Denver Broncos safety Mike Adams, pictured here in 2011 as a member of the Cleveland Browns, will continue to wear #20 for the Broncos, last worn in Denver by Brian Dawkins. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Brian Dawkins was only a member of the Denver Broncos for three seasons, but in that short time, he left a legacy.

Dawkins, who announced his retirement last month, left a legacy of #20 representing a fierce athlete on the field — a sure tackler with a dominant edge. He left a legacy as a leader to his teammates, both on and off the football field. He left a legacy as the patron safety for a group of up-and-coming young defensive backs in Denver.

And Mike Adams has inherited all of it.

Adams, an NFL veteran of nine seasons and the Broncos’ first free agent signing this offseason, has never been in this position before. He’s never been in any of these positions before.

But it became clear Tuesday that Adams, who will wear #20, is all of those things for the 2012 Broncos, and he is taking it all in stride. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

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Denver Broncos News

Broncos had their eyes on Hillman before the draft | Denver Post
The Broncos went into the draft wanting to select a running back. Hillman, from San Diego State, was one of the backs they liked a lot.

Broncos’ restocked secondary gets high marks | SI.com
Peyton Manning and Champ Bailey are giving the Denver Broncos’ restocked secondary two thumbs up.
Click here to read the rest of this entry »

The first change was moving the Week Six trade deadline to Week Eight, which is self explanatory.  The second ruling involves injured reserve lists.  The new IR rule would allow teams to take one player back from IR after Week Eight of the season and activate him to the active roster mid-season.

The third and final change would make knee and thigh pads mandatory starting next season.  This change was met with mixed reactions from the players.

“That’s great for high school kids and college kids, but I don’t know,” said Broncos defensive lineman Justin Bannan on Tuesday.  “I think if you’re going to have an injury happen, a knee pad or a thigh pad isn’t going to save you. I had a thigh pad on and gotten just as deep of a thigh bruise as you can have with the thigh pad on.”

Other players, including cornerback Tracy Porter, were in favor of more leg padding.  “I’m a believer in it,” said Porter.  “I’ve been wearing them since my rookie year.”

“My opinion is that I don’t want to wear them but you have to follow the rules and policies,” concluded cornerback Drayton Florence.

The NFL is also close to deciding the location of the 2013 Pro Bowl game.  The league has considered doing away with the game completely due to the lack of competitiveness in the game.  If a Pro Bowl is played next year, it will either be in Honolulu or New Orleans, according to reports.

Quarterback Peyton Manning met with the media yesterday to talk about working with his new teammates and the importance of OTAs following practice.

When rookie quarterback Brock Osweiler became the subject of discussion, things became interesting.

According to the team’s official website, Osweiler measures up at six-foot, seven inches tall — two inches taller than Manning.  One member of the media, 104.3 The Fan‘s Brandon Krisztal felt it necessary to point this out to Manning.

“Is it weird looking up to a taller quarterback,” asked Krisztal.  “That doesn’t happen too often, does it?”

“It happens to you all your life,” responded Manning, to roars of laughter.  “You’re actually right,” a short statured Krisztal admitted.

“You set yourself up for that,” laughed Manning before patting Krisztal on the head.  The video, unfortunately non-embeddable, can be viewed on NFL.com.

Cornerback Champ Bailey (24, left) talks with Tracy Porter (22, right). (Image courtesy of Stuart Zaas/Denver Broncos)

During the offseason, the Denver Broncos brought in two free agent cornerbacks — Tracy Porter (formerly of New Orleans) and Drayton Florence (formerly of Buffalo).  Besides their obvious similarity in size (Florence has just one inch and seven pounds on Porter), the two cornerbacks have another trait in common, which may have been deciding factors for Denver.

Both corners openly admit they are most comfortable in press, man coverage.  New Defensive Coordinator Jack Del Rio and Secondary Coach Ron Milus won’t be giving away what type of coverage schemes they’ll be running this season, but both Porter and Florence were adamant on Tuesday when asked which coverage they prefer.

“I think I bring a physical presence at the corner position. Getting my hands on guys at the line of scrimmage is what I take pride in,” Florence noted after practice earlier today.  “When you have guys like Elvis Dumervil and Von Miller coming off the edge you obviously want to throw the timing off. I think we’ll all mesh well together.”   Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Name: Zane Beadles
Pos: Guard
Ht, Wt: 6’4″, 305
Age: 25
Exp: 3
College: Utah

Zane Beadles has started in 30 of 32 possible games in his NFL career — six games at right tackle, and the rest at left guard. A versatile, promising prospect drafted by the Denver Broncos in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft, Beadles and C J.D. Walton formed the first rookie tandem to make their regular season debut as starters on the offensive line in franchise history.

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The Immaculate Deflection was an incredible play to win the game.

Topping my list at number four, is the Immaculate Deflection.  In a hard fought, defensive struggle that the Denver Broncos pretty much controlled until the final Cincinnati Bengals drive of the game, it took a miracle for the Broncos to come out on top 12-7.

The victory would catapult a poorly coached team to a 6-0 record, before ending the season in disarray, finishing 2-8 down the stretch.  The Immaculate Deflection would be the highlight of the 2009 season.

It would take a remarkable play to top big time game breaking plays from the many playoff games in Broncos history and this is the one that does it.  An 87 yard deflected catch and run to win the game is just the kind of play that would make the grade here.

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Quarterback Peyton Manning #18 of the Denver Broncos talks to the local and national media following organized team activities at Dove Valley on May 21, 2012 in Englewood, Colorado. (Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

A collection of nuggets, thoughts, opinions, and second-hand observations from the Denver Broncos‘ first organized team activity led by Peyton Manning on Monday.

1. These aren’t the Indianapolis Broncos

There’s a fantastic and timely article I encourage you to read and digest from SmartFootball.com. In it, the author and owner of the site, Chris Brown, breaks down how Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts — for 13 years — “ran the same tiny little cluster of plays, from the same tiny little cluster of formations, with the most consistent personnel in the league, and brutalized NFL defenses year-in and year-out.”

Brown breaks down how the majority of the Colts’ formations under Manning involved a shift of only two positions — the two inside receivers — and how offensive coordinator Tom Moore developed a system with Manning that allowed the quarterback to run the show. “Trust may have been Tom Moore’s greatest skill,” Brown writes, alluding to the fact that the Denver Broncos may not be matching that working paradigm.

The Broncos are putting Manning in a new situation with a new playbook and new receivers and new linemen, and Brown doesn’t reasonably expect an immediate impact of the same magnitude that Manning had in Indianapolis. After all, it was the intimate knowledge of each player’s strengths and weaknesses, and years of using the same system, that led to that success.

“Yeah, there’s no question it’s different,” Manning said of the Broncos offense. “You’ve got different terminology and different players — there’s no question it’s different.”

How different? It behooves the Broncos to make their $18-million man as comfortable in this offense as possible. It behooves them to turn this Colt into a Bronco not by throwing out the horseshoes, but by tweaking the saddle. Peyton Manning knows how to run a prolific NFL offense; as Brown concludes, whether the success is immediate or not, the Broncos’ and Manning’s respective transitions will be fun to watch.

(Editor’s Note: If you liked Brown’s article on Manning, be sure to check out his new book, The Essential Smart Football.)

Click here to go to Page 2 »

Denver Broncos sixth round draft pick linebacker Danny Trevathan has signed with the club, the Broncos announced Tuesday.

Officially, Trevathan becomes the third Broncos draft pick to sign his rookie contract. Monday, the Denver Post reported that Derek Wolfe had agreed to terms, but the Broncos have yet to announce it, suggesting they may be waiting for Wolfe to come to town and sign the dotted line.

Either way, having half the draft class signed in May is infinitely better than the training camp scurry of years past, and there’s no reason the Broncos won’t have their entire draft class signed by month’s end.

It’s still surreal to see Peyton Manning in a Denver Broncos uniform, and it’s even more surreal to see him leading his Broncos teammates on the field. It’s Peyton Freaking Manning, people. It’s Peyton Freaking Manning.

A collection of photo galleries after the jump. Click here to read the rest of this entry »