WEBVTT

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We'll go right out to the ka
Common Spirit Else hotline. Bring on.

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My friend Jeff Schwartz, former NFL
offensive lineman, works the Fox Sports Serious

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x am and basically I just love
his Twitter feed at Jeff Schwartz on Twitter,

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but important for this conversation Oregon Duck
alumni Jeff Schwartz, Jeff, I

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you done, man, Yeah,
man, It's good to hear your voice.

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We we got a couple of ducks
here. It's like the quack attack

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is back here in in Denver as
bo Nick Troy Franklin become the latest Denver

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Broncos. I I liked what I
saw out of bow Knicks looking at him

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during the pre draft process better than
I liked, for instance, Michael Pennix

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or you know JJ McCarthy, who
was rumored to be the apple of the

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Broncos eye. But of course that
was a smoke screen for Sean Payton.

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What can you tell us about bow
Nicks? Yeah, you know, I

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think he's got a bad rap for
some of the you know a dot stuff

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and short passes. I put out
a tweet at Courts on my Twitter.

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There was a stat that someone play
out that said, you know, Bonnicks

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had a thousand yards of receiving when
the ball was thrown at or behind the

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line of scrimmage, and five of
those players encounted for twenty percent of that

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thousand yards. Like, it's not
a lot of throws he made behind the

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line of here was a lot of
we're in rhythm. I think the things

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that you like about bon Knicks are
he's very decisive with the football. If

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you watched Orgers Austins last season,
they did a lot of kind of two

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things, a lot of play action
pass and then they went empty production.

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Right, they had five wide receivers
out and they let bone Knicks chose aside

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pre snap balls out quickly. He
processes very well for six needs to work

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on, but he can make all
the throws. If you have the strongest

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arm, I would say no,
but you can see all the all the

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pro throws he made, and don't
look at the advanced numbers, the amount

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of ends and curls and comebacks and
go routes, things that you're going to

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see him have to do on Sunday. And I think if you look at

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the top three guys, who is
the most kind of able to fit with

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Sean Payne to wanton offense from a
quarterback, and that is Bonnicks, and

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so I think that pairing makes a
lot of sense here. Well, yeah,

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I think the pairing does make a
lot of sense. And I think

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if you look for the qualities that
Sean Payton is looking for at a quarterback,

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a guy like Bonix just fills those
out. You mentioned the quick decision

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maker, but I think some of
the other things there that this sort of

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you know, add to that.
Sean Payton's offense is a schedule offense.

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Boknicks doesn't take sacks, he doesn't
fumble the ball, literally did not fumble

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the ball at all at Oregon,
and those are two things he's He's previously

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called out about. The last quarterback
here, Russell Wilson. Yes, he

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will get the ball out. I
think that one of the negatives on him

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that I've seen and I'm serious to
see, you know, in the NFL

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was different. And he's very good
pre snap and then post snap. If

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he doesn't get exactly what he thought
he would get, then there's a little

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hesitation, and so I think just
kind of growth in his game from that

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perspective. Obviously, wish Sean Payne
what he's done for so many years with

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Drew Bridges, and that's a good
fit there. I didn't go Aliable to

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learn that. Also, it's worth
noting that Oregon had a very pro style

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passing attack mixed in with you know, some of the college RPOs and flagship

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pass stuff. You watch the offense, they had a lot of what we

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would call triangle reads, where he's
reading a triangle, he's reading one,

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two, three, and he's looking
at the leverage of linebackers and corners and

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safeties to figure out where the ball
should go. That's a very pro Stout's

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a West Coast offense type of thing. Or you read the triangle if you

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notice, if you ever stop like
a Chiefs play and you can see there's

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a triangle formed typically by the weapons. Mahomes is looking at it, maybe

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even four guys at times. Feel
for me, they fought for strong So

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it's a very pro style offense you
ran at Oregon. They will translate well.

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Kean I fol Plus you get the
leadership part of it right, and

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I know that you know he's older, that's certainly true. And the last

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part of it, he's really athletic. He can run. He doesn't run

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to run like. He runs very
very specific situations that you can use that

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in the red doone especially, that's
where quarterback runs I think are a big

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benefit. Well, Jeff, you
hit on something that is really important.

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I think bon Nikes has been criticized
for but I think it's an advantage.

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But I would like to get your
take on it. And it's his level

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of experience. Both he and Michael
Pennix are guys who are you know,

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twenty three to twenty four. But
you tell me, as a guy that

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played the game, how does that
actually help bo Nicks opposed to hurting him?

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Well, he just he's seen a
lot of football. We have to

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sort of Okay, so you know
what happened with all these older quarterbacks we

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obviously know is the COVID year,
right the COVID year and this next draft

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and twenty five will be to the
last COVID year. Guys, So all

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the duds is older right now.
And I'm not sure that it's a bad

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thing. You look at the age
of pennex, at the age of necks

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like, it takes guys a little
bit longer to matureim times We've seen it,

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certainly at the quarterback position that maturing
is that happened in the NFL is

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wort have happened in college. And
he has seen a lot of football sixty

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one starts, I believe, And
so he goes in the NFL not be

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intimidated. He's seen everything. Now, of course he's not seen NFL defense

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and the speed and whatnot, but
he's seen a lot of football. He's

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played a lot of big football that
he's played in, you know, in

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big games at Auburn, he's played
in big games in Oregon. And so

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when he goes to the NFL,
is not getting intimidated by the moment,

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by the environment. And I think
we just have to sort of get over

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the age thing. It's it just
is this class right now, sort of

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just that this is what it is. Jame Gamis, by the ways,

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were older too, right He's a
twenty two. Pesson was twenty nineteen and

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he beat Organ there to the end
of that season. So these guys just

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older. Because of COVID year,
it will kind of reverse back next couple

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of years. But that's just the
guys you're getting right now. Another player

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of the Broncos got and came away
with on draft days beginning of days are

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you trading up for wide receiver Troy
Franklin. I enjoyed watching Franklin plays guy

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who you get the ball in his
hands and you know, and he creates.

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Sean Bayton says he looks at him
as a as a Z receiver in

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this offense. What can you tell
us about Troy Franklin. Yeah, man,

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he can, he can. He
can really run. He uh,

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he's a weapon on the edge and
he caught a lot of big past this

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organ this past year. He is
able to just straight line speed to get

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by a lot of corners. I
think you've got to learn to play more

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physical. If you watch against Washington, especially the title championship game, Mohammed

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and at the corner at Washington was
able to kind of press them again in

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his face. And those are things
he used to work on, just sort

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of the physical part of it and
just learning I think a little bit more

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of the route trade. Oregon.
He was a lot of comebacks, a

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lot of slants, post goes,
you know, not a lot of kind

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of deviation off those those four routes. So uh, look again, just

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supremely talented player. And there's reasons
he dropped and that's the draft, right,

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You're gonna get guys with value at
certain points. But I like the

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idea of reuniting the cornerback in a
wide receivers what he's I think it just

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gives a comfort level for both those
players, especially for Go Knicks, to

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have someone he knows and someone who
knows him and you can really work with

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Franklink. There's a lot of upside
because of this speed. He's just he's

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fast. I know that he didn't
run fast to combine, but you had

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to play this year against usc that
I think they caalked him a like twenty

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two miles an hour you could run. I think there's this play street.

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Obviously there's combine speed. I just
kind of prefer what they play, you

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know, working pads. So,
Jeff, what do you say for those

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who kind of look at both Nicks
and say, well, and it's time

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in Oregon. He spent a lot
of time in shotgun and in NFL if

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you want to run play action and
what Sean Payton's even to do with Drew

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Brees and the wall is a lot
of that is from under center. So

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how does a quarterback, in your
opinion, kind of graduate and learn to

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adjust now being forced to play more
in the center than he did in college.

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It's a great question, you know, I don't it's it's difficult,

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right, And I think the part
that's difficult about it is and this is

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what people have said, I don't
imagine. You know, you you turn

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it back to the defense, right, so you know, you see one

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thing, you see too high and
uh, and you turn your back to

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the defense. All of a sudden
they're in one high right and you thought

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that the zone coverage. Now it's
a man tubag. And so the ability

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to think on your feet and understand
it, and Bonus is able to do

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that again, like when you watch
him play, his ability to recognize things

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in the field is high. It's
a high it's a high level trade of

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his and so he just be able
to do that now with his back,

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you know, to to the defense
potentially. And I think, look,

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Sean Payne has had no quarterbacks before. He's going to figure out an offense

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early in his tenure there that works
for Bonis and then they'll build it out

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from there. And so you know, it might take him some time to

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learn how to do that, but
that's just kind of part of the Woking

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learning process is figuring out you things, and I mean this look I'm off

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its lineman. Obviously, I didn't
playing a three point stance at all on

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college in the NFL, and you
learned to play a three point stance like

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that's just part of growing in being
an NFL. So I think it's gonna

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be fine because he's shown the ability
to make those adjustments in college. I

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don't know if you know much about
the Denver Broncos last pick in the draft,

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but I wanted to talk to you
about the offensive lineman Nick Cargulio out

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of South Carolina by way of Yale. And I don't know if you've seen

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this man's headshot prior to cutting his
hair off. I was devastated when he

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got rid of that glorious mullet.
But he this mustache mullet combination that he's

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rocking where he looks something like a
young mel Kuiper if mel Kuiper lived in

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Alabama in the nineteen seventies. This
guy's a double major economics and political science

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out of Yale. And where's jersey
number sixty nine? This guy has all

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the personality in the world. I
am sitting here saying we need more of

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this, We need more offensive linemen
with mega personalities like this. I had

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to figure you'd be a big,
big fan of the pick. Yeah,

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well him and him and put right. I'll tell you what. So deep

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Mannyweather is everybody in min my best
friend. He trains all the offensive lineman

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down a Dallas for combat and he's
in you know, we have a text

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with him and play named Brandon Thorns. I just follow Brandon two on social

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media and he's been talking up Nick
for a while now. Just to the

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ability, I think that to be
kind of under the radar and a guy

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that Look, sometimes you find those
seventh round players other sermons around player you

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just fall through the cracks a little
bit, especially at the center position.

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Right, it's not a position that
and even plays center guards and it depends

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on who he's tall enough to do
both. But you know, like they

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just fall through the cracks sometimes,
especially that position. And so to be

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able to get a player like that, who I think has a lot of

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upside in the round is good.
I mean, look, you need death

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players. I think we won't talk
about that enough anyway. Jordan Ellis,

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I watched him a lot at that
conference due to Russia passer like he he

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he did after it, like he
has polished passwords. He has a spin

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move, which is the hardest to
defend if your offensive lineman, he's good

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at it, like he comes to
the NFL being able I think to use

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that immediately. And we've seen through
the careers of many defensive ends that if

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you keep spin man like that's as
it's really, it's a valuable tool to

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have, and he hasn't already.
Now tell me how big is the transition

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for offensive linemen trying to go from
the college level to the pro level.

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I know there's somewhat of a learning
curve learning the system, but just the

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fundamental parts of it. Because the
reason I'm asking his question, we watched

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the Broncos offensive line last season when
Sean Payton came in and he made some

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adjustment adjustments bringing in Mike mcglei to
the right tackle and Vampius had the left

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guard. But they had their issues, they had their struggles. But how

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was that transition for some guys?
Meanings though, that's from the technique,

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in the footwork and putting all that
stuff together. You know, it just

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takes work, you know, and
it's hard, I think now because you

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just don't get that practice time like
you used to, you know, and

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it's I think it's difficult to get
all the working you need. And so

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it takes a get off of the
line coach, It takes an offense works

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you off of the line to figure
it out. If you have two days,

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it's again, we don't have two
days anymore, you know. Then

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I think in those days you're able
to figure it out a little faster and

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more practice. And so it's just
a matter of reps, getting reps.

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We often see right like young players
that just get better throout the season because

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again there's more reps to be had
throughout the year. So it's just reps,

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it's a repetition. It's playing together
with each other. It's really to

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communicate with each other. And look, I think we all agree clearly offense

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will just function the last season.
And you bring Bone Nixon. He's a

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quarterback, I think from probably day
one, looking at your quarterback room,

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and they'll be able to sort of, you know, kind of rolld that

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offenses offensive alignment around what they want
to do with Nix. You know,

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we saw when Seun paid work in
New Orleans. You wanted very specific consumers

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offensive liignment. He likes big guards
because he wants you to be able to

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put those big guards, sort of
keep him firm in the front of the

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pocket, have the tackles, kind
of worry about the width of the pocket.

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And so that system works. There
are a lot of teams like to

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do that, and I think they'll
be just fine. It just takes reps,

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man, It just reps and going
to the offense, and they don't.

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You want to go with your quarterback, understand where the quarterback is going

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to be, getting rid of the
ball. All those things matter for the

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offensive line. Jeff Schwartz Jeff Schwartz
on Twitter. Jeff certainly appreciate you taking

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the time out tonight. Thank you
guys. Have a good one. Absolutely

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take care. Jef Schwartz, former
offensive lineman University of Oregon football, analyst

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to Fox Sports and Sirius exam