Boss Bailey is a Bronco, officially. The team announced at 3:36 p.m. MST on Thursday that the team had signed the unrestricted free agent linebacker — and younger brother of All-Pro cornerback Champ Bailey.
NFL.com first reported that the Broncos had agreed to terms with Boss Bailey on Thursday afternoon.
Boss Bailey has traversed one of the more inspirational paths in recent NFL annals. He overcame two torn knee ligaments just to make it into pro football; he tore a left-knee ligament in high school and one in his right knee during his time at the University of Georgia. He also missed the entire 2004 season with torn meniscus in his right knee, but recovered fully.
He amassed 118 tackles in the last two seasons for the Detroit Lions while only missing one game in that time.
The signing makes the Baileys the third set of siblings concurrently on a Broncos roster, following in the footsteps of Eldon and William Danenhauer — together for four games in 1960 — and Doug and Dave Widell, who shared a locker room from 1990-92.
While William Danenhauer only had a four-game stint, Eldon played six seasons and was an All-American Football League selection. The Widells’ careers had less divergent trajectories; Doug was also with the Broncos in 1989, while Dave remained with the club in 1993 and 1994.
Albert and Paul Carmichael were both on the Broncos during their formative years, but their tenures were four seasons apart; Albert was with the team in 1960 and 1961, while Paul played three games in 1965. Both were halfbacks.
Discuss below, and until next time, vaya con Dios.
Tags: Boss Bailey, Champ Bailey, Free Agency
Welcome to Denver Boss. We are glad to have you.
I called it. Look at most of my previous comments b4 Denver even talked to Boss. I said they should get him and they did.
CALLED IT!!!!!
I’m glad we got this done. Now awaiting word of Marlin McCree…
they should have waited like five minutes and would’ve had a chance at Takeo Spikes…but Boss will be good for our team as the Bailey Bros. will push each other to the extreme
yes! I am crossing my fingers for McCree!
Looks like the LB Corps is rebuilt. Probably should draft a LB late or get some CFAs and keep one or two on the practice squad.
Great move for Denver having a linebacker and a corner on the strong side that have trust for each other like that allow both of them to be a force on our defense cause they’ll both take more chances as the other will always have the others back, nothing works better than comraderie and competition to breed winners in a locker room.
YES! great job signing Boss, now we just have to wait for McCree
Hey Mason –
Any sense on management interest in Husain Abdullah? He seems like a playmaker, upstanding and athletic guy in his brother’s mold, plus seems like with some tutelage from Lynch and weight training we could be our future SS. Plus he is not projected to go early.
Could the Broncos march out two sets of brothers on D?
Takeo is over 30 and has MAJOR injuries. Boss is younger and has not been hurt major since 2004. Great move broncos! Welcome to the Mile High City Boss
Sweet, with DJ and Boss on the outside it will be hard for even the fastest runners to get to the outside and make plays outside the tackle box. Also if we start Koutouvides in the middle that gives us a great run stuffing middle linebacker.
I know this is a bit premature but Im starting to get excited for the upcoming season!!!
Also, Takeo Spikes cannot and does not like to play the strong side. He only plays the weak side and DJ is a WAY better weakside linebacker than Spikes.
Spikes would have been cool, but now we dont have to spend our first round pick on OLB like NFL.COM reported. They also said Shanny hasnt had any good drafts for a while, and well I didnt think dude was a very crediable source after that. Shanny is doing great! Cutler, Marshal, Elvis and Tony all in one year. Then Jarvis, Harris, and Tomas the next year! Plus you know there is a draft pick from last year that im not thinking of right now that will show some talnt next year. Plus the free agent running back’s Bell, Selvin, and Hall in one year. Still the top concern’s to me are DT/WR/S(Sorry John) just thinking of next year. I say we be aggresive and trade’s and get the best DT for the cap space we have and we will rock some socks off.
Oh,
I wanted to ad that the dude on NFL.COM’s mock draft didnt even have Ellis in the first round LOL. If he falls to us we need to pick him up! If not I think we need to go with the best player available no matter what position other than running back. I think Ryan Claddy would be great or we need to trade back in the draft and get a guy by the name of Kenny Phillips. If we could trade first rounds with somone in the 20′s that are fishing a DT we would be able to still get Kenny most likely, and then “Bring the pain” to rivers!
To the subject of the post. I hope Champ can bring out the competitive nature of his brother because if we do we just had a great pick up! Go BOSS.
Will Boss be blogging?
Great news! Boss and DJ on the outside will be great! Now we just need to stuff the middle with a solid DT. Great move Coach and Ted!!
heck yeah. This is a great addition!
“Also if we start Koutouvides in the middle that gives us a great run stuffing middle linebacker.” – Dr. Doom.
sure the outside position is now set, but a “great run stuffing mlb”? We don’t even know if this niko guy is starting material. All we know is that he’s a “special team ace”. Why is everyone kissing the ground at this guy’s feet?
I like the Bailey pick up, however I still think that the Broncos have to bring back Al. His presence in the locker room alone will do wonders for this team. He would provide depth in the middle which we really need even with Koutouvides. The Broncos owe it to Al for all the years he gave us! BRING BACK AL!
If we can get DJ at WLB and Boss at SLB then select Curtis Lofton (Big 12 defensive Player of the Year) and put him at Mike our LB corp will look pretty good. I know DJ tackles and Lofton was a tackling machine at OU, add in speed from Boss and I think were good at LB for this year.
Now if only we can pray for Ellis or Dorsey to drop to 12 we’ll have a pretty tough front 7 if we can get Moss and Thomas to produce (as long as Thomas neither gets kicked off the team nor goes to jail).
I know everyone is excited about Niko, and I hope he turns out to be starting material, but I will again voice my hope for the Broncs to draft Beau Bell from UNLV sometime after the 3rd round. I’m telling you, the guy is an animal… I like the addition of Boss Bailey, I hope he is inspired by playing with his big brother…..
nickspops,
I think Big Al is done. Have we heard anything about him after his visit to the Lions a few weeks ago? Nope. Nothing. And during this free agency period, have we once heard his name mentioned? Nope. Not once.
I hate to say this as much as anyone, but I think Al’s neck injury has ended his brilliant career. I don’t think he can pass a physical, even though his doctor has cleared him to play. I’m not trying to be the negative one here, but it’s time for Bronco Land to move on. This is a new team. We should be supporting the players we have, and stop living in the past.
I am happy about this signing. We have address our LB issues without breaking the bank.
Also, I would like to be the first to say, “Forget Tony Danza, he’s the BOSS.”
“sure the outside position is now set, but a “great run stuffing mlb”? We don’t even know if this niko guy is starting material. All we know is that he’s a “special team ace”. Why is everyone kissing the ground at this guy’s feet?” – berlownacyo7s
The reason people are giving him props is that he is a savage on the field playing with complete reckless abandon and killing ball carriers on special teams. The only reason that we haven’t seen him is that Lofa Tatupu is starting in Seattle. He is a natural middle linebacker and is fast enough to cover the fastest TEs over the middle and on slants.
Boss is a great pick up. He brings experience to a lacking strong side. We can have the #1 LB corp this year if we can avoid injuries.
We trade Henry, McKinley and a fourth to the Bears for tommie Harris, I doubt it would work, but with his hamstring injuries and the bears prolems at runnning back they might do it. But that is wishful thinking that would never happen. More likely is that we use henry to change or fourth to a third and we draft a DT, we sign Eugene wilson, draft Ryan Clady, and Limas sweed (1st and second round respectively). I don’t understand it but sweed is supposed to drop that far, he would be a great compliment to Breakout Brandon
YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!
YAY!
Niko may not be starting material right away but if you look at his play he still stuffs the run pretty well. I remember watching Purdue and Northern Illinois when him and Michael Turner were in college. In that game NI had thee redzone attempts inside the two and Run turner was handed the ball he went nowhere. The final score of that games was 27-9 Purdue over Northern Illinois. Also turner had 19 yards on 14 attempts and Niko had 9 solo tackles. Also when Seattle played the Steelers in the superbowl Niko had three takles for losses
Glenn Martinez and that kid from Carolina are going to be what we need to complement Brandon. The area that we need to beef up is the secondary. We have Lynch for just 1 more year. He can help groom a new DB and leave us in a good position going into NEXT YEAR’s draft.
Great signing!!! We can now possibly sign Jake Scott from Indy then we can focus on the draft and target one of the OT’s or a WR like Limas Sweed!!!! I’m from the Austin area and I’d love to see this beast in a Devner uniform next season!! He’s gonna be WAAAAAYYYY better than Desean Jackson whom everybody keeps mentioning for some reason. That guy weighs less than most high school WR’s. There should be a weight minimum to play in the NFL for safety reasons. He’s too small. LIMAS SWEED!!! Thats who we should be focusing our first pick on!!!! Watch his highlights on youtube if you don’t know bout him.
LOL just read BroncosFan973 comment bout Limas Sweed. So i’m not the only one drooling over the thought of Marshall and Sweed on the same team.
That what we need FAMILY! Its more then just playing football its a family! 2 Baileys on one team! AWESOME!!!!!!!
I hope this is good for the team!!
I am glad we finally signed him. I can see them both puching each other and the chemistry between the both of them is a big plus on defense.
Welcome to the Broncos Boss!
I so Happy…Thx Shanny and WELCOME to DENVER BOSS…
Good sign Broncos!! Hopefully we can pickup some youth at the Safety Position. And our O-Line gets healthy and we should be good to go.
I would like to see an Al Wilson type player in the middle however. Hopefully this Niko can step up and do the job.
This is really great news!! I must say it will be pretty cool have brothers on the team and fierce set at that!!!! So far the offseason is going pretty well I’d say but I have a big question for you Mason.
What’s going on with Jason Elam? Please don’t tell me they’re going to let him go or that he’s thinking about retiring. And if the Broncos are wanting to keep him and he wants to stay… why are they waiting so long to re-sign him? I’m worried that he’s gonna go but I can’t imagine that the Broncos would just let him walk away. He’s only given us 15 incredible years… what’s going on with this situation? If you, Mason, or anyone can PLEASE give me an answer an peace of mind that would be so appreciated. I’m sure I’m not the only one wondering what’s going on with this but I haven’t read anywhere on here about him staying or going… it’s really bothering me. Thanks for all the updates Mason, you’re awesome.
GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!
y is ever one so excited bout nikko. who the heck is nikko. BRING AL BACK IF TED AND MIKE ARE READING THIS PLZ BRING AL BACK
Oh, and how could I forget to properly welcome our newest. Welcome to Denver Boss!!!! Can’t wait to see you in action. Sorry for the double post.
So it doesn’t get repetetive, “Welcome to Mile High”. Awesome addition to the team. As soon as I heard he was available as a FA, I said we should take him. Then after seeing Hussain Abdullah, I think we should snag him up as well. I had alot of questions as to what Shannahan was doing with his time during the free agency. Now I see again, there is a method behind the madness. Things are starting to look alot better here in Denver. The only other thing I wish would have happened, I wanted Rod to come back as our recievers coach. Im sure he will be showing his face around from time to time, but imagine the possibilities from Marshall with Rod coaching him all the way. It gives me chill bumps…
we need help on the o-line with matt retiring and montrae gone we need to pick up a big guy on the end. gosh i wish we could have picked up alan faneca
I’m so happy that Boss Bailey is now a Bronco. Champ Bailey has said how much he would like to be on the same team with his brother and now that has become reality in Denver. This is a positive step that should give the team some momentum going into the coming season. Welcome to the Denver Broncos Boss Bailey!
awsome, need to get a stud d-lineman. welcome BOSS
Awesome, the Bailey Brothers!
Hell yeah no Al needs to come back and Marlin Mcree is next win finnin to stuff the run this year no draft an receiver to handle kick returns
way better den AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!….this is GREAT addition….
way to spent money wisely Shanahan…well done refraining from trying to break the bank on this FA……and for those who still hav doubts about Niko….jst take a look at Tampa’s Barret Ruud?u guys ever heard of him before this season,,not much,,,but correct me if i’m wrong, he was a tackling machine leading all tackles for the first 5-6 weeks till other teams started strategizing against them,,hopefully Niko can do the same..heck,,if he can run in the open field and tackle a returner,,he can run around and cover a TE in the slant too….but still, Dj and Boss on the outside maybe the most athletic OLB combo nxt season…
Lets get Limas Sweed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..Marshall and Sweed…thats SWEET!!!!!!!!!!
is Jake Scott still available??he’s losing out in FA so maybe he might not cost too much….
great pickup. this years starting linebackers. weakside boss bailey. inside niko koutouvides. and hopefully moving back to strongside DJ williams. The Bailey Bros are gonna dominate. hopefully they can also pick up marlon mccree
Excellent, he’s gonna be a big boost to our defense
Now the only question is will he play at Weakside or Strongside?
we also signed a WR by the name of Edell Shepperd… does anyone know who this guy is?
getlynched:
Boss Bailey played strongside linebacker most of the last two seasons, although he did start a few games in the middle in 2006.
As for Edell Shepherd, check out the next blog entry … you might remember him from the near-catch in the end zone for the Bucs late in what became a wild-card loss to the Redskins in January 2006.