While there are still two teams that have not yet begun their offseason, for everyone else the path being traveled is that of improvement for 2012.
And that big first step is underway this week.
On Saturday at 3:00 p.m. (CST) the Senior Bowl will take place in Mobile, Alabama but the game itself is an anti-climax for the legions of NFL coaches and scouts who have headed to the southern city this week.
There is a virtual who’s who of NFL personnel people and coaches in Mobile to watch the practices of the north and south squads in advance of the game, looking simultaneously for top talent and for diamonds in the rough.
Once upon a time the medical people in Baltimore and Detroit thought a balky knee from playing at Ohio State would make a young Buckeyes linebacker a bad first round risk—his name was Randy Gradishar, the Broncos took him, and the rest is Ring of Fame history in Denver.
Rod Smith was not even invited to the Senior Bowl—Missouri Southern was just a speck on the NFL map, and nobody drafted him at all. The Broncos offered him a free agent contract and now he stands as pro football’s all-time leading free agent wide receiver in career catches, yards, and touchdowns. And he has two Super Bowl rings.
But every team has stories like this—that is what scouting is all about. And, on the negative side, every team has missed on guys as well. Nobody gets them all right.
But after all the scouts have crossed the country time and again by plane and mostly by car, early mornings leading to late nights, looking at practice and video ad infinitum—handling the remote controls of video machines even more than the most addicted television watching couch potato, the serious draft prep for 2012 is upon us.
And as I have written many times, players come from lots of places, and teams have lots of different success stories.
How about the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts franchise and the quarterback position? Let’s take a look.
In 1956 the Colts signed Johnny Unitas as a free agent camp quarterback. He had been playing semi-pro football for six bucks a game for the Bloomfield Rams. Johnny U is still regarded as one of the greatest quarterbacks who ever played the game, and you can find many veteran scouts who still have him at the very top of the food chain. Unitas virtually invented the two-minute drill all by himself, and called his own plays as well.
The Colts had Unitas until 1972, then they drafted Bert Jones from LSU with the second overall pick in the entire draft in 1973. Jones, whose dad Dub was a great wide receiver for Otto Graham on the championship Cleveland Browns teams, was the Colts signal caller from 1973 through 1981 and led Baltimore to three consecutive division titles, 1975-77. One of the greatest Broncos games ever was a home win against Jones and the Colts that helped determine home field advantage for Denver in that magical first Mile High Super Bowl season of 1977.
Jones sustained some injuries in his career, and after nine years with him as an original second overall draft selection, Baltimore had the very first pick in 1983 and of course drafted John Elway. But their bad luck with Elway was Denver’s good luck and they traded maybe the only real peer Unitas has had to the Broncos a week after the draft.
I have blogged before about the trade for Elway—it is an archive item and I won’t recount it here now, but it was like A Tale of Two Cities, NFL style. Denver up, and Baltimore down.
Not only did the franchise relocate to Indianapolis, but in the next 15 years the Colts had 15 different starting quarterbacks.
It sure helps when you have “The Guy.”
Indianapolis again used the first pick in the draft in selecting Peyton Manning in 1998, and he remains the Colts starter, even though he missed the 2011 campaign due to a neck injury.
We won’t try to predict the future for Manning, the Colts or any other team, but once again Indianapolis has the first pick in the draft this year.
Some work out, some do not.
But from 1956 to the present that franchise had Unitas (free agent), Jones (second pick overall), Elway (first pick, traded away), 15 guys, Manning (first pick in the draft), and now a blank slate.
Woody Hayes once say his only superstition is that it is bad luck when you do not have great players.
A lot of teams this week are in the process of evaluating players with the idea of matching the best of what the Colts did, not the worst, and the whole process is underway in Mobile.
You might take a peek at the Senior Bowl game Saturday afternoon—you might be watching somebody who will be a future Bronco three months from now!
Tags: Jim Saccomano, Senior Bowl
I give a big 2 thumbs down to the ENTIRE colts organization. Before P. Manning got to Indy the colts were the worst team in the nfl. He got better and better every year after setting the rookie passing record to the point where they were schematically unstoppable. I would have kept the system and continuity in place there for Peyton to pass down to Luck. I would pay up the 28 million as well. I think what Manning did their for around 15 years bringing the Colts back from being the WORST to FIRST that He deserves to FINISH his career on his own terms.
It was actually Mike Trgovac who was the DC for the Panthers during their SB run in 2002/03 season. Trgovac was the D-line coach under JDR the previous season… 2002.
I just got word last night. There`s a sports bar in Monument Colorado called 1st n 10 where I play poker there on tuesday night. I found out that on Feb. 11 at 5:00 p.m. five Denver Broncos will be there to sign autographs. The only name I got so far is C JD Walton. The owner told me it`s offensive and defensive line players. I`m there!!
Hopefully, the Raiders front office will restrain D. Allen to the point where he is ineffective. I think he is a really coach and if they let him do his job the Raiders will be a force in the NFL. Sad but true, they have some real talent on that team.
I really like J. Del Rio but we really need stability at the DC position, I don’t know if he can give us that and I’d almost suggest that is why we haven’t heard any more about it. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
Pick a winner Broncos!
@strand I would be there in a HEARTBEAT if I could. I love offensive and defensive LINEMAN.
Glad to be back!!!
Turtle, as far as cap room this is about as informed and legitimate a source as I can find:
http://blogs.nfl.com/?p=83848&preview=true
Right from NFL.com, it’s from mid August 2011 after all the draft signings and FA transactions were complete and the reason it then went down to 22 mil at season end simply took into account the various transactions that took place during the season to cover up for players injured by replacing them. It may not be exactly what you want but it shows that my figures are near the ballpark and what you provided was not, in my humble opinion. Like I said those figures probably did not figure all the dead end moneys that were automatically canceled in the new cba, a fact no one knew until August when someone read the small print of the cba, it was a huge discovery and issue at the time and was discussed here many times, it was all before you were ever on here. But that’s all I’ll bring up about money for now as it’s kind of a frowned upon subject on this website and I understand that.
Next question, haha.
Or next subject:
the Colts have hired Ravens defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano as their new head coach.
Another interesting tidbit:
AdamSchefter
Heard former Broncos DC Greg Robinson on Sirius this week and he will be back coaching in the NFL — soon.
I’m not taking cheap stabs at DA since he left,but it seems to me we would have had a better secondary,since he was a DB coach in NO.
Our secondary was poor this year,maybe the next DC will be better than DA!!!!
Our Defense wasn’t THAT good this year anyway!
Elway and Fox will fix it with JDR…and another good draft!!!
Like him or not, he is here to stay:
NFL now has announced its clubs have agreed to a new contract with Roger Goodell that extends his term as commissioner through 2018 season.
So does that include the Orton move?
All the other site I posted were just that, online info…
Thank you for taking the time to address the matter but that does not really answer the question…
Just one guys numbers… the one I posted from Clayton is just as credible…
Gray if you are reading this can you get us some Clarification from our Organization please…?
I remember those subjects we had about the dead money for the cap. Kind of refreshishing to start the 2011 year but will get sticky in a year or so if I remember correctly. Baylinocrush, doesn`t those monies eventually start hit the cap at some point in the next year or two? I`m not sure how that works, but I think that some day that dead money will have to show up at some point. Am I wrong?
Hi Strand… Hopefully Gray will have some numbers for us!
If we can afford it, PAY PRATER, and lock up Clady… Hard to make a FA Board without knowing our financial situation…
BFE, don`t be surprised bro if we get two CB`s, whether its two in the draft or 1 in FA and the other in the draft. We need some Nickle and dime CB`s I think. I still like Syd`Qaun Thompson though, he`ll be back.
EFX knows what they are doing, plenty of time to get it all figured out. They have a game plan in motion already I bet.
And on top of that Mr. Bowlen gave EFX a budget to not exceed. I have faith in them.
Bay, I was posting last year pre-draft…
I was all about Patrick Peterson… I’m glad we went Von Miller…
strand,Champ and Harris have played good this year,Goody has slipped after his injury,he needs to go,our Safeties have underachieved,Carter seems to be getting better tho,maybe we get it all straightened with a good off season,FA,and a good draft!!
What up BFE!
Are you still going to move to that acreage you spoke about the other night?
I haven`t liked Roger Goodell much, he reminds me of a dictator type. The fines he puts out each week are a little overkill if you ask me. But if he`s here to stay, I can live with it. I`ve said this before. If I played in the NFL, I`d want to play Offense. Defensive players lose alot of dough. LOL
Your memory must of gone up in smoke then, LOL.
Turtle…….Live Action…Get You Some!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hell yeah…..White tail,Elk,Black Bear,wild Boar,and Rattlesnakes….right on the border of Big SouthFork River and Recreational Area!!!
Bong!!!!!!Bong!!!!!!!!!
Harris is a keeper too, good call. We need more depth at CB across the board. You can never have enough talent at CB, especially with Nickle and Dime packages going against, Brady, Brees, Rogers, ecxtra……… You get my meaning. We`re on the same page bro.
Agreed bro!
Sounds nice BFE… We don’t have boar around here. Sounds like fun…
Bay, I probably missed alot of the talk during haying, and do to the fact that I work outside until mid October… I only get to be on the computer during the months when the weather is bad… so by May I won’t be around much
It would be nice to know if we had room to sign a guy like Landry from Washington… Big Hard hitting Safety, but would require a good contract
I guess I’m pulling for another Alabama player in the 1st round again this year,either Kirkpatrick CB,or Hightower MLB…both are great players!
If they fall far enough for us to get one!
Due* eeesh… BONG ;o)
Just not sure how it works. So that dead money totally disappears it sounds like due to the new CBA mess.
Turtle, this is a well written DP article from late last September, which basically states as much as I know about the salary cap, other than the links you’ve already posted. Rather than clogging up the blog with a long article that probably most of you have already read, here’s the link:
http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_18971349
Also, regarding any further payments to Josh McDaniels, there are none. The organization made a settlement with him upon his firing and he was paid in full at his departure. I believe the final 3.5 mil to Mike Shanahan was paid this past season, so there shouldn’t be any more payments to either coach.
Without going back to read everything, and I think it was TRB who commented on it (not sure), but Richard and Robert Quinn are not brothers. They went to the same school, but have totally different parents and grew up in different states. That rumor was going around last year, but it’s false, not that it’s even important. Just thought I’d mention it.
Also, I feel sure that John Fox immediately had Jack Del Rio, or another DC candidate in mind when Dennis Allen first started his interview process with the Rams. These guys are more prepared for things like this than the fans give them credit for. Hate to see him go, but Fox will get someone else just as good. Del Rio might have gotten the job to begin with last year if he hadn’t already been an active HC with the Jags, so maybe this is for the best. We’ll see.
sounds like the colts are going defensive … interesting.
Like bay said, unlike years passed, losing a DC isnt as bad. In the shanny and McD era it was horrible because they were offensive minded STRICTLY offense. DCs handled every aspect of defense. So in thier regimes losing OCs is nothing and losing DC is everything. In our curent regime losing DC is not as damaging, losing OC (if we had a good one) would probably hurt more. Fox is the Dmind. The foundation of the D. Something we never had with an offensive minded coach which was why DC switches hurt us so bad. So it will still hurt … but not as bad.
TRB
That’s cool strand.. you’ll have a great time meeting the players. We run into some of them every now and then at Old Chicago’s.
Thanks Tide!
Good to see you… How’s your day?
I Ab-SALUTE-ly agree with you TRB.
BFE, I was listening to 104.3 the Fan with Good ole Alfred Williams. He said IF there`s a player on the board for the Broncosin the 1st round from Alabama, snag him because of the system he plays in he`s NFL ready. Williams said at Alabama your first priority is to tackle #1. Hey, I`m all for it. Whether it`s one of the LB`s or S, draft him. We need sure tacklers with a mean streak!!
Hey Royal> Yeah, it`ll be cool. I`m not much for autographs. Just to hang out, shake their hand and shoot the breeze with them is a long lasting memory for me. It`ll be a great night.
strand….Absolutely bro!
new blog
Don`t get me wrong, If I got John Elway or TD to sign my Football, I`d be giddy. But I just don`t get into the autograph thing. Thats just me though.
Wow… Chris Harris was a BARGAIN… we paid him roughly $5,300 dollars a tackle…
In comparison Doom made $333,333 per tackle this year… or all but $40k of C Harris’s entire salary…
Happy 46th Birthday Mark Schlereth. Thanks for helping bring 2 SUPER BOWL RINGS to this community.
Yes, Harris was a UFA I believe.
New blog
I hear you strand.. we usually don’t bother them if they’re eating dinner. They do have one night scheduled where they come in and meet the fans.
Thats neat.
I enjoy Old Chicagos, great pizza and micro beers.
New info to deliver. The real reason Champ is down about Dennis Allen leaving is that Allen promised him he would stay at CB. Now with a new DC. Champ might have to move to safety. A move Champ has been putting off for 2 yrs now. We will see where this goes that’s for sure!!!