Is it a 1-3 round pick or 4-7? The bigger question is, Guru going to be ranting about his third round pick next year too!? ;)

D-Line? That skill-level just went WAY up. Should we still draft a DT this year? Yes. Do we HAVE to do it in the second round? No. Denver could return to the Texas well (Tim Crowder and Selvin Young anyone?) and find a way to pick up DT Frank Okam later on, which could open up a play maker pick or best available pick in round two.

It’s not like they went out and got a whole defensive line from another team…it IS just one player. No matter what, D-Rob’s still an improvement over what they have now (and he has actually played in the playoffs before as well).

Now we don’t have to draft a DT, although we surely should and will, probably even two. This really solidifies the d-line and gives us immediate help. Whoever we draft will help us down the road, but D-Rob makes us better right now. This is the icing on the cake of a very successful off-season of free agent acquisitions. Rather than sign one megastar who, after all, can only play one position at a time and would have cost us dearly, we’ve given ourselves depth at safety and center, and have upgraded two linebacker positions, defensive tackle, and wide receiver. Now we really can draft the best player available when it comes our turn, and we can draft for the future instead of for immediate needs. (Even if we take Clady or Williams as our first pick, it’s not certain either would start ahead of Kuper or Harris. If there’s one thing Shanny knows it’s the offensive line, and if he thinks we’re okay we probably are.) That means we can use the draft to build the team, not just rescue it from impending disaster. I can’t wait to see how well D-Rob performs when he’s not playing out of position. Right now I see no glaring holes, although we can still use some depth at DT. All the mags and sites have been talking about all the holes the Broncos need to fill. Now there aren’t any. Beautiful.

this off-season has been a thing of beauty. Maybe it’s just Bronco-fans being overly optimistic, but i looove this signing. espesially the twist, that we don’t need to pay with draftpicks from the most important draft-year since the Elway-draft. AND the pick is based on production – if he stinks (he will not!) we get him cheap!

Shanny and him have a talk and he says “son you need to suck this year so we can keep our top picks and give the jets a seventh rounder. You do that you get an extra mill” Im only kidding of course. I think the condition would be 3/4 or 6/7 thats how these things usually go. If hes good you get a 3 or 4 and if hes bad you get a 6 or 7 ie plummer!

First, this is an incredible move for Denver. Denver gets a player at DT and only has to pay what he is worth in terms of a conditional pick. If he’s a bust, then we don’t give up much. If he’s great, he’s worth giving up a higher pick. I agree with Jon’s range in his comment above.

Second, I believe that there is more of a question mark with DRob than any assurance. I still think Denver should go for a DT or two in the draft. I’m not sold on DRob yet, but I’m not ready to predict that he’ll be a bust either. He could go either way.

Third, I’m starting to think that Denver is going to go hard and fast for covering the offensive line this year. If Kuper plays at OT we have Harris as a back-up. We have nothing real behind Hamilton and Holland at OG (in my opinion). I think that FA pick-up Wiegmann is a terrific back-up for Nalen, but a stop-gap that will retire soon after Nalen leaves.

Fourth, with the excellent moves in the reloading season at SAF, LB, and WR (and with the money we saved), we have much more ability to go for “best available” rather than “need”. Again, we can’t put all of our hopes in DRob for DT, but the move does give us more flexibility in the draft.

Fifth, if Denver is scared that both CLady and WIlliams might go before the 12th pick, I wouldn’t be shocked to watch them trade up to get either player. Fans would scream bloody murder, but Mike has shown before that he fears other teams taking “his guy”.

Last, I want to reiterate the old defensive axiom that “One good DT makes 2 good DTs”. IF DRob (or someone else from the draft) steps in and is excellent, that creates a dynamic on the line that makes the other DT’s job so much easier that you get the effect of two good DTs. Because our DTs have been so weak, our whole defense has suffered. In my mind, just one good DT would have a ripple effect that will increase the defense as a whole.

With the number of reloading season pickups the Broncos have done so far, it would make sense to me that they are going to package later picks to try and move up, not from #12, but at least for a 3rd or even another 2nd or possibly even back into the late 1st.

This was not my idea, I read it somewhere else, but try this on for size: Denver takes either Mendenhall or Stewart at #12, then packages some later picks to move back into the late 1st round to pick up the tackle out of BC, Cherilus. This year’s draft is pretty deep at the OT spot (After Long, there’s Clady, WIlliams, Otah, Albert all 1st rounders), so they can afford to take BPA at #12 and still land a cornerstone guy. Personally, I’d be happy with that scenario as I still think it’d leave the Broncos with a shot at some of the 2nd tier DT’s (Laws, Okam, et al).

I’ve felt all off-season that Denver has had some sneaky master plan going on that will result in an epic draft day and a total bomb in the first round. Personally, I’m dying for Denver to take Stewart. Okay, maybe not dying, but I’d love it very much. The idea of drafting a tackle in the first has never felt that great to me (though I’m admittedly very gunshy after the George Foster Fiasco). And I have a pretty large mancrush on Phillip Wheeler (I agree ejruiz, he isn’t the right fit for us, but I

Gah, can draft day JUST BE HERE ALREADY? I have all these notes on players I really like sitting here and a plan in place for a steady stream of pizza and wings. This is my Super Bowl. I spend every year waiting for this to come around, and hurr it is. All plans are in place, media center is properly prepped (I have the drafting of Cutler on DVD somewhere around here), and my hopes are sky-high. Please let this draft not go the way of Willie Middlebrooks.