The Denver Broncos signed defensive tackle Malcom Roach to a two-year, $7 million deal in 2024 after he spent the first four years of his career with the New Orleans Saints. Roach played in all 17 games last year with the Broncos, but started in just one game.
The veteran defensive tackle will play as the Broncos' sixth man along the defensive line once again in 2025, but that doesn't faze him. Roach had a strong year in 2024, collecting 43 tackles, 2.5 sacks, five tackles for loss, and eight quarterback hits, but his impact goes beyond his play on the field.
Roach loves his trash talk on the field, and his presence in the locker room is just as impactful. However, the Broncos' defensive tackle spoke with the media about that field talk at practice on Friday and explained that it's not always trash talking that's actually what's said.
"I feel like, okay, if I'm gonna be talking to you, I got to be doing something. I got to be producing, like, even if I'm just doing my job right. But it's also, you'll see people having a down day and, man, 'How you doing?' And everybody always thinks it's trash talk," Roach said. "Sometimes it's really just talk. I tell J-Mac every day, man, 'You the best in the business, bro. You gotta believe it.' I tell Pat Surtain II every day, bro, 'You the best, we know you the best. Every day, bro, we leaning on you. We know what you bring to the table.'
"Jonathan Cooper, Nick Bonitto man, like, it's not about just talking to the other - I talked to the offense everyday. Quinn Meinerz, 'You the best, bro, I'm going against the best.' And it's like, yeah, we going to talk. We competitive. You got to have some type of ego or selfishness to last in this league, because everybody good. We going to talk, man, that's the game we play."
Most of the time, it's Roach doing the talking on the field, whether it's making jabs after a great play or encouraging his teammates throughout practice or games. But on Friday, running back J.K. Dobbins had a response to Roach's trash talk.
"I got so happy when JK talked back to me, I'm like, 'Yes, bro, some finally, we got some action going on.' And like you seen from that practice, that was one of the funnest practices I've ever been a part of in my life," Roach said. "And I just feel like it's something contagious throughout this team, and as we keep building this culture as what we're trying to be, I feel like it could be something."
The practice Roach considered the most fun of his life came two days after head coach Sean Payton was very pleased with the team's performance. Roach has always been a loud player on the field, both with his mouth and his play.
During the first two years of Roach's career in the NFL, Payton was his head coach in New Orleans. The two spent 2020 and 2021 together with the Saints, so Payton knows what Roach brings to the field.
"Malcolm, you hear him before you see him, I like that energy about him. The thing I liked about yesterday, it was a physical practice, and yet, there was no one really crossing the line," Payton said. "And it's hard to do when it gets warm, but I thought both sides of the ball you know handled the pads well. We got better yesterday."
Whether it's on the field, chirping with teammates, or once he gets into the locker room, Roach is always having fun. Earlier in the week, receiver Marvin Mims told reporters a story about him and Roach joking in the locker room.
Mims said Roach is always talking and never shuts up. So Mims told him he was a fat guy and needed to worry about that. Although Roach's response was pretty entertaining.
"Y'all think I really worry about 19 bro. I see him every day, his locker right by mine. He talk all - y'all think I talk, he really talk more than me. But, I ain't worried about Marvin, because Marvin know he not about to cut that ball back across the middle," Roach said with a smile. "That's all I really have to say on that. And Marvin like a mosquito, bro, like he need to worry about that. I could lose this weight. He can't change them looks, you feel what I'm saying. So that's all I got to say about Marvin."
Roach brings the thump on the field and loves to add some trash talk with it. He's enjoying his second season in Denver so far and developing relationships with his teammates. The Broncos made the playoffs for the first time since 2016 last season, and with the culture Denver is building, Roach believes something special is brewing for the Broncos.
