I have been pleased with our drafts of late. When we drafted Cuts I was so excited. All I wanted in that draft was him. B-marsh is a beast, as for Sheft that was a steal. I can’t wait for this year to see Elvis wreak havoc. Besides some flakey pics the Broncos are getting it right. I think Torain and Barrett will be steals this year.

I think Torain and Barrett will be steals this year.

Also Hillis.

Chris Kuper who brings some depth and Domenik Hixon. God we’re idiots for waiving Hixon last season. He could have helped our return game so much.

How many better drafts have there been in recent history for ANY team?

The 2007 Giants draftclass is hard to argue with. 100% rookie-starter-rate on a (non expansion-) Super Bowl team…

In all reality teams are made up of players drafted after the 3rd round. Just look at some of Denvers best players ever. Mecklenburgh 12th round, TD 6th round, Rod Smith Undrafted. So I am pleased with the past 3 drafts (So far)

The story of the last few years is even better if one considers how successful the Broncos have been at acquiring talented but passed over College Free Agents (CFAs). The best examples may be both Selvin Young and Andre Hall, who appear to be our #1 & #2 RBs headed into the season (and I’m not forgetting Torain, who, as a #5rd. / #139, merely provides another example of getting overlooked talent).

The jury’s still out on some of the more recent picks, so it’s hard it’s to conclude too much in some cases, but the Broncos have been successful in terms of production for many of the recent acquisitions. Part of the story relates to the opportunities that newer players found, which itself points to a drop-off in veteran talent, but this alone doesn’t account for Denver’s success in scouting and acquiring talent.

There are some other players who are part of this story, too. I regard Erik Pears as a find because of his contribution as a starter, although we’ll have to wait and see if his contribution is overshadowed by yet another CFA, Tyler Polumbus. However you look at it, we were able to fill one OT position without expending a draft pick.

And there are some names from this year’s CFA crop that bolster what appears to be a productive draft class; Woodyard, Alridge. Another recent acquisition who could become part of the story — although there are many FAs — might be Jordan Beck, but I realize his prospects are still ‘iffy.’

It will be very interesting to see how many of these players are kept on the 53 man squad. Some have already produced enough to warrant keeping them while others, such as many of the LBs, are caught in a numbers game that will make a decision to release them painful, and we may see them catch on elsewhere.

BTW — I, like many, was very unhappy to see Hixon ‘exposed.’ In truth, there were problems with his performance though, and there were needs elsewhere on the team which were created by injuries (as best I can recall) that led to that unfortunate decision. It’s always easy to criticize a decision of this type based on later results but the numbers game leads to some intractable problems. Hixon would never have seen the waiver wire (and we were going to bring him back) if he had performed.

It will be fun watching how things come together this year.