Thread: ESPN's Bill Barnwell on Broncos' offseason moves: 'The weapons, I think, are some of the best in football'

After the Broncos reshaped their roster by acquiring Jurrell Casey, A.J. Bouye and Graham Glasgow and by drafting the likes of Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler, ESPN NFL analyst Bill Barnwell came away quite impressed by Denver's steps forward ahead of the 2020 season. In an article ranking NFL teams' offseasons, he placed the Broncos third. To get a greater understanding of his perspective on the team's 2020 outlook, including his thoughts on Drew Lock's potential, we spoke to him recently over the phone on DenverBroncos.com's "The Neutral Zone" podcast. Read on for a condensed transcript of the interview.

Aric DiLalla: A guy that maybe no one knows too much right now about now is Drew Lock. What are your thoughts on him, based on a very limited sample size, and can you make maybe some floor- or ceiling-type comparisons for him of guys that are currently in the league?

rest - https://www.denverbroncos.com/news/e...k-are-some-of-

I haven't been this excited for an NFL season to start in quite a while.

oh, man. . . on the one hand, it's really cool to hear all the national pundits giving the broncos so many props. . . OTOH, i'm afraid this might be yet another case of putting the cart before the horse. . . donkey, whatever. . . our off-season hype has now pretty much officially eclipsed the level that cleveland received last year at this time-- and we saw how that worked out. . . i am super pumped about our long term prospects-- but i think people who are expecting the greatest show on turf 2.0 right out of the gate are gonna be pretty freakin' disappointed. . . it takes TIME for it to come together-- particularly when you're relying almost exclusively on first and second year players, in the year with a jacked up off-season on top of it. . . naturally, i hope i'm wrong, but we'll see. . .

Originally Posted by dogfish

oh, man. . . on the one hand, it's really cool to hear all the national pundits giving the broncos so many props. . . OTOH, i'm afraid this might be yet another case of putting the cart before the horse. . . donkey, whatever. . . our off-season hype has now pretty much officially eclipsed the level that cleveland received last year at this time-- and we saw how that worked out. . . i am super pumped about our long term prospects-- but i think people who are expecting the greatest show on turf 2.0 right out of the gate are gonna be pretty freakin' disappointed. . . it takes TIME for it to come together-- particularly when you're relying almost exclusively on first and second year players, in the year with a jacked up off-season on top of it. . . naturally, i hope i'm wrong, but we'll see. . .

I disagree, respectfully.

Pundits are giving us props because we did well in the offseason and improved our coaching staff. Cleveland was being talked about as running away with the division and playing in the SB. I think I've seen one pundit draw something up like "Maybe Denver, if they get hot and Lock exceeds expectations," as compared to "You have to have Cleveland in the top five contender discussion of SB winning contenders."

It will take some time. But it's also an offensive league and we have weapons all over the field.

I agree that Denver could be this years Browns but Denver doesn’t have a crackpot calling plays.

Hopefully Denver is next years Browns of this year, when they fixed their god awful T situation.

Who cares what any national media twink thinks? He knows less about what is going on in Denver than Cugel does

Originally Posted by slim

Who cares what any national media twink thinks? He knows less about what is going on in Denver than Cugel does

He's pretty knowledgeable...

Originally Posted by Poet

He's pretty knowledgeable...

Okay!!

Originally Posted by slim

Okay!!

Originally Posted by dogfish

oh, man. . . on the one hand, it's really cool to hear all the national pundits giving the broncos so many props. . . OTOH, i'm afraid this might be yet another case of putting the cart before the horse. . . donkey, whatever. . . our off-season hype has now pretty much officially eclipsed the level that cleveland received last year at this time-- and we saw how that worked out. . . i am super pumped about our long term prospects-- but i think people who are expecting the greatest show on turf 2.0 right out of the gate are gonna be pretty freakin' disappointed. . . it takes TIME for it to come together-- particularly when you're relying almost exclusively on first and second year players, in the year with a jacked up off-season on top of it. . . naturally, i hope i'm wrong, but we'll see. . .

Hey dog, do you have neon around your license plate and low profile tires on your Nissan Sentra?

Originally Posted by Poet

Sometimes I don't know where this dirty road is taking me
Sometimes I can't even see the reason why
But I guess I keep a-gamblin', lots of booze and lots of ramblin'
Well, it's easier than just a-waitin' 'round to die

Originally Posted by Al Wilson 4 Mayor

Hey dog, do you have neon around your license plate and low profile tires on your Nissan Sentra?

lol, what?

Originally Posted by dogfish

lol, what?

Man.... Al is punching below the belt.

Originally Posted by dogfish

lol, what?

It’s been a while since I made a run at you. I figured you missed it, therefore it was long overdue.

I feel this team will be very similar to the avs last year. Avs made the playoffs, upset the 1 seed. Took the champs to game 6 or 7 (on one of the worst calls in all of sports)....everyone said sharks wont beat avs again and avs were going to be very very good. Avs then came out this year and tied for 1 team.

I see the broncos similarly. We are hit and miss ut make the playoffs. Maybe even advance a round. Next year those misses likely become hits and we have something special.

We have a really talented roster. Issue is new players, new coaches, new schemes.....