Over at ESPN’s AFC West Blog, Bill Williamson has an article up about how Tim Tebow will affect the Broncos 45-man game day roster.

The Broncos have an interesting situation on their hands. They have too many quarterbacks. The quarterback of the future — first-round pick Tim Tebow — is on the fast track. He is not going to be brought along slowly. Thus, the Broncos want him in uniform on game days. Don’t expect to see Tebow as an inactive emergency quarterback even if he remains the No. 3 quarterback all season. The Broncos, at the very least, probably will get Tebow involved in a few plays every game before he takes over as the full-time starter. However, for Tebow to get an opportunity to play in these special situations, he’ll need to be active.

Last season Denver carried only two quarterbacks on game day- Kyle Orton and Chris Simms. One of the few teams to carry three QB’s last season was Philadelphia (McNabb, Kolb, Vick). Denver will probably do the same this season, while taking away a roster spot from (most likely) a special teamer.

With that in mind, Mr. East and I have compiled out guestaments of who will be making the 45-man roster. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Albert Haynesworth... The role model.

Throughout the history of the NFL there have been players who want to be traded so they can get a long term and lucrative contract. Josh McDaniels would know. However this is not the case with Albert Haynesworth. Apparently the $21 million he collected on April 1st is just a gift from the Redskins, because now he wants to be traded… and yes, keep the money. Did you just hear that? That’s the sound of Brandon Marshall now looking like Mother Teresa.

Could Albert Haynesworth be anymore of an ass? Kudos to Dan Synder for making the face stomper into the highest paid defensive player in the history of the NFL. Non-sarcastic kudos to Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan who are trying to recoup the $21 million from the fat man.

“He decided to take our check and we’re very disappointed he wasn’t here today,” Shanahan said.

Who honestly signs that kind of contract and doesn’t show up to even a 15 mandatory practice? Shouldn’t your priorities change when you job is paying you $41 million in the first three years? Take a lesson from the Champ, he may only be making about $13 million this year, but even he showed up to all the voluntary practices. Hell I even think he was at a few of the janitor’s meetings. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

J.D. Walton

The Denver Broncos came to terms with offensive lineman J.D. Walton, whom they selected in the third round (80th overall) of the 2010 NFL Draft, the club announced Thursday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Walton (6’3″, 305 lbs.) has been working at first-team center in organized team activities, while fellow rookie Zane Beadles has been starting at left guard.

Also on Thursday, the Broncos waived undrafted rookie defensive lineman Jaron Baston and fullback Kyle Eckel. Eckel was signed earlier this month after the Broncos released QB Tom Brandstater.

We’re just happy to see the Broncos getting the ball rolling early with these contracts this year, especially since Walton has been starting.  No holdouts this year, thankyouverymuch.  Press release after the jump. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Kolby Smith then of the Kansas City Chiefs is set during a game in 2008. (Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images)

Former Kansas City Chiefs running back Kolby Smith, released Monday by the Chiefs was assigned to the Denver Broncos via waiver claim earlier today.

Smith had his best season as a rookie coming off the bench to replace the retired Priest Holmes and the injured Larry Johnson in the 2007 season. His career in Kansas City consisted of 27 games with nine starts. Though he was never able to replicate his professional debut as a starter and career day against the Oakland Raiders in which he ran for 150-yards and a touchdown.

With the news of Smith also comes bad news for punter A.J. Trapaso and linebacker Korey Bosworth (nephew of Seattle Seahawks Oklahoma great Brian Bosworth). Trapaso’s exit means the punting competition is likely complete and the Broncos will go with Britton Colquitt for this season.

The Denver Post points out that the Smith signing slims chances that the Broncos will acquire Brian Westbrook. My opinion is that the same could be said for the teams prospects of drafting Tim Tebow after trading for Brady Quinn though (and that concludes my BT mandated Tebow mention per post).

It’s odd how in the NFL it seems for every one player that joins, the teams seem to cut two. Take this as a sign that the Broncos are opening up money for Smith or that more likely the Broncos plan to sign an unsigned draft pick soon.

Donovan McNabb fumbles the ball as he is sacked by Evlis Dumervil in 2009. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

The wait is over, but as we reported Saturday, last season’s sack leader Elvis Dumervil has officially signed his first and third round tender of $3.168 million. Making him officially the last member of the Denver Broncos unrestricted free agents to sign (hey, the tender offer was good enough for Brandon Marshall and Tony Scheffler).

This comes after the Broncos sent a second letter threatening to reduce the Broncos offer to $630,000.

Look for this signing to be merely a starting point for an eventual extension of Dumervil’s contract. Doom and his agent are pacing to make sure that the sack master is amongst the top five highest paid pass rushers in the NFL.

Now on to the rest of the unsigned players currently working out in Dove Valley like Demaryius Thomas, Tim Tebow and projected starters J.D. Walton and Zane Beadles.

Tom Brandstater throws a pass as Kyle Orton and Mike McCoy look on during 2009's training camp. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

In a move that’s not going to be news to most fans, the Indianapolis Colts have signed former Denver Broncos quarterback Tom Brandstater.

What does this mean and why would a quarterback, of all the draftable positions, not be good enough for the Broncos, but good enough for the Colts?

Yes, I know, the Colts employed Curtis Painter as their back-up last season. The guy played six quarters last season and ended up ruining what could have been another 16-0 season in the NFL.

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Richard Quinn blocks a Brodie Croyle pass at the start of the second half of the Broncos vs. Chiefs. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann)

We are two days into the first Denver Broncos mandatory mini camp of the 2010 off-season. Gone is the drama for the team, there is no recent Jay Cutler controversy and no one’s worried about Brandon Marshall’s status any longer.

Yet, what may be the biggest story out of this mini camp is the relatively unproductive draft of 2009. Although it’s still a little early to call it, the Broncos have already downgraded two of their draft picks they had expected to be number top on their depth chart this season (Robert Ayers, 18th pick overall and Seth Olsen, 132nd pick overall). The relatively unknown story is that Richard Quinn (64th pick overall) is also not looking great, dropping balls and looking like a non-factor in anything other than blocking dummy drills.

There are positives to the 2009 draft class though. It is well known that Knowshon Moreno looks much improved and not just running out of the backfield with the ball, but also as a receiver. Another often insulted draft pick Alphonso Smith looks good as well; don’t know that anyone’s ready for him to replace Champ Bailey or Andre Goodman just yet, but he’s looking to at least make a run at the nickel role… Yet, there’s a rookie who I will get to in a second that may give him a run for his money, not to mention veteran Nate Jones who has had a vise-grip on the role thus far. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

(Editor’s Note: Please join me in welcoming Jon Heath to the BroncoTalk staff! Jon hails from Broncos Zone and has been a frequent commenter on the site.)

On Wednesday, Denver Broncos fifth round draft pick Perrish Cox agreed to terms with the club, per the team’s official facebook page. Terms of the deal are not yet known.

Cox is the third rookie to sign, joining Jammie Kirlew and Syd’Quan Thompson, all late round picks. Praised for having “shut down corner” skills, Cox wasn’t expected to fall quite as far as he did in the draft. His slow 40-time (4.45) is claimed the reason he’ll fell so far. His speed didn’t scare off the Broncos. “He’s a player that is certainly more talented than where he was drafted — there’s no question about that,” Head Coach Josh McDaniels said.

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This fall, as football gets underway, there is one contest I will be watching very closely. No, I’m not talking about Kyle vs Brady vs Tim (although I’ve now publicly admitted my man-crush on Tebow). No, I’m not talking about WR or Safety or TE. I’m talking about the virtual race between McDaniels and Shanahan over the implementation of their respective O-line schemes.

As we all know, Mike Shanahan has made his career perfecting the Zone Blocking scheme. That scheme has produced a series of +1000 yard rushers unmatched in the NFL. Now, he’s in Washington where he’s trying to improve a very weak unit (Jason Campbell was sacked 43 times last season – third most in the league). In addition to adding a rookie first round pick (Trent Williams) at Left Tackle, Shanahan will be shuffling the team’s veterans in an attempt to transition the O-line into a Zone Blocking scheme. This is his first year with the unit and players, but he’s got decades of experience to relay on.

In Denver, Josh McDaniels took over a Zone Blocking powerhouse that allowed only 11 sacks in 2008 (second fewest in the league). Half way through the year, we now know that he began transitioning our O-line from a Zone to Power scheme. In 2009, Orton was sacked 29 times (and our total yards per game dropped by 14%). Now, McDaniels will need to replace veteran Center Casey Weigmann with Dustin Fry or rookie J.D. Walton (who has been taking first team reps recently). This is a part of his move toward players that fit his Power system more than the smaller more mobile players needed for Zone.

Given we have two coaches that will be linked for some time, I’m totally jazzed to see which one comes out on top. By that I mean, which coach can get their players and system into place and efficiently running before the other.

In fairness, McDaniels has a pro-bowl Left Tackle in Ryan Clady, while Shanahan only has an unproven first round draft pick at his LT position. McDaniels is in his second year in Denver, while Shanahan is just entering his first season with the Redskins. Josh also has a better statistical unit than Shanahan has in DC (thanks mostly to Shanahan drafting and training Clady, Kuper and Harris before he left).

However… I think I’ll spot McDaniels those advantages. Shanahan has experience and a proven track record with ZBS, so we’ll let the young guy get away with the head start and see what happens from here. :)

Maybe this is very football-geek thing to be watching, but I’ve always been fascinated by the inner-workings of the O-line and this parallel is just too interesting not to watch.

Feel free to chime in and give your predictions. I’m very interested in which O-line you think will do better this season and then also in 2011 (the final test). Also, I’m interested in whether or not you’ve followed our ZBS in the past and what you think about McD’s move away from it. Let me know what you think!

Mike Sando over at ESPN has compiled an interesting chart that shows how each of the NFL teams stack up in terms of player retention. He points out that most of the top preforming teams end up very close to the top of this list (the Vikings actually claim the top spot with 94.4% retention). Likewise, poor preforming teams tend to settle at the bottom (the lowest two are Detroit and Seattle). And while there are some exceptions to the rules, I find the fact that the Broncos are very close to the bottom something that gives me pause.

At 27th in the league the Broncos’ 72.9% ranks only slightly higher than the abysmal Buffalo Bills at 71.2% and the Redskins at 70.3%. Considering Shanahan is rebuilding the Redskins for the ground up, what does that say about the state of the Broncos at the end of last season?
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