In an answer we didn’t include last week in his Q&A session with DenverBroncos.com, Linebackers Coach Richard Smith talked about his impressions of the linebackers he’s preparing to work with this season.
One key point that stood out was the fact that he put Mario Haggan into the same group as Elvis Dumervil and Robert Ayers, players Head Coach John Fox has already said he envisions as 4-3 defensive ends.
“You’d say why?” Smith said. “What it does is it upgrades the speed of our defense. Now you’re taking linebackers and they’re playing down linemen — it upgrades the athleticism of that position.”
I asked Smith to talk a little more about the role Haggan will most likely play in 2011 after rotating from outside linebacker to inside linebacker and back again in 2010.
“What was impressive with me is this guy played all over the place,” Smith said. “He played outside, he played inside — this guy was a jack of all trades and was really good. I haven’t met him in person, but I have talked to him on the phone. I like this guy’s personality. I like his energy level. Guys like that are contagious to your football team, so we have to find a spot for him. If that’s at the defensive line position or at the linebacker position, this guy is very valuable to your football team.”
With Haggan’s importance to the club in mind, Smith said he wants the defender to find as much playing time as possible — a lot of which could come on the defensive line.
“What we needed to do on our football team on defense is upgrade our speed,” he reiterated. “By taking him and moving him down, it upgrades our speed. I’m not saying he couldn’t play linebacker, but you would like someone who is not as big, not a 265-pound guy playing in a 4-3 system, if that makes sense. From that standpoint, that’s why we moved him to a position where he’ll have an opportunity to compete. I think that will be a very good competition at that position. Or in a role situation, where those defensive linemen have to roll in and out to keep them fresh. So I think he’s in the right spot for our system.”
We’ll post the rundown on what Smith had to say about the rest of his “exciting” linebacker corps tomorrow.
-Gray Caldwell, DenverBroncos.com
Tags: Elvis Dumervil, Linebackers Coach Richard Smith, Mario Haggan, Robert Ayers
fams = fans! sorry.
Haggen to the D line, to increase D speed! I like it…
Since Tebow has been (un)officially named the starter, Orton is traded and BQ will be cut, how about bringing in another veteran. Somebody like, oh, Brett Favre?
I think Pat Kirwan may be the one slipping…
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d82067df7/article/respected-veterans-top-list-of-nfls-best-corners?module=HP_cp2
Brett Favre, two years to late, but that would raise some eyebrows.
Seweatherman1, we`re on the same page friend. It`s still all up in the air. There`s a slight chance they`ll have an agreement in the next month, but there`s some hope. I`m glad there talking anyway.
Doh! Spelled Marios name wrong. Sorry Mr. Haggan
Did you know that Mario was quite nearly a Denver Bronco once before? In fact, he was a single pick away. In the 2003 draft, he was pick #228 for the Buffalo Bills. Denver had pick #227 and chose a defensive end by the name of Clint Mitchell. Remember him? If you don’t, you’re in good company. Pro-football-reference.com doesn’t have a darned thing on him, either: I’m assuming from this that Mitchell was a bust. I’ve seen a rumor that he appeared briefly in Kansas City, but it turned out that Clint went and played in NFL Europe; but he never was a player for Denver.
Source: Mile High Report/Doc Bear
Haggan was a ST player who worked his way into the rotation in Buffalo.
The Bills were going with a 4-3 and decided to part ways with MH.
(No not Mile High, Mario Haggan..lol). Haggan showed some flash when Shanny picked him up. Haggan was pretty solid against the run but can also put pressure on the QB. Great upper body strength and known more for his quickness.
I think he’d do great coming out of a 3 pt stance..jmo.
I met Haggan downtown last Summer. Class guy.
That doesn’t make any sense, Denver passed on Haggan with the #227 pick so why was he nearly a Bronco?
The Denver Broncos selected Mitchell in the seventh round (227th pick overall) of the 2003 NFL Draft and he played one season for the Broncos in 2003.
He also played for the Amsterdam Admirals in 2005 and the Tampa Bay Storm in 2007.
Actually he never played a down with the Broncos as rbf1 said, wikipedia’s info above is therefore misleading.
He also was with Kansas City in 2006 but didn’t play a down either.
6’7″, 270 lbs, funny he is from Austin and went to the U of Florida.
I don’t remember Mitchell so I was intrigued with this article.
Don’t know if Broncos actually had Haggan on their board back then.
Shanny might have considered him…not sure.
Yeah – the article shouldn’t read that he was a “single pick away”, but rather that we had an opportunity to draft Mario and passed on him.
Good, I thought senility was setting in on me, haha.
So, what did you guys think of the linebacker outlook? Sounds like they are pretty hot on Joe Mays. It’s RIP when he hits somebody, hope he gets his chance. Been a long time since we had someone on D that really blew people up like he does. DJ back on the weak side in the 4-3, maybe he’ll settle down and be happy. Having a defensive minded coach should be good for him, bet it translates to the field and his home life. Miller’s the wild card , wish they’d get on the field so we can see what he’s got. Also glad Woodyard got a mention, can’t fault his effort. Another player that may thrive with good defensive leadership.
Talk on one of the sports news channels suggested it’s possible a deall could get done in the next 1-3 weeks and possible free agency could take place middle of July. Let’s try and be optomistic. You know the players; well, everybody is starting to chomp at the bit to get things rolling. New deal has the players getting 48% instead of 60% but the owners wouldn’t get the 1 billion off the top. Give me a break, a billion dollars. Being unemployed, I wish there was someone trying to get me a chunk of a billion dollars. I’d settle for a very small chunk, I can’t sell things fast enough to pay the bills. LOL Want to buy a nice turntable BAY? Go Broncos!
imready… sounds like Coach Smith is ready to go to work with his LB squad. Actually way overdue. There was a good article over at DP last week or maybe week before on Joe Mays and the preparation he’s been going thru to compete for the Mike position. Check it out if you get a chance. Should be interesting if and when this lockout is finally resolved.
Details of a proposed collective bargaining agreement being pitched to NFL owners earlier today at the owners meeting, according to sources:
• Players get 48 percent of “all revenue.”
• Players’ share will never dip below 46.5 percent, under new formula being negotiated.
• Teams required to spend close to 100 percent of the salary cap.
• Rookie wage scale part of deal but still being “tweaked.”
• Four years needed for unrestricted free-agent status. Certain tags will be retained, but still being discussed.
• 18-game regular season designated only as negotiable item and at no point is mandated in deal.
• New 16-game Thursday night TV package beginning in 2012.
• Owners still will get some expense credits that will allow funding for new stadiums.
• Retirees to benefit from improved health care, pension benefits as revenue projected to double to $18 million by 2016.
The big points to me are:
-No more 1 billion off the top before the split.
-No more cheap teams spending under the salary cap.
-A badly needed rookie wage scale.
-Only four years to become unrestricted FA, meaning Thomas and Harris would be unrestricted FA instead of the restricted FA they are now.
-Thursday night Football EVERY week!!!! Yeaaahh!!!!
- Revenues expecting to be doubling from 9 billlions to 18 bil by 2016!?!?!?!? That’s crazy insane!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Taking better care of retired players, all for that…
The 18 million by 2016 is a typo, it is 18 billion like I said later on.
Of course all this is a proposal for the owners probably from the results of the talks between Goddell and Smith and is far from being agreed upon by all, but it’s a start in the right direction, they say if they could pass this it might be signed for a 10 year period. I could do with not having to go thru this til 2021.
Bay, the big points you all stated are ideal to me and are dramatically needed I think. The rookie scale is huge too.
And an 18 game season would be nice meaning only 2 preseason games. and also Thursday Night Football all week, sweet.
Only four years to become a unrestricted FA kind of a bummer but a necessary evil, so I can live with that if it comes into play.
The Broncos seem to use Free Agency as much as any other team in the League(too much if you ask me)so 4 year UFAs would benefit us.
Hey strand whats up dude???
BFE, what uuuuup bro!!!!!
In the NFL things are looking up dude but a a ways off still. I`m ready for some football man.
ooops, but are a ways off still. Get the deal agreed upon and signed and for 10 years OH YA!!
That sounds like a reasonable deal.
Thanks for the scoop bay. Some very good information.
The task now of getting the rest of the owners comfortable and familiar with where a collective bargaining agreement will likely end up is the large task facing NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the league’s negotiating team. Of course, this won’t fall totally on Goodell’s shoulders. Let’s hope the influential owners like Mara of the Giants, Kraft of the Patriots, and Richardson of the Panthers play key roles in putting forth this proposal to the rest of the owners.
I don’t know much about politics,or the business side of the NFL,I just wanna see some FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!!!
Yeah 10 years of not having to put up with this B.S. sounds good!!!
ikr… and I wish I had a piece of that 1 billion off the top too, bills suck.
We all wish we had a piece of it! So, Goodell is meeting with Smith I think Thursday the news said. What is the next step to this mess?
Hopefully the Owners figure out what to keep in the offer and what to get rid of and give it to the players and they accept.
O.K. now I am really confused (which isn’t hard these days). I was under the impression that this that bay has above is what Goodell is going to take and meet with Smith on Thursday in Chicago (I think) and present to him as what the owners are presenting. Apparantely this is not the case. The media on t.v. showed Goodell talking to the owners today and presenting this to the group that was, and has been, in the meetings with him the past several days. So this is a proposal from teh players? Correct? This looks super to me, especially the part of not having to go through this for another 10 years!
weatherman, you gotta read the relevant posts a little closer and you’ll have your answers, in my 6:36 pm post I said “Details of a proposed collective bargaining agreement being pitched TO NFL owners earlier today at the owners meeting”, followed at 6:47 pm by “Of course all this is a proposal FOR the owners probably from the results of the talks between Goddell and Smith and is far from being agreed upon by all (owners)”.
At least that is my understanding of it.
You just completely misread me.
This report from the Washington post confirms it:
ROSEMONT, Ill. — NFL owners emerged Tuesday after a day-long review of the broad concepts of a possible labor agreement with locked-out players ready to intensify talks with the goal of reaching an accord by early July.
Despite reported concerns of team owners, opposition to the plan hammered out in closed-door deliberations the past few weeks apparently was modest and confined to certain aspects of the complex deal.
Negotiations between team owners and locked-out players are scheduled to resume today in the Boston area. The sides likely will make a push to complete an agreement around July 4, said people familiar with the talks, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of deliberations.
“I think the ownership has a better understanding of the framework and I think we have a better understanding of the various issues and priorities within the membership,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said.
Any agreement would have to be approved by at least 24 of the 32 team owners. A deal probably would be accompanied by the players reconstituting their union, and would require approval by the federal court in which the players filed their antitrust lawsuit against the owners.
Goodell and DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the dissolved NFL Players Association, have participated in a series of negotiating sessions over the past three weeks, along with small groups of team owners and players. (That’s where the guidelines of this proposal had to come from)
It appeared Tuesday that only a handful of owners had serious objections to the broad terms of the deal, according to people familiar with the owners’ deliberations. Some owners apparently want the agreement to provide protection for the teams in case of an economic downturn. Some also appear to believe the league should take advantage of recent courtroom victories to negotiate a more favorable pact.
But other owners are pressing for a deal on the terms currently under negotiation.
Hope this clears it up for everybody.
Thanks Bay for the info,even I understand that,lol.
Here’s to some Football in 2011.!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just read this myself in the DP while drinking my java, interesting. So the owners must vote when they get all of those concepts hammered out. So 24 owners must approve in order to move forward to present it to the players. Pain in the butt, but it has to be done.
Thanks bay!!! I was just confused over what you had here and what the news/sportscasters had aired on ESPN and our local channels about this. (We allknow what I think iof them.)
Maybe they will get this done soon then. Some of these owners may be beginning to realize that they are loosing their money-making fan base more and more as the days/weeks tick by.
new blog.