Obviously none of us know what's going to happen, I was off last year when I was hoping Brian Orakpo would slip to Denver in the 1st round once Tyson Jackson was gone. He did, and I thought for sure Denver would send in the pick seconds after the 11th pick was chosen last year... "with the 12th pick in the 2009 NFL draft, the Denver Broncos take Knowshon Moreno".... I thought are you kidding me!

But as the draft played out I started to see the McD/Xanders strategy. It was about guys who want to play and have strong character. Guys who McDaniels feel will not wilt under pressure. (My only caveat is I defended the decision to trade a 1st for the Phonz last year and I'm having a hard time defending that decision today. Right now, that looks like a horrible decision. He may turn out, but imagine being able to pick McClain at #11 and Dan Williams at #14... just saying what if...now onto what I would say the smart decisions are this year)

Knowing what we know now, I feel we can have a better grasp on what McD/X want to do this year. I'm sure I'll still be terribly wrong.

Option #1

Stay at #11 and pick either Dan Williams or Rolondo McClain. I can't see any other player being a good fit and value at #11 for Denver. If they like one of these two guys enough and they are available, I think they send in their pick.

Option #2

The Giants are rumored to be hot after Rolondo McClain. If the Broncos feel Sean Witherspoon is a better fit, they could trade down 4 spots to #15 and pick up extra picks and still get their LB. They did have Weatherspoon workout for them, but that could just be a smokescreen.

Option #3

Or, they could trade back with a number of teams picking in the teens that are interested in CJ Spiller or McClain. Once at #15, there are a number of teams that may be interested in moving up to #15 for Earl Thomas or Kyle Wilson including Philly at #24. It's possible Denver trades back again with Philly who has a ton of picks and hopes Maurkice Pouncey falls to them at #24. If they were able to pull this off, they may pick up 3 or 4 extra picks and land Pouncey who fills just as big of a need as any of the defenders they could pick in the 1st round. They would then likely have plenty of picks in rounds 2-4 to fill other holes on the roster.

Option #4

Same as #3 but... The Broncos would have more than enough ammo to move back into the first round if their is another player that falls to the bottom of round 1 that they like. Maybe Dez Bryant, Weatherspoon, or even Iupati who could fill in the other G spot opposite Kuper.

It's easy to speculate but we have no idea if teams will be willing to trade up with Denver, or Denver even wants to do it. But my feeling is this is a deep draft and Pouncey fills as big a need as any other, so why not trade back, pick up Pouncey and get some extra picks. Easy... Right... ;)

Important Decisions on Players Looming this Off-Season!

I'm enjoying this season a lot as are most of us. I can't help but take a peak at next year even though we are only 5 games into this season. There are some key players that will be free agents and I wonder if we will be able to keep them all. There are some uncertainties that make it even harder to predict what will happen, but I can't stop my brain from going there. First, we don't know if it will be an uncapped year or not. Second, I don't know the Broncos salary cap position as it stands right now. Regardless, the decision by McDaniels/Xander to trade one of our 1st round picks next year for the right to select Alphonso Smith is looking more intelligent by the day. They may have to pay out a lot of money to keep their own players.

The list of free agents includes Brandon Marshall, Kyle Orton, Tony Scheffler, Chris Kuper, Casey Wiegmann, Ben Hamilton, and Elvis Dumervil. I hate even thinking that one or more of those guys won't be back next year, but some of them will get offered more money to go elsewhere and it will be up to them to decide whether to take less money and play in Denver.

My best guess is that they will let Ben Hamilton go if they can't sign him cheap, and that Seth Olsen will take over his spot. I feel like there is a 2nd year option for Wiegmann, but I can't remember if its a player option or a team option. I can't imagine it not being picked up unless Wiegmann wants to retire. Kyle will come back and he is the type that will take a smaller contract to stay with the team. If he keeps playing like he did in New England then my guess is he'll get something along the lines of a 5 years and 30 Million.

I really think they have to bring back Kuper and Marshall! It sounds like they plan to keep Marshall around, but Marshall is likely to get somewhere in the neighborhood of 4-5 years and 8-9 million per. This is where it gets interesting to me because Kuper is not going to be cheap. He is solid, young and highly underrated. I could see him getting an offer for 6 years and 35-45 million from some team. Just look at the contracts that have gone to guards the past couple years (i.e. Eric Steinbach, Dockery, etc.) If we manage to sign Orton, Marshall, and Kuper then I really don't see how Scheffler or Dumervil come back.

Blasphemy you say!!!! I know some people are thinking how crazy that is to say that they may not be able to sign Dumervil. And there are many good reasons to sign him. For one, letting him go brings about memories of Shanahan always letting our pass rushers go (Pryce, Hayward, Berry). But if it does come down to O-line and OLB, I think Dumervil is easier to replace. I believe a lot will come down to whether Doom and Kuper are willing to take a home team discount, and a lot will depend on how well Ayers develops. If Ayers continues to progress, the team may feel he can replace Doom next year.

Don't get me wrong, I WANT them all back! But I wonder if its possible to bring them all back. Just cause there is no salary cap next year (assuming thats what happens) doesn't mean you want to spend like crazy cause there may be one in 2011 and then you may be in "cap hell." That still doesn't even count Scheffler who will probably be looking for a 5 year deal worth 25 million. One thing is for sure, if Shanahan is coaching next year he won't hesitate to try and lure Kuper, Doom, or Scheffler away from Denver to help him build his new team.

I'm interested in hearing your thoughts. I doubt I'm the most knowledgeable person on MHR on how this would all work out next year.

Why is Nolan Getting So Much Credit?

This is the first time I've made a post here. I enjoy reading all the insightful articles and posts on this site and am not usually one to take the time to write myself. But I couldn't help it after all the doom and gloom the media dished out for months. Now that the Broncos are 4-0 a lot of people are giving way too much credit to Nolan.

Now this is not intended to get down on Mike Nolan. I do think he is a good coach. But the MSM is ready to don all this praise on him and start talking about him as a head coach candidate for next year. Are you kidding me?

Nolan has had very mixed results at all of his NFL coaching stops. It has not always been good. What's amazing to me is that the MSM and even some fans give him credit for the Ravens record defense of 2000. He wasn't even on the Ravens coaching staff that year and he actually was originally a WR coach for the Ravens in 2001 before being named the new D-Coordinator in 2002.

Nolan did help the Ravens successfully transition to a 3-4 after Lewis left and he definitely did a good job there, but he also inherited a lot of good players. He was not good in San Francisco and while their awful defense did get a little bit better while he was there it was nothing like the turnaround here in Denver this year. San Francisco's defense has actually gotten a lot better since he left and I would give a lot of the credit to Mike Singletary for that.

All that to say that I think Nolan is a very good coach under the right circumstances. But I'm tired of hearing the MSM and the McD haters giving credit to Mike Nolan. I give most of the credit to McDaniels. He brought in the right players. It wasn't Nolan. Nolan proved he was a pretty bad GM in SF. McD started out as a defensive coach for New England so he has experience on defense. He knows what offenses hate and he shares that with the defense every week. He helps to bring a different perspective to the defensive game plan each week - the offenses perspective. McD chose to go to the 3-4, not Nolan. Nolan has run a 3-4 and 4-3 during his career.

McD has a vision and Nolan is a part of that. But how easily people forget how bad Nolan was in SF. Nolan is not a good head coach, but he thrives under a good head coach and that is why the defense is doing well. McD has set him up to be successful. If Nolan had total control over player selection and all the schemes, I believe you would not have seen the same success that we have so far this season.