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Published on 11/17/2010 at Wed Nov 17 14:00.
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How do Broncos handle Ayers’ return?

Posted Wed Nov 17th by

Robert Ayers #56 and Jason Hunter #52 of the Denver Broncos celebrate after a defensive stop against the Tennessee Titans at LP Field on October 3, 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee. Denver won 26-20. (Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

Ayers and Hunter were the Broncos' starting outside linebackers before Ayers was hurt in Week 5. (Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

Starting Denver Broncos outside linebacker Robert Ayers on Wednesday practiced for the first time since suffering a broken foot in Week 5 against Baltimore.

The news comes a week after the shuffled linebackers corps consisting of Mario Haggan, D.J. Williams, Joe Mays, and Jason Hunter finally seemed to get it right. Mays, although penalized twice, showed impressive intensity inside, while Haggan had a career-high three sacks from the outside linebacker position.

So now the Broncos are faced with a choice: will they start Ayers again, benching Mays and moving Haggan back inside? Do they keep things as they were last week, letting Ayers contribute in a backup role? Or do they play with the arrangement?

The old saying in sports, “You can’t lose your starting job due to injury,” is nice in theory, but has never really been practical in the NFL. Ayers played well at times, contributing 1.5 sacks in his five games, but (in our opinion) he wasn’t dominant.

That being said, should one decent game from the backups be enough to usurp Ayers’ position, either?

It’s likely the Broncos will experiment with their lineup throughout practice this week, and there’s no sense in expecting an announcement of a starting quartet since Josh McDaniels comes from the Bill Belichick school of keeping one’s cards close to one’s chest. The Broncos’ starting linebackers likely won’t be known until the defense lines up for the San Diego Chargers‘ first offensive series Monday night.

One linebacker no longer part of the equation, however, is Jarvis Moss. Ayers’ return directly contributed to the Broncos’ decision to waive Jarvis Moss Wednesday after four mediocre seasons with the club.

It’s hard to bench any one of Mays, Haggan, or Hunter (who has 3 sacks on the year and recovered a fumble for a touchdown Sunday) at this point. Our guess is, if he’s fully healthy, Ayers returns and Mays sits, but the Broncos probably have some experimenting to do.

If you’re the coach, who do you sit? We took to Twitter and got a lot of good feedback — be sure to check that out or give us your thoughts in the comments.

UPDATE: Twitter’s giving it to us good for undervaluing Ayers. More than one person has suggested Ayers has had as good a season as D.J. Williams, who we think might be Pro Bowl bound. Were we this off on Ayers?

  • http://broncoszone.blogspot.com/ Jon

    Wink has always used rotations with the linebackers when he coached them, and now he's been doing the same with the D-line this year as the DC. They'll probably just rotate for certain situations. I think they should keep Haggan outside though — he's a beast out there

  • AKfan

    Keep Haggan outside as long as it is working

  • Memo

    McCoach must start like last week because Ayers now isnt at the same level yet.

    Go Broncos !!

  • BroncoMan24

    I agree keep Haggan outside and Mays in the middle. What about taking hunter out and putting Ayers on that side? Just a thought. Yeah it was only one game, but if I was the decision maker here, I would at least try out the same formation we had against KC to see if we continued to have the same results. Maybe we were lucky or maybe we weren't. We wont know until we try again.

  • BroncoMan24

    Even though Haggan seems to be having a decent yr, when he was in the middle, it seemed like our rushd was horrible. I don't know if that was all directly because of him, but Mays seems like he could really help us in these situations.

  • vince_mairne

    I would leave Haggan and Hunter on the outside with Mays and Williams inside. I don't think Ayers is in “game shape” and shouldn't be rushed along espcially since these four guys are playing well. He is probably rusty and needs a couple good weeks of practice before he comes back to play full time.

    I def don't want to see another Andre Goodman experiement (see game against the 49ers). He was no where ready to come back and in the end it cost us the game. Go Broncos!!!

  • http://ehalseymiles.com E. Halsey Miles

    Sounds like most people are on the same page I am. Keep the current lineup and rotate Ayers in, primarily in place of Hunter, but letting Ayers move to either side based upon which of Hunter or Haggan could use a breather. You could also give either DJ or Mays a breather, move Haggan inside and have Ayers take his place on a couple of plays and probably not miss too many beats. You need to keep the defense relatively simple to move guys around that much, though.

    I do agree, Ayers may not have been dominant the way Dumervil was, but he was progressing nicely until he got hurt. It felt like Ayers was a Work In Progress that was proceeding at a slower pace than desired but a faster pace than, say, Moss who basically didn't. You could feel that Ayers had it and just had to find that right combination of comfort, knowledge and experience to get out there and be a solid OLB.

    He definitely deserves some playing time. I don't think I'd start him this week but I would definitely try to get him some decent field time.

  • Charlie

    keep mays in there….he is a BEAST

  • john616

    Totally agree. I've liked Hunter and Mays all along, happy to see them getting the playing time, and that was the best game Haggan has played, we may be onto something there with him on the outside. I wouldn't change a thing. Now you have the luxury of working Ayers back into the lineup slowly. Also agree that Ayers was starting to make some plays before he got hurt.

  • kerry

    trade Ayers for a 7th round TE.

  • Mergrath

    Put Ayers in rotation with Haggan and Hunter. Leave everything else as is inside…I really like Joe “The Lumber” Mays inside!!!

  • http://twitter.com/sodahawk kd

    something i do on madden is put ayers in as middle lb but this wont work in real life

  • anthony33

    I really liked what Haggen and Mays did last week. No reason to change that at this point. Ayers needs to rotate back in and see what transpires.

    We're going to need a great pass rush against SD and Haggen has been the only one able apply some serious heat. I would expect to see Haggen and Ayers on the outside and Willams and Mays on the inside at some point in the SD game. That would be an interesting combination.

  • crazykid

    that joke was only funny the first 3 times you used it…

  • MiKey55

    keep haggen on the outside and put him in the middle on passing downs with ayers and jason hunter on the outside or even put one of the two (hunter/ ayers) with there hand down and keep ayers out…. no matter what keep joe mays out on passing downs yes he laid a few hits on crossing wide receivers but he also had that PI and i see a player of his caliber getting taken advantage of pretty easily… plus ayers is pretty dominant against the run… obviously this week hes going to be more in a “role player” situation to test him out but when ayers is full strength he is a beast… i really think next season opposite a legit pass rush threat he will have his “best season” which everyone says sacks are the only thing that matters hahah :P

  • MiKey55

    only if hes a good run . because we get rid of all the ones that can catch

  • 5280

    It sound like everyone is looking, primarily at haggan, but what should be looked at is jpe mayes. That man is a straght BEAST and ive been saying that since i saw him in preseason. haggan is awsome outside, no dout. but they should have been staring mayes since week one. hes intense, hes a great tackler, and hes big enough to put up front with the big boys as an end. hes the reason why haggan and the others were able to do what they did, because mayes was all over the field. and he doesn't just tackle, he destroys people. ya he got dinged with a few flags, but thoughs flag were uneccessary roughness because of his hitting. to me those penalties are called way to much any way. think about this. did the steelers bench james harrison because of his helmet to helmet penalties?of course not. you want the most intence savage defence on the field at all times because thats what the offence fears the most. gettin nailed! shuffle any one of them you want but leave mayes in.

  • 5280

    i think anthonys got it right. williams and mayes inside, haggan and ayers on the outside. that way mayes can play to his intence advantages.

  • hankey

    I fuckin hate San Diego so much…..just thought i'd throw that in here

  • dat bronco boi

    haggan and ayers on the outside williams and mayes om the inside, mayes kind of remind me of patrick willis

  • mikebirty

    all this depth and competition at linebacker?!? i know where the first round pick is going this year ;)

  • Darbyday

    I like Ayers OK but don't go with him just because of name recognition. Keep Mays inside except on some passing downs maybe. I would keep the same defense on the field that plated against KC. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

  • Broncodude65

    It's possible DJ gets suspended, then that means Haggen goes back inside and Ayers takes over outside.

  • 12508

    The question is how long do we have to keep Brian Xanders around?

  • areferee

    Love the town, can't stand the QB!

  • areferee

    Yesterday works for me!

  • http://nation.theorangepage.com/blog Ian Henson

    The main thing being lost in this whole thing is that the Broncos will lose DJ Williams at some point likely…

  • MiKey55

    how in the world does joe mays remind you of patrick willis?

  • http://nation.theorangepage.com/blog Ian Henson

    The main thing being lost in this whole thing is that the Broncos will lose DJ Williams at some point likely…

  • MiKey55

    how in the world does joe mays remind you of patrick willis?