This is the week in which wide receivers are being reviewed in advance of the 2010 National Football League draft.
In taking a look at the Denver Broncos’ 51-year history of the position, most of the team’s success at wide receiver has come from trades and free agency.
The prime examples are Lionel Taylor, the first 100-catch player in a single season in pro football — Taylor was signed by Denver as a free agent two weeks into the 1960 campaign and went on to catch 92 passes in 12 games that year; Rod Smith, the leading undrafted wide receiver ever statistically in terms of receptions, reception yardage and reception touchdowns — he was signed by Denver after a sterling career at Missouri Southern, but then being completely passed over by all teams in the draft; and Steve Watson, a Pro Bowl receiver and all-time fan favorite who was signed as a free agent out of Temple University.
Another all-time fan favorite and like Smith a starter for our back-to-back world championships, Ed McCaffrey signed with Denver as a free agent after San Francisco’s 1994 world championship season.
So the draft has not been where the best wide receivers in Bronco history have been acquired, but there have been some characters and interesting stories along the way.
I thought it would be a fun to look at a draft choice at the wide receiver position with which fans are mostly unfamiliar, but which had a monumental impact on the position and Broncos history.
This story also is a reminder that the draft is just one means by which teams improve themselves, and it is a fluid one at that.
A team drafts a player, and sometimes he goes on to greatness as a member of a championship organization. Other times, his contribution, that is, the contribution of that selection, is made by a trade that has great impact.
Such was the case with the 1971 draft.
To that point, Denver had never in franchise history had a winning season. John Ralston was the head coach and general manager and he had added positive thinking to the Bronco culture, but the team was still a loser.
In the second round of the 1971 draft, Denver selected wide receiver Dwight Harrison, who had played his college football for the Javalinas (great nickname!) of Texas A & I.
The Broncos followed up that second-round pick by taking someone from an even smaller school in round four, using a pick which Denver had acquired from Boston and selecting a defensive end named Lyle Alzado from Yankton College. Nobody had ever heard of this guy.
The only reason Denver had was that during the previous year’s summer vacation period, Denver defensive line coach Stan Jones and his wife were on a driving vacation in the Dakotas when their car had a minor breakdown. While it was being repaired Jones wandered over to a nearly college and asked to look at a little film of the football team. He did not see any players that interested him from that school, but he did notice that in a game played against tiny Yankton College there was a wild-eyed and crazy defensive end who caught his attention on film.
So in the fourth round in 1971 the Broncos took a flyer on Alzado. I knew Lyle Alzado every well, and he had a free spirited personality that was capable of really giving a fellow player the business in the locker room.
So now we move into 1972, year two in Denver for both Alzado and Harrison. Each is considered a long term player by this point.
For whatever reason, Lou Saban, back in Buffalo after his five year stint with the Broncos, was disenchanted with former Bills number one draft choice Haven Moses. Moses was one of the smoothest receivers in the NFL, but Saban was calling around to see if he could make a deal. One of the deals he was interested in making was Moses to Denver for Harrison, whom he planned to convert to cornerback, presuming a trade could be made.
But Ralston liked Harrison, and had no interest in making the trade. Amazingly, that would change quickly.
Sometimes locker room hijinks can take a nasty turn, and so it happened that byplay between Alzado and Harrison escalated into a nasty exchange of words, and eventually, to some genuine physical threats involving the two young prospects.
Ralston quickly determined that the best solution would be to send one of them packing, and he immediately went back to his office, called Saban and asked if he was still interested in Moses for Harrison.
Lou was, the trade was made, and that is how Haven Moses came to Denver where he became part of the legendary M & M connection with quarterback Craig Morton, leading Denver to the promised land of Super Bowl XII in 1977.
And, of course, Alzado was a teammate of Moses on that legendary first championship team.
Now, in all likelihood the two young prospects might have patched up their testosterone-fueled grievances soon enough, but the timing was such that instead Moses came to Denver and Harrison became a fine cornerback who went on to play eight seasons as a fine defender for the Bills.
So the trade benefitted both players, and it just shows that sometimes a couple of selections with which a fan is unfamiliar can ultimately benefit a team in a way that would have seemed unfathomable at the moment of the draft.
Tags: Ed McCaffrey, Haven Moses, Lionel Taylor, Rod Smith, Steve Watson
Wahaha never thought I would see ‘Bly’ and ‘elite’ in the same sentence.
Best player on the Lions isn’t saying much… Well, not back then.
I clearly remember that Monday night game against GB where Bly single handedly cost us the game on the first play in OT.
Was totally not worth Foster and Bell either.
Though we got bell back and foster was never anything special it was a good deal in that sense.
Bly was good but not elite.
My point being that 2 good corners don’t make a good defense.
Problem was that Bly wasn’t good all the time and was a risk taker. He would sit off routes and entice the qb to throw his way, then jump the routes and pick off the pass. But if he missed timed it, or got beat on the double move he was in trouble (which was often)
If your argument is ‘if you have two good DBs it doesn’t make a good defense’, you got to see that because Bly played across from Champ he was doomed. His style of play played right into the hands of other teams. Peterson on the other hand isn’t Bly, I think he will be far better than Bly ever was.
If that’s your arguement then we could go as far as to say that Peterson is only uniquely good at man press coverage making us only effective in press. What will we do when he has to cover in zone or play off because we are sending a blitz? We can’t be sure that Peterson will be able to cover wide receivers as well as he did in college especially because of his lack of fluid hips. But I did do a study on madden. Lol may not be 100% accurate but still proves a point. I made a dt and a cb as superstars in separate seasons to see what one would have more of an impact. The dt only lost 2 games and the cb went 8-8 both played for the broncos. Meaning I had more control of the out comes of games at dt.
I would also like to not go off “I think he will be better” and go with a dt that we know will be better than what we have i.e. Fairley.
IDK….My 2 Favorites are Miller and Peterson…I just don’t know if I feel safe taking the risky DL.
Bowers: Knee injury
Dareus: Move from 3-4 to 4-3
Fairley: 1 year wonder possibly
B-Marsh did have that play last against Dallas 2 seasons ago where he juked/stiff armed and ran over almost every single dallas defender in one play. That was pretty impressive. Not a huge franchise moment but still a great play i love to remind all my Cowboy fan friends about. No way do we trade lloyd unless it is well worth it for us. Gaffney can go but i doubt we would get much for him. Decker is my sleeper. I think the kid is gonna be something special. I would love for him to get some more field time.
Talk about putting the carriage in front of the horses!!!:
The NFL will be more aggressive in suspending players next season for illegal hits, and also could make changes to instant replay and kickoffs.
Ray Anderson, the league’s chief disciplinarian, said Wednesday that repeat offenders or players committing flagrant illegal hits will have a much greater chance of being suspended during the 2011 season.
Telling us about next year’s officiating when we don’t even have a cba…
Good example of the lottery aspect of the draft by Legwold:
LB Aaron Curry of the Seattle Seahawks was the fourth player selected in the 2009 draft — behind quarterback Matthew Stafford of Georgia (drafted by the Detroit Lions), offensive tackle Jason Smith of Baylor (St. Louis Rams) and defensive end Tyson Jackson of LSU (Kansas City Chiefs). Curry was considered by a lot of NFL personnel people to be the safest pick in the 2009 draft because of his college performance, pro potential and off-the-field demeanor.
Linebackers Brian Cushing, Clay Matthews, Rey Maualuga and Gerald McRath also were available in the 2009 draft.
Cushing, from Southern California, was the NFL’s defensive rookie of the year in 2009 with the Houston Texans. Matthews, also from USC, helped the Green Bay Packers win Super Bowl XLV in February. Curry, meanwhile, had 61 tackles (including two sacks) as a rookie in 2009 and 73 tackles (including 3-1/2 sacks) in 2010.
Meanwhile Curry hasn’t done squat after his first 6 NFL games…
The pro-players in this cba thing are going to be excited by Woody taking the players’ side in his mailbag today. And he is giving it to Mr Bowlen too…
And he thinks we will trade down our#2 pick in this draft, so what in the hell does he know? LOL.
WR Steve Smith from NY Giants says:
Gonna b doin 1 autograph giveaway here EVERY DAY this #LOCKOUT goes on.
How magnanimus of you Steve!
One autograph per day!
Man, take it easy, don’t sprain a metacarpal or something….
Adam Shefter’s latest pick:
It’s only March 16, and the winds will change again, but my pick to be next month’s No. 1 pick is…Missouri QB Blaine Gabbert.
Then we can draft Marcell Dareus. Easy pick.
That autograph had better come on a jersey, ball or fathead….otherwise I could get better use out of it flushing it down the white porcelain!
I thought something was off. The blog has decided against saving daylight time this year? LOL
Very interesting as always Bay. Especially the safest pick article.
Thanks Mikey, specially in this down time it’s a struggle to keep things new and interesting.
Yeah sndvl, the NFL is not keeping up with the times, LOL.
Draft Fairley 2011!!!
-
Ok well if were going to bring up one bad turn out at LB lets bring up the bad linemen.
First rd linemen who have made nearly no impact for their teams:
Tyson Jackson- Chiefs 2009
Larry English- Chargers 2009
Aaron Maybin- Buffalo bills 2009
Robert Ayers (sadly)- Broncos 2009
Peria Jerry- Falcons 2009
Evander Hood- Steelers 2009
Chris Long- St. Louis 2008
Glenn Dorsey-(debatable) Chiefs 2008
Vernon Gholston- jets 2008
Sedrick Ellis- New Orleans 2008
Derrick Harvey- Jaguars 2008
Kentwan Balmer- San Fransisco 2008
Lawrence Jackson- Seattle 2008
Thats the 2008 and 2009 arguable first round Defensive line busts, so I wouldn’t be so sure that DL is a “Safe” position to draft…That is why if we go front 7 I think Miller is the way to go.
Here are the guys who made a difference
Brian Orakpo- Cincinatti 2009
I know you guys are dying for a little update of how some of the top 30 mocks see the # 2 pick in the last 3 days:
12 have us picking Dareus
6 Bowers
6 PP
5 Fairley
1 Von Miller
The Miller vote is probably Yovi’s mock, LOL.
More fun, here is some of this year QB’s Wonderlics test results:
McElroy 43,
Gabbert 42,
Ponder 35,
Stanzi 30,
Dalton 29,
Mallett 26,
Newton 21,
Locker 20.
Bay if I had a mock I would have us taking PP…you know that c’mon man!
And to put those in perspective:
Elway 29,
Peyton Manning and Drew Brees 28,
Dan Marino and Jim Kelly 15
Yeah I know that but it just fit right in after your last post, haha.
Yovi I think he was trying to make the point that the safest pick does not always turn out to be the best pick. I perfer a defensive linemen because that seems to be Foxes specialty. So let’s pick Fairley and let him become the Julius Peppers of the DT position.
CAUTION:
OC, YOVI AND MANY OTHERS, DO NOT READ THIS POST, IT COULD POTENTIALLY RUIN YOUR DAY!
Just in from the Associated press:
COLUMBIA, Mo.—Five head coaches and a Hall of Fame passer turned front-office executive joined scouts from every NFL team to watch former Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert as he worked out with a chance to be the No. 1 selection in April’s draft.
The crowd at Missouri’s pro day Thursday included Denver Broncos vice president John Elway and coach John Fox, New York Jets coach Rex Ryan, John Harbaugh of the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis and Ron Rivera of the Carolina Panthers, who have the draft’s top choice.
Gabbert is a likely first-round pick and hopes to be the first quarterback chosen in the April 28 draft ahead of Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton, Washington’s Jake Locker and Ryan Mallett of Arkansas.
Griese scored pretty high on that test! What was Tebows? I’m timing you baylin. Lol j/k
I already read that haha…very disappointing but if the jets and ravens are there as well then thats ok…
bay, are there really Mocks that have us taking Peterson?
TIM TEBOW!
Tebow scored a 22.
Yovi what I posted is the truth and nothing but the truth, 6 mocks have us picking PP in the last three days as previously posted.
— Taylor was signed by Denver as a free agent two weeks into the 1960 campaign and went on to catch 92 passes in 12 games that year.
This quote from the above article is AMAZING to me. If you realize he did that in only 12 games and if I’m not mistaking there was very much a run first attitude in the 60s. Damn those are some impressive stats!!!
I love hearing about the GOOD-OL-BOYS that did not make this game about money. Back then they played because they loved it!!!
Brain Griese 39.
Brain Griese, LOL, that’s about right all brain and no football guts.
Yovi, I don’t understand that the Jets and Ravens being there makes it ok, they might think Sanchez or Flacco are not the answer which would be understandable, so what does that mean for us? I won’t even go there, don’t want to be lynched today, LOL.
I honestly believe that the Jets and Ravens do not think that Flacco and Sanchez are not the answer.
I mean I think Sanchez is a little over hyped but he still got to the AFC Championship his 1st two years in the NFL. Idk what those teams and us are doing with looking at these QB’s. Also Flacco is even better than Sanchez and both of these guys will be the starters for their teams in this coming season, I am sure of it!
I just really want to know who we take with our #2 pick if we do not trade back! I sure as hell hope it is someone on defense!! Peterson, Miller, or Dareus. If it is a QB I might just fall over dead!!!
Also, I didn’t see where the Ravens were present!
The crowd at Missouri’s pro day Thursday included Denver Broncos vice president John Elway and coach John Fox, New York Jets coach Rex Ryan, Jim Harbaugh of the San Francisco 49ers, Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis, Leslie Frazier of the Minnesota Vikings and Tennessee coach Mike Munchak.
What scares me is weren’t you confident they were gonna work out a new cba? Just saying when someone is sure of something here, it tends to raise a red flag, LOL.
I honestly hope our staff knows better than to draft anything other than defense in the first round and maybe the second. I will be disappointed if they do draft a qb with out giving Tebow a chance.
John Harbaugh of the Baltimore Ravens.
I think they’ll work out a CBA. I just do not know when! I would love it, as well as everyone else, if they work it out before draft day! That would benefit us so much!
And yes, they mentioned Jim Harbaugh of the 49ers, not John.
Actually I went back to the article and they changed it to Jim Harbaugh, so they made an error in the original article since I just pasted it above straight from the associated press and as you can tell they had John in there…
And Jim definitely needs a QB. And I’m sure Ryan isn’t crazy about Sanchez any longer…
And the associated press also took the Panthers out of the article!!! And added Minnesota and Tennessee!!!!What kind of info is that???
The reason why I think we’re looking at a couple of QB’s might be a diversion for us to trade back!
If you remember, Elway and Bowlen said that they were looking to get a HC that believed in Tebow and would work with him when they were looking for a HC. In all honesty, Tebow would be perfect for this offense because it is going to involve a lot of running plays and we can easily mix in those play action plays that Tebow is so good at!!
Man, if the CBA would’ve already been agreed on then Orton would probably already be gone!! This is screwing everything up!
Bay…
This is what has been on ESPN for the past 20-30 minutes or so..
The crowd at Missouri’s pro day Thursday included Denver Broncos vice president John Elway and coach John Fox, New York Jets coach Rex Ryan, Jim Harbaugh of the San Francisco 49ers, Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis, Leslie Frazier of the Minnesota Vikings and Tennessee coach Mike Munchak.
The Carolina Panthers, who have the draft’s top choice, sent several representatives. Coach Ron Rivera was scheduled to attend but did not.
I see on NFL.com where they do not include the Panthers.
Maybe that is bc Rivera decided to not go and they didn’t feel like it was worth mentioning the representatives because they mentioned other teams head coaches and presidents that were there?
Bottom line outside of the Jets, every team attending is in dire need of a QB, not good omen for Tebow fans regardless of how you want to interpret it.
I do believe OC is onto something when he says he believes there is something Elway really doesn’t like about Tebow.
Look, he is the only higher echelon guy there other than head coaches, and that’s just because there is no one better at evaluating QB’s so he is helping Fox out, but Locker, now Gabbert, Elway seems to be looking at improving the QB position, that’s just about a gimme at this point the way I interpret it.