Twitter Friends,

It occurs to me, as RK often reiterates, there’s no real right or wrong way to be a fan of a team. The word itself literally is derived from the term “fanatic.” We are all a bit insane for spending our valuable time obsessed over what is, essentially, a fictitious and made up concept. What has become clear is that there are 2 large divisions of fans that are creating a civil war on twitter : There are fans that voice their fandom with their hearts and fans that voice their fandom with their minds and then those in the middle that try to mediate between the two.

Let’s all agree to let each side’s fanaticism live and breath from whence it is borne. Neither has primacy. We are all kooks, which is why when you see another Broncos fan on the street you nod and smile. Let’s keep it together, people.

Love
The Count

Hey guy’s,
I don’t get this change for the sake of change mindset, It usually leads to your own downfall. Denver has never drafted a long term answer. So what makes you think this year is it? 1 quarterback working out in a draft is normal, 2 great and 3 exceptional. I don’t like our odds at number 4 especially if we give up another 1st for him to be a bust. All I’m saying is stick to what we know works and trade for a guy or pick him up off the market.

Gentleman – I have seen a few articles floating around the interwebs championing bringing back the old Bronco’s “D” logo. Unpopular opinion: I really dislike any Bronco’s uniform or logo pre 1997. They all just look so dated that I can’t handle it. Another unpopular opinion: A hotdog is a sandwich. What unpopular opinions do y’all have?

I did some numbers crunching because I cannot stand for the narrative that we’ve seen enough from Lock to determine he isn’t a franchise QB. I’m not going to go over the old arguments but I like nuance in numbers.

When throwing to players Lock has played with prior to 2020 he completed 61.3% of his passes for 11.57 yards per reception and a td on 4.29% of his throws.

When throwing to players he hadn’t thrown to in a prior season (predominantly rookies but I did add Melvin and co which make these numbers jump way up) 55.2% completion for 11.52 yards per reception and a td on 2.98% of throws.

Extrapolated out to an expected 545 passes in a 16 game season Locks pace of only throwing to players he’d played with prior to 2020 is 3865 yards, 23 touchdowns.

We assume when rookie receivers come into the league they will take time to develop. We know that timing and chemistry is important for qb’s and their receivers. Lock completed 64.4% of throws to veterans and 49.7% to rookies.

When we talk about a guy like Minshew he wasn’t relying on Laviska Shenault, Shenault was worked in slowly and never relied on, Jacksonville leaned on their rb and veteran WR’s.

Cincy peppered Higgins with 100 targets but same with AJ Green and Tyler Boyd. Only 1/5th of their targets went to a rookie.

We know what Herbert had to throw to. Less then 10% of his targets went to rookies.

33% of Denver targets went to rookie pass catchers this season.

I understand it’s hard seeing division rivals land guys that have instant success but they had quality offenses when those QB’s were drafted we are building ours with our qb. Give him some time. Throwing multiple top 60 picks away for the 4th or 5th qb on the board seems like an emotional reaction not a logical one. If there is a guy they like at 9 great but let’s not kneecap ourselves. I have major 2013 vibes about this class.

To Mases comments about comparing Lock to other qb’s there is no qb to my knowledge that compares to Locks situation. I would love to see the success rate of qb’s in their first 18 games when playing in offenses that average under 25 years of age or who throw 33% of their throws to rookies. I don’t know when receivers stopped being a part of completing a throw. I was always tought that timing between qb’s and receivers was a 2 way street.

Considering the roster we currently have, my dream scenario for this year would be to move up to draft Fields, and then sign Teddy Bridgewater. I would be perfectly ok with trading Drew Lock. The reason I say this is because I want the near certainty of veteran average QB play to take full advantage of this year’s stacked roster. When we take into account Shurmur’s history with QBs, where every QB he’s had since 2013 has hit their career best QB rating under him (with exception of Eli Manning who narrowly missed setting a new career best), I would love to see a Bridgewater/Fields QB room. We can install the full offensive scheme and go guns blazing, rather than having to dumb anything down. I’ve listed the QBs and their QB ratings below to back up what I’m saying. You don’t have to read it aloud. Consider Bridgewater having a career year next year on this stacked team and what that would look like. When our young QB is ready? Well then, it’s time to take it to the next level.

No need to read:
2013: Nick Foles, QB rating of 119.2. By far best of his career.
2014: Split between Foles and Mark Sanchez. Foles had a rating of 81.4, and Sanchez 88.4, which was Mark Sanchez’s best of his career.
2015: Sam Bradford after missing all of 2014 had a QB rating of 86.4, but…
2016: Sam Bradford had a rating of 99.3, the best of his career.
2017: Case Keenum had a rating of 98.3, which was the best of his career. Elway took notice and started his thrift store, bargain bin shopping epoch. Signed Keenum, but didn’t bring Shurmur along.
2018: Arthritic Eli Manning, final year in the NFL. His previous career best rating was 93.6 back in 2015. In his one year with Shurmur, he approached that peak with a rating of 92.4. Manning averaged out over the course of his career at a rating of 84.1.
2019: Daniel Jones rookie, most believe was a 2nd round talent. Rookie rating of 87.7 Best of his very short career. He had a 2:1 TD/Int ratio. (In 2020, he had a 1:1 without Shurmur).

Fellas,

Do you have plans to start doing in person podcasts again, or will the Zoomcasts be here to stay?

The Broncos find themselves in a built position on the defensive side of the ball barring injuries.

Do you believe its too late for this group of defenders because the offense won’t be able to match their level of play at the most opportune time?

Gents, 2 questions today.

1. Do you think Paton will ask Peyton what he thinks about Lock after doing film study together? Do you think he should?

2. Would it be legal for the 49’ers to trade information for a draft pick? I.e. SF would tell one team in secret who they plan to take at 3 so they can decide if they want to trade for 4 ahead of draft in exchange for swapping a 5th for a 7th round pick?

Cheers!

Hey guys!

So you’re right, Mase. We have run out of teams. There’s only one matchup we haven’t examined: The Broncos vs the Bucs. They’ve played each other ten times, in games that have been mostly competitive. What were the best in favor of each team, and can you come to an agreement on one game, regardless of the winner?

Also, what was the best game against the NFC South? Or rather, who’s final game was better overall, John Elway’s or Peyton F. Manning’s?

hey guys!

idk if any of y’all saw the piece in the athletic yesterday about the front office toxicity over there in philly but it definitely puts the broncos’ situation in a favorable light to me. it’s weird to say but i think having no owner is better than having an owner like jeffrey lurie.

we all know about howie and all his shortcomings but the article highlighted just how much input that jeffrey lurie had and how much he belittled doug pederson and never showed him the respect he deserved- and this continued after he won the super bowl.

i’ve mentioned a few times that the broncos should make doug the next head coach. i like vic a lot and think he’s a ‘good’ coach, but i’d go as far as to say that i’d fire him right now and bring doug in. i really believe that he’s going to rebound in his next spot.

ownership with the broncos is still in flux- which might not be a bad thing from doug’s POV- and by all accounts george paton is someone who treats everyone with respect and values their input….so i think the broncos make a lot of sense as a landing spot. what do y’all think?

Howdy gents,

Trade Jawuan James and a 5th for Bridgewater. Thoughts?

Thanks for the pod as always.

QB class matters……

The Broncos passed on Josh Allen and took Bradley Chubb in a good QB class in 2018, then took Drew Lock in 2019, that class hasn’t shown much. Outside of Sam Howell, I don’t see 2022 being a great class so far.

This year’s draft class has 5 QB’s who will go in the 1st round. 1-2 will flame out, but this is what happens. My question are there 5 potential 1st round QB’s next year? I don’t see it, so the trade down to get a 1st to get one next year is a risky way to go. Pick #9 is higher than we will be next year, IMO. Going to cost more to move up for a QB next year. If you chose to push it back and roll the dice on Drew, you risk missing out on a great draft class to draft out of desperation next year.

I for one, am not keen to take that gamble. Keeping Drew and not drafting a QB is as risky as taking a shot on one of the 5.

Where do “my boys” stand…..

Hey guys

Been loving the coverage and specialy the three ring circus, you guys kill it and i try to catch it live every time i can.

Question, why do people think that Paton needs to trade rigth now to #4?, everything he has done so far, the thing that has me most impressed with him is he does not rush in to things, he lets everything unfold before making his move, just like with CB, if he would have rushed the second signing he wouldn’t have gotten Fuller. I think he is talking to every team in front of 9 to know the price to move up and then in the draft if the player they likes drops then he will make his move. I am beginning to trust him more and more, not to the level of Munchack but he is getting up there.

Looking forward to a fun season and hopefully a winning one.

Hey guys so what we do in the first and 2nd round is so up in the air because of qb or trading down so …I’m curious …..

Where would you say some of these guys go

Pete Werner
Alaric Jackson
Aaron Robinson
Brady Christensen
Tommy Tremble
Charles Snowden ??

Thanks ??

I don’t think the Broncos are trading up. I think there’s a possibility if Fields falls in our lap we may take him. If you look at what Paton offered for Stafford and what was considered too “expensive” for Darnold he’s been relatively cheap. That’s a good thing in my opinion. If Fields does fall in our lap I would still trade back because we would be able to extract the maximum amount of draft capital from some team.Excited to see how the draft plays out.

So who in here has been down the Cottonwood Mile?

Does trading up to pick #4 cost different if they pull the trigger now vs on draft night?

So, that Aussie (Ozzy) guy is calling me out again..

The reason why I haven’t watched a full game of Trey Lance’s, is because there is NOTHING in any highlights video to get excited about. Not one throw. In fact, I asked that very question in my comment last week; is there any point watching full games of a player when their highlights are lowlights?! They are all just scrambles for rushes, with no NFL calibre passes in ANY of the highlights. No reads, simple throws, and scrambles against other Missouri Valley schools …..and he’s being talked of in the first round. IT IS CRAZY!!!

This is a Public Service Announcement:

After the news of Drew Lock watching film with Peyton Manning, the Denver Broncos have officially entered into the “Offseason Troupe” season.

Please be on the look out for some common troupes like:

X player is in the best shape of his life.

2nd year player feels like the game has started to slow down for them.

X player has changed up their diet in the off-season to up their game.

That is all.

My People!

First time commenter from Maine, been with ya’ll since the BSN days, and damn you guys know how to make a podcast! Keeps me sane during my commute every day, so keep doing what your doing! To the Broncos, how come future 1st round picks are talked about as they are all the same? For example, next year’s first rounder from say, The Bears or the Football team, I would venture to guess will be higher than say New England’s pick. Is this considered when looking at a trade partner? Like damn, you get that pick for moving back 11 spots, and it could realistically be a top 5 pick! The general talk the other day was well, you get a 1st next year but will still need to package it with your own to move up anywhere close. I know it can work, I watched my Celtics absolutely FLEECE the Nets years ago. That being said, It seems like the prudent thing to do would be to move back, take that lottery ticket for next year, and hope to god Drew is the answer. if he isn’t, you should have enough capital to pursue a top guy or Rodgers.

Cheers,
Northwoods