• Eerily similar headlines in the Denver papers today, but the bottom line: Tyler Goodman will join his father and brother in the Denver Broncos scouting department.  [DPO, RMN]
• Meanwhile, Brian Xanders will manage the cap for the Broncos and spearhead draft signing procedures.  [RMN]
• Looking at fair weather fans, and how good the Broncos could be this year.  [Colorado Springs Independent]
• John Elway likes him some berry juice.  [CBS4 Denver]
• JaMarcus Russell addresses his weight in this article, and just as any Raiders article should, it has the word “hell” twice in the title.  [Inside Bay Area]
• MLB: It was said the Rockies needed to sweep the D-Backs to get back into this season.  Too bad the exact opposite is happening.  [Yahoo! Sports]

Name: Hamza Abdullah Height – Weight: 6’2″ – 216 lbs. Position: Strong Safety Age – Experience: 24 – 4 College: Washington State

Hamza Abdullah, a 7th round choice in 2005 by Tampa Bay, has had the luxury of learning on the bench the past several years. After suiting for one game in 2005 and contributing to special teams in 2006, Abdullah saw his most significant game action in 2007, earning a starting role and playing fairly well overall. He started in 8 games, tallying 48 tackles with 2 forced fumbles and 7 passes defensed.

The Good: Abdullah is the fastest safety on the roster and arguably has the most upside. While he hasn’t tallied an INT yet, he has a nose for the ball with 7 passes defensed and a few tipped balls that led to Bronco interceptions. He isn’t afraid to get his nose dirty in run defense, either.

The Bad: His infamous whiff on Thursday Night Football against the Texans is not an indication of his play overall, yet it stuck in many fans’ minds. He started out strong as a starter, but his impact tailed off as the season went on. He only tallied 2 tackles in each of the last two weeks of the season (in comparison, his first start against KC netted him 9 solo tackles and 2 passes defensed).

Status: Incumbent starter. Signed through 2008. The Broncos added free agents Marlon McCree and Marquand Manuel to compete for starting roles, and rookie Josh Barrett is a project the Broncos hope to develop in much the same way they did with Abdullah in 2006. Abdullah’s starting role is by no means guaranteed – he will have to earn it in training camp.

More on Hamza Abdullah

Finally, we invite you, the reader, to let us know your thoughts on Abdullah. In general, do you approve of the way he’s played on the field to date?

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BroncoTalk is in the process of building on on-line roster reference for the fans. As we write new bios for each player, we’ll be sure to post them on the main page for your enjoyment.

• John Lynch explains why he’s working out in San Diego instead of Denver this offseason (again). [Hashmarks]
• Looking at Eddie Royal‘s impact for the Broncos. [KFFL]
• Dallas Stars center Toby Peterson can relate to Jay Cutler‘s struggle with Type 1 diabetes. [Denver Post]
• Pats owner Bob Kraft was “delighted” with the Boston Herald retraction. [Denver Post]
• Shouldn’t Sen. Arlen Specter have better things to do? [Sports Law Blog]
• Yes, he really should. [Rocky Mountain News]
• MLB: Rockies suffering a four-game skid after last night’s loss to Arizona. [Denver Post]

Really? This again? Any Broncos fan who’s been surfing for news around the recent Spygate meetings between former Partiots employee Matt Walsh and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter has undoubtedly heard a resonating theme: The Denver Broncos cheated too.

Yes, fans, the Denver Broncos cheated the salary cap. But not the way so many think. Take a closer look – even a minor, inch-deep look beyond the surface – and you’ll see the salary cap infringements were a mere technicality. And it’s the type of thing that still goes on around the NFL every year, for every team.

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The above video is an interview Mark Schlereth did with MyFox Colorado about the current state of his old team.  Just a heads up this is a long one, it comes in over 10 minutes.  As far as I know Mark is not a current member of the X-Men, I just think that is the video decoder not liking the source material.  I apologize for that, the original is located here if you find it unbearable.  The interview covers Mark’s opinion on what the Broncos have done wrong over the last few years with personell decisions.  That the Broncos are finally getting away from the add a guy here and there philosophy to win another championship.  He also says Cutler was in the right in coming out on Marshall.  He even goes on to admit that ESPN along with the rest of the sports media took the thing out of context to get a juicy sound bite.  another topic addressed was whether or not Mike Shanahan is trying to run too many things in the organization.  Stinky knows what he’s talking about and says there is more to this team than Cutler but they need to get back to dominating both sides of the line of scrimmage.

• As mini camps roll around, which face in the crowd will make a name for himself? [Jim Saccomano’s Blog]
• Marcus Thomas interview and news story video.  [My Fox Colorado]
• Stinky‘s getting into the food business.  [Denver Post]
• John Elway really did have some bad commercials in his day.  [Predominantly Orange]
• MLB: Arizona 8, Rockies 4.  [Yahoo! Sports]
• MLB: Should the Rockies sign Barry Bonds? [Yahoo! Sports]

The Kansas City Star is reporting the the Chiefs are preparring to release longtime safety Greg Wesley.  The defensive back has been trying to get released by Kansas City for over a year.  This is relevant to the Broncos in that they have tried to establish trade talks with the Chiefs two seperate times to land Wesley.  The first time Denver offered up a fourth round draft pick and the Chiefs declined not wanting to send him to an AFC West rival.  The Chiefs then openned up talks again this offseason with a request for Karl Paymah in exchange.  The Broncos were not willing to give up the talented young corner for Wesley’s services. Denver may spend a little free cap money on bringing in Wesley to bolster the safety position even after signing McCree and Manuel based off of the past interest in this particular player.

You can read the full writeup here at the Kansas City Star.

If you watch closely, you’ll notice there is a new trend of late.  The Denver Post has had a large decline in it’s sports section, more specifically the Broncos and pro football coverage.  It’s not just in one facet either, the quality of sports articles has fallen, the quantity has dropped and it’s users and comment sections seem to be revolting of late.  You can typically rely on the Post to have two or more Broncos related articles daily this time of year to keep the pallet wet even if there isn’t much on the news front.  On a similar note the RMN (Rocky Mountain News) has a smattering of articles throughout the week.  Usually these articles are not what I would call consistent, but more of an as they come approach.  Not that it was ever a bad thing, but just more of the Rocky’s style.

The game is changing though.  While I was covering the daily links last week for Kyle it became apparent.  Browsing to the Broncos section of the Post I was suprised to see nothing new for the day.  The most recent post was that of Elway buying a stake in the PBR.  That’s odd I thought to myself, here it is mid-day and no new Broncos or football articles.  I shrugged it off and proceeded to the RMN.  From there I was able to dig out three of our four links for the day.  It’s highly unusual that you pull almost all of the selections from one media source but that’s the way it fell on this day.  You’re asking yourself, so what?  While I was revisiting this task the following day I browsed to the DPO again to see what they had in store for us Bronco faithful.  Nothing, again…  Refresh, F5, refresh, F5, nothing.  The same PBR story.  So here we are, Tuesday the following week and we get our first fresh story out of the Post.  And what do they do?  Incense the fans of the team they’re tasked with covering.  How did they manage to do this?  By reporting a simple piece of news on Marcus Thomas.

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Carlton Powell, 5th round choice of the Denver Broncos, was nice enough to agree to answer a few questions from the readers. Check out his responses below.

From flbronco: What were your initial thoughts/emotions when you got the call saying you were headed to Denver?

I was just excited you know. There were a lot of things going through my mind because I’ve never been to Denver. Man, I’m just excited to get out there.

From Jonathan Douglas: I understand one of your nicknames in college was Causing Problems. You’re a renowned high character guy, so can you tell us how you got that particular nickname?

It actually came from mistaken identity because someone asked me what my name was and I told them Carlton Powell but they thought I said “Causing Problems” so it just stuck after that. Kind of funny.

Click here to read the rest of this entry »

The Denver Broncos are set to embark on their first mini camp, where the new rookies and veteran players will meet for the first time. The two week voluntary “Quarterback Camp” will take place from May 19 to May 30, 2008.

The boys will take the practice field on Monday May 19 through Thursday, then the next week from Tuesday May 27 to Friday the 30th. Media will have limited access to the players, but expect plenty of news and quotes from the various news outlets and press conferences that will undoubtedly take place.

Even though it’s “voluntary,” every Bronco should know that they’re expected to be there. If I’m not mistaken, 2008 jersey numbers for free agents and rookies should get squared away as well.