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Published on 02/02/2009 at Mon Feb 02 18:59.
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Wiegmann to Stay

Posted Mon Feb 2nd by

The Denver Broncos got good news as they began arranging themselves for the NFL Scouting Combine, Pro Bowl center Casey Wiegmann will be playing for what his agent Joe Linda said would be, “At least the next couple of years.”

Wiegmann who is 36-years old, will return for at least one more season in Denver.

Exciting news, in that the Broncos will have at least one more season to groom the heir to Tom Nalen (who is believed to have retired, although not officially, yet). Wiegmann’s decision also frees up a very early draft pick for use on defense, his decision probably came (at least a bit) at the assurance of new head coach Josh McDaniel.

Happy to have him? Should the Broncos still look to get a replacement for when Wiegmann does eventually retire, through the draft this season? Or is Denver okay with who they have currently on the roster? What do you think Nation?

  • http://broncomadness.com Garrett Barnes

    i think we are good with what we have right now. kory lichtensteiger is gunna be a good replacement and we don’t need a draft pick on center.

  • http://nation.theorangepage.com Danh

    I say he’s a keeper. He did play at a Pro Bowl level this past season and I think he has a few good more years in the tank.

  • Big T

    I think we are good with who is on the roster at this time, we may want to look next draft….but I say go defense for most of draft not center.

  • http://broncotalk.net Ian Henson

    I’m glad he’s there, though there’s the Broncos fan in me that wishes it was Nalen… We’re very lucky to have Casey Wiegmann, though for his sake I would hope that he would renegotiate. He came in as a, “just in case,” and now he’s the leader and the most veteran of players on the Broncos.

  • Roy

    I am really glad that Wiegmann has decided to return. It is my opinion that his mentoring is one of the reasons that the o-line was able to gel so well this season. We have a really good crop of young players and quality backups, Lichtensteiger being one of them. He was played guard in college though, and I think it is more likely they will keep him for depth and groom him to take a guard spot if Hamilton can’t stay healthy, with center being secondary duty. This looks to be a decent draft for centers in that there are a lot of players that could be taken in the mid and late rounds that could be very good after a couple of years learning the NFL game. I would not be surprised at all to see on taken as early as rd4.

  • Jordan C

    Ver glad to hear that he’s staying. However, the Broncos do need to draft another o-lineman in the mid rounds. It’s not good to have Kory as the only primary backup for all three interior line positions.

  • Roy

    Jordan, Kory is not the only backup for the interior linemen. There is also Mitch Erickson, and Pat Murray, with Hamilton also the backup center. I believe that they have also had Eric Pears play on the interior before too. That said, I agree that the depth is not exactly what someone would call overwhelming.

  • http://www.ihatenatewebster.com Broncoireland

    great news for the broncos- not because we now dont have to draft a center but because we had one of the best if not the best center in all of football last season- the display against jenkins in new york was amazing, giving away 70 pounds and handling him 1 on 1 many times- he has a mean streak and i think under his leader ship the run blocking will be up to the level of the pass blocking from last season- best free agent pick-up i can remember for years

  • http://broncotalk.net Ian Henson

    Good point Ireland! That was a heroic display of blocking…

  • kerry

    Kory Lichyensteiger was picked in the fourth round because he has a nasty streak (in a good way) and is a very capable center. so we DONT need to use a draft pick on ANY O-line position. lets not forget Tyler Polumbus (although an OT) is agile enough to play the interior. having Casey back is great. he can mentor Lichty for another year.

  • http://birty.blogspot.com mikebirty

    having casey back is good. There’s already been far too much change for my liking and the season hasn’t even finished yet.

    like everyone’s said o-line is not really a priority but it wouldn’t surprise me if one or two line men aren’t picked up on the cheap in free agency. Purely for depth though. K-lich is good but the roster still feels a bit light. Maybe one back up tackle and one guard would be nice.

  • http://BroncoTalk.net Mr.East

    Exactly kerry. Lichensteiger has the potential to be a pretty beast center in the future, no need to waste a draft pick without seeing what he’s made of.

  • kerry

    Mr east:

    yeah exactly. O-line is set, QB is set, WR is set. there shouldnt be a single pick on the offense except runningback. O-line depth can come through free agent rookies after the draft and other free agents. this draft has to be huge with Defensive picks. NOT offensive. everybody is so worried about depth when the whole O-line started every game last year and proved to be durable. even Chris Kuper played the final 2 games with a busted hand.

  • http://BroncoTalk.net Mr.East

    Kerry:

    You’re definitely right about the toughness of the o-line.

    Also I agree with the only posisiton that should be offensively drafted is running back. If it comes down to Rey Mauluaga or Knowshown Moreno for the 12th pick, and Raji is off the board, I’d take Knowshown over Rey Rey any day day.

    Don’t mistake me for saying Rey Mauluaga is a bad player, he’s just not a 12th overall pick, he’s low first round or high second.

  • kerry

    Mr East:

    yes absolutely id take Moreno over Maualuga ANY day of the week. Maualuga is WAY overrated. he played a decent Rose Bowl game and now everybody thinks he could be the next coming of Al Wilson. just like after the Rose Bowl last year everybody saw Rashard Mendenhall play and everybody screamed we had to have him because he was the second coming of Terrell Davis. too much focus on the Rose Bowl game. but here is a little tidbit i found on walterfootball.com about Raji. now the Packers are switching to the 3-4 so logic would dictate that a massive NT be drafted. but it has been said that the Packers are moving Ryan Pickett to NT. so perhaps Raji will slip past the Packers and fall into our hands. i would love that along with the drafting of Ron Brace in the second round. both those guys would put BEEF on the D-line. they would command alot of attention freeing up our speedy LB’s to get to the QB.

  • http://BroncoTalk.net Mr.East

    Yeah Kerry, Walter Football is an awesome site. If you check the NFL Draft Mailbag for 2/3 I’m the email talking about Raji going to Green Bay and Denver taking Brace in the second round.

    You’re right about the performances in the Rose Bowl, they are way over hyped. I’m so glad Denver didn’t take Rashard Mendhall.

  • Roy

    After looking at the walterfootball.com (that site is AWESOME) list of free agent linemen, and the highest rated unrestricted free agent is…drum roll please…… COOPER CARLISLE. We currently have 9 picks, and McD knows the value of the o-line. If there is a good value pick, I would not be surprised to see a late round flier on the o-line.

    I still think we will give RB a look in free agency. There are a bunch of guys that can catch passes out of the backfield, so I am sure they are thinking about that. Another position likely to be addressed in FA is LB. That would free up the first pick to be used on the best available player, or trade down.

  • Roy

    *with Carlisle I was only looking at guards. There are some choices at tackle if that is where they choose to look during free agency, but the overall quality in the free agent market for o-linemen this year is pretty poor. Especially when you consider that the good ones are probably going to be resigned by their respective teams.

  • MikeY55

    i’d rather see us trade down and take cushings or laurinitais at linebacker then maulauga… maulauge reminds me of a younger faster nate webster with his over pursuiting and he will get a big hit though… cushings i know played OLB but he is viewd as an inside linebacker in a 3-4 by some experts i heard so we could move down pick up cushings put him in the middle with dj in the second take ron brace and tyson jackson (d end from lsu i’m thinking of because they say he will be in the second and is a 3-4 d end) we pick up the extra second by trading down

  • Richard

    MikeY55- you certainly have the right idea about moving down, but I would suggest Ziggy Hood from Missou instead of Jackson from LSU. Should we pick up Canty from Dallas, we now have our 3-4 Dline with 2 rooks and a 4 year starter. The backups would then be our leftover Dlinemen specifically; Powell, McBean, Thomas, Askew,Crowder etc. There may even be room for later round development guys like Alex Magee from Purdue and/or Veikune from Hawaii.