Most NFL draftniks are familiar with the term "big board" to describe a teams ranking and ordering of players in an upcoming draft. Fewer are aware of the concepts involved in breaking a big board down into manageable chunks, such as frontboards and sideboards. Read on to consider yourself among the few...

Above you can see a highlight from a sample frontboard I have assembled for the Broncos 2012 draft. On a frontboard a team will list out all of its draftable prospects, with position listed left to right, and quality, talent and role listed top to bottom, with the most talented prospects at the top. Some teams may list the positions left to right in the order they wish to prioritize them, however I have not done that here, because I plan on using a slightly more complicated system to prioritize them, based around Elway's insistence on using the term "impact" to describe what their decision-making process is all about.

In addition a team will assemble multiple sideboards, primarily a medical and character sideboard. Players on these sideboards are typically considered undraftable by a team, either due to medical concerns or off the field red flags. I have indicated possible medical and character sideboard players in my frontboard with the colors salmon (medical) and black (character). Note that Denver has likely investigated each of these situations thoroughly, and not all of them will be on their actual sideboards, though many of them will.

In addition, a final sideboard is constructed as the draft takes place, with drafted players moving off the frontboard and onto specific teams' boards. I have not included one of those here, though I do use one when watching the draft.

Below the fold, we can take a look at the Broncos frontboard as I imagine it, in its final stage before the draft.

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Let's be perfectly clear, one year of evaluation is hardly enough to provide a final say on the efficacy of a draft, but it can certainly be enough to have us seeing stars and busts in fanland.

After the disappointing end to the first true rebuild project in over 15 years, the Broncos appeared rudderless at the conclusion of the 2010 season. With Free Agency delayed due to the Lockout, the 2011 draft was the first real look at the new culture and team concept that John Elway and John Fox were trying to instill and install. Leading up to the draft, weaknesses in the linebacking corps and secondary were identified, along with defensive line depth and talent. On offense, the offensive line figured to need depth, and tight end talent continued to be an issue, but overall, the focus looked to be on the defensive side of the ball.

Let's get below the fold and see how the actual draft meshed up with needs....

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For the Denver Broncos, 2009 had been an experiment, and the 8-8 ending and 3 game skid out of the playoff picture turned 2010 into an emergency for the young head coach Josh McDaniels. Heading into the 2010 draft, the team was looking for ways to improve the 12th ranked defense and 20th ranked offense from the season before, and hoping to avoid the offseason turmoil that marked 2009 and the legitimate belief that with the right decisions, the playoffs could be a reality.

The 2010 season would end up as far from the playoffs as Denver had ever been in their history, but before we get to that, lets meet the last gasp draft class of the short McDaniels Era.

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As Denver nears the end of its 2012 run in Free Agency, a relevant question would be "How much more room do they have left?"

I figured I may as well create a new post, which also became an opportunity to export a portion of the data I keep on Broncos salary cap numbers. So below the fold you will find some excerpts from my database, as well as a few projections for what is left to come. Note that these numbers are UNOFFICIAL, as are almost any contract numbers you find online. They may differ from numbers you see on rotoworld or Sportrac, or numbers reported by the beat writers or even numbers reported by NFL agents, who typically inflate numbers when leaking details during the high-pressure signing period to open free agency.

I mention this because my number for Peyton Manning in particular is nearly $5million different from what is being reported right now (I expect that clarity will come soon on that, either for myself or others), but also to note that none of us are any more right than anyone else. Posts like these should be an opportunity to share information, little more.

Having said that, make sure our MHR settings are on "wide" (check your right sidebar if you don't know what I am talking about), and lets get below the fold and see where we are at.

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With the Meriweather visit out of the way, Denver looks to be continuing its search for some veteran insurance for a safety corps that will be going from one of the oldest to one of the youngest with the absence of Brian Dawkins.

Former Cleveland safety Mike Adams will be in town soon to talk to Broncos brass, and in my opinion, this is the move that Denver needs to make.

The 31 year old Adams is playing good football recently, and prevented Usama Young from taking his position in training camp last year when Usama got sidelined with an injury. Adams went on to quietly lead the team in INTs, and while he was considered primarily a SS early in his career, he has shown versatility all over the field, playing a nickel role and improving significantly in his tackling and backend coverage. In 2011, QBs throwing into his area of the field only managed a 51.2 QB rating.

This move is similar to the Meriweather move, in that it stands as a vote of confidence for young safeties Rahim Moore and Quinton Carter, and maybe especially for Carter, who would be more likely to line up as a SS with Adams. And again, it is a move that leaves an opening for Dawkins, should he wish to take it.

Reportedly, four other teams have shown an interest in him as well, with one of the teams likely being the Patriots.

Williams camp responded promptly to the NFL release regarding his suspension, releasing a statement through his agent Mitch Frankel. D.J., of course, maintains his innocence and says what is expected, including that he is "proud of the way in which I conduct myself as a professional athlete and citizen."

Of interest is that his camp believes that the compromised urine sample was proven conclusively to be the fault of the NFL's handlers, and that this was settled at the hearing on the matter. Further:

"In fact, the specimen collector was fired by the NFL after compromising my specimen as well as others’. The hearing officer, an NFL executive, ignored the NFL’s own Policy, engaged in inappropriate communications with top NFL officials about this matter without my knowledge or approval, corrupted the system, ignored that my specimen had been compromised, and now has subjected me to humiliation as well as suspension."

The emphasis is mine, and if true, Williams, and others, may indeed have a leg to stand on if they decide to fulfill the threat of a lawsuit.

The lawsuit would be executed at the federal level, if pursued.

Virgil Green also released a statement to Josina Anderson, and indicated that the positive result was not from a PED as implicated by the league, but an ADHD medication he took prior to getting an exemption from the league.

Green says he has since gotten the required exemption for the prescribed medication. I find it very surprising that such an infraction merited a 4 game suspension.

UPDATE: Not my cup of tea, but ProFootballTalk is suggestingthat any lawsuit would accuse the league of delaying the suspensions in order not to disrupt a "tebowmania" playoff run... Click link at your own risk.

While a "comeback" technically means that the team coming back has won the game, as a Bronco fan with a memory of the recent past, I'll take what I can get, and a near comeback will have to be good enough during a season which has seen the "improvement" curve for this young team take several sharp turns in the wrong direction at inopportune times.

Looking back at my notes, I wanted to get a good feel for just what constituted the resurgence of morale and opportunity in this game, and to that end I have created the following bullet list with the essentials of the comeback series, a group of plays on both offense and defense that were prefaced by multiple 3 and outs for the Denver offense in a seemingly hopeless cause, even with Tebow entering the game.

• After 3 offensive stalls with 11 lackluster plays, it isn't looking like Tebow is making much of a difference yet.  However, the defense manages to stiffen at the right time to continue the early game trend of forcing FGs in the redzone.
• Finally, the defense gets things started.  On 3rd and 9 Von Miller's pressure leads to a sack, with Marcus Thomas helping.  The ensuing short punt and decent return set Denver up with their best field position of the day.

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A comment after the game piqued my interest.  Apparently the announcers for the game had mentioned that half of Denver's 2011 salaries were benched due to injury for the game, which made the already impressive effort even more endearing.

Even though I doubted it was truly half the salary, I didn't doubt that it would be a lot of money sitting on the bench.  Doom is the highest paid player on the team, Champ just got a new contract and Ty Warren was our biggest free agent signing of the offseason.

Below I have worked out the total "cost" of the injuries in terms of both cap space and cash in week 2.  Follow along after the jump...

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If it weren't for the injuries that have this position up in the air, this would be the biggest non-battle of Thursday night.  But the starting DT/NT rotation of Kevin Vickerson, Marcus Thomas, Ty Warren and Broderick Bunkley is dinged up across the board. Warren is out the majority of the season with a triceps tear, though he is rumored to be kept on the active roster. Thomas has a strained pectoral muscle but is expected back for the opener. Bunkley has a strained knee and is also expected back for the opener. Vickerson appears to just have a typical preseason practice bumps and bruises and is expected back for the opener. On the one hand everything is pretty much ok, but on the other hand, it can get worse in a big hurry.

The Broncos could keep up to eight total DL, with 4 DEs and 4 DT/NT, or they could carry an extra DT and one fewer DE, or even 9 total DL. They also have a built in adjustment with Ayers as a 3 tech DT, despite being listed as a DE.

With that in mind we can expect that there might be future roles with the Broncos for several of the battling DTs from Thursday night, even if there technically isn't a spot open for them...

Projected number of DT/NT roster spots up for grabs:  0

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Defensive End is a unique position for Denver. On the one hand, it is the most heavily invested defensive position ($19.442M in 2011 against a next best of $13M at CB), yet in 2010 we saw that if a Cornerback or two missed reps, the backups could still get it done. Not so at DE where the lack of DOOM, and then eventually Ayers led to a production total so low it causes a triple take.

Is the outlook any better in 2011?  We know that Elvis Dumervil and Robert Ayers have two of the slots locked up, and we know that injury upheaval at DT could squeeze the roster numbers across the DL more than we might like.  And we know that behind the starters we have four guys battling.  Hard.

Projected number of  Defensive End slots up for grabs:  2

• Jason Hunter:  I had him listed with the group of bubble players before the game, based on his the Broncos' depth chart estimation of him (3rd string LDE) but after watching the game, there is simply no way that Hunter is not a lock.  He was clearly on a different level from the players around him.  I had him at 9 attaboys in a row to start the game, both run and pass, and had to continue his list of good deeds onto a second page.  He is a snap anticipator, and as a result looks very quick off the line.  He was relentless pushing into the pocket, was driving back TEs and OTs both, broke a couple double teams and was flying around the LOS. Projection:  No brainer to take one of the final two DE roster spots.

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On the starting offensive line it almost seems like we couldn't be further from 2010, even though the personnel is 80% the same.

Ryan Clady is back to his old form, Kuper is playing well, J.D. Walton and Zane Beadles are a year wiser, and Orlando Franklin looks to have rookie impact written all over him, with Orton pointing out that when Orlando knows his assignment and can just do work, he is as dominating as any RT Orton has seen. This starting 5 have pretty much the whole season riding on their good health, however, as the depth problems of 2010 look to be lurking right behind them. The good news is Denver only needs to come up with 3 backups, and barring catastrophe, they should only be expected to curate one solid guy.

Projected offensive line slots up for grabs:  3

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One of the most intense battles has been getting sorted out at linebacker, and that continued Thursday night, with 4 guys battling it out for limited space playing the crown jewel of Denver defensive positions.

We know that Mr. Von Miller has SLB sewn up, and that further he is one of the centerpieces of the defensive gameplan. DJ is battling an elbow injury that could see him missing 2-4 weeks early, but he has his spot cemented, and Wesley Woodyard also has his Nickle LB/backup WLB role locked down. Joe Mays has been drawing rave reviews from staff and teammates alike. Although he comes out in Nickle packages, he is ferocious downhill towards the line of scrimmage and plays the back half of Fox's "vertical cross" in the Tampa-2 adequately.

Projected number of Linebacker spots up for grabs:  2

• Mario Haggan:  Haggan didn't play Thursday night, which could mean one of two things. Either his shoulder injury which kept him out of several practices made him a game time decision, or else, just like the rest of the starters and entrenched backups, his job was safe and there was no need to put on a show. For a guy that has survived every fan expectation for his demise, from salary-cap cuts, to tweener cuts, to age cuts--he is still around and more versatile than ever. He backs up the LDE spot, the SLB spot, and is listed as the #2 MLB on the Broncos current Depth Chart, and I think the Broncos will be happy to have his veteran presence rounding out their group.  Projection:  Solidly holds #5 LB spot.  Probably shouldn't even have bothered to list him here.
  

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How many Tight Ends to keep in 2011?  I look at the talent available, and I think I could keep 5 of them and be pretty content, but that simply isn't going to happen. We can be sure that Free Agent addition Daniel Fells is a lock.  He also is the only TE not to get reps on Thursday night. However (and this is still speculation on my part, though I feel it is accurate), I believe that Julius Thomas also has a starting spot locked up, as a wingback. He ran with the starters in that role vs. Buffalo and Seattle, but the real test is whether he has that role Monday night vs. the Raiders. Until I see that I will hold off on projecting his role too much, however I WILL give him one of the solid roster spots at TE.

Projected number of Tight End roster spots up for grabs:  2

• Dan Gronkowski:  Gronk has been relatively invisible all preseason, but got plenty of time in the final preseason game, where he proved to be adequate.  I marked him down twice for blocking, once in the passing game, once in the running game.  The pass block whiff would have gotten any QB but Tebow killed. He did however run good routes and I think that Denver is including him when they talk about TEs who can get open.  Projection:  takes one of two roster spots available.

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Probably my favorite position on the field, the "quarterback of the defense" is a position that will be getting a lot of attention over he next couple of years as it is revamped and hopefully returned to the glory that Broncos fans took for granted over the years.

Dawkins and Rahim Moore have the starting SS and FS spots pinned down, respectively.  Barring injury there are rarely opportunities for backup safeties to make an impact during the regular season, but even Dawkins would readily admit that whoever earns a spot in the wings needs to be ready to play sooner than later.  Ideally Denver will target at least 1 strong safety candidate and one free safety candidate (speed is the primary difference for players this young).

Projected Safety slots up for grabs:  3

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The most difficult position battle to get shored up adequately is proving to be Running Backs.  While Knowshon Moreno and Willis McGahee are a lock for the starting tandem, the young players behind them have shown only very limited flashes, mostly due to to difficult line play.  Denver is expected to scan the waiver wire for additional help.  Also in this group we can add the pure Fullback position (not the wingback or H-back positions.  Those are still starting slots and quite valuable, but we'll lump them with TEs to limit confusion), so we can include the much improved Spencer Larsen to the group of entrenched starters.

Running Back and Fullback total slots up for grabs:   2

• Lance Ball:  Going back to relief time for Knowshon in 2010, up to the latest and final preseason game, Ball has shown himself to be an adequate runner, without an elite feature in any category.  In fact, his one ideal characteristic is his size, which is a compact, MJD style runner who can get lost behind the linemen in front of him.  He has consistently been listed as the #1 backup, and I doubt that changes much going forward, as his performance on Thursday was once again adequate and consistent.  Projection:  Takes one of final two spots open for RBs.
  

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Next up lets take a quick look at the Cornerback battle.  Champ Bailey and Andre Goodman have the starting slots squared away, and Vaughn is making a case for most improved player of the offseason behind Moreno, with a solid hold on the nickleback role.

Projected Cornerback slots up for grabs:  2

• Perrish Cox:  For this kind of game I track "attaboys" and "ouchs" and Cox struggled mightily.  Overall in preseason he was hit and miss, really struggling whenever he played the receiver without playing the ball.  In the final game he had 3 passes that he defended poorly, a terrible defense in the endzone that would have drew multiple flags in the regular season, an ugly missed tackle on a long play and two mental errors on special teams returns units.  Projection:  His mistakes have reduced his role significantly, and if not for questionable prognosis for Syd'quan Thompson, he would be an easy choice to let walk.  Likely cut on Saturday.
  

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Over tonight, tomorrow and early Saturday, I will be writing 9 quick posts about the final position battles that were settled Thursday night.  We'll start with some of the biggest preseason flashers.  Wide Receiver, being one of the deepest groups on the Broncos also had one of the more intense battles going on in the preseason.

The #1 receiver slot is sewed up by Lloyd, and Royal is going to try his hand at the #2 spot this year.  Decker has worked his way to the starting slot receiver, and in the background Demaryius Thomas is recovering from Achilles surgery on the PUP, for his planned return midseason.  Behind these three roster spots Willis was running as Lloyd's relief at the X position, and he has been running quality NFL routes all preseason long.  These players can be viewed as solid locks barring injury, taking up four total roster spots.

Projected Wide Receiver slots up for grabs:  2

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By clearing waivers Quinn will now be placed on Denver's injured Reserve, joining rookies Mario Fannin, Mark Dell and Derek Domino.  Quinn's injured knee wasn't giving him a chance to be evaluated in camp, so the team took a chance on waivers to try and clear the roster spot for the next guy in line.  Quinn's cap hit for the year is approximately $758k.

DT Ty Warren also had surgery on his torn triceps, and is expected to be out 3-4 months, or until approximately that last quarter of the season.

"It will be kind of a week-to-week rehab, and it will probably be anywhere between three and four months," Fox said. "Everybody heals differently, and they've got to stay in shape and all those things they have to do to come back and play football, so it'll be week-to-week."

The Broncos could either choose to IR Warren or leave him on the active roster.  Expect the Broncos to leave Warren on the active roster while he rehabs.  His $2.75mil cap hit can't help the Broncos on IR, and the timetable places him squarely in the 12-16 week range, so they don't gain much by placing him on IR at this point.

So Michael Silver had an intriguing article go up, with quotes that he sourced on Monday from "one highly knowledgeable member of the organization," as well as "one high-ranking member of the Broncos’ organization," (probably both the same person, and probably John Elway), and he indicates that the Broncos feel Adam Weber is simply "flat out better," as of this moment in time.  But there is a caveat:

"If everything was totally equal, and this were a competition based only on performance at this camp, Tebow would probably be the fourth-string guy. Kyle [Orton] is far and away the best, and Tebow’s way behind [Brady] Quinn, too."

The "If everything was totally equal," will need to get clarified at some point, because if it is referring to Tim's status as a first round pick, it means that the dreaded "politics" is entering into the competition, something which we were ostensibly assured wasn't going to happen.  Tim's first round status carries with it a high (higher than average, even) investment cost, guaranteed money ($1.6mil in 2011, plus the recent "double down" roster bonus of $6.275mil), and high expectations.

The only thing remotely redeeming about "politics" entering the debate at this stage is that it is for the 3rd string QB spot...hardly a cause for concern, especially since few will go to bat for Weber. 

But two things deserve to be highlighted from Silver's report.

The first is that Weber may have been an untalented scrub player brought in to fill the added depth requirements of a 90-man training camp roster, but no one told him that.  Lloyd himself noted that Weber had been making impressive plays in camp since being brought in.

"He threw that ball before the receiver made his cut, and it came down in the dude’s hands like, ‘Merry Christmas,’ " Pro Bowl wideout Brandon Lloyd(notes) recalled
Monday. "He’s thrown four or five passes like that in camp where it’s been like … whoa. Weber’s got personality, and he’s got some swag about him, too."

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There has already been plenty of debate around here about both the legality of Moore's hit, and the sportsmanship of it.  For Moore's part he has chimed in, and doesn't feel like he did anything wrong:

""I didn’t even know I was flagged until I ran to the sideline," he said. "If it was the wrong thing to do, I apologize, but at the end of the day, I mean no harm to nobody.  It was just my reaction, man. I was being a football player, I couldn’t really get to the ball to pick it off, which is what I really wanted to do. But my intention was just to hit him. Our coaches want us to be physical, so I’m going to do what I do."

I was worried afterwards, wondering if Fox and the staff had Moore's back.  Fox erred on the side of recognizing league authority on the issue, but he also noted that he didn't fault Moore for the play, noting that he was a rookie, and that he didn't think it was a helmet to helmet hit, indicating he may have felt the penalty was unwarranted.

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We looked at the starting defense this morning, and I wanted to go back and review formations before I wrote up the offensive starters.  Formation, whether it is shotgun, wishbone, pistol, single wing or whatever always comes down to what is the offensive line capable of doing.  Based on their capabilities you modify the formation to start utilizing weapons.  Last year, with all the upheaval on the OL, the ideals of the Denver offensive philosophy struggled to come to light, and as the blockers up front started to come around and get healthy and shifted into their proper roles on the line, the weapons started going down, in a perfect storm of offensive inequity.

I surmised during the offseason that based on the bits and pieces we were seeing that we would be treated to some concepts from the wing-t offense, most notably the addition of a true wingback role to the offense, and a high level of misdirection plays and handoffs at multiple levels in the running game.  I felt that Fox reinforced this idea with his "sophisticated" comment of some infamy.

I didn't bother charting anything from the 1st preseason game, but this 2nd game deserved a closer look, with the starting OL staying in the game throughout the first half.  It was worth the second look...

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Continuing our sub-grand experiment here at MHR, this week's notebook is officially ready to go.  Heading into the game I made a note to myself to watch and track formations and personnel groupings (saw some pretty cool stuff), keep an eye on Orlando Franklin and Chris Kuper over there on the right side, watch the fullbacks a little better, and to pay attention to what kinds of packages we were seeing pressure from on defense.

Overall I just wanted to see a team that was cleaning up the mistakes (penalties in game one were a problem), as well as playing physical, like a team halfway through the season.  A fast start is huge this year, for a lot of reasons, and establishing some physical dominance will go a long ways toward that goal.  A slow start will kill the Broncos before they even have a chance to get out of the gate.

Lets get right to the analysis.

Defensive Starters

• DT Broderick Bunkley:  We were missing two of our most productive starting DTs for this game and it showed on the first drive, but a few guys came through to help alleviate the loss.  Vickerson was up and down all game, getting a stop on the first play, but later getting manhandled on the outside shoulder of a guard to allow a 3rd and 2 conversion right at him.  Bunkley showed up pretty well early, with his penetration on the Bill's third down almost leading to a 3 and out for the defense's first drive, if not for a converted fake punt on the next play (have you ever seen a fake punt in the preseason?).  On the next drive Bunkley would once again penetrate deep into the backfield on a little delayed rush.  The pressure would force an incompletion and lead to 3rd and 18.  And Bunkley wasn't done yet, batting a ball down at the line of scrimmage (and almost intercepting it) later in the first half.  He finished out his first half reps with a gimme crush of the RB in the backfield (along with DJ and Goodman) after the QB and RB had trouble with the handoff/playfake.  All in all, a nice day by the Bunk.

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Last year I started a new series here on MHR where I shared my extensive note-taking during games, and I am planning on continuing that this year.  These are simply off the cuff observations of things that oftentimes go unnoticed, or I describe certain plays or situations to help us understand them better.

Typically I organize these notes as a sort of abbreviated play-by-play, but I'm always interested in better ways to present the info, so the format will change, sometimes significantly.

Like a lot of you, it feels like the wait for this game has been a long time in the making, despite the fact that its hasn't been any longer than any other time.  With that said, I have to say how great it was to really see these guys for the first time, and to see them competing hard.  8 pages of notes later, I feel like I am finally getting a grasp on how this whole shivaree is going to shake out.

Without further ado, lets start breaking things down.

Starting Offense

• 1st thing that stands out to me is the first play of the game, with Cassius Vaughn back to return kicks.  With Royal out for the game, this indicates just how far Vaughn has come since last year, as the starting return man behind Royal.  Of course, excepting 1 or 2 plays over the course of the game, kickoffs are non-impact plays at this point, and that will likely project into the season...
• Knowshon Moreno:  Number one offensive need was a running game, and it sure looks like that could be addressed this year.  Knowshon could have a huge impact in that area, and tonight he showed several reasons why.  After breaking a tackle on his first run he would go on to make a defender miss for a first down, and then continues on another play to evade a tackler with a spin move against the Cowboys' Shawn Lee, followed by dragging two more defenders with him for the 1st.  And he wasn't done, breaking an arm tackle on the following play.  Add in production as a checkdown option and pass blocking on the drive and KM is showing he can carry his share of the load.  If you have been watching him as long as I have, you know that the start of his Denver career has been the anomaly, where he didn't look as quick or elusive as you know he can be.  It is clearer than ever to me that when healthy, he can be the back Denver drafted him to be, an all around, slippery and difficult to bring down runner, with great effort.

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Part I:  I'm Glad the NFL is Back

Seems like it is ancient history, the thought of missing preseason games to the lockout.  I had made peace with that eventuality, and to some extent had even made plans for no preseason, an extended summer vacation if you will, and in a lot of ways, it was very easy to come to those terms.  The rot that was exposed at the heart of the NFL was something I could have done without over the arc of my NFL fandom.

And now with a game just ahead of us, even if it is one that Coach Fox isn't going to bother gameplanning for, I realize how excited I am that it is back.

And this isn't Gregg Doyell excited.  In the early hours of the NFL season, he felicitously rattled off an enthusiastic endorsement of what he called "The most fun NFL, ever," a direct product of labor relief and excitement over actual news.  His point wasn't lost on me, but the hyperbole just doesn't fit.  Sure, the initial tidal wave of news was epic, but not compared to the regular beginning of free agency, and not compared to the typical beginning of training camp.  If not for the info and reports being stacked and overlapping, all happening at the same time, it probably wasn't particularly noteworthy, feelings of relief not withstanding.  Eventually even that tidal wave ebbed.  Unless you were an Eagles fan.

And this sense of relief that Doyell mentions gets me thinking, because I can't say that relief was the essential feeling that I had.  I wonder how many other fans out there felt similar to how I did?  How many had experienced a sort of disgust and resulting ennui from seeing a bit too deeply into and rubbing up a bit too closely against the political machine pumping away non-stop at the core of the NFL like a throbbing black heart?  And worse yet, how many fans had experienced a moment's hypocrisy, a sense that they were "riding the white bronco," and were about to embrace something they had discovered to be deeply repellant?

How to reconcile these two disparate halves of the whole?

Still, a Broncos game is right around the corner.  Its probably a question for some other time.

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Some of the best camp battles can be expected to take place throughout the LB corps as a youth movement, infused with ready to rock draft talent and hungry young vets vies for spots behind and against savvy vets.  WLB seems relatively set, with the annual tackle leader for the Broncos, D.J. Williams looking to move into the role he occupied long ago as a rookie, but Woodyard, playing on a one year 2nd round tender will be looking to make it interesting.  At the Sam spot, #2 overall draft pick Von Miller will look to bring the kind of impact that Denver expects from its LB DNA, and he remains pretty much unchallenged in that role.  In the middle, one of the best camp battles is shaping up with the young vet Joe Mays actively taking on the role of calling plays and audibles in camp, while Rookies Irving and Mohammed look to show some much needed speed and athleticism needed for Fox's zone-blitz to work effectively.  Let's take a look at each of these contenders after the jump.

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Article 11 of the new CBA contains the rules that will allow the league to transition into the new league year, and buried among the many items within it is the following subsection:

Section 5. Salaries and Salary Cap Accounting:

....(b)     Proration From Preexisting Contracts.   ....(i) No signing bonus proration to the League Years of this Agreement shall apply for any Preexisting Contract that was terminated, traded or assigned via waivers prior to March 11, 2011....

 What this means for Denver is that the proration cap penalty of Jamal Williams, Justin Bannan, and Daniel Graham, who were all cut on March 3rd will not apply.

This frees up $11.676million to be used immediately in free agency, though the approximate cap hit of $900,000 for Correll Buckhalter will still apply (total cap savings of $1.45mil from cutting Buck)

The salary cap breakdown for the Broncos continues after the jump...

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The newly rebuilt Denver front office looks to be trying to score an A+ on the first phase free agency -- bringing in yet another strong rookie free agent class.  History indicates that at least one of these young men will make the 53-man roster (Chris Baker in 2009, Cassius Vaughn in 2010), so once the Broncos make it official tomorrow, we can start to see which one or more of them will make that leap this season.

So far, the reported CFAs that Denver has been talking with, and likely to sign are:

• CB Brandon Bing, Rutgers
• WR Marshall Williams, Wake Forest
• WR Mark Dell, Michigan State
• FB Patrick Hill, Miami
• RB Mario Fannin, Auburn
• CB James Rogers, Michigan
• DT Colby Whitlock, Texas Tech
• OG Bryant Browning, Ohio State
• LB Nick Bellore, Central Michigan
• DE Deron Mayo, Old Dominion
• CB Chris Harris, Kansas
• OT Curt Porter, Jacksonville St.

Below the fold lets take a look at a few of the guys that really stand out to me on the list, and who, in my view, stand the best chance of being the guys to beat the odds and make the squad...

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Denver has been doing great work over the past three years bringing in an excellent range of college free agents, and so far, 2011 appears to be no exception to this trend.

The reported addition of RB Mario Fannin out of Auburn looks to have the early lead as the gem of the current crop.  I had him rated as a 4th or 5th round talent, and he definitely looks the part.

At 5'10" 231lbs, with a 4.37 40-yd, this guy is big and fast, and was the all-time leader in receptions (97) and receiving yards (985) by a running back at Auburn.  He has excellent vision and is a true north-south runner, who knows how to hop behind a blocker in the hole and find daylight.  He also has an exceptionally strong lower body and runs hard, with good effort.  Ran as a power runner in a run oriented spread offense, and can get the corner by both option and power sweep, so he has good backfield versatility.  After an excellent junior campaign he became a role player his senior year as the team used Cam Newton and freshman sensation RB Michael Dyer to help balance the offensive workload.

Overall he is a great athlete, and a selfless team player, willing to work on special teams, where he has experience in several roles including kick returning.  Put him behind a FB in an I-formation zoneblock, and watch him find a way downhill.  2010 stats:  395yds, 6.5 YPC, 5TDs, 17rec, 173yds, 2 TDs.

A recent article by Jeff Legwold of the Denver Post got MHR talking about the Broncos cap situation, and just how much actual spending money we can look forward to having.  It just so happens that I have been putting the final touches on a comprehensive Salary Spreadsheet for the Broncos, which is designed to track Salary Cap information.  While I am currently waiting for the new CBA rules to fully extrapolate the current data, I can confirm that Legwold's numbers are roughly accurate.  We both came up with a current salary obligation for the Broncos of around $125million.

Now, Rodney A recently dug a little deeper into the issue and received confirmation of a number of issues with that number that I can also confirm from my own database.  These include:

• A total current roster of well over the traditional 53 man roster (78 specifically)
• Unsigned rookies and RFAs
• Players likely to be cut who would amount to significant savings (both Rodney and Nick Cast had suggestions here)
• Expected contract restructures were not included, though Legwold did note the high earners, and Klis later obtained a soundbite from Dawkins on his willingness to restructure

So with those provisions in mind, lets look a little closer at the path to plenty that the Broncos can follow to assure themselves of both cap compliance and free agency freedom...

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Mystery-man.  Enigma.  The Shadow.  Mr. X

Gauging Xander's impact on the Broncos won't be easy, but we will charge forward nonetheless, after all, that is part of what this little experiment is all about.  As a number's man, a capologist and a CBA savant, there is little doubt, and so assessing the contracts to come in free agency (and for our rooks) is important in Xander's grade, albeit a future grade.

The college free agent class is another area that is probably more Xander's and his staff than Fox or Elway.  Fox will be part of the decision in terms of what he likes or doesn't like, Elway will probably weigh in a bit, given that he has heard of a guy who found pretty decent success in Denver as a CFA (Mr. Smith goes to Canton?  We can only hope...), but overall, the names that Elway and Fox get to see will only be a slice of the total class available in CFA, and that will be due to the work of Mr. Xanders.  But again, a weigh in on that issue remains in the future.

What exactly can we grade him on then?

• Quality of Denver Broncos Draft:  I understand that Elway has final say on which players are ultimately chosen, and that Fox's input on who he wants to coach is integral to the process, but the buffet that gets laid out before them, the quality of the scouting reports, the depth of the big board, the rankings, that all starts with X.  So if you feel that the draft came off without a hitch, or that the right players made it into blue and orange, than some of that credit goes Xander's way.
  

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