The University of Cincinnati had a relatively late graduation this year — June 9.
What does that have to do with the Broncos?
The club’s first pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, defensive tackle Derek Wolfe, wasn’t able to participate in the team’s OTAs until after that date.
On Tuesday, the former Bearcat finally took to the practice field at Dove Valley with his teammates for the first day of minicamp.
“It’s good to finally be out here,” Wolfe smiled.
Late last month, Defensive Coordinator Jack Del Rio said he wasn’t upset that Wolfe wasn’t with the team, since it was out of his hands. However, he said there was only so much the rookie could learn without actually participating in practices.
Wolfe found that out first-hand Tuesday, as he said he felt behind for the majority of the practice.
“You’re just trying to catch up the whole time,” he said. “I think I caught up pretty quick and towards the end of practice I started to get it. It’ll come along.”
The rookie found that the hardest part for him was being behind in learning the playbook, but the veterans were more than happy to help him in the process.
Throughout practice, Wolfe was often off to the side talking with veterans like Kevin Vickerson and Jason Hunter in between drills.
“(I talked to) pretty much everybody,” Wolfe said. “My locker is right beside (Justin) Bannan’s, so anytime I have a question I just ask him. He’s been around for a while. I’ve got a lot of vets here.”
Even if he wasn’t 100 percent correct every time, Wolfe made sure to put in 100 percent of his effort.
“It’s still football,” he explained. “If you mess up, just make sure you’re running to the ball. You can’t coach effort.”
Wolfe, who said he lined up at both defensive end and defensive tackle depending on the package, was happy to get his first practice since rookie minicamp out of the way. But that doesn’t mean he was content with his performance.
“I’m never satisfied,” he said. “It’s never perfect, but it’s never as good or as bad you thought it was either. I’m just trying to fix the things I did wrong and perfect the things I did right.”
The Broncos have two more days of this week’s minicamp before a break that spans more than a month prior to the start of training camp in late July.
So Wolfe will soak up everything he can during that time, because this season he plans to show why Denver had him at the top of their draft board.
“I expect to contribute,” he said. “Obviously they didn’t draft me with their first pick not to play. I have some expectations here and I’m just trying to live up to them.”
-Gray Caldwell
Tags: Derek Wolfe
Love the saran wrapped footballs – c’mon, knock those things loose!!! LOL
So much good stuff about the guy!!!! Really hope he works out!!!!
so many 1st picks on the chopping block – it will do wonders for this front office to have their 1st two become major contributors.
well the attitude is there, the effort is there, and i see great things from this kid. hopefully he can be dominant tho, not just pretty good because thats what we need. if this guy pans out and warren is back to his pro bowl form, we will be dominant in most alignments. you will not be able to one on one either guy, and then thers vondoom coming form the outsides. wow thats gonna be a hekuva thing to see. manning gets that lead and then its ‘SICK EM’ style defensive football after that!
looks like maurice jones-drew is gonna hold out and the jags arent gonna pay him. man i wish elway would call the jags and offer knowshon and a 3rd or 4th for drew. that would be killer!
maybe sweeten the deal with rahim moore too. hell drew would be a great assett here. that would round out or perfect offseason nicely.
*our perfect offseason*
maybe give him a 4 year deal for about $6 mil a year. big signing bonus dont hurt our bottom line a whole lot hopefully. i know we got the room.
fine then. i didnt wanna talk to yall either
I’m thinking maybe the Broncos don’t have enough money left to sign Prater, Osweiler and Hillman so they asked DJ to take a paycut seeing as how he is facing suspension and has also had offield troubles and is one of the highest paid players on the team.
I don’t think DJ liked the idea of a paycut so he lashed out by posting the plays and telling his fans that he had to learn a new position.
Just my thoughts on the situation….
I wish they would figure something out with Prater though. The guys leg is money and we need a really good kicker to make the SB..
lbf, I don’t think we have enough money to sign MJD, do we?
not really oc but we could squeeze it out if he was willing to take up front money and not quite what he wants. but he’s coming off a ton of carries and he’s well into the down slide of his career so we can possibly get him for around 6 and i think we could pull that off.
MJD has been the Jags offense for the last few years. I like the thought LBF but no way it would happen.
Hey Lou – don’t take it personal! LOL I’ve always liked MJD – get JE on the stick and I’d go for that. I’d still like Moore to pan out though.
That didn’t come out looking right – the ‘personal’ comment was in relation to folks not responding above. LOL
OC – is the DJ pay adjustment a wishful thinking thing, or did you see that is something that is happening?
fine then. i didnt wanna talk to yall either!!! LOL
haha ya i knew your reference there but ya you garbled that into one sentence. and i dont know alaskan, that new owner is gonna do his own thing and if they truly wanted mjd they would give him the money. of course they still prob will but who knows, why not make the call? he’s worth maybe a 2nd, knowshon and moore but i dont know if i’d give a whole lot more than that. we are stacked at rb and now at safety (sorta) so heck i say go for it! we can squeeze out the dollars. harder contracts have been done in tighter cap situations many times over. so ya know what db? ok i’ll just go ahead and give john a call!
hey, hey, i know how it feels so i’ll talk to you db. it’ll be ok.
LBF Would be nice but theres a reason he wants the money. He has been the Jags offense. Very little help from everyone else. They have Gabbert who well sucks and Blackmon too they need a RB to help take off the pressure and a often injured RB with Moreno wont do.
If the new owner started his ownership by getting rid of their one proven star player well there would be a mutiny. Only way I see it happening is if he really wants to move the team.
oh ya if he traded mjd he’d need a security detail highly unlikely but who woulda thought manning would be our qb a year ago? you never know and i’d at least take a shot at it at the height of the discontent between the two. before the jags leadership had a chance to let it sink in just what they are doing…
He probably would need a security detail because MJD is the Jags offense.
LBF what your saying we should offer would be way to low for MJD. He is a top 5 back in the league. It would require at least one first round pick among other things.
And since MJD was the Jags offense and is their star player fans would be really pissed that he gave him up.
Sorry DB I was looking at our player contracts and the team pay scale broken down by position and then contract and 2012 cap hit but havent figured out how much we have left yet. maybe AB can help us out with that?
As far as the above idea, it was just me thinking outloud and trying to figure out why we still have two unsigned rookies and one good kicker, along with the fouth highest paid player on the team appearing to be rebelling a bit?
ya maybe so. i wouldnt give a first round pick due to stage of career. he’s too close to the end. maybe a 2nd and a 3rd the year after plus the 2 players. i mean knowshon and moore isnt giving nothing. no first rrounder though imo
I dont’ think JE has traded away a future pick since he got here has he?
should say stage of career and milage. the milage on that kid is astounding considering his age. thats why they dont want to pay him like he wants to be paid and i understand it. but if theyre rebuilding a 2nd and 3rd plus two young players would be nothing to sneeze at. they are playing for the future and we are playing for now so it benefits all sorta. more us but hey thats what i’m all about!
How about we give the Jags McG, Moreno, and JJ for MJD. I still think we’d come out ahead. I hate giving up picks!
no oc i dont think he has but he’s new so he’s gotta get adjusted and comfortable before he starts wheeling and dealing comfortably. but he’s doing well with personel moves so he may be more inclined to get froggy and jump a little more now that he’s out of that freaked out ‘man i hope i know what i’m doing’ stage.
OC I am not 100% sure but from calculations we have 5-10 mil left. The tag on Prater is around 2.63 mil I believe. Os deal will be around 2 mil and Hillman 1-2 mil. The negations can be held up for multiple reasons. Guaranteed money, signing bonus, other bonuses, years and even guidelines or protections.
It wasnt rebelling he just wanted to keep his fans involved. Not a bright idea and shouldve done it differently but not as big of a deal especially when Fox said that next to nothing on the D changes.
The issue with Moreno is his injuries. He wouldnt help them building. Moore is young and unproven. A 2nd or 3rd round pick is nice but would be near the value of MJD. Like I said I do like the trade but there would need to be more from us. Like a 1st and 3rd plus Moreno and Moore might be closer.
McG is really to old plus Morenos injury issues and JJ is unproven.
wow i thought we were in the $14 mil range.5? i dont know about that.
thanks AB, It could have been just a dim idea but i just feel something is s little off kilter with those actions by DJ.. just me tho.. joomho…
ILMSDB
All I have seen is 5-10 mil and thats where my calculations have us around. Just over 8 mil to be exact.
hm. i dont know if i’d go a one. but if i did it wouldnt be combined with another pick. a first and knowshon and moore and thats it. i’ll give no more!! whats johns phone # we needa get on this quick.
wow thats suprising to me but hey we’d drop moore and knowshon’s salary in the deal so it could be done for 6. put a high signing bonus and high guaranteed amount and it could be done.
Lol LBF jmho a 1st Moore and Moreno isnt enough. MJD is their offense. If they had a proven WR or Moreno didnt have injury issues I could see it but neither is the case.
Blackmon isnt a proven WR btw.
MJD had 11 of the Jags 21 offensive TDs.
I assume you know that Pat has the money???
Daddy is out – I hate meetings!!!
btw i’m with you db. i hate giving up picks too. i like building em up!
But I assume the Jags have money issues is the reason MJD isn’t signed. Every one wins!!! and wins, and wins…etc. With the super neck we should be around 16 and 0 going into the playoffs – I like it!!!
(and about nothing less will convince me that ‘the neck’ was worth 20 mil.)
LBF we would only gain about 3 mil getting rid of Moore and Moreno.
Os for 2 mil
Prater for 3
Hillman for 1.5
Thats 6.5 mil and im sure some money there is a bit low. So 11 mil before then 4.5 after. A 6 mil contract wouldnt be possible. He is set to make 4.45 and 4.95 over the next two years…
I hear you O_C….doesn’t add up. Williams should have known he would media attention and some repercussion.
Especially when those picks perform!!! Still have high hopes for Moore. Willing to give Moreno space to succeed as well but not optimistic.
MJD wants to be a top paid RB which is 8+ mil….
ya ab i cant say your wrong, its solid points. it would be interesting to see what that trade convo would go like tho. i dont see je giving up a 1st for anyone and i’m kinda glad.
hm. maybe we throw in dj then!
LBF If we could pull it off I would be ecstatic!!!! Dont think im against the idea because im not. I just dont see it highly likely either.
Maybe if we had Tebow we couldve got something done then LOL
One rusher for another rusher…. I mean QB LOL
and theres ways to fron load and manipulate the salary cap and i think we could make it happen if we really wanted to. we would be busting out at the seams tho and thats never good.
LOL LBF now that I would be against unless we went out and got a good vet LB. Gary Brackett is still available.
Just speculation!
Before anyone gets hurt about my Tebow comment it was just a joke.
LBF you do have a point there. We would have to back load it to get him the money he wants but that would be a lot of money for a RB. Especially if its a 4 or 5 year deal. He would be 31 or 32. I personally wouldnt want a 31 or 32 year old RB making 8+ mil.