moving into year number two last year, kind of prickly.
I mean, whether it was Russell Wilson or even the old coach who had nothing to do with them anymore. Is he a little bit more toned down? Is his attitude still the same?
You know, he is a little more toned down. In fact, earlier this offseason, he admitted the quote he said was, yeah, last year I guess I came in and I was peeing on trees, kind of just marking his territory. And that's what he did.
He was very intense, not just inside the building, but outside the building. And he has taken a step back. This is his team. Last year it was not his team, specifically at the quarterback position. Now it's his team. Bonex not only fits in with what he wants to do on the field, but he fits in with the personality of who he wants leading this team. Justin Simmons, a great leader for most teams, not the type of leader that Sean Payton wanted. So he moved on from half of the captains from last year in order to make this his team.
It finally is his team. And we're seeing a little different Sean Payton. The phrase he's using is this Broncos team is young and hungry.
And he said young and hungry can be very dangerous. So that's what they're relying on here. They're relying on a young team that will embrace their head coach and take after the coaching because he doesn't think last year's team was very open and responsive to coaching.
He believes this team is. Well, he thinks that they're going to be, you know, I guess close to 500 or maybe better than what they were last year. What do you think they're going to look like, Zach? I think they are going to be better than the five and a half win total in Vegas. I think they might take a little bit of a step down, maybe seven and ten.
I could see them being eight and nine. I do think that Bo Nix is exactly what Sean Payton wants as a quarterback. And I think Sean Payton is going to do a fantastic job of not forcing him into a Sean Payton system, but instead bringing in the Oregon offense to the Denver Broncos and really helping his development. And that is so key to help young quarterbacks transition along. And I think Bo Nix is going to be a guy that at the end of this season, the nation is talking about as being one of the really good young quarterbacks in this game. He's not going to be anywhere close to the elite level yet, but he is going to surprise a lot of people. And I think at the end of the season, we're going to be saying, man, he was the sixth quarterback taken when he was better than J.J. McCarthy. And obviously McCarthy with the injury. You can't judge him this year.
Better than Drake may. And I think people are going to be saying, OK, this Broncos team is going to be going to be making a push for the playoffs and will be a playoff team in 2025. OK, well, we're going to see. I'd love to see it.
I love a good surprise. Hey, Zach, where can people keep up with you and all your work with the NVR sports? Man, over at Twitter, Zach Stevens, the NVR, where I'm over at the Broncos every single day covering them. And I really appreciate you having me on. And like I said, stay tuned tomorrow morning.
I think we might find out some information on Bo Nix officially being named the quarterback in just a matter of time. Thank you so much, Zach. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me on, J.R.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-08-20 20:28:50 / 2024-08-20 20:35:02 / 6