I’m very proud of this team. No Callahan, no James for the entire season, many many injury’s along the way, they had every right to lay down but they pushed through. It’s hard to fault lock, Mahomes is great but put him in Locks back field how much better does he do? And vice versa, give lock Andy Reid tyreek hill Travis kelce mecole hardman Sammy Watkins etc he looks totally different.

Build around this kid and see what happens I am excited for the Drewture in Denver. I like Robby Anderson in FA if he’s not super expensive. Speed and solid depth.

This is the most comfortable I’ve felt in the team’s situation going into the off-season since 2014. I have no doubt in my mind Drew can be THE guy. His attitude and work ethic and plans for his off-season are just have the vibes of a great long term QB. That unsportsmanlike penalty on Bolles was the softest I’ve seen in awhile so I’m not gonna hold that one against him really. One shove after the DL cheapshotting him over guys on the ground was fair game. Coaching my first game as high school basketball coach on January 6th and the semi pro team I play for has our first pre season game on the 18th and it looks like I’m starting to solidify a hold the starting TE spot and a good chunk of playing time at WR! Can’t wait to put DNVR on the eye black for that game! Hop y’all had an amazing Holiday season and have a great New Years! let the 2020’s be a decade of greatness under Drew Lock where we can go into 2030 and call the 2020’s it the Drew Lock era with a couple Super Bowls and conference titles and the reclaiming of our AFC West throne. Love y’all!

Hey friends. Fourth quarter grade = B. 1st. half of the season with Joe was 2-6 = D. 2nd. half of the season with 2 first time NFL starting QBs 5-3 = B-/C+. 7-9 = C-. Drew & Brandon took a poor Broncos team and helped turn them into a just below playoff caliber team. Congratulations Air Force Falcons/Zoomies! 🙂 Prediction for the 2020 Denver Broncos 12-4.

I don’t want to be a downer after a victory but I’m concerned about Scangs. It seems that in the majority of our wins (and some losses) there is a point in the 4th Q where all We need is a 1st down or 2 to put the game on ice and we seem to just go 3 and out. This conservative play almost lost us this game. If Shelby doesn’t make that play we are talking about another L. Lock has shown himself more than capable of managing a game, why can’t we put the throttle down when we need to? Going into the offseason, this is my biggest concern. we gotta give Drew the damn keys. Can you fine gents explain this?

Love
The Count

You guys seem fairly certain that Shelby Harris is gone next year which obviously opens up a hole at his position. After seeing how disruptive he has been these past few games, I’d pass on signing a big free agent and plug Dre’Mont into his spot. Sure, he will have to work on his run defense, but the interior pressure he can create will be huge for Von and Chubb next year. Hoping we can bring back Wolfe and Purcell in addition to bringing in Bradbury. Also, want to thank all three of you as well as the entire DNVR crew for bringing a whole new experience this season. It is difficult to have interactions with Broncos fans living in Arizona and going to college here at Arizona State, but the pods and great content allow me to be among the best team and the best fans in football.

What are your thoughts on Royce Freeman after yesterday’s game. To me he’s a bit of a nothing back. No blistering speed, not a real power back, he’s just meh at everything. For me he doesn’t deserve a spot on this roster and the broncos would benefit from drafting a running back.

Some quality and exciting options in Dobbins and Etienne. What you think?

A nice way to finish the season, particularly with Phil getting over 1000 yards and sending the Raiders to Vegas as losers.

I am super optimistic going into next season, I think our 7-9 record is pretty accurate for where we are, in the second half of the season we have beaten the 4 teams that aren’t in the playoffs but only gone 1-3 against playoff teams, whereas in the first half of the season we went 1-4 against teams that finished outside the playoffs. We are now beating the also rans, but need some work to consistently compete with playoff caliber teams.

My big hopes for next season is a strong free agency/draft to fill holes on the O-line, CB, DL and WR2, to see further development from this young core and to get back to the playoffs. Oh and finally that the Broncos will be selected for an international series game in London, I have heard rumours Broncos @ Falcons might be on the cards, but also wonder if the Chargers game could be over here. A UK DNVR meet up woupd be so sweet!

I’m confused about the CHJ situation. The past few offseasons, it sounded like he wanted to be the #1 guy on the #1 receiver. He got that this season, and now he’s making statements about being the greatest slot corner in the game. Do you think CHJ knows what he wants to do next? Maybe that’s why they couldn’t reach a deal with him last season.

I’m no longer on the Lock train. I’ve adopted Mase’s attitude. I like the kid, and he’s locked down the starter position for next season, but I question if he can go toe to toe with Mahomes and win. We’ll see. He has a whole off-season to work and improve. When he’s on, he reminds me of Tony Romo.

On to cheering for the Chiefs’ opponent in the playoffs!

1. What a satisfying end to the season! Shelby Harris is the ? PAY THIS GUY NEXT YEAR
2. Rivers said “retirement is not an option” and that he would be willing to play elsewhere. Is there any way to keep Elway from hearing about this?
3. DaeSean Hamilton has definitely improved his game, is it worth keeping him on next season (definitely not at the expense of finding a good WR2) or is it too big a risk that he drops important game changing passes in a possible playoff season?
Thanks yall and Happy New Year to all the DNVR fam

1)RK- I definitely agree with you that receiver is in play in Round 1. Actually, Mike Klis- and we know how ‘connected’ he is to the team- was on the radio the other day and said the Broncos will be drafting a speed receiver high.

When the host said ‘it’s a deep class, and you can get one in the third round’, Mike replied ‘the really fast ones tend to go in the first’. That made me think that they’re looking at Ruggs or Reagor. Over the past few days, I’ve seen a lot of Reagor to Denver, but with the Broncos trading down from 15 to the late part of the 1st. What do y’all think of that scenario?

2) Also- Mase, our guy James Bradberry played a pretty good game against Michael Thomas, outside of some ticky-tack penalties. Definitely want to see him in orange and blue next year, but unfortunately, we’ll be competing with Washington now that Rivera is likely the HC and Dan Snyder is known to throw money at anyone he wants to!

This was a weird game for sure. We got DOMINATED At the line of scrimmage. Lindsay got his 1,000 yards all on his own effort because his O Line was garbage today. I was actually impressed with how Drew managed this game with that O Line. With Flacco or Allen we lose this game. Drew made several off script plays to gain positive yards and also did not force the ball into mistakes. I am ecstatic about our future with Drew. He play well beyond a rookie starting FIVE games. Now fix the damn O Line and get some speed on offense and away we go.

And to follow up – quit being a hater Mase. Geez. Did someone pee in your Cheerios this morning??

New morning routine:
Wake up
Take the puppy out
Brush teeth
Make coffee
Watch drew lock murder the put on verse and go have a freakin day.

I’ve never been this excited for the future of the broncos ever. When I say future I mean for the next 10 years, sure Peyton gave me hope for 5 years, but this is a future. So did Hamilton do enough for y’all yesterday? I like him but think we should still scoop up someone in the 3rd or trade up to get laviska late 2nd round.

Mase. Looking at THIS game specifically, I don’t know how you can’t be confident with Drew being THE guy. He was working with a right side of the line that was very weak; we saw running backs consistently getting hit behind the line of scrimmage! Kudos to Phil for hitting the 1,000 mark again btw.
Drew’s accuracy, charisma, poise, and ability to move in and around the pocket have been better than anyone could’ve hoped.
It honestly feels like you’ve been more positive with your Jameis Winston comments! Yikes dude.
I understand there are more steps for Lock to take to be the guy for a decade. But I don’t know how anybody can go into this off-season not feeling extremely positive about the future of the QB position.

Chris Harris has been telling anyone who would listen for a few years now that he’s one of the top corners in the NFL and he deserves to be paid like it. But now he’s complaining about being asked to shadow the other team’s best receiver. Is it somewhat hypocritical to say, “I’m one of the top few corners in the NFL and I deserve to be paid like it. Just don’t ask me to cover the other team’s best receiver”?

Imagine this in the backfield next year out of the pistol. Lindsay , beck, Jano 🙂 . That is all

I’ve been listening to you guys for a long time, and my brother got my sister and I each a subscription for Christmas. Best Christmas gift a guy can ask for! You guys are always great, and help get me through my day at work! I appreciate Mase’s realistic view on Drew, but I gotta ask why it seems like you’re nearing pessimism? Drew obviously still has a lot of things he needs to get better at, but with only five starts, minimal practice time, and playing behind a make shift offensive line. I thought he performed admirably. I think there should only be optimism about him going into next season. Obviously I’m biased but I do think he is THE guy, and he should prove it next season

COME ON MASE!!! He’s balling. Best rookie start by a Broncos in HISTORY.

At this point I’m convinced if Drew Lock cured cancer himself Mase would be like “yeah but it took a long time and idk if this is even the best way it could of been handled better” ?. I’m busting your chops Mase much love man but come on…

Anyways.
Word around the block is that Drew Lock is going to be training with PFM this offseason.
Any info on this?
Also hearing a rumor that the Broncos are going to throw money at Joe Schobert. Him, AJ, Kareem and Simmons handling the middle would be scary ??

Going to be getting a Lock jersey to add to the arsenal.
I know it’s only 5 games but I just can’t help it. Drew lock will take us to the promise land. Could be 2 years could be 10. But he is the guy. If we can get that Vangio D that was in Chicago and lead the league in turnovers we could be unstoppable.

FYI I guess I don’t have a way to post it here, but Mase your picture on my podcasts app definitely is not you lol. Also, what will the offseason schedule look like?

I 100% agree with The Count that Scangs is a huge concern. I think we all backed off after the Houston game but this game was reminiscent of “first-half of the season Scangs”.

There was a critical drive with 3-minutes left in the 4th.
1st & 10: They’re timing the snap and playing aggressively against the run versus our practice squad O-line. Here’s a great opportunity to go play-action. We run up the middle for a loss of 5.
2nd & 15: Ok, now we need to spread it out and get a chunk play… Tight bunch formation, play-action incomplete short to Fant.
3rd & 15: Well now your options are extremely limited.

…and that drive was not the outlier by any means. I still want Scangs fired although I’ve accepted that this probably won’t happen. I think Drew would adapt to a new coach just fine especially with a full off-season preparing as the starter – something Tebow never got ;).

On a brighter note, imagine Phil behind a real O-line. That’s scary exciting.

Sorry for the super long comment. I haven’t posted in a while! Keep up the great pod!

Hey guys imagine what could’ve happened if we don’t let the Bears and the Jaguars beat us on last-second field goals. That being said it’s officially the off-season. Can y’all lay-out the contract of Phil? Was his undrafted contract only a 2 year deal? Was it longer and just the possibility to renegotiate after year 2? Thanks much love!

Hey Guy! I just renewed my subscription, thanks for an amazing year keeping me dialed in on the Broncos. While the season didn’t go the greatest it was one of the most enjoyable being along for the ride with DVNR!
As for my question in your guys opinion what is the best case scenario for the offseason (draft and free agency/trades).

I’m with Mase on Drew Lock. I believe he’s the guy for next year, and that can go to play offs. But I need to see how he fairs next year before I anoint him the franchise QB, we have a high QB standard from Elway and Manning where we expect Super Bowls, not just play offs. He’s certainly got what it takes, with the dancing and rapping, he’s so likeable. But need to see him after a full off season and see this continue next season. I think he has what it takes, but want to see it first.

In the pod after the game you talked about the ‘no names’ that Fangio can get playing well in his system, with that in mind, what percentage split between offence and defence would you be happy with in the draft?

Come on guys..

Saying British Teeth are worse than American Teeth, is akin to us calling you all overweight.

A quick Google of ‘American Teeth vs British Teeth’ gives some interesting results, yet it seems stereotypes are hard to shrug off.

Shots fired and shots fired back..

Love you guys

The Big T

Guys, thanks for all you did during a disappointing season. Just noticed we are sitting at #15 in the draft. Looks to me that a receiver or corner are the most likely at that spot. Looking at free agency, is Danny Trevathan worth a look? Do we sign a LT? I think in would rather sign a LT then try and develop again. Looking forward to the off season…really hoping KC doesnt get to Super Bowl, that would be hell on earth for Bronco fan in KC metro.

Hey guys, just catching up on the podcasts, and saw I posted this on latest pod on Saturday, so you missed it..

Ok, so thanks for not bashing me too much with the Tebow love earlier in the week, as I regretted posting it immediately afterwards.

I was adamant that it was me on Twitter who always replies to your Tebow tweets, Mase, but quickly realised it wasn’t me; there is NO WAY he could have backed up Manning.

Something I would LOVE to know tho’, is if it was Manning who said Tebow must go as part of his deal with the Broncos, or if it was John’s way of getting rid of Tim (finally!), or Tim that wanted to go? Do you have any inside info there, Mase?

Zach, you ask if I think it was the wrong decision to sign Manning? At the time, with the neck injury, HELL YES! I was furious, ‘an idiotic move’ I thought. Oh how wrong I was, at least on Manning’s injury, and how can you argue with SB 50?

But, I am a weird breed of sports fan, where winning is not everything..

So yeah, if I could take away the Manning Super Bowl and have 12 years of Tebow led Broncos, I’m afraid I would choose that. I would find the intrigue of the journey with Tebow too alluring, rather than being gifted a fully grown Peyton Manning to win one Lomardi. I’m weird, what can I say?

However, If you guaranteed no playoffs with Tebow, and he had a losing record over that time, then I’ll take Peyton, as I didn’t say winning meant nothing ?

Big love, as always, and more than enough Tebow chat recently. Sorry for that.

The Big T

Great job this season, DNVR!

While I’m completely on board with Drew Lock, I can’t say the same about the team being a playoff team next season. I can see them going 6-10 as easily as I can see them going 10-6. Obviously we’re talking about this before FA and the draft so it’s just fun conversation at this point.

Having said that, I confident saying Lock is the guy. The last QB I was wrong about was Cutler (I Really thought he’d be great) and I’ve been a Broncos fan since Morten.

I know it when I see it guys! And I see it in Drew!

This is going to be (I can’t believe I’m saying this) a really exciting off season. If you aren’t subscribed to DNVR, now is the time! Ryan, Zac and Mase do something that no other Broncos site/show does. They balance knowledge and serious journalism with wit and fun. Not since the days of Boomer and Tom Jackson has listening to FB talk been so enjoyable. May the Force be with you all!

“Is making the playoffs a realistic expectation for next year?”
Elway: “yes” *stares at the reporter in a confident silence for a whole 7 seconds before Vic starts talking*

Love it ?

What’s up guys BIG Thank You to y’all for all of the great content this season. Ok so I know Mase is a little down on Drew this week but the offensive line was not good( lots of penalties), Noah Fant didn’t have a good game, Court was being held all game and of course that helmet to helmet hit was pretty bad, and again the running game was not very good (offensive line). With all of that against Drew he still put the offense in position to seal a win with a field goal if not for a gumballs personal foul penalty. Not a pretty game for Drew but if Brandon makes that field goal we’re not even talking about Drew owing Shelby a steak dinner lol. But I still can’t think of a better way for the raiders to lose their last game as the Oakland raiders rivalry is back baby!

Not sure if you all noticed but Drew Lock was trending on twitter last night. The clip of him rapping on the sideline had him up to 15th on the most trending topics by the time I went to bed at 1:00am PST. Non Bronco fans were saying how they liked him and making comments like the Broncos going 16-0 next year. I’m with you RK…he’s going to make the Broncos relevant again this offseason.

Sad that this season is over with but I left yesterday with a few questions for y’all to answer:

Is Drew Lock already the second best QB in the west?

Will Vic ever listen to McAnus again when he pouts about wanting to kick a field goal?

Does Drew deserve Grammy considerations after those bars?

All questions that deserve pondering as we enter an off-season of hope and anticipation!

Happy New Year DNVR family and happy victory Monday. Just a few thoughts.

First Mase says he’s just being realistic when he makes arguments against Drew Lock. But I think he’s actually just bitter that Joe Burrow is out of the picture and he won’t be covering his man crush.

Second it makes me sad Shelby Harris night not come back. He’s special. Any way he stays?

3 for Mr B. (And a tiny bit for Lock too.)

I’m excited for the season to come although our opponents look tough again. Sliding into the number 2 spot in the division landed us the Titans coming to Denver and a game in Pittsburgh. I bragged on social media that Broncos are easily a 10-6 team next year but I thought we’d be facing the 3rd place division winners. I like Lock a lot but can he get there with the likes of NE, NO, BUF, KC twice, and a rejuvenated ATL on the schedule, do y’all predict any upsets here?

I’ll refrain myself from going on. Thanks for the great coverage.

We dropped 5 spots in the draft. Before, we were thinking Jeudy, Lamb, one of the top Tackles, or Ruggs? How does our new position change our draft strategy? I think it’s very possible that none of those guys drop to 15. Can’t wait for the offseason pods to begin. I love mock drafts and imagining what we could look like next year. Having a QB to build around literally changes everything.

Hi Guys,
Before I start, I want to say that I really like Lock, and I like that him being the starter going into 2020 allows you to spend your cap dollars on anything besides a starting QB, and I’m usually right in line with RK and Zac’s sunshine and rainbows optimism. However, I have to say that I am on the same page as Mase on Drew at this point. We can make excuses about Scangarello taking the ball out of his hands in his first game and the bad weather in KC, but if you were on the other side of the argument you could also write off the Houston game as an aberration since none of his other performances looked like that. I think there are still plenty of question marks out there for him. 4-1 to start is very exciting, and so is the prospect him having a whole offseason with Scangs and the receivers to get dialed in on a plan for next year. BUT I think it is premature to assume he takes a big leap next year. We don’t know how defenses will adjust to him now that they have 5 games of film to pick apart over the whole offseason or how he will handle those adjustments to counter. While I think this team is a playoff team in 2020, Lock’s development is still an unknown (regardless of how hard he works), and I think it is too optimistic to dismiss the possibility that he ends up as average and not the difference maker who takes the team from wild card round playoff exit ceiling to Super Bowl champs ceiling, which could leave you in the spot in 2022 of debating whether to re-sign him or go back into the QB sweepstakes to try to find someone who can get it done.

Looking forward to all the offseason pods. Thanks for providing all this content year round.

I was feeling Mase-level nerdy last night, so I put together a comparison on Pro Football Reference, comparing Lock’s first season to other recent young QBs. In one list, I compared him to Kyler, Danny Dimes, Dwayne Haskins, Sam Darnold, and Josh Allen. He sat at the very top of that list in most meaningful categories. I also compared him to guys who performed very well in their first year of action in Mahomes, Mayfield, Watson, Lamar, and Dak Prescott. He didn’t match up nearly as well in that list, sitting near the bottom of most categories. Lock has also wildly outperformed Goff and Wentz’s first seasons, while being surprisingly comparable to Mariota and Winston’s first year’s under center.

Anyway, I won’t take up your time with too much analysis of the data other than to say this. Lock sits squarely in the middle of the pack. We’ve seen guys with bad first seasons make big jumps in year two (Wentz and Goff come to mind) and we’ve seen others fall off in year two (such as Baker and Dak). We’ve seen a really high ceiling and a really low floor (in snow, but still). I think we will learn FAR more about Drew in the first 5 games of 2020 than we did in these last five games. But until then, happy offseason! Drew is the guy, till he’s not the guy! Either way, we’ve got a guy to build around….at least for now.

P.S. I’m posting the lengthy links to these QB comparison charts underneath my comment for the nerdy perusing pleasure of anyone who desires.