Rice Takes

In part three of our series of interviews with new Denver Broncos, we feature Broncos’ cornerback Alphonso Smith from Wake Forest University.

On the first day of the NFL Draft, the Broncos traded their own 2010 first-round pick to the Seattle Seahawks for the 37th overall selection. Denver used that second round pick to take Smith.

We spoke with Alphonso when he visited Broncos headquarters on the second day of the draft.

Mike Rice: You’re a Denver Bronco. Can you believe it?

Alphonso Smith: I can. I can. I had a pretty good visit when I came out here and I left with a pretty good feeling in my heart that it was a possibility that I could be a Bronco.

MR: But until you hear your name, I guess you never really know, do you?

AS: You never really know. But when Coach McDaniels called I was like, ‘Yes, Broncos. At least it’s a team I want to go to.’ I’m still kind of soaking it in. I can believe it but at the same time I really can’t believe it.

This is part two of our interview series with some of the Broncos’ 2009 draft picks. We had the chance to speak with several of them on the second day of the NFL draft, April 26, at Broncos’ headquarters.

With the 18th overall pick, the Broncos selected Robert Ayers a defensive lineman/linebacker from the University of Tennessee.

Mike Rice: Did you have any idea that you would be the Broncos’ pick?

Robert Ayers: During the process, I felt like this was a good fit for me. From talking with the coaches, I felt like I was a guy they were targeting and the pieces fell into place. I’m more than happy to be here. I think I’m going to fit well with the team and I’ll do all I can to help this organization. It’s all about winning. They were one or two games short last year. I’m not going to be that piece that gets us over the hump but hopefully I can be a small part of the building block. You got great guys like Brian Dawkins and Champ Bailey here so I feel like we can get things turned around. I’m willing to do whatever I can do to get it turned around.

The Broncos have had a couple of mini-camps, the latest of which was in early May. That’s when the Broncos’ draft picks had the opportunity to work with the team for the first time.

This is part one of a question-and-answer series with some of the Broncos’ picks. We had the chance to speak with many of them when they first visited Dove Valley on April 26.

With the twelfth overall selection, the Broncos chose running back Knowshon Moreno from the University of Georgia.

MR: Knowshon, take us through the lead-up to the draft and your emotions leading up to the call from the Broncos.

KM: I waited throughout the week and finally it (the draft) gets here. I think at my place, the atmosphere was really calm and collected. Everyone was just waiting to see what happens because we didn’t know. We got that call and he said I’d be going with the twelfth pick to the Broncos and we all went crazy and I’m really enjoying it.

On Friday, April 3, the Broncos traded quarterback Jay Cutler to the Chicago Bears for two first-round draft picks, a third-rounder and quarterback Kyle Orton.

The day of the trade, Broncos’ head coach Josh McDaniels spoke with Dave Logan and Lois Melkonian on 850 KOA’s “The Ride Home.” Here is the second and final part of that interview. Again, 850 KOA tried to contact Jay Cutler but did not receive a response.

KOA: In Jay Cutler’s performance on the field or how he conducts himself off the field, did anything strike you after you took this job that caused you concern (so) you would say, “I’m not sure this is going to be the guy we go forward with?”

JM: Absolutely not. No. I’ll tell you this. There are a lot of things we need to do to improve our team. The perception is the offense has all the answers and the defense cost us a lot of games. The reality is the offense has significant improvement to go through. We had 17 two-minute drives last year and scored one field goal. (We) had 30 turnovers which was second-worst in the league. (There are) a number of things that aren’t necessarily as glowing as you might think they would be. We were last in the league in field position; we were 28th in kickoff return. So there are a number of reasons why we weren’t as successful as Denver and this community wanted it to be last year and our goal is to address all of them including the play of the offense. There’s significant improvement that needs to be made in order for us to compete at a high level but none of that was directed at the quarterback. There were a lot of other things that needed to be fixed. That’s what we were going to work hard to do.

The Broncos and quarterback Jay Cutler could never get on the same page. Now, after the blockbuster trade that occurred on Friday, April 3, Cutler is in Chicago and the Broncos are moving on with quarterback Kyle Orton, an extra first-round and third-round draft pick this year and another first-rounder in 2010.

There has been much speculation about who said what to whom and when. Broncos Head Coach Josh McDaniels spoke with Dave Logan and Lois Melkonian on 850 KOA’s “The Ride Home” on the day the Broncos made the trade. I wanted to share some of the questions and responses because they hit on many of the key issues in this whole saga. Part one of that interview follows.