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
What do you have to say for yourself? HUH. Last week i asked you three post in a row what you think and you ignored me. I havnt seen one of your posts talk about Hightower until today.
It’s cool. Ill help you out man.
Talking to you Alaskan
i knew it. You only talk to the weaker fans who cant speak over you. Go to bed then
Colorado boy i answered you about Hightower. I have always liked Hightower and thought he was a beast. I dont think you were on though. Also theres a lot said so its hard to answer everyone who asks me something.
Coloradoboy I have been talking and spending time with my pregnant girlfriend dude. Chill out.
sorry! Im crazy sometimes. I actually was thinking that maybe you guys all think im actually a boy and are trying to stay away from converstations. Im just a 30 year old boy
The BUZZ Word of the Day is excited!!! I’m really excited TT is a Jet. It’s going to be exciting to play against TT. Exciting!
I don’t think there is a wide understanding of Peyton’s injury. He never inured his spine, or broke a vertebra. He had a pinched nerve. That is all. And, what’s more, he had played quit a few games with this injury /before/ he had /corrective/ surgery in the offseason.
In other words, the problem was the pinched nerve, through which he continued to play at a high level. All the nerve damage was done back then.
Now, the spine itself is stronger than it ever was, as the surgery consisted of removing the soft disks and cartilage and reinforcing the bone. His neck is more capable of taking hits than it was before. Meanwhile, the nerve is no longer pinched, all damage happened years ago, and it will only improve from here.
There is no medical reason why his play should decline from the 2010 season. However, there is a medical reason to expect both both his playing ability and durability to improve.
When AB goes to prove a point he goes all in. Lol I like Okoye and Thomas as our starting pair and 2 DTs in the draft to pair with them.
http://blogs.denverpost.com/broncos/2012/03/26/plummer-throwing-denver/12817/
Plummer as a backup LMAO!!!
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1116909-nfl-draft-why-this-mid-round-qb-prospect-is-the-broncos-future-after-manning
Someone agrees with us AB!!!
1st Poe or Kirkpatrick (One of them falls)
2nd Jerel Worthy or Fletcher Cox Or Devon Still (Again one of them falls)
3rd Tommy Streeter or Juron Criner (Promising WRs)
4th Vontaze Burficit (1st pick Game tape don’t lie… Value!)
4th Nick Foles (2nd pick The FUTURE)
5th Omar Bolden
5th Ryan Miller (Colorado Boy!!!)
6th Robert Blanton
I like all the possibilities here!!! Only our 4th round in my mind is set!
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1116909-nfl-draft-why-this-mid-round-qb-prospect-is-the-broncos-future-after-manning
Someone agrees with us AB!!!
1st Poe or Kirkpatrick (One of them falls)
2nd Jerel Worthy or Fletcher Cox Or Devon Still (Again one of them falls)
3rd Tommy Streeter or Juron Criner (Promising WRs)
4th Vontaze Burficit (1st pick Game tape don’t lie… Value!)
4th Nick Foles (2nd pick The FUTURE)
5th Omar Bolden
5th Ryan Miller (Colorado Boy!!!)
6th Robert Blanton
I like all the possibilities here!!! Only our 4th round in my mind is set!
Actually the nerve damage can affect his play. And if you look at his stats the declined after the injury occurred in a game in 2009 against the Redskins.
right. That is my point. The nerve injury is done. It occured in 2009. He finished THAT YEAR without missing a game, and taking his team to the SB. He then played through it all 2010.
Now the nerve has had lots of time to recover. Is it 100 percent? No. Is it better than it was since the time the damage occured. Almost certainly yes. We have already seen injured PM, and he looks pretty damn good. Medically we have no reason but to expect improvement from there.
Actually the fact that he played with it cause more damage to it. Any injury if you play with it makes it worse. Yea he finished but his stats declined. Big time.
Actually, it was 2010 that he took them to the SB, which seems to only strengthen my point.
wait wait, 2010 was when they played. It was still the 2009 season. Anyway
Well, that is a good point. Playing with it for two years probably exacerbated it.
But you are way off saying he declined “big time.” He still won 10 games in the 2010 season with a team that history shows is lucky to win 2 without him.
Yea. His stats and play still declined.
Anyways… AB I know you like Streeter but check out Criner he loks very promising!
A team lead by Painter Orlovsky and Collins…..Oh yeah good QBs right there….Lol.
I dont like Streeter I like Coale from VTech.
Who was throwing out Tommy Streeter then from the U? Anyways again I love Criner
I like Criner too. I think OT or someone was. Coale has amazing hands and good speed. I dont see us taking a WR though.
I really believe we will field a better team than PM has ever played for in his NFL career. This is a team that can (and has on average over the last 7 years or so) grind out 8 wins a year even in bad years (McD locker room fiasco was a fluke).
Meanwhile, I don’t believe the Colts have ever had a team that could win more than 5 without PM. What was their record during PMs career when he sat out games because they already clinched the 1st seed?
Sure, bad things can happen. As someone pointed out, we might have stuck with TT and lost him to a rib injury or a leg injury in the first game. It is the nature of the sport. Any given sunday, sometimes you are the hammer sometimes you are the nail.
But we are talking about Peyton Freakin Manning: IMHO the best QB of all time (with our Beloved JE being second).
I really believe that anyone playing negative nancy right now about PM is just B*** hurt that we traded TT.
But then I could be entirely wrong about everything.
Im not even going to respond to people being “butthurt” about TT being traded. I have mentioned stuff about it and its rather bull.
ok. How about the phrase, “extremely disappointed?”
Not all people (some are) are being negative about Manning because Tebow.
Resentful? Full of lamentations? racked with pain?
I have my concerns about Manning and it has NOTHING to do with Tebow. Ever think people are upset about it cause his age and injury? Saying as thats some reason people are. Its getting rather annoying when people like you are saying or implying it is only cause of Tebow when a good portion havnt even mentioned Tebow.
Well some people must be seeing something that I don’t. Outside of the fact that nothing in life is garaunteed, I really don’t see the down side in this, over the next 3 years.
Even if it fails, in my opinion it will still have been the right decision at the time.
If Tebow succeeds and Manning fails would it still be the “right” decision?
OK. Fair enough. Maybe I was being overly cynical. Still, I just don’t see the downside. Before the corrective surgery, Manning never missed a single game due to injury. He played though all kinds of stuff, and still amassed an astonishing number of wins.
I just don’t see how he is some huge injury risk when he has been cleared by every doctor within earshot, and has already played successfully though his current injury (which should be markedly improved due to the surgery and the 18 months or so of recuperation).
I also don’t see how his age is much concern when Warner, Elway, Favre, and many other QBs played at a high level when they were even older.
Well, I already said I wish we had kept TT for the future. As of now I already think it was the wrong decision to trade TT for more or less nothing. So, TT is gone, and that is that. Separate decision though, and a separate transaction.
But, yes, even if Manning fails, I think we still made the right bet.
Alex I am the biggest supporter of the Manning signing and am even concerned if he may get injured and of age… lol give it a rest AB is all in on the Manning move but still has his concerns as I do… I do think The team is better off without Tebow long term and short term
I really got started by responding to BT, who I know is not even here right now.
If we are all on the same page, than I guess we can agree to agree XD
Alex to that I will say i whole heartily disagree with BT and we have this argument every few days haha
haha
If Manning fails then IMO it wasnt the right move because that is money we couldve used elsewhere.
I am all in on the Manning move because it is whats done.
Warner retired at 36/37. Favre had decent time in those last few years. Not the best. Elway had success because we had a great team around him.
We have a great offense and our D still needs a lot of work IMO.
Like BT said no player has come back from serious neck injuries. And No QB has won a SB with TWO different teams.
I do hope Manning is the first.
So Brock Osweiler, Nick Foles, or BJ Coleman will be our QB of the future
I still have hope that we wait till next year to get a QB.
AB I just want it out of the way lol give them more time to groom
I just want to see all D drafted this year minus a RB.
I wonder where FLBroncoGator went? LMAO Somebody check the Jets blogs for a FLJetsGator
I think it would be foolish to draft a qb this year. We have our quota of QB moves made, and we currently have 3 on the roster. Elway has said, “No plan B.”
If manning fails, then we will have a nice drat pick, and we can try to draft a stud next year. This year I want to see all defense and maybe a diamond in the rough RB in the later rounds.
I’m still hoping that it is portentious (in a good way) that we got a 4th and a 6th for TT.
We got Doom with a 4th. We got TD with a 6th. Let’s hope history repeats itself.
LAX, I’m thinking any of those top 5 could go in the first for us. But I’d add Doug Martin in either the 1st or 2nd as well, I know we need to focus on D, but I just really like him as a RB and I’d hate if it he went somewhere else haha
SW I know but I figure one falls haha and There are so many RBS in this draft
very true, it’s a deep RB class
AB, it would appear that either I lack the patience to find it, or the Jets homepage sucks too much to have a Blog section.
LMAO. Turbin in the 3rd or 4th or Gray or Rainey.
http://blog.newyorkjets.com/
Jets blog lol i couldnt find him but i didnt look hard.