because we could easily get into trouble at interior O line, and all the other positions have more depth. But I desperately want Kyle Orton back, and Doom and Brandon and Tony. Great players and great teammates. The Broncos really don’t have that much money tied up in huge contracts so I hope it can happen. Here’s hoping all these guys will give up a bit of a home team discount to stay with a very fun and promising young team.

Doom!! No, gotta be Marshall!! No, Scheffler’s skill set would be hardest to replace… No, we can’t break up the core of our awesome OLine, but, Marshall’s a one-of-a-kind beast, Orton’s the man, No, Doom!!! Scheffler!! Kuper! Orton! KABOOM!!

With Several Playoff Games at home… and a huge increase in Merch Sales because of the success… and then all the SuperBowl Revenue… Mr. Bowlen will make some smooth cash this season! With a SuperBowl win, it would make it hard for players and coaches to jump ship and would possibly settle for moderate contracts instead of going for bank.

Then Mr. B can take that excess cash and sign those guys with lots of up-front cash, so that when a cap is re-instated, the damage has already been done in the uncapped year.

Plus, when Shanny takes another coaching job, that would be 7 mil. more to work with….

I know it is kind of simplistic and wishful thinking, but my dream would be to keep all these guys.

Let’s compare this past free agent signing period to who we have to resign this year and with an owner committed to winning we have a chance to resign everybody. It may take some small concessions on the players part but we can do this.

This year’s free agent class.
Brian Dawkins-5 years 17 million
Andre Goodman-5 years 20 million dollars
Renaldo Hill-4 years 10 million
Jabar Gaffney-4 years 10 million
Andre Davis-2 years, couldn’t find the terms but probably around 6 million or so
Darrell Reid 3 years 6.8 million
Ron Fields 2 years 5 million

This averages out to less than 3 million dollars per player per year. Very modest. For this year we are paying over 21 million dollars for these 7 players.

Here are the deals I think we could get.

Brandon Marshall 5 years 50 million
Elvis Dumervil 6 years 48 million-Similar to James Harrison of Pitt. deal
Kyle Orton 5 years 35 million-Is this lower than other top quarterbacks-yes, but Kyle Orton is a team guy and he loves Colorado. I think he will see this as a fair deal and jump at the chance to continue to be the man under Josh McDaniels.
Chris Kuper 4 years 16 million
Tony Scheffler 4 years 24 million dollars.

All told this is 35 million per year for 5, core impact players. Obviously I think the odd man out could be Scheffler, especially with Richard Quinn waiting in the wings and all of our talented recievers. But regardless, this year we probably won’t sign any free agents except our own. So Brandon, Elvis, Chris, Kyle and Tony are this years free agent class.

Also next year Shanny should have a job so that’s 7 million Pat Bowlen can spend on players and not on coaches.

there are two key provisions to the uncapped year relevant here:
1) In order to become a vested unrestricted free agent, you must be in the league six years, rather than four.
2) You can tag as many as six franchise players.

I’m not sure on the compensation rules for players with expired contracts that would become restricted FAs, rather than UFAs (the remaining ’06 draft class). I believe the process involves designating a tender on each player and if someone else sings the player, they must compensate the Broncos according to the tender. Then, you have the six franchise tags. Because this team is so competitive and the slew of RFAs, if Mr. B wants to spend the money, there are certainly guys we can pay the big franchise money to for one year and making the final decision in 2011.

Assuming we see the uncapped year, in my opinion, we should:
1) Lock down Orton during the season because he’s the only one of these guys that will see UFA. I think we could sign him to a reasonable starting QB 3 yr deal that wouldn’t cripple the club or anything.
2) Show Brandon the money early in the offseason. He’s a special playmaker that makes this offense run. He’s a great blocker in the run game. He frees up Eddie from a lot of double coverage. He’s a matchup nightmare. He’s the type of player you don’t want to lose in FA. Plus, other than what appears to have been a heated argument with his new fiancée, he’s stayed out of trouble the past couple years.
3) Put a a big tender on Elvis and franchise him if no one bites (getting one more look at Ayers in 2010 before making a final decision).
4) We can play the same tender/franchise game with Kuper and Scheffler as well unless we can sign them to bargain long term deals.

But I think we should let Brandon walk, I understand he is an incredible talent, but after the latest round of stunts, it is obvious that the tiger isn’t going to change his stripes, and if we hand him a ton of money I can see him beocming an irresponsible jack ass again very easily. I rather we take care of Doom and guys who go about things the right way.

The best teams invariably have great lines/front-sevens, both D and O. Therefore IMO Doom and Cuper are the imperative signings we need to make. Though with an uncapped year I could see Bowlen digging into his pockets and making some front-loaded deals to get these guys to stay. The potential pitfall there is that later when they’re making considerably less than that first year of the deal any of those players will whine about restructuring their deal. Though given McD’s handling of Marshall in this offseason I don’t see that as too big a problem.

I say you absolutely keep Doom and B-Marsh and here’s why.

Doom and B-Marsh are rare talents, in fact I don’t think there are any players in the NFL like either of them. Doom with his leverage and long arm ability, and B-Marsh with his size and ability to run after the catch. These players are 1 in a million. Orton, Scheff and Kup are good players no doubt. But, you can find efficient, smart, reliable qb’s, a good pass blocking guard, and a pass-catching TE through Free Agency and the draft. Now I still say we can keep all but those two are all-world talents so I think you do everything you can to keep them.

Rec’d for the research and because it was well written. The asides at the end are good too. My feeling is that you start with Doom, start negotiations with Marshall, sign Orton then Kuper and last Scheffler. Orton will be the easiest to sign, IMO. The challenge is to get Doom and Marshall done, with the emphasis on Dumerville. Kuper won’t be hard to sign either. Scheffler needs to hit the weights and build up his forearms and biceps so he can block somebody. Then he can have his money. Otherwise, Hillis can take his place. Anyway it’s done, they are all eligible to be Franchised. I see that distinction being imposed on Marshall or Doom. I’m not saying it would be a good idea to do that to Brandon, but it could happen. I say that because for some reason, the players don’t like the Franchise Tag. Maybe they don’t like the one year giant salary, I don’t know. Somehow it seems to hurt their poor feelings.

I use Rotoworld for this because they have the easiest format and are usually up to date and comprehensive.

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/clubhouse_contracts.aspx?sport=NFL&majteam=DEN

I have a position on the others (SIGN THEM!!) but part of the point of contingency planning is to figure out ‘what-if’ scenarios just in case. More to the point — we need to prioritize players and figure out who we would give up if we had to give somebody up.

Hamilton’s situation is interesting because of several factors. He may be in decline (I don’t want oversell this point but the weakness at run blocking in the interior OL has become apparent lately). Rather than list all the relevant considerations, let me just say that are many decisions that revolve around him.

It’s not necessarily the case that we can replace Hamilton immediately, so draft picks should be viewed as future starters/current depth. And I’m somewhat more concerned about replacing Hamilton than I am Wiegmann. Also, Guard is more of a concern to me than Center because of the blocking scheme that McDaniels brought in. One solid run blocking/man blocking/pulling Guard would really help, and we can address the Center position later (later in the draft or free agency). Hamilton’s best place on this team may be as Center depth/Guard depth, and that’s assuming we can re-sign him at a reasonable figure.

The real concern regarding Hamilton is a the ‘numbers game.’ We have room for about 9 OLs (8 would be idea but we can’t reach that yet), so we have ‘cover’ the entire OL with that number. Right now we look like this:

[BOLDED ARE 2010 FREE AGENTS ] -see Rotoworld listing to determine if restrictions apply

LT — Clady, Polumbus
LG – Hamilton, Olsen
C — Wiegman (*Hamilton)
RG - Kuper, Hochstein
RT – Harris, Gorin [contract details are unclear]

We’re not truly settled in several areas, although we have more than adequate coverage for the time being. The Tackle position isn’t that secure. In particular, backup RT is a position that we can improve while — at the same time — fixing our need for a run blocking Guard. This is the T/G solution, and it could also fix the LT backup, although we’re reasonably happy with Polumbus there, IMO.

A long-term fix in the OL could have a number of looks. And that’s my point — there are a number of permutations. Hamilton could help us cover the interior, because he has the ability to cover G and C, but the terms of his contract are important. Would he accept a reduced role in the future (we still need to develop his replacement or bring in a FA, so that wouldn’t be immediately), If he doesn’t accept that deal, then we need focus more heavily on the OL. The question is: what’s he worth right now? Our red-zone troubles point to a weakness in the interior OL, so there may be decision coming on both sides regarding Hamilton.

Cut Graham, Hill, Haggan, Wiegman will retire, let Hamilton go, cut Stokley Re-due Baileys Deal, Draft D-line or O-line. This still costs lots of money but Mr. B could get 7 million if Shanny gets new gig next year and he has to be making a killing so far this year.

Unfortunately the post is of the list on the front page already, so not sure if many more people will see it. But thanks for all replies so far.

Sorry…Been busy but great read and great discussion as well…I voted for KO but would have voted for all if the choice was there…We need to keep all of these guys but I believe that Marshall (and/or Sheff) would be the least difficult to replace, considering the “muli-star of the week” syatem we now have with McD

That is one amazing draft class. Kudos to your scouts on that one.

Shanahan has always had a STRONG preference for veterans that are he is familiar with. It is very reasonable that he would aggressively pursue the 4 Broncos he drafted. Plus, the owner that hires Shanahan will not be a penny pincher, he will be the type of owner that will be willing to get the players needed to make his new coach successful.

i am 99 percent sure they will be a lockout in 2 years plob a haif season strike hope i am wrong the players want more of the pie the owners dont want to give up more money the good news if this happents is brady and manning will be a year older