Sad and Confused

[00:00:00] The sky is falling, the sky is falling, everyone besides McKinnon and Yogi sucks donkey dick. Dan, play that donkey dicking music. Welcome in, welcome in to a episode of Confusion and Sadness here on The Blucifer Brothers. I don't actually think we're that confused. Are we confused?

[00:00:29] I'm confused by the Broncos draft. I'm sad about the Nuggets and about the Avalanche for different reasons. So let's just get into it, Ryan. Dealer's Choice, where do you want to start with those three teams? We're going to talk Nuggets, we're going to talk Avs, we're going to talk Broncos draft. Let's go in that order.

[00:00:50] Okay. Nuggets pulled a win out of the deep recesses of their asses in game one when the Clippers stupidly started cheap shotting Jokic and it pissed him off. Hold on. I'm just updating the listener on what's happened since we've podcasted. Well, you're not updating the listener fully on what's happened. No, I mean, if I...

[00:01:18] We got to talk about the newest addition to the Poland family. A Blucifer Brothers episode would not be a Blucifer Brothers episode if we did not let the audience in to what's occurred in, honestly, at this point, both of our lives. So do you want to give the listeners an update into why we're a little delayed in this episode? Well, yes, Ryan.

[00:01:42] My wife did give birth to beautiful daughter Lila, joined the family on Monday, 2.50 p.m. Lila Nicole Poland. Yes. She's just out there living her best life. So you're a weekend. Yes, I'm a weekend. We chatted a little pre-podcast about how your life may or may not change. I mean, I've heard the second one's the easiest one.

[00:02:10] So has that been your experience? Oh, yeah. It's an absolute fucking picnic is how I'd describe it. So you've got a toddler running around. You've got, what, three and a half? You just put the toddler with the baby and they meet each other. Like, I haven't seen either of them in days. Honestly.

[00:02:36] I just hear their little laughter around in the vents and I assume they're having fun up there. Bodie's teaching her to read, I'm sure. Yeah, dude. I'm sure it's going to be good. Yeah. But yes, that is why we are delayed in getting going. Because when you were talking about game one, I was like, man, we haven't podcasted since then.

[00:03:01] So Bodie went to the game, which was a victory, which might mean that he may have to go on Tuesday. I don't know. So we'll see what kind of effort they showed tomorrow. But I don't want to put Bodie in a no-win situation. No. Honestly, don't bring him to the game. They're definitely going to lose. Game two, the Clippers were pretty significantly better most of the game. But the Nuggets clawed their way back.

[00:03:31] They had some chances. Couldn't execute down late. And it was in that game that there were moments where the Clippers started to realize the Nuggets kryptonite, which is just passing the ball around until one of our guys does something stupid on defense and forgets to guard somebody. Like, I swear to God, Ty Lue went in there and was like, hey, James, Kawhi,

[00:03:58] you know how you guys can totally fucking cook Aaron Gordon and Christian Brown? Yeah, Coach, we know that. But if you're going at them, they're at least going to get a hand up. If we just make four passes, they can be any order of passes. We're actually going to get a wide open three. The stats show that that just happens 100% of the time versus the Nuggets. And 50% of the time, you get the offensive rebound.

[00:04:26] So it's pretty good strategy. And credit to Kawhi and Harden. They brought in in game three. And the Nuggets got their asses beat, despite the fact that Yogic had his best game of the series and was just an absolute force in that game. So that's where we stand right now. Major takeaways here are all pretty negative. But we kind of saw it coming. You know, I picked the Clippers in this series.

[00:04:56] Ryan said, hey, that's probably the pick. But I'm going to, you know, try to go with my heart a little bit and give them a chance in seven. But I think we knew that this was a deeply flawed team. But it has been alarming, to say the least, to watch these four guys play around Yogic.

[00:05:17] And to see the stupid things that he has to do out there to just make it a functioning NBA offense has been truly, truly discouraging to watch. And that's my number one takeaway as a Nuggets fan is like, hey, you know how you kind of talk yourself into, well, maybe Jalen can knock some shot.

[00:05:42] Ah, you know, maybe this will get the same 20 points a game Christian from the regular season. You know, oh, maybe Mike will find his shot. And it's like, no, no, no. All of them have been terrible. So I 100% agree. It's the supporting cast, right? Like, you can't be faulting Yogic. And I think we should table Yogic and come to him second in this because I do have some things I want to get off my chest in regards to that.

[00:06:12] But it's the supporting cast is there isn't one. At this point, like, nobody is showing up. Reportedly, Jamal was sick in game two. There was an illness running through the team. Aaron Gordon's calf isn't right, which I actually fully believe. MPJ has the AC joint sprain, supposedly.

[00:06:41] I 95% believe that. And there was at some point in game three, he looked like he had it wrapped in toilet paper. No, it was bad. This is not medically helpful. They were talking about a brace. Like, you just wiped your ass and then wrapped it around your shoulder. It's not the way to go. I mean, like, all respect to him for playing. But honestly, like, there's a certain point.

[00:07:08] And in my athletic career, I've actually dealt with this decision of, like, am I better hurt than the next guy down the bench? And the answer for the Nuggets right now is MPJ is better at 50 fucking percent than anybody that they're sitting on that bench.

[00:07:29] So, like, yeah, it would be great if, like, it's not ideal that MPJ is hurt. But it's not like we're sitting somebody in the bench that is, like, this sharpshooting big guy. Like, it's not like we have another option. So, it's the reason that Calvin Booth got fired, which I think was the reason that neither of us were upset.

[00:07:58] Nobody was upset about that. Everybody was like, yeah, okay, you suck at your job. You're going to get fired. But the fatal flaw of this team is the depth. And I think there is a second fatal flaw that is related, which is sort of the – well, it's not related. It's the top-end talent.

[00:08:23] Like, at a certain point, we cannot be paying Michael Porter Jr. and Jamal Murray to be doing this in playoff series. And it's – it is – Jokic is having an all-time performance, which I think we should get to right now. Like, I –

[00:08:44] Ryan, they are triple fucking teaming our center from the three-point line as soon as he takes one dribble towards the basket. We have two fucking max players and we can't score four on two. And – and, Kyle – hold on, hold on.

[00:09:12] And, Nicole Jokic out – because I had a fan of the pod text me and was like – she texted me during the game and I couldn't even respond. I was so fucking mad. And honestly, just like kind of embarrassed for everybody. Like, nobody felt good out there, right? And she was like, man, the Nuggets look bad. Like, yeah, they certainly did. I'm like, I think this series is over and we could get to that too.

[00:09:42] But I'm like, the Clippers are good. Like, the Clippers are a really good team and they're kind of built to defend this sort of – because they can just throw bodies at our athletes, which we have very limited of. And they are – they're built for this, right? Like, their team is sort of built around this. Nicole Jokic is getting triple fucking teamed and is averaging 26 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 fucking assists.

[00:10:11] He – and it should be 25. Like, there is no – he is hitting people just wide open in the corner. It's like, ah, let me throw this off the side of the backboard, Clippers style. Like, it is – Paul George on the Clippers-esque.

[00:10:30] The amount of open shots that we are missing, the amount of layups that Jokic is finding the team, the amount of – like, the amount of offense that he is alone creating. This playoff series has distilled it as clearly as I think you can distill it. That if he has even competent players around him, this team is a playoff and a finals contender always.

[00:11:00] We do not have competent players around Nicole Jokic. We just don't. You can't ever convince me that we do. Christian Brown is not a fucking competent player. Like, he is a very good spot defender, hustle player. He's a – ideally, he would be in the Russell Westbrook situation. But because – and I'm not one of these people – I've been on the record on the podcast.

[00:11:26] I'm not one of these people who is saying like, oh, we had to keep KCP. We had to keep him. You have to keep – he sucked. He's been terrible on the Orlando Magic. He has been awful. I think it's good we didn't sign him. It is a travesty that what we replaced him with is Christian Brown. The sin is not not signing KCP.

[00:11:52] The sin is doing a bad job of evaluating the talent on the roster and not replacing it with something better. Yeah, but we had old Calvin up in the booth, you know, and he was – he could see talent from miles away. You know, we're all still waiting to see. I have a photo.

[00:12:21] Maybe we can post it on the – I wanted to hit on this. After Jogic was absolutely fucking dealing in that first quarter, he was fucking carving the Clippers up. Like, he was aggressive enough that, like, they had to guard him. But he was then just like, okay, I watched – It looked like he figured him out. I'm going to fuck you up now. Yeah, it looked like he figured him out.

[00:12:47] And they – and the Nuggets were pretty consistently up six to eight points, you know. And then all of a sudden, you just see us do two of the stupidest defenses against James Harden. It's just like, hey, you can't go under this pick. Hey, I promise you can't go under this pick. And they just hit two straight threes and you're like, oh, we're down two. I'm like, oh, okay.

[00:13:17] We're so screwed. I thought Jogic was going to murder someone. And then by Jogic's standards, I thought he was pretty direct in the postgame when he was like – when they were like, do you need to be more aggressive? I was like, I mean, maybe. I don't know. I think the most important thing is that we get a good shot and, like, get open looks. And he's like, I think we're getting a lot of open looks out there. We sure are. We sure are. We're getting a lot of open looks out there. And, you know, sometimes you make, sometimes you miss.

[00:13:46] But the important thing is getting good shots. Like, it was, you know, pretty direct out there. It's – I mean, you can't help but be direct, right? Like, it's so clear and obvious that this is a fatal flaw. And people are blaming Adelman. And that's not fair either. Like, I don't think he should be our coach next year. But David Adelman is not the problem here. No, no, no.

[00:14:15] This goes far beyond that. And I think the moves that the Cronkies made were the correct moves. I think Michael Malone was the wrong time. And everything else is sort of up to be determined. Like, I think that this offseason is going to be the most exciting Denver Nuggets offseason since ever. I don't know. I'm not actually sure.

[00:14:43] Maybe when we had the Mellow pick in the anticipation of the draft. But this is not draft. This is like, actually, we are going to shake up this roster. And I think it's going to look drastically different. And I'm fascinated to see what they do at general manager because that's going to be the first sign of how innovative and how, like, yeah. I think it's going to be a very interesting offseason. I mean, it has to be. This is criminal.

[00:15:14] I think everybody's on the table. I was out there on the Blues guy last night and I said, we are the Charlotte Hornets with an absolutely generational talent. We talked about when Michael Malone got fired that Nicole Jokic probably doesn't have, like, a huge say in that decision because he doesn't want to say, right? But he's not above sending a message.

[00:15:40] And I think he sent the message when he said, after the Michael Malone firing, he said, well, yeah, I think, like, in my country, when, you know, the coach gets fired, everybody's job is on the line. And I think that was a message. And I think that's not just a message to his teammates. It's a message to the Cronkies to be like, I don't really care what you do. Like, I love Jamal.

[00:16:06] It's clear that they have a great relationship, but, like, if you can find a better player, find me a better player. I mean, I just think it is – those are distressed assets right now. So, like you said, it's what makes it so interesting because all you need is one team to believe, right? And Murray would believe in that. I don't think – Jamal, I think, is less distressed.

[00:16:31] And to me, the best asset on the team right now is Christian Brett. And I think this playoff series is – obviously, it's tough tape for him. But he's also guarding, like, two of the best offensive players of their generation. So, like, he's going to get torched, you know?

[00:16:53] And I think it's terrible matchups for him also because he's too small for Kawhi and too slow for Harden. So, like, he's going to get toasted on both ends. How are you too slow for James Harden at this stage in his career? Yeah, but he is. I'm just saying. Like, that's what I'm watching. Same things you're watching. That's what I'm watching. I'm just saying. So, I don't disagree.

[00:17:19] I'm saying if you're somebody who has some depth at that position, he's an unbelievable asset. Because I do think he could be an Alex Caruso type where he comes in, he gets spot minutes, he gets big defensive stops. But you're playing him 15, 18 minutes a game. You're not starting him. So, I think – well, yeah, I don't know. And there are lots of stupid teams.

[00:17:49] So, call the stupid teams and start offering them things. So, we will see. Yeah. It's going to be fascinating. I think looking forward to game four, I don't see how anything changes. There's no – I mean, obviously, there were moments in game one and in game two where there was a different defensive intensity and consistency to that intensity.

[00:18:18] Than there ever was in game three at any point. Like, the Nuggets just played really good offense in the first quarter. And so, we're able to stay in it. And then, when you stop playing elite offense, then the fact that you are playing no defense really comes back to bite you. I think that the Nuggets are screwed as far as they're going to have to start blitzing some of these hardened things.

[00:18:48] Because right now, just getting the switch onto Murray or any of those guys, it is just – they are so unafraid of that matchup. And if you're just going to get torched like that, the weakest part of Jokic is rim protection. And so, those guys are just coming in and taking floaters, right? And he's so often in some sort of switch with Zubac outside of the paint anyways.

[00:19:12] Like, that was the brutal part about last game is they're doing that swing-swing and Jokic is already on the perimeter. And you're like, well, we literally don't have anybody in the paint right now. So, I don't think that there's a defensive adjustment that I'm looking for. Like, to me, the only way that we can steal a game and even make this a series at this point is if somebody goes off offensively.

[00:19:41] And, you know, two years ago, we would have said, okay, like, Jokic could have 60. I don't – they're not going to let him have 60. Like, they are going to – he's getting 26 because that's the hardest 26 points that anybody scores in the NBA right now. Like, they are triple-teaming him. They're doing everything possible to make him a passer because they know that everybody else sucks.

[00:20:07] So, like, if you get the ball out of Jokic's hands, which they're doing a pretty good job of, they can't score – we can't score enough points. And so, the only way that we can potentially do this is if we get a Jamal Murray, you know, 55 point. We're going to need literally bubble Murray because – and I'm not saying that derogatory Jamal. I've said a lot of other derogatory shit about you in this podcast, but not that.

[00:20:37] But I mean literally against the Clippers Jamal Murray in the bubble. Lose your mind. Lose your fucking mind to be crying. Like, you know, show us something. Do something. Be a little bit – like, what the fuck happened to that Jamal Murray actually? Like, what happened? You were literally crying in the tunnel and now it looks like you don't care about basketball at all. That's – like, I don't know. I've been to fucking 30 games this year. It looks like he doesn't care. Yeah. It's not good.

[00:21:07] The body language is not good. The Porter body language is terrible. It's always been bad. I mean, it's – Trade him. Get him off my team. I don't care. But here's my thing that's, like, just so damning for me is I'm like, okay. Okay, so even before Russ comes on and they just blitz the Murray pick and roll with Jokic and say, sure, throw it to Russ for an open three. Here you go.

[00:21:34] Like, before they're even doing that, it's like we would do the same thing where we'd have, okay, Christian, come set this screen. Okay, now we got Harden on Murray. All right, now we're going to run pick and roll with Murray and Jokic against Harden and Zubac. And, like, Murray can't use those advantages to, like, get things on James Harden. Like, it's – Like, you would think – I can't stop thinking. Back in the day, if James Harden was on Jamal Murray, it was death.

[00:22:04] It was just like, we're scoring here, dude. Like, you better – we're scoring. And it's – We can't even do it. I can't stop thinking about the Devin Booker thing. I can't stop thinking about it. Yeah. I mean, I think that's an off-season podcast, which could be coming very soon.

[00:22:25] But the other thing that I just think hamstrings this team so much is that we suck so much at shooting from the outside that Jokic is being forced to play, like, away from the basket. Like, you saw in the first quarter when we were able to just have him play through the post. They still don't know what the fuck to do with that. Because if he can get low enough, then it's, like, it's harder to come without fully coming off of, like, the player.

[00:22:55] And they're trying to balance that. And it was just a lot easier. But – We also can't throw an extra pass. It's just a thing. Jokic has to be a threat. It's, like, you bring Zubac out. And if Zubac goes too far in, Jokic will hit the three at the highest rate on our team as well. So it's, like, you don't get to – In that famous, like, J.J. Redick rant where he was talking to Stephen A. And he was, like, the most efficient basketball play since they started measuring him is Nikola Jokic's post-up. Like, it gets buckets.

[00:23:24] And it still does, even against this Clippers team that's full of long and smart wing defenders who are doing a great job at helping. He still carves that ass up. But we just can't do it because then the team will start doubling Jokic before he gets the ball. Like, they'll literally just be, like, okay. Well, they were doing some of that. Like, they'll just drop that defender off of whoever's near side to him.

[00:23:49] And they're, like, it doesn't really matter who's in that corner because it's a better shot even if they do shoot it. And we try – and they're good enough defenders to actually be able to go out there and semi-contest. You know, it's not wide open. So I think they're cooked. I hope that we could get it to six so we don't – I don't have to watch them lose on our home floor. But I think this is five. Yeah, it had a lot of –

[00:24:19] This could be one, two, three Cancun in Denver. Oh, 100%. If we get – and I think they have that killer instinct. And honestly, I kind of – They're going to be leaking reports of, like, Jamal Murray has already moved out of his apartment heading into game five. I think – We'll see what kind of fight he'll show in the arena.

[00:24:39] I think they – the Clippers probably believe more than anybody else in the Western – I believe that the Clippers have the best chance to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder of any team in the Western Conference. The Thunder have been unbelievable.

[00:24:56] But I don't think there's a team right now, even in the East, that I think has a better chance, mostly because of what we've seen in this Denver series, where, like, they just have wing defenders all over the place. There's not going to be anybody left wide open. Those are going to be some hard-fought games for the Thunder. And it's experience, right?

[00:25:23] Like, Kawhi is not going to be afraid of Shea. Like, that's – No, it's not that. It's – to me, it's just – I think teams with multiple perimeter threats, you cannot hide James Harden. And I'm sorry, the Chris Dunn defensive experience has not been very scary. It wouldn't be driving fear into my heart if I was Lou Dort or Shea or whoever, you know. Let's go to the Avs. All right.

[00:25:52] So, Avs started off beating the Stars' ass. Maybe, like, okay, we're getting the monkey off our back. Then, game two, they are winning. Then, late, tie it up into losing in overtime. And then they come out. They get up 1-0. It's staying 1-0. Oh, wait. They gave up a tying goal. Aw, shit. We lost again in overtime.

[00:26:16] Like, the Stars have always been such a hard matchup for this team. And when I'm watching it, I can't – I'm not like, oh, the Stars do this so well. Other than they're just always in the way. Like, they're always willing to put their body in there. And they're not, like, ever out of position where I feel like the Avs just get to free skate into their zone with speed. Because, like, it feels like they're just – Like, the Avs are their scariest.

[00:26:46] It's like, ah, McKinnon's flying down this wing right now. They're just standing at the blue line and are like, we're going to hit you right here. Like, I'm standing here for a reason. And, no, it doesn't feel like there's very many clean entries in the series right now. And that's where playoff hockey has been tricky for the Avalanche in the past, right? Like, it's where you can slow them down in the middle of the ice.

[00:27:13] And then it's like, okay, yeah, if you can set up – And it seems like we're being very sloppy when we do actually get it deep and then set up in the middle of the zone. It's like if we can't skate into it, we don't know what to do with it. Uh-huh. So, I don't know. It's – I'm still confident because it feels like – I actually don't know what it feels like. I'm curious of your take.

[00:27:41] Because it kind of feels like we're the more talented team. Yes. But at the same time, there hasn't really ever been a time in the series where I feel like, oh, we're going to kick their ass right now. I thought after we got up in game two, I thought there was a real chance there. There were some chances when they were – to make that a two-goal game.

[00:28:09] And I think if it becomes a two-goal game, I think it can become a three-goal game. They're pretty easy. Yeah, but as we covered it –

[00:28:44] it's flying around. You're just like, yeah, old Greg threw his dick in front of the puck again and kept it in the zone. In the war of attrition, they eventually wore down. That's old Dick Greg for you. You know, like there's not this beauty to the game from them. But it definitely felt like they were being able to control where that game was being played. And for the Stars, I think that's enough.

[00:29:13] They just feel like they can win those ugly games more often than not. They're just more used to playing in them than the Avs. And to your point, the turnovers, I think the Avs, they get so flustered too when it's like they're not creating, they're not flying. They're like that team that wants to play the beautiful game. And then a team is just like, yeah, well, we're going to play dirty as shit. But like – No, I was – Not the Stars have been dirty, but like they just – Hold on, hold on.

[00:29:37] My point was going to be about it feels a little bit like the Avalanche for like maybe the last three years have been a little bit Barcelona in the playoffs where they're trying to pass the ball into the back of the net. And you're like, actually just take a rip from like 25 yards out. You're lying on Messi and you're standing in 10 yards of free space. Like just shoot the fucking ball.

[00:30:04] Actually, don't try to like do all this fancy things. Like just shoot and good things will probably happen. So I – It also – Doesn't it feel like on that first line that everyone besides Makar and McKinnon just have some real tight buttholes out there? Because like it just feels like those guys are looking like, how do I get this to Kale? How do I get this to Nate?

[00:30:32] Like they're not looking like, motherfucker, I'm going to go score. Like it just feels a lot less dangerous because you're like, well, McKinnon or Makar doesn't have it on this first line. We're probably not going to do anything. Yeah. It's been weird. The second line is not as good as the first, but I feel like they've been more consistently aggressive. Yeah. Like everyone – I'll go get a goal here. No problem, coach.

[00:30:59] I do agree that the first line hasn't felt as aggressive. I don't know that it's – that they're being as tentative as you. I might disagree with that only because I've watched so much abs hockey and it felt like that the whole year. Like that's kind of been the whole thing is like, okay, we don't have to like get it back to – I mean, obviously you want McKinnon.

[00:31:28] It's like Jokic, right? Like you want him to touch the puck, but like when you're open, shoot. They're going to let you skate in for free on the wing. Yeah, yeah. You should do that. That creates an opportunity on the backside for McKinnon maybe. Like I don't know. It's – Yeah. I'm not – I put a lot more faith in this abs team than I do the next team. A hundred percent. I think they're going to win this series. They're not surprised me at all. They responded, got a win. It goes back tied 2-2.

[00:31:58] And I'm like – I'm not scared. I think they're going to win this series and I actually think that if they get past the stars, this team is very, very, very dangerous. Yeah, yeah.

[00:32:15] I think we should start clearing our calendars for a parade if this team gets past the stars because they're going to – the confidence that they'll take from that, like that sort of curse breaking and having the captain back. I mean, like Landis Gog's hit, I don't know like what I would have done if I was in the building when he made that first hit when he came back on the ice. But I – Yeah.

[00:32:45] It's – the vibes are very different between the two teams, right? Yeah. Like they're both underperforming hypothetically, but the vibes are completely different. They couldn't be polar opposites. So, I hope – I kind of – I'm kind of taking abs in six, by the way. I just think – Six? I think the stars have seen – yeah, I think the stars have seen their last little – Wow. You know? I'll go seven. But, yeah, I'm definitely taking the abs.

[00:33:15] Yeah. This is great. All right. Broncos draft time. So, the Broncos, they've had a draft. They drafted. Yep. So, let's just go round by round and I'll go through it with you and you kind of give me your reaction and I can give you mine. Okay. So, round one. We have Jaday Barron. They stayed at their pick. They didn't trade up.

[00:33:46] He was a Texas slot cornerback. What are your thoughts there on that pick? Well, give me yours because I think we – yeah, I don't know. Give me yours first. Okay. So, I thought to myself, Kyle, last year on this podcast you spent the whole preseason making fun of Riley Moss and hated that traffic. And that turned out – all right.

[00:34:15] I think you should sit out any strong takes on cornerbacks drafted by the Broncos this year. So, I'm going to sit out any strong takes. All the stuff I've seen is just basically like really smart player is going to be plug and play in the nickel like at the start of his career, which is valuable on a defense that's like already operating at a high level. But I do think it probably plays on the Broncos' mind that one, you just can't have enough corners.

[00:34:41] And two, like when Riley Moss was out for a little bit or Pat Sertain was out, it was like good lord. There are some bad corners behind them there. So, I don't hate this at all. And I think taking a slightly lower ceiling, like it's still a Texas like corner. He's still athletic. It's just he doesn't have the same upside as some of the other corners.

[00:35:02] Like I just think pick a guy who's going to be in the right spot, not mess around, and he can play here in game one, give up a 10% chance that someone else is going to be a shutdown corner. We already have the best corner in the world. Yeah, we haven't talked about the draft in general very much on the podcast, but it seems like the consensus is that like that 15 to 50 range was sort of a crapshoot.

[00:35:30] Like everybody's sort of the same. Like it wasn't a great draft. So, initially when we made the pick, I was a little disappointed because I just wanted a skill position guy. I'm like, give me somebody fun, like whatever. But then I was listening to a Bill Simmons podcast and he was talking about somebody else. And this was after the pick, but the pod was recorded weeks ago, I think.

[00:36:00] But he brought up a thing Michael Lombardi said from the Patriots. And he said, if you have the strength, double down on it. And I think this is the Broncos doubling down on the strength and just saying like, you know what? We're going to have to play the Chiefs. We're going to have to play the Chargers. We're going to have to play good quarterbacks in the division. We know what the AFC is.

[00:36:26] And having another strength here when the draft is sort of a crapshoot anyways, and we feel really good about this guy. Like I can't fault the process there, right? Like I don't know enough about – I've never watched Jaday Barron. Like we're on the podcast – we're on record on the podcast saying we don't really care about college football. I watched some highlights today. Like seems dope. I don't know. But like I'm not going to pretend to know everything.

[00:36:55] But I definitely know that they did their homework on him. And if they feel like that this is – they feel like he was going to – he's a drop and he's of great value at that position and we're doubling down and we're now going to have this lockdown defensive unit. Like that's unbelievable. We won a Super Bowl that way with a pretty shitty quarterback. So that's – that has had success in the past.

[00:37:25] So I'm cautiously optimistic I would say at this point. Yeah. I'm not coming down as like what a pick, steal, and I'm not coming down on the side of like what an idiot. This guy is going to be a bum or something. I think we just have to see him against NFL wide receivers, right? Like at a certain point at cornerback you kind of have to see them play at that level. I think getting a slot guy isn't as redundant either because it's like it's almost a different position, right? Yeah, yeah.

[00:37:55] Like you're just like, okay, we're set on the outside. Now the inside is locked. You're actually freeing up Sertan more than typically. Like it's a – it is – there's real logic behind it. And I think I can see that. I probably would have done something else if I was the person, but I 100% can see the logic and I don't disagree. Yeah.

[00:38:19] Then round two, they first traded back to the Carolina Panthers and they got up in the third and fourth round. They gave them a – we got a seventh and gave them a sixth. Then they traded again with the Lions and moved back in exchange for a fourth round pick there. And then at 60, they took RJ Harvey. He's the UCF running back.

[00:38:48] Probably the memory that most people from Colorado have is when they just lost to Colorado as like 18-point favorites. And he didn't look that great in that game. But has been a pretty highly productive back. The issue with me is like I've been seeing a lot of people being like, oh, they finally have someone to pair with Estime. And I'm like, this guy looks exactly like Estime. Like what are we doing here?

[00:39:17] This seems like a very similar style of runner. And I haven't been overly sold on Estime either. And so to me, this feels like running back, not a high value position. You can get often great production in the late rounds at that position. It just doesn't feel like it's at a premium to me. I would trend to give this one a light thumbs down.

[00:39:45] But I wasn't furious about it or anything. He's old already. So that's cool because you probably won't have to pay him a second contract no matter what because he's going to be 29 already. That's literally not a joke, aren't they? Five-year deals? Yeah. Yeah, he's 24. So he's going to be 29 when he's done with his rookie deal.

[00:40:14] You'll never see that money, dog. Yeah. So that's cool. Negotiate hard, RJ. This is your only money you're ever going to make in the NFL. He does also have a torn ACL, which actually might be good because they're stronger once they get back. And that was in 2021, so I'm kind of being a dick. But it seems like, I mean, he's fast, right? Like he ran fast at the combine.

[00:40:44] He ran 4-4. He has some of that breakaway speed. But I can't believe that people are saying that him and Audrick Estame are going to share the backfield. Like you need two different types of backs in order to have a platoon backfield. That's crazy. We're just going to actually try to confuse them which one is backfield. Yeah. They're like, wait, that's RJ. RJ! No, I... It doesn't matter. They're going to do the exact same thing, guys. Why are we freaking out?

[00:41:14] Ah, yeah. Good point, dude. I think this makes Estame extremely redundant. Yeah. And to be honest, it feels a little... The only hesitation I have is that it doesn't feel like a Sean Payton pick. Like when I think about a running back that Sean Payton wants in the backfield, I think about Taysom Hill.

[00:41:43] Like that's Sean Payton's wet dream where he's like... Or like he had Reggie Bush, Alvin Kamara. Or Alvin Kamara. Like he's been a big... Be explosive. Big and like, you know, you can be explosive but you're not a slight guy. Alvin Kamara is not small, right? Like he's... I don't know. This guy's 5'8". Like he's Bradley's height.

[00:42:13] Like... This is a 200-pound Bradley that we just drafted in the second round of the draft. So I don't know. It doesn't feel like it's going to be good. We also got the draft capital, so that's why it's only a slight thumbs down. Then we go to round three, which this is where it got considerably bad. They took the spot receiver out of Illinois, Pat Bryant.

[00:42:39] This is a direct quote from the Mile High Report, which is a Broncos blog. In what most would consider a bit of a reach, as many draft pundits had Pat Bryant with a fifth or sixth round grade. He figures to be a strong blocking wide receiver and fights through muck on his routes.

[00:43:03] It doesn't feel like an impact-type game-breaker of a player, but a guy that Sean Payton will be looking for to help make his offensive system run more efficiently. While not as exciting as the R.J. Harvey pick, it doesn't take much to understand why they reached for Brian here on day two. I understand your Broncos blog, but it does take a lot for me to understand why they reached because of the whole previous paragraph where you described how he sucked.

[00:43:33] That was mostly why it's difficult to understand why they reached. What do we need with a just big, slow wide receiver? I saw that he ran the slowest combine time. Is this a joke? We have arguably the biggest and slowest wide receiver core already.

[00:44:01] What the fuck are we going to do with him opposite of Cortland Sutton? Cortland's not slow, but he's not fast. He's 6'6". He's a big dude. What the fuck are we going to do with this guy? Is he a tight end? I don't know what we're going to do. He's still not as fast as Travis Kelsey at 40 years old. Yeah, no way. No way.

[00:44:31] Travis could go out and run that right now if he put Taylor Swift's ass in front of him. I'm telling you. So that one was a bit confusing. Also, I know this all- A bit confusing. This is a very tight play. We're not spending enough time on this. This is a travesty. This is one of the worst picks in franchise history.

[00:44:54] So the guy says, and what I think he was trying to redeem it, but it's the meanest thing you could write about a wide receiver. He figures to be a strong blocking wide receiver. They're like, I am. You should see him. He's fucking huge and slow. So it's almost like having another lineman out there.

[00:45:16] And Dan, producer Dan was talking to me before, and he was reading off some stuff, and they were like, he's great at contested catches. And I'm like, yeah, because he's too slow to break away. Every catch is contested. The guy mostly falls asleep out there. Oh, here we go. Waiting for him to get to his spot. Here we go. Are you ready? Really? I figured out why. I don't know. This is, it's a blog called Predominantly Orange. We'll give them the shout out.

[00:45:44] Because if they're wrong, they can take the flack too. But the Broncos may have had a secret weapon in evaluating this particular player. Defensive backs coach and defensive pass coordinator Jim Leonard. After he was the defensive coordinator at Illinois, Jim Leonard spent a year on the Illinois staff as a consultant. We've been waiting for that connection to manifest.

[00:46:14] Leonard would have had an up-close look at this guy every day back to 2022. So, despite the fact that he only ran a 4-6-1 in the 40-yard dash. He averaged over 18 yards a catch last season. Because he's big. Fell asleep. He's a big guy.

[00:46:42] But we're still able to run his ass down. It's honestly like that disrespectful shit. It's like when you're looking across the court in the pickup game. And you see the fat white guy in front of you. And you're like, well, this is going to be an easy assignment. And then he hits two threes in a row. And you're like, god damn, dude. I'm going to have to guard you? Are you kidding me? They see this 6'4 slow fucking kid coming off the line.

[00:47:12] And they're like, oh, this is fine. I'm going to go double team in. Who every time he's been in for the first 60 plays only ran crackback blocks against the middle linebacker. Yeah, he's giving a strong thumbs up in this blog part. He's got a really good thumbs up photo here. I hope he's great. I don't know. But it doesn't seem like it's good. Again, if we just go back to process, right?

[00:47:40] Like if we talk about the process on the good side in terms of cornerback where like maybe we don't know the value on the board. This pick then negates all of the good shit I said about that. Where it's like, okay, maybe you are just fucking idiots. And you don't understand you have the best quarterback in the world. And maybe we should draft an offensive tackle instead of a quarterback. Like maybe protect the quarterback. Protect Bo Nix.

[00:48:09] Who sucks too. But like can we take Shadur Sanders? Like can we take him in the fourth round? Come on. I agree, by the way. But also, like listen guys. It does not take a genius to realize why a coach would like Pat Bryant. You cannot be a dick and run a 6-4 40.

[00:48:40] We should time ourselves in the 40. What do you think you could run in the 40? If you run that goddamn slow, they're trying to be a water boy. What? What do you think you could run? A 40-yard dash? Yeah. I think probably in the 4-3 range. Yeah. Well, if you're 4-3, then I'm going to be about 4. What's the record? It's got to be 4-2.

[00:49:09] I think it's 4-2-3. Yeah. That's you then. No. All right. Let's move on from this. We've made enough jokes. Then the round three, they trade back into the third round. They take the Philadelphia Eagles pick to take Savion Jones from LSU, who just kind of appears to be a gigantic athletic human from LSU.

[00:49:38] And so I really liked this pick. Yeah. Hard to disagree with that. Like, it just feels like he's 6'5". He's 280 pounds. Like, he's just really physical. And it did feel like sometimes the Broncos could be a little bit light in the ass. If, like, it was an obvious running down. But, like, you could still just give five yards because we didn't have any big defensive ends to pair in there with Zach Allen. Right?

[00:50:06] And now it's like you can give your guys a rest and be pretty protected against the run just, you know, letting this guy hold someone up on the outside and not have to be insanely aggressive or something like that. Yeah. I just see an immediate role for him. Right? Yeah. He's going to play and he's going to hopefully create some havoc. Right?

[00:50:34] Like, he's going to get a lot of snaps in the regular season. And they might be spot snaps at the beginning. But they're going to be in passing downs and it's going to be go get Batman. Man. So. That's exciting. Once Pat Bryant gets injured, we can move him to one. Wait, let's see. He probably ran a faster 40. I'm literally going to. I'm looking this up right now.

[00:51:03] Oh, my God. I bet he could have great pass blocking. What did what's his nuts run? Look at you, Travis Hunter. We got our own two-way play. What's that guy's name?

[00:51:34] Which one of the wide receivers? Pat Bryant. Yeah, Pat Bryant. Pat Bryant, 40. I've got Xavion Jones' 40. Okay. Great. Let's see. Um. I've never cared about anything so much in my whole life. Oh, it's. So. Pat Bryant ran 4.61.

[00:52:03] And Xavion Jones ran 4.74. We got goddamn Joe Burr out there. We've got to lean between our defensive end and our wide receiver. Oh, my God. That is just unbelievable. Hold on. I'm going to find.

[00:52:33] Keep. What else do you have? What else? That's the draft for the Broncos so far. I think I would give it a slight thumbs down. I liked the first round pick. Um. The second round pick, I was fine with. The third round pick was atrocious. And then getting back into the third round, Savion Jones, I would say, is good.

[00:52:56] But like you said, the atrocity of that third round pick is so bad that it's hard to redeem the rest of it. Yeah. Uh. I have a. I have a Shadurik Sanders question for you because I do want to get into that before we get over here. Well, let me. But I wanted you to be able to finish because it felt like you were looking something up draft related here. Yeah.

[00:53:23] I was trying to see how many guys ran faster than him at the 40. Uh. And I was going to sort it by like defensive players. You started getting fucking rec center 40s just meant. No, no. I mean like this year. No, I was looking this year at the confine. Fucking citizens at this point. So we've got a linebacker from Miami.

[00:53:54] An edge rusher from Minnesota. Linebacker from California. Edge rusher from A&M. Uh. Cornerback. Quarterback. Missouri. Great. Uh. A safety. Linebacker, linebacker, linebacker, safety. Like this.

[00:54:18] This list is too big for you to be drafting him where you drafted him. Yeah. It's like the one thing we hypothetically need is somebody who can catch the ball because we've got the fast guy in that Penn State wide receiver. But he unfortunately cannot catch the ball. So we're going to need somebody who can catch the ball who's a little slower than the Penn State guy. And we didn't do it. We did do it, I guess.

[00:54:48] But I'm not even sure this guy can catch the ball. I changed my mind. This was a brilliant pick. All right. As soon. This makes perfect sense if you consider the previous round and estimate. All right. Sean Payton realized his time was done with these skinny running backs. There's no more play in hide the sausage with Reggie Bush and Alvin Kamara. He's got two fat bowling balls coming down this lane.

[00:55:16] Everyone and their mother is going to see them in the ball. And hear them, too. They are huffing. They're very sweaty out there. And so you need a physical roster out there. They're not sweaty. They're not running fast enough to get sweaty. This guy is going to be dry at the end of the game. He's going to be three yards off the line of the scrimmage. The whistle is going to be, holy shit, the play's already done? I didn't even know. I didn't even know the ball was snapped.

[00:55:46] I thought I false started. He's going to be so, so on top of it because he's going to be able to smell French fries in this stadium. And that will motivate him and give him fuel. So they knew they needed a big physical wide receiver out there because there was no hiding these two fucking bowling pins. So they drafted this great blocker out there on the edge. It makes perfect sense and it's a great pick.

[00:56:16] A plus for my meaningless draft grade. A plus so far. A plus? Oh, yeah. A plus. I thought you gave him like a B 10 minutes ago. In real life, if I wasn't doing a bit, I'd give him like a C minus. Yeah. It's like where you just consistently turn in C work and then you just mess up one time and flunk something. It's like, yeah, your grade goes down, man. If you had an A, you probably could have eaten this one. It'd be fine.

[00:56:48] But you didn't. Yeah. So this F hurts. Yeah, yeah. No, I think that's right. I think you're, I appreciate your emotional take, but I think your rational take is the correct one. I sadly think you're right too. But, all right. Well, next time we'll be talking to you, we'll either be so- Wait, we have a cup of the Rockies. We are darn right we didn't. And Dan is-

[00:57:17] No, we got to. No, he has a, now I don't want to ruin Dan is doing an expose on left-handed bullpen pitchers after they've had two whiskeys and two fingers in their butt. Oh. How their fastball compares to other pitchers who have had similar experiences. And the earlier- Darren, if I can make a recommendation about that.

[00:57:47] As far as I hear are that the Montforts are on to something here. Because if you've got- Well, if I can make a recommendation about that study, it seems like not only velocity would be important after a finger in the butthole, but also control. Because you might have less control, but higher velocity. Just excitement, you know? Like, that's exciting. But you might have a little less control over what's happening. Yeah. Elsewhere.

[00:58:17] So- I don't want to step on that. That's going to be a- I mean- Oh, we stepped on it. We stepped on it. Steering expose from Dan next week that he's going to present to the loyal listeners of the podcast. So we can all look forward to that. Dan, how many cops have you killed while we've been podcasting? I'm doing my resume for a promotion. Oh, dang. That's not Grand Theft Auto.

[00:58:46] Not this time. Is this the way that Dan's telling us that he's quitting the podcast? He's- I'm searching for a promotion from my current role in this enterprise. That's- You know what? It's tough but fair, Dan. It's tough but fair. Tough but fair. We honestly- We understand. And we respect- This is my only work. This is my only work.

[00:59:15] That's, you know, we appreciate all the work you've done over the years. And if you've got to go work for D-Mac and the boys, we understand. That's no problem. I don't understand, actually. And I will hold it against you. But, you know, do what you've got to do. Listen, for those who don't know, Dan is thinking about producing a Mike Kliss podcast. All right?

[00:59:45] Stop this. And it's going to be Kliss and Kisla. And Dan is going to produce it. He just- He feels he connects more with those voices. Kisla blocked me. I know. I was with you that night. It was a great and glorious night. You blocked one of three times. What a claim to fame. I love it. I don't think I've ever been blocked by anybody. Well, that's not true.

[01:00:14] But not a media personality. Hardly ever. All right. We're just trying to laugh to cover up the sadness that is being a Broncos and Nuggets and Avs and Rocky Sports fan. But, you know what? The good news, honestly. So get on in here.

[01:00:38] The thing that I thought about today, in all honesty, to wrap it up, is that we are probably going to have the longest summer that we've ever had since the Nuggets and the Avs have both been good. Yeah. We're going to have- It's going to be May, and we're going to be done with Nuggets basketball. That hasn't happened in a long time.

[01:01:05] So it's disappointing, right? But hopefully it allows everybody to get a little bit rejuvenated in the offseason, and we come back firing on all cylinders with Jeff Van Gundy as our head coach. Jesus Christ, no. All right, then. We'll talk to you next week. Please stop saying these names.

[01:01:35] Like and subscribe. We'll talk to you next week. Bye. Lucifer Brothers is a Crab Shell Media podcast.