Broncos Sign Linebacker Boss Bailey

by John Bena on Mar 6, 2008 4:18 PM MST in Denver Broncos Roster Moves

The Denver Broncos on Thursday signed unrestricted free-agent linebacker Boss Bailey, Head Coach Mike Shanahan announced. As per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Bailey (6-foot-3, 235 pounds) is entering his sixth NFL season and joins the Broncos after spending the last five years with Detroit. The Lions selected him in the second round (34th overall) of the 2003 NFL Draft from the University of Georgia.

Bailey, who has started at least 11 games in every season that he has played, is the younger brother of Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey and followed him as an All-Southeastern Conference selection at Georgia. The two will be the fourth pair of brothers to play for the Broncos and will join Dave and Doug Widell (1990-92) along with Eldon and William Danenhauer (1960) as the third set to play for the franchise at the same time.

The 28-year-old Bailey has appeared in 58 career games (51 starts), posting 258 tackles (188 solo), seven sacks (40.5 yds.) and two interceptions (32 yds.). He also has registered 13 pass breakups, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and seven special-teams tackles for his career.

In 2007, Bailey posted a career-high 3.5 sacks (16.0 yds.) while adding 47 tackles (33 solo), two pass breakups and one forced fumble in 15 games (12 starts) at strongside linebacker for Detroit. He started eight games at strongside linebacker and four contests at middle linebacker for the Lions in 2006, appearing in all 16 games and totaling 65 tackles (48 solo) with one sack that year.

After missing the 2004 season with a knee injury, Bailey started all 11 games played in 2005 and had 58 tackles, one sack and one interception, which he returned 34 yards for a touchdown. He was named All-Rookie by ESPN.com and Football Digest with Detroit in 2003 when he set a career high with 88 tackles (68 solo) as a 16-game starter.

A first-team All-SEC selection as well as a semifinalist for the Butkus and Lombardi Awards as a senior, Bailey was a three-year starter at Georgia. He received honorable mention All-America honors from USA Today at Charlton County High School in Folkston, Ga.

Rodney "Boss" Bailey was born on Oct. 14, 1979.

BROTHERS WHO HAVE PLAYED FOR THE BRONCOS, TEAM HISTORY
Player Pos. Years GP GS
Albert Carmichael HB 1960-61 16 N/A
Paul Carmichael HB 1965 3 N/A
*Eldon Danenhauer T 1960-65 79 N/A
*William Danenhauer E 1960 4 N/A
*Dave Widell C/G 1990-94 79 39
*Doug Widell G 1989-92 64 58

* Spent at least one season on the Broncos' roster during the same time as his brother.

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Champ and Boss?

I like the connotations here -- we are champs and we will boss people around. Hopefully this will help shore up our, um, porous D-line, and I'm sure the Bailey brothers will enjoy playing together.

Get Demented :: Gang Gridiron.

by Silverblood on Mar 6, 2008 5:11 PM MST reply actions

Denver snagged

another former lion today as well: Wide receiver Edell Shepherd.

I wish my sig was as cool as mdierks!

by Jeremy Bolander on Mar 6, 2008 5:46 PM MST reply actions

I like this signing

While I advocate DJ at MLB, we have the option to put K2 at MLB, DJ at WILL, and Boss at SAM. If we really want to get cute, we can even do a few 3-4 line ups, with DJ and K2 at ILB, Winborn at WILL, and Boss at SAM.

At any rate, regardless of the line-up, I believe the LB corp is now set for '08, thus freeing us up in the draft to make other moves. Winborn and Webster are good for depth, so all is well.

Now we only need to concentrate on DT, WR, depth for OL, and SAF.

I really don't think our moves for WR are doing much for the #2 WR position. We may have to get a solid acquisition in the draft.

"Greater is an army of sheep led by a lion, than an army of lions led by a sheep" Defoe

by Steve Nichols on Mar 6, 2008 6:14 PM MST reply actions

I am not so sure.

Don't get me wrong, I like the guy, but he is 28. LBs have the shortest NFL longevity after RB. He won't help this team for long and we still need to look at the Draft... but maybe with a later pick.

There is one fact, since we had so many busts at drafts earlier this decade, we need to make it up through FA... we just have to be very smart about it.

I would hate to learn that Bailey is going to make $5 mil a year or some crazy money like that. He isn't worth that much.

Orange County is hot. Really! Haven't you seen the weather report?

by amirebram on Mar 6, 2008 7:27 PM MST up reply actions

I think we agree

I think K2 will buy us time for 2 or 3 years, and we can fix the problem in '09 in either event (or with a good draft this year, as you point out).

"Greater is an army of sheep led by a lion, than an army of lions led by a sheep" Defoe

by Steve Nichols on Mar 6, 2008 9:15 PM MST up reply actions

What would you do for the nickel Def??

Usually the Mike and Will stay on the field and the Sam runs off... but given that Boss is pretty good in coverage I think we should keep DJ and Boss in nickle package and take the other dude off. Best players on the field, you know.

Orange County is hot. Really! Haven't you seen the weather report?

by amirebram on Mar 7, 2008 3:18 PM MST up reply actions

DJs rookie season

he came off in base nickel formations, and he was playing WILL at the time.

I don't know if it is relevant, just an observation.

I wish my sig was as cool as mdierks!

by Jeremy Bolander on Mar 7, 2008 6:41 PM MST up reply actions

It can really go in any direction.

You can really go with any combo. You can mix and match based on who is good in short to mediam pass zones, or who is good with blitzes, or you might even be more concerned with ensuring the run doesn't get by.

Plus, Denver likes to run a big nickle (SS closer to the line, and alignment shifted over the TE).

A lot of the time the MLB is in a nickle because he is supposed to be the best LB in the group for stopping the RB. The WILL is a good keeper because his speed can translate into good zone coverage against the pass (and because he remains a blitz option on the QB's blindside). If you have a SAM who can go man to man with the faster TEs in the league you might bring him in as a coverage kind of guy.

"Greater is an army of sheep led by a lion, than an army of lions led by a sheep" Defoe

by Steve Nichols on Mar 7, 2008 10:30 PM MST up reply actions

I hate to be pessimistic

I'm not sold on K2 as a starting middle linebacker- certainly not as being better at MIKE than DJ was last season.
With Gold gone, if we keep DJ in the middle, our only option at WILL is Winborn- who was solid in the two games last season, but a long way from a sure thing.
Boss at SAM is an upgrade over Webster, but I don't think he's likely to be any better than average, especially against the run.

While the signings free us from having to draft a linebacker early, I think Shanny should still consider doing so.

by Jack on Mar 6, 2008 7:28 PM MST up reply actions

I hear you.

I'm not sold either. But the reasoning for moving DJ is pretty solid. Remember, I'm a huge advocate for keeping DJ at MLB, but with personnel as it stands now I think this is a good move.

You're right, I don't think K2 is better than DJ for MIKE. But K2 CAN play MIKE, and DJ can play MIKE and WILL. SAM is covered by Boss. Leaving DJ at MIKE means a lesser player at WILL (probably Winborn) as you point out.

I don't think this is an elite line-up, but I do think it is a solid one. With improvements coming at DT we should improve quite a bit on defense.

"Greater is an army of sheep led by a lion, than an army of lions led by a sheep" Defoe

by Steve Nichols on Mar 6, 2008 9:24 PM MST up reply actions

One nice thing about DJ moving so much

Is that the team can probably wait a while to make a final decision about where he plays. They can go into training camp and evaluate if the combo of DJ at Will with K2 at Mike is better than DJ at Mike with Winborn/Webster/other at Will.

Another thing to keep in mind is that while you need to be able stop teams in your bas 4-3 defense, more and more offenses are utilizing multiple receiver sets. So you have the defense playing more nickel which means only 2 LB on the field. We knew DJ would be one of those two, but before Boss signed I think the other spot was up in the air (K2, Webster, Winborn). Boss should clarify and solidify that situation.

by MattR on Mar 6, 2008 9:33 PM MST up reply actions

Larry Tripplett

The next 3 guys the Broncos need to talk to are:

Larry Tripplett
Larry Tripplett
and Larry Tripplett

I think he's the safest of the avaiable DTs. He's a solid player and hasn't missed games, and is still fairly young.

Do the Broncos have any interest in him, and what kind of money would he ask for?

by fire Bill Callahan on Mar 6, 2008 9:36 PM MST reply actions

Some thoughts

I wanted to find some good info on this guy, but no luck.

He was due 1.85 mil this year, so guess that he would want to sign for between 1 and 2 mil this year. THat seems pretty affordable to me.

But I don't like to look at a guys stats and see inconsistent production. I don't mind low stats, just major up and downs. He is both. He only looks to be averaging around 25-30 tackles a year, and he wasn't in spot duty to my knowledge. I rewatched the DEN-v-BUF game from last year for my DJ research, and he was a total nonfactor, rotated in and out pass and run, like Buffalo didn't know what to do with him.

I don't know what kind of defensive scheme buffalo was running or what they expected out of their DTs, however. That could affect his production significantly if he was asked to eat double teams all day.

What in particular are you looking at with Tripplett? He is definitely a solid character, and I have no problem with bringing him into training camp to compete, but I think his production may be too low to raise my hopes. (And frankly, I'm not even trying to raise them very far...)

I wish my sig was as cool as mdierks!

by Jeremy Bolander on Mar 8, 2008 12:43 AM MST up reply actions

Ok guys, in english class here,

Who is K2?

"Another Scapegoat... First it was Greg Robinson's fault. Then Ray Rhodes. Then Larry Coyer. Now Jim Bates... Everybody but Shanahan... -Xandervan 1/8/08

by broncodude793 on Mar 7, 2008 8:32 AM MST reply actions