What the Broncos will do this offseason and why:

Now we as Broncos fans all have our own opinions on what the Broncos should do, but often what they actually do is something completely different.  So, I will take a moment to take off my orange shaded glasses and put on someone else's, the Shannahan Brain Trust.

I intend to use two main sources Ted Sundquist's Draft Blog (http://blog.denverbroncos.com/tedsundquist/2007/11/20/i-feel-a-draft-in-here/)and Shannahan's postseason press conference (Andrew Mason's transcript, on his blog http://blog.denverbroncos.com/mason/2008/01/10/live-from-shanahans-season-wrap/#more-682).  I will also be using scouting reports of various college players and will site my information accordingly.  Lastly, I will have to guess a little, but I will try to keep this to a minimum.

First, I will start with what kind of players I think the Broncos will go after, and then give the specific players I believe fit these profiles.  I will only look at positions that I feel the Broncos organization believes are needs in the second section.

Offense:

While I believe the Broncos have some serious needs on offense (just see my previous two diaries) I don't believe the Broncos believe the same.

Shannahan in his postseason press conference said:

 "I saw us getting better.  Even though we didn't play as well as we'd like to play consistently, I think there's a big future there."

"You always have the personnel to win 10-plus games.  We've got to get a little healthier.  We've never lost 62 (games) for guys on offense."

To me this says that Shannahan thinks the Broncos have all the necessary pieces.  Shannahan seems to believe that the Bronco's offense just needs some more experience, and fewer injuries.

QB:

I believe almost all Bronco fans believe Cutler is the real deal, and so does Shannahan, here are his thoughts:

"Strong arm, a guy that'll compete ... Now he's got to go out there and do it, just like John (Elway) did ... John had to prove himself in a playoff situation and finally got to that Super Bowl ... His first four years all you heard was that he never played in a bowl game and that he never won a playoff game ... But he believed in himself and kept on working his rear end off and finally got to the promised land ... I was in the same situation with Steve Young, following Joe Montana."

However, like most all our other offensive positions he believes we need more experience:
"There's a million things (Cutler) can work on -- ball position, consistency with his short throws, blitzes and how to react to them, footwork, pressure, stepping up, scrambling.  Different things that all quarterbacks go through."

RB:

On Travis Henry, I believe Shannahan will keep him with a restructured contract.  This is mainly based off two quotes, first "Any time there's a setback with a guy you have to look back at what he did in the first four or five games...You kind of get out of football shape ... He tried, but he could never get back in shape."  This quote seems to imply Henry got unlucky and that without injuries Shannahan felt he could have been a strong back.  In Henry's first five games he average 6.0, 4.9, 3.2, 5.0, and 4.1 yards a carry with 139, 128, 35, 131, and 61 yards a game.   I believe it is safe to assume if he had stayed uninjured he would have had quite the season, or at least that is what the first five games show, and Shannahan therefore says he will look at.

The second quote is Henry's, "I want to make it right to the Broncos, the fans and myself," Henry said. "I want to be a Bronco and make it all right. I don't want to be anywhere else. I owe those people something for all that happened last year. I want to clear my name there. I'm so hungry to do right there." This says that Henry really realizes how much he owes to Shannahan, Henry is most likely going to redo his contract.  These quotes would seem to suggest we will not go after a high profile RB (through the draft or FA).

Something to consider though is the average life span of the Broncos running backs in Shannahan's span as head coach.  This year was suppose to be Henry, last year was suppose to be Tatum Bell, the year before Mike Anderson, and so on.  This suggests we will get a low profile RB like we do every year, however I believe we will keep all of our current RBs as well, regardless to how illogical this may seem.

However, when talking about Young, Shannahan seems to feel the way most Bronco fans do, he can't handle ""20-25 carries" 16 games in a row, but that for 15-20 carries he can get five yards a carry , Shannahan expressed a similar sentiment with Andre Hall.  Both dealt with injuries this year."  This quote says that Shannahan would like to keep Hall and Young to back up another back (most likely Henry as suggested above).

TE/FB:

These two are related to me for this team, because I believe as we see more two TE sets, as we did at the end of the season we will see less of the FB.  Graham was one of, if not the best, blockers on our team towards the end of the season.  Graham also is, I believe, the highest paid TE in the league, therefore he will get playing time.  As for Sheffler, Cutler is taking him and Marshall to go train before the season suggesting their already good chemistry will only get better.  Our star QB would also not take a TE on a training trip if he didn't think he would get his touches.  Therefore, I believe we will run multiple two TE sets as we did towards the end of the year and neither position is much of a need.

When one looks at the catches our TEs pulled in during the season there is no discernable pattern with Graham.  The most catches he ever had this season in a single game was four and he only average 1.71 catches and 17.6 yards a game.  However, Sheffler's receptions went up steadily over the course of the season.  In his 12 games he averaged 4.1 catches a game (this includes both weeks 13 and 16 when he only had 3 total catches) , more than double Graham, and he averaged 45.8 yards a game.   These statistics support the idea our FB will get less and less playing time between the 20s.

WR:

The first question anyone has about the Broncos WR situation is Javon Walker.  I think the Broncos will do everything in their power to keep him, and if not they will trade him.  In his postseason press conference Shannahan had nothing but good things to say about Walker, he said "Guys like him, I will talk to before March 1."  Ted Sundquist said that in reference to Lelie that "Lelie's absence takes nothing away from our current WR unit with the likes of Javon Walker, Brandon Marshall and Brandon Stokley."  In reference to whether we would cut or trade him, Mr. Sundquist when referring to former Bronco George Foster and his situation said, "The emergence of Erik Pears as a step-in for the injured Matt Lepsis in `06 gave us an option to deal George for another player of need (DC Dre' Bly). With the money invested in Lepsis and the quality of play we received from Pears (along with his emerging upside), it became apparent that we wouldn't resign Foster for what it would require in `08. Why not get something of value rather than eventually let him go through free agency?".  This seems to suggest they really don't want to cut Walker, but with the emergence of young players like Marshall and Sheffler they might trade him.

Marshall really emerged as a top WR in the N.F.L. last season, and his production didn't seem to suffer at all when Walker was on the field.  Some people are suggesting that we need another dominant WR to keep top CBs off Marshall, but I disagree and I believe Shannahan does as well.  The Broncos in no point in Shannahan's career have had two "dominant" WRs.  Marshall did well against #1 CBs almost all season.  Instead if the Broncos pursue a WR he will be more in the mold of Lelie or Nash ( I know neither really worked out, but you get the idea).

OL:

While I think this is a pressing need I feel the front office disagrees.  Right after his retirement Matt Lepsis said, ""I was really impressed by Ryan Harris and the veterans are coming back, and Chris Myers and Chris Kuper did a good job. They'll be fine."  I believe Shannhan places the poor play of the OL this past season almost solely on the decline in play of Lepsis and the injuries of Nalen and Hamilton.  This is 3/5 of our OL so this is a reasonable assumption.

I will add defense and my predictions later this week.  Feel free to make any comments or suggestions.