Denver Broncos 2024 Season Preview | In-Depth Analysis with Chris Tomasson

all right we're talking Denver Broncos football on the ourlads football network ourlads football YouTube channel thanks for tuning in and if you're a Denver Bronco fan uh then you know that Chris tomasson is going to be with us here to uh preview the season for Denver talk about the camp battles that took place and also update uh the latest uh possibly on the Final Cuts which are going to be coming down the pike here in just a matter of hours uh Chris thanks for doing this again hey thanks for having me really appreciate it I know it was uh tough you and I I don't think we've had a tougher time putting this together over the last few weeks but we finally found an opportunity to get it done perfect timing just before the cuts so let's go right after that uh Chris let's talk about uh are which specific Final Cuts would are going to be the hardest for Sean pton and um and George Payton to make in the next few hours well there kind of loaded at wide receiver and uh there's going to be some tough Cuts there I imagine they probably end up keeping their two rookies Troy Franklin and Devon V but uh you know there's some solid wide receivers who are on the bubble you know Brandon Johnson Lil Jordan Humphrey who both were on the roster last year Jaylen Virgil who was on the roster two years ago so receivers going to be tough and uh quarterback's going to be tough because they had some good young guys that have stepped up I mean Chris Abrams drain a draft pick I think he makes the team but uh at the expense of who Jamari matthysse hurt his ankle on uh in Sunday's game so uh you know Shawn Peyton said it's not serious but maybe he's a candidate for the shortterm IR because as you well know there's a new rule that on Tuesday the day of the Cuts you can put up to two guys on the IR and they would miss at the uh that they would have to miss just at least four games and possibly could be back after that previously if you put a guy in IR before the final 53 was said he was definitely out the rest of the season so uh you know that's added uh some extra spots for um the Broncos so you figure if they put two guys there they're up to 55 then they've got two guys that are going to go on the pup list in uh Drew Sanders and delir and Turner Yale so you know that's up to 57 they can keep but every everybody else probably then gets exposed to waivers or is outright released if they're a vested veteran uh which of the college free agents the ones that were not drafted which have any of them uh look good enough uh that they're going to be considered for a roster spot well last year the Broncos kept four of those wow this year lval Bailey might be the only one with a realistic chance of being an undrafted free agent and makes the 53 he's a linebacker out of Fresno State he uh was up and down yesterday he uh both Shawn Payton and he admitted he had two terrible plays on a Drive in which uh they resulted in gains for the Cardinals they they beat Arizona 38 to2 yesterday and then lo and behold he grabs an interception and returns to 94 yards for a touchdown on national TV and there's a massive celebration in the end zone so he certainly has a shot of making it at inside linebacker and uh he certainly got a lot of pub with his interception so if he were to get waved who knows uh another team might pick him up after that but uh he's really probably the only one I mean Blake Watson is a running back who's gonna be waved most likely and go to the practice squad most likely but other than that but other than that there's I wouldn't say there's any candidates for the 53 any surprising veteran Cuts or trades including maybe uh samaji purine yeah I don't think samaji perang would be a surprise they didn't play him yesterday wouldn't be surprised if they're looking to potentially trade him I mean at running back it seems like there's three guys that they're will keep and uh that will be of course Javonte Williams Jalia McGloin and audri ese the rookie out of Notre Dame and I mentioned Blake Watson going to the practice squad Tyler batty going to the practice squad some py if they can't trade him he potentially could just be an outright cut because estim the rookie from Notre Dame he kind of matches a lot of his skills not quite the pass receiver that perine is but they would save three million by letting perine go yeah that's riding on the wall right there okay so uh let's talk about the quarterback position and Bo Knicks has obviously had himself a hell of a preseason and and more more than likely kind of felt that the job was eventually going to be his at some point this season but I guess he's looks so good so early that it was just inevitable that he was going to be the man so uh let's start with Nicks uh how do you think he's looked are you surprised that he's looked so good and what else does he have to do to improve himself and what you've seen I was a little surprised that he initially looked so good because Jared stum had been the leader throughout spring and training camp and then they go into the first pre-season game and B Knicks he had a couple incompletions but after that he just took off he showed Poise and then he was even better in the second preseason game against Green Bay when he completed eight of nine passes for 80 yards but when he went into the Green Bay game I mean the job was already pretty much his unless he totally fell on his face he's showing great Poise um you know with any rookie he's got to learn to earn the trust to become an immediate leader on the team of most guys who are older than him and then also Shawn pton has mentioned some things about his footwork and and that sort of thing but uh we'll have to see how he looks when the Seattle game the opener arrives on September 8th because he's going to be thrown into a hostile environment with the twel up in Seattle I mean obviously in the pre-season he had one road game it was at Indianapolis but you're not going to run into a rockus crowd in the pre-season lots of empty seats so he's uh definitely gonna be thrown in the fire early all right and so speaking of stum uh is he is he a is he a lock to make the team I mean I heard some you know he wasn't obviously wasn't very happy made some comments I'm sure coaches might say that's what I want to hear I mean I'm glad he's not happy I don't want him to be happy uh do you suspect that that's that's all that is and that he's definitely entrenched as the veteran number two uh and then also uh Zack Wilson I mean I'm a Jet fan so I know about Zach Wilson more than anybody and I was very happy to see what I saw only in preseason games I have no idea what went on to practice but he certainly looked pretty good in the preseason so I was glad to see that the kid got a great arm I think if he's around Shawn Payton for a few years and I'm not sure he's going to be but I think if he was that's just going to be great for him so uh it did him definitely entrenched as the number two well backing up a little bit Sean Payton said they definitely will keep three quarterbacks on the uh 53 man roster and you mentioned stum being unhappy I mean he came out and said I'm a starting NFL career quarterback which I thought was a little bit odd for a guy who started four games in five years I mean yeah that that's a bit excessive and uh I mean it was quite obvious even going into the Green Bay game that b Knicks was going to be the starter and uh I I guess you know word didn't reach Mr stum until late but uh his comments you know were strong stronger than I might have anticipated uh but the backup job he hasn't announced it yet at Shawn pyton so we'll have to see I mean they've got uh two weeks of practice before the opener and uh I presume he won't be announcing that until a couple days before the Seattle game if he even does announce it uh you know Zach Wilson really came on late in the preseason and um he looked very solid against the Cardinals there and um you know one reason they like did him also is because of him being the veteran and being able to work with young bonick in the quarterback room so that's just important for the Broncos as him potentially being ready to come out of the the bullpen is there any chance that Zack Wilson will be with the Broncos after this season after this season yeah I mean I would think the only chance that happens is if bonick falters and doesn't look great and they tell Zack Wilson he can compete for the job or if if uh bonck you know certainly nobody hopes this happens you know sustains uh some sort of injury that might limit him moving forward but uh you know we'll have to see I mean if if Zack Wilson sits on the bench all year and doesn't see any action I don't think his preseason performance exed he's not going to break the B bank and maybe he'll think he's progressed so much in practice with Payton that he's willing to come back on a backup type salary and because pton is making him a better quarterback and he's exercising his patience and then potentially comes back as the the definitive backup and then you know STM is moving on okay uh all right so what about uh let's stick with the offense jonte Williams because there's a lot of I know a lot of people thought well okay this is now that second year after the injury so they're expecting a lot from him but I I've been hearing conflicting reports on whether or not he's actually looking good so is he looking more like the player that they thought they had yet or is there still some worry that he's ready to be the man well Sean pton raved when he showed up for training camp stating he'd lost weight look swifter Williams said he lost 11 pounds uh by watching his diet he uh toughest thing he did he said he gave up snacking on Takis so uh basically Payton raved about him from day one because there was plenty in training camp I'm saying because there was plenty of speculation after audri ese was drafted uh this guy could replace him in the lineup and Williams played in two preseason games the first one at Indianapolis you know he was okay but then I think he solidified the starting job in the second one against Green Bay had three carries for 17 yards caught a 15 yard pass so he's definitely the starter and ese hasn't torn it up in training camp and the pre-season he lost a fumble in the preseason open that was returned for a touchdown so yeah Javonte Williams is definitely the starter and Julio McGlothlin is change of pace guy but he's become a more phys go back so he might be playing more I would think this season than he did last year as an undrafted rookie but uh we'll have to see how williams does I mean he closed last season with a number of games in a row in which he wasn't even averaging three yards a carry if that continues going into this season you know certainly they'll look elsewhere all right uh tight end doul uh another player coming back from injury uh what's the status there how's he looking well he looked okay he changed his gate the way that he ran during the off seon and uh he missed 15 games last year with hamstring issues seven the previous season and there was lots of talk about well are they going to give up on the sky they're going to draft the tight end which they didn't and uh overall he's looked uh fine but you know he's going to have to prove that he can play a number of games in a row to stay healthy and uh Adam Troutman is the starting tight end he's the guy that kind of gives them the best mix of blocking and catching they don't have a great wealth of tight ends who are good blockers dolch is still working on his blocking and Lucas Crow the number three tight end is a good receiver but hardly a great blocker they've got Nate Atkins who's the number four guy he probably makes it but here's the interesting thing about Atkins there's some speculation that maybe the Broncos don't go with a fullback throughout his career Payton has always had a fullback he likes Michael Burton a lot but Nate Atkins potentially could duplicate him he did line up at fullback in the preseason finale against Arizona and then caught a touchdown pass so that's going to be interesting to to watch what he does about with the fullback position and whether he maybe uses a tight end in Atkins at that spot okay uh next up is the receiving core so Mims a lot of people uh would expect that all right yeah this rookie season typical up and down up and down type of season but it's year two let's get going the guy's you know playmaker uh all this Talent uh but uh not hearing any really positive things outside of Denver from where I from where I'm at so is that the case is he struggled a little bit is or or is he okay well last year as you will know he looked really good in games at the start of the season and then mysteriously was hardly used at all few targets and week by week Payton said oh we got to get Mims more involved and it never really happened and then he pretty much uh said the thing in uh the same thing in like three different states earlier this year he said it in uh Indianapolis at the combine and he said at the owner's meeting in Florida and he said it in Colorado oh we got to use Mims more and uh he you know he had an okay training camp he didn't have any really great he caught a one-yard touchdown pass in the first preseason game so one would think they're going to try to use them more but there is a crowd at wide receiver I mean they did lose Jerry Judy but they get Tim Patrick back from missing two years due to injury and he's been looking good and they signed free Josh Reynolds and of course they have hold over courland Sutton so uh there's still a crowd at wide receiver and uh we're going to have to see how those uh number two three and four guys sort out after Sutton and if Mims is the number four guy he's not gonna get a lot of targets and so far uh nothing nobody's broken out as far as anybody outside those main receivers those top four including the two rookie draft picks uh I mentioned Devon Val he's been intriguing 6 foot five guy great range he's an older rookie 26 um I think he makes the team but again he's a rookie so there's a crowd at wide receiver I'd be surprised if he uh gets much playing time but hey you never know and then Troy Franklin went in the fourth round and he didn't exactly wow folks in training camp but they made such a big deal out of trading up for him on day three of the draft saying he should have gone in the second round he played with B Knicks at Oregon he should make the 53 I talked to him after the Arizona Game and he told me he expects flat out to make the 53 but he's a guy who's probably going to be inactive a lot okay the offensive line and the real big question is right down the middle so is this just hey is all this is all we got we're going with it or has somebody whether it's wattenberg has somebody like uh taken that position this strangle hold in that position yeah I'm the center I'm the starting center and I deserve to be the starting center yeah Luke wattenberg sees the job he um took over I mean a bit of a surprise considering that Sam muster with 44 career starts was signed as a free agent a lot of people thought okay well he's going to be the guy but uh he's been running number three the entire um spring and training camp in preseason and would be a surprise if he even makes the team and wenberg just kind of took control he's started being the guy in the spring and was pretty much the first team Center throughout the preseason and training camp didn't play in the preseason finale so he's the guy who's a starter and then they also have Alex uh foresight who of course uh played with bonix at Oregon but they've been working with him also at guard so he might be more of a a utility guy but wattenberg certainly looks like the guy uh are they in trouble if there's an injury or two on the offensive line uh or do they have adequate depth they're in trouble they don't have that much depth on the offensive line and you could see that at times during the pre-season with the reserve linemen I mean against the Cardinal Zack Wilson was sacked four times and uh often faced a heavy pass rush um they were very fortunate last year they had virtually no injuries on the offensive line and everybody started every game until the finale when Mike mcglinchy sat out with a rib injury but they were already eliminated from the playoffs then and they also had a season veteran cam Fleming last year as the swing tackle and then he filled in from mlin the last game they don't have that solid veteran type swing guy they did sign Matt per who who might be the uh swing tackle he played for the Giants but you know had five or six career starts and in four years or so so there's not much depth at all in the offensive line defensively uh let's take a look here at the depth chart the orans depth chart and the pass rush we talked about the good young inexpensive uh Edge rushers on this team and then they go out and get Jonah Ellis and I I I'm pretty sure I saw him make a play in that colt game but uh talk a little bit about uh this defense especially the front seven uh how confident are they that this front Seven's going to be better than last year yeah let's talk about the defensive line first I think that was the thing that they beefed up the most during the off season they added John Franklin Meyers as a defensive and and he was he's the most key addition I would say to the team in terms of you know excluding drafty bonck and uh then they also added Malcolm roach a free agent who had played for Payton previously at New Orleans and he's a very versatile guy he'll spell DJ Jones at the uh nose tackle position but also can play the ends and then the other starting end would will be Zach Allen who had a really nice training camp in preseason and he's starting to really come into his own his second year in the Denver system so defensive line looks good and the outside linebackers are solid I mean uh we've talked about them before they got three young guys and Jonathan Cooper and baron Browning and uh Nick Bonito Benito had some back issues during the preseason but overall looked pretty good and uh then Jonah Alis whom you mentioned a bit of a surprise that they took him in the third round but they thought he was just too good to pass up and he had an excellent preseason so it's going to be really interesting to see I mean he's going to be a key guy on special teams but it'll be interesting to see how much they incorporate him on defense so that's four guys so they're in pretty good shape even if they were to have an injury or two and Thomas Inu made the team last year as an undrafted rookie but he's definitely on the bubble this year okay uh inside Cody Barton is the new face so they're pretty happy with what they got there Singleton and Barton yeah yeah Cody Barton he was battling Jonas Griffith he missed all of last season with a torn ACL for the job at inside linebacker but Barton seized it although he was the only likely starter who played in the finale against the Cardinals I think they wanted one final look at him but he seems to have passed all all the tests uh so he looks uh decent uh Jonas Griffith uh I mean another veteran type and then uh we mentioned Justin sternad who's more of a special teams guy and then we talked about lval Bailey so uh yeah I mean Josie juel was a big leader on the team so that was a loss in terms of leadership on defense Alex Singleton is going to become more of a leader and he'll wear he'll wear the Green Dot calling the defensive plays like juel did last year and uh we'll get to the secondary in a minute but then they also lost Justin Simmons so that's kind of an issue on defense who's who are going to replace the leaders in juel and Simmons yeah and speaking of Simmons and that position there so uh Brandon Jones comes over from Miami and then of course uh PJ lock is there JL Skinner uh a little banged up last year I talked about when we went over the draft last year talked about how much I liked him at Boise didn't know whether or not he was a tweener didn't get a chance to play not sure how he's looked this preseason so without Simmons how's that safety room look well they like the signing of Brandon Jones but he sustained the hamstring injury missed a couple weeks of training camp and then as it turned out never got into a preseason game and Vance Joseph the defensive coordinator flat out said his Miss time was a concern because the safety position as you know relies on a lot of communication and not having him out there especially for any games at all and for a lot of practices he um expressed some concern but Brandon Jones said after the game on Sunday he considers him himself fully healthy ready to go against Seattle so he's one starter PJ lock is in trenched at the other starter he did some good things last year lock has vowed to be more of a leader I mean he's been around Denver for you know five or so years but last year was the first year really got any uh reasonable amount of playing time from scrimmage and then uh the reserve Skinner he's been up and down he didn't play much last year he's been making he's got a lot of talent but he's been making a lot of rookie mistakes penalties things of that nature and then the last spot seems to be a bit up for grabs I mean Devin ke could be the guy but hedron Smith who plays both cornerback and safety could possibly squeeze in for that last safety spot and with keyi maybe then going to the practice squad Smith had takeaways in each of the three preseason games he had an interception the first one an interception in the second which he returned 56 yards and then fumble recovering in the third so he's a guy that just seems to always be around the ball all right and then uh we take a look at the corner position of course Cains there one of the best in the business they look pretty good at the nickel and they also added uh Abrams drain uh we talked about him earlier uh so they seem to have uh their nickel position uh Set uh Moss uh this is going to be an opportunity for Moss is he the is at the position Mattis you talked about him being a little banged up is that really the uh the one position to look at at at corner that is going to be uh you know the PO a potential issue or concern um Moss didn't play yesterday against Arizona I kind of consider him the leader in the clubhouse you might say for the cornerback spot they had on the depth chart listed this is the right cornerback spot opposite pro bowler Pat San they had listed on the depth chart moss and matthys as an or in between Moss has seized has gone ahead of matthys and then of course matthys getting hurt now now he's unequivocally ahead of him the wild card in this is Levi Wallace who looked to be the leader potentially for the position early in training camp then he hurts his hamstring and he's out two weeks he missed the first two preseason games and then he finally played against the Cardinals starting so uh you know he's got uh two weeks now to have some spectacular practices if he has any hope of unseating moss to be the cornerback but as the Broncos of stress just because you start week one you're not anointed the starter for the entire season I mean last year matthysse started the first six games and was pretty bad they started one and five and then he was replaced with Fabi and Morrow so uh I mean Moss is leading candidate to start week one but that mean it's gonna stay that way the whole year yeah he was uh really good player at Iowa and they can definitely uh pull in some good DBS and there could be a load of them this year too to keep an eye on for next year's draft all right special teams the kicking game uh talk a little bit about uh so how's that punting situation well um Trenton Gil has made a a late run I mean it looked like Riley dick might be the guy the incumbent for a while he got all the punts against Indianapolis in the first preseason game when they actually didn't punt as much he only had two and uh then G Gil his first couple punts in the second preseason game were nothing impressive and then he just started booming the ball he had a 60 some yarder against the Packers and the second preseason game and then he booms a 73 Yer in the final preseason game it went into the end zone but hey it's still 53 net that's not too bad so uh it's gotten intriguing and they have to make up their mind here by Tuesday I mean they save 7 800,000 if they go with Gil the cheaper option and another thing that's interesting if you go with Dixon he's a vested veteran and then his Contra his contract which is you know million and a half or so becomes fully guaranteed after the first week if he's still on the roster and let's say let's say he you know they want to replace him you still got to pay him versus Gil's a guy you can cut any time and not have to pay him so I'm wondering if that's going to come into uh consideration but uh in the preseason just looking flat out at the numbers Gil was the better of the two punters okay well and then throw in that money and that's definitely a factor at least you would believe it would be okay and Lutz uh uh do you is the staff pretty confident uh being a veteran that he's gonna be able to make the big kicks when he need it yeah they they like him a lot I mean uh there was a big kicking battle last year in training camp as you remember then boom it ended when they acquired Lutz from New Orleans who previously kicked for Shawn pton and then he flirted with uh Jacksonville in free agency they were willing to give him a three-year deal and he looked like he was about to accept and then the Broncos uh swooped in and kicked in a little extra money on a two-year type deal so uh he's their guy Payton's used to him so that's that that definitely accounts for something and Mims at least I guess in a worst case scenario while he is trying to get his bearings as a receiver uh we know he's really good in the return game so uh he's definitely Return Man number one correct one would think so he didn't get many returns during the uh pre-season but the Broncos didn't show anything as a number of teams did I mean they I don't know what their strategy will be in week one they're they're working on it no doubt behind closed doors when the media is not watching so uh both turn and kicking off I mean we're going to we're going to have to see but one would assume that Mims would be the primary kickoff guy because obviously he led the league he didn't have enough attempts to qualify but led the league last year if he did in yards per return so it would be kind of foolish not to throw him back there but you need another guy back there as well and that's wide open because certainly the other team might just try to kick the ball away from Mims and then if they are kicking knuckle balls and grounders we'll have to see uh what ms's shortstop skills are like in scooping them up yeah this was uh an interesting preseason when it came to that new kickoff rule it just seemed like for the most part you saw a lot of kicks in the end zone uh we didn't learn anything or at least I don't think we did and you're wondering whether or not well are they just saving it for the regular season uh yeah yeah I I would think so I mean I was excited to watch the kickoffs in the pre-season but then they turned out to be incredibly boring yeah there was there was nothing to them and then late in the preseason finale the Broncos were just kicking it out of the end zone because that was one additional play that somebody could get injured on so I mean they've got Mike West off 76 years old one of the great special teams guys ever he's uh one of you know one of their special teams coaches and uh he's gonna come up with something I mean and they got Ben Cod who's a special teams coordinator I mean they've got something that they're gonna come up with and there's going to be some uh big time surprises I would imagine in week one Chris what's your uh what's your best guess on uh your feeling about this football team year two Shawn pyton they got the rookie quarterback out there though but look we saw CJ strad have a successful run as a rookie uh do you think B Knicks could have have that kind of run this year and you think Denver has a shot uh at maybe making some playoff noise this season uh playoff's going to be tough but I think they'll be better than most have projected I mean kind of the over under Victory total that has been thrown out has been five and a half I think they exceed that maybe you know seven or Poss possibly even eight wins like they had last season uh yeah the the season mostly hinges on how bonck looks I mean if he just gets better and better and better and even if they miss the playoffs they're having a losing record if he provides great optimism for the future I think that will uh excite the fans um one good thing is that he did so well in the preseason and he W the job easily it wasn't a case of he and stum were dead even and then it was a tough decision goes down to the wire they took Nicks and then there's then maybe he doesn't get off to a great start did they make the right decision so this is a guy that they're gonna roll with all right and again want to remind everybody that you can catch Chris's work at the gazette.com uh for the Denver Gazette you did you put your well you're going to have Denver gazette.com Denver gazette.com and uh yeah matter of fact let me see here let me put this over here pop this up and this is actually uh you can see here uh this is just one of the um stories here that you were working on uh following the game uh that was just last night uh with uh Jared stum being very disappointed in losing the quarterback battle you also have here some of the work here all the way down the line so you could check out uh Chris's work here again at Denver gazette.com and uh Chris uh do you have any podcasts that you do on your own or do you just pop up now and then on interviews uh we'll have podcast posted on the Denver Gazette website throughout the season you know usually one every week all right Chris I really appreciate it uh thanks for hanging in there with me putting this together and I look forward to talking to you d the season all right thanks for having me on there Greg