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Posts Tagged ‘NFL Draft’

Water Seeks Its Own Level in Talent Pool

April 5th, 2011 - 12:45pm by jim_saccomanoOther posts by

On Monday, Denver Broncos Executive Vice President of Football Operations John Elway announced via Twitter that as many as 13 of the allowed 30 visits by potential draftees will visit Broncos headquarters this week.

While I certainly realize that the collective bargaining agreement and its ultimate settlement is at the forefront of media conversation these days, the draft still exists, talent still must be evaluated, and that moment will come when every NFL team makes its selections for 2011 and sets in motion roster adjustments and changes that hopefully will lead to great seasons.

So the draft is coming, and it really is right around the corner.

Much has been made of the Broncos’ brain trust taking a hard look at the quarterback position, but they are actually doing that at all positions, some just being more glamorous than others.

When it comes down to it, a team is going to draft players, and there is no way of knowing absolutely how that infusion of new talent will impact the existing roster here and elsewhere.

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Late Selections as Vital as Early Ones

February 17th, 2011 - 12:14pm by jim_saccomanoOther posts by

Earlier I did a blog on the history of the Denver Broncos’ draft choices when the team has had a selection among the first 10 players in the entire draft.

There is no question that the potential for greatness is there where the choices are made, but it is very important that fans remember how significant late picks are in building a team as well, in addition to completely undrafted free agent players.

Let’s take a quick look at a number of very significant Broncos who were drafted either in the final round of the draft, or signed as an undrafted free agent player.

This will not even include the players like Terrell Davis and Shannon Sharpe, taken late but not at the end of the draft process.

Key Bronco players who were chosen in the final round of the draft and went on to have length NFL careers include:

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Draft is a Foundation for Success

February 15th, 2011 - 11:19am by jim_saccomanoOther posts by

One of the things that has been emphasized over the years in the National Football League is that the annual player selection draft is a vital building block to a successful organization.

This year’s Super bowl champions, the Green Bay Packers, did a great job with a roster heavy on players selected in the draft.

The Denver Broncos have had that same type of success when we have had our greatest teams, and there is no question that the Broncos understand and respect that concept. This year the Broncos have the second pick in the entire draft and six selections overall. Three of the Broncos’ choices fall in the first 50, but later round selections can make a big impact as well.

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Davis, Sharpe Voted Valuable

April 21st, 2010 - 11:12am by Gray CaldwellOther posts by

With the NFL Draft kicking off in primetime for the first time tomorrow, the league has been announcing the 75 most valuable draft picks of all time — as voted by fans — in chunks over the past few days.

The Broncos have a presence. Terrell Davis — a sixth-round pick (196th overall) in 1995 — sits at No. 60, and Shannon Sharpe — a seventh-round pick (192nd overall) in 1990 — was voted the 44th most valuable draft pick.

Two players not drafted by Denver who spent time playing for the Broncos also made the list — John Lynch (a third-round pick, 82nd overall, in 1993) at No. 73, and Champ Bailey (the seventh overall pick in 1999) at No. 57.

The league has announced picks 75-11, and the top 10 will be revealed during the first round of the draft.

-Gray Caldwell, DenverBroncos.com

April Gets It Started

April 6th, 2010 - 11:14am by jim_saccomanoOther posts by

The balance of April will be an exciting time on the calendars of the NFL, the Denver Broncos and our legions of fans.

The full schedule will be released soon – and while we have not received any advance word of a schedule timetable, past history suggests we should look toward next week. The NFL officials in charge are no doubt putting the final touches on the schedule right now, but this type of announcement is never made real late in the week-you always want to create the maximum buzz among fans, so assuming it does not happen this week, next week looks perfect in that it would precede NFL draft attention.

Then, just as fans are discussing who their favorite team plays, where and when, the draft will begin its new three-day prime time run on Thursday, April 22.

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Broncos Considered Among Most Valuable

March 17th, 2010 - 9:22am by Gray CaldwellOther posts by

Terrell Davis. Shannon Sharpe. Steve Atwater. Randy Gradishar. Tom Jackson. Karl Mecklenburg. Tom Nalen. Louis Wright. Lyle Alzado. Rick Upchurch.

They are some of the best players to ever don a Broncos uniform. None were picked higher than the 14th overall selection in the NFL draft, and one was picked as late as the 310th overall selection in the 12th round.

Not coincidentally, they are all up for consideration to be named one of the 75 Most Valuable Draft Picks in league history.

Fans can vote on NFL.com now — voting ends April 18 — choosing between pairs of players randomly generated from a list of 320 all-time most valuable draft picks as chosen by NFL.com editors. After choosing the winners of 30 random matchups, fans can begin to build their own Top 10 list, and continue voting from there to alter their top 10.

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53 Players Granted Special Eligibility for 2010 Draft

January 19th, 2010 - 11:33am by Kyle SonnemanOther posts by

The NFL announced on Tuesday the names of 53 players who have been granted special eligibility for the 2010 NFL Draft.

Each of the 53 players has met the league’s three-year eligibility rule and each has submitted a written application in which he renounced his remaining college football eligibility. The deadline for receiving applications was January 15.

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Draft Going Prime Time

July 23rd, 2009 - 3:21pm by Zach EisendrathOther posts by

Enjoy watching the NFL Draft? Well, the festivities surrounding the annual event just got even more exciting. The NFL Draft will kick off in prime time for the first time starting in 2010, the league announced today.

Also for the first time, draft coverage is expanding to three days. The first round will start at 7:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 22nd. The second and third rounds will follow on Friday, April 23 at 6:30 p.m. ET and rounds 4-7 will start on Saturday, April 24 at 10:00 a.m. ET.  

As usual, the draft will continue to be televised by ESPN and the NFL Network.

It should be noted that the NFL Draft was a Saturday-Sunday event from 1995-2009. From 1988-94, the festivities went from Sunday through Monday. Prior to 1988, the draft was held on one or two weekdays.

“We continue to look for ways to make the draft more accessible to more fans,” said Commissioner Roger Goodell. “Moving the first round to prime time on Thursday night will make the first round of the draft available to fans on what is typically the most-watched night of television.”

Should be interesting to see how this move pans out. What do you think about the time change?

– Zach Eisendrath, DenverBroncos.com

NFL Scouting Combine: Day 4

February 22nd, 2009 - 8:47am by Kyle SonnemanOther posts by

9:47 a.m. EST: Day four is kicking off quickly – just as we are getting settled in, LSU’s Ricky Jean-Francois hit the podium.

Yesterday in this space we talked about the warm front that had blown through the greater Indianapolis area. Well that ended quickly, our walk this morning may have been the coldest of the week. The cream cheese we put on our Einstein’s Bagels quickly froze and became like ice cream. Making matters worse, the Lucas Oil security staff informed us that we were no longer allowed to bring in outside food. We quickly scarfed it down and are now ready for the final day of the combine — well for us anyway.

Today the defensive backs make their way through the media room and the quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers go through their on-the-field workouts. Follow the links below for the NFL Network schedule and the participants results.

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NFL Scouting Combine: Day 3

February 21st, 2009 - 8:25am by Kyle SonnemanOther posts by

9:23 a.m. EST: Good morning and happy Saturday to you all. It seems as though a bit of a warm front has blown through the greater Indianapolis area, as frost bite didn’t kick in until just before we approached the stadium.

Anticipation is filling the air as the defensive linemen and linebackers will make their way to the Lucas Oil media room. Hopefully they will start filing in within the hour.

As we have the last couple of days, we will try to bring you the sites and sounds from the media room. But if you have any specific questions, please feel free to fire them and we will do our best to get them answered.

Also, the workouts will start revving up today. For the latest results and the NFL Network broadcast schedule, click on the links at the bottom of this blog.

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