Change is a way of life in the NFL. The times are a-changin’ for the Denver Broncos.

We all know those changes started with the head coaching change with four games left in the regular season. They continued with the hiring of John Elway as the Executive Vice President of Football Operations shortly after the season ended. Now the changes continue as the Broncos begin to revamp the roster.

Recently, the Broncos released veteran defensive linemen Justin Bannan and Jamal Williams. The two players would have been owed roster bonuses had the team not released them.

Roster turnover is a fact of life for every NFL team every year. But this is especially true when a team has a bad season.

Anyone who has followed the Broncos in recent years knows the defense needs work. A lot of work. Re-signing cornerback Champ Bailey was a big first step to building a quality defense.

The Broncos’ defensive struggles are hardly the fault of Justin Bannan and Jamal Williams. Actually, I thought Bannan played pretty well this past season.

When a defense, though, is ranked at or near the bottom in most major statistical categories and that team has a bad won-loss record, the organization makes changes. It should make changes.

While the Broncos certainly have their work cut out for them, I have confidence in the people making the changes. I believe new head coach John Fox knows defense. He has shown that both as an NFL defensive coordinator and head coach.

Already, Coach Fox has said the Broncos will be a 4-3 defensive team. Here is why I’m o.k. with that: He knows the 4-3 and has had success running it. Will it take some time to transition back to that scheme? Probably so. But let’s remember the Broncos weren’t exactly lighting the world on fire running something different.

I also believe that in the short-term, the Broncos will continue to revamp the roster. Let’s face it, they have to in order to get better. But at some point, once Coach Fox has his systems in place, the revamping should slow down. I’m not sure when that point is. It isn’t likely to be any time soon.

Change simply for the sake of change doesn’t usually amount to much of significance. The Broncos have already learned that.

While the recent moves to release Bannan and Williams were a little surprising (it usually is a little surprising when veterans get released), I’m going to give the new front office/coaching staff a chance to show they can make the right moves.

Time will tell how successful they will be.

What do you think of some of the team’s early moves? Thanks for reading and posting your thoughts.

Sincerely,
Mike

Tags: Champ Bailey, Head Coach John Fox

This entry was posted on Monday, March 7th, 2011 at 1:49 am and is filed under Mike Rice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.