Press Pass | Benjamin Allbright Talks the 2020 NFL Draft, What to Expect From Vic Fangio, and How to Survive in Sports Media
By Liam McKeone
Benjamin Allbright is an NFL talk show host and analyst based in Colorado. He took the time to chat with The Big Lead about how he got started in the business, what Broncos fans are getting in Vic Fangio, and more.
Liam McKeone: Hi Benjamin, thanks for taking the time to chat today. In your own words, describe your journey in the sports world, and how you got to be where you are today.
Benjamin Allbright: Well, to be honest with you, I’m probably the worst person to do this. I fell backwards into this job. I’m probably a cautionary tale for what not to do for almost every step along the way. I never really knew I wanted to do media, I didn’t go to school for it at all. Just came up playing the game, and eventually got to the point where the body wasn’t big enough to continue playing, and I had to figure something else out.
I did a little assistant work, assistant coaching, assistant scouting, and fell backwards into media… [They said] ‘You know what, we really like what you have to say. You should come on our show.’ And spots turned into more spots and people asked me to write things down and I started a Twitter account that blew up a little bit. It was sort of an accidental, fell backwards into it kind of thing. The first show I did was a long-defunct weekend show in Tampa. That was the first recurring spot that I did. I had done some little podcast-type stuff, things like that before… That was the first regular rotation thing.
McKeone: How’d you get involved in coaching?
Allbright: Friend of a friend kind of thing, fell backwards into it, like I said. When I was in college, guys that I played with went on to the league, and of course I wasn’t even good enough to sit on the bench. I held my helmet in hand at the end of the bench. I kind of became a guy who was the runner for those guys. Not sure if we should print this or not but I was the guy who ran merchandise to the dealerships, those autographs [laughs]… they just trusted me to do those kinds of things. One thing turned into another, friend of a friend heard I was looking for work, and was like “Oh, I heard this guy is real smart, maybe we should try it out.” And that’s just kind of how it worked out.
Five Big Things
McKeone: Let’s shift gears to the most recent draft. Was there any prospect you were high on that others might’ve overlooked or weren’t as optimistic about?
Allbright: I was higher on Drew Lock than I felt like a lot of the national media was. I had several chances to talk to him, and the kid is just high-wattage. He kind of reminds you — and I hate to invoke this name, I really do — but he reminds you of Peyton Manning in the sense that he’s football-obssessive and doesn’t make the same mistake twice, that kind of thing.
There’s plenty of adjustment he’s gonna have to add for the pro game, coming out of that offense, and those kinds of thing. But he’s a guy when you sit down and talk to him, you’re like, ‘Oh, this could be something special.’ If a guy who sits down in an interview to talk to you ever beats the player he is on the field, those two rules, you could have something special there.
McKeone: Let’s look at the flip side. Who was the national media really high on from the 2019 Draft that you aren’t as bullish about?
Allbright: Well, everyone was all over Kyler Murray, and I really wasn’t. I had been high on Baker the year before, but Kyler is more of one-read then run guy. He does go through his progressions at times, but there are several elements of his game that I don’t think will translate to the NFL. If he is going to succeed in the NFL he certainly has the one coach who will tailor the offense to his strengths, but I don’t know. It’ll be fun to watch, I don’t know if it’s going to be successful. I was a short, fast quarterback growing up, certainly not that fast, but being a short, fast quarterback is real fun until a big, fast dude catches you.
McKeone: Do you think his height will hinder him as much as some are claiming?
Allbright: Well, to a degree. It’ll be a little bit of a problem in terms of what they do with him. He’s not going to see a whole lot of middle of the field type stuff, there will be a lot of out-breaking routes. But the reality is, in terms of what you can see with an extra two inches of height… I mean, you stand on your tiptoes and tell me what you can see that you couldn’t see before. That’s generally my take on that.
He played behind big, tall guys at Oklahoma, it’s not like he couldn’t see quote-unquote over the line. There are other elements of his game. I’m just not sold on him. We’ll see. Maybe I’m wrong on this one. If I have to eat a plate of crow, I’ll eat the whole plate.
McKeone: Do you think Lock will see the field this year? Or are the Broncos dedicated to the Joe Flacco route?
Allbright: I’ll put it like this: Joe Flacco will be the quarterback of the Denver Broncos until he absolutely can’t be for this season. I would say the Broncos have a quote-unquote plan, the plan would be that Flacco is the QB this year… he might become a tradeable asset in a year, then Drew Lock ideally would develop and take over for next season. That would be the ideal plan. Now, a lot of that hinges on Flacco’s play, developing Lock, all that stuff. But that’s the rough plan.
McKeone: What can Broncos fans expect from Vic Fangio as the new face of the team?
Allbright: He’s a breath of fresh air, to be honest with you. He’s a throwback coach, real old-school, says what he means and means what he says. There’s not a lot of coach-speak in him. He’ll tell you! He’ll give you real answers. If you’re a media guy, it’s really a breath of fresh air to deal with him rather than the couched quotes you get these days from most people.
He has an old-school mentality about that stuff, he has reasons for doing everything, it’s not just convention. So I’ve really enjoyed dealing with him so far.
McKeone: As a defensive guru, how will he help the younger members of this defense? Can we expect another big year out of Bradley Chubb as a sophomore?
Allbright: I think so. One of the misconceptions with Vic Fangio’s defense is that he runs an aggressive defense. Well, he does, but it’s not aggressive in the sense they’re sending a lot of guys after the quarterback. The reality is, he generally usually sends four. I think Bradley being opposite Von, he’s going to have another great year. But the breakout player of the defense is going to be Justin Simmons. He’s had a red-hot camp, and this scheme is a lot more suited with him. Last couple of years, he started with Wade and then moving to Joe Woods, they ran a lot of man, Cover 0, Cover 1 defenses. So they had Simmons in man on a lot of wide receivers, and that’s not really his game. This defense has a lot of zone. Really zone-heavy. So they have the safeties sit back there and ball-hawk, and that’s really where Justin is best.
I think the defense will be better by virtue of the fact that they won’t be gassed going into the fourth quarter. If you’re running man that often, you’re running around chasing receivers all day. Fourth quarter rolls around, you’re tired! You saw that last year. And the Broncos, honestly, of all the teams that played the Chiefs last year, they laid out the blueprint for getting at Pat Mahomes. The problem was Mahomes beat them in the fourth quarter because they were gassed from chasing Tyreek Hill all over the field all day. This defense will give them an opportunity to pressure late in games and not get tired late like we’ve seen in the past couple of years.
McKeone: Looking ahead, is there anyone in particular you’re excited to keep an eye on this year ahead of the 2020 NFL Draft?
Allbright: I think Justin Herbert is gonna be pretty good. I know a lot of people were high on him this year until he decided to not come out. The main player I’m going to keep an eye on that I haven’t seen a lot of people talk about is the quarterback out of Utah State, Jordan Love. I think that guy could be something special. You really don’t have a lot of people talking about him right now. He could be really special in the NFL. If there’s a sleeper to keep an eye on, that’s the one.
Five Little Things
McKeone: Favorite stadium in the NFL?
Allbright: I really love Arrowhead. It’s a non-dome, old-school kind of environment, it’s loud, the fans get raucous, it’s fun. It’s also friendly too. If you’re coming in and covering an opposing team, the fans are still friendly with you. They’ll tailgate with you and I gotta be honest with you, Kansas City barbeque is some of the best out there.
McKeone: Favorite place to grab a bite in Denver?
Allbright: There’s a couple of barbecue joints here. I really like Hickory Smoke House, I think Wayne’s Smoke Shack is probably the best ribs in town. That’s probably my favorite.
McKeone: Favorite person you’ve interviewed?
Allbright: All-time favorite person? Shoot… Sean Payton was a good interview. In terms of players, players to interview, oh man… I talked about Justin Simmons earlier, he’s a really, really good interview… I had good interviews with Baker back when he was at Oklahoma. You want someone with some personality. I like the interviews that are more conversational, so guys who can be conversational are the best to interview. Ryan Leaf was one of my favorite interviews, actually. He’s just a good interview. A guy who doesn’t hold back, a guy who will talk to you.
McKeone: What do you feel like people don’t know about the sports media industry?
Allbright: I think how hard people work… I think people don’t realize the team-sponsor relationships. If a guy is on a network that has a relationship with the team, often times he gets information a lot easier than someone who has to shuffleboard a little bit… There’s a lot of snakes in this industry. There are a lot of people that will be nice to your face and sell you out behind your back. I’ve always tried to be as cool with everybody as I could, take opportunities to lift anybody up. If someone starts talking junk or whatever, I give it as good as I get. I’ve never been one of those people who sells somebody out behind their back. If I got something to say to somebody, I’ll say it to their face.
McKeone: What’s something you wished you knew back when you were in the early stages of your sports media career?
Allbright: When I was first starting out doing this, I probably picked a few fights with media guys that I shouldn’t have. War of words-type stuff. The longer I’m in this, the more I recognize this business is a lot of who you know. What you know will get you in the door, but who you know will get you further.
My advice to anybody trying to come up into this is network a bunch. Make a bunch of friends in the industry, ask them for advice, ask them for an internship. Those are things I didn’t have, and it probably took me longer to do things because of that than it normally would’ve.