Then I need you to do three things here. Three things, okay,
three things today. First things, First, I need you to get your
picture taken next to Gwyneth Paltrow at a cold Play concert wearing a gold suit
made of rich Corinthian leather and a top gun v neck tshirt. Then I
need you to link up with Chris Baron Spin Doctors write a song about Broncos
country tonight called state Sponsored. Okay, you need to pair up with Stetson
cologne. Oh God, create your own blend. If you get all three
of those things done, you have a sevent chance of getting back on the
Taking It for Granted podcast. Wow, you got like every reference for the
last five years and there that is well done. Certain wells a boss.
Yeah, that's that was phenomenal. Absolutely crushed it last time. And I
got to call myself out here a minute, but we'll get to that a
Second's go to the kn't wait comm Sparrel hotline and bring out our buddy Lance
Sanderson for mile hio huddle. Lance, how you do this evening? Good
Dan. It's always fun to be on with the guy that has the best
fashion sense in all of Denver media. That being, you know, Grant
Smith with the mustache and the beard combination. But I would say the same
thing about you. But you've got that diet Sterling Archer vibe all about you
right now. That's you. I can give you too many compliments. Diet
Sterling Archer is still in the top point one percent of the one percent of
fashion icons, so I'll take it. I accidentally, before we hit the
brake, for those of you expecting, the basketball player for the Iowa Wolves
suggested that Lance Stevenson was coming on because I was looking at a meme of
him blowing in Lebron's ear, and so I accidentally called you Lance Stevenson.
So I am. I'm glad that we were able to give our audience something
better than the mean guy who blew in Lebron's ear. Well, you know
what, if I could be at least halfway as famous as Ryan Stevenson.
I think I'm doing all right for myself anyways, buddy, but it's always
fun to beyond. Man. How you doing, I'm doing built pretty well,
man doing pretty well. I'm glad we got to play that clip because
that was at all time cram as many references in moment, and Nick and
I I certainly appreciated that we got the you know over in the middle of
the Broncos off season, and it has been an interesting off season so far,
interesting in the sense that it's been mostly quiet, despite the fact that
the Denver Broncos have moved on from a major quarterback and drafted a quarterback in
the first round for the uh, you know, for the first time in
a long time. It's it's it's sort of fascinating to watch this evolution of
Sean Payton as well, because I don't know if you've seen it, but
Sean Payton appears to be a guy who has refound his joy. I think
a big part of it, and we're talking about a little bit about it
with stink On earlier. I didn't touch before conversation, but just the the
toxic positivity that you have coined here on Broncos Country and going around in that
building, you know, where everything's butterflies and rainbows. We've got the film
crewing around the YadA YadA yad of the whole Nathaniel Hackett, just a backle
of that era, cleansing the building of that building, your own culture and
getting a guy in there that apparently you have grown to come and love in.
Bo Nixon really was the guy that he were gonna be trying to move
forward with this franchise. I mean, getting the people that you trust in
the building, getting the people at the toxic positivity. The people don't really
don't mess well with what you want to do, not only within the building,
but out on the field. I mean, running the offense is as
it's written up, you know, playing within the structure of the offense,
throwing the ball with timing, anticipation, rhythm, accuracy, stuff like that,
all those things that Russell Wilson really didn't do last season. This year,
I think we're kind of seeing Sean Payton take a little bit of a
step back, understanding the situation a little bit better, knowing that he has
a quarterback that he can trust to go out there and at least try to
operate this offense in the way that it was designed. I'm gonna fall out
and say it, I do expect bo Nicks to be the day once and
I think that because of what he does on the football field, Sean Payton
is kind of a little bit giddy with himself right now and like you said,
refound his love for the game of football. It felt like last year
in a lot of times he was kind of sour. We saw that relationship
with Russell Wilson, especially with the apex of it feeling like the explosion there
on the sideline in Detroit. But yeah, all right, he is kind
of more jovial than he has been, less mercurial, and sort of seems
like that he's enjoying himself. And maybe that is the byproduct of the Bonix
thing, which you know, I think everybody's sort of the organizationally hopes that
that will be QB one on day one. Whether or not that that comes
to fruition remains to be seen. But as we look around this roster and
George Peyton has been somebody that is that has been much maligned. He has
his missteps, I mean the Raddy Gregory signing, you know, et cetera.
But I think that if we're being honest, the talent level top to
bottom on the Broncos now is better than it was when George Payden got here.
Do you agree, Yeah, I would agree with that. It helps
that you hit on your number one overall draft pick. Well, I guess
number nine overall, the first pick you ever made and Land the number one
cornerback in the NFL and patser ten. That definitely helps a lot there.
But I think a big thing is, well, I agree that it is
better than what it was, it's still not quite exactly what it needs to
be to be successful moving forward, because especially at the skill position right now,
you've got so many injuries that you just don't know exactly how these players
are going to come back. Whether it's Javonte Williams coming back from that knee
injury again from last season, the way that he kind of slowed down towards
the tail end of the year last year. You've got Tim Patrick coming off
of the torn acl the torn achilles and back to back seasons. You've got
Greg Dolt that you seemingly cannot find a piece of wet tissue paper that is
stronger than his hamstring. Right now, there's so much talent here, but
the problem is it's all potential. It's all unrealized potential, and less we
can see these guys really step up on the field and put it all together
on a down in down out, game in game out basis, you really
just don't know exactly what this team is going to look like, specifically on
the offensive side of the football. Defensively, though, I really do think
that the Broncos has some key pieces to work with here, and I know
that Baron Browning again a player with a bunch of injuries, he flashes a
lot when he's out there on the field. Nick Benito took a big step
last year, even though there was some unblocked playmaking potential out of Nick Padido
last year that you've got again, Pats or can you hit on? Jawan
McMillan. PJ Locke really took another big step forward last year at such move
on from Justin Simmons. But I think the Broncos are in good hands at
least offensively, and then just to continue to build up that cornerback room with
a guy like Chris Abrastraint, who I really like out in Missouri. You
go get Levi Wallace to upgrave Favian Moreau. I do think that this team
is going in the right direction. But again, you got to go back
to just being healthy, seeing these guys out there for an entire season,
and getting away from that potential word, because I mean, yes, it's
nice to have players like a Courtland Sutton who's a very underappreciated wide receiver across
the NFL. But like Tim Patrick, you know, you've got Marvin Mims,
who really needs to take a step back a big step forward this year.
You've got Troy Franklin and I'm actually watching the tape up as we're talking
right now. I got a film breakdown coming on him here soon. There's
a lot of potential there. What does it actually look like with all in
sync on the field. That's the biggest question for me right now. All
I got from that was that you said the word in saying can you're looking
forward to a reunion tour? I'm getting I agree with you, and I
think the the you know, the obvious thing here is the potential energy to
kinetic energy sort of thing. Here. You go from being all this potential
into becoming consistent players, and I think that's a part of what this coaching
staff is tasked with doing. There's a collection of talent here, now turn
it into a successful football team. And that'll be the question as to how
quickly it is able to gel. I want to go back to something you
said, it's easy to it's easy to sort of build those something we need.
Your first draft pick right, but the media was all saying that he
was wrong. The media was all saying that why would you take a corner
there when a quarterback like Justin Fields was available. In fact, the media
was eviscerating Peyton from the beginning for not taking Justin Fields when in hindsight it
was the correct call along to draft Passer Tan. Yes it was. And
I was one of those people that was not necessarily a huge fan of the
Passer Tan picket. A big part of it was because of Justin Fields,
but also because I didn't necessarily know the ability of Patser Tan to really kind
of mold his way into the Vic Fangiel defense playing off the ball, playing
off more zone coverage when that mass quarters cover four kind of scheme that Vicdangel
liked to do. Then Vicdangiel kind of switched it around, ran some more
two man, put Passer Tan in press, and it turned out to be
one of the greatest marriages that we've seen for the Broncos in the past what
half decade or so. So to me, I always will go back to
the process and then you and not gone back and forth on this on Twitter
a handful of different times to me, the process at that particular point would
have been to take Justin Fields. But again, in hindsight, you've got
the best quarterback in the NFL. He's going to get a massive pay day,
hopefully here in Denver. Hopefully they can figure out the way to relay
the message that this team is building in a correct direction and not to go
chase that money somewhere else, you know, because that was absolutely the correct
pick, at least at this particular point in hindsight. Well, right,
and I think that you know this this team has been a bit hamstrong obviously
with the trades of or four Russell Wilson and Sean Payton. Know, we
finally are getting back, you know, we're back to having all our draft
picks. Did you find it at all interesting that the team hired David Shaw?
I did. Actually, that was something that I was kind of hoping
the Broncos would do in this last coaching search. Was really kind of give
David Shall a little bit more of a run. And I know that he
really didn't want to take that next leap right there, that the opportunity wasn't
quite right, But he's a very trusted member. At least was a trusted
member of Sean Payton's coaching staff, if I remember correctly, back in New
Orleans or even in I believe in New York as well. But no,
that was that was something that was very noteworthy to me to see a guy
that has not only cold stivated Andrew luck is one of the best quarterback prospects
we've ever seen, but multiple different first round picks, Andrews Steep, a
handful of other different players twenty eight I believe total drafted players across his tenure
as the head coach of the Stanford Cardinal. There a very widened respected football
man. And it just kind of it brings another kind of questions here on
what is the future of George Peyton. And I know that we just got
done talking about how George Payton has done a really good job of kind of
building this team with some talent, But this is a Sean Payton hier.
This is a guy that Sean Payton trusts, he knows is going to have
the right vision. He gave him a title that doesn't necessarily mean anything,
but he gets them inside the building. And I think that to me is
a really big noteworthy thing about that hiring. Yeah, and David Shaw worked
together with Sean Payton back at the Eagles. Back in ninety seven, he
was under John Gruden at the Raiders and was tasked with helping to elevate Rich
Gannon at quarterback, and then went on to the you know, the Ravens
as the quarterbacks receivers coach, before ultimately winding up at Stanford a little later
on Hardball staff. Yeah, it was interesting to me the senior personnel executive
title, little nebulous, you know, kind of wondering what exactly that means
and what role that he's going to Uh, he's going to take over.
But it's but it is sort of fascinating. I think you brought in Cody
Ragor before you bring in him. Sean Payton's getting his guys in the building.
As far as that goes and heat, you know, I don't know
if that's a direct kind of reason that he looks as sort of comfortable as
he does now, but it certainly can't hurt. What is the what is
the biggest storyline for you as we head into training camp? Yeah, it's
obviously the quarterback position, but quite honestly, I want to see what this
I kind of alluded to it. What do these skill positions look like going
forward? What does the running back room look like? Is Yvonte Williams still
going to be at Denver Bronco obviously going into a contract year this year,
coming off of a season where he did wear down late down the stretch.
You have some am JP Ryan who is probably the most trusted third down back
on this roster right now in terms of pass protection and ability out of the
backfield to just be kind of that safety net, that safety blanket for a
young quarterback in bon Nick. Then you've got Julil McLoughlin and then Blake Watson
who's a very intriguing player coming out of out of Memphis. Like the way
that this this and Audrey guess in there as well, the way this running
back room, how that's going to shape out is a very big storyline to
me. I think that we could see a surprise release here, maybe even
a trade, a potential trade of a Javonte Williams or a sama J.
P. Ryan. And then the big thing to me is what does this
wide receiver room look like? How exactly are they going to go about constructing
this thing, because they again they've got a lot of potential. They've got
a lot of talent there. They've got some injuries they've got to work their
way through. But I mean Courtland's Sutton contract here, he's he's looking like
he's going to be poised for a big time season this year. You've got
Marvin Mims, who I think is going to explode in a Brandon Cooks kind
of a role, running a bunch of crossing routes because his linear speed just
does so much to stress the field, not only vertically but horizontally. Kind
of going towards that. The Miami Dolphins here, if you will for just
a second. Here, they've got all that speed, and they've got Tyreek
Hill, They've got Jalen Waddell. You know, they can stretch the field
vertically, but they do so well stretching the field horizontally as well to open
up a bunch of gigantic throwing windows and create a bunch of explosive plays.
I think Sean Payton. When you've got a guy like Roy Flanklin, when
you've got a guy like Marvin Nim's, you've got Corton Sutton who can take
the top off a little bit in terms of a contestants catch kind of a
guy, and if Greg Dolfisch does stay healthy, dude like I was,
it's almost like a dream of mine to go back. I know that this
is going to sound crazy, but the one game, maybe really one half
that Nathaniel Hackett was in his bag as a play caller was when he had
Greg Dolfich and kJ Handler lined up on the same side of the field running
Swisch release verticals and they were actually able to exploit the Jacksonville Jaguars in London
a couple of years ago. So if you can get those guys healthy,
realize those potentials, you can really see this offense take a big step forward.
And obviously you've got a young quarterback. You don't know exactly the way
that that's going to play out, but getting easy, open throwing windows for
a guy with a little bit lesser arm talent in terms of ballville coming off
of his hand, it's gonna be a huge storyline moving forward. I'm looking
forward to Atlance. Where's my Lasagna? I knew we were gonna do.
My garden's growing. I've got like six cherry tomato plants. We've got a
whole bunch of stuff going on. Out there. Our rosemary is not doing
too great this year, unfortunately, but I've got fresh Italian sausage. I've
got elk meat for burger. We're gonna make some noodles. We're gonna do
our own marinara sauce. I've got fresh mozzarella and fresh cheddar tea this year.
My father in laws making some cheddar sees. So we'll do as a
good fresh lazagnia as soon as we can. Hopefully I'm gonna be down there
for the Mile Highuddle Meet and Greek. Just a shameless plug here. Week
two, the Steelers game. Mile Highuddle will be doing the meet and greet
as we do every single year, so I'm hoping to be down there that
weekend. Get ready to start a new job, so I'm not quite sure
exactly how that's gonna work out, but yeah, one of these days we
need to do a lasagna. I need to burn the steaks for you and
let's just have fun and have a beer. All right, must do it,
man, I'm looking forward to it. And he is Lance Sanderson from
Mile High Huddle. We always appreciate you coming on, Bud. It's always
great to have to just be able to come on, man, and I
try to say this to everybody whenever I get an opportunity to go on another
show. Just having a collaborative media environment, man like going on as many
shows and having as many different people talking with each other open up some different
perspectives. It is always great. Not only for me, I have a
grime doing it, but I think it helps edify our fan base. We've
got a great fan base out here in Broncos Country, and just to have
a collaborative media environment makes everybody smarter and everybody better man. So thanks for
having me. I appreciate it absolutely. I totally agree with you and appreciate
the time. Is always have to have you on again soon