The NFL Draft will be here before you know it and DenverBroncocs.com is currently highlighting many of the top players at each position.
To coincide with the draft previews, I’ll be offering some thoughts on the positions that are being previewed each week.
DEFENSIVE BACKS
I am torn about what the Broncos might want to do in the defensive secondary.
On the one hand, the cornerback position went from potentially being a huge need to not nearly so when the Broncos re-signed Champ Bailey. That was huge. There would have been no way to replace a player of Bailey’s ability, especially if the Broncos would have tried to replace him with someone less experienced.
We all know there is only one Champ Bailey and good for the Broncos that there locked him up. With Champ and Andre Goodman, the Broncos’ starting cornerbacks are set and I like those two guys.
Beyond that, there are some questions and some depth issues. When I think about the Broncos having the second overall pick and guys like Patrick Peterson and Prince Amukamara on the board, I must admit, I think of the possibilities.
But then I come back to the front seven and still believe if the Broncos keep the second pick of the draft, they have to look to bolster the front seven.
I think the Broncos could use a big-time safety. I am the biggest Brian Dawkins fan around, but the Broncos have to be careful how they use him at this point in his career. Give me a big playmaker at the safety position and I wouldn’t mind at all. The challenge becomes trying to find a guy like that once the elite safeties are off the board.
BOTTOM LINE: Drafting a corner and/or safety could really help. But spending the second overall pick on either position is just too high. Bolster the secondary but do so in later rounds.
WIDE RECEIVERS
This position has become more interesting with the offseason surgeries that Demaryius Thomas and Eddie Royal have had. Before hearing of their injuries, I thought the Broncos had enough at the wide receiver position if guys played the way they have shown they can play or continue their development.
Now, I’m starting to wonder if the Broncos should snag a receiver at some point. I think they have to. Again, I wouldn’t be in favor of taking a receiver second overall. That’s too high.
But besides Thomas and Royal, the other receivers currently on the roster are Brandon Lloyd, Jabar Gaffney, Eric Decker, Britt Davis, Eron Riley and Matthew Willis.
If Royal and Thomas were completely healthy, I’d probably downplay the importance of the position in the draft. But with those two having some major question marks, I say taking a closer look at this position becomes necessary.
At the same time, I see other positions as being ones of greater need for the Broncos. Brandon Lloyd established himself as a bona fide number one receiver last season. There’s no reason to think he can’t have another terrific season.
BOTTOM LINE: I wouldn’t be opposed to the Broncos drafting a wide receiver. Part of me would love it. Finding an impact receiver in the draft, however, is tougher than it seems it should be. I would likely be just as happy for the Broncos to look for a veteran or two who is on the market and also hope the young receivers they have continue to develop.
Stay tuned. More pre-draft thoughts to come.
Thanks for reading. I know many of you have been posting about the draft but feel free to comment on DB’s and WR’s.
Sincerely,
Mike
I’m all for the Broncos making history and selecting Patrick Peterson CB at # 2.
There is a lot of depth on the D Line to be had in the later rounds. Paea comes to mind!
As for the WRs, I like our current status. Even with the surgeries you mentioned, Eric Decker and Matthew Willis are intriguing and have some untapped potential.
Too bad the CBA couldn’t have been reasonably agreed to. That would have given us more options to help solidify our draft and rebuild process. Whoever the big 3 decide on, I look forward to seeing that player make an impact for years to comes in Orange & Blue!
2Ps = D in 11, GO BRONCOS
Anyone else thinking that rahim moore would be a nice pick with our first second rounder?
Mike:
Totally agree with part 1, we need to draft front 7 with our first pick and nothing else.
Totally disagree with point 2, we are absolutely set at WR even with the Royal and Thomas injuries, because of guys like Lloyd, top in the league, Gaffney who has still got it, Decker who has already shown us what he can do when given a shot and my boy Willis who lit it up last year when given a chance. WR is the position that is the dead last least of my concern right now. But of course to each his own.
Right now I have someone else in mind for the first second pick so I can’t go Morris, but I won’t reveal who since we got the draft contest coming up, haha.
Man I am sick of hearing Paea’s name do you honestly think a 11-20 round pick will make it to the second round? You understand the Patriots pick three times before we get to our second pick not to mention the Bills and Bengals who all need help on their d-line and that’s if Pittsburg or he Jets don’t decide to pick him up to help their defense. So if you guys are hoping that Paea will drop that far there is only like a .5% chance of that happening.
I am not so sure that we are all that set a WR without Royal and Thomas. I mean Lloyd clearly a number one and Decker can work in the slot but after that what do we really have. Gaffney I really don’t think is going to be around much longer I think he has reached his peak and I really wont miss him much. Willis does have strong potential but is young and more of a slot backup at this point so we dont really know the level of talent he really has. We really dont have all that much depth, Lloyd, Decker and Willis. Not too much to work with. Now that being said I DONT CARE. Take defense and then defense and finish with some defense. I dont follow college ball so I’m not gonna get into which players (I leave that for the experts thanks Bay) because I just dont know. What I do know is that we need to take defense and maybe some offensive line depth. Oh ya and a safety because our defense needs help badly.
So the key point in this is DEFENSE and DEFENSE with a little of DEFENSE. If I have to go through another season of horrible defense I’m gonna lose it.
GO BRONCOS
Well, this is s tough one. Iremember when we had a guy named Atwater that was roaming the secondary and stopping the run with explosive hits. I read something in the last month suggesting he wasn’t the greatest at coverage because he didn’t have a lot of interceptions. In my eyes, that was because opposing recievers were scared to death to venture anywhere near him. A guy like that has a big impact on the game. If Peterson could be that guy , I got no problem with drafting him. If we went that direction, we what we have to do and move up to take a defensive tackle that can be disruptive or maybe even Von Miller at linebacker. We need better players, not more players on defense. Why take a chance waiting till later rounds if you feel you’ve got a sure thing in the first round? I look at the Lions, though I don’t want to be that bad for that long, they are going to be a force to be reckoned with soon and stay that way for a long time. This season will be their breakout year if Stafford can stay healthy.
I don’t need instant gratification if I can see a bright future a couple years down the road. Play the odds, get great players.
We’ve got some talent at wide reciever but still have enough for a starting lineup. I can’t see drafting one, maybe pick up one in free agency if that condition ever exists. We need a temporary guy till we heal up. Defense has to be the focus in the draft.
If Peterson isn’t worthy of the #2 pick, who is? While this draft is loaded at DL, there are no players that stand out as extreme impact players like Peterson. And to Mikeyb, who pointed out that the Pats have three of the top 33 picks, that is true, but I can almost guarantee that at least one of those picks will end up in another team’s hands before the day is done. The Patriots love trading down.
DT with the #2 over pick. Maybe a Safety in round 2. We have alot of holes to fill.
if Moore is there in the second I do think we should grab him!
Easy. Draft P1 at 2. Take both our seconds, trade with NE and draft P2 with our 2nd 1. Two starters…
I’m dreaming, sure, but there has to be at least a 5% chance at it happening???
Lol- that’s my formula for
2Ps = D in 11 (notice how 11 can also mean two 1s)
I’ve also heard we might be interested in mikel leshoure the illinois RB. That would be an interesting option for a second round pick as well. I like the guy
If there is no FA before the draft I can see us drafting a RB since that’s how Fox operates, on the ground.
The draft needs won’t be fully known until we know for sure if we’ll have FA before it or not.
But I am assuming there will be no FA before the draft and so is probably the triumvirate.
Now trading down to acquire an extra pick when you have only 6 I can see, but sndvl’s dream world of trading two picks to move up for one makes absolutely zero sense to me resulting in only 5 picks…
Anyhow say we keep all our picks and have 6 which could very well happen since draft day pick trades this year will be much more difficult since we cannot trade players for picks without a cba, this is how I see Fox assessing our needs considering his football tendencies, and not necessarily in that order:
Defensive Tackle
Inside Linebacker
Outside Linebacker (strongside)
Fullback
Offensive Guard or Tackle (depending on how Fox evaluates our current team and who is on the draft board when the time comes)
Running Back
My reasoning is simple:
On O Fox loves to run the ball down people’s throats with the occasional bomb. In order to do that he has always relied heavily on a blocking fullback and outstanding Oline plus quality backs. We lack in all those areas. Other than that he does not rely on the short passing game so a receiving TE is not as critical as many here think (Quinn shall be able to block with that body of his by now), and he is plenty covered in the receiving department the way he uses it.
On D, he loves putting pressure on opposing QB’s and that requires stopping the run first, hence my fortifying the middle of the front 7 with a stud DT (Dareus), a ILB and adding a blitzing threat on the outside at strongside LB opposite DJ on the weakside. So as you can tell by my thinking I think he can learn to live with our current secondary situation, Dawkins, Hill, Bruton and McBath at Safety and Bailey, Goodman, Cox and Syd’Quan at Corners.
Anyhow I know it’s all conjecture at this point but studying Fox in the past and what we got now that’s about the best I can come up with. Bottom line, don’t you guys be surprised if we draft evenly on D than on O (3 and 3). I have said way too much as far as the contest goes, good thing very few bloggers are on reading now, LOL.
Of course the biggest stick they can throw into my view of things is if they pick a QB!!!!
Now here is something interesting. NFL.com has an article saying that DeMaurice Smith has cut his salary entirely until a CBA is done. Which means that he wont get a paycheck for a while….
He is only a week or so late, both Pash and Goodell already took a paycut to a $1.00 salary each until there is a new cba.
Yeah, i know. Seems like he is just trying to be better than Goodell at everthing. Thats the reason that i believe a CBA hasnt been done yet. He comes off as more worried about making a name for himself than actually wanting to get something done because i still think that the last deal that they passed up was pretty good for them
Mikel LeShoure is a nice size RB at 6’0” 230lbs. It wouldn`t bother me to pick up a big RB. We gotta start somewhere.
Yeah Strand. I like the bigger RBs myself rather than the smaller ones.
Regardless of how we draft I have complete faith in what HC John Fox is going to build here in Denver. And I have great faith in Elway and Xanders also. We have the next two drafts to build on. We can`t draft everything in just one year, especially with only 6 picks.
If we drafted LeShoure we would have two big RB`s in he and Lendale White. I`d like that.
Yeah, that’s a simpler thing to say than what I just posted, LOL!!!
Why didn’t I think of that, it would of saved me some work, just do it how you want to triumvirate, it will work for me,haha.
Anyway, my day is complete, Mr Saccomano just answered me on the previous blog!!!
If we did draft a FB I`d want Owen Marecic of Stanford. He`s projected to be drafted 3rd to 4th round. And we don`t have a 4th.
D. Smith is just a punk.
Hey all its been a while . With no contract no FA s to talk about not much to blog about.
I’m one of the exception though, LOL.
I actually fabricate things to talk about, hahaha.
Like this:
Cam Newton went first, now Blaine Gabbert. Panthers coaches/officials will put Gabbert through a private workout Saturday in Missouri.
No, actually that’s real and from Shefter.
I can see the Panthers selecting Gabbert.
Details of the letter sent by Goodell yesterday to all the players in an appeal to get back to the negociating table:
His letter starts out with “each passing day puts our game and our shared economics further at risk”, and goes on point-by-point through 10 categories Goodell said were included in the NFL’s last proposal. Among them:
Salary and benefits would be $141 million per club in 2011, and rise to $161 million by 2014.
Free agency after four seasons.
Less offseason work and fewer padded practices in the preseason and regular season.
Keeping a 16-game regular season for at least the next two seasons and not changing to 18 games without the union’s agreement.
Guaranteeing up to $1 million of a second year of a player’s contract if he is injured and can’t return to play.
A new rookie compensation system.
A jointly appointed neutral arbitrator for all drug and steroid appeals.
Looks picture perfect to me. Take the deal you morons.
However, something needs to be clarified about the salary cap #s in Goodell’s letter:
The $141M cap number includes benefits. Without the benefits it’s $114M for salary. NFLPA cap was at $127M two years ago for salary (the last year there was a cap, 2009). At least that’s my understanding.
Benefits were always used to side step the cap, no longer if the NFL gets it’s way.
And Nalen66 says there is not much to talk about…. LOL.
Even in down-time there is something to convey.
Wasn`t Bill Walsh the mastermind behind munipulating the salary cap by inserting benefits back in 1993.
oooops. ?????????
I live in the Southeast and saw Cam Newton play a lot of his games this year. He is a tremendous athlete, big strong, and fast. He is also a long strider when passing, tends to overthrow as often as he hits, and ran a very simplistic offense at Auburn. The recent player he most reminded me of during the season was Vince Young. He also has an attention span problem and a boat-load of off-field issues! In the end, I really wouldn’t be surprised if he slides out of the Top 10 because of all the baggage. I think Gabbert will go 1, Darieus at 2 and from there, flip a coin! Could be Fairly, could be Miller, could be Peterson, who knows.
I like the way you think henryac!!! Dareus at #2!
Henryac, good awareness dude. Cool on the draft picks. I like it. Good to learn more about Newton. Let Shanny take a wack at him.
Hey strand, I thought it was the Cowboys 90′s dynasty that introduced benefits and other cap dodging techniques? Or was that Signing bonuses? Whatever…
If we don’t take Patrick Peterson #2, I really don’t know what to say. I am usually disappointed every draft anyway. There are no true DL or LB’s that I want. And to hear Elway and Fox have been looking at QB’s is really discerning.
Patrick Peterson is the most talented athlete PERIOD. I really don’t want another DL who can’t be coached up or mentored properly like a DB would. For a kid like Pat Peterson to pick the brains of Champ, Andre’, Renaldo and BDawk, is incomparable.
i say we draft peterson at #2 and bump him up to FS, he is willing to play anything, can be used at CB with the big WRs in bump and run. if peterson is playing CB aginst a big WR they should put Hill up to FS and Dawk to SS. but as a base i would have CB(champ,goodman/cox) FS(peterson/hill) SS(dawk/?)
We also need to worry about the later rounds too, after all isn’t that where some of our best players have come from. How about instead of a high priced WR that’s going to cost tons and then get hurt, how about a Vidal Hazelton. He was great at USC and would have been a likely 1st rounder before he transferred to Cincy. Could be a find.
C’mon Rice,we should’nt take a CB with our pick,is it just me,or did’nt Goodman spend most of last year hurt?We need PP,even if you have to play him at safety for a year or two,(he has already said he would);he could learn from B-Dawk,likewise from Champ;its a win win situation.As deep as this draft is on D-line,how can you pass on the best,most special,once in a decade talent like PP,he even returns kicks!!!!!!! Nothing but upside here Mike,wake up and smell the coffee,BRONCOS WILL ALWAYS RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
if y’all seen von miller at the combine lately you’ll agree with me when i say this if he’s available at the no.2 spot if the panthers don’t get him first he will be a bronco trust me
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