Get the latest on Broncos training camp with insider Cody Roark on that team. And joining us right now covers the Broncos for mile high sports. Also, it's a lock-in-brocco spot gas. It's got your work.
Good morning, Cody. How are you? You know, I'm doing good, Jim. I'm on my third cup of coffee already today, and we're ready to rock and roll.
You are caffeinated up and ready to go. Cover the first full day of training camp for the Broncos. So let's start out. But, Jonathan Cooper, did propose reporting that Cooper was there yesterday when Veterans reported.
He's been around the facilities the last couple of days. What are you hearing about Jonathan Cooper and what may or may not be happening with him? You know, is the acclimation of the acclimation period begins with Broncos at training camp? Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I think, you know, a lot of it right now is the Broncos are letting the NFL handle everything, you know, until the NFL hands down a ruling on anything. You know, their goals, their cooperating with local authorities and their fall in that process. But basically, until there's a resolution, you know, Cooper is allowed to attend team facility, be at practice right now. So obviously, being there today is the Broncos are on the field for the first time for training camp in helmets and jerseys and shorts.
But what we'll be interested to know, Jim, is how does the rotation look like? Is he going to be the first guy on the field with Nick Benito? Or is he going to rotate in? I mean, I think if you were the Broncos in this situation, while he's obviously allowed to practice right now until the NFL hands down ruling or places him on the commissioner's exemplar, gives us a suspension, he can be at the facility to practice.
Now, do you rotate Jonah Ellison first? Don Drey Tilman Q. Robinson, and then do you get Jonathan Cooper in where you see fit? That to me is the question here because I think Denver regardless, Jim, Denver has to prepare for this season as if Jonathan Cooper is either not going to be on the team or is if he's not going to be available for a handful of games.
That has to be the approach that they take. He's not the exemplarist to understand, you know, if he was, he wouldn't be there. But in the case of the Broncos, though, from a PR standpoint, is it a good look for him to be there, even if he's not on that list? It's a slippery slope.
You know, it really is. I think overall perception of it is, you know, it is not a good look just because of the nature and the severity of the allegations towards Cooper. Now, obviously, I know at the very beginning, both he and his ex-girlfriend were both charged and arrested the first time charges against her have since been dropped. Additional charges have been filed against him.
So now really, the tricky part about it is now it has to go to a jury trial where all the evidence will be presented and obviously, whatever comes of that, I'm very, very curious to be honest with you. But, I mean, right now, as we have seen precedent before, like, let's go to race. He arrived before he was suspended and he is racing at that cause serious injuries to other people when they crash and he fled the scene. That was all captured on video.
He still practiced until that point. So that's kind of how NFL teams have now taken this approach, even if I think there is scrutiny and maybe some deserves scrutiny in the public eye. But it's based on, hey, the NFL until they handle the ruling, we're going to proceed like this. But I'm very curious, Jim, like, that's the thing we do not know right now.
Like, he is allowed to be there. We anticipate him to be at practice. But how much involvement will he truly have? That is something I'm looking at here for the team.
And obviously now we also have for us, this is Michael Wilhoy. The outside linebacker coach initially came on for Sean Tainton 23. He was fired last year after an incident at the International Airport where he allegedly punched the police officer. Those charges against him were dismissed.
And so now he is back on the team, even though that he and the police officer, they do have a civil case. Civil suits like that don't necessarily impact how teams perceive, but if there is a criminal case, criminal charges, that impacts all that. So a lot of moving pieces, but it does seem like even within Yomu, Wazarika, it seems like the Broncos are looking at things. They're willing to give players a second chance.
But Jim, in the nature of serious domestic violence allegations, that's where I think everything gets a little tricky in terms of second chance because if he did do something in the Broncos, allow him on the field, that perception is not going to be received well and rightfully so. And Cooper's girlfriend was examined at the hospital by a nurse, was deemed she was strangled, had hypoxia, you know, like, I guess it's important. She didn't do that to herself. So somebody did it to her and that somebody is most likely Jonathan Cooper.
So, you know, the Wilhoy thing, the timing couldn't be worse, could it? But with these two, I get Wilhoy to charges were dropped. He went to a diversion program. It is different in that regard, but still once again, it's just not a good look.
Is it Cody? No, I mean, and that's the thing too is you have to evaluate. And look, I think the team certainly are willing to take the perception hit. It's so tricky, Jim.
Like, you know, for the most part, anything that you and I do, we have something like this happened with us. I mean, there is no PR behind it. It is a, like, you just cost yourself your career, right? So the NFL is very interesting.
It's got a history of that. And we shall see how things openly play out here with Cooper. But we'll find out a little bit more. I think August 31st, after he enters a plea of Jilthi, and I'm curious based on that.
Is that when the NFL steps in when it comes to Jonathan Cooper? I think that's a work scam to see. Cody, work, my life, sports, lockdown, broadcast, our broadcast and cider on the team sports network. Okay, we're through all the, all the rough stuff.
Okay, all the difficult stuff, the difficult conversations. Let's talk about the new facility, $175 million facility that both the Quinn miners and Patrick September 2nd, they spoke to the media yesterday, just raved about. I mean, this is, while we might have, we have concerns about the Walt and Pinner Group and how things are being handled with the subjects we just talked about. This is something they deserve a tremendous amount of, you know, congratulations and congratulations for in what they've been able to do with this facility.
Yeah, I mean, Jim, here's the thing, right? The Broncos released pictures yesterday on social media, you know, the locker room, the weight room, like all, you know, key areas. I'll tell you this, I went in yesterday to go check in and, you know, go through security, you gotta go through security, check in process. The main lobby of this place is impeccable.
I can't even describe it, Jim, how it's, how awesome it is, you know, talking to staff members there. It truly is state of the art. I have never seen anything like this before in terms of just open space, a lot of natural light coming in, huge walkways that reminds me of the Overwatch Grey's Anatomy. They got an area that's like the walkway inside of a, you know, a lot of the other way.
The walkway inside of, you know, the hospital there, it is, it is impeccable, Jim, and I worked, can't even describe just how good it looks. And there's still some parts that aren't finished up. Like the media workroom still being finalized right now and being worked on. But that should be done here in a couple of weeks.
It is breathtaking. How awesome it is, Jim. No doubt about that. Go to your work with us today on the gym, the show on the team sports.
Now, we're, it's one of the other stories. Learning up the training camp was been powers restructuring his contract. It was a big chunk of time last year with the biceps injury. Alex Palschewski stepped in, had a great run playing that guard spot for powers, came back against Jacksonville.
And we find out that he actually sustained a loose frank injury in that game and played with that injury the rest of the way through the playoffs. And so he restructures his deal. He had the second biggest cap hit for the Broncos heading into training camp. So are we, I guess we're going to see a battle between Palschewski and powers for that starting guard spot.
Obstacle windliners. Yeah, I do think that you're going to see some competition. But I do think right now it is Ben Powers job to lose. You know, they really like it.
And they felt like last year when they would pull, they wanted to pull with Ben Powers. He's a really good job. I think you should pull with Quinn Miners a lot more to pull from right to left. We'll see if they add that into the offense this year.
But ours was very valuable. And look, obviously the high price tag 18 million cap hit was a little bit of a problem. The block was approached him in February from what I've been told and they asked him about a pay cut. But he was just still recovering from this frank surgery.
So they decided they're going to approach that subject later on, which was obviously this past week. And obviously he was willing to do that. You know, he is, I think, and have a little bit more guaranteed money than he is, even though he's taking a significant pay cut. But here's the worst case scenario, Jim, right?
Well, I don't even say it's worst case or even best case, but say, like, OK, how things progress here? Powers job to lose. He wins the starting job in camp. All right.
Well, hey, you're returning the same offensive line for bone next in year three. And then we're case scenario. OK, you move like maybe a team needs an offensive lineman. Maybe the Broncos end up trading Ben Powers to a team that may need an interior guard as training camp.
Appreciated goes about. And now you put out, just getting the starting lineup who last year when he failed in, Jim, he was a huge surprise because he was viewed as a right side player for Sean Payne. Even Sean said that he played exceptionally well at left guard filling in for powers. And so you know, you have him starting this year.
That's not a bad thing. You've invested time in developing Paucheschi, where he could be a backup right tackle, Mike McGlenshey. He could be a backup guard. He's got that versatility to kind of play a three-spots left guard right guard right tackle.
Well, now you have a guy that's further ingrained in the system that could eventually take over. And then on top of that, it allows you to maybe prioritize next year. How do you navigate the salary cap with Courtland Sutton and Jalen Wildall each going around $27.28 million in terms of cap that next year? Restructure in those deals will be paramount for obviously the Broncos and for Sean Payton.
So I imagine that's something that they are probably going to be working on. But it doesn't make them worse at this point. They have a lot of flexibility with this, especially with the pay cut. Go to work with us today as the Broncos begin training camp today.
So what's the one camp battle start out today that you're kind of focusing in on honing in on here to start at camp? Well, it's interesting, right? Because there's not a lot of spots open for starting jobs here at Fort Denver. But I am curious to see how the linebacker position behind Alex Singleton, Justin Sternat, how that goes here for the team.
What is the rotation? Who are the first two guys behind those guys, right? Obviously Jordan Turner is on the non-football injury list. So that obviously impacted things because I felt like coming into camp, he might have been a favorite for that.
So we'll see how long he's going to miss. But I want to see Red Murdock, Tori and York and those other guys get those reps and those opportunities. And then of course we're going to be paying attention to the cornerback rotation. A lot of people, and I don't even think this has come.
I think this just spans speculation, Jim. A lot of fans have been speculating that today. Baron is going to be competing with Riley Moss for the starting job. I don't think that's going to be the case.
I think it is Riley's job. Today's going to play the role he did last year. Denver's not hard pressed to make any decision right there. They like Riley from what I've been told.
So I would not expect competition there. But maybe what the rotation looks like in the dime packet, I think will be interesting. The rookie that you're the most intrigued about would be Phil in the blink. The easy answer here would be Jonah Coleman, right?
Is he the first guy on the field before Tyler Badega's reps? I think we all know JK and RJ. Those guys are probably going to get the first reps. But who's that guy getting those third reps?
If it's Jonah, I think it kind of puts the writing on the wall that they view him as that third down back. That pass protection goal line two minute. And if Tyler Badega comes in, it's like, all right, well then there's the competition. If Badega's the first guy on the field and Jalimah Cloplin, and then Jonah Coleman, OK, that's where the competition is taking place in running back.
So to me, I'm excited about Jonah and Jim. I think one thing even pinpoint now that way we can have the receipt for later on. I think Jonah Coleman is going to have a little bit of a bigger impact in the past catching the apartment than most people think. So keep an eye on that.
I think that's going to be a very underrated aspect of his game. I think we're going to see the running impact there from him early on the preseason. But I do think the Broncos can use him a little bit more in the passing game. All right, Cody.
I guess get another cup of coffee or don't. Are you fully caffeinated up here? Are you ready to go for a busy day? Yeah, like I said, I'm about to finish this cup of Dechpros that I got.
I got a water and I got a power rate. I'm ready to rock and roll. So it's going to be fun. I'm going to rock to support coming up later here on the team sports network at 420.
I've decided to talk about that a little bit, but then kind of set the stage for the rest of the training camp. How's the sunburn for vacation looking? Well, you know, I tell you what, OK, I got shorts on today. I got my shoes, but I bought a couple of long sleeve sun shirts.
So that should help the arms at least. And I got a hat on. So we'll see if today I make it through, if not tomorrow, I'll be hoodied up, where I'm all my long sleeve stuff in the worst case scenario. Guess what?
I lose some water weight. We're ready to rock and roll sunscreen. Sunscreen Cody. Yeah, it's pretty gnarly looking.
You sunscreen, my man. Oh, I do trust me. It doesn't work for me for somebody. But, you know, some of the guy is I got to be a case study or something like that, because, you know, back when I was coaching, I used to have the great coaching tan, right?
Yeah, the short. You always have the white ankles from that point. But today, I just, I mean, I can never tan and my wife, you know, she's got some Italian in there. So she she turns to gold after she gets in the sun.
So I'm like, I'm Joe, I never can. I just give birth.