Former Chiefs center Casey Wiegmann has signed a two-year deal with the Denver Broncos, according to Adam Caplan of Scout.com.  Per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed, although the report believes the contract is worth around $3 million.

Wiegmann has started 96 straight games for the Chiefs, making him an extremely durable backup.  It is believed Wiegmann will back up both the center and guard positions, giving him added value in the wake of both Ben Hamilton and Tom Nalen being placed on the Injured Reserve last season.

I’ve warmed to the idea of Wiegmann in a Broncos uniform.  He’s not an ideal starter anymore, but his durability make him great insurance if Nalen or Hamilton go down or can’t make it back from last year’s injuries.  Welcome aboard.

• Both sides are interested, now Casey Wiegmann will go home and talk to his fiancee about living in higher elevations.  [Denver Post]
• Wiegmann’s agent says he is seriously considering Denver; also in this article – more details about the Jason Elam contract offer from the Broncos.  [Rocky Mountain News]
• The Broncos let go of 8 employees, including DenverBroncos.com editor, blogger, and BroncosTV reporter Andrew Mason, which definitely hits close to home.  I’ll have more on this later.  [Denver Post]

Pat Bowlen has been keeping a close eye on the Elam situation with him currently visiting the Falcons.  The Rocky Mountain News has an article up eluding to the Broncos owner possibly intervening if he is not happy with where the situation is headed.  When asked if he would get involved again in contract talks similar to the Lynch negotiations earlier in the off season.

“I’ve watched it. I haven’t said anything to anybody . . . ,” Bowlen said. “I’m sure our football people are watching that closely. But I can’t really give you a really good answer to that question.”

The article makes it appear that Pat would like to keep “the status quo” in Denver, and if he has to jump in and offer Elam a little more money to do that, then it might just happen.  Rasizer (author) states the feeling is that there should be some loyalty considered in the negotiations with Elam but the Broncos have to weigh that against a good business decision.

Bowlen when asked if this was comparable to the Lynch situation:

“I think there are some parallel scenarios there.”

Full Writeup in the Rocky Mountain

Casey Wiegmann, former center for the Jets, Colts, Bears, and Chiefs (most recently), is close to signing with the Broncos per a league source. [Pro Football Talk]

At 34 years old, Wiegmann would be adding depth to the Broncos line, particularly with the recent departure of G/C Chris Myers. I’d rather pass, but it looks like this thing might actually happen. Meh. Stay tuned.

• Jason Elam is in Atlanta, where signing the 38-year old would provide the Falcons with a youth movement of nearly 10 years.  He’s as good as gone.  [Denver Post]
• Jim Armstrong points out that the Broncos may have to strike gold (again) in the 4th or 5th rounds of the draft to catch the Chargers in the AFC West.  [Denver Post]
• A couple of LBs from Virginia Tech get the official site spotlight treatment (with video).  [DenverBroncos.com]
• Big news out of Chargers land.  LB Shawne Merriman and LT Marcus McNeill underwent arthoscopic surgeries this week (left knee, left shoulder respectively).  [BoltTalk]
• Tatum Bell says he should be free to prove his mettle now that Mike Martz is out of the Detroit picture.  [My Fox Colorado]
• Great news kids!  Now you can lick Randy Moss!  [Boston Herald]

I think we’re in for an interesting season in ‘08. A season we might entitle: MIKE’S BIG SHOW. Cause in my opinion, the outcome of this season is going to have a major influence on the future of my favorite Broncos coach, Mike Shanahan.

Yes, the news has been full of talk about his firing of Ted Sundquist. But I’m not just talking about the axing of Sundquist, I’m talking about a broad move this off-season away from strong high-level leaders within the Broncos organization.

Let’s start with the GM position. I know Mr. Bowlen has talked with the media about his support of Shanahan and his powerful oversight of all that Mike does, but my most pressing concern is not that Mike and Ted had a ‘communication problem.’ It’s that Mike has no plans to replace him. Assistants will be taking over parts of the Ted’s job rather than headhunting for a stunningly great new GM to help out the club.

…and I have to ask: Why?

Click here to read the rest of this entry »

For the next several weeks leading up to April’s draft, BroncoTalk will be profiling some of the hottest prospects out there, particularly ones that could potentially be available for the Denver Broncos in the first two rounds of the 2008 NFL Draft. Today we feature Notre Dame DT Trevor Laws.

We now turn the mic over to Christopher Hart, who covers the Broncos draft at The Beat. Enjoy!

If anything is certain heading into Draft Day 2008 for the Denver Broncos they will need to find a defensive tackle unless they’re able to pull a deal for Dewayne Robertson of the New York Jets. It’s unlikely that Glenn Dorsey or Sedrick Ellis will fall to the Broncos at #12, and #12 is far too early for Kentwan Balmer who is widely regarded as the next best after the two top ten locks.

A name that Broncos fans should get to know and become familiar with is Trevor Laws out of Notre Dame. Laws is the epitome of a blue-collar defensive lineman with that “lunch pail” mentality. Laws is one of the most underrated defensive tackles available in this years draft and would be a solid addition to the Broncos interior defensive line. If Mike Shanahan is serious about finding players who want to work hard compared to some of our recent departures, Laws would be a nice place to start looking – especially at a position of need.

Click here to read the rest of this entry »

• Two great articles detailing Broncos owner Pat Bowlen‘s opinion on the Ted Sundquist/Mike Shanahan situation.  We’ll start with the RMN, where Bowlen says that the relationship between the GM and Coach was hardly functional at all, and a change had to be made.  [Rocky Mountain News]
• Bowlen talks about these changes in more depth, specifically mentioning the coaching staff and “bad people” in the locker room.  [Denver Post]
• A second offer has been made to fullback Cecil Sapp.  His agent says he wants to stay in Denver, but he makes it sound like he’s getting better offers elsewhere.  [Denver Post]
• Chris Myers talks about the trade, saying the move is definitely “bittersweet.”  [Rocky Mountain News]
• The deal between the Raiders and Atlanta for DeAngelo Hall actually never went through (thanks ESPiN)… some are saying the deal might be dead, but this Raiders insider believes otherwise.  [Inside the Oakland Raiders]

The Broncos worked a sign and trade deal to send offensive lineman Chris Myers to the Texans in return for a sixth round draft pick in next month’s draft. This deal is a bit of a stunner, not so much that it happened based off of what Kyle reported earlier, but how it went down.

“Myers, a restricted free agent, worked out a four-year, $11 million deal that includes $3 million in guaranteed money with the Broncos and then Myers and the new deal were traded to the Texans for a sixth-round pick in next month’s draft.”

Looks like Kubiak would rather have the Broncos do the negotiating since they still gave up a 6th round pick in return for Myers. You can definitely tell there is a special relationship between the two organizations as something like this would most likely never happen elsewhere in the NFL. Can anyone elude to why the Broncos and the Texans would go this route rather than Houston signing him restricted as the article doesn’t elaborate a motive?

Full Story at the Rocky Mountain News

If you’ve been reading my comments for sometime now, you’ll notice that I’m a big fan of the Kissing Suzy Kolber Blog. (18+) It covers the NFL in a completely immature, unpolitically correct, vulgar, and absolutely hilarious manner. I especially love the way they speak for Patriots fans and Marmalard aka Phillip Rivers. So I’m browsing through my bookmarks trying to wake up this morning when I come upon this little gem…

The KSK Real NFL Mascot Kill Kill Kill Invitational Tournament

They’re basically running a March madness “dumbest bracket of all” (their words) you can print out and follow along with. They’re going to be pitting each team’s mascots against each other in an octogon of death. We vote on each round to decide the winner. Reading this bit, I haven’t laughed this hard at an internet post in a good while. While we’re being given basically no chance in this thing and I can’t necessarily argue with that. I still like to think that a Bronco would totally tear it up on a football field, I think all those Budweiser commercials have made me delusional. I thought I would still direct you to this monstrosity.

Our lovely division:

F*****G LAMEASS HORSES
25. Colt
26. Bronco
27. Charger (I did NOT know a Charger was a kind of horse before “researching” for this)

So do your best, or in my case your worst Broncos fans!