Williamson is full of non-news stories over at the Hashmarks blog.  Ryan Harris is focusing in on winning one of the starting offensive tackle jobs this offeseason.  It was expected that Harris would take over (Williamson’s words) at left tackle following Matt Lepsis‘ retirement, then the Broncos drafted Ryan Clady number 12 overall and Shanahan anointed him the starter immediately.  Ryan has said you won’t hear a lot out of him this offseason or training camp because he will be busy working to crack the starting lineup, even if it means overtaking Erik Pears at right tackle.

In other Broncos somewhat related news, Sam Adams is not quite ready to retire.  He plans on dropping 30lbs this offeseason to keep his career going.  After a dissapointing season with the Broncos Adams was quoted as saying: “I don’t want it to end like that,” Adams said, “I have more football in me. I can help a lot of teams.” The defensive tackle is currently a free agent.  Seattle, Oakland, and Tennessee were all named as possible landing spots.

• John Lynch is expecting a good year and wants to disprove his critics.  [Rocky Mountain News]
• There is still talk about Shaun Alexander signing with Denver.  [Bleacher Report]
• Adrian Madise signed with CFL team the Hamilton Ticats.  Remember Him? [TSN]
• The Raider Blog over at MVN is echoing the same reports that Kyle posted last week only from that “special” Oakland point of view.
• In case you missed it this morning: Elway bought into the PBR with Wayne Gretzky.

Kyle here. We proudly present your MC for this post, Mr. Hercules Rockefeller. When he isn’t simultaneously hacking into BroncoTalk and the Denver Post’s inbox, he can be found blogging away at Orange Bucksnorts. Enjoy!

I’ve been asked by no one at all to take over the Denver Post’s Broncos Mailbag this week. On to the questions! Jay, you’re up first.

I really like how the Broncos are now paying more attention to a player’s character when acquiring new talent. It seems that the Broncos adopted a new philosophy this offseason. They didn’t overspend in the free-agent market for run-down talent. What compelled the Broncos to take this new direction?
— Jay Yu, Los Angeles

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Mike Shanahan doesn’t give a crap about a guy’s character. He just doesn’t. The man would sign Stalin if he could run a 4.3 – 40. He’d trade for Pol Pot if he could thought it would help the on-field product. If he cared, he wouldn’t have stuck up for David Kircus or Travis Henry or Brandon Marshall or drafted Maurice Clarett or Marcus Thomas or flirted with TO or etc., etc., etc. He didn’t just come to some revelation this offseason. Former wideout, uniform number 84’s ugly departure had nothing to do with the decision to take Eddie Royal over DeSean Jackson. Yeah, the new guys are all bible-thumpers. Last year they were all thugs. Next year, who knows?

Hercules – Please tell me what you think about our two defensive draft picks from last year: Tim Crowder and Jarvis Moss. Crowder seemed to have a modestly successful second half, and Moss had a season-ending leg injury. What do you expect from these two this year?
— Shannon, Bend, Ore

How many defensive draft picks were there last year? Two? Really? I seem to recall three. Is the missing man already persona non grata for rolling with coke and firearms? This character thing is getting out of hand. He doesn’t even exist anymore.

I saw in your pre-draft Broncos’ wish list that the Broncos would not let DeSean Jackson slip past them at No. 42, but that’s just what they did, drafting Eddie Royal instead. I can understand why (size, character issues with Jackson). But was this a mistake?
— Aaron, Thornton

Seriously? That’s pretty much the exact same question as Jay from LA, isn’t it? They liked Eddie Royal more than DeSean Jackson and I will guarantee you the deciding factor wasn’t “character.” Shanahan isn’t some kind of Pollyanna. We’ll take a break now, I need to fire a call-screener.

So much more mailbag, click here

John Elway and Wayne Gretzky have teamed up once again and invested in the PBR.  That’s the Professional Bull Riders based out of Pueblo, in case you missed their ads every three minutes on VS and Altitude while watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  The size of the investment has not been released by the PBR.  As you might remember the two along with Michael Jordan teamed up to create MVP.com.  The link above has the failed history of the sporting goods website.   I think Orange Bucksnorts sums up the deal perfectly in its post and Herc’s article hit the Broncotalk radar before the RMN version did.

Full writeup at the Rocky Mountain News

The Colts have re-signed their previous go to backup for Joseph Addai giving Dominic Rhodes a one year deal.  This is relevant after the rumor from Bill Williamson’s ESPN blog we covered yesterday stating that Denver was interested in signing Rhodes or Shaun Alexander to likely drop Travis Henry from the roster.  This pretty much blows a hole through that theory as it would be highly unlikely the Broncos would replace Henry with Alexander aging past his prime.  This move creates the logjam at half back for Indy that would’ve been the motive for Denver to cut Henry.  The Colts are now stacked with starter Joseph Addai, last years stand out back up Kenton Keith, and now re-signed former backup Dominic Rhodes.  All three have definite starting potential in the league.  That’s a lot of backfield talent for one team.

It looks like HBO’s acclaimed football reality series Hard Knocks is coming back again this training camp. The bit of surprising news coming out this week is that the show is covering the Dallas Cowboys again for the second time in it’s short four seasons (three aired). How does this affect us Bronco fans? The Cowboys and Broncos are scheduled to work out together at Dove Valley for three days prior to their August 16th preseason matchup in Denver. So it’s almost a sure bet we will get to see behind the scenes footage at the Broncos Headquarters even if it is mostly from the Cowboys point of view.

An interesting side plot to watch for will be how the two teams react to each other after last summer’s workouts together in Texas. The Broncos suffered multiple injuries during the long workouts and scrimmages with Dallas. If it gets to be anything like the regular workouts with the Vikings and Chiefs documented in the show last season, things could get scrappy fast. Hard Knocks is produced by NFL FIlms for HBO. I would recommend watching this if you’re any kind of football fan, it’s fantastic.

“The series follows a select National Football League team through its training camp and provides an in-depth perspective of the team’s preparation for the upcoming season. The series is described as one of the fastest turnaround reality series in television history. The series not only covers the team’s preparations, but also provides a viewers with team inside jokes and pranks, players’ family matters, and position battles.”

Bill Williamson (formerly of the Denver Post now ESPN) is reporting that the Broncos are showing preliminary interest in signing halfbacks Shaun Alexander who was recently cut by the Seahawks or Dominic Rhodes after he was released by the Raiders last week. If this were to be true “it doesn’t seem close to happening at this point“. Williamson is going out on a limb and saying if Denver brought in either that the team would likely release Travis Henry after his well documented “rocky start” with the Broncos. Williamson surmises the Broncos are high on Selvin Young and new 5th round pick Ryan Torain so that would leave Henry as the odd man out in the backfield logjam . This is based off the speculation that Shanahan no longer wants to deal with the troubled Henry and would rather get a veteran replacement on the roster now before the upcoming team camps.

Full writeup on the ESPN Hashmarks Blog

Hump Day is here, folks! And hopefully Kyle is doing well on those finals!

Today we take a look back at our 3rd round pick from last year, OT Ryan Harris. The pick of Harris was rather special, not because it is a marquee position, but because all the other picks that year were D-linemen. Not only that, but he was the first OT taken in the first day of the draft since the George Foster debacle. He would certainly have to face critical review by the media and fans alike as Foster had left a very bad taste in everyone’s mouth.

Like before I’ll give you a nice sampling of what Kyle and I wrote last spring right after the draft of 2007…

KYLE 2007: I feel like I’m getting mixed reviews on our third round pick out of Notre Dame. On the one hand, his athleticism on the field is top notch. His measurables, on the other hand, leave something to be desired.

The measurables Kyle talked about included his not-so-impressive combine numbers. At nearly 300 lbs, Harris wasn’t expected to post a 4.3 40-yard dash, but his 5.11 was only moderately good – not great. With speed a high priority along the Denver O-line there were some questions about how Harris would stack up.

Despite these issues, both Kyle and I found things we really liked about the man who was in training (at the time) to replace Lepsis.

KYLE 2007: First off, above all other teams (even New England), the Broncos value intelligence on the offensive line. Our blocking system is unique and difficult to understand, and Harris is noted for his intellect. While the rule of thumb for Broncos linemen has been to sit the bench for most of the first year, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Harris pick up our system and begin playing at Right Tackle if he wins the spot in training camp.

JON 2007: Two words: Charlie. Weis.

Before Charlie Weis took the head coaching job at his alma mater of Notre Dame, he ran New England’s Offense under Belichick. That offense won three Super Bowls. And Weis says that Ryan Harris has what it takes to play left tackle in the NFL — enough said.

“Left tackles are the guys that need the athleticism to handle an edge rusher by themselves, which is normally the blind side of a right-handed quarterback. Ryan Harris has the athleticism to play left tackle.” – Charlie Weiss 2007

Harris is another player with extensive experience, having started the last 32 games for the Fighting Irish (and logged 937 minutes of total playing time). He should add needed depth to our O-line.

KYLE 2007: I’ve heard a lot of skepticism of this pick among Broncos fans online. Many question his motor and his determination, but Ryan Harris has been a career starter at one of the nation’s premiere programs at Notre Dame. I would invite such skeptics to remember the old adage “Give me a Pro Bowl Quarterback, I’ll show you a Pro Bowl Lineman”… And Brady Quinn was the #1 QB on my board, and everyone’s board until he played against JaMarcus Russell in the Sugar Bowl. He wouldn’t have been nearly as effective without a quality OL watching his back, and Harris anchored the left side, the most vital part of that line.
Click here to read the rest of this entry »

• The Denver Post follows the story of CU Buff now Denver Bronco OT Tyler Polumbus and other rookies being signed as undrafted free agents.  Must be weird keeping Jeff Fischer on hold.
• The Broncos have reshuffled the front office after hiring Xanders.  [Rocky Mountain News]
• Is Mark Schlereth going to be a reality television star?  Stinky’s family could be the new anti-Osbournes.  [My Fox Colorado]
• The NFL has locked in the date and times of the league’s preseason games.  [denverbroncos.com]

So today we are continuing our review of the 2007 draft by showing you what Kyle and I wrote a year ago as we learned about our second round pick DE Tim Crowder from Texas. As I mentioned yesterday, our biggest need coming into the 2007 season was along our D-line and the Broncos had started out the draft last year with a stunning trade up to get their first Defensive End, Jarvis Moss, in the first round. That move might be debated for some years to come, but both Kyle and I liked the Shanahan’s 2nd round pick straight out of the gate.

Here are some of the comments we made in April of 2007:

KYLE 2007: This is my favorite pick of our draft, simply because Tim Crowder was among the most productive Defensive Ends in the draft; he played at a big time college program, and he’s a character guy with all the intangibles you look for. He’s more poised to start in Week 1 than Moss, but with less upside longterm. He was a steal at 56, especially considering that he isn’t the liability against the run that Moss is at this time. I expect him to start across Ekuban in Week 1 against Buffalo.

JON 2007: I really like what I’ve read about Crowder. He leads by example both on and off the field and has more playing time experience than most DE’s in the draft. These two factors make him a great addition to our team.

So we both mention his college playing experience and production. That’s because Crowder played in ALL 13 games in 2003, he started ALL 12 games in 2004, he started ALL 13 games in 2005 (and won a national championship). And finally he started ALL 13 games last season.

The other thing we mentioned was his character. For a draft that saw two players who received game suspensions during their college career, Crowder stood out as a great example of what a high character guy can bring to a team.

“I think God put me here to play football. But, I also think I am supposed to use that to help other people. If I can be a role model and set a good example, I think that is what I’m supposed to use my talents for.” – Tim Crowder 10/4/06

Were there any downsides considered during the draft? Yeah, Kyle nails what most of his critics were saying in this piece…

KYLE 2007: While his measurables leave something to be desired (you will see that 1st round selection Jarvis Moss is taller, leaner, and quicker), no one can bash his technique, as he has excellent leverage and knows how to maintain his balance. He is also a solid tackler – less of a liability against the run than Jarvis Moss, although his lack of speed could leave him burned at the pro level.

Kyle also mentions that DE Victor Abiamiri went to the Eagles immediately following our pick of Crowder. And in our daily player comparison, we find that Denver’s player wins hands down during their rookie season. Abiamiri played in 6 games (started 1) and had only 3 tackles (2 solo) and no sacks.

So, now let’s look at how Crowder did in his rookie year:

First off he played in 13 games (having been inactive for the first three games due to an ankle injury). During those games he racked up 22 tackles (18 solo), four sacks, a forced fumble and two fumble recovers (one returned for a TD).

He ranked 4th in the league among rookies in sacks last year. His impressive prime-time debut on MNF included his 50 yard TD run on the fumble recovery against the Steelers. However, his best game (IMHO) was against KC in Nov. when he recorded 3 solo tackles and a pair of sacks (both in the fourth quarter). The first was a 9-yard loss on third down which forced a punt and the second one was a 12-yard loss on a last ditch fourth down attempt by the Chiefs. This sack led to a turn over on downs and wrapped up the game. In that game he assisted our defense in limiting KC to 67 yards rushing on 22 carries (3 yard average).

So, what can we expect from Crowder in 2008? It’s time to sound off, Bronco Nation!

Does Crowder start across from Elvis this year? Is he just a rotating end? How much of an impact will Jarvis Moss’s return make to Crowder’s playing time?

Let’s hear what you think!

NEXT UP: I get excited about Ryan Harris backing up Lepsis!