Marcus Thigpen, seen here running for the Indiana Hoosiers in 2008, joins the Broncos as an undrafted rookie. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

The Denver Broncos‘ front office has continued to tweak the roster since the team’s exhibition debut Friday, most recently releasing defensive lineman Rulon Davis, Head Coach Josh McDaniels said after practice Monday morning. In the past 48 hours, the team has also signed running back Marcus Thigpen and executed a trade for defensive end Le Kevin Smith. Guard Pat Murray was released to make room on the roster.

Thigpen’s addition comes in the wake of Correll Buckhalter expectied to miss time with an injury. An undrafted rookie out of Indiana, Thigpen is a versatile speedster who, in 2008, was named Indiana’s offensive player of the year, elected a team captain, and tallied 1,719 all-purpose yards (631 rushing, 853 return, 235 receiving). Check out his Hoosiers profile for more.

Davis has my admiration and gratitude, being a former Marine, but as fans we have to separate those intangibles and evaluate them purely based on their football mettle. The additions of Thigpen and Smith aren’t going to send tremors through the NFL, but the Broncos brass evaluated their depth and made the moves.  UPDATE: The Broncos made the moves official Monday. Press release after the jump.

BRONCOS ANNOUNCE SEVERAL TRANSACTIONS

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Denver Broncos on Monday acquired defensive lineman Le Kevin Smith from the New England Patriots in a trade that included undisclosed draft choices, it was announced.

The club also on Monday signed free-agent running back Marcus Thigpen and waived defensive lineman Rulon Davis along with guard Pat Murray.

Smith (6-foot-3, 308 pounds) is a fourth-year player who spent his first three NFL seasons with the Patriots, who selected him in the sixth round (206th overall) of the 2006 NFL Draft from the University of Nebraska. He has played 31 career games (0 starts), totaling 25 tackles (12 solo) and one fumble recovery.

In 2008, Smith appeared in 15 games for New England and posted a career-best 21 tackles (10 solo) and one fumble recovery.

The defensive lineman played 49 career games (35 starts) at Nebraska, where he registered the seventh-most tackles for a loss (36) in school history. He posted at least 40 tackles in all four seasons with the Cornhuskers.

Honored as Georgia Player of the Year by USA Today at Stratford Academy in Macon, Ga., Smith was born on July 21, 1982.

Thigpen (5-foot-9, 193 pounds) is a rookie running back who joins the Broncos after he was waived by Philadelphia on Aug. 4. He entered the NFL with the Eagles on May 1 as a college free agent from the University of Indiana.

In four seasons with the Hoosiers, Thigpen became the first player in school history with more than 1,000 career rushing yards (1,621), receiving yards (1,028) and kickoff return yards (2,009). His 2,009 career kickoff return yards (81 ret., 24.9 avg., 3 TDs) ranked second in school history and fifth in Big Ten Conference annals.

He finished his career at Indiana with 4,658 all-purpose yards and 21 touchdowns, totals that ranked third and tied for eighth, respectively, in school history. As a rusher, Thigpen averaged 4.8 yards per carry (337-1,621) and had nine rushing scores.

Named a first-team All-American by ESPN.com at Indiana in 2006 after leading the nation in kickoff return average (30.1 yds., 24-723, 3 TDs), Thigpen attended Mumford High School in Detroit. He was born on May 15, 1986.

It’s about this time each year, that I find a few players buried deep in Denver’s roster that I begin championing to friends and family. Over the year’s only a couple have risen to the starting line up while most turn out to be duds — and are quietly sent packing. However, as a fan of the Broncos I feel like pulling for the underdog is as natural as expecting ole #7 to pull out a win in a late 4th quarter game on ESPN Classics. So I’m proud to have promoted the ‘Free Thump Belton Movement‘ and cheer for characters like Kevin Kasper and Nate Jackson. They might have been deep on the depth chart and no one might own their jerseys, but they’re also Denver Broncos. And as a die-hard fan, I want to support the ‘little guys’ as well as the marquee players!

Here’s a look at some of my choices from the last few years:

1999-2000 – 6th round pick, TE Desmond Clark

2001 – 6th round pick, WR Kevin Kasper

2002-03 – FB Reuben Droughns and Safety Sam Brandon

2003-04 – WR/TE Nate Jackson and RB/FB Cecil Sapp

2005 – QB Bradlee Van Pelt and CB Darrent Williams

2006 – WR David Kircus, RB Mike Bell and Safety Hamza Abdullah

2007 – RB Andre Hall and Safety Roderick Rogers

Last year, I picked Special Teamer Jamie Winborn which helped our team out quite a bit last year. I also was a big early supporter of Peyton Hillis (as my boss is a HUGE hogs fan and I had seen some tape on him). Lastly, and with a disclaimer that a 2nd rounder shouldn’t be considered lesser-known, I expressed my fandom for undersized Eddie Royal.

So, on to this year!

First up is Chris Baker. I’m partial to undrafted guys and good sports (anyone that’s attempted a dance-off with Miles has to be a pretty good sport). I’m pulling for Baker as a developing talent and I’m looking forward to seeing him play this preseason. I actually have three D-linemen I’m personally cheering for this preseason. Rookies Chris Baker and Rulon Davis and another D-lineman I adopted as a fav last year after seeing him play in the 2008 preseason — Nic Clemons. Nic and Rulon are almost back from their camp injuries, so I’m looking forward to seeing both of them contribute in these early games as well.

On offense, I like WR Kenny McKinley. As a fifth rounder he might not be Crabtree, but he’s shown some good things in camp so far and I can’t wait to see him in game-type situations this weekend. I also like G Seth Olsen. He just seems like a good guy and I’m a sucker for mid-western O-linemen.

These are my picks to pull for this preseason… What players on the bubble or deep on the depth chart are you watching? After the starters get pulled from these early preseason games, which 2nd, 3rd and 4th stringers are you most interested in?

Always good to see #24 back out on the field.

Denver Broncos training camp… news and notes from the 8/1 practice.

Attendance

Brandon Marshall returned to the field, looking sharp. Still no rookies, but the three players who missed Day 1 on the PUP list, Champ Bailey, Renaldo Hill, and Marcus Thomas finally took the field, while Jarvis Moss and Vernon Fox missed the day’s session (the latter due to injury, the former due to idiocy). Nic Clemons was carted off the field near the end of practice after he suffered a left knee injury. Tim Crowder had a close call after a helmet-to-helmet hit with Peyton Hillis. The DE/OLB lay face-down on grass for a solid two minutes before getting up and rubbing his neck. Luckily he finished practice without another issue, participating in the contract drills to boot.

Practice was very physical today, even moreso than yesterday, with full contact drills followed by intense 11-on-11 team skirmishes. What’s more, the session went long again, finishing a full 30 minutes after the scheduled time. They ran two-minute and field goal drills to end practice, and points were hard to come by. Full offense/defense scouting report after the jump.

Offense

Brandon Marshall also returned to practice today (Josh Temple/BroncoTalk).

The offenses went through formations to start practice. I found it very interesting that, just as the session timed out, the Broncos threw in a little Wildcat, with Chris Simms lining up wide. The session ended just before they ran this play, so I didn’t see who received the snap, but it was a glimpse at some of the creative offenses McDaniels will employ.

Running backs ran pass drills; I saw Hillis and Ryan Torain both make beautiful, over-the-shoulder catches in the corner of the endzone. Hillis later showed his power by nearly knocking Crowder out of the practice in one-on-one tackle drills. One of Crowder’s teammates got revenge shortly thereafter.

In DB coverage drills, several of our wideouts showed that they simply cannot be covered one-on-one. Eddie Royal made a nice sideline tiptoe catch, burning the likes of Andre Goodman with a nice stutter-step. Later, Marshall had another impressive show-off play, making a one-armed (left armed) grab in somewhat tight coverage over D.J. Johnson, then took it to another gear to the endzone. The guy is a freak of nature.

Later, Jabar Gaffney beat rookie Darcel McBath cleanly and was also heading to the end zone. The rookie didn’t quit though; right as Gaffney was crossing the touchdown marker, McBath caught up to the veteran and hit the ball out of his hand. I was right there, but it was so close I couldn’t honestly make a call either way. Send that one to the Replay Booth.

The starting offensive line is the same from last year. They all look great; the right side may even be edging out the left in the run blocking department. Today’s second team, from left to right, is Polumbus, McChesney, Lichtensteiger, Olsen, and Gorin. The third team is Oldenburg, Erickson, Schleuter, Murray and Bryant. Some of the offensive linemen helped the DL with their pass rushing drills; Lichtensteiger showed some quick footwork and Clady continued to dominate anyone who crossed his path, but check the defense section of this report for more details on those drills.

Finally, team drills. The 11-on-11′s took place on the far field from the media (closer to the fans), so apologies for not being able to see everything as well. The offense made a few plays, but overall they looked particularly bad, especially at the quarterback situation. McDaniels said he was not worried about the deep ball (Kyle Orton threw too long bomb interceptions); well, I am. Somewhat. A long ball in practice is a long ball in practice, but I still want to see better execution and decision-making from our signal caller.

Speaking of calling signals: a botched snap between Schleuter and rookie QB Tom Brandstater led to the duo doing their walk of shame. Laps around the practice field.

Defense

A young fan welcome Brian Dawkins to Denver Saturday at training camp. Attendance for the afternoon practice was even higher than Friday's opener. (Josh Temple/BroncoTalk)

Between full team drills, one-on-one tackling and coverage exercises and a pyramid of individual drills, the defense got worked today. At one point the linebackers and defensive linemen were split into three squads, running hurdles, loose ball, and dummy drills and rotating briskly at the sound of the whistle. They’re getting these puppies in shape.

The tackling drills were fascinating to watch. Linebackers were assigned to tackle running backs and tight ends in space, with full, slam-to-the-grass contact permitted. It started with a resounding victory for the offense, as Daniel Graham simply leveled ILB Andra Davis, putting him to the floor. After Crowder went down, D.J. Williams whiffed completely on a tackle and the defense was starting to look suspect. That’s when Elvis Dumervil put a number on the very guy who hit Crowder, Peyton Hillis. The defense seemed to pick it up thereafter, but it’s surpising to see the littlest guy make the biggest impact. As they say, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight…

The coverage drills were equally fascinating. Josh Bell had textbook coverage on Brandon Lloyd, breaking up what would have been a touchdown. I mentioned the DBs getting beat by the likes of Marshall, Royal and Gaffney, but the defense also made some plays. Champ Bailey did his thing – no one got past him, although one undrafted rookie did actually catch a ball in front of him. David Bruton looks good in coverage; he’s been outshined by McBath a bit so it was good to see him looking solid in one-on-ones.

The d-linemen had their physical, individual drills as well, lining up against a row of three offensive linemen, one at a time, with the goal to reach the quarterback before the whistle. Pass rushing drills. Linebackers joined in the fun. None of the DL blew me away during this drill, but the most consistent and most impressive guy was Kenny Peterson. He put every offensive lineman on roller skates and even knocked down one of his opposing linemen. I liked what I saw from OLB Darrell Reid – the kid has POWER, when he lowered his shoulders and engaged his blocker, you heard the pads smack every single time. Not a ton of speed there, though. Nic Clemons, who would later get carted off the field, struggled in this drill, while Ryan McBean looked sloppy. Carlton Powell had probably the single most dominating run of this drill, completely destroying rookie C Schleuter. Nice to see Powell finally out there, taking names. Rulon Davis has also looked good if not great in every practice. He was consistently close in this drill. I’m starting to pull for this kid.

I also want to point out something about Ronald Fields – this guy is being groomed to be the starter, whether he likes it or not. The coaches can say “every position is up for grabs” all they want, but the truth of the matter is that Fields is the guy, and the coaches know it. Every time he lines up for a drill, every time he faces an opponent, every time he hits a dummy bag, the coaches talk to him about what he did right and did wrong, sometimes for several minutes. No one else is getting this sort of individual attention.

With the offense looking horrible on the 11-on-11 drills, chalk that up for a victory to the defense. Again, I wasn’t in sight of a lot of it, but I will say that the secondary looks good. Brian Dawkins might be the fastest guy out there; he certainly doesn’t look 36 years old. The secondary had a couple of interceptions on team drills and broke up several passes, including several breakups against The Beast himself, Brandon Marshall (both times with double coverage). CB Tony Jones had an interception that would have gone back for a touchdown.

The second-team defense got called out for too few men in the huddle: laps around the field, with the coach even

Special Teams

Matt Prater was right about 70-80% for the day, both in team drills and individual work. He missed his first two team drill kicks – both from decent distances – before making the rest (I think). He did hit a nice one from beyond 60 yards in individual work.

Royal had a punt return for a touchdown (after a very bad punt).

Two-a-days tomorrow, with a short afternoon practice (moved to 4:45 pm – special teams?). See you out there!