Zach Wilson is THRIVING outside of NY! - ESPN reacts to Broncos' 38-12 preseason win over Cardinals

Sports NFL analyst Ryan Wilson and Ryan you know with Zach Wilson he's had such a polarizing career if you will in this game you know he showed flashes what we've seen with the Jets and then there were other times where he looked like he was still struggling what did you make of his performance and do you think he deserves to have a roster spot for the Broncos Chris good to see you I'm I'm chuckling a little bit to myself cuz producer Lucas is a big jets fan and he was probably infuriated to see how well uh we saw Zack Wilson play on this Sunday afternoon but I I think look I think it's been good to have a change of venue that's a cliche sometimes but also it's good to go somewhere where you have a quarterback's coach uh like Shawn pyton who has a history of getting the most out of these quarterbacks whether they're young or old we know about Drew Brees of course and I think this has been an opportunity for the pressure to be off Zack Wilson with the understanding that a long shot to win the job coming in to training camp bonick has now been named the starter as the rookie and it's just him and Jared sdam battling out for number two and you could argue that it's a pretty close race and Shawn pton who has not been one to shy away from making harsh remarks based on how people are playing has been pretty laudatory in terms of the way he's talked about Zack Wilson we've seen the arm strength we've seen the athleticism we've seen the mistakes at times this preseason but I thought this game was a pretty clean game I think he deserves to make the roster you can keep three quarterbacks but it's important to remember for as good as we feel about Zach Wilson and and how his confidence probably is right now he was playing against a bunch of backups today so that's important to keep in mind uh he's not not yet ready to challenge for for qb1 but look to step in the right direction maybe that gets his this gets his career jump started back in the right direction right and again as you said the pressure is off him he's not expected to be qb1 whatsoever now it is his time to learn behind B Knicks and maybe perhaps Jared sdam as well when we talk about Bo Nicks though in this offense as Shawn pyton builds around this rookie QB out of Oregon what are your expectations for this guy and the offense I mean this in the best possible way but I think Shawn pton plan is to have B knck be a game manager and that's not a a negative uh thought about what B knck can do it's just an understanding that he's a rookie he's an older rookie he's 24 but you're not going to come in and ask him to do what Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes does and if you get 65% of CJ Stout in year one then you've hit an absolute Grand Slam uh the Athletics Diana Rini wrote about this uh in recent days she said that Shawn pyton told her they knew 16 snaps into that pro day that that was going to be their guy and they went and got him 12th overall back in April all right so it's going to be fun to see in your eyes he's going to be a game manager and that's okay if you get the wins that's all that matters Ryan Wilson we appreciate the time man and for more from Ryan Wilson you're going to want to check out with the first pick podcast Ryan is joined by longtime NFL general manager Rick Spielman multiple times each and every week as the clock ticks closer to the 2025 NFL draft with the first pick is available wherever you get your podcast [Music] time now to head back out to Denver where we are joined by two members of the team who called the game Tiki Barber and Jason mordi and guys Zack Wilson the pressure is not on him like it was in New York but I think he showed a lot of great flashes in this game when you look at how he performed Jason during this entire preseason but specifically in this game do you think he deserves to make the roster yeah Zach has played well enough to make if it's not the Denver Broncos roster is one of these other 31 teams and the one thing that he said and also Shawn pyton said just having fun playing football again we know what his career was like with the New York Jets he gets a brand new start here and in offense that Shawn Payton is a really good teacher as you know best tiki and he's done a really good job of learning his offense and executing yeah and Shan want takes pride in being a a a teacher of quarterbacks and and putting them in the position to exceed and Excel and the one thing we saw with Zach today what he he wasn't afraid to let it rip yes they were there were times when in New York and obviously being a Sports Talk radio host in New York I got to criticize this and talk about this at a very uh on on a frequent amount of time but I think what we saw today is he felt free he again you mentioned it Chris there's no pressure on him to be the starter and so it's about learning it's about taking some risk but also doing the things that we know he can do he's got an amazing arm uh he's got great uh precision and and accuracy it's just a matter of doing the right things and making the right decisions all the time for him that's right that's what separates the good QBs from the great QBs consistency now speaking about other QBs Bo Nicks he's looked like he's learning really fast with the Shawn Peyton offense what are you expecting Tiki from how this offense is going to evolve with Bo Nicks under Center well I think Shawn Peyton has as an aside before I get to that he has a really tough decision in his wide receiver room there's so many talented young big fast wide receivers that some of the veterans may be on their way out intersection I think Shawn pton believes that he's smart enough he's got enough of a skill set physically emotionally to be that guy for this team and and solve this I mean feels like a decade long quarterback conundrum that the Denver Broncos have have had uh the one thing that helps him and this has been talked about so often he played a long time in college and he's a smart player he's aware he's seen almost everything yeah you can see that and the one thing we've seen from him in the preseason is quick fast decisions and the right one at that so you can't see we'll see when this season starts of what this offense is going to look like but you got to imagine the more snaps that b Nick sees the better this offense will be yeah very promising future it looks like for the Denver Broncos on the other side TK I know you had a chance to sit down with Kyler Murray he's going to be loving his new weapon and Marvin Harrison Jr what are your expectations for this Cardinals offense as they look to get back to to where they were in years prior yeah they do have some good wide receivers on this team Marvin Harrison Jr seems like he's a professional already he hasn't played a real game yet but Michael Wilson going into a second year he should evolve Greg duich Trey McBride they're tight in is is one of those upand cominging really good receiving tight ends but I think for Kyler Murray it's about growing and maturing and becoming a leader I mean I've known him for a few years now cuz I met him right before the draft and he's very res deserved he's very quiet it could come off as timid and it doesn't feel like he's a leader but when I sat down and chatted with him one of the things he talked about was I needed to grow up like I needed to have there's a maturity that happen some guys come in right away pton Manning comes in right away he's a leader right just it just he just had it I think despite his youth success in high school and college uh and even his first couple years in the NFL Kyler Murray was still learning how to be an a leader of men it's different being a leader of of kids and and lower levels but when you get to this level there's some dudes in that locker room right no doubt about it and so I think his evolution is is is is continuing to happen as a leader for this Arizona offense and I think it's growing with John Ganon now coming in as a head coach as click as click Kingsbury exited and then also Drew pet gang the offensive coordinator they have a really good relationship and they talked about the things he's done in the offseason bringing all the receivers together and the one thing you said about his personality being quiet and Reserve John Ganon said there's a rage within him of when he gets on that football field that he's able to unleash right but to answer your question more specifically they're going to run the ball I mean last year without Kyler Murray for a lot of the season they ran for 23 almost 2400 yards the great running teams like the Baltimore Ravens over the Lamar Jackson era they run for almost 3,000 yards I can see this team this this Arizona Cardinals team being up at that level with him meaning Kyler with James uh Connor obviously Trey McBride or Trey Benson who they just drafted from Florida State they got a ton of running back talent in that room on that team yeah so if they can run the ball well that is just going to open up the passing game and create a lot of beautiful plays between Kyler Murray and his receiver weapons Tiki barara Jason mccordi we appreciate the time as always doing a great job thank you for spee spee for fore [Music] speech speee spe for for yeah for for [Music] [Music] spe spee for for spee spe for speee spe fore that