But the more I look at our picks, the more sense they make.

We need one to two years to develop a center. Nalen probably retires at the end of the year, and Wiegmann may go the year after. We really needed an OC right away.

RB was important too. I’m a fan of Henry’s, but if he gets injured we have:

1. No RBs that can endure a majority of carries, and
2. No power backs in the rotation.

Albert was a two position kind of guy (like Meyers, whom we just cut). Clady, on the other hand, is a beast at OT and we have sewn up the LT position for at least 10 years.

Remember, I’m a defense guy through and through. I also advocated for DT before the draft. But we DID get a DT (just not the one a lot of folks wanted), and we got one in FA that won’t cost much, if anything.

Shanahan had a choice between targeting a team need and over stocking (which is a valid strategy), or building the team as an entirety. The second option is much less sexy, but a fundemental way to raise the ship.

Let’s see what happens.

of this season. :)

When I did my “2008 Re-Draft”, I took a similar aproach to what you were hoping for, but I see the value in the picks we made. At this point, I’m willing to give management the benefit of the doubt, but if our run defense fails again, they may be on a very short leash following another mediocre season.

By the way, here’s the result of my re-draft. I printed explainations in my original Fanpost, so you can check them out there if you’d like.

12 – Ryan Clady, OT, Boise State
#42 – Dexter Jackson, KR/WR, Appalachian State
#108 – Dre Moore, DT, Maryland
#119 – Red Bryant, DT, Texas A&M
#139 – Johnathan Goff, ILB, Vanderbilt
#148 – Durant Brooks, P, Georgia Tech
#183 – Steve Justice, C, Wake Forrest
#220 – Josh Barrett, S, Arizona State
#227 – Brandon Coutu, K, Georgia

I think we will end up eating our own shoe leather on the draft. Shanny grabbed some High Quality and Claiber guys. Sure, I wanted a lot more doen on the defensive side of the ball but the more I thought about it the more I see that we have two vet tackles and a young guy already. Drafting more than one would have pushed the limit somewhere else. Personally I think out DE woudl have been hit because the more guys we sign at DT the less we can have at DE based on neither of them have much Special teams play. With the lineman the problem is depth. I would like to see us go in to every game with 8 DL and 8 OL in case someone gets hurt. Sure thats only a few guys for rotaion but the problem becomes who has to pull a lot of double duty on ST then. WE take 10 on each line and Champ DRe Foxy and the crew have to tackle on ST because we cant have anotehr guy on the roster. I think at least with me I forgot to take into account the 53 man game day roster and which positions we NEED to have people on. Having to many guys at one position on teh practice squad likewise hurts our depth. I think this was mainly a special teams/ Depth draft especially with what I consider a very undeep draft year. the next two years look to be outstanding. More and more athletes are realizing the value of staying 4 years of school and therfore the draft suffered this year. Look at the SC guys. The four big names that came off the board coudl have entered the draft last year and gone 3-5 but Ellis Rivers and company remained one mroe year and got into teh first and second rounds. I think Shanny did an excellent job and I like you at first thought why no DT? but I think after these guys on MHR sold me on Mendenhall I started looking through the whole class more and realized how weak it really was overall. If you want you can join up with the scouting project were doing this next College season and help us break down guys who may enter the draft and how they fit for denver. All this aside Great Write Up. We all have different views on this and Yours is no less valueable than mine or anyone elses.

all the DTs in this draft are WAY riskier than the solid choice for a center who would have been a #1 or #2 center in any draft, not just this one. K-lich compares favorably to starting centers in the NFL, and is stellar compared to NCAA centers.

DTs on the other hand, including Balmer, Moore, Sims and pretty much everyone except for Ellis and Dorsey may compare favorably to this draft class, but in the grand scheme of things they just aren’t that good, especially compared to the Oline competition they will face in the NFL. They all have serious issues from foot/hand work, to consistency to character. K-lich is twice the football player that any of these DTs are, and Shanny was right to prioritize.

And I love how he was patient and allowed other teams to take the chances on DT. Some of them will strike gold, most of them will be burned, and Denver will be one of the teams that got a solid competitor in Powell who has his work cut out for him on the football field, but has ZERO concerns regarding motivation or character. (fun fact: Powell led a bible study class for his teammates in college. I really don’t think we will have to worry about off-field, or motivation issues with him, and he very well may have some hidden leadership traits that may shine through if he produces.)

Bottom line: there isn’t much of a difference in value between the DTs in this draft, and we got our DT with a late fifth round pick. Maximum value for minimum risk. I don’t think it could have turned out any better.

I think that most of us Bronco fans who were watching the draft were hoping to see the name Dre Moore pop up on screen when Denver picked. Most draft “experts” say Moore has natural talent but has never put it all together. The center we ended up drafting has been a warrior at Bowling Green starting for over 40 consecutive games. Powell is a great run stuffing DT which we can all agree is what we need most. Also the addition of Dewayne Robertson will really boost our D as well. He did not fit into NY’s 3-4 scheme as a NT, i think his play will improve much in Denver and his knees will hold up because of the rotation used. As far as RB goes, everytime Henry ran the ball last year, i held my breathe hoping he would get up. It seems like every other play he was limping off the field. Selvin Young and Andre Hall are change of pace backs, even though i was very impressed with Hall carrying the load in the Chicago game last year. RB was a need for us i think, i wish we could have gotten a game changer but Torain has “1st round talent” as shanny says. He is a pretty big back who has a great first cut and will compliment Young or Hall very well if he can stay healthy.