When quarterback Caleb Hanie arrived at Colorado State University as a freshman, tight end Joel Dreessen was a senior.
Hanie joked Monday that he remembered Dreessen not only because he learned from that senior class, but the older players also didn’t hesitate to pick on him.
The two remained in touch, and now both are back in Colorado, signing with the Broncos as free agents.
“It feels good to be back in the Denver area,” Hanie said. “I loved Colorado and still do, and always thought about living back there, so what a great opportunity for me and my family.”
Dreessen called it a “dream come true,” coming back to where he played his high school and college football, living so close to some of his family members.
But joining the Broncos wasn’t all about the location.
Both players mentioned the addition of Peyton Manning as one of the draws to putting on orange and blue.
“It’s no secret that Peyton Manning makes everybody he plays with better,” Dreessen said. “Obviously for that opportunity, I’m very excited about that, and I’m hoping to get a lot better.”
But even more than that, both said it feels like an exciting time to be a Bronco.
Dreessen, who called himself a “complete tight end” that can both catch and block, said watching some of Denver’s wins last season has him excited “to build on that experience.”
Hanie agreed.
“Being on a good team was another factor,” the quarterback said. “Last year they had a great team and a great defense and their offensive line is stellar. They have a couple young receivers that are promising with (Eric) Decker and Demaryius (Thomas) and (Matthew) Willis -– and they just signed Andre Caldwell, too. What’s not to like about it?”
Tags: Caleb Hanie, Joel Dreessen
I hope signing Haine means no drafted QB. Just my hopes. I would much rather see 6 of our 8 picks on the front 7 1 on a DB and 1 on a RB.
3 DTs round 2,3 and 4
2 LBs 1 and 5
1 DE 5
RB in 4
DB in the 6th.
All my hopes though. I doubt it will happen that way.
alaska-sorry but I dont see us taking 3 DTs; let alone back to back to back. I would like to see 2 LBs though. Travis Lewis OLB from OU, and possibly Hightower MLB from Bama. We do need 2 DTs in the draft but not 3. Prefferably in 1 or 2 then another in the 4th.
I have us taking 3 right now because we only have Vickerson and Warren both coming off an injury. If/when we get Thomas signed then that would change. But we have huge needs for DTs right now.
Tim Tebow and Peyton Manning will effectively kill me as this debate rages on!!! LOL Here is the deal NO ONE knows if Manning will be the same and if he will be prone to injury easily!!! The Competitive nature of Peyton Manning is ridiculous it is a whole nother level from that of TT it is Elway esque! Lets not be so pessimistic about his chances of staying healthy and succeeding! Because chances are we will be fine and Championship bound
And AB I want Nick Foles lol you know that and Caleb Hanie can not silence that!
I just got home from work. Any signings today by our Broncos?
If we take a DT in the 1st, I would like to see Poe, but that is not gonna happen. Before any ridicule, Poe is the biggest, strongest and fastest DT in the draft.
Lax if we draft a QB i want it to be Foles to lol.
Strand no signings but we had a QB in for a visit. Dennis Dixon.
YOU KNOW IT ab GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE! When you moving out here!
Hutch no one will ridicule we all want him lol
There wouldn’t be a debate if silly people didn’t say silly things…
PM is not more competitive than TT… TT is not more competitive than PM… That is something that is strictly oppinion as the competitive nature of a man is something that is known only by the man… judging by the evidence TT more intense and genuine in his leadership, but he has not been around as long as PM so again… silly to reference
Let’s HOPE Peyton can be the Peyton of old… Hope is a horrible strategy… but at this point it is all we have…
Lol. I would much prefer a QB next year though. Draft front 7 and a RB basically. I would love to get Poe. Hes the only guy i want more than Hightower now. But i just dont see him being available there.
I would’nt mind if we were able to get Forte from the bears if he wanted out. that would set us good at RB
To bad Forte would cost way to much and we dont have that kind of money. Trust me i want Forte bad but we dont have the money to get him unfortunately
I’m not going to address this again… the season will unfold how it unfolds… I miss TT and it was a mistake to Trade him…
I’m all for Peyton… he’s our guy now…
B-R-O-N-C-O-S BRONCOS BRONCOS BRONCOS
I dunno about all that, I think our Defense could really use Dont’a Hightower. Especially after watchin this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKBjc1PFvkI
Hightower is a beast. Plain and simple.
We trade some picks for Forte and Von and Doom restructure contracts to free up money? They already said they don’t mind just to win. I’m just being hopeful i guess.
I dunno if I like Travis Lewis much though,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=tAtNJ13-gdg&NR=1
We would have to give up a lot of picks for Forte. Bears wouldnt let him go cheap. Kings ransom. If he ends up being cut i wouldnt mind it. Forte is one of my favorite backs. Im sure Doom and Bailey wouldnt mind same with Miller. But im not sold on trading for the guy. Multiple first and second rounders.
Hey AB… how you feeling man… still excited?
and does your dad take bets on all sports or mostly just football?
twogunz one thing that helps is dont look at just highlight reels. Hightower has made mistakes to. every player does. The video you posted of him was all good things. Travis Lewis has made a lot of great plays some bad ones to. Hes projected 5-6 rounder so he would be a good late pickup IMO.
BT all sports. March Madness is the worst time for me. Cause i get probably 150-200 brackets that i have to keep track of plus all the stats and what not. Any kind of bet he does. He keeps the bets low though. Doesnt let them go past 500$ unless its a championship game. Two years ago in the world series i had to hand out the biggest bet my dads ever done. 5 grand. The guy picked who would win. In how many games. Named who would be MVP and got the total score difference right.
Im excited. Feel horrible though…..Have the Flu LOL.
nice man… That is impressive to pick the MVP and the spread…
I use to bet alot of sports when I lived in Vegas… Mostly over/unders…
Yea dude.
My girlfriend and I have only known for sure for not even a day and were alreadt talking names…..Lol……Its going to cause issues though she wont let me name it Elvis Von Champ or Jel (John Elway and Lynch) Lol. She flat out said no athlete names……
Sounds European…
Lol Shes all talking girl names and im all throwing out boy names after athletes lol. She keeps throwing flower names. Good thing we have 8/9 months to go. This is going to be a long process. LMAO
Congrats alaskan!! How about ElBurg!! Like the cartoon in the RMP. Lol your in presason!-Ha
FYR
Hightower reminds me of a ray lewis type of player. The way he hits he knocks people a couple of feet back.
Burfict is still my man. Can’t believe we lost McClain to Mays haha still makes me laugh.
GBGT, next year is our year
alaska-I have a son and named him Gabriel Brandon but me and my wife have talked about if our next child is a boy also then he would be named Bronco James:) She is all for it. We have already bought the crib but dont know the sex yet. ANY OTHER SUGGESTIONS?
I suggested to my girlfriend Travis Nicholas she liked it till she realized the initials would be TNT. Only name weve been able to agree on partially is Jaina Marie for a girl. I suggested Eddie for a boy shes thinking about it. Shes probably looking up players names for Denver past and present lol. Im glad that we have 8 months basically to decide.
You probably have more than 8 months left. If you count every month as 4 weeks than a pregnancy really lasts 10 months not 9. It seems like it takes a lifetime for your child to finally arive:) If we have a girl my wife wants to name her Jazmyn Faith. Im personally not too fond of it but if she is happy than I guess I will have to compramise.
I guess I need to head to bed now since I have work in the morning:(
Good Night Broncos Country!!!
O alaska, I really like the name Travis. It is my uncles name.
I think thats actually pretty lol.
Right now im more focused on if i propose before or after our baby is born. Ive been planning on doing it for a couple months now so i think im going to do it in May if i can afford it to do my plan lol
I don’t get why people want us to get a ton of receivers to add to the mix. Manning is a great QB but I don’t think Fox or Manning really wants to run a pass heavy offense, they probably want us to base everything on a strong running game. This will keep the pass rush off of Manning and keep the Bronco run-the-ball-down-your-throat tradition going.
Congrats AB – Been out of town so I am a little late. Have you thought about Denver as a boy’s name. We have a friend and his son is named Denver. It works well and isn’t specifically an athlete’s name.
I believe that our 1st round pick comes down to two players. Cox or Still. I really like both a lot and they both look pretty much the same to me. Both extremely dominant. I do not know why so many are soo high on Poe! I understand he was the fastest in the combine and had good numbers but just look at how the Raiders usually draft. They usually draft all fast guys and they all end up becoming busts. This guy has hardly any impressive numbers in college and with a 1st round pick you are having to go on just more than potential. You have to go on stats to back that up. Cox and Still both have that and have both been very dominant. I don’t just want someone that we can fill in there that will be good. I want a DT that will be great for years to come!! I would love this mock:
Still/Cox
Alshon Jeffery
Burfict
I believe those would be some great players. Burfict has extreme talent but just needs some discipline! He can learn that from Fox and Del Rio!
3rd round is early for Burfict. Hes project 4/5 round now. We are set at WRs right now.
Freak just so you know before the combine Poe was going to be our pick. That guy is dominate. Has the speed strength and athletics do succeed in the NFL.
I want our first two picks to be a DT and LB. Either Hightower or Cox in round one the Reyes/Thompson or Kendricks in the 2nd. People want a DT so bad but we need a real leader at MLB Hightower can be that guy. Irving and Mays can sub in and out and possibly learn to be OLBs and replace Williams in a year or two. Hightowers size could even have him switched to a DE since hes the same size as Ayers i think hes actually a little bigger.
Taxan thanks. We have talked about it. She like Houston as a name more than Denver though.
http://www.milehighreport.com/2012/3/26/2904571/breaking-down-the-history-how-do-the-denver-broncos-draft
This is really interesting IMO. Going by that board a LB is more likely than a DT in round 1. But you never know whats going to happen.
what time is hanie’s press confence?
Alaskan…. Vickerson and Warren are not the only DT’s we have right now. You forgot about Mitch Unrein, Ryan McBean, there is one more too but I can’t recall his name…. so we actually have 5 DT’s not 2…. And if we resign Marcus Thomas then that will be 6…. So I definitely do not see us drafting 3 DT’s….
And it may be hard pressed to say that we will even draft 2 DT’s….
Some info on travis lewis..went to highschool in my district. He is an incredible athlete and was projected as a 1-2 round pick before this year. What i dont understand is that he ran a 4.37 as a runningback and he ran a 4.81 at the combine..must have put on too much weight..
as a running back coming out of high school*
So you want to just keep those guys in the middle? Warren coming of two and a half season on IR and Vickerson coming off IR? McBean who may be suspended and who isnt even that good and not on roster cause hes a RFA? Unrein who is young so who knows how he will be. Thomas who isnt that good of a DT is a FA who we might not even get back. and a 1 year pro now who was on the practice squad from Utah Sealver Siliga?
WE only have 4 on roster. 2 unproven. 2 coming off IR. Unless im insane that doesnt look like a great DT group.
B4L he probably bulked up when he switched to LB. That could explain it.
Whoa, calm down…. All I was saying was in response to your earlier post of us only having 2 DT’s. Not saying they are a great bunch of guys but just saying we have more than 2… easy does it now
I know we did. I just wasnt countin gthe guy that was on the practice squad or Urein who barley played and wasnt counting Thomas or McBean cause neither are on Roster.
Alaskan..your a jerk. Ive been trying to get you and everyone else on the board to talk about Hightower. All you jerks just snub me off.
Thank gosh i finally see you guys thinking clearly. No good value at DT in the 1st round.