I am still, until seeing him being utilized, insisting (spelling?) on putting Hillis in the FB/HB-hybrid group. Simply because he has so much versatillity, and good carrying-talents that he can do it all. He has great experience at FB – granted – but thats only because HB was a fairly deep position in Arkansas.

But unlike many hybrids, Hillis actually played as a FB in college and has been drafted as a FB. He may turn out to have RB qualities too, but then he might be a hybrid in the other direction (towards becoming a RB). Denver typically drafts RBs, then makes them into FBs. For once we have a true blocking specialist, and I hope he is used that way.

That he was a run blocker for two elite College RBs makes me think that his value as a FB is real. I did mention (in another thread) that he may be converted to RB, but I think Torrain gets the nod for being this year’s “deep but golden” RB pick.

But who knows? We shall see. I expect a lot of surprises this summer.

I find the method behind your analysis slightly flawed, in that you are comparing our projected starters in 08 to the players that wound up starting last year due to injury. We must accept, that there will be season ending injuries to key players in 08 as well, and I therefor think that we should compare last years ideal line up with this years ditto.

With that in mind, I think we are worse of at WR (a healthy walker and Marshall), and only even at OL. Due to age our DB’s are bound to decline slightly.

But I hate being mister negative, and I do agree with the over all conclusion, that we are an improved team.

Good work. I am looking forward to seing what everybody thinks.

good job, as always, ht. i agree with your statement about o-line keepers. what is our usual roster #? i believe with the injuries(especially to hamilton), we may want to keep an extra o-lineman, or 2. but we usually go pretty thin there. i don’t see many of these guys clearing waivers, so the practice squad isn’t really an option. in fact, i think we will have difficulty keeping alot of our cuts, we have some pretty good players with upside that simply aren’t going to make the team. is there a limit to the # of players that can be claimed off of 1 team, or do you think there will be some “unfortunate” injuries to some of our draft picks/fa’s this preseason, if you know what i mean?

also, i hate to sound like a broken record, but where are the special teams again? this was our achilles heel last season, and the kicking situation is still a mystery to me. have you seen prater’s college stats? 50-74?! and who’s our punter, shankyou mcfinnegan? any chance of a solid pickup, or are we going on a trial and error basis here? can prater punt at all, he seems to have the leg strength, and accuracy isn’t as important there. i know it is a different talent, but prater and a field goal specialist(veteran), is a short-term option, if the punters don’t look capable. that would maximize the leg strength, and increase the chances of a clutch field goal attempt. just thinking…

on the bright side, our return game and coverage units should be in the strong improvement category, given the talent and speed we will have at our disposal. big upgrade, i think. better quality depth on coverage and great speed at returner here. but if shanny thinks we are going to score td’s all the time, and really don’t need a solid fg kicker, then he has finally lost his mind. let’s hope the young guys here perform beyond expectations. maybe i overrate the kicking game in a tight contest, but when playing the top teams, we will need field goals and field position(on punts) to win. this is just common sense

Denver’s got an improvement…you would think. Let’s hope your thoughts and my thoughts translate to an improvement on the field. We’ll have to wait a WHILE to see, but right now, on paper…we’ve got an improvement on our hands. Some special teams possibilities were brought in through the draft and now some of the former everyday players last year will be playing special teams. LB depth? Special teams depth? Special teams improvement? We’ll see. You would think so.

Some comments:

I don’t think Clady will be a major upgrade over Lepsis right away, even though Lepsis last year didn’t play up to his usual standard. He might be better in pass protection, and maybe as good in run blocking. That in itself would be impressive for a rookie, and he’ll get much better in years two and three. But considering Clady plus the return of Hamilton and Nalen, plus significant improvement in Kuper, Pears and Harris, plus the addition of Weigman and Gandy, I have to agree that the line will be strongly improved.

The one area I question, I’m not sure how strongly, is DT. Robertson is a major upgrade at one of the two spots, and I think Thomas will show major improvement. The only question is depth. I expect there’ll be a fairly large drop-off after the two starters. But last year, compared to this year, there was a large drop-off at the starting positions. I’m leaning towards thinking we’ll be strongly improved at DT.

Regarding WR you say, “We lost an excellent receiver in Walker.” Actually, we lost him last year. He didn’t give us anything then that he’s not giving us now. This year, when we use a three WR set, we’ll have three quality players rather than two. Stokely will be back where he’s best, and Jackson/Colbert will be a definite upgrade over Martinez. I’m not sure if that’s enough to change the evaluation from moderate to strong, though, especially given the uncertainty of Marshall’s condition.

I pretty much agree with everything else. At DE, much like the o-line, we’re not only strikingly better but suddenly pretty deep. I want to say we’re probably better than moderately improved at LB, but I think that’s a function of word usage. For me moderate implies “a little bit”, but since you’re positioning it between “slightly” and “strong” I suspect it’s equivalent to what I mean by “significantly improved,” which I think
we will be at LB. Maybe even better if the synergy is as good as I hope it’ll be.

I can’t wait for Guru’s breakdown. Your article is a nice way to get us thinking about it.

Do we think K2 is going to play on special teams if he is starting? I know naturally you would say no but given the condtion of our special teams last year….

I think that is a great analysis HT. I would give our WR a even right now. We have better depth but your talking about what talent we can put on the field. We can still only put B. Marsh, Stokely and (I like) Royal on the field at one time. I don’t see us going 4 WR set very often.

this may come as a shock to some but the more I thought about it, the more I have decided I am a little uncomfortable with our position at QB. Here me out before you blast me. Cutler is great, excellent and the starter. It is after him I worry. If he goes down again, and then we have a problem with PB&J Ramsey, where does that leave us, Leach was the next best thing last year which worried me sick when I saw Ramsey get hit a few times. I am just a little shaky there. After that I agree with the breakdown all the way except maybe tight end, in which I think we improved just by experience.

For the most part I agree with HT’s thoughts here. Although the return game might’ve gotten better--and I sure hope so, but we won’t truly know until the season kicks off—the kicking took a definite step back; however, I do believe that no matter who wins it, Prater or Hartley, we’re better off in the field position game, and one roster spot better by not having to carry a kicking specialist. So, in a way, it’s a net gain. Though I must admit I was swayed somewhat by Guru’s excellent archived piece on Elam. That said, I still think a clutch kicker is extremely difficult to replace, and few things can kill a team’s confidence quite like a terrible kicker. Here’s hoping we don’t end up with one of those this year.

Re: the battle for the roster spot. I don’t have much confidence in Prater, to be honest, but if he does snag the job, I hope he does well. I personally hope Hartley steps up and wins the job. That said, I was a bit confused by an above statement:

We have Prater and Garrett Hartley deuling it out for our FG kicker and netiher did well in college.

Hartley didn’t do well in college? Shoot, BroncoBilly, I trust you because I don’t watch too much college FB these days, but Hartley’s senior season stats seem to be decent:

FG: 13/15 (0/0 from 1-19, 6/6 from 20-29, 4/6 from 30-39, 2/2 from 40-49, and 1/1 from 50+); Pct: .867; Long: 53. I believe one of those misses was blocked. PATs: 71/76; Pct. .934.

Granted, it’s college and he didn’t kick many FGs, but his PCT was better than every Bronco PCT season between ‘89 & ‘96 with Treadwell and Elam (see Guru’s above linked article). True, he’s not quite automatic (especially on those XPs), but that seems a decent stat line for a team that hardly kicked FGs and kicked a ton of PATs. Yet, we all know how important mental toughness is to the kicking position. So, how did Hartley do in big games when the season was on the line?

1/1 FG (Long 26) and 5/5 PATs in the Big 12 Championship game against Mizzou, and 3/3 FG (Long 42) and 1/1 PAT in the Fiesta Bowl against WVU.

How do these stats compare to Prater’s?

The image comes from a Prater story on the DPO by Jim Armstrong.

Now, I agree with what has been said about some college players transitioning very well into the NFL after having subpar holders/offensive lines/field qualities/conditions/et cetera. Yet, I think that a big game mentality is still measurable through performance in big games, and Hartley has that. In the big games, he was perfect, and that has to count for something.

If you were Garrett Hartley’s agent this cat might have got drafted. I don’t pay much attention to kickers so thanks for covering that.

there is a direct correlation between Bronco success and field goal attempts. I want fewer attempts and more extra points from the kicker. Look Elam was good, but to overpay a kicker is wrong. Give Prater or whomever the chance to earn the scorn or admiration of us fans. When Elam was drafted how many were really sold on him? 26/35 in his rookie year is not what you would call great. But he improved. Plus isnt it better to have a kicker who can but the ball between the uprights and KICKOFF? I do.

We lost an excellent receiver in Walker. Call him injury prone, and call him a whiner, but he was a very good threat on the field in my opinion. But we still have Marshall, who’s making a name for himself. We still have Stokely, one of the best slot receivers in the game. And now we’ve brought in the best depth Denver has ever had at WR, with rookie Royal and FAs Jackson, Colbert, and Parker.

WR – Moderate improvement

I thought that spock nailed it on Javon Walker – we lost him last year. The injury, sure, but the attitude was amazing – Ashley Lelie II, the Sequel. It’s a shame when a fine and talented receiver decides ahead of time that he isn’t the best receiver on the team but will not accept the #2 position. Instead of buckling down and earning the #1 he cowers away from the good of the team and of himself. Competition should maximize the players’ potential, not frighten it away.

I love Samie Parker’s embracing of the level of competition – we have missed that for years at this positon . I’d have to go with strong improvement based on Parker’s remarks and the overall level of the talent pool.

Cutler is also embracing his situation, as per the new USA Today article. He’s looking and film and saying, “I can make that throw now!” This is another reason that wideout will be so much better this year – Cutler is excited about throwing to them, and his health is solid. Looking at what he was able to create while seriously ill, the ‘strong improvement’ we expect from the QB slot will blaze a fire under his wideouts.

I recall when Bill Walsh mentioned that one of the early tenets of the West Coast Offense was to power, by pass and by run, to an early lead. Cutler’s excitement is palpable, the receivers are thrilled with the competition and the QB and the D should be able to protect that lead. That is going to heighten the level of play as well.

I believe that Hillis can make the grade this year, particularly as the season wears on and he ‘gets’ the system. His blocking skills are excellent, and his skill at receiving should make him a natural fit for the Broncos. I understand the issues with injuries and the so-called ‘tweener’ size, but he led Arkansas twice in catches for a fullback and set the school record for receptions and reception TDs for a fullback. Since he can hit and tackle well on ST and has experience in punt returns and kickoff returns, his versatility should help him stick with us. He added12 rushing TDs, averaged 10.3 yards per punt return and amassed 2,624 all-purpose yards over 44 games. With all that, character and attitude, he’ll be a big asset. His skills as a receiver could really expand our play-calling. I’ll go with moderate improvement, but reaching strong improvement by season’s end.