MHR University- Extra Credit Option 4- Linebacker

by Jon Tollerud on Apr 12, 2008 10:30 AM MDT

Something that the Denver Broncos are facing right now is which of our needs is the greatest? Our horrible Run Defense last year begs a Defensive Tackle, Matt Lepsis' Retirement, asks for an Offensive Tackle, B-Marsh's injury, Walker's defection to the raiders and Rod Smith's "Retirement" demand a Wide Receiver, Signing Boss and K2 are looked at as great but leave us with a Linebacker corps who are all roughly the same age and what are seen as stop gap solutions at Safety mean a little attention there may be required as well. I know I did something similar to this last week but this time I am going to focus more on those five areas. It seems that they are the five we focus most on in our diaries and comments. I want to break down who we have as well as the draft potential at each position. Without further ado......

Linebacker-
So let me start by saying that I love our Linebacker corps. My only problem is that our whole corps is around the same age. Boss is a 6th year player, DJ, Niko, and Green are all 5th year players and Beck is a 4th year player. Winborn and Webster have 8 and nine years respectively. While our starters look in fine shape and in prime of career territory, our backups are either RIGHT behind them or on the down slope of their careers. To be truthful playing for 8 seasons at linebacker and maintaining the speed you had when you walked on to the field in game one is stellar so kudos to Webster and Winborn. The only problems I see coming up on the site are as follows:

~Niko is unproven as a starter
~Our Line backing crew is old behind the start.

Fairly good concerns but only one bothers me.

Niko is unproven as a starter. Okay fair enough, but like many of our MHR faithful have said he had to compete against Tatupa for a starting job. The coaches in Seattle have said he would have started if he wasn't there. Niko also has something that no other Linebacker on Denver's squad has, a year as a team captain. Now, I am not sure how you guys view this but if the players and coaches have confidence to make the guy a captain, then I have the confidence to have the guy as our starting Mic. Like many say, he is going to get the chance to compete for it with others.
Our Crew is old. This one concerns me more. Hoosier teacher is one of many that advocate staggering contract negotiations and retirements. Currently, we have 6 of our guys who are around that same area at that same time. Do I want to dump any of them? No. Should we? Well that is up for the salary cap guys and personnel guys to decide. Without getting younger at linebacker, we face having to pay out huge contracts to FA's or possibly losing our greatest players because of better offers somewhere else and then we have nothing. We spend the first three picks we have on 3 linebackers to replace what we lose. Probably not the smartest thing we could do. With that being said, here is a list of draft candidates.

Linebackers:

Keith Rivers
As if Keith Rivers' stock couldn't get any higher... He ran a 4.51 and notched a vertical of 42.5 at his Pro Day. Rivers made a number of tremendous plays at Washington, including one tackle where he chased down Huskies quarterback Jake Locker from a few yards away and pulled him down before he had a chance of crossing the first-down line. He is just a tremendous athlete who is in the mold of Current players such as Ray Lewis, Patrick Willis and DJ Williams. Very smart and sound fundamentally as you would come to expect form a organization that produces greats like Polomalu, Palmer and of course the Juice.

Dan Connor
Determined to be the leader of Penn State's defense last year, Connor was finally be able to shine now that Paul Posluszny's off to the NFL. Has the ability to be there and be a sideline to sideline player as Denver likes to have the LB's. Fairly strong and goes out of his way to try and strip the ball WHILE making the tackle. His instincts remind people of Al Wilson and Tatupa. Knows what it means to be a Mic.

Jerod Mayo
Mayo has instincts and speed. Need I say more for a Denver fan? He is the right size for Denver and his 40 time actually projects onto the field. The team that picks up Mayo could very well get the best Mic out of this draft. He's big, fast. Strong, smart and agile. The top three round out real well with him.

Curtis Lofton
Lofton has emerged to become one of the greatest defenders in the country. In fact, he won the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year award, thanks to 157 tackles, sixth most in school history. Another agile and smart player Lofton can be a force of nature and just dole out punishments. He smiles every time a guy is slower to get up because it means the Lofton Machine is running on over full while the opponent is running on close to empty!

As always the link for more:
http://walterfootball.com/draft2008ILB.php
http://walterfootball.com/draft2008OLB.php

This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR

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Comments

Excellent work yet again!

I'm loving the series Jon.

I'll add that I like K2 because of his speed as well. His leadership must be pretty good too for him to be a back-up but a captain.

You make an excellent point on the staggering issue. We face a lot of turmoil with the potential of so many key players needing new contracts at about the same time.

Perhaps we should get a pick at LB and CB next year, and continue doing so for the next two years after that. One or two of the three LBs and one or two of the CBs might then be in a position to step in when the current CBs and LBs are in danger of moving on. We could alsostart the process this year.

Let's say we end up with 10 picks this year by trading down. Let's then speculate that we spend two picks each on each of our biggest needs (2 for DT, 2 for WR, 2 for OL). That would leave us 2 picks, one for CB and one for LB. With the other two picks we can take a shot at SAF (filled now by stop-gaps) and another position.

Another possibility I'd like to explore is trading a pick from this year for a higher pick next year.

What does everyone think?

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

by hoosierteacher on Apr 12, 2008 11:19 AM MDT 0 recs

Looks Good on Paper

but I think you are even more optimistic than I to think that very many sixth and seventh round selections will blossom into contributing (or even back-up) players in 2-3 years. When I look at Guru's recap of old drafts I am amazed how few players really make it. Out of this year's draft one or two players will make it and heaven only knows what position they will play or which round they will be selected.

by firstfan on Apr 12, 2008 2:01 PM MDT up 0 recs

Perhaps

Here's what I'm thinking. Those draft years weren't very good, and we should expect better than one or two good hits. I think a team should expect about half of their picks to work out (even if they aren't great). Perhaps this is what Mike reconsidered Sundquist for (though I doubt it).

Given ten picks (where I think we will be if we trade a 1st for a later first and a third), I would expect that at least four picks work out. By doubling my bets on the three positions I see as highest need (2 DT, 2 WR, and 2 OL in no particular order), I would expect any four of these to work out. Of the 3 remaining picks (two in the 7th and 1 in the 6th) I would be thrilled even even one worked out.

I'm hoping the period that Guru refers to isn't going to be the standard that we should expect moving forward. Some of our more recent drafts have gotten better too. We can only hope for the best!

: )

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

by hoosierteacher on Apr 12, 2008 2:23 PM MDT up 0 recs

Makes Sense

The last two or three drafts have produced more contributing players than we historically got. I guess I will see when Guru gets to the immediate post Elway/TD era, but my feeble memory tells me we were horrible at drafting in that era and this has contributed to back-to-back loosing seasons.
Your strategy reeks of good old common sense.

by firstfan on Apr 12, 2008 2:38 PM MDT up 0 recs

Thanks

I think at the end of their contracts we let Webster and Winborn go. I like the lists you and I both put up on MattR's post. I think those would work out well either way. I also think we are in a good position this year. (Another Diary?) We are hitting our needs with the Draft and stop gaps. Now if our stop gaps prove their metal and become respected starters (which I think most will), then next year after Lynch retires and lets say Hamilton and Nalen follow him, regardless of those losses we are still drafting for Depth! If we pick as you and I both Suggest, than all we have left to do is Address Depth. Wouldn't that be something? As for the pick I say lets run with it.

Davis to the Hall!

by Jon Tollerud on Apr 12, 2008 2:04 PM MDT up 0 recs

I agree

And I want to thank you for this series. You put a lot of good food for thought on the table.

by firstfan on Apr 12, 2008 2:12 PM MDT 0 recs

No Problem Happy to do it

I want to kind of give my opinions while backing them up and giving other options. I figured this was the best way to do it. Glad it adds thought to other people dinner table.

Davis to the Hall!

by Jon Tollerud on Apr 12, 2008 3:12 PM MDT up 0 recs