Brian Dawkins, safety of the Philadelphia Eagles for the past 13 years, has signed with the Denver Broncos, Mike Florio of SportingNews.com reports. Dawkins is both a quality player and quality leader that will pay huge dividends to this rebuilding Broncos defense.

We’re waiting for confirmation from another source, but until then we’re running with this. This is easily the biggest signing of the day. What do you all think?

Thanks to Ben in the comments!

In the haze of the first day of preseason Denver has been mildly quiet, yet smart. Adam Schefter reports that Brian Dawkins is coming to visit Denver. Dawkins is a 35 year old, a 7 time pro bowler, and 13 seasons deep into his NFL career. There is no questioning the heart and fire Dawkins brings to the field, but at his age capability is a big factor. In 2008 he totaled 75 tackles, 6 forced fumbles, 3 sacks, and one interception. Safety is a huge need for the Broncos and with a weak safety draft class this year free agency might be the way to go. Josh Barrett is probably hoping that Dawkins lands in Denver because he could learn a whole lot. Don’t think for once that Dawkins won’t cost a pretty penny a well.

Rumored as well according to ProFooballTalk before it went down, that one of the teams on Ray Lewis’ list is the Denver Broncos. A close source to Ray Lewis told Adam Schefter: Click here to read the rest of this entry »

According to several sources Pats Long Snapper Lonie Paxton has agreed to terms with Denver.

UPDATE: The Post is reporting Paxton’s deal makes him the second-highest paid long snapper. It’s a five-year, $5.3 million dollar deal. That all but wraps up Mike Leach’s time in Denver folks.

A reliable long snapper, Paxton snapped nine of Adam Vinatieri’s game winning field goals over the past four seasons. Paxton’s consistency helped the Patriots set a franchise record by hitting an NFL-best 94% of their field goals (31-of-33) in 2004. Including a 48-for-48 performance on extra points, the trio of Paxton, kicker Adam Vinatieri and holder Josh Miller produced 79 successful kicks in 81 attempts (97.5%).

And, who can forget that beautiful snow angel he made in the endzone after Adam kicked the field goal in overtime that gave the Patriots the playoff victory over the Raiders which put them in the 2001 AFC championship game.

Anyone that makes snow angles on the Raiders can be bad, right?

Rumors are flying that Dove Valley is looking to sign WR Jabar Gaffney and S Renaldo Hill. Could we see deals today? It’s possible…

Wide out Jabar Gaffney was a useful cog in McDaniel’s passing game for the Pats. As a 4th reciever he had total of 74 catches for 917 yards (that’s over 12 yards per carry) and 7 TDs during 2008 and 2007 together.

Safety Renaldo Hill finished third on the team in tackles with 77 (62 solo) and 3 INTs. Renaldo is 30, so age is a factor, but if we can draft a young guy to go with him (and learn under him this year), we should be better off for it.

I will say it again, if the price is right these rumored moves and those of Buckhalter and Arrington make good business sense. Let’s get some reasonably priced guys into our lockroom where they can compete for a spot on the final roster. It doesn’t hurt us to get depth for camp and it can only help us if one of these guys turns into a real player when they get a chance.

GO BRONCOS!

JJ Arrington Photo © 2008 Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty

The details of these deals haven’t been yet been announced, but this could easily be only the first of several deals the Broncos complete today. Rumor has it they plan to sign several other players before this weekend.

Correll Buckhalter
Height: 6’0″ Weight: 217 Age: 30
College: Nebraska Experience: 8 years

2008 INFO:
Buckhalter played in 17 games last year (including all three of the Eagles playoff games). He had 79 carries for 369 yeard (4.9 yards per carry). He also caught 26 passes for 324 (that’s a nice 12.5 yards per catch). As mentioned in the last post, he has had a bad history of knee injuries that wiped out three full seasons of action.

J.J. Arrington
Height 5’9″ Weight: 212 Age: 26
College: California Experience: 4 years

2008 INFO:
Arrington played in 15 games last (including all 4 of the Cardinals playoff games and the Super Bowl). He had 31 carries times for 187 yards (That’s a 6 yard per carry average). He also caught 29 passes for 255 yards (8.8 avg.).

My personal opinion is: ‘The more the merrier… as long as the price is right’.

As long as these two players are signing performance-based contracts, I think this is good news for Denver fans. Think of it this way… we just now have two new players that, although backups, have more playoff experience than most of our team. It can’t hurt us.

Will Work for Food... or $14M in guarantees!

Free agency has officially begun and the Red Skins wasted no time with big deals already done with Albert Haynesworth (7 year +$100M deal with +$40M in guarantees) and the retaining of DeAngelo Hall (6 year $54M deal with +$22 million in guarantees). Now those are bigger deals than Denver is looking to make, but that’s not because we don’t have the cash for a big signing.

As of last night, the NFL shows the Broncos with $37 million in salary cap space. That much cap room puts us fourth in the league (with only the Bucs, Chiefs and Eagles with more cap space available). Even with this cash, GM Xanders and Coach McDaniels have to be careful when they go shopping because they need a quite a larger number of players than most teams.
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Friday, Feb 27 will mark the last edition of the Rocky Mountain News to be published. And while it’s been a decade since I personally read the print edition of this fine paper, I have been an avid reader of the online edition for a number of years, and I have come to feel I know some of the sportswriters through their words over the years.

The Rocky has always done a very fine job, back to the days when Woody Paige was their football guy all the way up until now when Jeff Legwold has been the primary football writer. When I compare the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News, I’ve always felt that the knowledge and the writing from the Rocky was just a little deeper, just a little more intimate. It certainly helps that Legwold has been our Hall of Fame voter ever since Paige left, and that by default gives him more contacts inside the NFL than anyone else. But I’ve always felt that Legwold just understands it better.

At the Post, Mike Klis does an okay job, but it’s clear that when he moved over from baseball, his football knowledge was a little light. He’s been growing into the role, but sometimes I feel like he’s grasping a little to get all of the information. I don’t think he has the ear of team officials, and certainly doesn’t have as much around-the-league knowledge. Like I said, he does okay, and every season he gets a little better.

A few years ago I was so impressed by the level of depth that Legwold went to when answering his weekly column that I wrote him a personal thank you note. In a way, this is another of those, and I want to make it public. In the same way that I miss Andrew Mason over at denverbroncos.com, I am going to miss Jeff Legwold. I hope that he isn’t out of work for too long. Heck, I hope that the Post hires him, but things aren’t exactly roses over there so I don’t imagine they will be able to take on too much, if any, of the Rocky’s about to be unemployed staff.

Jeff, thank you. And to the rest of the Rocky Mountain News, you were always my favorite paper. I salute you and everything you’ve done. May your people find their feet quickly, and may you be long remembered.

As Katch22 mentioned in the comments to the last post, Defensive Coordinator Mike Nolan is most recently from the 49ers and may be looking back at that group for possible suggestions for upgrades this free agency season.

So, here is a look at the ESPN list of free agents from SF:

Billy Bajema TE
Tully Banta-Cain LB (Released)
Damane Duckett DT
Ronald Fields DT
DeShaun Foster RB
Roderick Green LB
Bryant Johnson WR
Keith Lewis FS (Released)
Jamie Martin QB
J.T. O’Sullivan QB
Allen Rossum CB
Sean Ryan TE
Takeo Spikes LB
Donald Strickland CB

What do you think about this crew? Anyone here strike your fancy? Any upgrades at our Defensive Positions?

Since Kubiak rode off to Texas, he has hired quite a few bronco free agents. Part of that is familiarity with his (and Mike Shanahan’s) system. And part of that is due to Kubiak personally knowing the players and thus understanding their personalities and unmeasurables, like leadership.

With McD so fresh from New England, should we expect the same attention to Patriot free agents?

The money will start flying this week, so let’s take a look at the free agents EPSN has listed for the Pats…

Eric Alexander LB (RFA)
Wesley Britt OT (RFA)
Matt Cassel QB (Franchised)
Heath Evans FB
Jabar Gaffney WR
Chris Hanson P
Rodney Harrison S
Russ Hochstein G
Larry Izzo LB
LaMont Jordan RB
Deltha O’Neal CB
James Sanders S
Lewis Sanders CB
Kenny Smith DL
Barry Stokes OL
Kelley Washington WR (Released)
Tank Williams S
Pierre Woods LB (RFA)
Mike Wright DL
Billy Yates G (Released)

So, what are your thoughts? Is there anyone here that you could see in Orange & Blue? Is there anyone on this list that you think would be a upgrade for us at this point? Although I personally think replacing 32-year-old Bly with 32-year-old Deltha O’Neal is no upgrade, what do you think about the possibility of seeing Deltha back in Denver?

It is painful to think that it is only February and the draft is in April. Therefore all of the draft junkies like to imagine what might take place come draft day. I decided I would take part in this time honored tradition. This mock draft is wonderful because what mock draft isn’t? It is also horrible due to the fact that we are so far away from knowing the final decisions. I was debating whether I would wait for the combine to edit this draft, but luckily for you readers I decided to release this version and update after the combine. UPDATED: 02/19/09

 

Round 1 

 

1. Detroit Lions
   Matthew Stafford, QB, Georgia

Jim Schwartz must have a lot of guts to take this job and to take an unpolished rookie QB with the first overall pick. However, rookie QBs sell tickets and jerseys, which is something Detroit hasn’t experienced in awhile. The Lions have so many concerns to address that whatever they choose will provide an instant improvement. Even if the Lions address the QB need through free agency it would benefit Stafford to sit out his first year and watch a veteran.

 

2. St. Louis Rams
   Michael Crabtree, WR, Texas Tech

Marc Bulger has been sacked 126 times over the past three seasons. This doesn’t help the fact that he’s 31 years old. Michael Crabtree is the best player available on the draft board at this position. Kudos to Walt from WalterFootball for shaking up the mock draft world with this choice. This pick will be very similar to Detroit taking Calvin Johnson or Minnesota taking Adrian Peterson. I do agree with taking the best player available on the board (much like the Steelers do), however, I believe that St. Louis should take Tackle Eugene Monroe, or possibly even Jason Smith. Click here to read the rest of this entry »