Before the coaches and personnel staff left for vacation, General Manager Brian Xanders said the club is ready for free agency.
We thought we’d ask him to delve a little deeper into the club’s preparation, and below is what the general manager had to say.
On being ready for free agency since December:
“We have internal boards and rankings we’ve worked on since December. We’ve actually been ready for it since December. But we’ve watched it over and over in January, February and May. We’ve gone through and cleansed the board. What was interesting was having the draft before free agency, which changed the specific team needs. For example, if we draft three linebackers and we feel good about our group of nine linebackers for camp, it wouldn’t make sense to go out and sign a big-time money free agent at linebacker. What that did is the draft filled in some team needs before free agency at a different pricing level.”
On whether this year’s free agency will be any more stressful because it could come at a moment’s notice:
“We don’t know the rules and right now we’re not allowed to talk to any agent for anybody. The players that are on our target list, they don’t even know that we like them. So we’ve got to wait until they create some rules and system rules for free agency. I think it will be regimented — I don’t think there will be chaos. I think we’re going to be really specific with who we’re going after, and we’re going to try to get those guys in the first day. That’s NFL free agency and the college free agents.”
On whether the team will be aggressive in free agency:
“What it is is specific positions. The media has been good about picking out what positions those are likely to be, but it’s really groups of positions of players. The high-level money, the mid-level money and then back-end money. So that’s how we’ve done it. We’ve ranked them, we’ve gone through the tape again, we’ve got market analysis of their pricing — what their production values over their career match up to what other guys got with similar production. So we’ve done the cost analysis studies for their contracts, we’ve done their scheme fit for our football systems and our team, so we’ve really tied that together. We’re ready for all three levels. It’s really like a domino effect — if you miss on a high-level money guy here, then it allows for more money elsewhere.”
-Gray Caldwell, DenverBroncos.com
Hey gang,
(BFE, Baylin, Strandoftds)
I like your analysis on the free agency Bay, but i got a question for you geys: With all the talk about us getting a FA RB like D’angelo Williams, or a Jerious Norwood; I truly think we should trade a 3rd round Pick (their asking for 4th) and “steal” Ryan Grant (RB for Green Bay) from them. He fits Bronco power run and zone running scheme (which i hear Fox is bringing back) Perfectly with real speed..He’s got Terrel Davis style balance, power, and shiftiness! He can catch out of the backfield and did i mention his speed and he’s only 25!
He’s a perfect compliment to Moreno as a 3rd down Back, Grant has a downhill style with balance and speed to be package as a triple- threat along with Tebow scrambling. A defensive coordinator’s nightmare. Check out this link http://youtu.be/LlssftCwg9c
Just wanted to know if others agree or see what I see..Any Comments???
Forget the 3rd round pick. Just get a 3rd team involved, and everybody can get what they want. Orton traded, big back and possibly a late round pick.
Though, his injuries could be a concern?!
guys* oops!
What are you saying sndvl,
a 3rd team..in what sense?
You various guys are welcome and thanks for being appreciative of the work I put into this blog.
As far as Grant is concerned what I’m hearing of late is that the Packers will pay him and keep him, contrary to earlier reports this year.
And anyway I don’t see the need to give up a draft pick when so many RBs should become UFAs under the new cba and you can get those without using any draft picks. Klis has a list of about 15 of them that I posted on the last blog, here is his list:
http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_18365770
ok Bay, so of Klis’ list, who do you think other than the obvious D’Angelo, we should consider as a feature back and compliment to Moreno and Tebow and our ‘Bronco Style’ running game?
The biggest question mark here is what running game are we really going to use, power or zone, like TRB keeps saying when we hired coach Magazu we all thought he was coming here with the zone blocking running game he used in Carolina, but now word has it in the Denver media we will be using the power blocking running game that McCoy used under McD since he will run the O.
Since the owners are asking for a right of first refusal or franchise tag to be applicable to the 4 year players who are supposed to become UFAs, a guy like Michael Bush will not be let go by Al Davis to become a Bronco, no way he will want to face him twice a year. DeAngelo is the likely candidate mainly because of the Fox ties but he does have some mileage in his wheels, so the next one I like personally is Snelling from the Falcons, specially if we do indeed go with the power scheme, he runs like Mike Turner, a bruiser and has the potential to handle the load by himself and can play fullback, a big plus since we have none. And he is young, drafted only 4 years ago and has a lot of mileage left since he backed up Turner. Just my rough thoughts about it anyway.
This is precious for the ones here who are following the ins and outs of the cba negotiations, reported by Michael Silver at Yahoo! sports, it’s about what happened to make the negotiations go sour once again:
Each side gives a very different story.
The players blame the owners for suddenly insisting upon “expense credits” that would reduce the all-revenue total by a significant margin (described by one source as “several hundred million dollars”), effectively reducing their share to 45 percent.
The players also balked at the owners’ insistence that the proposed “legacy fund” to aid retired players would come out of the salary cap – essentially meaning that the players, and not the league, would be responsible for those costs. Owners also clung to the possibility of adding two games to the regular season as early as 2014, a move to which most players are adamantly opposed.
Owners, meanwhile, claim that certain expense credits were part of the “all revenue” understanding achieved earlier this month and charge that the players are the ones attempting to change the terms. They are also frustrated by players’ insistence that “all revenue” should include a share of money generated by non-football events (such as rock concerts) at team-owned stadiums.
The players also have the notion that government taxes on game tickets should be included as revenue under the formula, rather than taken off the top, the owners are downright aghast. They claim that such sales-tax payments were not included among the revenue split in the previous CBA and that an accounting miscalculation by Price Waterhouse Coopers, the firm which monitors the salary cap (and which was commissioned by the NFLPA to calculate projected NFL revenues during the current negotiation), has misled the players into demanding the inclusion of those dollars into the formula.
LOL @ the players wanting to get a piece of the pie from rock concerts!!!!
LMAO @ the players wanting to count sales tax as revenue!!!!!!! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!
The players are dumber than a bag of hammers, that’s all there is to it even if half of this info is accurate, hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!
Actually it’s kind of sad, hahahahaha, I wonder if Brandon Marshall is in charge of it?
BTW Arabian, in my opinion we need to find a RB that Moreno can compliment, not a RB to compliment Moreno, big difference.
Actually I kinda can’t blame the players, because if the owners happen to get a cut for stadium it will partially be coming out of players revenues making them partial owners of the stadium. I think they should just do a easy split.
D”Angelo Williams nuff said!!!!!!!
At least that is my pick for RB!!!
Mebane at DT,sorry but that’s a lot of dough,but that’s who I want!
Cofield is a close 2nd!!!!!!!
Sorry but the Broncos missed out on a lot of great DTs in one of the best Dline drafts in rescent history,so I can only see one way outta this hole we are in at DT,we pick up a Beast at DT,Mebane or Cofield,anything less would be mediocre in my book,that’s just how I feel….jomho!
I agree with BFE only other one I would add would be the guy from the cardinals.
I know I agreed with Bay on signing 2 or 3 less big name guys on the Dline than put a lot of money in 1 great DT,but I changed my mind…..I think I have the right too……not putting Bay down on his opinion,just posting my own opinion,to each his own ByGod!!!!!!!!
I think we had a great draft this year,the best in a long time,but we all know we didn’t address the most need we desired,and that’s DT….and we need to address it now and that is Mebane or Cofield,IMO!!!!!!!
We got some great LBs and Safetys in this draft,AND I MEAN GREAT,but we need at least 1 great DT,and in my mind that is Mebane or Cofield,jomho.
Bay……to each his own…..dude…to me it’s Mebane or Cofield…no matter how I look at it….it keeps coming up..Mebane or Cofield……we both know how long we have longed for a great Dline!!!
With Doom/Vickerson/??????/Ayers as our Dline…we know that ???? has to be a playmaker man,and don’t hold back is what I say….pay for what you get…that’s why I say Mebane or Cofield….it’s about time we paid for a good Dline….don’t you agree???
If not let me know.
humbly…..BFE
I said I wouldn’t post on Friday night after I had too much to drink,but everything I’ve posted,I”ve posted buzzing,but not over the limit..so I’ll leave now,before I’ve had too much to drink,but not regretting anything I’ve posted tonight………….it’s just BFE’s opinions..not asking anyone to agree,but just one man’s opinion that don’t mean a Helluva lot!!!!
BFE
BTW..I will agree to disagree we need a RB to compliment Moreno instead of Moreno to compliment another RB!
BFE… For what its worth, I agree … all we have ever had are patch jobs for DT … we need to finally splurge on one since we decided to not draft one in the first 2 rounds. Mebane is my choice as well … But Colfield might be more likely since the Giants drafted Marvin Austin. As far as RB … I think Moreno can handle it if its zone formation … and If its power we are still running which it seems it will be … we need a big body durable guy. Lets not forget that there are Undrafted FA’s as well. A big guy like John Clay for example. There might be some undrafted gems .. there might not be. TRB out…
Funny how NO ONE touched the sales tax issue, hahahahahaha!!!!!!!
Player lovers lala land, LOL.
BFE, you are your own man, always have been and more power to you, however I disagree about Mebane since we already know that what he wants is astronomical so Coffield would be a better option, however we are SO THIN at DT that one piece will fall far short of completing the puzzle, hence less moneys spent on one to enable us to acquire three pieces at this point is the way to go and in next year draft we can pick us a big man this time around since that’s where big men are best found. Unless of course you guys want to place most of our cap money in one position and forget like the running game position….. JMOHO and darn proud of it, LOL.
BTW, 9 out of 10 times in my life I always end up finding out that I either was or would have been better off going with my first opinion, just saying, change of mind is kind of like running a sail boat, you always have to adjust your course to wherever the wind blows and it takes forever to get there, I’m more like on my power boat picking a straight line that gets me there first. All in fun buddy. I was kind of relieved this morning when I opened up the blog that it didn’t go from like 100 to 300 comments overnight having to do all that work reading you and strand’s Friday night partying to keep up with the Joneses, LOL.
Football please!
Bay, glad to be of some service by not posting last night. LOL
BFE, party on bro!! HaHa!! Out late last night. Rock on!!!!
I`m looking forward to this CBA getting completed. Talk about changing of the tides, close to a deal, not close to a deal, blah, blah, blah. The media circus is still at full throttle and they don`t know if they are coming or going. BLAH!!
I’ll touch on the sales tax issue. Bwaaahaaaaahahahahahahah. If they succeed (yeah right), then I’m filing a class action lawsuit to earn cash back on the sales tax I pay every year…
As far as the “non-football” events, Bwaaahaaaaahahahahahahah!!!!!
If that one goes through, then the owners should demand a percentage of any endorsement deals signed by the players. Huh? Huh? How’s that for a counter proposal.
My strike continues….
I guess I should’ve elaborated on the 3rd team with Orton and by that I meant a 3 team trade. Like Orton to Cincy, Grant to Denver and picks going to GB. Or something of that sort. Longshot. Especially since there is no season on the horizon…
These players are asking for something that doesn`t even exist in the corporate world so what makes them all think that they can just pull out the MAGIC GENIE BOTTLE, MONEY GROWS ON TREE`S mantality. Their living in a DREAM WORLD that doesn`t even exist. Are the players that ARROGANT?!?!?! Give us a flipping break. I do like SNDVL`s idea of giving the owners a % whenever a player signs an endorsement deal. Good call!
Anyway the players won`t recieve a single penny from the non fooball events. The owners OWN and that is ALL of their responsibilty`s because their taking all of the risks, and not the players. Shear arrogance.
As far as the Tax revenue formula, the players are decieving themselves. Their buying a lie because they want to pretend that the formula existed in the last CBA. I DON`T THINK SO. Are the NFLPA lawers planting a seed of lies to all of the players regarding the last CBA contracy. Probably. The players are tricking themselves with numbers games regarding these taxes. WHAT A JOKE!!!!!
Players are just not knowledgeable of these things and are just scared of getting screwed IMO So they are taking bad advice from a lawyer who wants to keep getting paid the longer this drags out because outside of CBA negotiations … he virtually is non existent. We’ve all been there … when going up against an entity more powerful and knowledgeable than you … you just go along with “advice” from your expert believing he is doing whats best for you. Nice comparison SNDVL about non football events and endorsements. Im sure its not as black and white as we think and that the owners are probably have a stipulation we haven’t heard but just by going based on the non football events thing and the sales tax thing, the players are being extremely greedy.
I thought they would be happy to jump on an all revenue split … they will more than likely be making WAY more money now that theres no billion off the top. I am anti player now because I was pro player when the owners wanted to take another billion off the top … but now things sound fair and yet nothing. Sad indeed. Funny part is they are basically sitting around and deciding how they will split our (the fans) money… TRB out…
If I was a NFL owner I wouldn`t budge a single inch on what the players are asking for with these two ideals. It`ll never happen, no way!!
TRB, with confusion comes paranioa and fear which equals to greed. Just saying.
Which leads to greed I mean.
I will agree to disagree, but I will also tell you my opinion to try to give both sides. I believe I the owners do take a portion off the top for “stadium expenditures” then the players should get a share of the events since they are partially paying for the stadiums. Also the tax is a little to far fetched I agree. My next note is one about the opt out clause the owners used. The owners used that clause not because they were hurting because of recession (clearly because the annual revenue keeps growing) but because they realized they were letting the players get to much of “their pie”. And to say owners take all the risk with their money by being an owner is to say that it’s a risk to go back in time and partner with Bill Gates when he founded Microsoft. I have a bigger risk of slipping at Six Flags then the owners have at losing money. If they are taking such a risk maybe they need to get out of the business and try something safer.
While we can agree or disagree to no end on blaming one side or the other that doesn’t touch on the real destructive nature of what’s going on for the fans. On the last page of this blog I posted a link to a phenomenal article from Krieger and I did not get a single comment on it which floored me! So in case you guys didn’t bother to click on the link, here it is spelled out to make it easier for you. Take the time to read it until the very end because it sublimely suggest where all of this disproportionate professional sports anomaly in this current world of ours is heading (keep in mind even Rome collapsed of its own doing), and if no one reacts to this article after this post this time around then I’ll take it as you’re buying into all this professional sports insanity hook, line and sinker:
With yet another American sport about to shut down in a dispute about how to divvy up its riches between uber-wealthy owners and hyper-wealthy players, the official unemployment rate hovers just below 10 percent.
Sporting tycoons build billion-dollar palaces and award eight-figure contracts to untested draft choices while millions of Americans clip coupons and hope for better times.
This disconnect between sports and economic reality is having a predictable if little-publicized effect — the permanent alienation of longtime fans. John Beauparlant, an unemployed Denver land-use planner, is one.
Beauparlant is a Rockies fan, but he doesn’t go to games anymore because he can’t afford them. Whenever he thinks of the massive contracts awarded to Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez last winter, it drives him a little bit crazy.
“Professional sports have excelled at being their own worst enemy and in alienating the average fan,” Beauparlant says. “It is the owners who pay these absolutely ridiculous salaries to players who have not really even established themselves more than for a year, sometimes before they ever play a single game at all.
“The reason the average Joe cannot go to games anymore is that the salaries paid to professional athletes are so out of whack that ticket prices and beer prices and snack prices force folks to stay home. And when these ‘star’ players stink the joint up just as badly as I would, it makes me wonder how they can even attempt to justify the eight-figure salaries.”
Until the economic meltdown of 2008, Beauparlant absorbed the massive inflation of prices in sports along with most Americans. He had a good job with an area homebuilder getting residential housing projects approved by local governments.
“I have been looking for work in the land development/land use planning/homebuilding sector for over three years now, but that sector was very hard hit and has not returned to health at all,” he says.
“I did spend almost two years delivering packages as a courier, but the money did not justify the cost and the time commitment, especially with gas prices being as high as they are. I have a lot of experience and education (and I’m a white male in my upper 50s), so finding a job such as a grocery store clerk is really no easier for me than finding a well-paying job in my field.”
Like a lot of older sports fans, Beauparlant looks back with nostalgia on the days when professional athletes made middle-class salaries and had to work in the offseasons to make ends meet.
As an eighth-grader, he attended the 1967 NFL championship game known as the Ice Bowl in Green Bay. Bart Starr, the Packers quarterback who scored the winning touchdown, earned a salary of $15,000, he points out.
“Bring back the days when pro football players had to have a real job in order to play in the NFL,” he says. “Of course, then Adrian Peterson, he of the $12 million salary, would almost certainly file some sort of ‘slavery’ lawsuit. It is all way, way too ridiculous for me.”
Beauparlant devotes some of his leisure time these days to documenting the dramatic contrasts between the costs of sports in his youth and those of today.
“In 1961, the NFL was paid $615,000 by NBC to televise and broadcast the championship game. That is less than half of what it costs for a one- minute Super Bowl commercial these days. The total amount spent on all combined AFL-NFL draftees in 1966 was $7 million. Can you say Sam Bradford? The combined salaries of all players in the NFL in 2009-2010 was $3.4 billion.”
For much of their history, professional sports appealed mainly to the common man. The rich had high culture — the opera, the symphony, the theater. The lunch-bucket crowd had movies and ballgames. Part of the reason ballgames were so accessible, of course, was the stranglehold owners held on players, which was substantially relaxed by a series of court cases and labor disputes over the past 50 years.
As the costs of pro sports have risen, they have increasingly marketed themselves to those with enough income to support them. The “enhanced revenue streams” in modern ballparks consist largely of luxurious, exclusive seating areas for the well-heeled.
The alienation of average fans can be heard in the complaints about the wine-and- cheese set at Invesco Field, the denizens of the expensive club seats and luxury suites who stay inside when it’s cold out. The Broncos cannot afford to care. They need every dollar they can get to keep up with the (Jerry) Joneses.
But let John Beauparlant serve as the canary in the coal mine: Ultimately, pro sports turn their backs on the common man at their own peril.
Amen!
happy 4th everyone.
First time im seeing the article and its an interesting read but not really something we don’t already know or understand. Its trying to get these rich types to understand. Lets face it, theres no way to justify paying players low salaries when tv deals and 1 superbowl commercial costs a million. Its crazy how we the fans have been forgotten, and how they will charge us a arm and a leg for a game. Same can be said for Movie theatres … now a days you pay a good 10 – 15 bucks for a movie and the concession stand is so ridiculous theres no point going there. Its the same with the NFL …
The reason the salary has gotten so bad is a mixture of, 1. inflation 2. they get so much money they can’t justify paying players less 3. They don’t care as long as its not affecting their pockets (both players and owners) 4. If one team isnt willing to pay that much another team is .. no unity amongst owners and if that were to continue … the only person willing to keep paying will get all the good players. 5. sure back then they had to have regular jobs , but now adays owners don’t even want their players to sneeze on the offchance they get hurt and are not available for the season.
Its all out of whack … many things in this world doesn’t add up, how can u come out of college and they expect you to have experience … how do you need ID to get ID … these are just a few of the crazy lil things not to talk about the big issues… but good read none the less. Football is definitely starting to get to expensive for the common joe. Not unless he cutz back ridiculously on stuff that actually matters. In an economy where peopel can’t find jobs, alot are unemployed, Gas prices are still as crazy as ever … super rich people are squabling over pennies … its crazy and a shame. TRB out…
Ok Bay…we got it, and we get, cause we know You Got It! lols. No, but I totally agree!
Wow..Bay…I think we got it, and we are getting it more, cause we know You Got It! lols. No, but I totally agree! The League is in a Pickle.
oops..i guess i posted it twice..lols!
Nice to see you guys reactions, that’s all I was going for. When something is totally out of whack as TRB points out, it’s the fans duty to point it out, and Krieger and that one dude about my age did a tremendous job of doing that even so like TRB said it’s nothing we don’t already know. Some articles and points of view come across way louder than others, and that was one of them no doubt!
I hope seweatherman gets to read it because I believe he would really appreciate it.
I read it Bay but unfortunately it will take alot more than complaining to bring down the prices. The only two things that will drive down the prices are A) create something else that intrest us enough to distract. Or B) we just get everyone to stop buying tickets.
Mikey, just folks speaking their minds, just like you, I don’t think their goal is to make the world right, just pointing out the absurdity is all. Not everything is fixable even though in our early adulthood we all think we can change the world for the better…. Krieger, that unhappy camper dude and I are unfortunately not in our early years hence we can reminisce fondly on the better times that professional sports have produced over the years for us. Simple as that.
Kiszla is crying about Denver’s teams today and rightly so:
How did the greatest sports city in America develop such a losing attitude? There’s a crisis of confidence in Denver.
Have fans stopped believing in the ability of the Broncos, Rockies, Avalanche or Nuggets to win it all? Heck, the pro teams in town have started doubting themselves.
“I feel like I haven’t played my best to be even mentioned as an all-star,” shortstop Troy Tulowitzki said the other day, after another loss had snuffed all the laughter from the home team’s clubhouse.
When the best athlete in Colorado admits to being disappointed in what he sees in the mirror, then I knew this crisis of confidence was a legitimate problem that can no longer be ignored.
Stop it. Denver is too good to settle for second best.
Teams around here act as if the glory days have passed them by.
Once upon a time, when the Avs made a trade, it was for Patrick Roy , the most interesting goaltender in the world. Now Colorado sits back and lets rust-belt Buffalo (really?) make a big splash in free agency, while Avalanche general manager Greg Sherman settles for a second- string goalie from Washington and Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who used to be somebody in the NHL.
It was bad enough when Carmelo Anthony decided he would rather sit on the sofa next to Whoopi Goldberg and the ladies from “The View” rather than wear a Nuggets uniform. Now you mean to tell me that a $50 million contract isn’t enough for Nene, softer at the center than crème brulee, to stay in Denver? Get out of town.
The Broncos don’t have anybody to play defensive tackle. Of course, they do lead the league in tweets from John Elway , who is still the face of the franchise more than a decade after he threw his final touchdown pass. You can dress up an NFL team in new media, but that doesn’t stop it from living in the past.
Does anybody else think there’s too much gazing at belly-button lint by the pro franchises in Denver?
From the Broncos to the Rockies, there’s not enough swagger, too little ambition and way too much comfort with mediocrity.
We’ve lost that winning feeling. The expectation level for the big four pro teams in Denver has gone soft.
Maybe that helps explain why fans so deeply want to believe in young quarterback Tim Tebow , who seems 100 percent convinced that every sunrise is a fresh chance to work a little miracle.
Denver is a great sports town desperately searching for its mojo.
Good article Kiszla, but not only that, it’s the way professional sports owners and players are conducting themselves nowdays that is the main culprit as to ruining our Denver teams, money, money, money, money, money, money while not being overly concerned about such trivial things as winning! I Wonder how Mikey is going to over analyze all that, LOL.
Time to put on Pink Floyds (Dark Side of the Moon) again. LOL
So whats going to happen with these over priced players when there`s an economic collapse here in the USA, a depression. Are they going to sit back on the side lines and say I`m not going to continue to play until I get paid what I signed my contract for, or will they play just for THE LOVE OF THE GAME. I think most of the players would FOLD.
bay, I have got to tell you, I don’t know where you found it, but that article was right on. Just as I have been saying all along. They continually talk of doing something for us fans. They are and have been doing somerthing for us for a long time. They are sticking it to us every chance they get. I do appreciate you posting that article. It is great to see that there are others out there that feel as some of us do. Sooner or later they will figure out that they have pushed us common people right out of their ballparks, and by then it will be to late for them to do something to correct it.
Oh and strand, there is no more “FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME”. It is “for the love of the almighty dollar!!!”