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Published on 04/03/2008 at Thu Apr 03 20:44.
Tagged: .



DJ Williams is Officially Moving

Posted Thu Apr 3rd by

[Moving Sucks]
So, it’s official… DJ Williams is moving.

Moving, that is, to the weak side LB position despite his fantastic statistical first year in the middle.

As I’ve said in the past, I think this is a huge slap in the face of an athlete like DJ, who at the bare minimum deserved to compete for the starting MIKE spot after last year’s success.

However, yesterday Mike Shanahan clearly stated that he intends to unceremoniously demote DJ…


“It’s tough to be thrown into a position and be great at it. I thought he did a good job. You look at all the tackles he had, but I just don’t think it was really natural for him.” — Mike Shanahan 4/3/08

TRANSLATION: MIKE LB is a tough job and DJ was only ‘good’ at it – not great.

Hmmm… So, if leading the NFL statically at your position in your first year isn’t good enough can someone please tell me what we’re expecting from our players?

Let me ask this question: If we had, say, a fullback that was asked to take over at RB one year. And, let’s imagine that he lead the league in rushing yards and/or touchdowns scored in that first year at RB.

Can you honestly imagine Shanahan saying anything like he did here to DJ? Wouldn’t the fanbase of Denver jump up and down demanding that Shanahan NOT move this player back to FB the next year?

To fully explain my position:
I’m not opposed to moving personnel around. I like Niko. I like Boss. I liked how DJ developed last year and what he did despite a horrible defense up front. But I also like thinking about the havoc DJ could cause on the weak side. I would be happy if we find a way to get all three of these LB’s on the field next year.

My concern is the fact that Mike Shanahan thinks part of the solution for 2008 is moving DJ from the middle. That implies that Shanahan believes DJ at MIKE was part of the problem last year — and I flat out deny that 100%. It worries me that Shanahan could think this, because that indicates he hasn’t really figured out what went wrong last year and how to fix it this year…. and that’s scary, folks.

Am I making too much of this? Someone, poke some holes in my logic, please.

  • jvill

    Maybe Shanny just thinks Niko will play a least good at MIKE, but that DJ can (and was) great at WILL. That’s a net gain as a team.

    [shrug]

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    DJ in the middle wasn’t a problem last year. Ian Gold at Will was.

    I said several times heading into this offseason that, if Gold was released, I wouldn’t mind either bringing in a Will or Mike to take over. D.J. and his versatility can fill in the gap. It ended up we snagged Kouts… had we went after, say Lance Briggs, D.J. would still be residing in the middle.

    That’s my two cents, anyway.

  • http://rockymountainfever.blogspot.com r8rh8r

    I think the fallacy of this thinking is that this article assumes ILB is a “better” LB than WLB. In fact, both are highly differentiated positions requiring different skills. After cutting ties with Al Wilson last year, we were left incredibly thin at LB. Ian Gold and D.J. Williams are both natural WLB and were our best players at the linebacker position heading into the season. D.J. was selected to move inside (a) because WLB typically doesn’t play in the Nickel and Dime and (b) Ian Gold had neither the motor, coverage skills, or consistency to man the middle.

    Now that Gold is gone, the WLB position has been vacated and D.J. is free to move back. Playing WLB is a much better fit for D.J.’s skill set –which is getting into the backfield to make plays. Dropping into coverage, defending TE’s, and shedding blocks in a phone booth to get to a running back are not D.J.’s distinctive competency.

    I don’t think anyone in Denver thinks that D.J. did a bad job last year. On the contrary, I think it was heroic. Playing out of position, D.J. had a huge statistical year and played extremely well. Jim Bates ran every 2-technique tackle out of town opting for a platoon of 3-technique DT’s instead. The result was that Denver was always vulnerable off-tackle or in one gap. Teams exploited this all year, forcing D.J. to pick up the slack.

    Ray Lewis threw a fit when Balitmore tried to switch to a traditional 3-4 by running 2 ends and an NT. After all, when he had Siragusa and Adams in front of him, nothing got through the middle and he was free to be a playmaker. After a couple of statistically down years, Baltimore added Haoli Ngata to play next to the godlike Kelly Gregg, and Lewis was dominant once again.

    Regardless of who plays ILB for Denver next year, if we fail to add a true 2-technique (2-gap) tackle in the draft, our run defense is going to be a disaster. My opinion is that Niko–a special teams standout and great straight-line player–is ill-suited to be a starting MLB in the NFL. I do think he’s an A+ backup. My guess is that Niko is a transition player for the MLB of the future. Denver will likely target a MLB with a first day pick. Don’t be surprised to see D.J. shifting to the middle all year in the Nickel and Dime so that we can take advantage of his athleticism. With 3 LB’s on the field, he’s better suited at his natural position.

    I recently did a write-up on the MLB position at my blog. I’d love to have you read it.

    Manning the Middle

    I don’t think that D.J. is to blame for our struggles last season. I think that your point–that its unreasonable to blame D.J. for our problems–is right on the money. With the injuries to Champ (not to mention the game-losing TD’s) last season, you could confidently assert that D.J. was the MVP of our defense last year–a fact that is hard to discern from the numbers.

  • http://www.broncotalk.net Josh Temple

    I respectfully disagree Kyle. I think DJ did play well in the middle last year, especially for being his first. But I wouldn’t say he was overly impressive. I don’t remember any huge tackles behind the line of scrimmage or anything. I’m along the line of thought of jvill up top, by moving him back to the weakside, and having Kouts we improve the unit as a whole rather than just 1 position. D.J. was an exceptional player on the weakside and we can have that back again, but now with enough muscle on the other side to shore things up and not get plowed over. Additionally, a lot of Seattle insiders believer we got an outright steal with Niko. The Seahawks knew they had a gem on their team, but didn’t have a good starting spot for him, but we’ll have to see how true that is when the season comes.

  • http://www.broncotalk.net Jonathan Douglas

    Some follow up…

    Kyle & Jvill, I think that if I had heard either of your explainations from Shanahan, I would be satisfied that we’re on track to fixing the real problem. In fact, I agree with Kyle’s statement that Gold was the weak link and I have to admit your replacement strategy would have been similar to mine.

    However, that’s not what Shanahan said in the interview. I’m not sure why he wouldn’t come out and give Jvill’s or Kyle’s very sensible reasoning for the move rather than this dribble about DJ ‘not being comfortable’ at MIKE.

    3 r8rh8r, I’m not sure I can accept that a move from MIKE to WILL on our team is not a demotion. I’m not claiming either position is ‘better’ than the other… but one of them certainly comes with much more leadership responsibilities. Look at all the press surrounding DJ last year. Nearly all of it was asking whether or not he could ‘lead’ the defense, not just adjust to playing inside. He was ‘the guy’ last year. Do you think that DJ will keep making adjustments to the defense from the weakside? I think not.

    Even Niko understand this – listen to his recent interview. He talks about actively getting guys into position and leading on the field. He knows that MIKE is a leadership role, not just another LB position.

    Bottom line, DJ is getting demoted.

    Again, I’m not saying we haven’t improved our talent pool at LB this off-season. I think Niko and Boss were great adds. I’m a supporter of Webster and I’m a big fan of Winborn (ever since that awesome ST hit last year). I’m also not opposed to DJ playing WILL if he lost the position to someone better (or equal) at MIKE.

    My points were….

    1. DJ did remarkable things for his first year in the middle, and would likely be a pro-bowler if he was allowed to continue growing into that position in 2008.

    2. Anyone that played that well at his position should be allowed to compete for that job the next year. Regardless of the end result.

    3. Mike Shanahan was high on DJ last year and now he’s explaining DJ’s move to WILL on his ‘uncomfortable fit’ at MIKE — which is BS.

  • http://rockymountainfever.blogspot.com r8rh8r

    I’m just not convinced that D.J. doesn’t welcome the move back to his natural position. I think he makes more plays for us from the Will. D.J. is a poor run-stopper when he stuck in a phone booth trying to shed blocks. He needs to work in space. Also, D.J. will never be great in pass coverage. In 2006 he was out of the game in the Nickel and Dime. With a year of experience under his belt, I think we are now in a position where he can competently be relied upon to play inside some in those situations. He’s an upgrade over Niko on passing downs and I wouldn’t be surprised if he sees some snaps on non-traditional WLB downs now that he has more experience.

    Nothing I’ve seen from D.J. has me convinced that he’s a field general in the sense of making adjustments and leading the team. I don’t think he’s that guy. His gift is his athleticism and his technique on Blitzes and tackling RB’s in the backfield. To the extent we can enable him to do that, he’s among our best defenders.

  • http://www.broncotalk.net Jonathan Douglas

    P.S. 3r8rh8r, I totally agree with you regarding our DT issue/s. It’s been my leading concern all off-season and I’m quite surprised it hasn’t been addressed in FA. I know we could draft someone, but that’s not a solution for 2008. We need immediate help up front or we’re in for a very long season.

  • http://rockymountainfever.blogspot.com r8rh8r

    Agreed. Not to mention the fact that–despite being deep at DT–this draft is very thin at 2-technique DT’s. We need to find a blue-collar guy who can anchor the line and take some pressure off our linebackers.

  • Jonathan

    I think that you are doubting Shanny WAY too much. This isn’t the first nor will it be the last time that he has made a questionable decision. Think about last year when he moved DJ to Mike… Everyone was like what what what? Shanny hasn’t been the supreme coach he is by making bad decisions. DJ will shine wherever and Shanny’s decision are ALWAYS for the best of the team. Respect!

  • http://www.broncotalk.net Josh Temple

    I’m still not ruling out the possibility of us trading up ahead of #9 to make sure we can take Dorsey or Ellis before the Bengals do. I think I like the idea of filling our DT need with young talent rather than depend on trying to land busted up D-Rob in free agency.

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    I would love Dorsey or Ellis, but latest mocks have both going in to the Top 5-7. Too high to move up for one player.

    I’m still hoping we get Robertson… after he’s released though.

  • Quicksilver

    I agree Josh, I think we may jump up in the draft and get a good YOUNG guy that be a starter right away. I never saw the Cutler move coming, but now i can see more possibility for a jump up in the draft, espn has even been talking about it some, we have a number of picks later on that could be used as trade bate, I see a real possibility of jumping into the top 10 and getting a good DT

  • http://www.broncotalk.net Josh Temple

    While watching NFL Network before I came into work this morning they kept eluding to the trend of how teams are trying to get out of the top picks because they cost so much. Anything is possible with Shanahan, I didn’t see the Cutler pick coming.

  • http://www.broncotalk.net Josh Temple

    * Also apologies to Johnathan above, I hadn’t noticed you wrote this post until Kyle mentioned it in the daily links.

  • Brenton

    I think you’re dead wrong about Shanahan. I think that DJ would have developed into a pro bowl Middle Linebacker, but if all the buzz about Niko pans out, then we could now have a pro bowl Middle Line backer in Niko and an almost obvious Pro Bowler in DJ. This is one of the smartest moves Shanahan made this offseason.

  • http://rockymountainfever.blogspot.com r8rh8r

    I wouldn’t want to spend our second-rounder to move up. I have my heart set on Curtis Johnson or Aquib Talib with those picks. I haven’t been convinced that Ellis is the right guy for us but seeing him put up 510lbs certainly went a long way towards persuading me he could handle multiple gap assignments despite lining up in the B-gap for the majority of his collegiate career.

    I could stomach a trade but only for the right price.

  • http://rockymountainfever.blogspot.com r8rh8r

    **Curtis Lofton (not Johnson)

  • http://www.broncotalk.net Jonathan Douglas

    Brenton,

    Thanks for joining the discussion. My favorite part about blogging is the spirited discussions! :)

    I completely agree with you that if Niko lives up to the mainstream media hype, Boss pans out on the strong side, DJ finds the weakside as acceptable as he did during his 1st season and we end up with guys like Winborn & Webster as backups, I believe our LB corp would be terrific!

    My concern is not the moves themselves. It’s the given reason for the move. Maybe Shanahan will talk more about this and some other details about his decision-making will prove these comments are not the complete story – I really hope so. Because I just don’t think DJ’s play was the issue.

  • Quicksilver

    Has anybody seen the video of Boss Bailey on CBS4, I live in Wisconsin and i can tell you that Boss is a beast, but the coaching staff in Detroit never got it, i don’t think they have ever been good at assessing talent. I am getting more excited about our LB core all the time, especially with what i am hearing about the steal we got in Kout.