Denver Broncos Sign SURPRISE CB, Damarri Mathis Could Be on the Trade Block

Denver Broncos Sign SURPRISE CB, Damarri Mathis Could Be on the Trade Block

the denver broncos are leaving no stone unturned as they found another player from the uffl cornerback mario goodrich is in the fold and that might mean that deari matthysse is on the trade block we’re going to talk about that and much more coming up next on today’s episode of locked on broncos you are locked on broncos your daily denver broncos podcast part of the locked on network your team every day the denver broncos have signed another quarterback to what was already the best position group on the team what does that mean for deari matthysse what does it mean for the other position groups on the roster that could maybe use some upgrading here as we get into the meat of the 2025 off seasonason we’re going to talk about all of that on today’s episode lockdown broncos but welcome in broncos country my name is ser bettinger i’m the co-host here at lockdown broncos as well as the site expert over there at predominantly orange.com and we always appreciate you for tuning in especially this time of year where you know that your boys cody and sarah will have you covered every single day with some fresh perspective content analysis and coverage of anything that goes on for your favorite team the denver broncos including the signing of a very interesting player the broncos bringing in uffl standout cornerback mario goodrich who played his college football at clemson won a national championship there as a matter of fact early on in his collegiate career spent a couple of years in the nfl with the new york giants and the philadelphia eagles before getting his shot at the uffl level where he played five games last season racked up 15 total tackles and four passes broken up goodrich a physical player you can see that when you watch some of his highlights he’s got solid ball skills and what he brings to the denver broncos is an interesting blend of developmental upside at cornerback as he’s only 25 years old but also he brings some special teams ability in 2023 with the philadelphia eagles goodrich actually played 40 special team snaps he actually played 70 defensive snaps as well remember in 2023 the eagles really struggled to figure out their business at cornerback and they shuffled a ton of different guys in good was one of them and to be quite honest he struggled a lot he was targeted 10 times in coverage that year and he allowed 10 receptions and it was not good it was a quarterback rating of over 149 into his coverage so this is a guy that definitely needed the additional reps the additional development at a another level of professional football and that’s why i think the uffl is so great is that it allows these guys that really need the reps that they’re not necessarily getting on an nfl practice squad even they need the reps out there in game action to really develop their skills to be able to to play some real football and yes it’s a completely different level of competition the best guys from the uffl might be some of your back-end roster guys or topend practice squad guys at the nfl level but as we saw last year with dandre tilman there might be a little more than meets the eye right i mean you don’t want to write these guys off immediately and i think that’s what makes a move like this so exciting is that the broncos their scouting department george payton the general manager they’re not going to leave any stone unturned when it comes to finding ways to upgrade this roster even if it means going after a player who plays a position where you feel like we already have maybe the best group of quarterbacks in the nfl right with defensive player of the year pat certan at the top of the depth chart we recently heard head coach shawn payeyton speak very highly of the work that riley moss did last year and that he’s having a good off seasonason and then you have jaquin mcmillan playing well in the slot you brought in jade baron with your first round pick in the 2025 nfl draft chris abrams drain had a really good rookie season for the denver broncos at least in terms of the opportunity that he got late in the year so you have already a an embarrassment of riches at the position why would you go after a guy like this well we know the saying goes you can never have too many good corners i always bring this quote up because i think it’s so uh important to remember but vic fangio once said you know across the nfl there’s essentially 96 starting quarterbacks if you count the nickel because teams spend 60 or more% of the time if not well above that in their nickel alignment which means they’ve got three corners on the field at all times so you figure 32 nfl teams basically three starting roles for the cornerback position you’ve essentially got to have five or six guys at that position and vic fangio kind of he he pointed out like there’s not 96 starting caliber corners in the nfl george payton has consistently from the very first pick that he made which was pat certan he’s consistently emphasized the importance of drafting and developing defensive backs and having just a plethora of those guys at your disposal and yeah the broncos have found guys from the first round of the draft to the undrafted free agent scrap heap right so they’re they’re not above looking at the ufl level to say “hey this guy is somebody that we liked coming out of college or maybe he’s somebody that they scouted in the preeason.” actually you know what’s really interesting about this move the broncos remember they shuffled around some of their front office this off season jordan daison a former nfl linebacker who spent a number of years in the denver broncos front office he actually was working with the philadelphia eagles in their front office from 2022 to 2024 and he was there as one of their pro scouting department guys and and part of bringing in mario goodrich when he was let go by the new york giants uh after the 2022 season so the eagles brought in goodrich it gave him some playing time and i think it’s no coincidence now as we know the ties that bind they really matter in the nfl you’ve now got jordan daison on back in the denver broncos front office as their director of pro scouting and you see goodrich coming in as one of those guys who joins a 91man roster that we don’t know what the corresponding roster move was but goodrich did get a one-year deal and you have to think that maybe jordan daison did a little bit of pounding of the table for this guy and you scout all these different players because you never know like a da andre tilman last year or remember even devonte bosby played a key role for vic fangio’s defense a couple of years back even if it was just for a couple of games and it didn’t end up working out he was he kind of had that little flash in the pan there for the denver broncos even if it’s just a special teams thing you and darren rzzy certainly is watching these guys tape you get all these informed opinions about a player like mario goodrich and you add him to the roster because you believe like there’s a chance that we could make something out of this there’s a chance that even if he ends up on the practice squad in 2025 that down the road we might be able to get something out of him again he’s only 25 years old and he’s got some physicality to him he’s got some nfl experience which i think is fascinating and then he was productive and consistent in the uffl in the games that he did play so after going after dar tilman last year maybe building up some confidence towards making more moves like this in the future i just think it’s healthy for the broncos to do things like this you know it’s it’s it’s always good to take calculated risks on players when you have a 90man roster when you can afford to say “let’s get a look at this guy in the offseason program let’s get a look at him at training camp let’s see how he does against our young wide receivers let’s see how he stacks up against some of the other corners that we’ve brought in and let’s see what he can do on special teams because that is going to be a major factor in breaking down the bottom five or six guys that make this denver broncos roster there’s going to be players on this roster like caleb loner maybe a third quarterback maybe a fourth running back who are consistently inactive on game days maybe it’s even a sixth receiver right because the broncos they they they might rotate a lot of guys but they might not use six receivers every single sunday so you figure these guys have got to play roles on special teams if you’re a back-end roster guy the broncos are already going to be allocating roster spots to players who might be draft and stash guys or they might be sign and stash developmental undrafted players whatever the case may be there are certain guys that this team signed or drafted that aren’t going to be they’re not planning on having those guys thrust into the lineup right away they are going to be developing and the broncos aren’t going to subject them to waiverss because they don’t want other teams that like these players like caleb loner getting out there and uh being subject to that so there’s going to be guys like that on the roster so when you bring in a player like this the expectation has got to be to contribute on special teams right away and of course there is impact elsewhere on the roster as a matter of fact there’s impact directly at the cornerback position something that we’ve brought up a couple of times but might be given a violent shove into the realistic category at this point is a trade for deari matthysse broncos were already deep at corner now you bring in another guy with some special teams ability broncos could save quite a bit of cash by moving on from deari matthysse and it seems like now that’s only a matter of time we’re going to be talking about deari matthysse’s situation coming up next on today’s episode locked on broncos today’s episode of lockdown broncos is brought to you by monarch money ever check your bank account and wonder where did all my money go right between dining out online shopping and entertainment it’s easy to lose track and that is where monarch money comes in it’s your personal cfo giving you full visibility and control over your finances and monarch money it’s not just a budgeting app right it’s a complete financial command center you can track all your accounts your investments and your spending all in one place so you stop just managing your money and you start building wealth when i started using monarch money i realized just how much i was spending on things like food delivery or oftentimes coffee so now i budget smarter and i save more so take control of your finances with monarch money use the code lockednfl at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year that’s monarchmoney.com code lockedon nfl for half off your first year deari matthysse is one of those players for the denver broncos that could be on the chopping block after the team’s recent move we’re going to break down the financial implications of deari matthysse here on the roster as well as what trading him could look like what teams might be interested in trading him uh trading for him and what the broncos might also be looking at to potentially add even more to this roster a a general manager’s job is never done broncos country but want to also say thank you to all of you that make lockdown broncos your first listen of the day every single day if you haven’t already done so and we really appreciate if you take a couple of seconds hit subscribe wherever you listen to podcast as well as on youtube where you can also join in the conversation it’s a lot of fun over there and uh you get to be with all the other members of broncos country who love the offseason as much as you do um but broncos country what do you think about deari matthysse and his situation because ultimately this feels like it’s been sort of writing on the wall for a little bit now it feels like deari matthysse has kind of been on the outside looking in in terms of not only playing time but maybe even the 53man roster and one of the things that we bring up pretty frequently here is the idea of doing right by a player what does that mean doing right by a player means that you want that guy to succeed right you want this you want players to make the most money that they possibly can shawn payeyton referenced this last year when he was talking about zack wilson right and he said “our job is to make this guy millions whether it’s here or somewhere else.” i think that philosophy applies to every position of course you want to have depth on your roster of course you have to protect yourself in case of injury you can’t just go around willy-nilly and say “hey we’re going to cut this guy because you know we want him to get more playing time elsewhere.” there are certain situations where you hoard depth and there’s other situations where you realize all right this guy’s not going to play even if we have an injury or two that might be the scenario with deari matthysse right now because you look at the broncos cornerback position again we can go through the names pat certan riley moss jade baron jaquin mcmillan chris abrams drain now you bring in mario goodrich there’s just so many guys out there that they can play special teams they can play versatile roles they can start for you if need be we saw that last year with chris abrams drain right the guy looks like he could be a starting corner in the nfl and he’s fifth on the depth chart right now which is just wildly encouraging depth for this team at a key position but somebody like deari matthysse unfortunately is the odd man out with a situation like that and he looked pretty good after bouncing back from a slow start in his rookie season injuries have kind of derailed him a little bit he got some action last year playing in the dime look for the denver broncos defense he’s physical he’s athletic and the ink is probably still drying on his nfl draft scouting report for a lot of teams out there but one of the things i think really benefits a player like deari is that the broncos have lots of friends in high places elsewhere in the nfl let’s look at a situation like carolina where the panthers by the way rumored to be interested in potentially signing former broncos safety justin simmons isro evo being the defensive coordinator there he’s got familiarity with deari matthysse and he was part of the coaching staff that drafted him initially back in 2022 so the panthers would they be interested in trading for deari matthysse what about darren muji who was the assistant general manager in denver the new york jets a lot of change defensively right now of course you’ve got aaron glenn as the head coach he’s a defensive backs guy i don’t think it would take much for mooj to convince aaron glenn that they need to take a shot on demar matthysse and make him one of their top three or four corners this coming season of course you’ve got you know vic fangio having that being that aziro ever is sort of a disciple of the fangio defense in a way you really feel like there’s a chance there that maybe fangio and the eagles would like deari matthysse especially because he’s a guy who played his college ball at pit and you know that they have you know those ties that bind the local ties of course uh in the pennsylvania area so i mean you can you can use the three degrees of separation any way that you want but deari matthysse is a talented player who’s not going to cost you an arm and a leg to acquire right i think the broncos last year their trade of baron browning for a sixthround pick i feel like that’s a pretty fair deal for somebody like deari matthysse especially as much as cornerback is a premium position the broncos right now they’re they’re set to take on a $3.6 million cap hit for deari matthysse in 2025 but they could save almost $3.2 million if they trade or cut him so that to me indicates that there might be a motivation to get him out of the building to say we could get up to that would push the broncos up near 20 million in total cap space right now according to overthecap.com that might motivate a team to do something like that to say we can not only get this player in a better situation for him but we can put ourselves in a favorable situation to you know potentially get some of these other deals done that we want to get like the extensions for courtland sutton zack allen nick bonito john franklin meyers all these situations that are currently looming over the denver broncos head it’s not that they need to utilize all their immediately available cap space but certainly having that extra cushion helps especially when you’re dealing with a 35 million in dead money from russell wilson still this year so that kind of stuff all adds up and for somebody like deari matthysse to be counting 3.6 6 million against the salary cap and a consistently inactive player and not necessarily a core guy on special teams look he could become that he could become the the next kavon webster but if he’s not playing at a kavon webster level on special teams then it benefits him and the team to get a draft pick for him drop some cap space and or add some cap space really and and get a guy like that into a better situation where he can thrive i think that there’s a a win-win win all around here for the broncos another team that needs cornerback help and deari matthysse who keep in mind the the guy literally gave the shirt off his back to jk dobbins after uh dobbins signed his free agent contract in denver the first time we saw him on the field he was wearing number 27 and everybody’s like “hey that’s deari matthysse’s number.” i know jk said that he gave uh deari something nice for number 27 but at the same time to me that’s kind of a small indicator you know and i i re reiterate there it is a small indicator of a guy that doesn’t maybe have much staying power is that somebody gets signed to a one-year contract just immediately comes in takes your number i mean that’s i don’t know you can read into that what you will but i think if you read all the different breadcrumbs all the different tea leaves everything is leading up to the denver broncos likely moving on from deari matthysse here in the near future and they have the depth to be able to do that and they could add to their 2026 nfl draft war chest in the process or maybe even go after another player and i don’t know is there other areas of this roster that you want to tinker with at this point george payton shawn payeyton the front office they’re always going to be tinkering with the roster but a couple of injuries at wide receiver maybe put that position in a place where you go after some riskreward guys we’re going to talk about some remaining roster needs that the broncos could be on the lookout for some depth here in the coming weeks on today’s episode locked on broncos where could the denver broncos continue to look for depth for their 91man roster here as we get into the dog days of the off season could they look at wide receiver could they look at maybe linebacker um could they add to another position of strength like the defensive line or the pass rush we’re going to break it all down on today’s episode locked on broncos but after the signing of mario goodrich at the cornerback position i think it’s fair to wonder where else might the broncos try to tinker with the roster as we get into this area of the off season where the pro scouting department your general manager those guys they might take a little bit of time off but they’re going to get right back into the office and start finding hey what stones have we left unturned at this point to try to find players who can contribute to this roster i think a couple of injuries over the course of mini camp and otaas for the denver broncos could illuminate the potential need for you know boom bust type guys at wide receiver specifically the injuries that we’re talking about are the injuries to devon vele who was looking on track to be clearly the second guy in line at receiver behind courtland sutton prior to his what we now know from mike cliss our good friend over there at 9 news in denver we know to be a leg injury but no specifics beyond that he’s going to be a full go for training camp but the injury to at perry as well wipes off another chess piece off the board to where perry was one of those guys that you felt like hey he could be that wild card with upside size big playability speed um he he’s got four touchdowns at the nfl level already and he averaged like 20 yards a catch when he was with the saints so there’s a guy like that that offers you some nice upside at least in your offseason program and then there’s somebody like devon vele who is really a core part of your plans for this coming season those two guys being injured over the course of otaas and mini camp and both even with both potentially being ready for the start of training camp you got to figure like the broncos brought in a number of tryyout guys at wide receiver over the course of the last month or so they actually signed one of them kyrie white who’s kind of the ultimate roster sleeper special teams guy but they also brought in uh the the colorado wide receiver and and i think that it’s really interest so you bring in guys like this why because you want to get looks at players who could potentially be on your 90 91 man roster with the international player exemption right you want to get guys that can be out there and be wild card options at training camp you want to get looks at guys who could potentially be on your practice squad at the beginning of the year and then you just really never know when somebody’s going to come out and absolutely ball out and force a decision on your 53man roster so for the denver broncos it’s also a matter of you’re one injury away now at wide receiver from being in a pretty precarious position right you don’t want to be in that position to where all right we lost devon vele in the offseason program then courtland sutton went down in training camp hypothetically of course but if courtland sutton goes down in training camp all of a sudden you’ve lost your veteran presence at the wide receiver position and you’re relying on all these other guys to pick up the slack that’s where a player like i think evan ingram could really come into the mix to be that go-to easy button on the offense right but if you lose any other player players due to injury or if you start to have this you know lose the battle in the war on attrition right you you start to lose guys left and right all of a sudden now you’re in a pretty rough position the free agent class at wide receiver it’s not deep right now by any means and you don’t figure teams are going to be just cutting good players at that position so if you’re the broncos right now is kind of the time when you want to look and see what’s available for boomer bust type propositions lowrisk potentially highreward signings at wide receiver that could help out your team and i think a number of other positions right i mean i think you could look at tight end as well where the broncos right now you’ve got evan ingram and nothing else really as in terms of proven receiving threats at the position remember adam troutman led the team last year with 188 receiving yards at the tight end position lucas crawl led the group with 19 catches it was not good it was actually miserable to watch and so do you try to find a lowrisk highreward proposition at the tight end position broncos have brought in a number of guys so far this off seasonason to try and kind of maybe do do something like that they they’ve brought in a couple of tryyout players they brought in the undrafted rookie out of miss and so they’re they’re taking some looks but there might be an opportunity to do even a little bit more here as we get deeper into the off seasonason i think inside linebacker that continues to be a question mark area and of course we assume dre greenlaw and alex singleton are going to be out there at training camp running around the broncos will obviously know that better than any of us talking about the team but you expect those guys to be out there and then shawn peyton had some nice things to say about justin sternod right at the end of mandatory mini camp drew sanders getting all the reps that he’s getting at inside linebacker is helpful for his development and then you’ve got a number of guys who are undrafted but then again one of your top signings on the undrafted free agent market karen reed he was dealing with an injury during mandatory mini camp as well so do the broncos take any more calculated risks at inside linebacker another area that i think you could maybe double up with the wide receiver position is the return specialist position right you want to find guys who can help you out in the event that teams try to start kicking the ball away from marvin mims because there’s going to be we assume a huge uptick in kickoff returns this coming season marvin mims stands to benefit from that and because marvin mims stands to benefit from that so do the broncos but as marvin starts to get more opportunities early in the season we could see teams start to kick away from him who are they going to be kicking to there’s no clear answer to that question on the denver broncos roster right now there’s nobody that really stands out as a dynamic secondary option in the return game and heaven forbid marvin mims go down with any sort of injury right and so you want to make sure that you have that sort of depth in the return game right now because of how important that is going to be this coming season so is there anybody out there was there anybody at the uffl level that was returning kicks was there anybody that was overlooked in this year’s draft cycle who could be an interesting option to come in and help you return some kicks i think that’ll be an interesting question to answer for the denver broncos as we go along but certainly you figure that if this team is adding at the cornerback position that really nothing is off limits right now for this team because cornerback is probably the deepest position on the team right now i would say along with uh the defensive line which looks really deep and like you’re going to have to move on from some really good players as well as even you could argue running back i know it’s not the most proven position group but it’s it’s deep enough now that the broncos are going to either be cutting or moving on from some guys that could surprise some folks so cornerback getting an addition and mario goodrich has got the gears turning for all the armchair gms out there like myself and i’m excited to see what the broncos end up doing here as we approach and we’re in the midst of kind of the dog days of the offseason and that’s when a general manager can look at his roster he can do some tinkering george peyton and the broncos they have tons of flexibility again like i mentioned they have over 16 million in salary cap space currently and that’s not all going to get allocated directly towards you know players that are being extended right that could some of it could end up happening but the broncos have flexibility to take some calculated risks on free agents we saw them do it with jk dobbins we could see them do it again i don’t know exactly who that would be i don’t know if there’s any veterans out there that they would still be looking at but when you talk about players that are are showing out at the uffl level or maybe some undrafted free agents that get lost in the shuffle elsewhere this is that time of year where uh general manager and his front office can do some serious digging to find those diamonds in the rough so broncos country can’t tell you enough how much we appreciate you for rocking with us every single day here at locked on broncos if you haven’t already done so again we’d really appreciate if you hit subscribe take a couple of seconds support the show and make us part of your day every single day and you can also find some short form content from us over there at tik tok so if you have a tik tok account find lockdown broncos follow us over there we’re going to have short form content for you all year long as well as on youtube where you can watch our youtube shorts and get us into your algorithm that way okay but broncos country there’s never an off day in the offseason we appreciate you for rocking with us we’ll have you covered for another episode of the show tomorrow can’t wait to see you on the next one

The Denver Broncos made a SURPRISE move at cornerback, signing UFL star Mario Goodrich. Damarri Mathis could be on the trade block as a result.

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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