Daily Links: Fisher out in Tennessee

Fisher is an elite and stable force in the NFL that suffered what befalls all Head Coaches in sports. Eventually, they become too entrenched in their own situation and new blood must be infused to bring back the drive for excellence.

It happened to Shanahan. It happened to Fox. The proof of their excellence is the test of time. They have all passed. He will catch on elsewhere and breathe life into that organization, just as Fox is doing in Denver.

Should we have waited? No. Fox will do just as well and we got an earlier start with our assistant coaches and the Senior Bowl. As Elway discovered, when you find the right man, you make the move, “boldly…where no man has gone before”… but I digress.

Besides, the Bronco towels would have the same monogram in either case.

I don't get Woody's article. He states that half the roster will be gone. That's a lot of players to go. Then he goes position by position, and this is who he names as will/should be gone.

Moreno, LenDale White, Maroney, Orton, Quinn (I think).

He also wasn't definitive on Graham or Gronkowski but his comments suggest he thinks they should get another season.

He also says that Ryan Harris is supposably gone but that should be reconsidered. (FYI I agree).

And that's it for the offense. So, 5 offensive players gone, maybe 7.

On special teams he likes Prater and refers to The Younger Colquitt as adequate. I assume that means we keep Colquitt, but maybe we scratch him anyway because adequate isn't good enough. So let's call it 8.

On Defense:

DTs Vickerson, Fields and McBean are all gone. We're up to 11.

The entire linebacker core stays, he specifically says Joe Mays, Wesley Woodyard, Mario Haggan and DJ Williams all should be here next year (though for DJ it's a “One more year” thing). What happened to DJ anyway? He was so good as a rookie.

In the secondary, only Bailey and Dawkins survive the axe, assuming 'just OK' means Renaldo Hill goes. Perrish Cox probably goes. So I guess we count Hill, Goodman, Cox, Nate Jones, Bruton and McBath all gone. That gets us up to 17.

For those counting, we need 26 to get half of the regular season roster, but we also have to count everyone on IR as well. We're nowhere close.

Maybe I'm missing names, and he's silently saying that we cut a bunch of backups because they aren't even backup material? I certainly could add a bunch of backup O linemen to the list, because, man. Get away from our current starting lineup and things got ugly pretty fast. We already covered all the backups on the d-line, though, and I think all the linebackers got mentioned too. Maybe there's a backup DB whose name I missed.

I know, I just spent a lot of time trying to understand how Woody's actual facts had anything to do with his article, but I don't see how we're going to lose half of the team this offseason. I actually agree almost entirely with his analysis by player (tho I still hold out hope that DJ Williams can look within and recover. I think part of his problem is that the Broncos defense is a depressing place to work :)

But it sure seems more like a third than half. And I'm not sure we can cut all those DBs. Who's going to replace them. Free agency isn't going to be a giant pool of people who are actually better than Renaldo Hill and Andre Goodman and the ones who are will be in high demand because every team has someone they want to replace.

I was giving him the benefit of the doubt, assuming anyone he said much negative about was going, just to try and get his cut number as big as possible. A more nuanced analysis only has him cutting around 10 players.

Hm. This is way too interesting to be a comment. I should make a blog post and invite some commentary.

You could call it the “Miles High Report”

I think we will keep Bailey and like your picks. The d-line has a real chance to improve with Dumervile coming back and the possibility of a Fairley or Bowers added.

They need a stud to come in at LB and make an immediate impact.

If Bailey does indeed stay, Cox avoids jail and Peterson is the choice, then you have a deep corner position.

The safety position is the weakest link. Dawk, while a leader, is no longer effective on the field. McBath cannot stay healthy and Bruton has not shown much at all. A safety via free agency is needed.

Offense: Need a RB, a FB and more O-linemen for depth. And keep Harrris.

I think we will keep Bailey and like your picks. The d-line has a real chance to improve with Dumervile coming back and the possibility of a Fairley or Bowers added.

They need a stud to come in at LB and make an immediate impact.

If Bailey does indeed stay, Cox avoids jail and Peterson is the choice, then you have a deep corner position.

The safety position is the weakest link. Dawk, while a leader, is no longer effective on the field. McBath cannot stay healthy and Bruton has not shown much at all. A safety via free agency is needed.

Offense: Need a RB, a FB and more O-linemen for depth. And keep Harrris.