SB Nation - Kory Lichtensteiger

Horse Tracks 9/30/09 - NFL study shows higher rate of dementia in former players; status of Hamilton, Harris unknown; A. Smith unlikely

Douglas A. Lee — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:45:19 -0000

NYT - Study Indicates Higher Rate of Dementia in Former N.F.L. Players - Alan Schwarz
This is scary stuff with far-reaching implications. Folks, make sure your kids know the dangers associated with concussions. It's not about being tough; it's about keeping your brain intact and functioning into old age...

DB - Gearing Up For a Ground Game War - Patrick Smyth
Fun facts from the weekly press release.

DPP - Broncos' schedule takes turn for tougher starting with Cowboys on Sunday - Mike Klis

DPP - Mailbag: Denver brought in the right new players - Mike Klis
"Andra Davis, cornerback Andre' Goodman and safeties Brian Dawkins and Renaldo Hill...replaced Nate Webster, Dre' Bly, Marquand Manuel and Marlon McCree." Wow. Never looked it all those names side by side.

DPP - Broncos defensive backs coach lauds his veterans - Jeff Legwold
Sounds like Alphonso Smith is unlikely to play Sunday. Ben Hamilton and Ryan Harris are nursing injuries and their status is unknown. Ryan Torain worked out for the Dolphins, while Kory Lichtensteiger was waived by Minnesota.

CSG - Broncos are actually chameleons - Frank Schwab
Pardon the look ahead, but I wonder how much of a chess match the game versus Belichick and Co. will be...

PFW - Week Four matchup tidbits

DPP - Broncos primer: the Dallas Cowboys - Linday Jones

DPP - Q&A: Broncos make sure Dumervil plays to strength - Jeff Legwold

DPP - Analysis: Broncos' offensive line showing great depth - Lindsay Jones

CBS4 - Elway: Broncos Offensive Line Has Been Outstanding - Matthew Buettner

LTC - Dedication - Brian Howell
Daniel Graham is feeling the effects of playing 8 years down in the trenches. Anyone still wondering why we drafted Richard Quinn?

LTC - Broncos’ consistency bodes well for season - Brian Howell

DB - Awareness on Display - Zach Eisendrath
The NFL is helping put breast cancer awareness at the forefront in October.

DB - Ask Elvis Dumervil...

DB - Colorful Season At Home - Jim Saccomano

DB - 3-0 Makes For A Fun Start - Mark Cooper

DB - Buckhalter, Moreno Up For Awards - Gray Caldwell

TSN - AFC West: Unbeaten Broncos face uphill battle - Shawn Clarke

Cowboys News

NFP - Monday replay: Cowboys shut down deep threat - Matt Bowen
Plenty of good analysis which is relevant come Sunday.

ST - The smartest thing the Cowboys can do is let Romo be Romo - Jennifer Floyd Engel

ST - Broncos, Orton are a pair of surprises - Jeff Caplan

ST - Dallas Cowboys cornerback Mike Jenkins is stepping up - Clarence Hill

ST - Dallas Cowboys down to one healthy running back - Charean Williams

DMN - Rush weak? Dallas Cowboys' running back depth being tested - Todd Archer

DMN - No pass rush from Dallas Cowboys' Spencer making it tough be Ware - Jean-Jacques Taylor

DMN - Jenkins looks to have won job at right cornerback for Dallas Cowboys - David Moore

DMN - Dallas Cowboys scouting report: Denver Broncos - Rick Gosselin

AFC West

NFL - Chiefs sign former Cardinals TE Pope

KCS - Chiefs having trouble finding right combination on offensive line - Kent Babb

KCS - Chiefs trade Thigpen to Dolphins - Kent Babb

SDUT - Connected by Steel - CHris Jenkins

SDUT - Scouting the Steelers

NFP - Real Fake People: Very Fake Al Davis - Ray Gustini
Another gem from Gustini.

SFC - No tussle over Russell; he'll start - David White

SFG - Last word on Gannon - David White

OT - Poole: Raiders are historically horrendous

NFL News

NFL - Trotter back with Eagles after year out of league

NFL - Rams LB Vobora suspended four games

NFL - Saints place Pro Bowl left tackle Brown on IR

NFL - Rams release veteran DT Hollis Thomas

NFL - Tomlin may bench Steelers WR Sweed after drops

NFL - Police investigating case involving Patriots CB Wilhite

NFL Opinion

NFP - Diner morning news: Breaking down the teams - Mike Lombardi
Lombardi has a fair point (IMO) regarding the Broncos' prospects. It remains to be seen whether Kyle Orton can win a game for us when we need it...

SI - Indianapolis Colts, New York Giants are NFL elite through Week 3 - Don Banks
Banks thinks the Broncos will be 4-7 or worse after the next 8 games...

SI - Pittsburgh Steelers, Arizona Cardinals have hope despite records - John P. Lopez

FOX - Schein 9: Don't rule out Jets-Giants Super Bowl

PFW - Rookie Meter: Jury out on freshman backs - Matt Sohn

Y! - Latest injury could spell end for Pennington - Jason Cole

NFP - Tavern talk: Zorn’s game management - Mike Lombardi

CBS - Time for Zorn to prove he's worthy of Redskins gig - Clark Judge

NFP - NFL notebook: Bills’ offense needs T.O. - Matt Bowen

ESPN - T.O. wallowing in his own martyrdom - Tim Graham

SI - MMQB Mailbag - Peter King

NFL - One month into 2009 season, Steelers and Cardinals not so super - Vic Carucci

SN - Who Will Be The Last Unbeaten Standing? - Albert Breer

CBS - Bengals' turnaround has been long time coming - Charley Casserly

SI - Eric Mangini might be worst NFL coaching hire ever - Joe Posnanski

NFP - The contract conundrum - Jack Bechta

NFP - The NFP Power Rankings

NFL - Expert Rankings: Week 3

CBS - Power Rankings: Manning always gives Colts chance to win - Pete Prisco

Y! - Jets, Saints proper hosts for Bourbon St. party - Mike Silver

SN - NFL Power Poll: Redskins reeling after loss to Lions - Clifton Brown

NFP - Scout’s notebook: offensive review - Wes Bunting

NFP - Scout’s notebook: defensive review - Wes Bunting

Vikings No Longer Hangin' With Mr. Cooper; Also Announce Practice Squad

Gonzo — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:10:16 -0000

Well, Jon Cooper's time as the Vikings' #2 center was, apparently, short-lived, as the Beloved Purple have signed offensive lineman Kory Lichtensteiger to a contract and released the former Sooner.

Lichtensteiger was a fourth-round pick of the Denver Broncos in the 2008 draft, having played his college ball at Bowling Green. According to Vikings.com, Lichtensteiger played both guard and center for the Falcons, and was named to the All-MAC and Academic All-MAC teams as a senior. He was also a finalist for the Rimington Trophy, which is given to the best center in college football, and a semi-finalist for the Draddy Trophy, which is considered by many to be the "Academic Heisman."

In addition, as Anthony has already pointed out, the Vikings named their eight-man practice squad. Ian Johnson surprisingly made it through waivers, as did John David Booty. Here's the entire group.

S Colt Anderson
QB John David Booty
OT Chris Clark
RB Ian Johnson
DT Tremaine Johnson
TE Garrett Mills
WR Nick Moore
OL Drew Radovich

The Journey to 53 - Denver Broncos Cut Day Open Thread

John Bena — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 16:37:26 -0000

By 2PM mdt today the Denver Broncos, and the other 31 teams in the National Football League, must be at 53 players on the active roster. Use this thread to talk about it as names come across the wires -

The following players are confirmed to be released or placed on I/R -

Released September 4 and 5th, 2009
Player	NFL Exp.	College
DL Matthias Askew*	3	Michigan State
G Kory Lichtensteiger	2	Bowling Green State
QB Ingle Martin	3	Furman
CB Rashod Moulton	1	Fort Valley State
T Clint Oldenburg*	2	Colorado State
DL Carlton Powell	2	Virginia Tech
ILB Lee Robinson*	R	Alcorn State
WR Nate Swift*	R	Nebraska
RB Marcus Thomas	2	Texas-El Paso
WR Matthew Willis*	2	UCLA
DB Joshua Bell	2	Baylor
CB Tony Carter*	R	Florida St.
DT Everette Pedescleaux*	R	N. Iowa
OL Mitch Erickson*	2	S. Dakota St.
DE Tim Crowder	3	Texas
DE Nic Clemons	3	Georgia
RB Darius Walker	3	Notre Dame
OL Matt McChesney**	3	Colorado

*Practice Squad Eligable
**Placed on Injured Reserve

After the jump, the players on the Broncos roster that are Practice Squad eligable.

	53-man roster	Practice Squad	Waived
RB Knowshon Moreno	X
OLB/DE Robert Ayers	X
CB Alphonso Smith	X
DB Darcel McBath	X
TE Richard Quinn	X
DB David Bruton	X
OG Seth Olsen	X
WR Kenny McKinley		X
QB Tom Brandstater		X
DE Mathias Askew		X
OG Mitch Erickson		X
T Clint Oldenburg		X
WR Matthew Willis			X
WR Nate Swift		X
DT/DE Ryan McBean	X
DB DJ Johnson			X
DB Tony Carter			X
SLB Lee Robinson		X
DE Everette Pedescleaux		X
DE/NT Chris Baker	X

Colts cut Dante Hughes, Steve Justice, and Nick Graham

BigBlueShoe — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:32:03 -0000

Dante Hughes, right, never lived up to expectations after a stellar career at Cal. He was cut today as the Colts trim their roster down to 53 active players. Photo: cache.daylife.com

View full size photo »

Special thanks to jumunjis for posting the link to Mike Chappell's Indy Star report. The first cuts towards the 53-man roster have been made, and on the chopping block are 2007 third round pick Dante Hughes, 2008 sixth round pick Steve Justice, and Nick Graham. As jumunjis astutely points out, Hughes is yet another victim of the curse of the third round pick. Former Colts tackle Quinn Pitcock was the other third rounder the Colts took in 2007. Now, both he and Hughes are former-Colts after just two years.

When you look back at the 2007 draft for the Colts, it had so much promise. I even called it "one of the best drafts Bill Polian has ever presided over in Indianapolis." Shows you how much I know.

From that 2007 draft class, only Anthony Gonzalez, Clint Session, and Keyunta Dawson remain (and Dawson is in danger of cutting cut himself). Dante Hughes, Brandon Condren, Michael Coe, and Roy Hall were all drafted by Indy that year, and all of them were cut this off-season. DT Quinn Pitcock quit football last year prior to training camp. That's five picks from just two years ago that are gone. And to top it all off, Indy's second round pick in 2007, Tony Ugoh, was just recently benched. Indy traded a first rounder in 2008 for Ugoh, and now it looks like he is going the way of all the other trash drafted in 2007.

Yikes!

The 2008 Draft for Indy isn't shaping up to be much better. Mike Pollak, a center out of Arizona State who Indy has converted into a guard, isn't setting the world on fire, or anything. Jamey Richard, who played center at Buffalo, is a quality back-up, but that's about all we can ever really expect from Richard. And now, Steve Justice, the third center the Colts drafted last year, has been cut.

Now, before people freak out, it's important to know that many of the players we were hoping Indy would draft from previous years have also recently been cut. The Broncos cut Kory Lichtensteiger and Carlton Powell today, two players we thought the Colts should have drafted in 2008. Kevin O'Connell was also cut recently; another player we wanted Indy to take in 2008.

The draft isn't an exact science, folks. And even future Hall of Fame personnel people, like Bill Polian, are not perfect.

Still, Polian was able to find quality starters like Anthony Gonzalez and Clint Session in 2007, and players like Jacob Tamme and Marcus Howard offer a lot of promise from the 2008 draft. Also, in 2007, Polian found and signed Melvin Bullitt as a rookie free agent. So, it's not like 2007 didn't give the team anything. It just didn't give the team the kind of talent we are used to seeing.

The cutting of Steve Justice likely means free agent Kyle DeVan will remain on the active roster, but we'll see.

Broncos Release Nine Players; Place G McChesney On Injured Reserve

Tim Lynch — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 22:00:22 -0000

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Denver Broncos on Friday released nine players and placed guard Matt McChesney on their reserve/injured list, it was announced.
The following nine players were released by Denver on Friday:

Released September 4, 2009
Player	NFL Exp.	College
DL Matthias Askew	3	Michigan State
G Kory Lichtensteiger	2	Bowling Green State
QB Ingle Martin	3	Furman
CB Rashod Moulton	1	Fort Valley State
T Clint Oldenburg	2	Colorado State
DL Carlton Powell	2	Virginia Tech
ILB Lee Robinson	R	Alcorn State
WR Nate Swift	R	Nebraska
RB Marcus Thomas	2	Texas-El Paso

Horse Tracks 8/26/09 - Dreaming of an Orange August in Canton

Douglas A. Lee — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:02:15 -0000

DB - Floyd a Hall Finalist - Gray Caldwell
Floyd Little took a giant step toward the Pro Football Hall of Fame yesterday, as he and Dick LeBeau were announced as senior nominees. Can you imagine The Franchise and Big Play Shay going in together next summer?!?!?! A Denver weekend in Canton?

DB - 44 Reasons to Elect No. 44 - Thomas Mackie
A must read for all Broncos fans...

DB - Floyd Little - Jim Saccomano
Sacco shares some of what Floyd Little meant to the Broncos.

DB - Tuesday: McDaniels - Broncos TV
McDaniels praises Russ Hochstein's versatility (sound familiar?), as he can play every line position, plus TE and FB. Plus the team is looking forward to playing at home after two weeks on the road. McDaniels actually says the Seahawks forced the Broncos to pass more than planned. Lots of dancing around Brandon Marshall questions...

DB - Tuesday: Sounds from the Locker Room - Broncos TV
Quotes from several players after a rain-shortened practice...I am crushed to see that Mario Haggan walks around with a Yankees cap. What is he THINKing??

DB - On the Right Track - Zach Eisendrath
On progress, Hochstein and turnovers.

DP - Broncos' Little a lot closer to the hall - Mike Klis

DP - Hochstein latest Patriot to join roster - Mike Klis
Klis says Hochstein's arrival (for the same 7th-rounder New England had sent over in the Le Kevin Smith trade) may put Kory Lichtensteiger and Mitch Erickson on the bubble.

DP - Haggan would love to put a hit on Cutler - Mike Klis
Haggan says the fans would love to see a sack of JC. Chris Simms is thankfully off crutches already, although he is not expected to play again in the preseason. The Broncos may sign QB Ingle Martin as presumed preseason fodder.

DP - Marshall's deal doesn't distract - Jeff Legwold
For what it's worth, Kenny Peterson and Correll Buckhalter downplay the effects of BMarsh's situation in the locker room.

ESPN - Receiver, Broncos in a whirl of hurt - Jeffri Chadiha
Chadiha is expecting the BMarsh situation to only get worse.

CBS4 - Elway: Don't Panic, 'Preseason Is Preseason' - Video
Two videos with The Greatest Ever.

CSG - Marshall listed as a starter for Broncos - Frank Schwab
But will he play??

CSG - Broncos notes: Running back Little named a Hall of Fame finalist - Frank Schwab

DB - Tuesday: Transcripts - Josh McDaniels

DB - Ask Chris Baker...
Submit your questions for the rookie in the middle

AP - Marshall Practicing; Preseason Debut Still Unclear

AP - Patriots Trade Hochstein To Denver For Draft Pick

ESPN Insider - Kicking off my Insider blog - Adam Schefter
Schefter has heard rave reviews about Josh McDaniels, including a prediction that "McDaniels is going to be one of the greatest NFL coaches ever." Meanwhile, a silly Bears fan tries to make the case that JC's receiving cast wasn't all that great because it had Eddie Royal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TJ - Brandstater roughed up in first NFL game - Chhun Sun
Tom Brandstater's hometown paper on the rookie's debut.

AFC West News

SDUT - Bolts' Clary toughest on himself - Kevin Acee

SDUT - Cromartie continues to impress - Kevin Acee

CBS - Declining Tomlinson? L.T. aiming to prove otherwise - Clark Judge

CBS - Chargers: Five things to know - Clark Judge

NFP - Very Fake Al Davis - Ray Gustini
Another gem from Gustini...

CCT - Raiders add defensive tackle

CCT - Peterson: Raiders backup could make an impact

ESPN - Miller aims to build on Raiders' tradition - Pork Chop

KCS - Haley expects Charles and other Chiefs backs to improve their ball handling - Kent Babb

KCS - Chiefs notebook: New linemen could play right away - Adam Teicher

NFL News

NFL - Reid: Eagles will give Vick 'a couple shots' Thursday vs. Jaguars

NFL - Big Ben practices, but will he miss any time? 'Not that I know,' he says

NFL - With a QB surplus, Bucs calling teams about trades

NFL - Bills WR Owens still not ready to play; RB Jackson re-injures thumb

NFL - Giants CB Ross re-injures left hamstring on last day of training camp

NFL - Titans WR Washington still limping, leaving status for opener in doubt

NFL - Rams WR Avery practices just three weeks after breaking his left foot

NFL - NFL officially gives Saints K Hartley a four-game suspension for drug use

NFL - Wilford returns to Jaguars, but this time, he's a tight end

NFL - Cowboys assistant coach, scouting aide sue over practice-facility collapse

NFL - Williams sisters become latest celebrities to buy part of Dolphins

NFL Opinion

SI - Preseason Week 2, Winners/Losers - Don Banks
Banks acknowledges Orton's progress but reminds us that Kyle didn't throw any deep passes. Interesting point, one which crossed my mind, too.

SI - MMQB Mailbag: 10 rookies who've impressed; Cowboys video fallout - Peter King
What a shame. Peter King lists 10 rookies who he likes, writing about nine of them. For the tenth one (Alphonso Smith), he mentions only the draft choice Denver gave up for him.

Y! - Niners' Hill proves his head's in the right place - Mike Silver

NFP - QB Battles: time to make the call - Matt Bowen

NFP - Why Tarvaris is the player's choice - Matt Bowen

NFP - Diner morning news: Sanchez needs time - Mike Lombardi

NFP - Tavern talk: Finalizing our blue list - Mike Lombardi

CBS - Texans camp tour: Slaton's progress makes Houston contender - Pete Prisco

CBS - Texans: Five things to know - Pete Prisco

NFL - Prediction time: Picking first and last place teams in each division - Jason La Canfora

PFW - Madden's replacement primed for gig - Barry Jackson

FOX - NFL pressure cooker the true test of young QBs - Peter Schrager

ESPN - LeBeau among many worthy candidates - Len Pasquarelli
Pasquarelli thinks the HOF should include more assistant coaches.

NFP - The story of Curtis Buckley and how he made the Bucs - Jack Bechta

NFP - 2009 NFP scouting series: Vanderbilt - Wes Bunting

Shallow Thoughts & Nearsighted Observations

Ted Bartlett — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:30:09 -0000

Happy Tuesday, friends, and welcome to another edition of ST&NO. As I started writing this, it was the Saturday of HOF weekend, and I live an hour north of Canton. I went down last year to see Gary Zimmerman get inducted, with MattR and his friend, but, alas, I didn't attend this year. It rained most of the day, anyway, and Adam Schefter tweeted about it every 3.4 seconds, so it was almost like being there.

I can generally take or leave Schefter, (I never read anything from the DP when he was there), but he did have one tweet I really appreciated:

Adam_SchefterGreat to see old friend Shannon Sharpe in the house in support of his former Ravens teammate. Rod Woodson. Next year should be Sharpe's turn

This year should have been Sharpe's turn, actually, and I would have gladly sat in the rain to see him get inducted. I caused a bit of a stir this winter with this item, in advance of the selections, as some of you may recall. Next year will suffice, though, since that's the best we can do.

What would really be great is if writers stopped voting for the Hall of Fame, and I mean that that should happen in all sports. For the four who actually know what they're looking at, there are 20 more who don't, but semi-impartially rely on hype and what people tell them, and 20 on top of that who grind axes and hold personal grudges, based on who gave who access and information. Until we manage to reach this utopian HOF state of affairs, where objective people who really know football elect Hall of Famers, we'll just keep doing what we do, and MHR's HOF committee will continue to work to get our greats elected.

In this space, though, we'll keep it Shallow and Nearsighted, like always. Ready..... BEGIN!!!!

1. Somebody put up a FanPost a couple weeks ago, requesting that somebody on the staff write something focusing on special teams. I don't think a lot of action has happened on the request, so it occurred to me this week that I should try to write some stuff about the topic. You may have wanted somebody else, but you got me.

It's kind of a different person who becomes an expert on special teams, and I do not claim to be one, but it's conceptually interesting to me - especially from a roster-construction perspective. After the jump, we'll get into some detail with it, and talk about players who we should expect to see in the kicking game, and why.

In general, good football teams have good kicking-game outcomes. Its impact tends to be overestimated by talking-head types, though, when they say it is one-third of the game. It's actually more like one-seventh of the game, if you look at it analytically (with offense and defense each comprising three-sevenths.) It's not my intention to marginalize that aspect of the game, though, and we should definitely want our Broncos to be strong in that area.

At the surface level, success in the kicking game seems to be a function of the quality of 3 or 4 specialists (Return specialist, Punter, Kicker, and Long Snapper.) There are a bunch of non-specialists, though, who play a huge role in the success of these units. In April 2008, during my very early days writing FanPosts at MHR, (they may have still been called diaries then, actually, ala SBNation's forefather, Daily Kos), I advocated drafting players with an eye toward special teams here. The Donny Deutsch Big Idea was that the Broncos special teams were terrible in 2008, and drafting players who showed speed, athleticism, and sure tackling would add quality bodies to the bottom part of the roster for use in the kicking game. The Broncos ended up with Spencer Larsen and Josh Barrett from that draft, who both showed star quality at times in kick coverage, and Jack Williams who could, as well as Wesley Woodyard as an undrafted free agent. Larsen, Barrett and Woodyard have to be considered core special-teams players for 2009, guys who will play somewhere on virtually every unit.

a. Kickoff Coverage - You want fast players, with a sure-tackling skill set. You're mostly looking for defensive backs and linebackers here, and the odd receiver, running back or tight end who remembers how to tackle correctly from high school. The 3 aforementioned core guys will definitely be in the mix here, and you can count on Darcel McBath, Jack Williams, Alphonso Smith, Darrell Reid, David Bruton, and probably Andre' Goodman being there too. (Incidentally, let's call Reid and Bruton core special-teams guys, too, as both were acquired with kick-team roles prominently in mind). That leaves one spot, which Champ Bailey may fill, as he has in the past, being the safety man. I would diagram the lineup something like this, if it was me building the unit.

Strategically, you're looking to split the field into nine equal vertical slices (or lanes, as they're usually called). Each of the upfield players (all but Prater and Bailey in this case) need to stay in their lanes and play off the blocks they encounter to make the tackle on the returner. Bailey and Prater would stay back and try to maintain good pursuit angles if a big return happens. Better to stop them at midfield than to give up a TD.

b. Punt Coverage - This is slightly different in nature, because you have to block to keep rushers out of the punter's face, and then turn around and go tackle somebody. I will keep my core guys (Barrett, Woodyard, Larsen, Bruton, and Reid) and I like Alphonso Smith as a gunner, which is the player on one end of the line. Bruton is my other gunner, which is a job he excelled at during his time at Notre Dame. The Long Snapper, Lonie Paxton (#66) is here, and I added Tyler Polumbus (#76), Kory Lichtensteiger (#67) and Seth Olsen (#70) to help with the blocking. The three guys in the backfield are Woodyard, Larsen and Barrett. Woodyard and Larsen line up between the guard and tackle on either side, 3 yards in the backfield. From that position, they can react to penetration either inside or outside (with inside taking priority, due to the shorter distance to the punter's launch point). Barrett is 2 yards even further back, and is responsible for free rushers inside. He's also in position to run the ball on a fake, and I like him in that role, with his size and speed. I am assuming Brett Kern is the punter here.

The way the punt play works is that the 5 linemen and 3 backs count off 3 seconds before running down the field to make the tackle of the return man. The linemen want to block, but they want to stay on their feet, and heading downfield just as much, in order to man their pursuit lanes. The punter needs to get the ball off in 2.5 seconds from the snap, and typically will take a 2-step approach after the catch (kick foot, plant foot, kick.) The reason the blockers are counting 3 seconds is that the officials will penalize them for being ineligible and downfield if they leave before the kick. Timing between the punter and his blockers is crucial for that reason. The gunners leave immediately, and have to defeat man-to-man blocking, often a double team. They would like to down the ball with no return or force a fair catch, and failing that, make a quick tackle. In the absence of a tackle, their orientation should be to force the returner to the middle of the field, where most of the pursuit is coming from. Good gunners are rare, and worth their weight in gold. I don't remember the Broncos ever having an exceptional one in 22 years of being a fan.

c. Punt Return - These are two separate groups with two separate functions. Obviously, the return team needs the size/speed guys, but you want some good blockers to help set up the return. You like a backup TE or a FB, and maybe a RB or WR in the group, if you have some who are good blockers. If I am staffing a return team, I include my 5 core guys, Richard Quinn, Jack Williams, Darcel McBath, Robert Ayers, and Marcus Thomas (a great athlete for his size, and a guy who can hold up blocking, and get downfield to make a tackle). Williams, Bruton and McBath would be assigned to block the opposing gunners, with McBath being the double-teamer on the wider side of the field. I would use Alphonso Smith as the return man, with Eddie Royal and Kenny McKinley as possible backups. I would line them up something like this:

The outside players attempt to impede the gunners, and if possible, knock them out of bounds. If a player goes out of bounds, he has to get back in immediately, and he can't be the first to touch the ball in a downing situation. Woodyard and Barrett are like linebackers here, watching for fakes, and then retreating quickly on the kick, to set up to block for the return man. The front five are not rushing aggressively, and instead are making sure the kick is real, and also running downfield to block.

d. Punt Block - In a block situation, we value length and speed, and not return-blocking, so much. If the ball gets to the return man, he's most likely fair catching the ball, or watching it get downed, because the gunners probably get there before the ball does, with no focus on impeding their progress. I actually really like virtually the same personnel grouping as the punt return team, but I want to swap out McKinley for McBath, and have him be the deep return man. Alphonso Smith has an outstanding kick-blocking skill set, and a history of collegiate productivity, and I like him as an edge rusher here. The surest tackler, Woodyard, is my only LB type in this alignment.

The nine men on the line are going to rush like hell and try to block the punt. Woodyard is watching for a fake, and McKinley is going to be very careful about fielding anything that makes it to him, probably only taking a sure-thing fair catch, if the punt team sends two gunners at him. In a must-protect, late-game situation, the punt team may not send both gunners, and may keep one in to help block (nine-on-nine, rather than eight-on-nine). In that case, McKinley may be more likely to get a few yards on a return, if he can run away from the free gunner's side.

e. Kickoff Return - A major rule change will affect kickoff returns, and I will be watching it closely in the preseason to try to gauge the effect of it. The "wedge'' has been outlawed, due to concerns with player safety. A wedge is when 3 blockers basically hold hands, and tandem-block right in front of the return man. The returner would read the 3-man group, and run off of the outcome of their blocks. To combat the effectiveness of the wedge, the kickoff team would assign players (think Spencer Larsen, or someone like him) to be wedge-busters. Their assignment was to run right at the wedge, and blow it up at full speed. The danger came for the guys in the wedge, who were getting hit squarely by guys who had a 50-yard head of steam, while they are close to stationary, waiting for the returner to catch the ball. Now, the second-level group will have to individually block opposing players. Personnel-wise, my five core special-teamers are here, joined by Quinn, McBath, Polumbus, and maybe a guy like Tim Crowder. My return men are A. Smith and McKinley.

There's no wedge at work, as I mentioned, so the blockers will essentially have to man up nine-on-nine. The returner who doesn't catch the ball becomes a free lead blocker, and should pick up the first free runner in front of the man with the ball.

f. Field Goal / PAT - It's all about protecting the kick here, so we want a group of blockers. For each of the other 6 groups, I am starting with the five core special teamers; but here, I am starting with a group of offensive linemen. We need our long snapper, Paxton, and we'll use Polumbus, Lichtensteiger, Olsen, and Chris Kuper too. We'll have Quinn and Darrell Reid as our end men, and Woodyard and Larsen as our outside backfield guys. As a rule, I personally like the backup QB as holder, but we'll assume that Kern keeps that job. I picture it like this:

Barrett and Bruton get a break from this team, the only one they don't play on. Woodyard and Larsen have to block the outside rushers and force them wide of the launch point. The holder lines up 7 yards behind the snapper, while the kicker is 2 steps back and one step to his plant foot side (the left, in Prater's case).

g. Field Goal / PAT Block - More length and speed here, and for the internal linemen, power is good, too. All five of our core special-teamers will be here, along with Marcus Thomas, Tim Crowder, Robert Ayers, and Kenny Peterson. I like Richard Quinn here too, given his height and athleticism, and Alphonso Smith as an outside rusher. (I am not tremendously confident of Everette Pedescleaux or Rulon Davis making the 45-man game day roster, but at 6'6" and 6'5" respectively, they'd be good candidates for this group). The diagram looks like this:

So in all, there are 20 players among the seven teams, which is probably a fairly typical distibution. Having 4-5 core special teams guys is something which successful teams do, and those players are highly valued. David Bruton was specifically drafted to be one this year, because he shone in the kicking game at Notre Dame. The group of athletes that the Broncos have now can be a top-notch group in the kicking game. Having been so below-average in this area, really for the entirety of the 2000s, the Broncos seem to finally value this part of the game.

2. Are you ready for some football? I couldn't possibly be more ready. The tenor of this column will be changing, beginning next week. It will be heavy on football evaluation, and much less theoretical. To get the best jump on re-establishing my live football watching skills, I took in the Hall of Fame game on Sunday night. These are my observations of it.

a. Great design on the elaborate fake punt for a TD by the Titans. My first thought was that I couldn't imagine why you'd run something like that in a preaseason game, but it has to be because they have some variations on it, definitely one where Michael Griffin gets the ball on the reverse action, and probably a play-action fake with a pass by either Griffin or Craig Hentrich (when he's healthy, and the TD scorer, AJ Trapasso, has moved on). You make opponents prepare for that look, and then you run something different off of it in Week 13 at Indianapolis. It's the sort of thing that the best coaches, like Joe Gibbs and Mike Shanahan, have always done.

b. Great old-school Oilers/Titans uniforms, and the Bills ones were fun, too. I think I am going to really like this series of AFL Legacy Games this year.

c. LenDale White looks to have dramatically slimmed down, and was much quicker to the hole than I remember him being last season. He and Chris Johnson are quite an impressive tandem. The Titans offensive line looked very good, too.

d. This is the first time I think I have watched anything on a broadcast network since the Super Bowl. I didn't miss anything, evidently. There are no shows that I particularly like on the networks, and I virtually always stick to the "cable" channels (on DIRECTV).

e. Rotoworld.com must have gotten a good deal on the 15-second ad they ran early in the game on NBC. You wouldn't think they were big-money enough to afford network advertising. I use them for salary information, but not much else.

f. Michael Griffin is a big-time star at Safety for the Titans. They got killed for drafting him a couple years ago, especially by our dear friend Jamie Dukes, who couldn't believe they wouldn't take a WR for Vince Young (They're setting him up to fail!!!!). WRs who went after Griffin included Dwayne Bowe, Robert Meachem, Craig Davis, and Anthony Gonzalez. Bowe is good, Gonzalez is merely functional, and Meachem and Davis have been total busts so far. Griffin is much better than any of them, though. The Broncos, of course, took Jarvis Moss two picks ahead of Griffin, and that worked out great, too.

g. Vince Young looked just terrible on a down-to-down basis. He's never going to be in the Hall of Fame, unless he takes up another sport, and somehow becomes exceptional at it. Maybe bowling? Water polo? He didn't even look like he could handle running the shotgun zone-read play that he has to have run 500 times between college and his first two years in Tennessee. He made two solid throws on the pre-halftime scoring drive, including the fade for a TD, but both came on no-read plays. The slant, you're just counting on the WR to get inside position against man-to-man coverage, and on the fade, you're throwing to the pylon. The Madden Curse is one thing, but Vince's whole career has gone awry, in a seemingly irreparable way.

h. Buffalo is going to really struggle to protect Trent Edwards this year. Their players got bull-rushed straight backward on a bunch of occasions in this game. You can get away with undersized linemen if they can anchor, but the Bills didn't display a lot of ability to do so across their front. Rookie Guard Andy Levitre, #67, looked like he can't play in the NFL, let alone be a starter. He consistently got dominated in both the running game and passing game.

i. Gangster's Paradise as segue music? Really, NBC? Of all the music ever recorded, you're going with Coolio's Greatest Hit?

j. The Titans sure can rush the passer with 4 men, even without Albert Haynesworth. Kyle Vanden Bosch and Jevon Kearse both looked good in their limited action, and their rotation of DTs looked like they will get consistent penetration in the passing game. Jim Washburn has always done a great job with that group.

k. Terrell Owens looked good, which isn't a surprise. He caught two quick passes from Trent Edwards and didn't play much beyond that. He will help the Bills this year, especially by freeing up Lee Evans, who is one of the really great, underrated WRs in the NFL. He's never had any help at WR, or a very good QB, so his statistics undersell his ability; but he is tremendous. Defenses won't be able to roll coverages to Evans so easily, and I expect to see the best statistics of his career in 2009.

l. My girlfriend officially broke up with me during halftime. I kind of knew it was coming since Saturday morning, when she unloaded one of those "I don't know if I want to be in a relationship right now / it's not you, it's me," kind of things on me. I'm doing a lot better with it than I thought I would, and I was actually kind of worried about how she'd feel about me watching so much football every weekend for the next six months. Maybe it's just as well. :)

m. I've never been the biggest Tony Dungy fan as a coach; I think he has always somewhat underachieved, relative to the talent on his rosters. But it's impressive to listen to him speak, as a man. That said, I could have done without him being in the booth for nearly the entire second half. He, Cris Collinsworth and Al Michaels spoke about everything except what was going on in the game.

n. Alex Mortensen seems to be with the Titans as a favor to his father, when he didn't even play much at Samford. He threw a duck that got intercepted and returned for a TD in the 4th quarter. It doesn't look like his presence is any more serious than that of Stefan Fatsis was at Broncos camp a few years ago.

o. When I went to Fawcett Stadium last year, I didn't realize it was, first and foremost, a high school stadium, and it actually was Josh McDaniels' home field in his high school days. (McKinley High School is nearby). They didn't sell beer there, or have ATMs, or anything, and it was all metal bleachers. It was a little bizarre to sit there for an NFL event (I didn't go to the game, because I had to work Monday morning, and I'd had enough of Redskins fans, from the induction ceremony on Saturday.)

3. I have been curious to see how ESPN's Scouts, Inc. would grade Ryan Clady after his rookie year, and the rankings just went up recently. They say he is the third-best player on the Broncos, and rate him a 79, the ninth-best Tackle in the NFL. The eight ranked ahead of him are Walter Jones, Joe Thomas, Jason Peters, Michael Roos, Marcus McNeill, Jammal Brown, Jordan Gross, and Orlando Pace. It makes you wonder if Jeremy Green did the rankings by himself, without watching any football.

When you give up 1/2 a sack in more than 600 drop-backs, commit only 3 penalties, play every offensive snap as a rookie, and you're the best in-space blocker in at least 20 years, you have a resume better than ninth in the NFL. The rest of the O-Line goes Hamilton 73, Kuper 65, Wiegmann 63, and Ryan Harris 61 (Really?!??!) Watch some film sometime, idiots!

4. NFL Network has the worst advertisers, and the Play 60/NFLRush.com commercials especially drive me crazy. They play them all the time, and it's always the same ones. I know, Adrian Peterson, Eli Manning, Santana Moss, Drew Brees and Bob Sanders are good role models for kids. Try selling some ads to some advertisers, rather than repeatedly running this overkilled stuff, mmmkay?

5. I am a big Michael Mann fan (Heat and Collateral are two of my favorite films ever, and I even liked Miami Vice). I finally got around to seeing Public Enemies on Saturday night, which had an embarassment of riches among the cast, largely due to its being filmed during the writers' strike a couple years ago. Featuring Johnny Depp, Marion Cotillard, Christian Bale, Billy Crudup, Channing Tatum, Giovanni Ribisi, Stephen Dorff, and Domenick Lombardozzi, to go with the briliance of Mann himself, it looked really good on paper.

Turns out, it was boring as all get-out, and I couldn't wait for it to end. The characters were poorly developed and unsympathetic, and the story lacked the sort of conflict that it easily could have had. It was all big names, good (not great) camera work and shot conception, and a boring story. As I sat there, zoning out, it reminded me of the Dallas Cowboys and San Diego Chargers, (though neither has a Michael Mann as a leader). Both teams have talent, though much of it is overrated, and the final product never seems to live up to the paper version. They are paper tigers, as Styg has said so eloquently in the past.

6. Interesting commentary from an anonymous NFL team source in PFW's Audibles yesterday.

"(Steelers QB) Ben Roethlisberger is not a well-liked teammate. He's arrogant and lazy. It's not a nice mixture in a steel city known for its toughness."

I've never met the guy, but I am friendly with a former teammate of his at Miami University, and he told me the same thing about Roethlisberger. You can't really argue with 2 rings, and things like this make me wonder sometimes if the importance of team chemistry can be overrated. It may also be that the well-established Steelers program overcomes their QB being a jerk.

7. Retired for John Elway.

8. In the same audibles column as above, somebody said of Brandon Marshall:

"Brandon Marshall had one good season. He's another guy that needs to get his act together. Quit whining and play the game."

In 2007, Marshall had 102 catches for 1,325 yards, and 7 TDs. In 2008, he had 104 catches for 1,265 yards and 6 TDs, while missing a game due to his suspension. So, the question is, which season was his one good one?

By the way, don't expect Marshall to exactly play a Randy Moss-style role, and Eddie Royal to exactly play a Wes Welker-style role in the McDaniels offense. Picture Marshall being used more like the Cowboys used Michael Irvin, and Royal being used like the Panthers use Steve Smith. Marshall will run a lot of intermediate slants and crossing routes, using his size, and Royal will be used to challenge every level of the field. Brandon Stokley will run the bulk of the Welker stuff, and Jabar Gaffney will get to play against a lot of single coverage, like he did successfully in New England. Good coaches alter their schemes to take advantage of the skills of their players; they don't try to make the players fit the scheme.

9. Pork Chop Watch, and a beauty.

Denver

Andre Goodman is tearing it up in Denver.

My take: If Goodman, signed as a free agent from Miami, can play well in the regular season, it will be a huge benefit for Denver. The Broncos will get excellent play from left cornerback Champ Bailey. That's a given. If Goodman performs well, Denver's pass defense could be decent.

Decent, huh, Bill? That's a pretty tepid prognostication for getting excellent play out of both CBs. I think Pork Chop is beginning with the end in mind (and not quite in the way that Stephen Covey meant). The Broncos are going to suck, we all know that. Everybody in the free football-watching world knows it. Hell, even residents of Outer Mongolia know it. There's no question about it. So, if the Broncos have two of the 10 best CBs in the NFL (which they do, incidentally), their pass defense may be "decent."

10. I bought The Sporting News NFL preview, which is usually the best on the market. I kind of use it as a media guide throughout the season. This year's edition is a total piece of crap, and I recommend not buying it. In past years, a beat writer for each team would write about the team they knew a good bit about. For the Broncos it would typically be Jeff Legwold, who is pretty good.

This year, in what seems likely to be a cost-cutting measure, TSN used one writer per division, so I get to read about the Broncos from...Adam Teicher of the Kansas City Star. Boss Bailey is listed as the starting LOLB. Did it ever seem, for a second, to anybody on MHR, or anybody who knows the Broncos, that he would be a starter in the new defense, or even be on the team this year? Teicher's analysis is pretty surface-level, and very uninteresting.

The rest of the issue is garbage, too. Jeff Darlington of the Miami Herald, on the Jets:

There's no reason to worry about the Jets' starting offensive line. They have a Pro Bowl center in Nick Mangold, a locker room leader at guard in Alan Faneca, an all-around star in Brandon Moore, an improving young tackle in D'Brickashaw Ferguson, and a future star at right tackle in Damien Woody.

I love this; it's five misevaluations for the price of one. Mangold is okay, but overrated, and the declining Faneca may be a good leader, but he's a shell of his former (overrated for at least the last half-decade) self as a player. Moore is an average player, and not nearly a star. Ferguson may be improving, but he has underachieved throughout his career so far, and is a below-average starting LT, based upon his body of work to date. Woody is my favorite. He's a ten-year veteran, who will turn 32 in November. He played Center and Guard for his first nine seasons, and was a marginal starter on 2 Super Bowl-winning Patriots teams, (though he didn't play in Super Bowl XXXVIII against the Panthers, due to an injury). When, exactly, is this future when he'll be a star at RT? Will this be in some sort of senior citizens' league?

That's all for this week, friends. Have a great week, and let's get ready for some football, when the Broncos play the 49ers on Friday. It's here, finally.

2009 Denver Broncos - Breaking Down the Roster -- Guards/Centers

Jeremy Bolander — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:30:10 -0000

Denver Broncos offensive linemen take part in drills during the team's football minicamp at the Broncos headquarters in Englewood, Colo., on Sunday, June 14, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

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If you listen very closely you might hear, at a distance, a faint, almost imperceptible sound.

In the wake of resigning C Casey Wiegmann to a two-year, five-and-a-half million-dollar contract, one could be forgiven for suspecting that this sound is the dismay and despair of defensive lines throughout the league who must now contest with what is arguably one of the strongest, most coherent and most productive offensive line units in the NFL. Within that unit, no group works together more closely, or relies on each other as much as the guards and centers.

Casey's return, combined with the returns of LG Ben Hamilton and RG Chris Kuper, would do well to inspire a certain level of despondency in Denver's 2009 opponents, as it was an interior unit which ranked 1st overall in ALY (Adjusted Line Yardage), and 5th overall in ALY solely in the cramped spaces between the right and left guards. When one factors in the added emphasis on pulling guards that is a hallmark of the McDaniels offense (ranked 2nd overall ahead of Denver for guard-to-guard ALY in 2008), and the addition of multiple blue-chip RBs to the stable, the Denver rushing attack should indeed be fearsome.

But the sound that can be heard on the edges of training camps around the league are not the wails and moans of teams who fear having to do battle with such a proven unit. This is the NFL. What the sound portends is the approaching storm. A league full of defensive lines who desire nothing less than to tear apart this line's reputation and cast it down to the perceived depths of incompetence that the rest of the team is rumored to have reached. They will believe, fully, that annihilating Denver at the point of attack will reduce the Broncos to an afterthought that can be easily tossed aside. These defenses have made up their minds to do battle, and they will be focused, louder, more terrible, less relenting. Like Northerlies they will blow in every week, where they must be rebuffed by Denver's varied, complex schemes, swift, repeated blows and confusing attacks which resemble withdrawals.

But even early success against such hordes won't be enviable. The opponents will bristle with hostility at every loss, as if upset by human intelligence, and the attack will be renewed again.

This will be a season of such storms, and the guards and centers are the prow of the ship that Denver must steer steadfastly into them...

Ben Hamilton

#50 / Guard / Denver Broncos

Height: 6-4

Weight: 290

Born: Aug 18, 1977

Age: 32

College: Minnesota

Contract: 2009: $3.34m $4.39 against the cap, 2010: Free Agent

Acquired:Draft #4a (113th overall), 2001

One year removed from a season-long absence due to post-concussion syndrome, Ben Hamilton saw his reputation take a bit of a hit in 2008. Of course, he was still elite, but perhaps the expectation was that, as the longest-tenured member of the Broncos line, he should also be its best member. As it stood, he gave up the most sacks and was flagged for the most penalties, and in a way seemed to be the weak link. Yet, as noted above, the line still managed to clock in as one the finest units in the league, in every measurable statistic.

Maybe he really wasn't that bad?

He certainly has to be looking forward to his contract year, especially in conjunction with his run of good health and the line talent that has been amassed around him. He has been nothing less than a pro's pro, beginning with his first season starting for Denver, where he played both center and guard, covering for an injury to Tom Nalen. He also has been exceptionally durable, and except for the 2007 season (a case where toughness is trumped only by long-term concern and care taken for the unknowns involved in post-concussion symptoms) has yet to miss a start in any game the Broncos have played since he was promoted to the active roster after a stint in NFL Europe.

Of interest is that since the final game of the 2003 regular season, Hamilton has yet to log any more snaps at center. With the accrued depth at center over the last two seasons, there is a developing chance that Hamilton may not be the first name called upon if Wiegmann were to go down with an injury (though it is likely he would be the second name called up.)

Hamilton's leadership on the line, too, should not be overlooked; with a contingent of new, young guards behind him, it is imperative to hang onto the veteran player in order to smooth their transition into the Bronco's complex scheme. Next year, Hamilton's story should be quite interesting in the offseason; but for now, it's steady as she goes.

Casey Wiegmann

#62 / Center / Denver Broncos

Height: 6-2

Weight: 285

Born: Jul 20, 1975

Age: 34

College: Iowa

Contract: 2009: $2.5m, 2010: $2.2, 2011: Free Agent

Acquired: Unrestriced Free Agent (Kansas City), 2008

With the restructured contract handled with significant professionalism, Casey Wiegmann looks to continue his streak of 8,046 consecutive offensive snaps (tops among offensive linemen). He is nothing if he is not durable, and as his battle with Kris Jenkins will attest to, he is playing with as much savvy and intensity as could be asked for from a 34-year-old lineman.

When a soul refuses to yield to the weaknesses of the body, it is a source of immense power, and Wiegmann has certainly learned how to tap that, regaining in tenacity what he loses in vigor. But he also benefits greatly from his natural physicality, as a smaller lineman with good girth and strength, which allows him to move fluidly and easily within the confines of his area of work, which goes part and parcel with the demands placed on the center in an offense which features pulling guards (as it is usually the center who must execute the athletic 'trap' part of the block). He was well suited to a pure zone-blocking scheme, but he is eminently suited to the new wrinkles that McDaniels has brought into town for this offense, including being an above-average snapper in the shotgun.

With his experience doing the line calls, and spearheading multiple league-leading rushing and passing offenses (2003, 2006 and 2008) the offense is in completely capable hands with Wiegmann.

Chris Kuper

#73 / Guard / Denver Broncos

Height: 6-4

Weight: 302

Born: Dec 19, 1982

Age: 26

College: North Dakota

Contract: 2009: $1.01m, 2010: Free Agent

Acquired: Draft #5 (161th overall), 2006

Chris Kuper is what I would consider an almost-ideal starting guard for Denver's system. Big and athletic, very strong and terrifically balanced only begin to describe Kuper. He is also versatile, having started his career with Denver on the left side subbing for Chris Myers (who had been subbing for Hamilton in 2007), before moving over to the right side to replace Montrae Holland. In both instances, he made the most of his opportunities, and can be counted on as a player who rises to meet expectations. He also slid over to left tackle during his senior year in college, and showed that in addition to being a sound technician as a guard he could also show the athleticism and awareness to adequately man the pass-protection schemes. He isn't likely to see any snaps at center.

Since coming to Denver he has improved significantly in one particular category: reach blocks. Early in his career he would extend too far when blocking away on reach blocks or when moving to the second level, and while his athleticism and quickness still made him a force against the linebackers, he has since learned to use his long arms (a major asset) to get into his blocks under control, where he can use his strength to redirect. He is also an excellent pulling and trapping guard, who will be perfect for the new offense, and he strengthens any interior unit that he is a part of with his ability to switch off and onto blocks during defensive stunts and blitzes, a combination of intelligence and quickness. He makes his center's job easier by a large margin.

In addition, he is durable and exceptionally tough, maintaining a starting streak by playing with a broken hand last year that looked like a side of ham strapped to his wrist. Depsite the injury there was simply no noticeable dropoff in his play. He is the type of player that refuses to be the weak link.

There can be an expectation that the Denver line will fall a bit short of the elevated level of play last year, due to both the schedule and the idea that teams will be gunning for them. However, I think that Kuper, being in his prime and entering a contract year, has the goods to be even better than last year, and will catch on around the league as one of the premier free agents at guard in 2010. Denver should be in the top two or three teams in the league when running off his flanks. Like with Hamilton, 2010 will be another story, especially during the offseason; but for now, we are exceptionally solid.

Kory Lichtensteiger

#67 / Center / Denver Broncos

Height: 6-3

Weight: 295

Born: Mar 22, 1985

Age: 24

College: Bowling Green

Contract: Escalators are available in the final year if he plays 35% of the offensive snaps in two of his first three seasons. 2009: $385,000, 2010: $470,000, 2011: $555,000, 2012: Free Agent

Acquired: Draft #4a (108th overall), 2008

Kory Lichtensteiger is a player who is used to being the best: best lineman on his high school team, then district, then division, then college, and most recently the Rimington Award winner in 2008 for the nation's best collegiate center.

After seeing action in every game as a rookie, Kory doesn't look to be slowing down or tailing off anytime soon, having logged special teams contributions in all 16 games of 2008, while lining up as an H-back on numerous goal-line formations, most of which were scoring plays.

Looking forward, the first thing you see is his ideal somatotype for center: squat, stocky, long arms, thick upper body and strong lower body. His quickness makes him highly effective in tight spaces, and his intelligence (awarded the Falcon Medal of Honor, which is given to a player that exemplifies sportsmanship and scholarship) makes him a consistent contributor in terms of properly reading and making line calls. He made a name for himself in college by leading the NCAA's centers in sustained blocks, which is a measure of tenacity, strength and will. He finished first in this category in 2008 by a wide margin.

He did primarily shotgun snapping at BGSU, and it was all quality work, which fits well with the expected offensive scheme. It remains to be seen how prepared he has been for the classic under-center exchange, but as it is a function of hand quickness, it can be expected that he will adapt and perform well in this area, as he shows excellent hand quickness and placement on reach blocks and when locking up the body of the defender.

His versatility is the opposite of Chris Kuper's, being as he is eminently suited for interior blocking. As a guard he registered 184 knockdowns in his first two years at BGSU, mostly on pulls and traps; so again, he seems to be a perfect fit going forward. He is not quite the quick lateral mover that Kuper is, and so it is expected that Kory will not see time subbing on the outside, and also that he will likely have a learning curve in pass protection slightly behind his run blocking.

Lichtensteiger is an excellent prospect to have in the wings who will be ready to contribute as a starter sooner than later.

Matt McChesney

#60 / Guard / Denver Broncos

Height: 6-4

Weight: 310

Born: Nov 06, 1981

Age: 27

College: Colorado

Contract: Undisclosed

Acquired: Free Agent, 2009 (Miami)

Before you say roster fodder, consider his unique brand of versatility. He played DT at Colorado, and logged snaps there for both St. Louis and the Jets before a knee injury landed him on two different versions of IR in two years (due to NFL Europe rules at the time).

In an effort to stick on a roster, McChesney went through a position switch to OG, where he has noted that his intensity and aggressiveness, while helpful, have needed to be dialed back, a task which has taken up most of his learning curve since the switch in early 2007, but which has improved enough to get him a look from 2008 Miami Dolphins architect Bill Parcells.

But most of his learning curve was taken up by figuring out how to deal with the loss of his little brother, who died in an accident on the Roaring Fork River. Those kinds of events change people, and McChesney is no different. By going back to his roots (he dreamed of someday playing for the Denver Broncos when he was a kid in the South Stands screaming his lungs out for them) and being close to his family, he hopes to break onto a roster where there is already top talent and very little room for error.

Described as "tough and smart," he seems to fit the general mold of players that McX are looking for, and might make his dream come true in 2009's Training Camp.

Mitch Erickson

#61 / Guard / Denver Broncos

Height: 6-6

Weight: 290

Born: May 14, 1985

Age: 24

College: South Dakota State

Contract: Reserve/Futures Contract

Acquired: Rookie Free Agent, 2008

After leading SDSU to a Great West title, Mitch Erickson made it to Denver's practice squad where he is working on adding bulk and improving his balance. With the five starters well established and over ten backups vying for spots on the line, he will need to show that he spent 2008 picking up on all the little things.

His flexibility is of the guard-to-tackle variety, where he logged starts in all 44 of his career college games. At his height and weight, he seems better suited to back up LG, or moving out to back up the RT position. In the 2008 training camp he got most of his reps at RT, and is quite similar to former Bronco Eric Pears, in both build and playing style, with some of the same shortcomings.

My gut says that while Mitch probably has the right attitude, and is a tough player, he may a bit too much of the Shanahan mold. I would expect him to have a very difficult time making this roster.

Pat Murray

#72 / Guard / Denver Broncos

Height: 6-3

Weight: 310

Born: Oct 31, 1984

Age: 24

College: Truman State

Contract: 2009: $385,000, 2010: Restricted Free Agent

Acquired:Practice Squad Signee (Seattle), 2008

A better physical specimen in terms of what McX are looking for in a lineman, everything about Pat Murray indicates that he is at best an ideal candidate for the practice squad. His best attribute is his "jack of all trades" versatility, having logged most of his experience at RT in college, yet seeing extensive practice reps at both guard and center while in Green Bay and Seattle.

In general, his playing style and college play isn't ideally suited to the offensive scheme (it is more of a drive-blocking style) but there is no doubt that his versatility makes him a boon in practice and training camp in order to field 2nd- and 3rd-team lines in order to run drills.

But eventually those drills become pregame practices, and somewhere in that transition Murray usually gets lost. With the severity of the numbers crunch coming up for the interior linemen, Murray will need one heck of an opportunity to arise even to scratch back into the practice squad. Could quite likely be the first offensive lineman cut.

Seth Olsen

#70 / Guard / Denver Broncos

Height: 6-4

Weight: 306

Born: Dec 17, 1985

Age: 23

College: Iowa

Contract:

Rookie

Acquired:

Draft #4b (132nd overall), 2009

Seth Olsen is one of those naturally "big" linemen, the kind with the good bone girth as opposed to being just 'weighty', and he is well balanced in that area, having good strength in both his lower and upper body. He excels at using his hands, and his hand technique is the strongest part of his game. Intelligent, tough and resourceful, he was also trained in the art of zone blocking at Iowa, and so has an advantage in that department.

However, his second-level play is an order of magnitude below where it needs to be to compete with the current veteran guards, his most likely position. He will need to work on regaining leverage at the second level instead of leaving his feet to make a block, or extending out of control and thereby lunging past defenders. If he can bring that element of his game in line, his hand play should take care of the rest.

In a way, Olsen is a significant departure from the traditional "Shanahan" offensive lineman, and I see him as very much the product of the new scheme and philosophy ideas that McDaniels holds, so adjusting to Olsen's skill set may take a little while. Olsen is not the quickest player, and does not have the best lateral agility, something which was prized under Shanahan, and Olsen could even be accused of "trudging", something I haven't seen in the starting lineup since George Foster left town.

But he is a smart, tough technician with an aggressive mean streak and the versatility to man both RG and RT, and even has experience at LT and LG. Ideally a right guard, he has the natural physical makeup to be the lead candidate for the first backup G/T combo player (with Kory being the first G/C combo), as he has the natural girth and trained leverage to effectively "sit down" in pass protection, a major boon when having to be inserted in case of injury to a starter.

Olsen has significant improvements to make to be a starter-quality player, but the backup job appears to be his to lose.

Blake Schlueter

#63 / Center / Denver Broncos

Height: 6-3

Weight: 284

Born: Apr 22, 1986

Age: 23

College: T-C-U

Contract:

Rookie

Acquired:

Draft #7 (225th overall), 2009

Denver's final pick in the 2009 draft, some immediately questioned whether Lichtensteiger had a future in Denver. Don't. Schlueter is an excellent find and a terrific opportunity to insure both the guard and center position, with a tenacious, mean and intelligent player.

He is a good size already to man the center position, but his body type is a bit different from Wiegmann (though similar to Hamilton) so he may need to add some bulk in order to play at Casey's level in the middle, and to anchor effectively in pass blocking.

Where Schlueter really impresses is his potential for special teams. You've seen it before, but here are his pro day numbers:

40 yard dash	4.79
20 yard dash	2.77
10 yard dash	1.64
225lb bench reps	28
vertical jump	35"
broad jump	9'3"
20 yard shuttle	4.28
3 cone drill	7.42

This is an exceptionally athletic, and more importantly, driven young man. He is a wild card that will make it difficult for the coaches to settle on the eventual active roster, but with McDaniels' deep respect for the role of special teams, it seems quite likely that Schlueter will be part of the active gameday 45-man roster, which means he is putting significant pressure on backups like Murray, Erickson and McChesney.

If Schlueter can maintain his drive right through training camp, than just like his pro day, he will be impossible to ignore.

SUMMARY

2009 looks to feature as strong a group of interior lineman as Denver could hope for in an offseason of significant tumult. The starting trio of Kuper, Wiegmann, and Hamilton have the combination of experience, talent and camaraderie that will keep the unit playing at a high level, while backups such as Olsen and Lichtensteiger give the starting offense confidence that the wheels will stay on in the event of injury. Players like McChesney and Schlueter will drive the above group even harder, and the additions of Murray and Erickson should keep the entire unit running smoothly throughout training camp, perhaps earning themselves a future look.

But when the leaves begin to fall, there will likely only be ten total linemen kept, including tackles, and only seven will be expected to be activated for game day. With players like Schlueter too talented to keep off of the special teams roster, and players like Licthensteiger (also a special teamer) too critical to risk leaving off the game day roster in the event of injury, good players like Olsen may find themselves in a tragic numbers crunch, which at best may keep them off the active roster, at worst may put them in danger of having to clear waivers just to make the PS, and even then they won't be completely safe.

One drawback to solid team-building philosophies are the roster limits and their unsympathetic treatment of excellent depth at a position. And with a major free agency period for Hamilton and Kuper coming up in 2010 these roster decisions will end up having far-reaching consequences. They have to be made with utmost care.

The battle from within can be as critical as the battle without, and the coming storm demands proper choices now. Forces amass against this unit, waiting for the smallest weakness to show up.

It has been said that Wind is all winds, Force is all force. The whole of that horde is now coming.

On one side, that legion.

And on the other?

We must be shrewd.

Poll

What are the chances that their could be a surprise cut or trade from the group of Ben, Chris, Casey, Licks Ten Tigers, Seth and Blake?

Zero chance. They are all keepers in some capacity.

137 votes

Mild. I could see one of the rookies not making the cut.

212 votes

Moderate. Licks Ten Tigers is part of the old regime, he may not be the apple of McX's eye.

56 votes

Surprising. There are rumblings that Hamilton doesn't fit the long term plan.

64 votes

Exceptionally surprising. We paid Casey just so we could cut him...

10 votes

479 votes | Poll has closed

Broncos Dreams and Musings July 3, 2009

Emmett Smith — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:48:55 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

5 months ago: Denver Broncos linebacker Darrell Reid, left, talks with head coach Josh McDaniels before drills during the team's football minicamp at the Broncos headquarters in Englewood, Colo., on Sunday, June 14, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Browse more photos »

The Denver Broncos and Michael Lombardi

I was meandering through some old materials this weekend when I found a pre-draft set of concerns about the Broncos by Michael Lombardi. I had thought at the time that they were reasonable and a fair consideration, so I kept them around. Here is what he said:

DENVER

Who is going to be the Broncos starting quarterback? Can they repair, restore and revive the relationship between Jay Cutler and the head coach?
With the switch to a 3-4 there are plenty of positions up for grabs, but the essential question is this: Who will rush the passer from the outside?
Denver forced only 13 turnovers last season and clearly lack speed on every level of their defense. Who is going to be their playmaker?
The Broncos struggled to cover anyone, even with Champ Bailey, and finished with just six interceptions for the season. Who can cover?
Can they expect to get another year out of Casey Wiegmann at center? They struggled when they played physical defensive teams

I thought, even then, that these were excellent questions. There was not doubt that pre-draft, the Broncos had reason to give pause to even the most voracious fans. This led to a lot of musing on what happened and dreams of what might be. That being said, let's take them one at a time and see if Denver did anything to work out those concerns.

Question 1: Who will be the Quarterback?

The Broncos made a decision to give up on the more emotionally fraught and fragile situation with Jay Cutler, cut their losses and make a deal that would yield a starter in Orton and kept their backup in Simms. That same deal also netted them (in essence) Knowshon Moreno and Alphonso Smith and 'half' of Richard Quinn, with a caveat involving the trade of a 3rd-round pick for a 5th-rounder (There are different ways to parse this, but this one seems most accurate to me). However, the issue of who starts at QB, although important, is secondary to the issue of whether or not the Broncos got good value in a trade that most industry people agreed that they had to make. While it’s easy for fans to argue (as I have myself) that it would be grand and emotionally satisfying to see them sit Cutler on the bench for a while, that kind of thing can poison a locker room and distract a team already facing huge changes. It isn’t reasonable and it wasn’t going to happen. I have to say that they seemed to do very well with a tough situation.

In addition, the arrival of Tom Brandstater, who will probably suit up as an emergency quarterback and who will begin his apprenticeship under Head Coach Josh McDaniels and the two QBs ahead of him is a very good sign. Brandstater has all of the tools to become a very good backup or even a starter in the NFL. He needs time and work, and should be able to receive both.

Question 2: Who will rush the passer?

This is a great question. It was then and it still is now, prior to training camp. One of the many areas of weakness last year was the inability to get pressure on the QB (or the running back or the receivers, for that matter). Part of that will shake out from the front 3, and other than Ronnie Fields it seems open right now. But the draft yielded one Robert Ayers, lately of Tennessee, who was one of the best young DEs in this year’s options. Will he rush the QB well? This could be one of the questions that determines the outcome of the Broncos season (The production of Knowshon Moreno is the other).

A change in scheme is also letting them move Elvis Dumervil, Jarvis Moss and Tim Crowder to the outside and will let them create a wide variety of looks and options. Moss's and Dumervil's weakness against the run made them less effective coming in from the outside - the change in scheme could create a better disguise for what they are going to do. Denver will be moving towards a full time 3-4 defense, but will give a lot of different looks over the course of the season. See here for SlowWhiteGuy’s helpful look into one way to view this change.

We're going to rush the passer with scheme as well as players, as hoosierteacher pointed out with his excellent series on the Ted Blocker.

Question 3: Who will be the playmakers and create turnovers? Do we have enough speed?

To me the first section was and is the biggest question. Who will be the playmakers? You need to look at this question from two angles. If, by this, you mean to create turnovers (And it seemed that was the thrust of the question) there was a quick response by the Broncos. The answer was to redo the entire secondary, with only a scant few holdovers. They are looking to Andre' Goodman and Alphonso Smith as well as Champ to knock down and pick off passes, to Darcel McBath (David Bruton may take longer to mature, but he has the potential to be a lot more than a special teams player) to learn centerfield and look for opportunities, and Brian Dawkins and Renaldo Hill to prevent the kind of repetitive big plays that hamstrung them in the 2008 season.

I'm not huge on extrapolating stats. The players get injured or have a career year, the scheme changes and with few exceptions, rookies aren't going to get what they did in college. Still - you have to look at the overall stats to see where you were and what needs to change. When you add up last year's turnovers versus our new starters, the new players so far outdid the Broncos measly 13 defensive turnovers that you have to be impressed, and Alphonso Smith was brilliant at creating turnovers in college - fumbles as well as interceptions. The emphasis in training camp has included new drills on how to function if you're the 2nd or 3rd player to a tackle - you generally ignore the man (if he's going down) and hammer on the ball. It wouldn't even matter if he's getting away from Tackler 1 as long as you get the ball loose. Watching film from last year, it was clear that we did that erratically, but not with any consistency. We lost several fumbles to teams that used this practice. Will we be better? I hope so. Are we better prepared via personnel and approach. Assuredly.

If by playmaking you mean 'coming up big with plays to stop drives' you would have to include the massive restructuring of the front 7 as well. Ayers, Doom, Moss, Woodyard, probably Reid and certainly Williams in some degree of rotation, probably with A. Davis at LILB to start, will have to step up. I'd expect Spencer Larsen to be a backup to start and to be moved around from special teams to fullback to inside linebacker, although he may well take the job at linebacker later in the season or in next year's training camp. Fields has been noted by a few writers as the steal of the off-season, and there's reason to believe that since his explosion off the snap was the best on the 49ers D-Line last year. There are too many options for NT and DE to cover here, but that fact in and of itself makes my point. There will be no shortage of folks who can step up. The question of whether they will step up will begin to be answered in training camp.

I did look with interest on the part of this question that involved speed. I'll concede part of the issue - Shanahan drafted for speed for a long time, but we ended up with a smorgasbord of players, styles and abilities due to the revolving door at defensive coordinator and the accompanying revolving personnel door. We became neither fish nor fowl, although we managed foul pretty well.Many of our most recent pickups aren't incredibly fast nor incredibly slow. Bruton looks to be a backup - he's incredibly fast for a safety. McBath is just fast. Smith - there will always be an asterisk in my mind around the players from this year's draft. The timing was flat-out off. He's not a burner, but neither is he slow.

Most importantly, the scheme that we are setting in motion will use more zone coverage to minimize the issues of speed. We drafted fairly well for speed as well - Darcel McBath is in the 4.58 range, Bruton was in the 4.46, A. Smith was 4.51, not a burner but very quick and agile. Ayers only had a 4.9 40 - slow for a linebacker, but good for a defensive end. Jarvis Moss, on the other hand, is a 4.7 40 guy. Overall, I'd still have to say that Lombardi has a point. Scheme will have to help us here or we'll see issues from it, but I'm Ok with that as we stand now..

Question 4: Coverage and Interceptions

This is a great question. My own feeling is that they had answered it in spades at both the cornerback and the safety positions before the draft and filled out the answer sheet in depth during the NFL draft. Champ is healthy, they added Alphonso Smith in the draft and Andre Goodman in free agency. Jack Williams or Josh Bell will have to step up to stay on the team. They also did 'a little' at the safety position, with Brian Dawkins there to anchor the team and Renaldo Hill to start. Behind them are three young players, all distinct and with different skillsets.

Jerry Angelo got my honest appreciation for this comment in a recent National Football Post article by Matt Bowen. It brought out some issues on our safeties.

"...it's obvious that Angelo sees the safety position as a concern heading into this summer, and not just in Chicago.

"It's the poorest-played position in football right now," he said. "It's very hard to find a safety that can tackle high to low," meaning players who can tackle from the free safety spot in the open field. As Angelo said, there's so much emphasis placed on athleticism and ball skills at the position that sound tackling has become a thing of the past. "

This is one area where Angelo and I are in full agreement, and when I read it I suspected that our own Hoosierteacher wouldn't argue much with us either. In fact, I took this chance to ask him about this remark and appreciated his reply so much that I wanted to include it here:

"The big problem with safeties (in my opinion) at many levels of football is the mistaken belief that they are just extensions of the cornerback position. This line of thinking has safeties valued for the ability to race to a passed ball and intercept or disrupt. But this is not the classic role of safeties, and the effect of this type of thinking is what has hurt the position.

Safeties are, above all else, the last line of defense. They must be sure, open field tacklers because they are intended to stop any ball carriers (runners or receivers) that get past the front seven and corners. The ability to tackle, speed, and read plays are the most important ingredients. When one of those skills (almost always "tackling") is sacrificed to get a safety with "good hands" for interceptions", the position suffers. Good hands should be seen as icing on the cake for a safety, not as a requirement."

In addition to the pleasure of a chance to learn from MHRs master of Xs and Os, the other thing I love is that along with Josh Barrett, the Denver Broncos now have three young, hard hitting safeties (Barrett, David Bruton, McBath) that can play on special teams and who love to make tackles. Having lacked a decent backfield general for years, the Broncos suddenly find themselves with a plethora of riches among the veterans and the youngsters. Will they keep all of them, or will Vernon Fox make the team. I'm better that Fox falters in training camp, but I could be wrong.

With Renaldo Hill starting as the season opens and both McBath, the current heir apparent and David Bruton behind him both having great scouting reports as bright players and sure tacklers, the Broncos are finally paying attention to the defense as a unit, rather than to one position (cornerback, for example, or DE) during one draft and a second position (DL) the next. The upgrade of quality, with new FA players brought in at all positions and a lot of great young talent there from the draft and an unparalleled CFA class, is pointing towards a huge change from the past two years and brings a smile to my face.

By the way, this article on safeties and on Rodney Harrison in particular, also by Matt Bowen is a better than average look at the position and the skills it requires.

I've mentioned this, but have you noticed that the Broncos have more talent in the defensive backfield than at any time in modern memory? Think about it. With Champ Bailey and probably Andre' Goodman starting and Alphonso Smith able to bring his zone coverage skills to the table as a nickel back, we finally have a decent crew at cornerback. Even better, Goodman and Hill have played well together in the past so we've got some built-in continuity. There will be changes in scheme and terminology, granted, but these two know and understand each others tendencies. Even better, they are paired with Champ and Brian Dawkins, who brings instant leadership and drive to a secondary that last year was best described as ‘porous'. We are much, much better than we were last year.

Question 5: Can Casey Wiegmann play, and can the Broncos play physical football?

Let's move on to the second issue right away. I know that Lombardi meant this in terms of the offensive line, but it's such a good question that I though we should look at the entire team this way. The Broncos gave up way too much to other teams in terms of physicality last year and prior to that. Shanahan preferred speed to size; there are arguments both ways. I'm of the school that wants both, but will take the speed guys if they (and Wesley Woodyard is my favorite current example of this) like being physical, regardless of size, and enjoy taking on the challenge of a team trying to out-muscle them.

It's not necessarily a situation of preferring one or the other. Lots of players give you both - look at Ryan Clady on offense or Ron Fields on defense, each of whom is very fast /explosive/agile for their position. We have quite a few examples of getting both now - David Bruton ran a 4.46 40 at Combine and had the third highest number of tackles on Notre Dame in 2008. NFLDraftScout.com calls Bruton a playmaker "with the size, speed and athleticism to potentially be a good starter and very good special teams player." (There's video at the link I provided). Then there's the physicality of players like Robert Ayers, Alphonso Smith (who was referred to by Jonathan Hull of fantasyfootballjungle.com as the Steal of the Draft) and Jack Williams, all of whom are fast but not burners, yet incredibly tough players.

It's interesting to me that Buckhalter is still our fastest running back (Yes, even despite his knee surgeries) and that Hillis is just slightly (.02 - .04 seconds) faster than Moreno, yet Moreno's nimbleness has astonished people, while Hillis just runs them over like gophers in the road. Toughness - would anyone out there take Selvin Young and Andre Hall over Moreno and Hillis when it comes to toughness? I'm just asking. Toss in Buckhalter and Jordan and our squad is even stronger. I know - the injuries last year did seriously hurt the Broncos RB squad, but even so... Top to bottom, we just have a much better group at RB. We have a question mark at Torain, but we brought in a couple of young guys to cover us if Torain doesn't get well (don't be surprised if they get him on IR to start the season and to give themselves an option later when there are 2009's injuries to deal with). But toughness? It's a very new year, and for that I'm thankful. This is a tough bunch of guys.

When Parcells won the Super Bowl against the LA Rams in January of 1991, he leaned over to Will McDonough for the Boston Globe who had also been a long time friend, and while waiting for the post game press conference to begin he loudly whispered two words: "Power Football!" During the days following conference, he noted the same thing twice more:

"...I've coached this game for a long time, and I know one thing," said Parcells, two days later. "Power football wins games." He then repeated it, just for emphasis.

Personally, I love speed but I know that Parcells was often right. I believe that speed has to be paired equally with the ability to match up, stand up and finish up. That takes power and strength (and scheme, which we often lacked). Games are usually won in the 4th quarter and we lost too many that way, whether by lack of strength or lack of conditioning. Our free agent acquisitions like Brian Dawkins, Renaldo Hill and Andra Davis are also very mentally tough, as is undrafted college free agent Rulon Davis, for example (Davis also has run his 40's in as little as 4.8, although his combine time was 5.06). Tough wins games. Tough generates the stats that correlate to wins. Given the smaller, lighter DEs that we've found ourselves with (Moss, Doom, etc), turning them into bigger linebackers makes a lot of sense. We also added a little weight, players like Fields, Parker and Askew

Moving back to the first part of the final question - How about Casey Wiegmann and the physicality of the Broncos O line approach? There are two good questions here. Can Wiegmann play another year? He says that he can and the Broncos have responded with a 2 year contract so they obviously believe him. The odds are very good, and yet the Broncos had the sense to hedge their bets. They drafted two good offensive linemen. They have Kory Lichtensteiger as the guard/center apparent, Tyler Polumbus at tackle, new center Blake Schlueter and an assortment of other options. 'Steiger has a reputation for toughness that borders on sheer nastiness and he's down to 295 of rock muscle (from up to 310 lb) and dropped some soft weight. Our new offensive lineman, Seth Olsen, was described by draftcountdown.com as "Very tough...Plays with a nasty demeanor" and plays at about 306 lb. Just our new kind of guy - he was also elected as a member of the Leadership Group in all four of his playing seasons for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Wiegmann is light for his position - listed at 285. The guys behind him are a little bigger - 'Steiger at 295, even Schlueter at 290 - but adequate for a zone blocking center (Denver will add other blocking schemes, and actually used to use some other schemes, but we will keep the predominance of the ZB). The question will be whether they can play with technique and leverage - for the ZB, that's the real issue.

As far as being physical, by the end of last year the Broncos were playing much more physically on offense. Their run blocking was a work in progress last year - by the end, they were hammering out holes for people that you either hadn't heard of or didn't want to, but the holes kept coming anyway. The relative size of Seth Olsen gives us a clue as to the direction they will go in – the retention of line coach Rick Dennison says a lot for the zone blocking approach, but they will be adding other blocking schemes as well. They may be looking at bigger guards than they have used in the past. Ryan Clady’s 325 lb. goes a long way towards creating a bigger, tougher line, and the genius of their zone blocking scheme will always put more of a premium on athleticism than just sheer road-grader size. Olsen is big but not huge at 306 yet he's very strong and late rounder Blake Schlueter is smaller yet very athletic (and mean). He's more of the lineman that Denver used in the past, but something about him drew the Xanders/McDaniels team to him. That 'something' was simple - he's incredibly fast, agile and tough as nails, is a master of the knockdown despite his lighter weight (leverage and technique are big tools for him and wields them like sledgehammers) and was a team captain in his junior and senior year.

I'm still not sure about Ben Hamilton. He just didn't seem quite the same guy. Could just have been the year off, maybe something else was going on. I don't see any signs that it was concussion-based, by the way. I do wonder if he's vulnerable to an in-camp challenge by a younger guy. McDaniels has shown one thing - he's not huge on sentimental holdovers.He needs to win.

You could also question this one issue from Lombardi: I'm pretty sure that Casey Wiegmann, among others, out-played, disarmed and diffused Kris Jenkins and a host of other players. It seemed, after looking at the numbers and the tape, as if the Broncos O line was pretty physical themselves. I thought that the physicality questions were better asked of the rest of the team, but maybe that's just me.

Conclusions:

Michael Lombardi asked a lot of good, insightful questions regarding where the tam came from at the end of last year and where it's trying to go. What stands out to me is how well these questions were answered. In looking back at the players that we (often mercifully) let go, the free agents acquired and the way that we handled the draft, the Broncos did a solid job of providing players that answer what I thought were fair, sensible queries.

They ranged from the quarterback to the pass rush, to playmakers at each level of the defense, to the quality of the secondary and defensive backfield and back again to offense. There was one question on Casey Wiegmann and another on the level of physicality on the Bronco, particularly the offensive line. Frankly impressed at how well they’ve answered them to the extent that they can, pre-training camp. I think that every team has a high level of expectation from the fans during the weeks prior to training camp. A certain allure can abound, sometimes realistic, sometimes false. How do you tell which is which?

I think that there are several means. We cannot truly understand how the Broncos are matching players to scheme simple because we do not, cannot know the schemes. But many of us have done substantial work on the statistics and schemes that our current coaches have used in the past. We've done more analysis of last season than any year in my memory (our available tools improve as does the quality of the people we have researching and writing). We can look at who stayed, who went and who was ushered out the door and consider the background and stats on those who replaced them. Taking all known factors into account, I'm impressed at how well we answered the valid and reasonable questions that were put to the Broncos early last spring. With the onset of summer, training camp is nearly in our grasp.

Bring it on!

Educated Guess - 2009 Depth Chart Thoughts

Steve Nichols — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:30:09 -0000

It is still too early to have a good idea of what depth chart Denver will be using. But members of the media and fans at Milehighreport.com will put up depth charts anyway because it is fun to speculate on who will play at what positions. I love depth chart projections because the conversation that ensues serves to educate. Some folks will share information about a player trait that others weren't aware of, and discussions of schemes ensue.

Most longtime members of MHR love the annual depth-chart breakdown that Guru does. It was my favorite feature of MHR before I joined the site a few years ago. If you want accurate predictions, that's your story. If you want some educated guesses and a good discussion, I hope you'll enjoy the following....

As I've written consistently, this is a tough year to guess on our final roster and dept chart. New coaches, new system, a radical change in player-use philosophy, and a major turnover in players makes this year tricky, but very intriguing. We'll know much more when camp is fully underway, but here are some of my thoughts thus far.

DEFENSE

SAFETY

One of my most difficult tasks is to guess whether or not Brian Dawkins plays at his historical free-safety position or moves to strong safety. There are strong arguments both ways. Even at his age, Dawkins had a terrific season again last year. He still has speed and range, and can sack quarterbacks from the deep safety position. He still has the hands to intercept. And when he hits a ball carrier, the stadium hears it. Brian Dawkins remains a terrifying force on the field. I would like to see him stay at FS, but I'm starting to lean towards a move to SS. I have a few reasons for this, but I'm not 100% comfortable with making a firm projection.

First, Dawkins will be getting older, and the eventual slowing will make him a better fit at SS. Second, I'll take Dawkins covering a TE over some of the prospects at LOLB. Third, in most schemes the SS will have more run-support responsibilities, and Dawkins is one of those safeties that can consistently bring down even the biggest of RBs.

Renaldo Hill would then become my guess at FS. Coming off of the good year he had last year, I think he is a definite upgrade at FS. Given his age, he will likely be holding the position for a young up-and-coming player in the near future.

Darcel McBath is my favorite for the backup FS spot. He should do well on STs, but I think he will be the future at FS, and a player to watch. I think he'll see some playing time this year. For the fourth spot on the safety chart, we might see a duel between Vernon Fox and Josh Barrett. Fox could win out because there is talk about Barrett getting some looks for an OLB position.

Where does this leave the "other" rookie (David Bruton)? I think he has a shot at being a special teams ace for now, and a project for a future role at safety.

Cornerback

Superstar Champ Bailey is a lock for the #1 CB position. Andre Goodman was brought in to take over at the #2 position, and should do a great job there. Controversial draft pick Alphonso Smith will be exciting at nickel back, and is likely going to be a #2 CB in the near future.

I love what the team has done at safety and corner. We have two future-Hall of Famers at defensive-back positions, a hot rookie, and two solid veterans. The battle for the final spot will be between Jack Williams, Josh Bell, and Rashod Moulton.

Inside Linebacker

In my last article, I wrote that I was proud of myself for predicting that D.J. Williams would again be moving, this time to RILB. It is his natural spot, and one that he is happy with. He will be the anchor for the LBs. At LILB, Andra Davis will be stopping runs and "ted blocking" the way to sacks for the RILB. Beyond these two, nothing is sure.

I'm guessing that Larsen will be a FB / ILB hybrid. Someone pointed out a fact to me in the last couple of weeks, and I buy the reasoning - Larsen would make a great LILB because (as a FB) he is already capable of blocking the way through the trenches. I buy that, so Larsen becomes my pick for #2 LILB. Woodyard is my pick to back up Williams.

Outside Linebacker

With hybrids, this is a very tough call. Until he gets injured, Boss Bailey has a shot at starting LOLB, and Jarvis Moss is my guess to compete for the spot. The more I think about it, I like Elvis Dumervil at ROLB. He isn't big enough to play RDE in a 3-4, but his rush skills would make him a feared presence in a 3-4 played with a 5-2 look. I'm not sure who backs up Dumervil. With safety Josh Barrett getting looks at LB, I think he could go ROLB or LOLB. For now, let's consider ROLB a possibility.

Nose Tackle

The early favorite is clearly Ronald Fields, who was projected to start for the 49ers this year. Carlton Powell and Marcus Thomas are both bulking up and fighting for a spot, and I think there may be a better competition for the spot than earlier thought.

Defensive End

Let me throw out the names in the mix as I see them (in no special order) - Robert Ayers, Tim Crowder, Ryan McBean, Kenny Peterson, and Nic Clemons.

I think Ayers, McBean, and Crowder compete for the LDE spot. I think Peterson starts RDE, with Clemons or one of the three players competing for LDE backing him up.

OFFENSE

Quarterback

Kyle Orton had a lesser offensive line and lesser receivers in Chicago, but still managed more wins than Denver's previous QB. He may not have the physical tools and potential of a Jay Cutler, but he also lacks the drawbacks (forcing the ball into interceptions, not looking off receivers, decision making in general). Chris Simms is not likely to be the starter, but could be a surprise if called in during an injury to Orton.

Tom Brandstater may be a long-term project, or a desperate emergency player in the event of a catastrophic string of injuries. The only real question is, "Do we carry three QBs on the roster, or keep Brandenstater on the practice squad but suited up under the NFL's emergency 'third QB' rule"? Tom is a very smart kid, and may be a surprise in a couple of years.

Running Backs

Denver is loaded at this position. I was sorry to see Arrington not pass the physical, but Denver didn't lose much in the signing. Still, Denver finally has a workhorse RB in 1st-round draft pick Knowshon Moreno. The next question is, do we go committee or run a prime back? Do we spell or rotate? Peyton Hillis is a proven commodity as a power back, but can also block as FB or gash defensive lines running the ball from the FB position. Correll Buckhalter and LaMont Jordon are solid backs, not castoffs. The running game will not be an issue for Denver this year.

Larsen and Hillis can both play FB. Hillis is good enough to start at RB (with Moreno), and Larsen is good enough to play at LILB (likely rotating behind Davis).

Denver has a lot of options.

Receiver

Brandon Marshall starts at #1, and Eddie Royal starts at #2. Brandon Stokley is probably still going to be our slot receiver, and that's a good thing. This is a great starting group. Competing for the coveted 4th-receiver spot are Jabar Gaffney, rookie Kenny McKinley, and Chad Jackson.

Tight End

Daniel Graham is not only the clear starter, but has played in the NE offensive program before. He is an outstanding blocker, but can cause defenses problems if he goes out to catch. Tony Scheffler is too good of a receiving TE not to be in the mix, and will see the field in a lot of two-TE sets. Jeb Putzier and rookie Richard Quinn will fight for the 3rd TE position. Putzier has the advantage in catching, but Quinn is a heck of a blocker.

Center

Casey Wiegmann will start. Kory Lichtensteiger is being groomed as his replacement. Blake Schlueter (rookie) is either going to back up Kory next year, or might back up one of the guards this year.

Guard

Ben Hamilton starts at LG, and Chris Kuper starts at RG. Seth Olsen and (perhaps) Blake Schlueter are my guesses to back up.

Tackle

Ryan Clady is a lock at LT, and Ryan Harris is a lock at RT. Tyler Polumbus is a likely backup, but Brandon Gorin might give him a run for his money.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Special teams is settled at K, P, and long snapper. The only question is whether Royal will be relieved of his return responsibilities.

As mentioned earlier, without knowing the systems we'll be running, and with the added complexity of the Amoeba philosophy and the hybrid scheming, this is a tough depth chart to figure out. I'm certain that I'm going to be wrong on a least a few of my early guesses, but my overarching hope is that we as a group can discuss the roster and use the chart as a good base to exchange ideas.

I look forward to hearing from folks on their thoughts!

Poll

Assuming that Marshall, Royal, and Stokley start at the first three WR positions, which of the following players should start at #4 WR?

Jabbar Gaffney

726 votes

Kenny McKinley

83 votes

Chad Jackson

66 votes

875 votes | Poll has closed