Is Bo Nix the Denver Broncos’ identity in 2026?

**Ryan Koenigsberg** (0:01)
DNVR Broncos Podcast on a Tuesday. RK and Hank coming to you from the Xfinity Studio. And in just a few seconds, we'll have Zac Stevens on the Xfinity mobile call in line.
And might as well get right to it. And I cannot express how excited we are to be talking to Zac Stevens. I've never been more excited for anything. Let's bring him in.

**Zac Stevens** (0:25)
Let's go, Ryan, that's the type of intro. I'm looking for no F-bombs here. Although I don't know if I felt the same love from Henry, but I appreciate it, Ryan.

**Henry Chisholm** (0:37)
I didn't understand the reference at first, and then I picked up on what was happening.

**Ryan Koenigsberg** (0:40)
Yeah.
We got Zac Stevens on the Xfinity mobile call in line. Imagine that. And imagine what amazing things you could have to share with us from practice today.

**Zac Stevens** (0:51)
Yeah, I got some great updates, guys. So one really big update. Riley Moss is back on the practice field. Two straight days that we've seen number 21 out there, and that is fantastic news because it's not like we were super worried about him being ready to go for week one. But now this all but confirms. I mean, we're 13 days away. He was back on the practice field yesterday, so 14 days away, him being on the practice field. That is great news. So Broncos really going into week one. Healthy. Touch some wood for me. There's no wood around here.
But it's a good, good sign with where the Broncos are health-wise, except for a couple of guys, Marvin Mims, not on the practice field, haven't even seen him actually. But according to Sean Payton, it's just a bruised foot, so he should be okay, I would assume. Suffering that injury 17 days out before the week one opener. A bruise should be good by then. No Adam Troutman today at practice either. That was weird. Didn't see him at all. And Alex Singleton not at practice today, he's dealing with a personal matter. And all I'll say is congratulations, Alex, and he should be back tomorrow. So really the Broncos trending in the right direction for this game against the Chiefs.

**Henry Chisholm** (2:03)
We didn't get to hear about what Sean said yesterday because the timing didn't work out. What did we learn about cut down day from Sean?

**Zac Stevens** (2:12)
Well, I'll tell you what, a lot of people freaking out over losing a fifth round draft pick, losing Jaleel, choosing him over Tyler Bade. Sean Payton said he was very pleased with the way cut down day went down. So I know there's people worrying about that. Sean Payton says, nope, we love our 53-man roster. We love our 17-man practice squad. So they're not tripping. And guys, what I'll say is the Broncos absolutely could have kept Justin Jolie on the 53-man roster if they wanted to. We saw them do a couple of moves in order to keep a couple of guys like moving out apprentice to the practice squad, and making sure that they got him back or cutting him, and then making sure they got him back on the practice squad. They did it with him and the long-staffer Mitchell Friboni. The Broncos also could have done that with a couple of other guys. How about Matt Peart? They could have done that with him if they wanted to open up a roster spot. They could have potentially done it with little Jordan Humphrey as well. So if the Broncos really wanted to keep Justin Jolie and make sure that he did not leave this roster, they could have done it, guys. So the Broncos aren't going to come out and say, yeah, he turned out to be a massive disappointment for what we thought in the fifth round. Instead of doing that, they just said, you know, we hope to get him back on the practice squad. But guys, if they really wanted to have kept him in the building, they could have done that. It would have been very easy for them to do. It just shows exactly how they feel. And what I think about this is I actually like that the Broncos are moving on from their losses instead of trying to double down on a mistake that they made. That just shows that the organization is comfortable with themselves and they don't have to cover up a fifth round pick that didn't work out. In fact, this is something that Sean Payton has pointed to since he's been with the Broncos. There was a time when the Broncos draft, I'm sorry, the Saints during Sean Payton's time, where he drafted a fourth round running back and had an undrafted guy as well. And they actually cut the fourth round running back and had that undrafted guy make the roster. It was only a certain time until the Broncos were going to have that happen as well. And it happened this year with Dallin Bentley, the second to last draft pick in the whole entire draft class, make the team ahead of Justin Jolie. So I like that the Broncos are putting together the best squad, not necessarily the squad that's going to quote, save them from embarrassment by having to move on from a fifth round pick.