Left tackle Ryan Clady and running back Willis McGahee, who were named alternates for the Pro Bowl when the rosters were announced in late December, are now officially headed to Hawaii for the NFL’s All-Star Game.
They join Champ Bailey, Elvis Dumervil and Von Miller as the Broncos now have five Pro Bowlers. Bailey and Miller are starters for the AFC squad, and Dumervil, currently a reserve, might end up a starter since New England’s Andre Carter — who is on injured reserve — is slated to be a Pro Bowl starter ahead of him.
Clady replaces Miami’s Jake Long, and McGahee replaces Houston’s Arian Foster. Both players could not participate due to injury.
Clady announced he would be making the trip to Honolulu on his Twitter account, thanking everyone who voted. The fourth-year player has started all 64 games to start his career.
McGahee ran for 1,199 yards this season and accounted for five total touchdowns as the Broncos set a new franchise single-season rushing record.
The Broncos’ remaining alternates for the Pro Bowl are quarterback Tim Tebow, safety Brian Dawkins, kicker Matt Prater and punter Britton Colquitt. We will let you know if any of the four are called up to the game.
-Gray Caldwell
Tags: Pro Bowl, Ryan Clady, Willis McGahee
Congrats to McGahee and Clady!!! Enjoy the Hawaii sun fellas!!
No disrespect to Tebow, but let’s keep the kid out of this circus should he be called up…
That is great news. Have a good safe trip. I too wish that Tebow needs to miss this. It is obvious that if he gets an invite it is strickly ratings and money motivated.
You guys have a good evening. I’m out of here until tomorrow.
McGahee is truly a stud captain and very deserving of this honor while I’m a bit surprised by Clady going since he has not been anywhere the same dominating player he used to be before his basketball game injury…. but I’ll take it even though I won’t watch it, not many more things in football life I loathe more than the Pro Bowl. Disgusting display of football.
I don’t think Dawk could/would play given the neck problems. Rather he completely heal and make sure he comes back next year. He is the leader of the defense and while his skills are not what they were at his peak, the defense is much better when he is on the field IMO.
I, too, am a little surprised by the Clady selection but am happy when a Bronco makes it. He had a ton of holding calls this year and was beaten on plays much more than earlier in his career. I thought this was especially telling since he did not protect the QB’s blind side for most of the year. Congrats anyway.
another pro bowl vote gone right way to go mcgahee and clady !
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Congrats to Willis M and Ryan Clady!
I think Clady understands he had an off year. Even so was still named an alternate and now he will be making the trip…one more offseason and I suspect Clady will be back to his all-pro self!
Which leads me to my perfect Bold Broncos Blog Prediction…Ryan Clady will have less than 5 holding calls against him next season…
Broncos Country Strong 2012!
Phillip Rivers is pro bowl worthy? Sure its been discussed its retorical but still… Rivers deserves it more due to wanting not to hear a qb for the broncos in there. Wander if the cutler selection went down like that. Obviously i am missing the reasoning behind that one.
Phillip rivers isn’t deserving either but watever. Sometimes it comes down to body of work.
Congrats to McGahee and Cldy. McGahee much like brandon lloyd had a bum wrap their whole career playing second fiddle. Much deserved for McGahee who was slated to set the NFL ablaze b4 injury. He ran hard against Pats. I wouldn’t be opposed to tebow but he is the second alternate anyway, so when brady makes it to the superbowl and declines, dalton the first alternate will probably get the go ahead. Tebow would do fine in pro bow, its not serious, its base offense and defense and is all about fun.
Congrats to our pro bowl reps. Too bad for colquit and prater.
Later days, TRB
REPOST
Carnage brought up some great thoughts in his last post. Denver got very lucky this year facing teams that had major players missing from there lineup. I pose this question to bronco country. With every team in the AFC west having the same roster they have now (no draft) but everyone is healthy…where would the broncos finish next year? IMO we would finish last or next to last. We only finished tied for 1st as is. KC was missing several impact players this year and they only finished a game behind. OAK is such a jacked up fanchise it boggles me but we only managed a tie with them. We have faced our share of injuries too just not to the level of some of our other divisional opponents. Reguardless injuries are part of this game and won the division fair and square…..we just gotta keep improving. We are not legit contenders yet but we are working on it.
Kengro – there is no NFL team that doesn’t suffer injuries, so I don’t think it’s that simple.. Look at us this year:
1) we loose both our projected DT’s (Warren & Vickerson) before the season started.. Huge blow, considering in represented a big FA signing, and it was our weakest position the season prior..
2) we loose two CB’s due to injury (Thompson & Vaughn), and one to legal troubles (Cox)
3) loose RB depth with Moreno going down, right when it looked like he may have snapped out of his early career slumps..
4) WR’s Lloyd traded and Decker suffers an injury early in playoff game 1
5) OG Kuper, the leader of the O, goes down for the playoffs
6) rookie Von Miller forced to wear a club/cast for the second half of the season, making it difficult to power through double teams..
7) Underrated FB, Larson goes down, slowing down the run game
I’m surprised at how far we got, and that loss to the Patriots still stings. I think Tebow needs to improve the most this off-season and hopefully we’ll draft him some weapons to compliment Decker and Thomas. We still need improvement on defense and a running back as well. Hopefully we can win the division again next season but our schedule looks pretty brutal. I hope BD comes back healthy so maybe we can win a championship. We were so close and have a lot to build on, as well as a lot to improve.
But to answer your question, it comes down to the draft.. The Raiders don’t pick until the 5th round, so it is paramount to have a very good draft. The Chargers will always been a threat as long as Rivers is there, but it does look like he could be declining a bit.. KC has a good D when healthy, but who are they going with at QB, and they have a new coach..
I think if we fix this D through the draft we’ll be in good shape IMO. We can sign another RB, QB and maybe WR through Free Agency, but we need those young fast play makers on defense through the draft to stop some of the already dominate offenses in this league..
I ignored the “no draft” part
Thanks, broncos, for an incredible season.
Can’t wait to see who we draft. Hopefully we get some elite players. I’d like too see all Defense, plus a late round RB.
OT, I agree every team has those problems including us. With all the injuries we were in a 3way tie for the division with KC one game back. We may not be the best division but we are in a competitive division from top to bottom. Our roster isn’t much better, if any better than the other in the West. We still need to improve a lot. This is just my thoughts on your points and in no way an attack on your opinion.
1) D tackle injuries hurt us for sure. Hope those guys come back healthy next year. Hope free agent signing are bigger this year due to some success and the franchise moving in the right direction.
Dawkins had a better season than I expected. I thought he should have retired last year but he leadership was BIG this season.
2) Thompson injury was our biggest if you ask me. Hurt the return game too. We needed better coverage big time.
3) Moreno cant be relied on like we all hoped he could. Injuries have plagued him and killed any chance he had to live up to his draft position.
4) We traded Lloyd of our own free will for next to nothing. Decker- Playoffs
5) Kuper- playoffs
6) Von Miller had a sizeable drop off with the cast on…no doubt
7) Larson-Playoffs
I didn’t address the injuries we sustained in the playoff because that is bonus football. My concern was how we made it to the playoffs. My opinion is that the Raiders and KC had a list of injuries to players who make a bigger impact than our injuries did to our team ie starting QB RB etc.
I see McCoy is going back to Miami for a second interview. At least he declined the Chokeland interview…
I think Cassius Vaughn getting injured was a big deal as well.
Yo Bay whats good with you B I was starting to think you had died.
Kengro – I agree that the talent level currently in the AFC West is all pretty equal really, with some teams slightly better on either O or D.. It’s up for grabs really, and in no way do we own it, if that’s your point
The raiders and chiefs both fired their HC. Meanwhile their biggest issues were the injuries. Eric Berry, Moeaki and Charles for Kc. McFadden is the fastest rb in the NFL and Jason Campbell is underrated. LOL@overthinking owners and GM.
haha, nah, just getting a well needed rest.
Lol good to hear from you B.
But Kengro, that why I won’t shut up about this draft (lol).. The talent level currently is pretty equal – currently… I think we all know we need to correct the D, and it’s harder to find impact defensive players in college football, so that’s why we go defense early rounds, until the well runs out.. We’ll see if we can maybe take a RB or speedster WR, maybe QB, but I’d rather fill those spots in FA, and get a Veteran to help Tebow, if we’re really gonna let him have a go of it.
May not be a terrible idea to take a look David Garrard for a short contract
David Gerrard would be a fine addition as a backup QB, but I`d also consider Vince Jackson. His starting days are over.
I always try to watch the pro bowl. The pro bowl in 09 was Brandon Marshall’s last game reppin the BRONCOS and he sure was lighting up the crowd. Matt Schaub was slingin it to Andre Johnson and B-Marsh, just droppin bombs to those guys.
Okay, here is another question. Do teams only give their OC’s and DC’s a one year contract? What about HC’s? Is Fox’s deal a long term one?
Well, I know where Tebow is, at the complex and I know where DT is, getting tattoos and I know where Vonn is, in Vegas LOL. Gotta love twitter.
I hope the new rules don’t hinder the players urge to practice and work out.
Night all. Thanks Bay and thanks everyone who is willing to teach me.
Congrats! 2 more Broncos too the pro bowl
What do you think…. If M. McCoy to miami and E. Studisville to OC?
Nice reads today!
Tuten was let go as our strength and conditioning coach. Perhaps less hammy injuries? Hope we get a new guy that makes a difference! Hate when players go down with injuries that involve pulled muscles.
Tuten was the guy here for 17 years and for the last 3 many of us have asked that he would be let go, they finally saw the wisdom of that, I guess the fact that the Broncos were 8-5 in 2008, 2009 and 2011, and finished 8-8 each time finally was enough.
gmoneycricket, enjoyed the 09 pro bowl as well.
http://www.footballsfuture.com/freeagents.html
Those are the 2012 free agents by position for those who don’t know. Some big names there and alot will probably be resigned back
TRB
I wonder who will replace Tuten? Nice that they did this now!
Wow Tuten gone? Some of us had been asking for that for a while. But he was a long standing Bronco like Bay said. They even asked him to watch over the combine weight lifting so he must have some kind of respect. Sad to see a long timer go but some new blood was needed in that position. Younger blood if possible too. TRB
Wow, I didn’t realize Dennis Allen is interviewing for the Oakland HC job. I sincerely hope we dont lose him.
McCoy is expendable to an extent, but DA I feel needs to be here at least 2 more seasons to complete this rebuild on defense. Not to mention the stability we sorely need.
I mean they can blame Tuten for all of our late season collapses, but the reality is 6 D coordinators in 6 years has more to do with it than a strength and conditioning coach.
Which also boggles my mind. With the altitude factor, you would think we would be the model when it comes to conditioned football players…
My apology for the late night rant.
Broncos Country Strong 2012
Greek will be missed; however, this is not the same Bronco team from the Shanny era.
BTW- I agree that we need to bring in someone that will be able to compliment and train our players to compete and WIN in a higher altitude (and lower).
Cam
Thank the lord that McGahee made it to the pro bowl this year, he was the MVP of our team this year and very deserving. Clady was overall solid but his worst year as a pro so far.
Thanks for posting that free agent list TRB much appreciated.
I think the Michael Bush situation in Oakland is very interesting… There already paying McFadden 1st round money and theres no way there going to give Bush the money that he wants with McFadden on the team.
If I was Fox ill call Bush right now and tell him we’d go all in for him lol. If we were able to get him we wouldnt have to worry about RB at all through the draft.
Plus Robert Mathis of the colts says theres pretty much no way hes staying in Indianapolis. Just Imagine… Dumervil, Miller, Mathis. That would be the greatest pass rush in football. BAM
Cam,
Greek is on the medical staff. Tuten was the one who won’t be back!
Horse,
I’d take Mathis in a heart beat too! And if there is any chance we could land either Cortland Finnegan or Brent Grimes, with Champ…
But whatever the front office decides- we need players that can tackle and matchup with the TEs who exposed us.
Anybody hear how serious Quinton Carter’s neck injury was?
No finegan for me but brent grimes plays big for such a little man. His vertical leap is insane. Reminds me of Honey Badger from LSU (vice versa)
Hopefully our Playoff team is a more attractive destination for FAs this year … and hopefully after a playoff season Bowlen is willing to open the check book again… we will see.
It shows the shortage of quality coaches in the league or should I saw the end of the recycled coaches when a guy who is in his first year as a DC and a guy in his like 3rd year as an OC (an avg OC IMO) are the hot tickets. Granted Dennis Allen is amazing but this is quite a leap after 1 season. NFL searching for fresh blood at OC
TRB
there is a pretty good chance mccoy will be dolphins HC if thats the case i want hue jackson to be our next OC, he also would want to bring m. bush with him.
Congrats to McGahee and Clady for making the Pro Bowl,that’s 5 Broncos in the PB….KOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!
We need to grab this FA by the cahoonas and get some talent in here!