Did the Denver Broncos get a glimpse of their future against the Cardinals? | The Rundown
[Music] Welcome, welcome. Happy August 18th. Welcome to the rundown. What we’re going to be talking about today is fun because we get to see a real good glimpse into the future, if you will, uh, with some of these young receivers that the Broncos have on their roster. And last Saturday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals, where the Broncos ended up destroying them 27 to7 showed a real good uh preview of what we can expect from some of these young depth pieces on this roster. And there are two players that you can pinpoint when you’re looking at the young depth, and that is both Pat Bryant and Troy Franklin. Those guys absolutely balled out in their preseason matchup against the Cardinals. And a lot of that comes from how well Jared Stum was playing at at quarterback. He was uh lights out. He was really just killing it. He was playing the best backup quarterback I’ve uh position I’ve seen around the league. Honestly, the way Jared Stenham has been moving in these past couple weeks has been incredible to watch. But the way that he was able to make these young guys shine was really, really fun. Pat Bryant and Troy Franklin both had four receptions total. Pat Bryant with 70 yards and then Troy Franklin with 67 yards and both of Jared Stam’s touchdowns went to Troy Franklin as well. So both of those guys really just showed out. And you know, you’re looking at Pat Bryant who was the third round pick for the Broncos this season. A depth piece to be added. you’re looking to always add receivers. I’m definitely the type of guy where every single draft I believe you should add at least one receiver and one running back. And the Broncos did both. But not only did they do both, they did both in relatively early rounds. You know, you got RJ Harvey in the second round, you got Pat Bryant in the third. So, those guys clearly uh are are meant to be depth pieces that are that are growth projects. You want these guys to end up succeeding. And with Pat Bryant, he could succeed in this league. and he could if he continues to perform at the level that he performed at in this past game. You know, you got four receptions, 70 yards, no touchdowns, but you’re averaging 17 and a half yards per catch. That’s great. And I don’t want to get away from Troy Franklin either, but what we saw from Pat Bryant was him being basically the number one option on the field in Saturday’s preseason game. Now, Troy Franklin, though, he has experience already. He’s been with the Broncos. He he’s he’s already had a season where he’s playing at Empowered Field at Mile High. He knows what it’s like to be out on that field. Last season, uh Troy Franklin went out and he had 28 receptions for 263 yards and two touchdowns. And then he also had the playoff game where he had that amazing he had two catches in his playoff game against the Bills and one went for 43 yards and a touchdown. That it was incredible, you know, to watch how that went down. Boon Knicks was making that connection with his guy Troy Franklin. Those two are going to be solid. But now you got to look at the depth pieces. You gota you gota look at where they fit up in the rest of the roster where they’re looking at because obviously we got Courtland Sutton. Obviously there’s Marvin Mims who will likely be the wide receiver too. And then Devon Vele who had a great season last year. So then Troy Franklin, he was out there last year getting a lot of touches, but it wasn’t comparable or comparable to what those other three were doing. So we’ll see Pat Bryant and Troy Franklin get out there and al alleviate some of the pressure from those other guys. But the way that they’re able to perform right now, if we can use the preseason as kind of a measurement for what we could see in the regular season, those guys performing when the other ones come off the field, the Courtland Suttons, the Marvin Mims, when they’ve come off the field, you can still be confident that the Broncos will continue to succeed. And that’s what you got to know when you’re talking about depth pieces. That’s what you have to think all the time when you’re when you’re talking about depth and you’re talking about where can the Broncos look when somebody goes down. Knock on wood. You don’t want to, you know, you got to think about that stuff. I mean, as much as you don’t want to, you got to think about, okay, something happens, something bad happens, you know, somebody gets injured. Do we feel comfortable in the depth in this team? Do we feel comfortable in the backups coming in and having to play a bigger position? Yes. I feel so comfortable in this team right now, in the depth everywhere around this team. and we’re highlighting on the wide receivers, but every single position, I can’t pick out one where I’m not comfortable in the depth. I mean, again, let’s bring it back to Jared Stidum. Jared Stum’s been having an amazing few weeks, you know, with training camp and the preseason performances he’s been putting on, he’s been balling out. So, the depth at quarterback, that’s another place where you can look and you could say, “Hey, we’re good. If Bon Knicks has to take a couple snaps off, we’ll still be able to complete a few drives, I I feel confident that Jared Senum can go out there and lead the team and be a game manager and lead him to a touchdown. Even if Bonx has to take off one drive, that’s it. Give him a break, Jared Stum can come in and still continues to to succeed. But with Pat Bryant and Troy Franklin, both of those guys going out there and proving that they can also be solid backups, I mean, how much more confident can you get? H seriously, these those guys baldled out. And that’s the kind of stuff that you want to see from people who are not only backups, but are backups that are looking to make a name for himself. And of course, Troy Franklin, as we know, last year, not the best rookie season. you know, he he wasn’t connecting with Bon Knicks as much as you would like to see him connect with Bon Knicks. You people I know I thought so. The media all thought that that was going to be a bigger connection because they both played at the same school. You know, that that was Bon Knicks’s guy when they were out at Oregon. So, not seeing him succeed in the way you thought he was going to in his freshman season with the Broncos, if I may, was a bit disappointing. But knowing that he has grown, he has gone out there and and looked to to succeed on and off the field, in training camp, in preseason matchups, he will be a bigger target this season. I mean, Troy Franklin could be Bon Knicks’s fourth guy. And then Pat Bryant could be the fifth. But those five guys, we’re talking about Courtland Sutton, Marvin Mims, uh, Devon Vele, Troy Franklin, and Pat Bryant, that’s an incredible five. I when you look around wide receiver cores, there’s a very real possibility that the Broncos are the best wide receiver core in the AFC West. And that I don’t think that that’s wrong to believe. So, I I can’t I can’t really picture, you know, you see the Chiefs out there, the Chiefs could maybe be better, but all in all, with the depth that the Broncos have at wide receiver, it’s hard to imagine that there’s a better team out there, at least in the AFC West. And again, bring it back to Pat Bryan stats, this is your fifth wide receiver off the depth chart, just hypothetically. We we don’t know what the real depth chart’s going to look like yet for the full season or the regular season, but your fifth wide receiver, four receptions, 70 yards with Jared Stumm throwing to him. Now, imagine what it’s going to look like when the QB1 Bo Nicks is throwing to him in the regular season. Pat Bryant looked incredible and Troy Frankton Franklin looked just as incredible. both of them out there. And not only is it a great sign of the Broncos depth and how deep they can be, but also for the future. You know, Courtland Sutton’s on a four-year deal right now. He just signed it this off season or his extension. What happens when he’s gone? Does he resign after the four years? I mean, we don’t know. It’s all up in the air. Anything could happen. So, after four years, hypothetically, Courtland Sutton’s gone. You still have those two guys who could still be here and who have grown and who have continued to play and and if they aren’t signed to a different team because they’re too successful, then they’re staying on the Broncos and they’re going to be the ones who continue to succeed when Courtland Sutton’s gone. Then it’s the wide receiver ones who are being built for four years. That that’s what’s being that’s what’s happening here is you’re getting these guys who have potential and you’re growing them into a wide receiver one. So, in four years when that time comes, can these guys be that guy? Can they be the wide receiver one? And if I’m getting a glimpse, if I’m reading this right, if I’m seeing what I’m looking at, right, you know, you’re you’re seeing 70 yards and 67 yards and two touchdowns. Yeah, they could be a wide receiver one in four years. All they have to do is grow and continue to get snaps out on the NFL field out in the regular season. And I’m very confident that those guys will get a solid amount of snaps in the regular season and they will prove why they should be or could be a wide receiver one in four or four or so years. But we’ll have to see what that looks like come regular season. But o all in all with those guys out on the field it’s it’s great. You know there there I have almost no notes when it comes to those two’s performance. Incredible and dominant. They were getting open. They were finding their spots. They were catching the ball. They were doing everything you want to see from your depth pieces, especially in the preseason. You want to ball out in the preseason. That’s where things come easier. This isn’t the regular season quite yet. So, you want to make your make the most of the opportunity when you’re out on the field and you’re getting the targets. And they did that. They made the most of it. It was great. But moving on, there was another great uh great performance out on the field yesterday. And that performance or not on yesterday, Saturday, that performance was Evan Ingram. Now Evan Ingram, I say a great performance and it was, but it wasn’t big. He had one reception, but that one reception went for 58 yards. Evan Ingram went off with his one catch and Broncos country was wowed by him. And it wasn’t just Broncos country that was wowed because it was vice versa. It was flipped. Evan Ingram was wowed by Broncos country. He spoke on his first taste of being a Broncos saying, quote, “It was incredible, man. From running out of the tunnel to the end of the game, it was incredible energy. It had us going. For it to be a preseason game and have all that energy like that, I was in awe all night. I can’t wait for week one. I mean, Evan Ingram is possibly the biggest acquisition of the Broncos off season. Possibly. I mean, you got to see how Dre Green Law and Talonu Foga turn out because those guys could also be very huge. Uh, barring they don’t suffer any injuries, but Evan Ingram getting out there and speaking about how excited the fans were, how much how much the energy meant to him. I mean, this is a guy who for the past few years of his career hasn’t had that energy. He he hasn’t felt that energy out where he was at. So coming to Broncos country, coming to feel what it’s like after they go to the playoffs for the first time in 10 years, first winning season in nine years, and now they got a tight end that they can really believe in. I mean, I was walking around training camp just last week and there are Evan Ingram jerseys. I can’t remember the last time I saw a tight end’s jersey that it wasn’t Shannon Sharp in Broncos country. Really, like it’s it’s incredible to see how much this meant to him and it’s really incredible to see how much it meant to the people. I mean, getting him out there in his first ever game with the Broncos in Empower Field and he’s feeling that he’s feeling how much this means to the team. But how how he played and how he made that one play. I will say it was one play, one reception and turned it into 58 yards. I mean, how could you not be excited about that? What more can this guy bring to the NFL field? What more can he do? I I I cannot wait to see how he like provides in the regular season because there’s a few things that Bonix didn’t have last season and a few things uh and what I mean by that is running backs. He didn’t have a solid running back last season and a tight end. He didn’t have a real tight end that he could throw to. And what you heard about Bonix before the draft and during the draft process last year, what you heard about Bonix is that he’s a checkown merchant. These are just the hating comments. You know, the checkdown merchant, can’t throw the deep ball. He’s a game manager. Game manager isn’t a bad word. Check down merchant, sure, it gets you a few yards. That works for me. Can’t throw the deep ball, he proved you wrong. But he didn’t have somebody to check the ball down to last season. He didn’t have running backs that he could just throw to the flats. He didn’t have a tight end that could just hit a curl route right up the middle of the field. Now he does. Now he’s got something to look forward to. Now he’s got two players or three I guess if I count RJ Harvey, JK Dobbins, RJ Harvey, and Evan Ingram who can go out there and be a receiving back and be a Joker as a tight end like Evan Ingram. And you’ve heard Shawn Peyton say that Evan Ingram is the Joker. So, watching uh or watching how they play and then thinking about how Boon Knicks is going to be able to eat with those guys, I I’m getting excited just thinking about it cuz Boon Knicks, if he is what people were saying in those hating comments last year where he’s a checkown merchant and just the game manager, that’ll make him better because he wasn’t any of those things last year. He was airing that ball out every single play. It felt like I mean some of those touchdowns to Marvin Mims were incredible. You were talking 50 yards in the air and Boon Knicks was having to do that. Now he’s got a guy he just has to throw it 10 yards in the air to an Evan Ingram or behind the line of scrimmage to RJ Harvey who’s a great receiving back or JK Dobbins. He can just hit easily anywhere on the field now. He’s got weapons. So, Evan Ingram getting out there, seeing what this place is like, and seeing how excited Broncos country is to finally have somebody in the tight end position that we could feel comfortable in. It’s great to know that he notices it. It really is. And again, Evan Ingram, 58 yards, the third highest amount of yards in that preseason game, and three less receptions than the top two guys. If he had one more reception that went for 12 yards, he would have been tied for the most receiving yards, a 58 yard burst for the new tight end coming to Broncos country. Really just an exciting time to be a Broncos fan. And again, I cannot stress how great it is that Broncos country has embraced this new tight end and and he is embracing Broncos country. Really, really great to see from a tight end that you want to have a lot of hope in. But that’s going to do it for your rundown today. Thank you guys so much for joining me. Definitely a lot of fun to watch that preseason game as we’re seeing some of these guys, you know, both grow and both uh come into a place where you will now feel comfortable. We got Pat Bryant and Troy Franklin stunning the crowd going out there getting two touchdowns and both going for near 70 yards and then Evan Ingram feeling the love in Broncos country. Really great to see. Really great to see all around. But thank you guys for joining the rundown. Uh Richie will be back with you guys again tomorrow. But it’s been a real pleasure hanging out with you guys today. Have a good one, y’all. Bye. [Music]
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