Derek Wolfe on New Fan Radio Gig, Becoming Colorado's Ted Nugent

On October 3, ex-Denver Broncos standout Derek Wolfe was announced as the new partner for Darren "D-Mac" McKee on 104.3 The Fan'sThe Drive, replacing one of his old Broncos teammates, Tyler Polumbus. But while he's enjoying his foray into radio, Wolfe says he's just as excited about another project.

"In January, we're going to launch my YouTube hunting channel," Wolfe says. "It's going to be called Wolfe Untamed, and it's already taking off."

And if it works, it could make him an outdoors celebrity on par with the likes of Ted Nugent.

A fierce defensive lineman for the University of Cincinnati in his native Ohio, Wolfe was drafted by Denver in 2012 and played with the franchise for eight seasons before signing with the Baltimore Ravens. But earlier this year, he retired as a Bronco — a gesture of affection for the team and the community.

"I spent the bulk of my career here and fell in love with the city — and even when I was in Baltimore, I was here half the year," he points out. "My wife is from Cheyenne, and she loves it here. So it was pretty much a no-brainer that we were going to settle here."

After he retired from football, Wolfe continues, "there were two avenues I wanted to pursue. I knew I was good at speaking to the media. I always had a good time with the guys, and I figured I'd try that — and it seems to be working out so far."

Additionally, "I love to hunt — hunting in general, but specifically bow-hunting," he notes. "I started bow-hunting when I was a teenager. I killed my first deer with a bow when I was thirteen, and I've been hooked ever since — and when I moved out west, I couldn't wait to hunt big game with my bow. September is the only time I could do it, and obviously September is football season, so I wasn't able to do it then. But I love the camaraderie with the guys I hunt with, and the adrenaline rush when you get a full draw on a big elk and they're bugling in your face. The only thing I can relate it to is getting a sack in the Super Bowl. It's that intense."

He sees other correlations between the gridiron life and hunting, too: "I love the grind of it — the grind of bow-hunting. Nothing against rifle hunting; you definitely do some hiking. But on my last elk hunt, I put sixty miles on my feet in four and a half days, and then you have to pack the animal out of there. It's a mental and physical grind — a good transition out of football to go straight into hunting."

The sport "has a stigma around it — like all we want to do is go out and kill things," Wolfe acknowledges. "But I want to educate people, let them see it's a lot more than that." He says he values hunting's spiritual side and emphasizes that "I eat almost everything I kill. If I kill a mountain lion, I'm probably not going to eat that, but I eat bear, turkey, elk, or I donate the meat."
Assorted partners and sponsors are already lining up to be a part of Wolfe Untamed, "and we're going to be doing some really cool stuff," he adds. "We'll probably do ten hunts a year — five or six bow-hunts, and the rest will be turkey hunts and water-fowl hunts and fly fishing. I snowboard, as well, so we'll also have that, and we'll bring guests on," with likely participants including former Broncos teammates Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware, as well as country-music artists such as Michael Ray. "And I'm also going to do an episode where I'll bring kids from the inner city who've never been exposed to hunting or the outdoors. I'm really looking forward to that, because this can change your life."

Is Wolfe aiming for a jump to an outdoors-oriented cable-TV series? Not so much. "I just feel like people are getting their information from social media and YouTube. If somebody wants to watch something like this, they go to YouTube — and that's where I'm going to be."

In the meantime, Wolfe is getting comfortable at The Fan — something that was initially a bit of a struggle, since he was too physically large for the chairs at the station. Program director Raj Sharan confirms that a special chair had to be acquired for Wolfe, but stresses that new seats ordered as part of ongoing remodeling should fit everyone.

The hiring process at The Fan was a snap, Wolfe says: "I had a couple of meetings with Raj. I think he knew I was looking to get into the radio side of things. I thought about Altitude, too; I love those guys. But the opportunity to be on The Fan during afternoon drive from two to six made sense to me."

After his exit from The Fan, Polumbus jumped to Altitude, and in an interview last week, he made it clear he has no beef with his successor — and Wolfe echoes that. "Tyler wasn't cut or fired," he says. "His contract was up — and that's just the way things go. Eventually, somebody will come and take this job from me. But Tyler is a friend of mine. We won a Super Bowl together, so we'll be tied together forever because of that. And when he heard about it, he was like, 'Hey, man. Congratulations.' And I said, 'You're going to do great wherever you go, because you're good at your job.'"

Wolfe's own radio stylings are a work in progress; his sometimes succinct takes leave McKee filling more than his share of airtime. But he's pleased where he is right now. "D-Mac is one of the best in the business, and I really just take the advice he gives me," Wolfe says. "Every day, he'll give me different advice on things I should do, and the learning curve is coming along naturally."

Some of the comments Wolfe made during his first show suggested that he might have trouble taking the Broncos to task, but that hasn't proved the case; he's branded quarterback Russell Wilson a "robot," for example. "I'm not trying to hate on anybody or disrespect anyone," he emphasizes. "I'm just calling it as I see it, and that's my job. There's a way to critique someone on the football field and not attack the human — and I don't think it's Russ's fault for everything. I just think there's a disconnect between the coaching and the playing. I knew it was going to take some time, but I didn't think it was going to be this bad — that they were going to be the worst offense in the history of the Denver Broncos."

Another conversation was more controversial: When Broncos strength-and-conditioning coach Loren Landow was being blamed for so many players getting hurt, Wolfe suggested a possible link between the injuries and the COVID-19 vaccine. "I don't think a vaccine should be political at all," he says now. "It should be your choice if you get a vaccine or not. It shouldn't be a mandate. This is supposed to be a free country, where we have free will to make our own choices. And I just wanted to bring out a different point of view."

Medical experts offer zero support for this theory, but Wolfe doesn't back away from it. "I love that radio is opinion-based," he adds. "I can't really be wrong, because it's just my opinion. ... I'm always going to speak my mind, and if you get offended by it, fine, but it is what it is. You can't keep everybody happy."

Wolfe sees being himself and keeping it real as keys to both his work on The Fan and the launch of Wolfe Untamed — and these projects are only the beginning.

"I have a five-year plan, which I try to keep to myself," he says. "I feel like if you put it out there, people can get in the way of it. But if I'm not having fun doing something, I'm not going to do it. I like to work hard, but I don't like to work hard if it isn't fun. I don't think you should be miserable at your job, whatever it's going to be. And right now, I'm having fun."