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Speaker 1: What's the Broncos Country. Welcome back to the Broncos podcast

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Speaker 1: network and YouTube for the latest edition of Broncos Now.

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Speaker 1: As always, I'm your host, Sidney Jones and the team

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Speaker 1: had their final practice of the week today as they

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Speaker 1: are set to take on the Vikings at home for

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Speaker 1: their final preseason game in just two days. We heard

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Speaker 1: yesterday from head coach Nathaniel Hackett that quarterback Brett Rippon

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Speaker 1: will start in Saturday's game and that Josh Johnson will

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Speaker 1: come in in the second half. With Saturday's game being

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Speaker 1: the preseason finale, coachak At details what he'll be looking

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Speaker 1: for from both of them. Consistency. I think he's the

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Speaker 1: big one. We want to be sure that they're going

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Speaker 1: out there executing the plan, um, understanding when we want

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Speaker 1: to change plays or keep the same play on and

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Speaker 1: understand the progressions and all those things, and making good decisions.

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Speaker 1: Up to this point, they've made some pretty good decisions,

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Speaker 1: so we want them to continually take care of the ball. Also,

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Speaker 1: Coach i could also officially announced today that kJ Hamdler

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Speaker 1: will play in a Saturday's game. He's going to get

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Speaker 1: a couple of snaps in both co Chacket and offensive

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Speaker 1: coordinator Justin now In are excited to see him back

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Speaker 1: out there, getting into the football shape, him getting out there,

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Speaker 1: being in full pads watching him run, you definitely feel

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Speaker 1: some of that speed that he has and that he brings,

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Speaker 1: and just kind of the attitude he brings. I mean,

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Speaker 1: he's great to have out there, and uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: he's just gonna have to continually build into it. You

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Speaker 1: want to get him started, you want to get his

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Speaker 1: confidence back. You know, he's been in a controlled setting

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Speaker 1: for this whole time, and he's eager man, he is,

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Speaker 1: He's ready, he's revn to go. He's excited. We're excited

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Speaker 1: to see him back there inside the White lines. Plus.

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Speaker 1: Defensive coordinator Jero E Vero spoke to the media today

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Speaker 1: for the first time since the Broncos second preseason game

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Speaker 1: versus the Bills last Saturday. He gave his thoughts on

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Speaker 1: the defense's performance. That's one of those deals where you

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Speaker 1: know the competitor and all of us that we're never

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Speaker 1: gonna be happy with that type of performance and uh,

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Speaker 1: it doesn't matter for his preseason or regular season, playoffs, whatever.

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Speaker 1: Um as competitors, we want to be better than that.

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Speaker 1: And uh, we gotta be better than that. And in

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Speaker 1: other news, today, the Broncos signed inside linebacker Jeremiah Gimmel.

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Speaker 1: He participated in today's practice in War number fifty one.

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Speaker 1: Gim Will joined the San Francisco forty Niners following this

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Speaker 1: year's NFL Draft and competed with the forty Niners until

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Speaker 1: he was waived when the team reduced their roster to

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Speaker 1: eight players. He posted two tackles in San franz first

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Speaker 1: preseason game. Now joining me here in the studio is

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Speaker 1: Broncos lead writer Eric d Lala. Eric, appreciate you joined

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Speaker 1: me on the show again today, Sydney. Yeah. Well, co

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Speaker 1: Chackett said that kJ Hamdler will play in Saturday's game,

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Speaker 1: which is very exciting for him to get back out there.

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Speaker 1: But I know we talked about this a little bit yesterday, Eric,

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Speaker 1: but what do you think in a successful game would

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Speaker 1: really look like for kJ. I think he's just got

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Speaker 1: to get out there and kind of figure out how

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Speaker 1: he goes through this new normal for him because he's

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Speaker 1: going to wear a knee brace all season. As we

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Speaker 1: talked about, that's kind of non negotiable, So he's got

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Speaker 1: to figure out really how do I go about playing?

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Speaker 1: Do I have the same speed? Doesn't make cutting on

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Speaker 1: routes feel any different. He's got to figure those things

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Speaker 1: out for himself. And I caught up with him just

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Speaker 1: after practice off the field, and he said he needs

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Speaker 1: to prove to himself a couple of things that he

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Speaker 1: still has that speed, that he can still run by people.

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Speaker 1: And so this game, you know, if he gets to

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Speaker 1: catch grade, if he gets a touchdown, even better. But

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Speaker 1: I think mainly it's about proving to himself that he

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Speaker 1: can still do this and being in a place where

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Speaker 1: a week one in Seattle he's ready to go. Eric,

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Speaker 1: I know you also talked this week to both Bradley

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Speaker 1: Chubb and defensive coordinator jo Verro just about Nick Bunto's

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Speaker 1: performance this preseason. What have you thought about it so

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Speaker 1: far and what do you think he really needs to

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Speaker 1: prove in this final game. Yeah, I mean, I think

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Speaker 1: with Nick, you can see that he has the talent

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Speaker 1: that's really evident. I think back to the joint practice

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Speaker 1: against the Cowboys and Nick was all over the place

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Speaker 1: as many as four sacks that day. That was a

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Speaker 1: point where we thought maybe he was turning the corner

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Speaker 1: a little bit. I think with Nick you've got to

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Speaker 1: understanding it's a process, and he's a guy that is still,

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Speaker 1: in his own words, thinking a little bit too much.

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Speaker 1: He's swimming a little bit out there. Bradley Chubb and

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Speaker 1: Coachy they most that's normal for a rookie. You don't

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Speaker 1: necessarily expect them to come in and be a percent

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Speaker 1: right away. But he does need to do enough off

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Speaker 1: the field, and it sounds like he's doing that where

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Speaker 1: he can go in on game day and then not

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Speaker 1: think while he's out there, and if you make a mistake, okay,

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Speaker 1: that's fine. But play fast and show that talent, show

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Speaker 1: that bend, show that potential. That's all really necessary, I think,

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Speaker 1: and if he can do that, then he'll make an impact.

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Speaker 1: But the thing I'll say about Nick is that he

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Speaker 1: doesn't have to come in and be a star right away,

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Speaker 1: because you've got Bradley Chubb, you've got Randy Gregory, and

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Speaker 1: so if he can just you know, kind of be

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Speaker 1: a little boost off the bench, that'd be great. Um,

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Speaker 1: But you'll look for him to take a step this

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Speaker 1: week and show that he's making strides in the playbook

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Speaker 1: on the field to be able to be a factor

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Speaker 1: in Week one well in terms of the offense. We

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Speaker 1: did hear from head coach Nathaniel Hackett today in his

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Speaker 1: press convince. He said that the offense didn't really perform

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Speaker 1: up to a standards at practice this week. We obviously

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Speaker 1: won't see most starters on a Saturday, but they do

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Speaker 1: have an extra week next week. How beneficial do you

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Speaker 1: think that extra week will be for them before they

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Speaker 1: have to start looking at Seattle. Yeah, it's a good question.

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Speaker 1: I do think next week they'll kind of start to

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Speaker 1: make that transition to a little bit of the Seattle stuff.

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Speaker 1: You don't want to do too much, as Nathaniel Hackett

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Speaker 1: has talked about, you don't want to kind of make

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Speaker 1: the game plan doll, but it will help to have

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Speaker 1: some extra practice time. And I think it's important to

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Speaker 1: remember a couple of things. One is that every day

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Speaker 1: every week is critical because it's a new system. Russell

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Speaker 1: Wilson and Nathaniel Hackett are trying to meld essentially what

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Speaker 1: they both do and make this into something that's gonna

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Speaker 1: work really well for both of them this season. So

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Speaker 1: every day is important as you move forward. And then

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Speaker 1: the second thing is it's just practice and one thing

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Speaker 1: we know about Russell Wilson is that he likes to

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Speaker 1: challenge himself. And so when you see the Broncos out

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Speaker 1: there at practice, at least as the media does every day,

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Speaker 1: and you see an incompletion, or you see an interception,

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Speaker 1: or you see some sort of misconnection or miss check

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Speaker 1: or whatever it might be, that might be Russell Wilson

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Speaker 1: trying to test himself or test this offense, or Nathaniel

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Speaker 1: Hackett saying, Okay, well we do all this stuff really well,

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Speaker 1: how do we make some of the bad stuff better?

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Speaker 1: And so with that, it's hard to kind of view

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Speaker 1: it in a vacuum. You have to think about it

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Speaker 1: in terms of the context of them trying to get better.

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Speaker 1: That's what practices for. They have plenty of time before

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Speaker 1: the Week one game in Seattle, and I do expect

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Speaker 1: them to come out and look good in Week one. Well,

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Speaker 1: like I mentioned earlier in the show, the Broncos did

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Speaker 1: sign another inside linebacker today. Jeremiah Gimmel, what do you

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Speaker 1: think about this transaction? Eric As, I feel like a

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Speaker 1: lot of our fans are a little bit worried about

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Speaker 1: the depth of that position. Yeah, you know, I don't

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Speaker 1: know that this is going to be a a big

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Speaker 1: splash signing. UM an undrafted free agent out of North Carolina.

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Speaker 1: He's a guy that I think will come in and

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Speaker 1: play some snaps this weekend. That's probably the main point

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Speaker 1: of this signing is just to get the Broncos through

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Speaker 1: this game because Barrington Wade was hurt in practice yesterday.

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Speaker 1: But who knows, maybe flashes, Maybe he's a guy that

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Speaker 1: you want to get on your practice squad. I'd be

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Speaker 1: really surprised if he makes the active roster after just

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Speaker 1: a few days of practice and uh in the game.

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Speaker 1: But you never know. I mean, they like Jonas Griffith.

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Speaker 1: He was an undrafted guy out of UH San Francisco,

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Speaker 1: and so maybe they see the same thing in this

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Speaker 1: new edition. Well just two days away now until that

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Speaker 1: final preseason game. Preseason is almost over, Eric, Thank goodness,

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Speaker 1: I know, okay, goodness, Eric, appreciate your time. Always got it.

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Speaker 1: Now it's time to take a look at today's injury update.

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Speaker 1: Randy Gregory, Sam Martin, We're back at practice today. Michael

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Speaker 1: O Jimudia did not practice again today, while Kyree Cleveland

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Speaker 1: did some rehab work in Natani Muti. Jonas Griffith and

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Speaker 1: Greg Dulcich all worked on his side field. Well, that's

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Speaker 1: all the time we have for today's episode. Thanks so much,

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Speaker 1: Broncos Country for tuning in for another episode of Broncos Now.

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Speaker 1: Make sure to meet me right back here on the

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Speaker 1: Broncos Podcast Network in YouTube tomorrow evening for a preview

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Speaker 1: of the Broncos final preseason game versus the Vikings. I'll

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Speaker 1: see you all then,