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2008 NFL Draft -- Denver Signs 7 Undrafted Free Agents

A quick introduction to some of the newest Broncos!

  1. Anthony Alridge (WR - Houston)  RB/WR  Don't tell Anthony that he is a dreaded 'tweener.  Reportedly responded to not being drafted by swearing vengeance on every team in the league, except for the Broncos of course, who nabbed him right up.  Alridge is an electrifying player, a north south one-cut runner with a massive chip on his shoulder and experience at multiple positions.  Should compete at KR/PR, but needs to bulk up a little to really push either of our current "change-up" specialists
  2. K Garrett Hartley (Oklahoma)   Denver is taking a flyer that Hartley will show the consistency and range he had his first three years, before inexplicably losing both his accuracy and some of his power.  Hits into the endzone at about a 33% rate, and is(was)  exceptionally accurate inside of 50 yds.  Has enough power to hit longer ones and has gotten better about getting lift into his kicks, but has some fundamental parts of his game that he needs to keep fine tuning.
  3. T Mitch Erickson (South Dakota State)  Quick footed player with marginal speed and hands, but good lower body strength.  Had 66 knockdowns and graded above 80% on his blocking for three of four years.  Has the strength to develop at RT or could be moved inside to guard with time.
  4. T Tyler Polumbus (Colorado)  A ton of potential here, Polumbus needs to (and can) add some weight, but could be a long term project to develop for RT or LT depth.  Hawkins gave this late bloomer a chance to start as a junior and was rewarded with 54 knockdowns the first year and 68 knockdowns the second, as well as seeing 8 of those blocks lead to TDs and only 1 sack getting by him.  Not a natural player, he needs to show more spark and fire, and reduce the thinking workload.  Fundamentally unsound (can't keep his pads down, doesn't protect his legs) and needs to prove his commitment.  In short, nothing a few years in Shanny's patented incubation tubes can't fix...
  5. P Brett Kern (Toledo)  An overall project punter that could end up on the practice squad.  Has amazing instincts, and grasps some of the more difficult nuances, being a good directional and placement punter.  Has good leg and could develop even more leg strength, in the meantime he has limited hangtime and a well below average kicking speed.  He can be rattled under pressure and had a lot of Ernsterish miskicks at critical moments. 
  6. WR  Lorne Sam (Texas-El Paso)  A Matt Jones clone, Lorne is a young man with QB experience and WR potential.  Lorne however is a much better runner and has a ton of raw talent, if he could just get settled at a position.  Expect him to be an automatic addition to the practice squad where he can learn a thing or two about how to run those route thingamajigs.
  7. OLB Wesley Woodyard (Kentucky)  Denver is competing for his services right now, but if they nab him they will be getting a 'tweener type of SAF/WLB with a ton of heart and unwavering tenacity.  All things considered it would be a steal to get this guy, essentially, for free, even if he isn't anyone's first choice at the position. [Woodyard is officially in the fold.]

 

     

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    Love the kid from Houston

    I’ve seen him a few times, and he’s a stick of dynamite waiting to explode. Unfortunately, you could probably confuse him with one if you saw them next to each other. Just kidding. Kind of. I saw Hartley kick several times throughout his career, and despite his tendency to miss PATs, looked strong on kicks. I like the signing, though I admittedly loved Coutu. I thought Tyler Polumbus might be worth a 7th round flyer, and almost even mentioned it in one of the draft threads before deciding to go another direction. I like the pickup, and as you say, some time in Shanny’s incubation tube and we might be looking at some solid tackle depth. The other two guys I have no comments on, lol. Great work, Styg. It’s been a fun weekend.

    by SlamDunkTheFunk on Apr 28, 2008 1:37 AM MDT reply reply   0 recs

    Woodyard is going to be a ST ace

    I’m surprised Woodyard went undrafted. He was a big-time player at Kentucky, always around the ball, and an excellent tackler. I like the move a lot, and I think he can make the 53 man roster.

    "I wouldn't ever set out to hurt anyone deliberately unless it was, you know, important --like a league game or something." DICK BUTKUS

    by TedBartlett905 on Apr 28, 2008 5:30 AM MDT reply reply   0 recs

    Styg

    You might consider moving the entire post to the intro paragraph. On first glance I thought we had just signed most of our draft class, but when I opened the full story realized that these CFA’s that you said they were.

    This is good news. For those of us still piecing together the draft, this is like getting all of your Christmas presents and then realizing that you still have to go to the grandparents and get some MORE loot!

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

    by hoosierteacher on Apr 28, 2008 8:31 AM MDT reply reply   0 recs

    in taking a christmas angle....

    lets hope that the presents are cool things and not something you can’t return.

    fader nation is a conquered nation

    by mdierk on Apr 28, 2008 8:33 AM MDT to parent up reply reply   0 recs

    Rather...

    ...let’s hope it’s cool stuff you can play with and not clothes! I’m really hoping we don’t need to return anything!

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

    by hoosierteacher on Apr 28, 2008 8:38 AM MDT to parent up reply reply   0 recs

    pun - sorry in advance

    If we need to return anything this year, is has got to be kick offs for touch down…. Someone had to do it…

    /The great Dane - formerly known as Claaaaas!

    by Claus Vestergaard on Apr 28, 2008 1:12 PM MDT to parent up reply reply   0 recs

    Yes. That was terrible.

    But considering that English is not your first language, you still get good credit for the pun at any rate!

    By the way, VERY cool avatar. I may have said it before. Even so, it is worth mentioning again.

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

    by hoosierteacher on Apr 28, 2008 5:05 PM MDT to parent up reply reply   0 recs

    Woodyard.

    He’s the only guy in the bunch that I know about and I’m really glad we got him. I’ll take a look at the rest and get back to you with more. In general, I like that we got a K and P, but it may have been worth drafting the top legs. There were a bunch of other guys I would have liked to have seen us get, but you never know. Here’s the list I posted in my 2008 Re-Draft Fan Post.

    Eric Young (OG, Tennessee), Ezra Butler (OLB, Nevada), Jamar Adams (S, Michigan), Erin Henderson (LB, Maryland), Ali Highsmith (OLB, LSU), Wesley Woodyard (S/OLB, Kentucky), Marcus Griffin (S, Texas), J Leman (ILB, Illinois) and Mike Dragosavich (P, North Dakota State). We should also check in on Tommy Blake (DE, TCU) and Ben Moffitt (ILB, USF) to see if they got their heads on straight now, because they’re plenty talented.

    Please check out my blog at http://thefulldeck.blogspot.com/ , now redesigned and recommited!

    by ejruiz on Apr 28, 2008 9:41 AM MDT reply reply   0 recs

    I liked Henderson and Highsmith,

    but it looks like the Broncos saw something in Woodyard that made them want to bring him in. You can’t go wrong with undrafted free agents.

    No Drago? Let’s go North Dakota! :)

    by phantom818 on Apr 28, 2008 9:50 AM MDT to parent up reply reply   0 recs

    Bravo!

    Thank you Styg for the info! All your player profiles have been amazing, and I’m in awe of the knowledge (both form you and from others!) I’ll probably be digesting this info over the week, and I’ll enjoy every minute of it!

    ~Uffdah

    by Disco_Stu on Apr 28, 2008 12:27 PM MDT reply reply   0 recs

    Nice Styg

    I don’t know from where else i shpuld have gotten this kind of info…

    The RB sounds nice – there is absolutely NOTHING more dangerous than a player with a chip on his shoulder!! Except for a RB with a chip on his shoulder… In DENVER!

    /The great Dane - formerly known as Claaaaas!

    by Claus Vestergaard on Apr 28, 2008 1:14 PM MDT reply reply   0 recs

    Check the...

    first video posted here. He can do more than run and catch ;-D

    by phantom818 on Apr 28, 2008 2:09 PM MDT to parent up reply reply   0 recs

    Hey!!

    A shame Hussain Abdullah isn’t on that list… He went to Vikings as an UDFR… .

    /The great Dane - formerly known as Claaaaas!

    by Claus Vestergaard on Apr 28, 2008 1:59 PM MDT reply reply   0 recs

    Danny Woodhead

    Got an email from my friend that Woodhead went to the Jets. I figured when they picked up Royal and Williams he had no shot.

    Or so I'm told.

    by MN Bronco on Apr 28, 2008 2:17 PM MDT reply reply   0 recs

    Paulescu

    Well, it looks like Paulescu is going to stay our punter if Kern can be erratic like Ernster. I don’t know of any veteran options at this point. But, Paulescu was the 2nd rated punter coming out of college in TSN’s draft guide in 06. They gave him a 5th round grade. What is interesting is they rated him higher than Danny Baugher, a guy that we just signed. TSN in 06 said that Sam “Has above average leg strength and great directional skills. Gets terrific hang time and control of his punts”. I agree that we should have gotten Drago before Satan’s Soldiers did, but let’s give Sam a look before we write him off.
    As for K, I don’t know what is going on. It looks like Prater will be given full opportunity to win the job. It doesn’t seem like they want to bring in Vanderjagt, and I don’t think that K from Oklahoma was that highly rated.

    by PABroncofan on Apr 28, 2008 4:31 PM MDT reply reply   0 recs


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