Off Season Thread

[randymon]

DownSetHutch I know the Broncos down at the Senior Bowl week had a private interview with him where they took him out to dinner so there is definite interest on the part of the Broncos.

Alright been gone a few days as my wife finally had our first child! Had a bit of a surprise as most everybody thought our baby would be a boy and ended up having a little girl. Terrified now of every single boy so have a friend that is a double black belt MMA fighter going to come out and begin training her when she is of age to make sure every boy in town knows she can beat the crap out of them if they get out of line.

Heard some rumors for the team though while in the hospital so thought I would share those here. As in the other post the rumor is the Broncos are going to let Moore walk in FA and possibly replace him with Webster while also then drafting somebody to add depth to the position with both Moore and Carter leaving this off season. Obviously this early in the off season hard to tell what is fact and what is just to get clicks but this one actually does make sense.

Other things I have heard is the team seems very set on keeping Franklin and D. Thomas. They seem to be the top-2 priorities with possibly Knighton being #3. J. Thomas seems like he is for sure going to hit FA.

It is now known that Montee Ball was not actually healthy at any point during this past season and actually covered up his injuries from the team because he wanted to play so bad. Love the fight this kid has to have done that but honestly just not very smart. I know he wants the starting job so hopefully he can come back healthy and that gives the Broncos the best 1-2 punch in the NFL with Ball and Anderson. Would take some major pressure off Manning to have to perform as such a high level.[/QUOTE

Any info on what type of injuries he was dealing with?

 

[cdumler7]

From the sound of it Randymon it was a groin injury. Essentially they said whatever injury he had was then made worse a month later so if I remember right he suffered a severe groin injury to end his season. Groin injuries are definitely nothing to mess with. I remember when Champ played through his and still had a very good year but with every twist and turn I would cringe thinking he was going to go down with it torn.

 

[randymon]

Yeah Cd, I think a severe groin tear or hammy tear ranks right up there with Achilles in terms of recovery time for players. Easy to re- aggravate if not given very sufficient time to heal. Hope their very careful with Ball going forward.

 

[cdumler7]

Also DownSetHutch if you want to see who my man crush is starting to be for the upcoming draft you don't have to look too far as he is also a Miami Hurricane in Ereck Flowers LT for them. Honestly I could be pretty darn excited about having an all Miami Hurricane draft if it were at all possible as I love Flowers, Walford, Perryman, Duke Johnson (I know we don't need a RB but man that kid can fly), and even a WR that is very much under the radar in Philip Dorsett who could be a great slot player in the NFL.

Flowers though I think will rise on draft boards the more people watch. I think he is a perfect fit in the Zone Blocking scheme as he in my opinion has the best foot speed of any of the OT's in this draft. He also has a mean streak where he loves to get to that second level and punish people. I've watched a few of his games and a few of his plays he reminds me of the movie "The Blindside" where he just drives people straight down the field 10-15 yards. He is a guy that day 1 would start at RT for us and has the ability as Clady gets up in age to then take over at LT and we might not miss a beat.

 

[Duffman]

A couple of Mock Drafts I've seen have us taking Darryl Williams OT | Oklahoma or Maxx Williams
TE | Minnesota, as someone who doesn't watch College Football can anyone tell me anything about these kids?

 

[cdumler7]

A couple of Mock Drafts I've seen have us taking Darryl Williams OT | Oklahoma or Maxx Williams
TE | Minnesota, as someone who doesn't watch College Football can anyone tell me anything about these kids?

Maxx Williams honestly would be a heck of a draft pick for the Broncos. He comes in as the most refined TE in the entire draft. He really doesn't have a weakness to his game. He comes from a very athletic family as both dad and grandpa played in the NFL and mom was a college volleyball player.

Now he is a Redshirt Sophomore so maybe could have benefited from another year in college but honestly I don't blame him for entering the NFL draft. Not much honestly he could have done to improve his draft stock. Just go watch a couple of his games and you will fall in love with the kid. He honestly reminds me of Gronk in many ways. The kid just has huge hands that catch just about everything thrown his way. He makes one-handed catches just look like they are common everyday things. If you can't tell I like this kid a lot.

Now Darryl Williams is a very strong RT that will most likely play that in the NFL. I honestly would be surprised a bit if the Broncos drafted him though. His biggest weakness is he does not have quick feet and with us running the ZBS that is probably the top priority for any OL in our system. He just can't get to the corner like you would want. The guy though has very high character and is a leader on the field from what I have read so I wouldn't mind us drafting him but I don't think he is the greatest fit.

 

[cdumler7]

Starting to see more and more rumors linking the Broncos to Suh. A lot of this will depend on Manning and what happens with him but if he retires or is willing to take the pay cut he keeps saying he will then the Broncos could legitimately offer him a long-term deal and still be able to pay in-house players like D. Thomas, Franklin, and Knighton.

 

[iknowftbll]

Starting to see more and more rumors linking the Broncos to Suh. A lot of this will depend on Manning and what happens with him but if he retires or is willing to take the pay cut he keeps saying he will then the Broncos could legitimately offer him a long-term deal and still be able to pay in-house players like D. Thomas, Franklin, and Knighton.

Suh is an immense talent and a major asshat. Major risk-reward factor there. I trust Elway, and a grizzled old no-nonsense DC like Phillips may help, but it is 100% on Suh to prove he belongs. The Broncos are a very classy and respected organization (a far cry from their reputation under McD.) I'd hate to see Suh tarnish that. But if we can get him to stay in his lane our defense will be a force.

 

[Broncosr0k]

Alright been gone a few days as my wife finally had our first child!

Congratulations!


Maxx Williams is a great talent. I watched him in the bowl game vs. Missouri and he was pretty amazing. On one catch and run he hurdled 2 mizzou players, 2 hurdles, 1 run. That told me the guy is athletic and the announcers were in love with him. I would be okay if the broncos grabbed him.

As for Suh, not sure I want his dirty play here. I am also not sure he would fit. He has played 4-3 all through college and pros. Would he fit in a 3-4? Can he even find the money? We may need to have Manning take a paycut just to get some of our FAs back.

It is a little disappointing that he have not locked up D. Thomas. Looks like we might tag him.

 

[randymon]

We should get a pretty good look at Flowers and the others as it looks like they`ve all been invited to combine. Going to be interesting to see how FA goes and if Denver addresses O-line there. If not I could def see a guy like Flowers being a priority in rd 1.

 

[cdumler7]

Congratulations!


Maxx Williams is a great talent. I watched him in the bowl game vs. Missouri and he was pretty amazing. On one catch and run he hurdled 2 mizzou players, 2 hurdles, 1 run. That told me the guy is athletic and the announcers were in love with him. I would be okay if the broncos grabbed him.

As for Suh, not sure I want his dirty play here. I am also not sure he would fit. He has played 4-3 all through college and pros. Would he fit in a 3-4? Can he even find the money? We may need to have Manning take a paycut just to get some of our FAs back.

It is a little disappointing that he have not locked up D. Thomas. Looks like we might tag him.

Thanks! Loving fatherhood more than I ever thought possible!

As for the draft really the Broncos could go so many ways. I could see them target NT, OT, Guard/Center, TE, DE, ILB, and maybe even Safety. Maxx Williams if he tests well at the combine is one I could see sky rocket up draft boards into that 15-20 range. TE's are the new "in thing" for the NFL it seems like.

 

[MrDoc420]

Thought this was kind of weird. Sounds like they're looking to find a replacement for Franklin on the OL. Not sure I totally agree, or even see this as a need, but it's being discussed apparently.

Denver Broncos seek at least three new starters on offensive line - ESPN

 

[cdumler7]

Thought this was kind of weird. Sounds like they're looking to find a replacement for Franklin on the OL. Not sure I totally agree, or even see this as a need, but it's being discussed apparently.

Denver Broncos seek at least three new starters on offensive line - ESPN

I agree the idea of Franklin not being back is not one I like. The more the season progressed it quickly became apparent that Franklin was quickly becoming our best OL player and was doing much better about pulling and getting to the second level which is a big part of the ZBS.

Here is what I am hoping happens with the OL. I'm hoping the Broncos sign either Rodney Hudson (could be out of our price range but is perfect for the ZBS and honestly I think would be an automatic pro bowler if healthy with the Broncos) or that of Wiz2 from the Raiders. He is the cheaper option but fits well again in the ZBS just not quite as athletic as Hudson. A 3rd more temporary fix is that of Chris Meyers who played Center for the Texans under Kubiak. He is getting up in age though so would be like signing Montgomery to do a 1-year fix.

Depending what they do at Center (work from the inside out in my opinion) they have a couple of options. If we go Rodney Hudson then a cheaper but good option for RT is that of Derek Newton. He graded out this past year as a top-5 blocking OT in the NFL and overall as one of the 20 best Tackles in the NFL. If we go one of the cheaper options at Center then I go hard for Bryan Bulaga of the Packers. He graded out as one of the best overall pass blocking OL players in the entire NFL.

All of this is with us resigning Franklin.

I would then still use the draft in the mid-rounds to bring in at least 2 other prospects to then compete with a couple of the guys we already have like Schofield. This then has our OL go from one of the weakest units on the team to one of the best with actual quality depth that is being built for the future.

Another option though if we can't land a couple of these guys is to use our 1st round pick on an OL player. I hate the idea of depending so much on a rookie to play but there are some decent OL players that I do think could step in day 1 and do pretty good. I think most of you know my love for Ereck Flowers of Miami but I think we would have to trade up to get him. We shall see how the rest of the off season works out but most likely by the end of it he is a top-20 pick. Now if we do get the 4 Comp picks that most are thinking we will then I have no problem with the Broncos maybe making the decision to trade up and get him if that is what it takes.

 

[randymon]

Best case scenario is Denver is able to get quality help on the O line via FA. Then they can use draft pks on BPA. If not,I see no way in bell 1st pk isn't a T/G/C. That's where The Broncos need help more than anywhere else esp with the Kubiak zone blocking scheme and more emphasis on run game that's going to happen this yr.

 

[DownSetHutch]

DownSetHutch I know the Broncos down at the Senior Bowl week had a private interview with him where they took him out to dinner so there is definite interest on the part of the Broncos.

Alright been gone a few days as my wife finally had our first child! Had a bit of a surprise as most everybody thought our baby would be a boy and ended up having a little girl. Terrified now of every single boy so have a friend that is a double black belt MMA fighter going to come out and begin training her when she is of age to make sure every boy in town knows she can beat the crap out of them if they get out of line.

Heard some rumors for the team though while in the hospital so thought I would share those here. As in the other post the rumor is the Broncos are going to let Moore walk in FA and possibly replace him with Webster while also then drafting somebody to add depth to the position with both Moore and Carter leaving this off season. Obviously this early in the off season hard to tell what is fact and what is just to get clicks but this one actually does make sense.

Other things I have heard is the team seems very set on keeping Franklin and D. Thomas. They seem to be the top-2 priorities with possibly Knighton being #3. J. Thomas seems like he is for sure going to hit FA.

It is now known that Montee Ball was not actually healthy at any point during this past season and actually covered up his injuries from the team because he wanted to play so bad. Love the fight this kid has to have done that but honestly just not very smart. I know he wants the starting job so hopefully he can come back healthy and that gives the Broncos the best 1-2 punch in the NFL with Ball and Anderson. Would take some major pressure off Manning to have to perform as such a high level.

Congrats on your baby girl CD, that's awesome!

I'm glad to hear that the team is strongly interested in retaining DT, Franklin, and Knighton. As for JT, his pass-catching skills and his lack of blocking ability are likely going to make him a FA casualty, as he will be a little less of a fit with our new offensive direction, and other teams will be willing to pay quite a bit more than us for his services.

I think the FA period is going to have a huge impact on our team again this off season, as we shift to the ZBS and the 3-4. Its difficult to say what our needs will be come draft time, but its safe to say that OL will definitely be at or near the top of our priorities. I could see the move up for Erick Flowers, or even some other OL. The mock drafts I have looked at have had the Broncos taking several different Miami and FSU players (collectively) in the 1st and 2nd rounds. Those 2 teams seem to have the most talent in the 1st two rounds this year - at least based on the mock drafts and player rankings so far.

 

[cdumler7]

Congrats on your baby girl CD, that's awesome!

I'm glad to hear that the team is strongly interested in retaining DT, Franklin, and Knighton. As for JT, his pass-catching skills and his lack of blocking ability are likely going to make him a FA casualty, as he will be a little less of a fit with our new offensive direction, and other teams will be willing to pay quite a bit more than us for his services.

I think the FA period is going to have a huge impact on our team again this off season, as we shift to the ZBS and the 3-4. Its difficult to say what our needs will be come draft time, but its safe to say that OL will definitely be at or near the top of our priorities. I could see the move up for Erick Flowers, or even some other OL. The mock drafts I have looked at have had the Broncos taking several different Miami and FSU players (collectively) in the 1st and 2nd rounds. Those 2 teams seem to have the most talent in the 1st two rounds this year - at least based on the mock drafts and player rankings so far.

I think the Broncos are once again going to be active. Usually when you have a new coach come in he likes to bring in his type of players so we are definitely going to see a bit of turnover. It wouldn't surprise me if the Broncos decided to sign 3 new players to play on the OL. I'm starting to wonder if Franklin will end up pricing himself out of Denver. There is a huge market for him as he has now shown he can play well at both guard and tackle. Hard to find guys that can be a quality starter at both.

Looking at prices here is my thought...

Broncos sign Wiz2 of the Raiders. Rodney Hudson is said to want something in the $8 million range per year. I just can't see us being the team that pays him that. Wiz2 isn't quite the player he is but is only looking for around $3 million a year.

The Broncos then go sign Derek Newton of the Texans. Kubiak drafted him and he is a great fit for the ZBS. He played pretty well this past year showing a huge jump in production. He won't be all that expensive maybe in the $4-5 million range.

Finally the Broncos go and sign Clint Boling of the Bengals to play guard. He had a great season especially run blocking this past year and is a guy that will fly under the radar. He reminds me of when we signed Vasquez in Andy Levitre was the big name on the market but honestly Vasquez has shown to be the superior player of the two. I'm not saying Boling will be superior to that of Franklin but he will come much cheaper. My guess is he will also be in that $4 million range.

So the Broncos decide to invest about $11-12 million in the OL this off season and we go from one of the most inconsistent OL's in all of football to quickly one of the best run blocking units in the entire NFL. Throw in then this gives us a chance to build up some depth through the draft to back these guys up. The Broncos can cut some fat to make this work by getting rid of Ramirez who does not fit this system at all and pretty much him getting cut pays for Wiz2. So really cap space wise all we would be investing to update the OL is around $8 million which isn't too bad considering the unit we would then have.

 

[cdumler7]

So looks like Manning has started training with one of the world renown trainers that is known for reviving the careers of HOF type players at the end of their career to give them a few more good years.

This guys' name is Mackie Shilstone and reading up on him this guy is intense. He is one of the few guys that has no problem telling HOF players to their faces what he thinks and pretty much tells them if they are serious then they must commit to no outside distractions during the time he is with him. So we might be seeing a few less Peyton Manning commercials but we could see Peyton show up in the best shape of his life to training camp. Looks like this is another sign of Peyton possibly making a come back. It could also though just be him trying to see what he has left and if he doesn't have it will retire.

From what I have read the decision by Peyton will most likely be made in the next week (at least the official decision). He wants to make it before the Combine starts as it could change who the Broncos interview and scout.

 

[cdumler7]

The Broncos 3 Coordinators were introduced today and spoke to the media...some interesting thoughts.

Wade Phillips made some of the wittier comments in saying "I was a lousy head coach but I'm a pretty good defensive coordinator. That's what I do well." Not sure I would have even said he was a lousy head coach as he did go 82-64 with the 6 different teams that he coached.

He also said he thought it was pretty obvious that the Broncos are making the complete switch to the 3-4 defense.

He also said that he will be very aggressive but that doesn't mean blitzing all the time just that they will attack.

Dennison was pretty impressive as well mostly talking about how they base the offense around the talent they have not trying to make players fit a certain scheme.

Also news today of there are rumors that even if Manning wants to come back this season the Broncos are possibly leaning towards letting him go. So still hard to tell what all is going to happen in the Manning situation and whether he is our quarterback next year or not.

 

[DownSetHutch]

I love Wade's comments. He is obviously able to see and acknowledge his shortcomings and have some humility about them. I'm always interested in our teams' (players and coaches) mental and psychological approach to the season and games, because that is what separates good from great teams. If the coaches have a certain attitude and approach to the game, that invariably trickles down to the team. Wade sounds like he is coming from a good place, and that can only be good for the team. I can't wait to see the aggressive defense unleashed.

As for Manning, that wouldn't be a 100% surprise given his health, but it would be a bombshell nevertheless. I hope the rumor is false. He deserves one more shot to ride off into the sunset, and more importantly he would have to give us the best shot at winning the Super Bowl next year.

This offseason is turning into a rollercoaster ride. Our team should be in good shape to start the season, but things will definitely have a different feel from last year. Hell, they already do.

 

[WalkerBoh]

Considering the Manning rumor was from a Bleacher Report that nearly contradicts itself, I'd take it with a grain of salt. The decision with Manning will likely not be unilateral, but a mutual agreement between him and Elway and Co.