(REUTERS photo/Rick Wilking)

Denver Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall‘s idea of “clearing the air” Monday apparently left Mile High City with a bit of unsettled dust. Champ Bailey was happy to clean it up.

Appearing on FM 104.3 The Fan Tuesday, Bailey offered objective clarity to the Marshall-McDaniels situation. His message: Marshall had it coming.

“It seemed like Brandon wasn’t doing the things necessary for every player on the team to do to make us successful,” Bailey said.

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After months of discussion, former Denver Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan has agreed in principle to become the next head coach of the Washington Redskins, Mike Klis of the Denver Post reports (nice job Klis).  All that remains is for Shanahan to sign on the dotted line, with an official announcement to follow Wednesday.

UPDATE: ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports the contract has been signed. The ‘Skins will announce the move during a 2 p.m. ET press conference Wednesday.

The hiring will save Pat Bowlen approximately $7 million over the next two years, according to the report, but Bowlen will still have to shell out that same amount from Shanahan’s Broncos contract.  Several news outlets throughout the day have reported the sides discussing a five-year deal worth over $50 million, netting Coach over $13 million per year to be “a player or two away” from the Super Bowl.

Now we wait for the ripple effects of this move to hit Denver.  Which former Shanahan coaches will follow him to Washington?  Which players, if any, will Shanahan pursue in the trade market or free agency (ahem Marshall Scheffler Hillis ahem)?

Snarky comments aside, we’re happy for Shanahan and wish him success in our nation’s capital.

Mike Shanahan reaches deal to coach Redskins [Denver Post]

Turbulence continues to surround Brandon Marshall, and, just as in times past, Marshall took to the airwaves to tell his side of the story and set the record straight.

“Everything I’ve done has been nothing but 100% commitment to the Denver Broncos and to my teammates,” Marshall said Tuesday, appearing on FM radio station 104.3 The Fan in Denver.  “To say I’ve given up on my teammates is just a disgusting feeling, and it hurts me.”

Marshall went on to defend some of his actions during the 30-minute interview and, more importantly, apologize for others.  Marshall admitted and regretted being late for treatment last week and voiced his regret in commenting on head coach Josh McDaniels‘ lack of playing experience in the NFL.  Then he wasn’t shy with praise of owner Pat Bowlen and even McDaniels. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

The Denver Broncos signed four practice squad players to future contracts Monday, making them each an official member of the team’s roster once the 2009 league year concludes in February.

The players signed were running back Lance Ball, tight end Marquez Branson, guard Mitch Erickson and inside linebacker Braxton Kelley.  The four players have a collective five years NFL experience.

This is an annual occurrence — the only question is why more players, including others from the practice squad, haven’t been signed (yet).

Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

Josh McDaniels‘ season-ending press conference packs a whallop, length-wise.  It should; this will likely be the last time the Denver Broncos head coach addresses the media in an official capacity until the 2010 NFL Draft. McDaniels discusses what went wrong in 2009, the futures of Kyle Orton, Brandon Marshall, Champ Bailey and Tony Scheffler (among others), changes to the Broncos’ approach to the 2010 NFL Draft, and more. Enjoy.

Opening remarks

“As I said yesterday, (Sunday’s loss vs. Kansas City) very disappointing. We certainly didn’t play well enough, coach well enough (or) do anything well enough yesterday to get the result we were looking for and hopefully, qualify for the playoffs. I met with our team this morning. I appreciate all the hard work and all the things that they’ve done all year to try to adopt a new philosophy when I understand that that’s not always easy. They did everything that we asked them to do, for the most part, and tried to play the way that we wanted to play. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

The Mike Shanahan team turnstile (as opposed to coaching carousel… ahem) has already reportedly come to a stop, mere hours after it officially got spinning.

That’s because Shanahan’s most likely destination has been known for months: the Washington Redskins, where owner Dan Snyder has been pining for a chief of Shanahan’s pedigree all season. Earlier today, Shanahan landed in DC to meet with Redskins brass regarding their head coach opening — Jim Zorn was unceremoniously fired Monday — and reports now indicate that Shanahan could be introduced as the next ‘Skins coach as soon as Tuesday.

The news places the former Denver Broncos coach mercifully out of the AFC West and the conference altogether, where, by current scheduling protocols, the two wouldn’t face until 2013.

For now, all that’s left of the Shanahan Watch is scouting the adverbs of those in the know — waiting for the “reportedly”s and “expectedly”s to turn into “officially.”

Shanahan could be introduced Tuesday [Washington Post]

Denver Broncos Head Coach Josh McDaniels will hold his season-ending press conference at 1:30 p.m. MT today, and we’ll be bringing live commentary at Twitter.com/BroncoTalk.

In years past, this has been the Broncos coach’s last opportunity to address the state of the franchise in an official capacity for several months — don’t miss it!

For those who don’t have twitter, you can chat along with us in the window below. Join us in watching the live stream at the team’s official site.

UPDATE: Denver Broncos 2010 Schedule

DENVER BRONCOS 2010 OPPONENTS
HOME	AWAY
Kansas City Oakland San Diego Houston Indianapolis St. Louis Seattle N.Y. Jets	Kansas City Oakland San Diego Jacksonville Tennessee Arizona San Francisco* Baltimore

There will be plenty of time to dissect The Season of False Promise that was the Denver Broncos in 2009, but for now, we can take an early look ahead at 2010.

The Broncos’ 16 opponents in 2010 have been announced, with the actual week-by-week 2010 Denver Broncos schedule expected in March or April. In 2010, the Broncos will play:

• The AFC West (as usual)
• The AFC South, featuring the 14-0 Indianapolis Colts and other teams averaging exactly .500.
• The NFC West.
• Both AFC Wild Card playoff teams, the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets.

*UPDATE: The NFL announced that the Broncos’ 2010 regular season game against the San Francisco 49ers will be played in London, England on October 31st.

The NFC West makes this a slightly easier schedule, at least on paper, than the 2009 Denver Broncos schedule, but the Broncos still have their work cut out for them in the AFC.  How does the slate of opponents look to you, Broncos fans?  Let us know in the comments.

UPDATE: The Broncos will draft 11th. Full Broncos draft picks order.

In order to determine where they will select in the 2010 NFL Draft, the Denver Broncos will flip a coin.

One hopes the actual selection process will be a bit more involved.

The Broncos will draft 10th or 11th in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft, depending on the results of a coin toss between them and the Jacksonville Jaguars. The selection originally belonged to the Chicago Bears, who sent it to Denver in the Jay Cutler trade.

The Broncos’ 8-8 record sees them drafting 14th this April, but they do not own that pick in the first round. Their first round pick was traded last year to the Seattle Seahawks in order to select Alphonso Smith in the second round. Smith underwhelmed in his rookie year; if the Broncos aren’t wishing they had two first round draft picks this year, most fans are.

The 2010 first round draft order, as it known now, after the jump. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

DENVER BRONCOS HEAD COACH JOSH McDANIELS

General

“I’ll start off by congratulating the Chiefs. Coach Haley and their football team did a great job obviously preparing for today after playing just a month ago. They did a nice job of game planning and they played very hard today and obviously played better than we did today. It’s a disappointing ending to the season. I’m proud of the effort and attitude our team had this year. Certainly far from the finish we’re looking for.”

On what happened in the last ten weeks Click here to read the rest of this entry »