We move on with or without Cutler, but the team is finally building up a war chest of talent for now and the future. Whether we keep or lose Cutler, I honestly expect Denver to coninue improving for several years. In fact, even with the current “crisis”, I think Denver will be better this year than I had thought at the end of last season.

I’m feeling good about our direction.

Our new coach is bringing in solid players, not big names. (Dawkins is a big name, but doesn’t have a big name ego). With those moves, he has covered the defense enough to avoid forced decisions in the draft. Now, we can deal or take best availables. This isn’t something I saw coming, and McDaniels has been very shrewd. That’s why he is in the big leagues, and I’m not.

It’s unfortunate that while the coach only listened to trade talks, Cook portrayed this as a threat to Cutler. But McD is moving ahead with the right attitude, and building a team the right way. The players seem to be behind him. (The older players seem to be with him, recognizing that Jay is being “played” by his agent).

Hopefully Jay recognizes what is going on, or Cook backs off. But with or without Jay, the team is moving in the right direction.

Bottom line – we are in great shape moving forward this season. Even if we lose our QB, it looks like we have the variables with picks and perhaps a trade to improve.

I also love that an offene minded coach is fixing our defense. Imagine how much our offense will improve under the guy? He seems well rounded to me. If Shanahan had a fault, it was that he let our defense down. I love Shanny, but I’m learning to like this young, new coach too.

I wanted a defensive minded coach. I got it, though with a coach known for offense. Love that balance!

I’m looking at our current roster (post free agency signings), looking at probable moves (certain DEs to OLB, such as Elvis Doom), and waiting to see what happens with the draft. It’s still too early for me to paint a clear picture. One thing is reasonable to guess at. I think we will see more run stopping emphasis and power at DE than before. This won’t be a light and fast line (my guess).

We have some new, big guys to compete along the line. Competition is always good, and we should see some rewards there. I also think that we have done such a good job with our core offense and the back eight of the defense that we can focus there if we want to during the draft. Even the Cutler controversy gives us some trade options (both with him and our draft picks, which have been freed up tremendously).

Moving Dumervil to OLB looks like a signal that we are going to play more two gap and power on the front three (Fairbanks Bullough system over the Phillips [Wade] system).

I want to be more sure before I speculate, so let’s see how a few more things unfold so that I don’t misfire for the sake of an article that’s too hasty or not thought out. I’ll put up thoughts on the D-line when I’m more sure of where I think we are.

Others with a clearer picture may beat me to the punch at MHR, and if so, I’m all for it! For me, I’m just not sure enough of the situation to post on it yet. McDaniels out-thought me by making some brilliant FA moves that I wouldn’t have guessed at over the last three weeks, and I don’t want to try to out-think the guy. Let’s see what’s up his sleeve before speculating.

…all he did was listien to some other teams, then say no. Cutler’s agent pounced on this to try and manipulate for a fat contract, which seems underhanded. He also went on to poison Jay’s mind against the coach. There’s still time for Cutler to come around, and time for the team mates (who have bought into McDaniels) to talk to him if he’ll listen. It seems to me that McDaniels has done nothing wrong, that Cutler is just getting terrible advice (and is too young to understand how Cook is “using” him), and Cook is being his typical “ruin his players’ opportunities in the hopes of padding his own wallet” self.

Cook should realize that the Patriots (love ‘em or hate ’em) don’t roll like that, and McDaniels comes from that school of thought. Nasty agents don’t get their way in NE, and they won’t be in Denver from here on out.

Bowlen sees that, and I think that’s why he’s letting McDaniels plug ahead. I understand Guru’s take on this (wanting Bowlen to step in), but the media seems to tilting towards McDaniels now, and more fans seem to be seeing through Cook’s little ploy. Bowlen is stepping in, in a round-about way. McDaniel’s is his man, and is making the right moves. Bowlen is being hands on by sending a signal: he’s signaling that there’s a new sheriff in town that has his backing. His silence on the matter speaks more loudly than words or actions. The coach is doing exactly the right thing.

McX as a team is showing some skill. And one other thing: whatever happens in the end, they are sure to come out of the Cutler saga wiser for the experience. I’m feeling confident in those guys and refreshed by how little grousing we’ve seen from them. They’re going about their business and making us a better team, focused on players as equals and the team as the essential.

Interesting to reflect that his maybe wasn’t important to us before, back when a strong personality like Elway was around to provide lift to a good but not excellent group of players. That sort of has been one of our great traditions — the QB who pushes the team to excel. It seems that what we have before us now is not just a new playbook on both sides of the ball, but a new philosophy and the beginnings of a new tradition where every position is important. It’s different, and will take some adjusting to, but the potential is enormous, IMHO.

In the type of big front three that I’m expecting with this coming 3-4, Moss is too small at DE. OLB might be a good fit for him.

I’m personaly opposed to the hybrid DE / OLB school of thought, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a valid approach. My personal bias would say no, but those who run this type of 3-4 might say Moss is an excellent fit. We’ll have to see waht Nolan thinks. If he’s good with it, I’d go with his thinking over mine. Nolan and McDaniels are both advocates of DEs as OLBs, and know more about that approach than I do.

or digg account you can click the icons that follow the story, and it acts like a rec, only it does it for that particular site. So “buzzing” means rec’ing a post on yahoo.

I don’t know that oxygen masks necessarily help. I was recently reading a book titled “When March Went Mad” about NCSU winning the ’83 national championship in basketball and there was an interesting quote from one of the players on the team. It mentioned how the other teams, especially Houston, used oxygen to combat the altitude in Albuquerque (where the Final Four was located that year), but that Valvano essentially forbid his team from touching the stuff because it made you dependent on it. His thinking was that you caught your breath using the oxygen mask but that it also meant you lost it more quickly once you were back in the game. This may not be medically true, but I can see that it could psychologically affect the players on the opposing player. Much the same reason why almost all sports teams that play at high altitude make a big deal about the low oxygen = fatigue factor.

Agree that Dawkins isn’t going to be superman in deep coverage, but he’ll be in a two deep safety program here (as opposed to the one deep safety program that Philly uses at times). Like Lynch, his experience is worth a few extra steps of speed.

Davis is slow, granted. But in a 3-4, and focused on runners (DJ would get the majority of pass zones in my projection), I think he has solid value.

It’s a reasonable debate to have, and folks will differ.

I’ve put in my answer for altitude to Styg, and I’m certain that McDaniels is going to consider altitude in his decisions. Remember, he’s not only a pro level coach, he has trainers and fitness staff to advise him.

I’ve looked at this as a formal problem.

What may not have occurred to people is the factor of replacing players you bring in. Younger players would be expected to fill a position for longer, but we would locking in (to some degree) more resources on players who may or may not be the longterm answer at their position, and creating a dilemma for ourselves when they need to be replaced.

You really have to know that a player is the long term answer if they’re younger (although projected backups aren’t a problem), and the logic for obtaining younger players specifically cites this rationale.

I don’t mind the older players (as long as they can play), because that leaves us an orderly way of replacing them in time. It also, as I’ve argued recently, lets us gradually move the lower draft picks into the lineup gradually. Many of our middle round draft picks, this year and next, will be ready to assume starting roles around the time some of these cheaper, older vets are ready to retire. We’re engaging in multi-year planning. We haven’t seen a whole lot of that lately, so it’s no wonder it doesn’t occur to people.

1. It depends on the approach management and coaching takes. There is no “one size fits all” answer to your question. It depends on comfort with the starters, injury potential, holes at other positions, finances, etc. I wouldn’t hazzard a guess.

2. In the hybrid DE/OLB school of thought (which I don’t subscribe to), players are less “specialists” and more pure “athletes”. That he is listed both ways means that a hybrid minded coach can use the player either way. I imagine the coaching staff will make a final determination when they have all he pieces in place (by camp).

3. My only problem with your scenario is DJ at emergency depth. He remains a young player who is good at what he does (2nd in tackles as MLB 2 years ago, not so good with a crappy DL last year). I think DJ will be around for awhile. My guess is that Denver goes best availble in the draft.

4. DJ’s speed has him pegged at ROLB or RILB in my book. Having proven his worth at both MLB and ROLB in the past, he can do either. With existing DEs potentialy set to switch to OLB, and with Larsen and Woodyard as strong candidates on the outside (not so much inside), I like DJ inside. However, in a 3-4 he will have the same opportunities as he would have as ROLB in a 4-3 – blitzing and zoning. Davis would be the primary run stopper in the middle, with support from DJ. You make a valid point though, and DJ could just as easily end up outside.

5. I don’t believe that Woodyard or Bailey are too small for OLB. It all comes down to system. I think Woodyard is a keeper. WIth Boss, it depends on his injury situation (in my opinion). Styg had him pegged as an ijury issue coming to Denver, and he was proven right when Boss ended up on IR.

6. A lot of folks have talked about Woodyard at safety. I don’t buy into it. Let’s have a pass coverage safety deep who can cover runs, and leave the speedy linebackers to play as speedy linebackers (stopping runs first and zoning as a secondary trait). I honestly don’t see Woodyard helping to cover a WR.

7. I think there are some Reeds in the draft, and that is is deep for safety. One possibility is that we now have FA safeties, and while other teams scramble for safeties, we can sit back and get any position we want (best available).

Remember, these are my opinions. There are plenty of sharp folks at MHR that would disagree on any of these thoughts.

Again, Excellent questions!

I haven’t posted yet on the offense. Briefly, my thoughts are this:

I share your admiration for Hillis. He survived the purge at RB, so he is still in the running to be our starter this year. On the other hand, a good coach is going to have a healthy competition for starters, and Hillis shouldn’t worry about this. Hillis may start, be in rotation, or even be a valuable FB. In the end, the coach will want our best guy on the field.

My admiration for Hillis is based on a very small sample of games he played last year (before getting injured), as well as a terrific college career. I won’t let myself get bummed out if he doesn’t make the cut. If he does make it, he will likely continue to be a powerful force in the run game.

He needs a healthy season under his belt, quick. I’m up for giving him a chance this year, but we’ll have to see.

Seriously, Dawkins is a human weapon on and off the field. His martial arts training is intensive, and he would be good at whatever he pursues. I wouldn’t doubt it if he dons a cape and mask and fights crime when nobody is looking.

: )

However, I suspect that in the event of a supervillian attack on an NFL venue during a Broncos game, the commissioner would make an exception to the policy.