With the National Football League calendar year underway for 2011, there will be a flurry of player transactions almost like never before.
The only real comparison I can make is when the teams signed replacement players in 1987, thus putting an entire team together in a couple of days.
I figure that with the Denver Broncos’ signing of our own draft choices, undrafted college free agents, veteran free agents, possible trades and roster reductions re cuts, the Broncos will average a headline per hour for the next five or six days, basing that on the hours of a normal daylight working day.
It is going to be chaotic.
For a fan, stay tuned, and embrace the chaos. The football operations department has had a plan in place and will now be executing it.
A big component of that is the signing of undrafted college free agents—that is, players who were eligible for the college draft this year, but were not selected. In a lot of cases, the fans have not heard of the names, so the signings get announced without a lot of fanfare.
Do not let that mislead you. Talent comes from many places, and the NFL is a total meritocracy. No matter how or when they sign, or for how much money, they all go onto the field together, and the players determine their status.
In a lot of instances, most of them, actually, the players cut themselves and rise on the depth charts themselves. For eight years in a row, an undrafted college free agent has made the Broncos’ final regular season roster.
With that in mind, here are a few of my thoughts on some of the Broncos who started off as complete unknowns, undrafted college free agents. I think you will agree that their impact in undisputed.
Rod Smith is the greatest undrafted college FA at the side receiver position in football history. That truly is undisputed. He is the all-time leader in receptions, reception yardage, and reception touchdowns as an undrafted WR, and helped lead us to two Super Bowl rings.
Most recently, Cassius Vaughn made the team last year and is a young player with a lot of promise.
But while Vaughn has not become a household name thus far, there are a lot of other examples in the Rod Smith category.
How about Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback Willie Brown, who was an AFL all-star for the Broncos before gaining his greatest fame at Oakland?
And also……..
Gene Mingo, the first African-American star in Broncos history and the game’s first black placekicker, who played here in the 1960’s.
Ring of Fame wide receiver Lionel Taylor.
Rich Karlis, who not only was an undrafted free agent but had to survive a 478-player tryout camp just to get his first contract.
David Treadwell succeeded Karlis and was a fine kicker for years as well.
Pro Bowl linebacker Bob Swenson, who started in Super Bowl XII.
Linebacker Joe Rizzo, who also started on that first Super Bowl team. While Swenson played his college ball at big time Cal, Rizzo came from King’s Point, which is the Merchant Marine Academy—the only pro player ever from the school!
Dave Studdard protected John Elway’s blind side for a decade as the Broncos’ left tackle.
When the 1987 replacement games ended, Keith Kartz had made the team and joined Studdard as a free agent starter on 1980’s Super Bowl teams.
Who can forget wide receiver Steve Watson, a great fan favorite still.
Greg Kragen was a Pro Bowl nose tackle here in the 1980’s. A great technician, regarded as the game’s best technical player at his position.
The Super Bowl teams were loaded with free agents who made an impact, including:
DE Maa Tanuvasa and DE Harald Hasselbach, who also helped the Broncos to those two rings.
TE Dwayne Carswell, nicknamed “House,” a fixture here for more than a decade.
That is only a partial list, but I think you get the idea.
So when someone tells you that no free agent ever amounts to anything, it is OK to respond with any or all names on this list, which proves that in terms of player evaluation, like everything else in life, it is often what you learn after you think you know it all that makes the biggest difference.
Tags: Free Agency, Rod Smith
There’s a report of Asomugha to the JETS. That’d be scary…
strand,that’s what I got outta it.
Good to know.
eeerockski,I highly doubt that,I was watching NFL Network like an hour ago and Sanchez the QB for the Jets was talking about restructuring his contract so the team could sign their Rookies.IDK how far they are under the cap,but Asomugha wants a lot of money!
Personally I`d like to hear Bays take on the cap #s report you just showed me. That`ll be a interesting subject.
I think Orton might get traded to the Rams and reunite with McDaniels.
Bradford could be having problems understanding McDaniels system…humm?
well actually, i think Asomugah to the jets is possible. They say he wants to be an actor and if being in NY gets him 1 step closer, he is maybe willing to take a pay cut. So they would have Revis and Nnamdi? Ha! that might be fun lol. I doubt nnamdi will go to a team with an established starting CB. Teams like Broncos, Jets, etc … because no way he gonna play “2nd string” on the other side of the field nor will the team move thier guy to the other side of the field. Sounds touchy lol. TRB out…
Heck – the 49ers got both CFA’s Sealver Siliga from Utah and Ian Williams from Notre Dame (DT’s) signed. Was hoping we had a shot a one of these two.
Yeah, we’re not exactly like rushing into this are we, I know you liked Siliga.
Martin Parker DT from Richmond the defensive MVP of the East west shrine game 6-3 305 pounds.
I am guessing there was a mandate that we dont want any troubled players after the p cox issue.
All of the kids we drafted are high character team leaders.
I would trade Orton for a third rounder. Get his 9 million off our books.
I heard on NFL Network that redskins are going too sign Cofield and Mebane.
Yeah bay, hopefully Whitelock shows he can stick and with any luck, maybe make the Team, and or practice squad.
Fannin looks like a player we could use…. thanks to sndvl for video link.
come on elway i allways knew you were slow on the scramble but i thought driving a desk would make you faster. guess not. come on man we need some good DT’s
We could definitly use as many Dt’s as possible. We really need to try to get as many in camp as we can so we can evaluate them then keep the one’s that fit’s our system and Fox’s scheme. When we get that area of our Defense together, it is going to really help us improve in a major way. I think that we are loaded at Lb’s and De’s so Dt’s are a weakness that needs to be addressed immediately. I believe John Fox is just the person we needed to fix our defense’s problems. He is a great motivator, great evaluator of talent , and knows how to maximize the talent he has to get the most out of the players he’s got. We had a few rookies in our db position that I think has promise. With a year under their belts getting caught up on the speed of the professional league will make them all better and should be able to step in when needed to help out when injuries occur, and when our starters need rest. I don’t think the difference in the talent won’t be as big as it was last year. With a healthy Doom back and the addition of Miller, we are going to cause Havok. It is going to be hard for opposing teams to double team anybody because we still have Ayers, Vickerson, and hopefully Fields. We should see a much better Defense ten we did last year. I love the fact that Fox is implementing an attack style of D that is going to allow our speedsters to get after the Qb and make him or them hurry their throws or make baad reads because of the lack of time they are going to have to throw. I am telling you, we are going to be awesome. The players are even excited of how the D is going to be ran. I am definitly excited and can’t wait to see what we got. Throw in the players we might obtain in free agency and our D COULD BE DOWN RIGHT NASTY AND SCARY. Similar to the Orange Crush days. We will soon see but I am very optimistic about the direction we are headed. One more thing, I hope we can get Deangelo Williams to complete our Rb’s with Lendale White. With adequate time in the pocket, Tebow will have the weapons around him to have the OFFENSE rolling putting up very big numbers. He will have his chance and I think he is going to make the most out of it ! Good times are ahead for us True Broncos Fans. GOOOOO BRoncos.
I am so glad we are making such a splash in free agency.
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