Marshall and Bailey have mutual respect for each other as talented athletes. (AP Photo/Chris Schneider)

During the first four seasons of his career, Miami Dolphins wide receiver Brandon Marshall earned two Pro Bowl invitations while playing for the Denver Broncos.

While in Denver (2006-2009), Marshall matched up against Broncos ten-time Pro Bowl cornerback Champ Bailey in practice nearly every day.  “Probably a thousand times,” chuckled Bailey when asked how many times he lined up against Marshall in practice.

“The frustrating part is, I think I taught him a little bit.  He’s a great player, he’s grown up a lot and matured,” said Bailey on Friday afternoon.

On Sunday afternoon in South Florida, Bailey and Marshall will face off for the first time in a real game.

“I know what type of player he is and how much passion he plays with,” said Bailey.  “When you know a guy loves the game, you want to go against that guy.”

Bailey has matched up well against big-name receivers in seasons past, holding Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald and Kansas City’s Dwayne Bowe to a combined one catch for six yards in two games last season (12/5, 12/12).  Marshall on the other hand hasn’t fared particularly well against top tier cornerbacks in recent weeks, having his high and low moments last Monday when matched up against New York’s Darrell Revis.

Sunday’s game is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. (ET) and will be broadcast on CBS in ten States across the country.  Bailey and Marshall will be a match up to keep an eye on, as each player’s familiarity with each other will probably play a role in their performances.

Marshall is listed as “probable” to play Sunday on the Dolphins’ injury report.  I for one hope he does play, I’d love to see if Bailey can shut him down.

The Denver Broncos had a bye, so they couldn’t have possibly dropped further in the web’s power rankings, right? … Right? (Previous week’s ranking in parenthesis)

ESPN: 27th (27)
Tim Tebow will draw lots of eyeballs Sunday, but his receivers won’t include Brandon Lloyd.

Click here to read the rest of this entry »

• For the first time since the end of the NFL Lockout, the Denver Broncos had 100% of their roster healthy and participating in practice on Wednesday.  [Arnie Stapleton/AP]
  

  In three career games against the Dolphins, McCaffrey caught 14 passes for 208 yards and three touchdowns. (Image courtesy of Bill Frakes/Sports Illustrated)

• That means safety Brian Dawkins (neck) and wide receiver Demaryius Thomas (finger) were back at practice.  [MaxBroncos/PostBroncos]

• Meanwhile, former Broncos receiver Ed McCaffrey is predicting a “party in Miami,” saying it should be a big win for Denver.  [CBS4]

• Hopefully the players on Denver’s roster don’t share McCaffrey’s thinking, because we all know what overconfidence following a bye week can lead to — a humiliating loss.  [Previously on BroncoTalk]

• In Vegas, the 0-5 Miami Dolphins are 3-point favorites over the 1-4 Broncos this week. [First-And-Orange]

• Cornerback Champ Bailey is among the players that will be joining linebacker Wesley Woodyard at Woodyard’s MVP Dinner on November 1st benefiting his 16Ways Foundation.  [@ChampBailey/Broncos Zone]

• Former Broncos tight end Nate Jackson recently shared his take on Denver’s quarterback situation for the Denver Post.  [DPO]

• Sunday’s game will mark the first time Dolphins’ receiver Brandon Marshall has played against the Broncos since being traded to Miami.  [Previously on BT]

• Thanks to “Gator Day” and Miami’s somewhat close proximity to Gainesville, this weekend’s game will have a lot of Broncos fans in attendance (or at least quarterback Tim Tebow fans anyway).  [Denver Broncos Official Blog]

Denver Broncos wide receiver Eron Riley (13) runs in a touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals during the second half of an NFL preseason football game, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2011, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo)

Exactly one year after joining the Denver Broncos practice squad, receiver Eron Riley has been called up — by the New York Jets.

The Jets signed Riley off of the Broncos practice squad on Monday, according to several reports. To replace Riley, Denver re-signed receiver D’Andre Goodwin to the squad.

The Broncos five active receivers are Eric Decker, Demaryius Thomas, Eddie Royal, Matt Willis and Quan Cosby.

The Jets receiving corps has been hit hard by injuries and lack of productivity, so Riley is a nice pickup for them. It’s also a sad loss for the Broncos.

In preseason, Riley caught six passes for 187 yards and two touchdowns and looked like a keeper for the Broncos. Yours truly was somewhat surprised that Riley did not make the 53-man roster and even more surprised when the team did not activate him after trading fellow receiver Brandon Lloyd.

Coming in a 6-3, 207 pounds, Riley is a second year player out of Duke. We wish him the best in New York but hope that he returns to Denver someday.

Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow has had a lot of success in the state of Florida. (Jerry Lai/US PRESSWIRE)

The Denver Broncos will take on the Miami Dolphins this Sunday at Sun Life Stadium.  Denver owns a 3-11-1 all-time record against the Dolphins and hasn’t beaten them since 2004.

“We won a Super Bowl in Miami, so we’ve won in that stadium,” Broncos Executive Vice President of Football Operations John Elway said on Tuesday afternoon.

The Broncos will be looking for their 400th regular season franchise victory this week, aiming to improve their 399-368-10 (.520) all-time record.  The Broncos own a 16-6 all-time record following a bye week, while head coach John Fox owns a 6-3 record following a bye.

“It’s good news that (Head Coach) John (Fox)’s record is 6-3 after the bye,” said Elway.

Click here to read the rest of this entry »

A revolutionary scouting system was scrapped upon Josh McDaniels' arrival. In place, the Broncos returned to classic magnetic boards and notebooks. (Photo courtesy of Eric Lars Bakke/Denver Bronocs)

Former General Manager of the Denver Broncos, Ted Sundquist, recently wrote an article about a high-tech scouting system which was developed by the Broncos and which he says would have been worth “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

“The company’s engineers told us we couldn’t do the things we did with it, but we did. …  We had rosters, depth charts, practice squads, positional outlooks, street free agent lists, NFL Europe reports – all with a click of the button. …

“We could pull a current prospect and side by side compare him to the past Pro Bowl players, or last year’s first round pick, or against whomever he’d like.  We could grab a handful of “like players” based on correlated criteria. …

“We did away with magnetic boards and built our own tracking system through the database. … Draft meetings looked more like NASA’s mission control than another club’s cramped warroom with their white walls and stacked name tags.”

The system, says Sundquist, was taken for granted by Josh McDaniels and immediately scrapped.  With the arrival of McDaniels, “back came the magnetic boards, back came the name tags, back came the binders.”

Could this partly be one of the reasons that the Broncos’ drafting under McDaniels was particularly poor?  Click here to read the rest of this entry »

"Good luck. You'll need it." (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Roger Goodell should give the Cincinnati Bengals a call.  They just got away with highway robbery.

Sitting at 4-2 with a legitimate chance of winning the AFC West this season, the Oakland Raiders lost starting quarterback Jason Campbell for the season and went into panic mode.  After pondering Philadelphia’s Vince Young and Denver’s Kyle Orton, the Raiders decided on Carson Palmer.

In order to acquire Palmer, who has been holding out all season, the Raiders are sending their 1st round selection in 2012 and a conditional 1st or 2nd round selection in 2013 to the Bengals, reports ESPN‘s Adam Schefter.

When the Raiders selected quarterback Terrelle Pryor in the supplemental draft, they surrendered a third round selection, before trading a seventh rounder to Seattle for linebacker Aaron Curry.  Last year, Oakland used their fourth round selection to trade for Campbell and traded their second round selection to the New England Patriots on draft day.

The Raiders are now left with fifth and sixth round selections in next year’s draft.  Unless Palmer, a nine-year veteran, takes the Raiders to the playoffs and beyond, this trade hardly seems logical for the Raiders.

In Broncos’ news, Denver signed Atlanta Falcon‘s practice squad safety Rafael Bush on Monday.  Bush will provide depth to a Broncos secondary that was missing Brian Dawkins at practice Monday due to a neck injury.

It’s always fun to see the Raiders make illogical moves.  What’s your take on the trade?

The Broncos will need Demaryius Thomas to stay healthy and create big plays on offense now that Lloyd is gone . (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

With receiver Brandon Lloyd now reunited with Josh McDaniels in St. Louis, the Denver Broncos need to fill a void at receiver.

“I feel like since they traded Lloyd, they’re going to need somebody to step up, and I feel like I can be that guy,” said second year receiver Demaryius Thomas on Monday.  The Broncos agree with Thomas.

There are several young receivers that have impressed the coaching staff in Denver, which made it easier for the team to deal Lloyd.

“It’s an opportunity for some other guys,” said head coach John Fox.  “We feel strong about our receiving corps moving forward.”

Thomas is expected to play on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, which would be the first time he’s been on the field for nearly a year, due to multiple injuries.  When healthy, Thomas has provided an athletic deep threat for the Broncos.

Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Lloyd is happy with how the trade worked out, as should be the Broncos. (AP Photo/Frederick Breedon)

The Denver Broncos announced on Monday that the team has traded receiver Brandon Lloyd to the St. Louis Rams for a conditional pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.  The conditional pick currently stands as a sixth round selection which could become a fifth rounder if Lloyd catches thirty or more passes this season for the Rams.

It is likely that Lloyd will in fact catch at least that many passes in Josh McDaniels‘ offense, so it’s safe to say the Broncos basically traded Lloyd for a fifth round pick.  At first appearance, a mid-round selection may not sound like fair compensation for a Pro Bowl receiver, but after taking a closer look, the trade was a win-win for both sides.

Lloyd was going to be a free agent following this season (and he still will be unless the Rams extend his contract).  In order to keep Lloyd, who will be turning 31, the Broncos would have had to give him a big contract, something that they were not willing to do after Lloyd’s one highly productive season in nine years.

The Broncos got the best value for Lloyd by trading him now rather than letting him walk next offseason.  Click here to read the rest of this entry »

The Denver Broncos on Monday agreed to trade veteran wide receiver Brandon Lloyd to the St. Louis Rams for a conditional selection in the 2012 NFL Draft.  Denver’s Executive Vice President of Football Operations, John Elway, announced the move via twitter on Monday afternoon.

“We appreciate all the hard work that Brandon did during his three years in Denver and wish him the best with the Rams,” tweeted Elway.

The Rams offensive coordinator is former Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels.  Under McDaniels in 2010, Lloyd had his most productive season, so the move makes sense.  The conditional pick is reportedly a sixth rounder that could turn into a fifth round selection, depending on Lloyd’s productivity in St. Louis.

We’ll have more of this story later this evening.  For now, dish out your thoughts on the trade in the comments.