Denver Broncos blog, news and rumors


FB

[hype it up!]
[Share with Yardbarker]

Published on 12/09/2008 at Tue Dec 09 16:46.
Tagged: ,,,.



Hey D.J… Do You Mind?

Posted Tue Dec 9th by

D.J. Williams

Hey, D.J.!  Yeah, you, D.J. Williams.  How’s it going, pal.  How’s life treating you?  Finally getting healthy, you say?  Getting ready to get back onto the field, you say?  Well, that’s just great.

There’s just one problem. This bad ass mutha f-er right here.  He needs to be on the field at all times, whenever the other team has the ball.

And, you see… he plays weak side linebacker too.

So, we know you’ve been versatile and a huge asset for this club over the years.  And I know we promised to leave you at weak side and let you flourish.

(Nervous laughter)

Feel like playing middle linebacker again?

No, we’re not Wally Pipping you.  We’re asking you to do this for the team.  Again.

Please?

  • John616

    To be honest, I’ve never seen DJ make as many plays as Woodyard has. I say, Woodyard stays put…DJ better find a new position. As long as we’re talking about LB, I heard rumor that Webster was on the field against the Chefs. Any truth to that? I sure as hell couldn’t tell by watching the game.

    Ok, call me crazy, but the only change I would make to this Defense (excluding DL) is….get this….put Champ Bailey at FS. I think Champ playing centerfield with his ball and tackling skills would be a perfect fit, he certainly has the speed to do it and it would put him in position to make many more big plays than at CB.

  • Matt

    ummm…no. leave DJ alone, and move WW to strong side. done.

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    From strong to weak side:

    Winborn – Williams – Woodyard >> Woodyard – Webster – Williams

  • Kawike

    Webster was playing sunday, looking fairly lost as usual.

  • socal den fan

    lets leave webster on the bench and have woody williams and winborn play.Don’t fix it if its not broken!!!

  • http://merlinofchaos.livejournal.com E. Halsey Miles

    Poor DJ.

    For those of you who haven’t seen DJ Williams make a lot of plays, I want to point out that he is currently the tackles leader on the team, despite having missed the last 4 games.

    DJ is a total stud. He makes plays. We want him on the field. We also want Woodyard on the field. I don’t know the answer to that.

    Maybe Kyle is right, though I fear going back to the middle is bad for DJ. the guy needs to be able to play at just one position for awhile. And strong side is NOT it. The fact is, his strength is to be out in space and that’s the weak side. unfortunately, the same is true of Woodyard.

  • MikeY55

    guys honestly woodyard plays with great intensity but…. he is no where near as fast as DJ no where near as tough as DJ no where near as a good of a tackler as DJ no where near as good as DJ… sorry i know all you guys have a huge man crush on him and don’t get me wrong i like him but there aren’t many flaws in DJ’s game when he hits a running back he goes down backwards alot he is tough solid tackler not many broken tackles… woodyard u see him running out there and your always nervous hes not gonna make that tacklee DJ will stay and forever should stay at Weak side linebacker

  • Marv

    yo when champ bailey coming back

  • (stuck in) raiderland

    E. Halsey has got it right: “DJ is a total stud.” I think the best move would be to try to shift Woodyard to strong side. Woodyard is young enough to make the adjustment (hopefully). We’re fairly sure D.J. isn’t going to make the adjustment, having tried that and failed, so let’s see if Woodyard can.

  • dee

    There must be a way to keep them both on the field at the same time, I believe in the 3-4 defence personally…. but moving Woodyard to strong side is another option…. DJ should not be written off due to injury he is a leader on this defence

  • T-Money

    I have the solution…. 4 linebackers. It’s called a 4-4 defense with man coverage. Get rid of the Cover 2 because we suck at it and we always run it on 2nd down.

  • T-Money

    That also allows a 2 cover blitz package.

  • Anthony33

    DJ is too good not to return to weakside. Why not try Woodyard in the middle, he seems to have the right mentality for it. I like Willams>Woodyard> Winborn. Maybe next year.

  • scotto

    what about winborn at MLB with dj and woodyard on the outside? hasn’t winborn filled in at MLB before?

  • Riverscanbl&wme

    I agree with you 100% about playing Champ at safety. I have been saying this for a while and people say I am crazy. With the soft zone bullcrap defense we play most of the time we need a playmaking saftey. Champ loves reading the quarterback and is the best tackler on our team. I also think that when Champ is at corner he gives the opposing quarterback less to think about. They know they are going at Dre or to the tight end. With Champ roaming around being moved like the Steelers do Polomalu you would never know where he was going to be. It worked for Woodson (Rod) when he moved there from corner and he won a superbowl with Baltimore.

  • merc22

    DJ-Weak WIN-MLB Woody-SLB

    awesome for this year, and get that kid from USC *drool*

  • BH

    DJ is one of the best LBs in the NFL. If he played for the Giants or Dallas, he would be a household name. He won’t play SSLB, and I think that he is most comfortable at WLB. MLB would put too many miles on him too quickly in my opinion. Woodyard was considered too small to play LB in the NFL, much less MLB. I believe his future will be SSLB replacing Boss Bailey. I wonder if Boss is coming back and if he does, he might be best as a role player on passing downs. Still, Woodward doesn’t have ideal size for SSLB. Really, the Broncos have two WLBs to figure out what to do with. But if Boss can play SSLB, I guess Woodyard can too. Winborne stays as a valuable reserve. We either draft or sign a real MLB this year. I wish they would go after an ideal SSLB as well. I am not optimistic that Boss will ever be a factor with his injury issues.

    All of the LB shortcomings and dilemmas aside, we could get away with our mostly undersized below average to excellent collection of LBs (DJ of course has ideal size and speed) if we significantly upgraded our d-line. I am thinking we go two directions. Either go after Haynesworth or after Peppers. With JC at QB free agents should know that if they come to Denver they will be playing for a winner. How about getting Peppers and Bertrand Berry in the offseason? Peppers would be a heckuva upgrade over Engelberger. Draft a DT and MLB. Tough, but Shanahan can do it. At least get the DT and shoot for the MLB the following year. Again, we can get by with mediocre linebackers with a better defensive line.

    I know that they will never move Bailey to safety, but it is a fun idea to play with, and I am a big fan of the Tampa 2. I think he would be in a position to get more picks as a coverage safety and also spread the impact of his talent over more of the field. They practically play him as a safety anyway half the time. Why not draft cover 2 corners (KC seems to have gotten two very good ones this year) which seems very feasible and put Bailey back in coverage.

    Offseason stuff, fun to talk about. Going to interesting see what they do with DJ. I always enjoy the website.

  • Michael

    When it comes to USC LBs I’d rather have Cushing in the 2rd or 3rd round then take Maualuga in the 1st. Then we could use our 1st on Mays or Moore at safety.

  • MikeY55

    BH- totally right about putting woodyard in the middle… if you really watch a broncos game and u see when a tight end or a blocker gets on woodyard he kinda gets shoved around a lil hes best on the outisde where he has a chance to avoid the blocks better if we put him in the middle it would be absolutly useless a guard would get on him and pancake him 3 out of 5 plays… and i think Boss bailey was a huge loss to injury..when he was playing he was a beast running around everywhere if he rehabs well he mans the strong side spot next year easily…
    (stuck in) raiderland- DJ did succeed at strong side linebacker the only reason he was over there for so long was cause we had big AL in the middle and we had ian gold who by far was way to small and crappy to play strong side.. DJ’s entire early career has suffered due to putting lesser skilled players in his position and he has done nothing but role with it a complete team player

  • broncoNM

    I say try WW at MLB. See what happens.
    DJ-WW-Win OR DJ-Larsen-WW
    Woodyard has good intensity for MLB. There is a good possibilty that it worksout. I think DJ should stay put. But i agree Woodyard needs to be on the field. Sounds like it is getting too crowded for Boss. I wouldnt be surprised if he was gone next year. I am excited having DJ and WW on the field at the same time. DJ could teach WW a thing or two and that could be a pretty sick duo. We need to draft a Safety in the 1st round and this D could be stout quick. I still say we snag moore in the first round and see if we can find another safety in FA. Both our safties need to go next year.

  • Bucky

    I think you all are missing a totally legit option for Woodyard, I think he would be a tremendous Strong Safety, of the Bob Sanders/Steve Atwater Mold. He is right between the two of them as far as size is concerned, and i have seen him hit every bit as hard as either of them, he is a ball hawking kind of player that is fast enough to run in coverage and strong enough to put a serious stuff on the run game when he comes up for run support. that’s exactly what took us from an 8-8 team with the 27th (out of 28) ranked D against the run in ’89 to a Superbowl appearance the very next year with the 7th Ranked D against the run, it was a bawl hawking run stuffing safety(Atwater). That is where Woodyard belongs, I have thought this from the get go, from the very first time i watched him in Preseason play.

    Then we put (from Will to Sam) Williams, Larson (where did the love go for this guy?), Winborn(only if we cant upgrade on that Sam side).

    That frees us up to either move Champ over (this wont happen, I like the idea but it’s highly unlikely), develop barrett at FS, or pick up a good one in the Draft, but if we can develop barrett then we can use that first days picks on a serious DT and or DE, and maybe even a true premier RB.

    Maybe I am off my rocker, but i really think that is the way to go for our D, when you look at the boys that way, we really dont seem so far away from a truly solid, young, TOP 10, D in the NFL

  • jcampb72

    yea…since we play a single high safety cover 1 on 1st and 2nd down to stop the run why don’t we just put woodyard in the strong safety position. Sure shanny will figure something out.

  • jcampb72

    Woodyard is a better tackler than Manuel and can’t be that much worse in coverage, but we really got to watch the play action on 1st and 2nd, especially vs Carolina with Steve Smith and their outstanding run attack.

  • T-Money

    I have to say that I’m on the fence with the Champ move. There is a good advantage to moving him to safety, because the more i thought about it the more i liked the idea of him “cherry picking” so to speak. The problem that i have with it is that, that we would have to run a lot of deep zone or 1/3s (champ would get in between the hasmarks and the corners get there side) which we suck at. We run this on 3rd and long all the time… It opens the screen and the dump off slants which he is SO GOOD at defending as a corner. I go back and forth but I still like him as a corner. It think he does more in the corner position then he would as a safety.

    I think a move like Jack Williams to safety (after he matures a little bit) would be a great move. If you watched his picks in pre-season both came when he was playing Zone safety. I wouldn’t be opposed to dropping a 2nd or 3rd round pick on a safety either.

  • jchase8410

    DJ Williams is probably in the top 5 will backers in the NFL. He rarely misses a tackle, and rarely allows any yards after contact.
    Does Slowik read this website? There are a bunch of crazy ideas that just might work. I LOVE the idea of putting Woodyard at SS! Our safeties now can’t tackle for sh!t, and they aren’t much better in coverage. I am not a fan of moving Champ to FS, however. Keep him at corner…I would much rather see Jack Williams at FS, with woodyard at SS. Keep DJ at will, Larson at mike, Winborn at sam. That’s a defensive backfield that looks pretty good on paper (for next year)

  • robtink242

    hey we have to trade boss in the offseason.woodyard’s a LB!!! damit let him play LB!!!. everyone knows the M&M saftey twins are out. I feel good about Barret playing Strong saftey along drafting one or free agency.

    My final say is from weak – to – strong:

    DJ(WWsome reps)—- Larson(some reps)—-WIn(only for the rest of the season)

  • Barto51

    DJ Williams has to stay in the Defensive lineup, you would be crazy not to have him out on the field. Assuming he’s healthy. Once DJ comes back I say our LB corp should go: Woodyard@Strong, Larson@Middle and DJ@Weak. This would give us the fastest most consistent tackling group of LBs.

  • Broncoireland

    Some of the suggestions on here are just plain ridiclious, Woodyard has to stay on the field- most of us agree on that, barrett is the new and will be the SS for years to come if his performances the past 2 games are anything to go by. Woodyard weighs about 220 max, he would get destroyed at mlb as some suggested- he has to stay as wlb and dj to mlb- he’s 242 and if he’s the leader of the defence, thats where the leader plays(the qb of the defence). He is very talented and i believe would be a top 5 player at mlb in the league in a 4-3- look at Jon Beason- practically a carbon cutout of dj, outa miami, talented skill set, outside linebacker moved to the middle- defensive leader of a very good defence and hearlded league wide. Winborn at Sam, DJ at Mike and Woodyard at WILL- ANYONE AGREE?

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    You and I share a brain, ireland.

    I think Winborn is better than anyone else at Sam.
    I think Woodyard is almost as good as DJ at Will (or could be, let me put it that way).
    I think Williams is better at Will for certain, but a better mike than anyone we’ve got.

    I’m waiting for J.D. to weigh in on the subject.

  • adam

    Think McCree is going to start this week?

  • BronxNY

    Finally, a bronco site where people know what they are talking about! I’m torn on this return of DJ bit, so not sure of my vote here, but love the dialogue. I’m surrounded by Jets and Giants #$*holes out here in NY, and most of the bloggers I have read on the broncos are retarded, high school kids spitballing each other.

    Kudos to the Champ at Safety idea, very interesting and he could be polumalu like, although a little less ferocious on run-support I think – everybody likes Champ’s tackling – FOR A CORNER, but he is no polumalu head on, hitting high. Champ is all about angles and pursuit, but put LJ or smash coming off tackle into the second level, I don’t think he turn’s em back like troy. While he has the best instincts on the field, Champ is all about hp turn and speed = corner. I go back to what somebody else was saying about Woodyard on the field as a safety – I think he can definitely cover TE off the the snap and give badass run support; I just wonder if he is rangy enough for cover 2 etc.

    Two criticisms I want to submit to this group, how do we get any pressure on anybody?!?! A separate controversial question – why doesn’t Bmarsh just run over ppl like his first touchdown last week? All the dipping and diving, its exciting on the 15 yard square or stops, but it’s kind of embarrassing for a guy that big, particularly on the stupid bubble screens that we insist on running and waiting to get fumbled/picked off/thrown for a loss. It is also, in my opinion, why the guy fumbles.