With the 2011 NFL Draft in the books, I thought I’d check in with General Manager Brian Xanders and see what the personnel staff has on its plate at the moment.
“We’re getting ready for free agency with whatever system is in place, whether it’s an uncapped-year system or it’s the normal system,” Xanders said.
But that’s far from the only thing on the docket, even with an uncertain labor situation.
“We are working on our player personnel manual and we’re working on the 2012 draft,” the general manager explained. “All the scouts are watching all the tape for — we call it the summer manual for the 2012 draft, which will be printed on May 31. We’ll have an initial draft view and draft board at the end of May. All of our scouts are watching their schools assigned to them and they’re getting all the senior prospects and writing up a quick summary of what they think.
“So we’re really working on three things — the 2012 college draft, pro free agency for 2011, and then we’re refining our player personnel manual.”
-Gray Caldwell, DenverBroncos.com
Tags: Brian Xanders
BTW, true2, Woody seems to agree with the thinking that if there is no season the draft order will be repeated in 2012.
Now this would be a good seaon for us to not have one, haha!
No way the parties will work it out this season, they are way too far apart, it’s just gonna be like when the NHL shut down for an entire season so let’s just go directly to the 2012 draft, LOL.
Maybe this blog story is right on afterall, Xanders already working on the 2012 draft, LOL.
Goodell:
“With the 2nd overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft the Denver Broncos select Andrew Luck, QB Stanford. Doesn’t matter though because we still haven’t come to an agreement on a new CBA so teams can’t sign their draft picks. I know I hear you I agree, we should’ve really gotten this thing figured out already but its hard to divide up $9.5 billion dollars, so it is going to take us at least two seasons so we’re just going to go straight to the 2013 draft today as well.” LOL1
Let’s just hope Tebow is praying for us.
LMAO @ 3rdG!!!!!
You know what this NFL mess reminds me of? My second wife’s period, it was painful to endure and lasted forever…
Bay,
I like the “Clark Kent” comparison for Von Miller being “SUPERMAN” on the field!!! LOL nice work and far better than my “Radio” comparison!
Also like you said if there ever has to be a year where we don’t have a season at all than this should be the one for sure! But let’s hope “Common Sense” (that is very un-common) takes over a little bit and we have a season this year!
Yeah but there was probably less bad blood being created!
Yeah, that one was purely my creation, I own the rights you T shirt makers.
LMAO
go here and vote for the broncos to be on hard knocks I dont think it realy matters but just do it its on the bottom right side of the screen
http://espn.go.com/nfl/
Its a hard knock life for us, its a hard knock life for us, instead of playin’ we throw fits, instead of ownin’ we act like kids, its a hard knock life.
The only hard knock I’d like to see is one directly to the NFL to knock some sense in to everyone! LOL! I still voted!
I liked the thought Bay had a while back about why Denver drafted a Right Tackel = to protect Tebow’s blind side!
Also that they are moving forward Tebow as the man. Our Defense should be a bunch better mainly because if there is better QB pressure everyones job especially the DB’s will be easier and more efficient!
GO BRONCOS!!!
Don’t forget drafting the two TEs for easy outlets for Tebow, which Orton did not need since he can spread the ball around to the WRs with no problems. Yeah, it’s definitely all aimed at Tebow, whether it’s at the start of the season or soon after. My guess is Orton traded to the Dolphins before the season even starts, Tebow the starter and maybe Delhomme as his back up with Quinn holding the clipboard. I know I’ve said all that already plenty of times but some bloggers probably haven’t heard it yet…
So Bay are you up to leading the boycott campaign?
well it looks like the broncos turned down hard knocks. Thats dumb!
It’s easy to turn down. There is NO NFL at this point.
I got a tune for you DeMaurice- Man in the Mirror
Take your two words and….
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — DeMaurice Smith had barely settled behind the podium when University of Maryland students started chanting: “We want football.”
Smith’s response: “I want football, too.”
The executive director of the NFL Players Association then gave a graduation speech that compared the players’ lockout fight against the owners to the detractors the students will face in their future lives. For his final bit of advice, he turned on his own recording of Gary Glitter’s “Rock and Roll (Part 2)” and encouraged everyone to clap while shouting the mild profanity that Maryland fans insert into the song at basketball games.
“To anybody who thinks for one minute that passion is something is that is cheap and futile, have two words for them: ‘You suck,” Smith said. “And for anybody who would ever think that it is the wrong thing to do to care so much that you’re willing to risk everything because it is right, reserve those two words for them.”
espn.com
In a “the good, the bad and the ugly” type of day- here’s the ugly
Full read at ESPN.com
In a little-noticed side effect of the NFL lockout, the league’s drug testing program has been shut down, causing some experts to worry that players may be enjoying a drug holiday and veterans to complain they’ve been left in the dark about which supplements might unknowingly cause them to test positive when the lockout ends.
Widespread confusion also exists about how the NFL will discipline players who fail drug tests when the lockout ends.
Since the lockout began March 12, the league has not conducted a single off-season drug test. That is significant because roughly 4,000 of the 14,000 tests that the NFL conducted last year were done before the start of the season — a 29 percent rate that’s far higher than any other sport. Major League Baseball tested less than 5 percent of its players last winter, and the NBA and NHL do not have year-round testing programs.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello acknowledged this week that players are no longer being asked to supply information about their whereabouts and are no longer required to give samples under the policy’s 24-hour-notice provision. Aiello declined to divulge how many offseason tests had been canceled in the past nine weeks, saying: “We don’t want to be that specific to avoid providing to many clues to someone that might want to try to beat the system.”
Asked whether the league’s players might view the lockout as a kind of performance-enhancing drug holiday, he said: “We hope that is not the case.”
Bay,
I’m sold on the reason for a Tight Ends, but I don’t believe we have any just yet. I thought there might be one or two with good potential this past draft season – and my thoughts are if you draft two average TE’s than you really don’t have any GOOD ones in place!
What I wouldn’t give for a young Shanon Sharpe right now!!! The one we picked up from Oregon (Portland State???) seems like the closest thing to a Shanon Sharpe (project), but then again you don’t find a serious STUD like Sharpe every day either!
Do we need a GOOD TE??? YEP
Do we have one??? I don’t think so – but only time will tell. I think our best one currently is the one we already had in Quinn.
Mikey, even so you followed your suggestion with a “jk” I truly appreciate the confidence you’ve shown me, but that is a job of such magnitude that I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to get it done from where I’m standing, considering you would have to have strong voices spreading the revolt in each and every single NFL city. I’m not saying it couldn’t have some level of success, simply that it would take such a large organized team all working for zero bucks and I wouldn’t even start to know where to look for people like that in each NFL city. Sometimes it feels like I’m the only one who dedicates so much of my time and energy to all of this NFL blogosphere without getting paid if you know what I mean.
But I’m with you in spirit, and in the words of DeMaurice Smith turned right back at him, and at his players and at the league: You suck!
He glows because he thinks he has wisdom but he doesn’t realize that there is no wisdom to having something all backwards.
Rather, I think that makes you full of s….
true2, only time will tell, glad you understood my way of thinking about why Elway picked two TEs though.
You are absolutely correct, they may very well not be the right TEs, in fact I was one of the very few who thought we should pick NO TEs in this draft since it was such a poor class, give me a FB and RB instead would of been my way to go.
Point remains, they did do that for Tebow, to give him easy targets without long difficult reads, that’s about as obvious as the large nose on my face.
Also shows they obviously have no hope Quinn could catch a Tebow pass, LOL, but he will be big in blocking for our running game let’s hope. That’s what I want to see if and when the season returns, us running the rock, and stopping the run too, and since we really have only barely addressed those two things so far, you can easily see why I think anyone who is thinking we will be playoff bound this year has 1) been drinking too much orange laced koolaid, 2) completely forgotten what were our weaknesses last season or 3) paid no attention to any of the draft whatsoever, LOL.
good to see Tebow is working out with the team today!
And subsequently Orton is not! LMAO…
BTW, looks like Tebow is all in Florida Gators blue in the DP pic, guess those jockeys underwears don’t come in Bronco orange yet:
http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_18095806
The new and improved transparent broncos turned down hard knocks? Interesting. That shoulda been a good opportunity to practice the transparency they speak off. Not unless they thought they would give away all thier “secrets” or something. Woulda enjoyed it but wateva. Like sndvl said, its easy to turn things down when theres no football.
If this season doesn’t happen it would be the dumbest thing ever. So basically, some rich sobs can’t agree how to split 9.5 billion dollars. Mostly the second 1billion extra off the top that the owners want. So because of that they would both throw 9.5 billion down the drain for 1 year. Ha! If they do that, I would question some of these guys smarts/education; mainly the Owners because we all know players arent know for thier smarts but businessmen are supposed to be. TRB out…
Come to think of it, no one is wearing Bronco colors because they are too afraid to break up DeMaurice Smith’s “unity” scheme.
Bay,
I’m with you those picks could have been utilized for a really good FB – I really liked the guy out of Stanford and I’m shocked that the Niners did not pick him in time. His former coach said that – he was the best football player he ever coached and that he wishes he was like that guy when it came to football.
Our draft was strange, but I liked it and it makes sense with TEBOW as the starting QB!
We may not be ready for any playoffs, but I think our feet are heading in the right direction again. If there is a season I could see us having some early growing pains, but ending strong for a chance with Tebow leading the way – perhaps 8-8 and back in the running for a playoff birth. Especially if we were in the NFC West. LOL
We still need a FB – but that is something we can get from a College FA if we ever have an off season or season this year!!!
FB – all the way – another thing that could really help TEBOW as a blocker and in the running game!!!
Tebow there. Orton not. I don’t think those guys want to be in the same place at the same time not unless they HAVE to be. Talk about awkward.
Tebow: “Hey Decker come run routes for me”
Decker: “Ok, sure. let’s do this. We are gonna tear it up this season”
Orton : “I thought you were running routes for me. Thought you were MY passing buddy. And whats this talk of you and him tearing it up this season”
Decker: “uhhhhhhhhh….”
I agree true2, at least we are rebuilding from the nightmare of yesteryear. And how they go at it is difficult to argue since there are so many parts missing, you are bound to leave some areas non addressed regardless of how you go at it.
At least now the LB corp has been addressed and the safeties too, that’s half the levels on D and on O they did what they could to build it for Tebow.
So I’m positive it’s going to go uphill, well, it would be hard not to, only one slot available to go downhill, LOL, it’s just going to be a long climb is all. Next year we can address the other two levels of D and the running game in the draft, because remember you can bandaid in FA but you must rebuild in the draft.
Like I said at this point of the franchise you could of just thrown darts at the draft board to decide what to address first since we stank up the joint in so many areas.
I still think people are short sided with Orton. I like Orton as a really good back-up! Tebow is going to get hurt and there are going to be times we need a good back-up.
Is there a better back-up in the League right now??? I also get the awkward part and letting a guy be the guy without looking over his shoulder! But too me Orton is a proven winner – isn’t he about .500 for his career? Anyway, I’d like to keep both players, but I’m sure I’m in the minority = most people want Orton down the road!!!
Quinn: “Hey y’all”!
And the silence gets louder…
You just simply cannot have a 8 million dollar back up QB, that’s why I brought up a vet like Delhomme.
Bay,
I also get what you are saying about band-aids for certain positions like the obvious DL this year. However, I think about how many DL’s went in this years draft class and there are going to be some GOOD starting DL kicked into the FA market and who’s to say we don’t get as good of a player as most of the first round picks from FA.
Maybe I’m a glass half full kind of guy, but I think we’ll have a chance to get some really decent players via FA – if we ever get to FA!?!?!?
It’s still a BIG need, but I really don’t believe Dareus was the right answer for the team this year! He’ll probably be a good player, but he’s already talking trash and now he needs to back the talk!!! Again if we ever get a chance to see them play again!!! LOL
And Orton is not a proven winner as much as anyone would like to think, he is 11-17 as a Bronco and had a better record with the Bears simply because of their D and running game shouldering the load. That’s not a winner in my book, just a journeyman who doesn’t lose you too many games on his own but won’t win you many either = average QB when it’s all said and done, sorry.
Your right the money is not right and things would need to be restructured to make it work, but if money was not the issue would you want to keep him or send him down the road???
I understand mine is not the popular opinion, but I like Orton and have seen him as a winner most of the time. And when we were lossing it really wasn’t cause by him as far as the STATS and I could tell.
Chances are I’m barking up a tree with nothing in it though – he’ll probably be traded at the first chance!!!
A question from earlier today that players being unified or not vs owners being unified or not. There`s 2,000 players that have to be in agreement with whats all going on with this rhetoric, and there is 32 owners. I`m siding with the 32 owners working together as a unity and not the players who don`t know there head from their tail. They have NO UNITY whatsoever. It`s just pretty words from a chosen few. LMAO!!!!
who cares what some rooster sucker from new york says lets get some football for the love of god my wife has me watching grays anatomy someone killl me I hate this so much
This is all quite simple. They can’t come to an answer with the CBA because they’re not asking the right question. It’s not, “How do we divide up 9 billion dollars?” The right question is, “What would Tebow do?” WWTD…Someone make the bracelet.
sorry Brian but i said that b/4 the draft.lol
And it was like a breath of fresh air this morning to see Woody take off full throttle in this abysmal time, even though a lot of his article will hurt Bronco fans everywhere, the truth always hurts the most:
Just like their defense last year, the Broncos are soft taps.
They botched the “Hard Knocks” deal with HBO.
In the past five seasons, the once-significant, twice-champion Broncos became inconsequential, irrelevant and immaterial nationally.
Ouch!
The team descended into mediocrity (36-44 record from 2006-10) and, finally in 2010, was reduced to being drubbed and dubbed cheaters, laughingstocks and headless horsemen.
Ouch and Ouch!
Other than the drafting of Tim Tebow, which itself caused a hailstorm of positive and negative reaction, the Broncos were beside the point in the NFL.
“Beside the point”, now that’s hilarious!
Pat Bowlen’s strong ownership reputation and possibility of future induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame had been sullied by the franchise’s protracted fall from grace.
Can’t argue with that since he was kept out of the top ten in last week’s ESPN top ten owners in pro football, finished 11th!
Then, Bowlen hired the revered John Elway to clean up the mess left by the reviled Josh McDaniels. Elway already has proven he won’t be some honorary, glad-handing, door-greeting VP.
And the Broncos have begun to rise from the slimy abyss. Opaqueness was replaced by transparency, evasive attitudes by frankness, closed-door policies with the public to conference phone calls with season-ticket holders.
No more creeps, lies and videotape of opponents’ walk-throughs.
The Broncos are back to the future — re- creating the old ways of the 1980s-1990s decades in the second decade of the 2000s.
John Fox, reminiscent of Red Miller as a no-nonsense — yet good guy — blue-collar (without a hoodie) veteran coach, was brought in, and the Broncos’ organization, for the first time in a long span, split and shared executive responsibilities rather than relying on autocratic rule.
The draft was based on consensus decisions, not one man’s whims. Although the Broncos didn’t select the defensive tackle they desperately need, they had a clean draft and chose good players who are good people. Rapscallions were rejected.
So the rise has begun!
But Woody doesn’t like the fact that the Broncos turned down HBO’s hard knocks:
So, it is disappointing that the Broncos have said thanks, but no thanks, to an invitation from HBO and NFL Films to appear as the spotlighted training camp team this year on the highly popular cable reality series.
“We appreciate the value of the show, but, at this time, we are going to pass,” said Patrick Smyth, the sharp young media relations director of the Broncos.
The Broncos didn’t want to be cellophane, after all.
They hadn’t been asked before. The previous stars of “Hard Knocks” were the Ravens (2001), the Cowboys (2002 and 2008), the Chiefs (2007), the Bengals (2009) and, of course, the witty and charming Jets (2010).
They weren’t even the first choice this year. First, the Bucs declined to participate — partially, it is believed, because they have player issues, and they are boring. Then, the Broncos were summoned — because of the interest in Elway and Tebow, Tebow and Orton, and Denver’s reconstruction era after McD’s destruction error.
“McD’s destruction error”, hahahaha, sndvl had McD’s error instead of era, but that’s even better, LMAO!
The request was politely refused because, we must assume: (A) The Broncos don’t want focus on Elway and Tebow, Tebow and Orton (if he’s still in town); (B) Fox, who was candid in telling me he won’t be candid when microphones and cameras are turned on (he is not Rex Ryan); (C) Bowlen is maintaining a very low profile these days; (D) the Broncos don’t believe they are ready for prime-time treatment; and (E) they don’t want to reveal secrets to the Chargers, the Chiefs and especially Al Davis.
Or maybe because (F) three of the six teams finished with losing records their featured year (the Cowboys were 5-11 and 6-10), and none of the other three reached the Super Bowl (the Jets lost in the AFC championship last season).
Either way I think Woody is getting carried away here by his three years spent in NY with ESPN, giving him feelings of fake grandeur for appearing on such show as hard knocks that only HBO TV snobs get to watch. I sincerely think that true blue collar Bronco fans won’t shed a tear over this one. And what’s a training camp hard knocks in the midst of a lockout anyway!?!?!?!
Anyhow, that’s how he rationalizes it:
However, after suffering hard knocks with the 4-12 record, the videotaping coverup scandal and the ugliness that ended McDaniels’ reign, “Hard Knocks” could have been beneficial to the Broncos.
Millions of viewers would have seen the new, improved Broncos and the cast of characters with good character — rookies Von Miller, the inspirational Nate Irving and converted power forward Julius Thomas, and astute, articulate star veterans Elvis Dumervil (returning from injury), Champ Bailey and Brian Dawkins, the delightful Eddie Royal and Mario Haggan and, yes, Tebow. Meet The Beadles. And the mountains always make a nice backdrop.
The Broncos could have used the positive pub.
And their fanatics would have gotten a fascinating look inside the hallowed halls of Dove Valley.
Who’s got next — the Silver and Black?
The Broncos’ Blue blew it for the Orange.
A little bit over the top don’t you think Woody? Why do you think other teams have turned it down too, the lockout dummy! Talk about a difficult transition it will be to go from lockout to whenever it is lifted, why on earth would you want the added pressure of having HBO witnessing all of that. It would of been a real bad move considering the circumstances. Thanks to the Bronco organization for showing more common sense than Woody on this one. Woody is all for cheap glamour while the Broncos are all for getting seriously back to work whenever possible.
I applaude that, let the Raiders do the stupid thing and bite to be on hard knocks, like when Woody dressed up as a Raider fan at Mile High to see what that was like, doing the stupid thing!
But it was like I said an entertaining read in this otherwise Death Valley, thanks Woody.
This is how measly of a group yesterday’s practice session was:
RB Lance Ball
LG Zane Beadles
C/G Jeff Byers
WR Britt Clark
T Chris Clark
S Brian Dawkins
DT Ben Garland
TE Dan Gronkowski
LB Joe Mays
QB Tim Tebow
DT Mitch Unrein
CB Cassius Vaughn
C J.D. Walton
13 players out of 72 on the active roster!!!
It’s like instead of participation increasing, it is decreasing. I think I remember 16 participating last week. Like the balloon just recently inflated is deflating already, only adding to the sadness of all things NFL and all things Broncos right now. I can’t even envision how tough of a hill it is going to be for our team to climb when the off season or the season, whichever comes first, resumes. Playoffs!?! Playoffs!?!?! You’re talking about Playoffs!?! LMAO…
These workouts will eventually end. The guys funding these workouts know that it is going to be a long time before a decision is made so they don’t want to be paying anymore money out of their own pockets.
Maybe if we wait until like half way through the actual season to start we’ll have a chance of winning a majority of our games then we can be in the playoffs LOL!
I echo those statements about “Hard Knocks.” What are they going to show our 13 guys doing voluntary workouts at Camp Dakiwns? How about HBO does the show detailing and showing all that is happening with the league and how the entire leage is being a “hard knock”. I’d sure like to give a “hard knock” to the side of the NFL’s big ‘ol head!
The NFL owners are winning the PR war with the players. Tossing the labor dispute into the bureaucracy of the courts may be a tactical advantage for the players, but they are beginning to lose the fan support in record numbers. And they will ultimately lose without fan support.
The players must tell DeMaurice Smith to abandon the legal tactics and get back to the bargaining table before the paychecks go away and the players lose more than just the playing time.
The sooner the FANS become the higher priority, the sooner this mess will be resolved.
Nice post bay, finally some freshness in this blog. It was an overall good article by Woody although I liked how you critiqued it throughout, you interjected a nice counter balance and fan point of view as opposed to an out-and-out media style slant; pointing out Woody’s “feelings of fake grandeur” lol.
Woody needed to be called out for being over the top at the end as well: “The Broncos’ Blue blew it for the Orange,” Laughable. Much appreciated.
-Royalty
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