Denver Broncos SECRET WEAPONS Emerging at 2025 Minicamp

Denver Broncos SECRET WEAPONS Emerging at 2025 Minicamp

there are a number of secret weapons on the Denver Broncos roster in 2025 sam Ellinger played a big role getting JK Dobbins to Denver special teams coordinator Darren Rzzy talks up punter Jeremy Crossaw and Justin Sternad might be the linebacker we’re all sleeping on we got that and much more for you on today’s episode of Locked on Broncos you are Locked on Broncos your daily Denver Broncos podcast part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day broncos country it might be the dog days of the 2025 offseason but you know what we’re not sitting around here at Locked on Broncos we got a lot of fun stuff to talk about today we’re talking about some secret weapons today why Sam Ellinger was maybe one of the key reasons why JK Dobbins ended up signing with the Broncos jeremy Crossshaw and his kind of secret weapon as a punter and what drew the Denver Broncos to draft him as the only punter selected in the 2025 class as well as maybe Justin Sternad being the linebacker that many of us in Broncos country have been sleeping on this off seasonason welcome in to another episode of the show my name is Sarah Bettinger so grateful that you’re here today i’m the co-host here at Lockdown Broncos as well as the site expert at predominantly Orange.com and for all of you everyday listeners we can’t tell you enough how much we appreciate you if you’re not already an everyday listener of Locked on Broncos we appreciate you taking a couple of seconds and hitting that subscribe button wherever you listen or uh on YouTube if you haven’t done that already and Broncos country today’s episode is brought to you by our friends at Game Time download the Game Time app create an account and use the code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase the Denver Broncos made some actually pretty big waves across the NFL landscape during mini camp when they signed veteran running back JK Dobbins of course one of the biggest aspects of that story is the fact that the Broncos got him away from the Chargers who kind of revamped their running back position this off season but the Broncos made more understated moves actually they had really only made one move leading up to that point at the running back position which was one of their worst in 2024 they let go of Javvante Williams they let him walk in NFL free agency and then they brought in RJ Harvey through the NFL draft in the second round and I think a lot of folks were assuming okay this is going to be the Young Guys show once again offensively it’s going to be RJ Harvey it’s going to be Audrey Esté a secondyear player the Broncos had high hopes for in his rookie season as well and then Jal Mclofflin kind of coming back and doing his thing but ultimately the Broncos saw their running backs over the course of OTAAS they decided to finally bring in JK Dobbins for a visit which spanned multiple days and they sign him to a one-year contract that’s heavy with incentives but still indicates that I think Dobbins is going to play a massive role in the offense here in 2025 and because of that it’s kind of interesting to think about what was it that brought Dobbins to Denver well obviously they have a great situation for him to step into right he could be the top running back on the depth chart he could be the guy that leads the team in carries this coming season if he stays healthy but ultimately we know in the NFL it’s those ties that bind right it’s the ties that bind and really the the three degrees of separation it’s always interesting to kind of try to figure out and Shawn Payeyton is obviously big on this he talked about it in terms of the relationships with people that he had that led to him hiring Lou Aeni the team’s running back’s coach and you could look at a number of different he he’s he’s got all these different guys on the coaching staff who are connected at Northwestern and he’s got guys on the roster with connections to Utah and Texas jk Dobbins obviously has a number of former Ravens or Ohio State teammates on the Denver Broncos and and we’ll get to those guys in a little bit but the secret weapon in signing JK Dobbins might have been Sam Ellinger jk Dobbins met with the Denver media for the first time after mini camp practices last week and he talked about the fact that Sam Ellinger in the state of Texas where Dobbins is from was actually his best friend uh before they left for college i think when you break down the decision for Dobbins to sign in Denver obviously familiarity with guys on the roster already helps but Sam Ellinger specifically doing some recruiting for the Broncos is quite interesting because the discussion this off season has really been a lot about man the Broncos they’re probably going to keep two quarterbacks on the roster they don’t necessarily have somebody like Zack Wilson who you feel like he could leave in free agency next year and go make millions on another team and potentially even help the Broncos get a compensatory pick sam Ellinger is a different type of player at the quarterback position he’s somebody that he’s probably a lot more valuable to the team than really meets the eye and I think this is one of those instances where he’s got so many connections right he’s obviously he played college at a high level at Texas second most all-time yards passing in Texas football history second most passing touchdowns in Texas football history both of those behind Colt McCoy and then he’s second all time in rushing touchdowns at the quarterback position at Texas behind Vince Young so a very decorated player who was with the Colts the last four seasons and he’s going to be a pretty important guy to watch over the course of the preseason for the Broncos because he’s going to be giving the looks to a lot of these young guys that we’re trying to see battle it out for roster spots and Ellinger is going to be the guy throwing them passes he’s probably going to get a lot of playing time in the preseason coming up does he stand a better chance of making the 53 than meets the eye certainly when you’re recruiting guys to come join the team that probably benefits your case at least a little bit and I think it’s worth discussing because Sam Ellinger has plenty of experience in the NFL in terms of being part of a quarterback room and those third quarterbacks they have much more of an impact I think than you really realize it’s it’s the impact in the quarterback room in the film room on the sideline and and just really overall benefiting your starting quarterback from giving him another set of eyes the Broncos already have Jared Stum they already have Davis Webb they have guys who can really help Boon Knicks but when you have that tightly formed bond between a group of guys you almost don’t want to screw with that you don’t want to mess with that if you’re Shawn Peyton right and so the Broncos bringing in Sam Ellinger in the first place is fascinating but then to know that he’s recruiting guys like JK Dobbins who’s probably going to be a a starter probably going to be running out of the tunnel for this Broncos team in 2025 you’ve got your third string quarterback out there calling his up his old best friend and saying “Hey you want to come be part of what we’re doing here we’re building something special.” So Sam Ellinger is a a unique case I think is worth kind of monitoring as we go along this off seasonason and yes it’s the dog days of the offseason and yes we’re talking about third string quarterbacks but I think this is a a unique situation here and a unique debate and and do you keep three quarterbacks on this roster if you’re Shawn Peyton do you try to allocate that roster spot elsewhere what are you compromising if you do decide to keep three quarterbacks and where are you sort of all right well we’re you know we’re going light at this position because we’re keeping a third quarterback because ultimately last year although Zack Wilson needed that development that he got in Denver he was inactive every single week he was the team’s emergency third quarterback which does not take up a spot on your game day roster but it does take up and occupy a spot on your 53man roster and there’s got to be a situation every year where you go into the offseason program and you’re saying okay we this many spots we have x number of spots dedicated and devoted to players who they’re probably not going to play and in recent years we’ve seen that happen with guys like Frank Crumb uh you know and others in sort of similar situations where they’re clearly developmental players they’re not necessarily the Broncos don’t want to subject them to waiverss because they don’t want them getting claimed by other teams but they also aren’t going to necessarily put them on the 53 so guys that are on the practice squad have a better chance of actually playing so Sam Ellinger is one of those interesting cases to where do you try to sneak him onto the practice squad i think that might be plan A for the Denver Broncos to have him and you can still utilize him as your emergency third quarterback but to put him on the 53man roster it’s probably going to take a little bit more than recruiting a free agent running back to get there ellinger is going to have to have a phenomenal preseason and give these guys good looks and also prove himself in the quarterback room over the course of training camp it’s not like he’s gonna have to go out there and just be dominating at training camp there’s going to be intangible qualities that he brings to the table that will ultimately determine his standing on the 53man roster but one player who has no contest right now for his spot on the 53man roster is rookie punter Jeremy Kashaw we finally got to hear last week from special teams coordinator Darren Rizzy about the Broncos process of making him the only punter selected in the 2025 NFL draft some really good stuff from coach Rzzy on Jeremy Crossot we’re going to talk about that as well as Justin Cernad maybe being the most slept on linebacker on this roster right now coming up next here Locked on Broncos today’s episode of Locked on Broncos is brought to you by Game Time there is nothing like the NBA playoffs am I right i mean the intensity the buzzer beaters fans losing their minds right it’s that kind of atmosphere that you really have to just experience live and this year’s matchups they’ve already been delivering in that regard now that we’re all the way to the NBA finals the atmosphere the energy is crazy especially when you have these fans from Indiana and Oklahoma City and Game Time makes it fast and easy to get seats even for these big time playoff games prices on the Game Time app they actually drop the closer that we get to to tip off and with killer last minute deals panoramic seat views and no surprise fees Game Time is a total game changer i love that in the Game Time app I can see my exact view before I buy tickets with no surprises and the app it just makes it ridiculously simple right it’s two taps and you’re done take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time download the Game Time app create an account and use the code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and redeem the code L O C K E D O N for $20 off download the Game Time app today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed jeremy Crosshaw has no contest to be the Denver Broncos punter in 2025 and yes punters are people too everybody we saw a number of comments in the comments section over there on YouTube asking about Jeremy Crossaw and so hey Broncos country if there’s ever anything you want to discuss on the show we always appreciate your feedback whether you hit us up on YouTube Twitter however you get in touch with Cody and I we always love talking about the things that you’re passionate about as well including Jeremy Crossaw everybody’s been interested to know what’s the update on this guy well other than booming punts out at mini camp practice which was certainly the the scenario I remember uh reading a tweet from Andrew Mason who said that every time the dude kicked the ball it sounded like a cannon was getting fired off jeremy Crossaw has a big leg the Broncos made him the only punter drafted in 2025 for a number of different reasons but Darren Rizzy the special teams coordinator actually gave us some really interesting insight into what it was that drew them to Jeremy Crossaw in the first place of course his natural talent is there he’s got the big leg and you combine the big leg with the mile high air you’ve got the perfect combination to potentially really just flip field position on a consistent basis it’s kind of interesting to me that no punter has really been able to figure that out in Denver there’s been solid punters right i mean Sam Martin was solid for the Broncos i feel like Riley Dixon was solid for the Broncos but nobody has really been able to be that true true weapon and I guess we’re calling today’s episode we’re calling these guys secret weapons right nobody’s been able to be that real weapon in the kicking game for the Denver Broncos as a punter and you feel like that’s really unfortunate because you do have a major advantage playing in the mile high air in Denver so you would think that whoever’s punting in Denver’s got a great job just like anybody who’s you know supposedly hitting for the Colorado Rockies should have a great job although we know that’s not really the case don’t we rockies fans but look the punters in Denver all kidding aside they’ve underwhelmed in my opinion in recent years as solid as Riley Dixon may have been as solid as Sam Martin may have been you just feel like you’re missing a little bit of something and now the Broncos may feel like they have the perfect combination with not only Jeremy Crossaw as the punter but Darren Rzzy coaching him up darren Rzzy is known for being one of the best special teams coaches in the NFL highly coveted type of coach who’s worked with Shawn Payeyton before was the interim head coach for the New Orleans Saints last year in case you didn’t know about that and and he’s just a great leader out there he’s a great guy to have teaching your special teams players the nuances of the game and he’s going to be a huge help for Jeremy Kshaw who we can only assume was hand selected by RZY himself and here’s what Rizzy had to say about Jeremy Crossaw at Broncos mini camp he said “I really believe at that position at a specialist position your demeanor might just be as important as your ability because it’s one play and done you have to have the mentality of kind of a batter in baseball if you will or a golfer you have to go on to the next swing i really like his levelheadedness i really like his maturity i really like his approach.” What does that all mean what Darren Rizzy is trying to say there is that if Kashawa shanks one he’s not gonna get the yips all of a sudden he’s not going to come out there and just have a streak of bad kicks what he’s going to do is he’s got that mental ability to to climb those mountains so to speak he’s got the ability to jump those hurdles he can go right back out there after you know a bad kick maybe sets him back a little bit he can go out there and he can boom the next one right and that’s what the Broncos need from a rookie at this position is you can’t have a scenario where for a full game or multiple games in a row your punter is is shanking kicks or having kicks blocked or getting into his own head it’s just like when a kicker misses a field goal you all of a sudden you know you get that dread in your mind like “Oh man this kicker missed one now he’s going to be thinking about that miss going forward.” the the same thing does apply to punters although not to as significant of a degree right when a kicker is missing field goal after field goal or multiple extra points in a row you’re literally taking points off the board with a punter you’re not taking points off the board but inadvertently you might be leading to the other team scoring more and that’s where the Broncos really struggled late last season in games against the Chargers in that game against the Bengals right when Riley Dixon was struggling in that way i feel like the Broncos really were set back defensively you wasted that that great start from the defense that you got against Cincinnati you wasted an 11-point lead against the LA Chargers and that was due to the the kicking game the punting game and so for Jeremy Cross to come in the expectations are going to be high because well you’re a punter and you were drafted so the the expectations are just naturally going to be high but now you talk about this guy was kind of hand selected by Darren Rzzy to come in and not only was he a drafted punter he was the only drafted punter so you have to have a short memory you cannot dwell on any bad kicks and of course we all hope that we don’t see very many bad kicks in the first place from Jeremy Crossaw and we also hope that we really only see him out there when he’s holding for extra points right that’s exactly when you want to see Jeremy Crossaw love to see the back of his jersey holding down for extra points but in the event and the Broncos will need this in the event that you need to flip field position in the event that you need to pin the opposition deep how do you enhance one of the best defenses in the NFL aside from adding to that defense well you enhance one of the best defenses in the NFL by setting them up with a great punter guy who can flip field position a guy who can bury teams deep a guy who let’s say you go three and out offensively you can pin the other team deep and set your offense up for a better situation going forward so it’s that domino effect of what Shawn Peyton has called hidden yardage in the past on special teams that makes all the difference when it comes to the course of a regular season those that if if a 100 yards equals six points or seven points right you think about that in terms of the kicking game how much that’s affecting your team over the course of a regular season and for a guy like Jeremy Cross Shaw man the pressure is going to be on because you do want to enhance that defense you want to give them every opportunity to flex in terms of their pass rush abilities in terms of the coverage ability that you have you don’t want to be setting them up with short fields the Broncos need to be one of the best teams in the NFL at opposing starting field position right they want to be burying teams deep and that helps your quarterback that helps your defense and that helps your defensive coordinator especially because you’re not having to okay we’re on our heels immediately the the opposing team is starting closer to the 50 than we’d like every time they get the ball your punter has to be an asset in that way and Jeremy Kashaw having a short memory could be one of the biggest secret weapons for the Denver Broncos in 2025 and you know what Broncos country that defense being the number one defense in the NFL what are they missing in order to get there well I think we would all agree that it starts with the linebacker position right that linebacker position has to be better in 2025 i would argue if the Broncos could get better consistent production out of the inside linebacker position this defense would have absolutely no weaknesses whatsoever so Justin Cernnod is he the guy that we’ve been kind of sleeping on all off seasonason is he the one that we’ve been waiting for and is he ready to really step up after getting a year to start in 2024 we’re going to talk about Justin Cernod as the secret weapon of this Denver Broncos defense coming up next Locked on Broncos we’ve all been wondering who is going to be that linebacker next to Dre Green Law in the Denver Broncos defense in 2025 there’s been a lot of talk about Alex Singleton coming back off the ACL injury there’s been a lot of talk about Drew Sanders who could be that secret weapon for the Denver defense in 2025 but what about Justin Stern who played pretty darn well when given the opportunity last year he’s building some confidence coming off of his first year as a starter in the NFL and Shawn Payeyton made note of that at Denver Broncos mini camp and Broncos country I think this is an interesting discussion and an interesting player to bring up because Justin Cernad has now come back two years in a row for this Denver Broncos team he was brought back this off seasonason with the understanding that he could potentially be competing for a starting job and maybe he’s the guy who’s the biggest threat to take over Alex Singleton’s job from last year now Shawn Payeyton talked about this at Broncos OTAAS and Broncos mini camp he answered a number of questions about Drew Sanders and his progress and he did say that having Sanders get those reps at the offball linebacker position he said “I think it is extremely helpful.” But when he was asked about Justin Sternad he had an interesting comment he said “When you look at the amount of snaps has had all of a sudden now there’s confidence i’m not just a guy running down on special teams i started a whole season.” Right so what he’s talking about there is the fact that well Shawn Peyton mentions this all the time and he says that confidence is born from demonstrated ability right and so when Justin Cernat is out there getting snaps he’s getting reps he’s be able to string together plays make some tackles for loss get uh get to the quarterback as a blitzer which he did all of those things last year i would argue that Cernad was easily the best offball linebacker the Broncos had last year now that might not be saying much based on the fact that that position was kind of an area of weakness for the team but certainly when you look at his overall body of work with eight tackles for loss a number of big plays behind the line of scrimmage there was a bit of feast or famine at times when Sternard was out there and he was benched as a result a time or two for that but at the same time that confidence that he built of being a starter for a full NFL season you can’t help but wonder how much is that going to help him going into this off seasonason right and Stern is has always had that potential he’s always had that potential to be a a full-time threeown player in the NFL go back to his rookie season in the NFL when Vic Fangio was the head coach cernad was getting you know first team reps with the nickel defense as a coverage linebacker and that was something that really drew a lot of fans to him early on in his career remember Stern was supposed to be like one of these Fred Warner types that could play on all three downs now obviously the the hyperbole when a guy gets drafted is always just off the charts right you’re always trying to compare him to the best of what his position could turn out to be and you want to believe the best in guys like that but for Sternard it was just injuries that derailed his career early on it It was certain things that man you just feel like this guy can’t get ahead right when he starts to build a head of steam something derails him last year in the preseason though I thought that he looked outstanding in the preseason and then what happened well when we got to the regular season the Broncos apparently just had no confidence in him at all because they brought in Christian Welch off the practice squad of the Packers or after the Packers cut him and you let him play in week one and so with Cody Barton leaving and the Broncos kind of reshaping this position Alex Singleton coming off of injury Drew Sanders being such an unknown Cernad really has put himself in a unique position to be able to lay claim to a starting role in 2025 and maybe surprise some people maybe surprise even you know us who cover the team we look at all 91 guys on this roster and we’re sitting here trying to break down man who could be that breakout player you always tend to look for guys that are 25 and under or 26 and under in that regard but we’ve seen some late bloomers across the NFL regardless of position right and Justin Cernnod could be that guy for the Denver Broncos and I’m interested to know what all of you listeners think of that as well do you think Justin is that would you be excited about that and do you think he is that guy to emerge or are we selling are we are we trying so hard to figure out who’s going to be the breakout guy at linebacker that we’ve all of a sudden started to underell Alex Singleton right i mean that’s a fair question as well this is just such a unique situation for the Broncos because you’ve got a guy who’s over the age of 30 coming off of a major injury drelaw has dealt with a lot of injuries and then you’ve got a young player who you drafted high i mean Drew Sanders was the 67th overall pick in the 2023 draft you want to sort of manifest his NFL success right and so those are kind of the factors that lead to this discussion and it can cause you to overthink but like Shawn Payton warned a little bit at mini camp he said don’t be finalizing the roster just yet don’t be finalizing the depth chart don’t be trying to figure out all the numbers there because ultimately most most people are going to get it wrong right and I think that’s fair because yeah at this time of year we have no idea what’s going to happen in training camp we have no idea what’s going to happen in the preseason we have no idea how these battles are going to end up playing out but what we do know is that Justin Sternod played better than any linebacker on the Broncos roster last year and I mean better than anybody that’s currently on the roster right so what Sternad did last season he could be the perfect complement to a guy like Drake Greenlaw and he could be a longerterm fixture at the position than somebody like Alex Singleton but does that disappoint you if you’re a Drew Sanders supporter so it’s going to be a fun battle to watch this offseason Broncos country we’re going to continue to talk about battles like that we’re going to continue to talk about sleeper players on this roster we’ve got a lot to discuss even in the dog dark days of the off season so you’re going to want to be subscribed to the show so you don’t miss a single episode because we’re keeping Broncos fandom alive and well while there’s not much to talk about we’re going to find things to talk about we’re going to bring up interesting stories for players on this roster we’re going to answer your questions we’re going to look deep into some of the roster battles we’re going to look deep into the rookie class and we’re going to react to some of the interesting statements that have been made by Shawn Peyton and his staff over the course of the offseason program so if you’re not already hit follow wherever you listen to podcasts hit subscribe on YouTube and don’t forget Lockdown Broncos is also on Tik Tok these days you can find short form content on YouTube as well you’re going to want to stay plugged in all throughout the offseason because your boys Cody and Ser will have you covered no matter what happens and Broncos country we appreciate you so much for tuning in today can’t wait to see you on the next episode of the show have a good one

The Denver Broncos have some SECRET WEAPONS on offense, defense, and special teams in quarterback Sam Ehlinger, punter Jeremy Crawshaw, and linebacker Justin Strnad. This episode takes a look at how Ehlinger helped recruit JK Dobbins to Denver, what special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi loves about Jeremy Crawshaw, and why Justin Strnad’s experience in 2024 could be key to him winning a crucial offseason position battle.

Cody Roark is a credentialed beat reporter for Mile High Sports and covers the Broncos daily in person. Sayre Bedinger is the site expert for Predominantly Orange. Both bring Broncos Country the most in-depth and objective coverage of the Denver Broncos.

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