Though it had been reported by various sources earlier in the day, the Broncos have now officially signed Tatum Bell, Head Coach Mike Shanahan announced.
To make room for Bell on the roster, the team has waived Glenn Martinez.
Bell is in his fifth-year in the NFL and his second stint with Denver. He initially entered the league as a second round selection of the Broncos in the 2004 NFL Draft. He spent his first three seasons with the Broncos before he was traded to Detroit on March 2, 2007, and played for the Lions last year before he was released by the club on Sept. 2.
In 47 career games, he has rushed 525 times for 2,524 yards with 14 touchdowns while catching 61 passes for 362 yards. His 4.9-yard rushing average during three seasons in Denver also represents the second-best career mark in club history among players with at least 250 carries.
During his final year with the Broncos in 2006, Bell started all 13 games played and registered the first 1,000-yard rushing season of his career with 1,025 yards on 233 carries with two scores. He started all five games played with the Lions last year, rushing 44 times for 182 yards with one touchdown and catching 14 passes for 63 yards.
In the wake of a string of injuries that resulted in three running backs being placed on IR, Bell could get onto the field Sunday in Atlanta, and he will wear No. 40.
– Adam Zinser, DenverBroncos.com
Tags: Adam Zinser, Glenn Martinez, Tatum Bell, Transactions
I think this is good news. When Selvin is healthy we could have a good tandem of Young and Bell switching it up. It will definately make defenses starting to respect our run offense more.
Not sad to see Martinez get waived. Chad Jackson will be better for us in the long run.
great everyone better hold on to their underwear, but seriously i am not a fan of this move because when tatum was here on almost every carry that he had he would always run side to side trying to look for that big run instead of just running forward and making one cut and go but hopefully mike wont start him and try not to use him, why couldn’t we pick up shawn alexander i think that would have been just as good of a move as this one. we don’t need a future back all we need is a back for right now.
i don’t think cutting glen martinez was a great move either i think we should have kept him their is a reason why we keep picking him up, obviusly he is a good returner and what i saw is that he is a pretty decent reciver.
Bad move … stop bringing in guys that were already here and were let go … they were tossed for a reason!
like I mentioned on the message boards - this is a sign of just how desperate we have become. It is a band-aid (and a crusty used one at that), but we needed to bring someone in who can help now. Tatum has the ability to help us in the short term - I just hope he is in shape.
Tatum can become a feature back if he can manage to stay healthy. I never really liked Glenn Martinez much and Royal can return the kicks better than Glenn any day.
I hope everybody that’s been crying for this are happy. But when he drops
the rock AND HE WILL JUST REMEMBER YOU ASKED FOR IT.
iam glad we got tatum bell.
but i think we should have kept
glenn i really liked him as a returner.
…tossed to get Bly you idiot. I think it’s a great move. Shannhan isnt stupid, the guy knows our offense and can tap right in. You’ll eat your words soon enough…
We need positive support for this team.
No more negative support… come on guys…
This is the best choice for the situation. He will be good.
Get well soon Torain aka “Train”.
GO BRONCOS!
I agree we should have kept GLEN he was a player that played with of heart and always gave 110 % Good job Glen hope you come back soon.
What are you guys talking about. Tatum only fumbles in the forth quarter…. u know when were trying to take time off the clock.
welcome home Tatum!
I guess its ok that we have bell back. I would probably picked someone else and not someone that was with use before. I mean, why do you think we got rid of bell in the first place?
YUSSSSSSSS!
Beginning of the season, get someone else…. End of the season get someone that has played in our system… GREAT MOVE SHANNY… For the martinez fans, i dont see what you see in him. Yes he had a good punt return for a TD last year, But we don’t need him… He didnt even suit up on Thursday so whats the difference?… Who knows maybe next year it can be Tatum instead of Hall (which i really would like to see happen).
Im glad we got tatum back for us thats a steel at this piont. If ppl wanna say we released him before, we did the same with glen so whats your point? tatum can make much more of a diffrence than glen beside eddie royal is a much better return guy glen use to worrie me alot and once we get young back we should have a much better running game.
i dont think its a question of who the better returner is. its that royal is a game breaker at receiver and returning is an easy way to get a guy hurt. thats why its nice to have glenn around. as for the signing of tatum, he is known for fumbling and we have a problem with turnovers… i would have liked to see someone else come in, but hopefully he has learned from his mistakes.
He drops the ball, but he picks up other people’s luggage. Wow. Another “character” addition for the Broncos.
What would have been cool is to have gotten Tatum and Anderson… Go back to our two back system from a few years ago… But whatever… I love the Broncos and I’ll support what ever decisions they make…
Oh and when you think about it… Whe got Bly for almost the price of nothing… Just one other dude (foster i think)
I liked Martinez a lot but I understand why they needed to sign bell, the Broncos have been freakishly ravaged by injuries at the rb position this season.
i am a huge bronco fan i mean i even have a tattoo on my arm of the team so i am a big fan but i don’t think tatum is that good of a player, why do you think he couldn’t even make it on the worst team in the nfl, he does fumble, my biggest thing is that he doesn’t run to get the short yards that we need some times he always is running side to side trying to look for that big play and then he gets tackled for a lose of 2 to 3 yards. yeah he knows our system but doesn’t mean he runs the system right. i am not a glen martenz fan i just thought he wasn’t that bad and he did pretty good on returns, let me ask all of you this why keep royal back there to have more of a chance of getting hurt when he is one of our big play guys on offense. just because you are a fan of the broncos that doesnt mean they never make a bad pick up. i will continue to cheer for the broncos and just because they picked up a crappy player doesnt mean i am not gonna cheer for the broncos.
Great move to get bell back.we didnt release him, he was the one peice we had to give with foster to get bly. if Dwill was still around, tatum would be our staring back because the trade wouldnot have happened.
What about Q to replace the next RB on IR?
I think this is a good move, tatum was never a great stretch zone runner, we basically dont try to run zone blocking plays as much as we used to our line is built to protect cutler and are bigger guys. Give tatum a stout fullback (hillis) who can crush the linebacker and give him space and tatum can move, remember this guy can smoke everyone on the field.
And i agree stop being so negative about the broncos people. If you dont think that the attitudes of the people in this city affect what you see on the field then you havent learned anything about life. LETS GO BABY DIVISION LEADERS!!!!
I don’t see why Martinez would need to be waived. The IR spots that opened with Pittman and Torain should have allowed for the signing of Haynes and Bell. Who else was signed for their spots?
we also singed a running back from our practice squad but i can’t think of his name
Quit crying about not getting shawn alexander, who cares cant do anything about it now anyways. is nto like he is doing anything for the skins. tatum was brought in to fill a need for the short term not long. he knows the plays and our style and we traded him to get what we thought was a great corner in dre but we all know that wasnt true. so be glad to have him back the rest of the rb’s we have are soft or they would still be playing. denver is going to have to start over at the end of the year and figure out who is going to be our rb’s. selvin, torain, hall and pitt have to go there all either to injury prown or to soft. keep aldridge as that change of pace and go out and find some big young tuff rbs that can make plays. its time to draft a big time rb and quit guessing on these late rounders hoping and praying to get the next t. davis. theres only one t. davis and most people that hit the lottery only hit it once and we have already cashed in our ticket with t.d. look at all the rb’s that came out this year that are tearing up the league, dont get me wrong i wouldnt trade clady or royal for any of them but next year we have to get one in the first 2 rounds.
well here is some good news the seattle seahawks released keary colbert today but even though they released him the pick they trade to us for him was not a conditional draft pick so we will get the seahawks 5th round pick
no one is crying over shawn alexander and just cause someone gets hurt doesn’t make them soft, if they get hurt several times like boss bailey has then that makes you injury prone or as you put it “soft” so i take it that when eddy mac broke his leg like 5 years ago he was soft cause he didn’t come back to play the next game. you really need to check who you are calling soft, the only person i didn’t want the broncos to pick up was tatum thats it, because like i said he wont try to get the tought yards, he is always trying to look for a touchdown run when there is a good five yard gain waiting for him but instead he takes a 5 yard loss cause he wanted a touchdown 50 yard run instead of setting us up for a 2 and 5 or something like that.
Glad to see we p/u someone who is familiar with our system. T. Bell did drop the rock a few times, but don’t forget some of the great runs he had for us as well. I hope he is good shape and ready to play.
Not everyone gets a second chance so make the most of this opportunity Bell !!
GO BRONCOS!!
well i dont know hes a ok back not the best all im saying is if he fumbles one time in the 1st carry of the day hes off in the drit with me go broncos
Tatum Bell was a good back for about 20 carries that’s what Shanny said anymore than that and he got tired and that’s when he started fumbling. I do think Shanny brought him to be a change of pace back to either Hillis or Haynes who are both big bruising backs. This could be okay as long as Tatum holds on to the football.
At this point any running back is better than no running back. Not a big fan of Tatum Bell, but maybe he’ll find a way to succeed.
I just wrote the following statement in the last blog bu it seems that I’m going to hav to say it again.
Hey every one lets just get somthing straight. It was MIKE BELL who has troubles holding the ball, and it was also MIKE BELL who snatched the underwear. Tatum Bell is AWESOME the ONLY reason we got rid of him was to make room for dre bly. But now that doesn’t matter because we have them both!!
I can’t think of a better person to pick up at this moment. Pulling a guy who had a good start in Denver (until he started fumbling) and who is familiar with the system is especially vital when game day is so close. He just needs to not turn the ball over for 2 or 3 games and then his job will likely be done. I feel a lot more comfortable now that the team has a running threat now. I hope Torain gets better soon.
It was bound to happen sooner than later. This is just a bandade for our rushing O now, he knows the system, will be fine guys. Go Broncos….
Besides G martinez was the slowest man in football anyways. I should know Im his cousin… lol props Glen, they will be calling again once one of these RBs goes on IR again.
Also it was Tatum in the underwear incident.
http://deadspin.com/5045004/tatum-bell-declares-innocence-while-suspiciously-wearing-rudi-johnsons-underwear
i hop your joking cause glen is fast. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\speedy gonzales
Omg this is awesome I liked havin him in denver i think hes a great back and hes runnin behind a great line now and hes got Hillis as a FB
Guys, we need the help and this guy ALREADY knows our system - why the heck are you complaining?
Shanahan ALWAYS has a reason for what he does and what decisions he makes for this team. There is ALWAYS a method to his madness. Have some faith and trust in him - if you think you can do so much better than why aren’t you the head coach of this team??? Can’t wait to hear the answers to that.
I’m glad that Tatum is back - he not only deserved a chance when we first signed him but now he also deserves a second chance. Him and Cutler will have to find some common ground and build a QB-RB relationship like what Cutler has with Marshall (on good days) but other than that little hurdle we’ve possibly hit a gold mine. Yes, he needs to hold on to the ball, so does Cutler to make an accurate throw, so does Marshall to get us a 1st down…. these guys will NEVER be perfect but they at least deserve the faith of their fans that truly believe in them. If we get the right package going… we are going to be such a good football team its going to be mind-blowing!!! Our time is coming really soon - don’t lose sight of the good things to come for this team. The best part is the suspense of it all because then when our time comes it will a shock to us all that our team can actually pull off a miracle. Tatum could help us with that, maybe not… we’re going to have to wait it out, support this team NO MATTER WHAT and watch and see what our team can do.
Keep the faith…
GO BRONCOS!!!!!
I saw a few asking why we didn’t go after S. Alexander. The answer is because he signed several weeks ago with Washington. I think T. Bell was the best option for us at this time of the season. Go Broncs
Dear Tatum,
Ok, you have some splanin to do, about the underwear situation. Joking aside, Please, oh please hang onto the football. Enough Said.
Remember guys, Tatum Bell can be a threat to go the distance as long as they get him outside the tackles. He also needs to remember in this scheme, it’s one move and go, no dancing around. And above all, hang onto the ball. I too am a little concerned about this transaction. I also understand that it would take far too much time to bring in somebody that is real green to this offense. Tatum Bell will not have to tote the load, just give Jay a Break from time to time and help keep the opposing defense honest. Let’s face it, our running scheme this year has not been what we’ve seen in the past. I realize we have injuries, however all backs have struggled a bit this year. If we should be screaming to bring back blasts from the past, I am voting for Alex Gibbs, (Offensive Line Guru).
Tatum at least gives us another option and who knows, maybe this time around , given a second chance, he will perform as a man who appreciates this golden opportunity. Good luck Denver. We need 4 quarters of football against the Falcons. Get ready Defense you are in for another tough fight. Offense, if I can give any advice at all, take what the defense gives you. Jay, take as long as you need to get down the field and get six. (As long as were ahead). Keep our defense off the field and keep them feeling good. Our offense is capable, they just need to have the will, focus and concentration to get the job done.
GO BRONCOS!!!! SHOCK THE WORLD! Nobody but us fan’s believe you will win, you will be the underdog this weekend. Prove the nation wrong, I love it when that happens!!!!
This guy comes with some baggage, and it’s not even his.
I like this move. It’s the best we could have done at this point, and Tatum brings much needed speed to the field. Hopefully he’s grown up a little since the underwear incident.
Tatum Bell is a GREAT pick up. Cant believe you so called fans would disagree. He has proven to be a 1,000 yard runner in Denver and only fumbled the ball 5 times. Marshall fumbled a few times and you don’t want to get rid of him. Tatum gives us a serious threat in the back field with little or no learning curve to deal with. Shanny made the best decision of the year signing BELL. HOPE HE STAYS FOR A LONG TIME.
“The speedster was cut by the Lions this summer. He is infamously remembered for being accused of taking fellow running back Rudi Johnson’s luggage from the facility after he was cut and Johnson was signed by the Lions. Johnson accused Bell of taking his belongings. Bell said it was an honest mistake”
TATUM BELL DOES NOT FUMBEL, MIKE BELL DOES!!
Now can sombody tell me where it says he took somones underwear???
anyway tatum bell posted his first 1000 yrd season with us which is more than any other RB we got that is healthy and abel to perform. Tatum will do fine.
The quote from above can be found at http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3696267
Hey listen to “THE MAN, ELWAY”. When we are doing good you are all for them but when we are having troubles or are rebuilding our team all you do is complain and gripe. If you are a true Branco fan you are with them all the way no matter what. as “THE MAN” says, Keep the faith… GO BRONCOS!!!!!
I am glad he is back, like all over the boards they said that Denver is really hurting and if Denver did not resign him that know other team would, his carrer would be over, he now has a second chance and I do not believe he will blow it.
werfjig-
Are you trying to tell me that you think deadspin.com is a reliabel source. just because it is on the internet does not make it true. come on try to use your head for once and get some creditable sources to back up your statments