As draft day approaches, BroncoTalk will be giving you game tape highlights of some of the bigger (and smaller) names around the draft. Today’s installment: Texas WR Limas Sweed.

Second video – after the jump – shows Sweed a few years ago catching a game winner delivered by Vince Young.
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• Brandon Marshall has his cast removed, and responds to the comments made by Jay Cutler.  [Denver Post]
• Are the Broncos heading in the wrong direction? (Warning: this article is really bad).  [ESPN]
• Fellow fan blog addresses the defensive line in this year’s draft.  [Rocky Mountain Fever]
• NFL: The more I hear about league money, the more I fear union disputes.  [ProFootballTalk]

While I was posting the weekend edition of the daily links yesterday, I totally missed this piece of news in the Mike Klis article. I would’ve thought the Denver Post would have a dedicated a whole article to news this big. (That’s what I get for posting right before bed)

The next three weeks at Dove Valley will be devoted to the draft. The Broncos have the No. 12 and 42 overall picks on the first day, April 26.

On the second day, the Broncos hope to use one of their late-round picks to acquire Jets defensive tackle Dewayne Robertson.

It looks like we’re going to be addressing our need at defensive tackle in the draft one way or another. Could this be changing our draft strategy in the early rounds? The team might be addressing skill positions in rounds 1 and 2 by having the team’s certain need in the middle of the defensive line taken care of ahead of the draft.

• Mike Klis has an interesting mix of an article up stating that Houston is closer to the Super Bowl than the Broncos right now.  He also sheds some light on the move people have been questioning on letting Myers go for a sixth round pick.  Also a sidenote that the Broncos are looking at Miami Safety Kenny Phillips in the draft.   [Denver Post]
• I guess Karl Mecklenberg (my all time favorite) helping open a Sports Authority is big news in Grand Junction. [krextv.com]
• TSN has their draft preview for the Broncos up.  [The Sports Network]
• In case you missed it, MHR selected DE Derrick Harvey for the Broncos in the SBNation Mock Draft.  [Mile High Report]
• It’s certain, RF365 hates Denver.  Their terrible coverage of the Broncos continues in “Nightmare Offseason Gets Worse and Worse”.  As if their 5 questions of the off season series wasn’t tasteless and inaccurate enough.   [Real Footballl 365]

Quoting Bailey‘s interview on Brandon Marshall (and re-reading it for spelling/grammar etc.) put me in a bit of a sour mood. This article picked me up a bit, and thought it might for you, too.

Brandon’s Marshall approaching crossroads [ESPN]

What really stood out is that the men in charge haven’t lost faith.

“Brandon has to look himself in the mirror and realize how special he can be,” Denver owner Pat Bowlen said. “We believe in him and think he’ll be fine.”

“He’s a great player, we all know that,” Denver coach Mike Shanahan said. “He knows he has some things to work on, and we are confident he will.”

Finally, from the author (Bill Williamson, formerly of the Denver Post): “Marshall is worth saving — perhaps that’s why Cutler took him to task this week.”

As promised, here are some quotes from Champ Bailey‘s interview with Sirius NFL Radio yesterday. This time he talks in detail about Brandon Marshall, and how the receiver’s most recent incident has troubled his teammates.

On whether Brandon Marshall will ever change —

I sure hope so. Who’s to say? I’ve seen guys go through things. You look at Cris Carter and Irving Fryer, what they did through the early parts of their career, and how they turned their lives around and became pretty much Hall of Fame receivers. It’s possible, definitely, but it’s up to him. I sure hope he gets it.

On why Marshall lied about the McDonald’s bag —

Well, I don’t know why he decided to lie. For one, I don’t ever believe the first story I hear anyway. The funny thing is, when something like that happens, if you come out and tell the truth it’s over real quick. But once you tell a lie, obviously the truth comes out in the end. It just drags it on and drags it on. It kills your character. It’s a tough way to learn, but this guy’s still learning and it’s his third year. He better start getting it quick.

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As draft day approaches, BroncoTalk will be giving you game tape highlights of some of the bigger (and smaller) names around the draft. We’re calling ’em our Draft Prospect Profiles. Today’s installment: Notre Dame DT Trevor Laws.

Second video – after the jump – shows Laws performing at the combine, with an interview afterwards.

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Yesterday, Champ Bailey went on the air of my favorite sports talk show and let loose. Really loose. In fact, I can’t ever remember Champ being that candid about his thoughts on his teammates and the front office.

I have the interview recorded and plan on giving some direct quotes a little later today, but one of the things that stood out to me was his comments on Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson.

Champ said that the Broncos need some playmakers on offense. He had a lot to say about Brandon Marshall – more on that later – but said he has a lot of faith in Jay Cutler if he has the right weapons. The radio hosts asked if he’d be interested in Johnson. Champ almost laughed as he told the hosts he’s been recruiting Chad since the Pro Bowl.

Bailey emphasized Chad’s work ethic in his comments. The hosts asked Champ if he had a problem with Ocho Cinco’s touchdown celebrations. Bailey laughed that one off too, saying “not if he scores the points.”

The Ocho Cinco situation is one big murky mess to me. I don’t get it, I don’t know why the media turned on him, and I’ve always been a fan of his. Is he a bad teammate because he dances in the end zone? No. Has he ever said he has a problem sharing the catches with T.J. Houshmandzadeh? No. The rumor that he punched coach Marvin Lewis in 2005 concerns me, but then I wonder why it’s only coming out now?

Like Bailey said, it’s “up to the front office,” but I have to admit the thought of 85 in a Broncos uni excites me. You?

Sorry for the late start… although Jonathan’s post last night kept a lot of great discussion going this morning. Worry not, we have a lot in store for you today.

• Should the Broncos look at RB in rounds one and two? [Rocky Mountain News]
• Boss Bailey is ready to show he’s worth the cash. [DenverBroncos.com]
• More praise for the “rebuilding” Chiefs. [Denver Post]
• Matt Mosley’s 3rd Mock has the Broncos taking Ryan Clady (again). [Hashmarks]
• MLB: Cardinals 3, Rockies 0. Cardinals take the series 2-1. Next up: Arizona Diamondbacks [Yahoo! Sports]

So, it’s official… DJ Williams is moving.

Moving, that is, to the weak side LB position despite his fantastic statistical first year in the middle.

As I’ve said in the past, I think this is a huge slap in the face of an athlete like DJ, who at the bare minimum deserved to compete for the starting MIKE spot after last year’s success.

However, yesterday Mike Shanahan clearly stated that he intends to unceremoniously demote DJ…

“It’s tough to be thrown into a position and be great at it. I thought he did a good job. You look at all the tackles he had, but I just don’t think it was really natural for him.” — Mike Shanahan 4/3/08

TRANSLATION: MIKE LB is a tough job and DJ was only ‘good’ at it – not great.

Hmmm… So, if leading the NFL statically at your position in your first year isn’t good enough can someone please tell me what we’re expecting from our players?

Let me ask this question: If we had, say, a fullback that was asked to take over at RB one year. And, let’s imagine that he lead the league in rushing yards and/or touchdowns scored in that first year at RB.

Can you honestly imagine Shanahan saying anything like he did here to DJ? Wouldn’t the fanbase of Denver jump up and down demanding that Shanahan NOT move this player back to FB the next year?

To fully explain my position:
I’m not opposed to moving personnel around. I like Niko. I like Boss. I liked how DJ developed last year and what he did despite a horrible defense up front. But I also like thinking about the havoc DJ could cause on the weak side. I would be happy if we find a way to get all three of these LB’s on the field next year.

My concern is the fact that Mike Shanahan thinks part of the solution for 2008 is moving DJ from the middle. That implies that Shanahan believes DJ at MIKE was part of the problem last year — and I flat out deny that 100%. It worries me that Shanahan could think this, because that indicates he hasn’t really figured out what went wrong last year and how to fix it this year…. and that’s scary, folks.

Am I making too much of this? Someone, poke some holes in my logic, please.