A seemingly uncontainable spread of injuries at the safety position created Quentin Harris’ roster spot. Contributions on special teams would keep him there for the balance of 2006.
Harris found his way onto the Broncos’ roster on Nov. 21 and played at Kansas City two days later. All of his on-field work would come on special teams in the season’s final seven games, and the former Arizona Cardinal ended the year with four special teams tackles.
Harris has long been a kick-coverage demon, and had seen his annual special-teams tackle tally rise from four in 2002 to seven in 2003 and on to 19 and 24 in 2004 and 2005, respectively. He wouldn’t match that pace in 2006 with his season shortened to just seven games, but he closed the year with a pair of special-teams stops against the San Francisco 49ers, proving that he might have his tackling touch back if he can get back to a full year’s on-field work.
FINAL ANALYSIS: Has now played in 61 consecutive games dating back to his rookie season. He was inactive for his first game on the Cardinals’ 53-man roster on Nov. 17, 2002 and hasn’t missed a game since, although he was sidelined for the first 10 weeks of 2006 when he was not with a team.
NEXT: Tight end Nate Jackson.
The evidence of Louis Green’s value to the Broncos became clear on Monday when the team announced that the fourth-year linebacker had signed a three-year contract extension, thus bypassing a chance to test the restricted free-agent marketplace come March 2.
Only Al Wilson had more tackles than Ian Gold did last year, and no other Broncos linebacker played more than the seven-season veteran did last year in a 101-tackle campaign.
Circumstances around Domonique Foxworth in the Broncos secondary have buffeted his path and his development through two years with the Broncos.
The good news for Nick Ferguson was that he did not tear multiple ligaments when he injured his knee against San Diego on Nov. 19. Nor did he tear the anterior cruciate ligament, recovery from which can often extend to nearly a full year, as Javon Walker experienced with a 10-and-a-half-month rehabilitation before he was cleared for full work at the dawn of last summer’s training camp.
Former defensive coordinator Larry Coyer called John Engelberger a “wild horse rider.” And while the seven-year veteran still has only made one start in 30 Broncos games, he established himself as part of the front-four rotation in his second Denver season this past fall.
Going from defensive end to tackle isn’t the most jarring transition Ebenezer Ekuban has made in his football career. This is, after all, the man who shifted from tight end to defensive end at the University of North Carolina a decade ago after lingering behind future Chargers and Cardinals tight end Freddie Jones on the depth chart. (To top it off, future Falcons Pro Bowler Alge Crumpler arrived in Chapel Hill just as Ekuban made the switch.)
Elvis Dumervil came to Denver fresh off one of the most prolific pass-rushing and playmaking seasons for any college defensive lineman in recent memory. Questions nevertheless arose about his 5-foot-11 stature after the Broncos used a fourth-round pick on him, but the answer to those were simple — he simply found himself at the epicenter of the play too often to be ignored. That was “the biggest factor” in the decision to select him, General Manager Ted Sundquist said.
Curome Cox came to the Broncos in 2004 as a cornerback looking to make himself valuable on the Broncos’ practice squad. He left the 2006 season having established himself as a crucial part of the team, with the ability to not only play cornerback and safety, but status as one of the key members of the special-teams units, as well.
When one is an undrafted rookie and begins his NFL career on the practice squad, simply seeing some game action in that first season is accomplishment enough to deem that year a success on an individual level.