LISTEN | Jets Opponent Series - Denver Broncos (6/2)

have a young quarterback with Drew Lock. They get new weapons with Jerry Judy and kJ Hamdler to go along with Courtland Sutton, and of course they have Von Miller and Bradley Chubb. But I almost feel like I don't know what to make of the Denver Broncos. They just feel like a kind of a question mark right now. To me, I do feel like they're kind of a question mark as well. But could would either one of us be surprised if Denver is sitting there in December

and they're within striking distance of play of birth. I certainly would not be Kansas City the overwhelming favorite in that a f C West, But the Broncos have a lot of good players on both sides of the football. I think about the defensive front. First, Von Miller is a terror. Bradley Chubb only played four games last season

and now he's gonna come back healthy. You add Daral Casey to the mix, and that line can give you a lot of problems if you're not on your p's and queues up front and you're making sure you're taking care of business. And for the Jets, they're gonna have to have a balance attack when they play the Denver Broncos. Although there are similarities between the Jets and the Broncos, I think the Jets are for there along where they're at them where the Broncos are right. I think the

Broncos on paper have a lot of talent. And then of course, you know, I feel like we have to talk about Drew Lock because rookie last year, he got placed on I R. He comes off and he really finished the season well. And I feel like I read a lot of articles that we're encouraging in terms of Drew Lock and his progression. But I'm curious to see what he does this year with new offensive weapons, in

a weird offseason, with a new offensive coordinator. It just feels like the Broncos right now are a lot better on paper, and we'll see what happens when the Jets and Broncos finally meet on Week four in prime time teams certainly transition. You mentioned Lock. It's interesting the connections between these ball clubs because Joe Flacco was opening day starter for the Denver Broncos last year. Then he went out and the Broncos gave the ball to the young rookie.

He's an athletic player and we saw that at Missouri. He can keep plays alive with his legs, but he keeps his eyes down the field and he can make every throw. But how are they gonna block him up front? I have this question marks about the Broncos offensive line, and the Jets actually took one of their pieces in the off season Condor recovered coming here as Joe Douglas revamped that Jets offensive line, and you know, while the skilled players are talented around him, how are all those

pieces gonna fit immediately? Because it's nice to say, hey, Jerry Judy was a great route runner at Alabama and he's an explosive guy, but it's his first year under Pat Shermer, and those guys have not been on the practice field at all. The same can be said for kJ Hamdler, another speedster guy. I can make plays happen with the ball in his hands, but he's never went

through an NFL offseason before. Then, in the offensive backfield, Philip Lindsay, who has been productive throughout his National Football League career here in the early stages, but the Broncos went out Melvin Gordon as well, So how is that going to work? Are those guys gonna share time in the backfield a fifty fifty split? Do you go with the hot hands? So while they do have talent, it's like, how is it all going to work in a short

amount of time? And you mentioned Shermer coming upboard, Yeah, I totally agree with that, and I think that it'll be very interesting to see how all these pieces come together, especially considering the offseason right now is all virtual. And let's hear from lead Broncos dot com writer Eric Lalla

and what he thinks of this Broncos team. Eric, I want to start off with the draft here because I feel like John Elway, similar to Joe Douglass wrapping his arms around Sam Donald, feels like John Elway is wrapping his arms around Drew Lock, especially with the additions of Jerry Judy and kJ Hamler to go along with Courtland Sutton. Yeah, a lot of similarities I think between these two teams

in terms of how they're embracing those young quarterbacks. And like you mentioned, Jerry Judy and Ceedee Lamb were both on the board there at fifteen. Uh, probably the Broncos heaven in that situation. John Elways said later they did a bunch of mock drafts and Judy never made it there. Uh,

they always had to trade up for him. But obviously the way things fell, they had their pick and selected Judy, and you know that was somewhat of a surprise maybe that they were there, But the real surprise came in round two when they picked kJ Hamler, the speedster from Penn State. He's a guy that in the slot can stretch defenses. And yeah, I think they did everything they possibly could to give Drew Lock the chance to succeed.

There's gonna be no excuses now for Drew if he doesn't go out there and perform at the level that they're hoping, which is good enough to bring the Broncos back to the playoffs, a lot of connections in the National Football League. The Jets just picked up picked up Joe Flacco, who started the season last year in Denver before Drew Lock took over. But what did you make of what you saw out of Luck in his first

plane experience, extended plane experience. Yeah, I mean with Drew listen to talent is there, and that's why he got drafted in the second round. That's why he was being talked about as a top ten pick when we went into the draft a year ago. Some of the concerns about him, you know, his accuracy, turn off, his back foot, being consistent, those things were prevalent to some degree in the preseason, much less so by the time he came back at the end of the season after being on

i R for eight weeks. In part, everybody said that that time really helped Drew. It let him sit back and let him process things. And obviously in Denver kind of the natural quarterback comparison as Paxson Lynch because he was drafted in sixteen. He's that last QB that they drafted high. And you know Paxxton, they were kind of chatter about him playing a lot of video games. He never really took advantage of the chance he had. Drew

has been completely the opposite. There were stories of him during t a s staying up until one in the morning, reading play, calls to himself in the mirror, recording himself, and listening to him back on the bus on the way to practice. And so I think that work ethic both helps him when he was finally able to get in there and also proved to his teammates that he

can be the guy. And you know that more than anything, I think it's important because your teammates have to believe in you at the quarterback position for this whole thing to work, and they definitely believe in Drew from that perspective. And then his talent when he gets on the field

is evident. He had a throw to Courtland Sutton in his first game against the Chargers that was absolutely perfect, you know, about a thirty yards strike to the right corner of the end zone he had to throw off his back foot in Houston when he threw for over three yards and three touchdowns. He's got the talent, and now it's just can he be consistent enough, can you take that step forward? He'll have help like you mentioned with Jerry Judy, kJ Hamler, Courtland's Sutton Melvin Gordon, and

Philip Lindsay obviously both Pro Bowl running backs. I personally think know a fan might be his favorite target because just from a mismatched perspective, the young tight end I think can take a step forward here in year two. But now it's just you know, can you do it? Because everybody talked about Baker Mayfield out in Cleveland kind of the same way going into year two, and he didn't really do that, and so now Drew's got to

make sure that he does his part. So you mentioned some of the flaws and Drew locks game, especially his rookie season in the preseason more so that you mentioned, But what are some maybe not so much with the talent around here, but what are some technical things that you think Drew Lock needs to improve on entering his second year. Yeah, I mean it's still knowing when to

make some the right decisions. He forced some throws that he would tell you he shouldn't have made and that led to a couple of interceptions went against the Chargers, went against the Texans. Uh. He still throws off his back foot at times. I think he needs to get set a little bit more. His accuracy somewhat of an issue at times, especially early in games when he was trying to settle down. But I think the biggest thing for Drew is not necessarily technical, it's you know, being smart.

This This is a guy that ran around a lot at Missouri and made plays and that's fine, that's great, that's part of his game. But he took some shots there at the end of the season. I think it was Week sixteen against Detroit. He was scrambling and just got blasted out of bounds and it drew a you know, a late hit penalty, but still that fifteen yards. It's not worth it if Drew lock is out for eight games because this team is set up Withdrew, I think,

to make a push for a playoff spot. But without Drew and this is no offense to Jeff Driscoll, the backup quarterback. But without Drew, this is not a playoff team. And so he's got to just he's got to learn, you know, how to take care of himself in the NFL, how to get out of some of these bad plays. Just throw it away. And that's kind of the case with any young quarterback, right that's just a learning process that some of these things you can do in college

you can and do at the next level. All Right, we all love talking offense, and both these teams have young quarterbacks, of course, and I actually have an additional offensive questions that we'll get to later. But let's flip to the defensive side of ball. This Broncos defense, to me, guys, on paper, it's relatively stacked. You just added a pair of veterans there in Denver in cornerback A J. Boullier and also impressive interior defense alignment Derel Casey. I guess

let's start up front. What is Casey gonna do to help Von Miller and Bradley Chubb on the outside. And I think people are also overlooked overlooking the fact when Jets fans might be looking at the Broncos that Chubb only played four games last year or so, if he's healthy, you got him and bon Miller on the edges, and

now you're adding this menace in Casey. Yeah. Well, let's start with what Chubb and von were before he got there, and in their one season together when Chubb was healthy, Chubb had twelve sacks and Vaughan had fourteen and a half and they were really impressive. I mean against the Rams who went on to the Super Bowl that year, Chubb had three sacks as a rookie. Uh they tormented opposing quarterbacks. And then last year that didn't really happen.

The Broncos didn't have a sack through their first three games and din't force a turnover until Week five, and everyone was kind of like, well, where's this Vic Fangio defense We've heard about? But things started to get going a little bit. Chubb tears his a c L week four against the Jaguars, and Vaughan, you know, he dealt

with some knee issues. The rest of the year. He had a career low, I believe, you know, for a full season he had a less in but only had eight sacks, and so the past rush wasn't quite what it has been. And now you bring in Darrell Casey, a guy who has had at least five sacks you know, every season, I think for the last seven years, made

five straight Pro Bowls. He's a guy I think one the positional versatility of him if you put him at defensive end on the same side that either Chubb or Vaughan is lining up on what's a what's the tackle supposed to do? I mean, then you've got to put a running back out there to supposedly blocked Chubb or Vaughan.

I don't think that's going to go very well. But to be able to have that interior push from Casey if he's playing at the nose, I mean, that's going to help one of them out because you can't double team all those guys, and so I think the pressure upfront should help the back end because that's kind of where I still have questions. You mentioned a J Boy, but I'm not so certain how that cornerback groups gonna play out. Can you just elaborate that a little bit.

Obviously Chris Harris goes to the division rival Chargers, and then I just kind of curious to what do you think the state of the second area is with the guy like a J Boy, and of course Justin Simmons Ins and the back end there. Yeah, Justin Simmons a second team All Pro last year. He's kind of a rising star on the Coast defense. I think you could argue he's their best player franchise tag currently. I know

they're working toward a long term deal. We'll see if that gets done or if he plays the year on the tag. You've got Cream Jackson next to him at safety of Pro Bowl Alternate last year they could they're arguably the best safety duo in the league. And I know you guys have a good one out there in New York. The cornerback is where I have questions because you've got Boyer who in was really good, but he was playing alongside Jalen Ramsey and now he's the unquestioned

number one. In Denver, you've got Bryce Callahan, who he came over from Chicago last year in free agency, and he was a nickel purely in Chicago and was expected to kind of take on that outside cornerback world in Denver. Suffered or kind of reaggravated a foot injury that he had never saw the field at all last year, didn't play a single snap, and so we still really don't know what he's going to give the Broncos. You know, can he play out he's a smaller guy. Is he

going to fit in the slot? Which means the Broncos obviously needs somebody else outside and at that position, that's where there's a bunch of young guys. They drafted a cornerback at Iowa in the third round of Michael Ogimudia. They've got DeVante Bosby who played some snaps. They've got Davante Harris who played some snaps. But there's nobody that's

really proven there. And so that's why wouldn't shock me as the season gets closer if the Broncos maybe, you know, poke around a little bit at some of these veteran cornerbacks that are still on the market, because outside of that guys, I mean, you look at the front seven we mentioned how good they are. You've got Alexander Johnson at middle linebacker, who was a first round type guy before he dealt with some legal issues after being at Tennessee.

He's now kind of the center of that linebacking corps. We've got a really good safety group. The edge rushers are great. So you don't want, I don't think you want that piece at cornerback to be the one thing that makes this group fall apart. So that's why I kind of look at a veteran guy to to maybe solidify the group. What are the Jets getting informer Broncos center Connor McGovern and second part of that. Why is he not back in Denver? Why did the Broncos up

to let him go to free agency? Because he's a young guy. Um and obviously he cashed in, But what was the situation there that made him expendable. Yeah, Connor great locker room guy, dependable, played really really well. I thought, uh, you know, he's uh. I thought he struggled at times. Uh, maybe in the in the run game, but it was a good pass blocker. I thought, uh, you know, he's just he's the center of your offensive line that you

can depend upon. And he worked really well with Drew lock dealt with three different quarterbacks last year and handled it fine. I think the reason he's not back in Denver is purely cost. It's nothing more than that they wanted him back. I think they talked to him a little bit, but obviously he took the contract out in New York. So I don't think there's any concerns there.

You know, they let Matt Parrotus leave a year earlier to Carolina, and they did have some concerns there about his ankle and how that was going to heal up. But with Connor for nothing but good things, I don't think it was anything other than, uh, you know, being

priced out a little bit. And the Broncos have not the last couple of years had a lot of desirable free agents that have hit the market, and this year, for the first time, they had some guys that they kind of knew they weren't going to be able to resign with Chris Harris Jr. Connor McGovern somehow had Shelby Harris, a defensive lineman, fall back to them. But yeah, only

good things for me on Connor Erica. My last question here is one is going to be focused on the offensive line, and with Connor McGovern's departure, then incomes Graham Glasgow and comes Lloyd Cushionberry. What's your evaluation of the Broncos offensive line and do you think that that's pot actually a matchup that the Jets could exploit when these two teams meet in Week four. Sure, I think that's definitely possible, just because you don't know what this group

is gonna look like. I mean, you've got Dalton risen Or at left guard and he was an All Rookie player last year. I think he's got Pro Bowl potential. But other than that, you know, it's possible that the

rest of the group could look entirely different. Just going left to right, you've got garat Bowls at left tackle, who has been consistently available since he was drafted in uh let's say, I guess seventeen from Utah, but he's had all these holding penalties, leads the league by a wide margin in those, and so they're gonna have an open competition with him there with Elijah Wilkinson, who he's played some right guard, some right tackle, but you know

he doesn't have the penalty issues, but he allowed a lot of sacks last season, so that left tackle position is kind of a concern. At center, you might have a rookie starting there and Lloyd Cushionberry from l s U. At right guard, you've got Graham Glasgow, who you know, he's dependable, he's played a lot of snaps, a good blocker, but we just don't know yet how he fits in

on this offensive line. And then at right tackle, you paid a bunch of money in excuse me twenty nineteen to go sign Joan James from the Dolphins, and he played three games last year for you and played very minimal snaps, and so he's got to come back, and so it's just a lot of question marks along that line. I think the interior has potential to be really good, but at those tackle positions, that's where the Broncos kind

of have to see things work out. I'd actually be more nervous about the right tackle position just because you know, Garrett Balls might have a holding penalty a game, but he's available, he's there, He's pretty good outside of those penalties.

Juwan James, we need to see him stay healthy. Eric, I'm not going to ask you to predicts the wins and losses for the Broncos throughout their first quartet of games, but on paper verse Tennessee at Pittsburgh, verse Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and then a short week coming to New York for Thursday night game against the Jets. What do you think about that first on set of games for this team? Yeah, I mean, no uh, margin

for error there, huh. And you know, after we play in New York, we've got a road game in New England the next week. Who we don't We have no idea what they're gonna look like. I mean, you could be looking at oh and three right there if you slip, and then the Jets are a team that, you know, Broncos fans might have said, hey, that's a game we

should win before the schedule comes out. But then it's potentially the hardest, you know, the way it could have set up being on a short week across the country, so that one's gonna not be easy at all either. And so the Broncos are going to be tested here early. They've just got to kind of survive this first stretch

of games. What do you think about when the Jets and the Broncos meet up in terms of where it is in the schedule, being the short week of the Jets the season coming in week four, and we touched upon it with Eric, is that you think about these teams schedules. Both teams are not gonna have it easy here in the first quartet of ballgames. Jets open up against the Bills, then they got the forty Niners at home,

then they're in Indianapolis, and then you have the Broncos. Well, the Broncos they host Tennessee, then they're at Pittsburgh by Roethlisberger back in the saddle for the Steelers, and then finally Tom Brady going out west but they got to come to the Jets on a on a short week, so they play each other in week four, but it's a Thursday night game, so advantage to the Jets in an advantage always playing at home on a short week, and then you think about they're coming across two time zones.

I think we'll be looking at this game in December and we will say that was a game either one of these teams had to have if want to get to the spot they aspired to meeting the Jets. I think they gotta win a game like this short week, Thursday night, Denver Broncos. Yes they have talent, Yes they can cause problems, but I think I think this is a game on the schedule that you say you gotta take care of business, otherwise you could get behind the

eight ball. Would shoot? Would you be surprised, Greens if the Broncos came to town all in three, I wouldn't be. I don't think I would be either. And I think for the Jets when you look at the matchups, and we talked about it with Eric a little bit, but it comes down to a couple of things. For me. One, if i'm Greg Williams, I'm making Drew Lock throw the ball because they Jets have a very good run defense,

number two in the league last year. And if you stop Melvin Gordon and Philip Lindsay and you put the ball in Drew Lock's hands, well, okay, let's see what Drew Lock can do on a national stage with his new receivers early in the season. And I think that's key because we talked out maybe the pieces wouldn't have found their synergy yet by the time the Jets and the Broncos play, So I think that's key. And of course we'll see on the flip side, talk about chemistry.

We'll see how this new Jets offensive line, led by Conra Governing at the pivot, how they handle one of their tougher tests with Bradley Chubb on one side and Von Miller on the other side, with Darrell Casey in the middle. I think that the offensive line of each

team will determine the winner of this game. Yeah, I agree, offensive line and cornerbacks, right, because for the Broncos to get anything gone, I think it's gonna be hard for Philip Lindsay and Melvin Gordon behind that offensive line coming to Mentalife Stadium and trying to push the Jets around on the ground. Now you'll try to keep them honest, no doubt about it. But can Lock get the ball out of his hands quickly and in space to the

like subdue Uty and Sutton and Hammler. Whereas on the other side of the football, the Jets can they have the balance with Levian Bell and also provide the protection that Sam Donald needs because I think Denzel Mims, Brashad Perryman, Jameson Crowder, you add balance in the mix in the passing game, of course, the tight ends. I think the Jets can do some things through the air against the Broncos. And where I would ask you to when we analyze

this matchup is bottom line. I think the most significant difference between these two teams is Sam Donald's a better player that Drew Lock at this point in his career. And I don't know what Lock is gonna be and it's gonna be fascinating and see him roll up to MetLife against Greg Williams and company, because the Jets defensive

coordinator is gonna throw everything at him. But Donald Lantern in year three, Lock entering year two, it's a totally different situation and Donald is also in the second year in the same offense. I don't know the way you see it, that's where I'm boiling his game down to quarterback advantage, and to me, it's a significant advantage right now, Yeah, I agree with that. I don't know a lot about Drew Lock, of course, because one he plays in Denver until he only played a little bit of last season.

So I thought it was very interesting to hear Eric talk about his work ethic, just because that was something that I didn't know. The only thing I knew about Drew Lock is that he is kind of a baby face. And that's all I knew about Drew Lock. And I'm excited to see what he can bring to the table, and I'm excited to see what he looks like in Week four against the Jets. And you know, we'll see what happens. But I agree with you. I think it boils down when push comes to shove to Sam Donald

and Drew Lock. And right now, as we recorded this podcast, Sam Donald is a better player than Drew Lock in the NFL. So we'll see what happens. But that was another edition of the Opponent Previews. See he's on the Official Jets podcast powered by Amazon Web Services. Many thanks to Eric Delala of Denver Broncos dot com and e A and I are back with the jets next opponent, the Arizona Cardinals,