Denver Broncos 2009 Draft – Day Two Picks and Open Thread

DC ?!! You run out of KoolAid Bro?
What up?

jchase8410
We disagree a lot but You usually know your shit.

Actually I just checked out your website…
I’m a guitar player… For a youngster you have some seriously good taste! I’d like to see some older bands in your most excellent list of influences tho… How old are your kids?

stav
I like most of your analysis… To me it adds up to a D+ for the wasted picks. Anyone could get some good value with the number and quality of our picks! Why the drain on our future? Desperation.

A wise man said;

Bottom line, I give the Broncos a D- for the first day of this draft. In free agency the Broncos signed 3 defensive backs (Dawkins from the Eagles, Goodman & Hill from the Dolphins) for $47 million and 3 running backs (Buckhalter from the Eagles, Arrington from the Cardinals and Jordan from the Patriots) for $44 million. Naturally, the Broncos used 3 of their first 5 picks on these positions.

They also gave up a potential top 5 pick for next years draft (which I thought was going to be used for our future QB). The Cutler trade was tolerable due to their ability to try and replace him in next years draft. I thought they would give Orton a season to see if he was worthy of being our QB of the future and if we struggled we would use next years pick on either Mccoy out of Texas or Bradford from Oklahoma. That option is now gone

This draft has cost McDaniels his throw away year. If they don’t make the playoffs this season, which based off of their schedule and their transitioning to a new scheme then one of the youngest coaches in NFL history could also become the youngest fired head coach in NFL history.

terrible draft! our franchise is in decay. the Chiefs will soon be the class of AFC west.

We have to look at the overall offseason grade, free agency + the draft, its not about separating these two, its about how they mesh into the team:

Safety: Dawkins – older, but still has pro bowl ability – Renaldo Hill – older, but still an upgrade, easily a B to B+ combined. Now you add the draftees McBath (love it) and the hardhitting but flawed Bruton (should of gone DL) – undoubtedly an improved position for us. Atleast opposing receivers have something to fear now over the middle.

Cornerback – Champ is still top tier, and then we added Andre’ Goodman, slightly better than the cut Dre Blaaaah? Yes I’d say so. Add Alphonso Smith, who should challenge Goodman for playing time and who Peter King actually projected going in the first round (late 20’s). Improved position? Yes. another B I’d say.

Running Backs – We signed everyone available but it looks like Arrington will be focused on special teams and maybe to give a Knowshon a breather. Buckhalter, specifically a receiving back, but until the draft I thought we were a C in the backfield. After Moreno, a B maybe B+ because this guy can bash. 1,ooo+ yds? I think so. Just think, maybe when we get to 1st and goal from the 10 we can actually pound in six like a certain RB from our past used to.

Receivers – As long as Marshall doesn’t get suspended, which would be pretty fucked up by Goodell considering that they would have used a higher pick for a quality receiver in case of that, we’re fine, easily an A at receivers. And as for McKinley being drafted, Steve Spurrier said he’s the best receiver he’s ever coached. Can’t complain about having a 4.44 wr lining up in the spread every now and then even if he may be skinny and a little soft. Marshall, Royal, Gaffney, and Stokely as the 1-4 receivers? Any team will take that.

Defensive Line: C- and that’s with adding Ayers, D without. We need to see what he can do, someone compared him to a Justin Tuck type, I sure as hell hope so. Thomas needs a solid chance to play. I don’t know what they’ll do at NT for the 3-4, but they should make Thomas the 3-4 DE, I think he’ll thrive there with his size/strength. Too bad we couldn’t dump Moss. I think Elvis will be good at OLB in the 3-4. The rest? Eh. We’ll have to see.

LB – Easily a C. I thought we would have drafted two ILB’s to fit the scheme, but we did nothing. DJ’s a little thick so who knows how he’ll adjust, they need to keep him on the outside, he needs open space and will get lost as an ILB. Andra Davis, my buddy is a lifelong Browns fan, he says not to expect much but he had 90 tackles and didn’t start last year.

I’ll stop there because I think the main issue was DL/LB/QB which we really didn’t attack in the draft. Yes, we did improve from last year, but not in the spots that we essentially needed, but there is improvement. Let’s not even touch QB because replacing #6 wasn’t going to happen and we weren’t going to mortgage the 1st round to jump up for Sanchez. My only disappointment for this offseason is that three of our picks should have been: DL, DL, ILB, as in hit the QB and stop the run.

What do I think that makes us? An eight win team. If they can create any resemblance to a pass rush, 23 sacks last year was a joke especially since I think 5 or 6 came in one game, I’m not saying we need 50 sacks here, but they need to generate another 10 – 15 a game. I think 6 – 8 might be more realistic though and that could be the difference between 7, 8, or 9 wins. I think 10 wins is a stretch but no one here can be disappointed if we put up nine wins.

I can’t argue with that, but Sanchez was not the savior. I was against going up to get Sanchez as long as they’d go DL, DL, LB/DL with the first three picks and I’d feel a little more confident if the Bruton pick was DL.

We need to get over this, there was no replacing Cutler in this draft, or even next year. So they amped up the tools around Orton. Fine. They also just signed the talented but character suspect Chris Baker from Hampton, that’s our NT to try out as I read he’d fit into a 3-4 nicely, as long as he can match the NFL competition he’ll face.

Face it, if we gave up the #12 & #18 and moved up to grab Sanchez, today we’d be saying, now how the hell are we going to stop anyone? And no one can say that they were happy with the backfield situation going into this year.

“What happens this year will either be to their credit, or their responsibility.” Wow, no shit? So they’ll either suck and take the blame or be good and take the credit? Amazing theory there. Where did you come up with that golden nugget of wisdom? Give me a break and get off the fence. Bottom line is that the team is improved in some areas, are we sitting here complaining about improvement? Yes, we should have taken more DL’s, but we didn’t, so now we have a running game again, safeties who can hit and actually tackle, and maybe a surprise at NT. Let’s come back to this April 23rd, 2010 because we can’t make any assumptions until they put the pads on for 2009 and play the 16 games.

For the record, because that post annoyed me, this team is going to overachieve and go 9-7 in 2009, but not get into the playoffs.

I think we are overly critical of McDaniel’s moves because of the Cutler fiasco. Outside of that, he has been great. Much better than anything Shanahan would have done.

We didn’t address the DLine and I don’t understand why we didn’t take Brace when moving up in the 2nd, but outside of him I don’t believe there was anyone better than what we already have. That is the point McDaniel’s is making anyway. Certainly when Shanahan addressed our lack of a pass rush by moving up to take Moss that didn’t help us. You need players that can make a difference and I think we got those.

With that being said, if he isn’t able to groom Orton, Brandstater or some other QB, the Cutler fiasco will haunt us for a decade regardless of how well or how poorly we draft every other position. And if he isn’t here, we will really regret it.

This year I have 2 teams to root for: Denver. And whatever team is playing Chicago.

Whining and crying the whole day on every site, had we moved up to grab Sanchez it would have been the same, had we grabbed Orakpo and Ayers the site would have gone off on not getting someone else. Relax folks, this draft never would have fixed all our problems on the defense (look folks it is spelled with an “s”) and although I would not have drafted the way they did I also have not watched film, attended practice, or evaluated talent. We were horrible last year and that is why the big change over so calm down sit back and relax, we will not be worse than last year, our record might be around the same (brutal schedule) but I like adding value picks instead of injured projects or the next Maurice Clarett. I can’t wait until McDaniels actually gets to coach because that is where he will stand out, I am excited to see our offense and cannot wait.