This draft had better pay off….high risk, high reward. If it works out, everyone is happy…if it fails, we become wolves and McD and Xanders become the sheep. I am married to no person other than my wife and the Broncos…if the Broncos aren’t winning then the entire organization is full of sheep as far as this fan is concerned(except Pat Bowlen of course). He be the sheep herder….and herders have guns. lol

Nice post, thanks!

Carlton Powell—although injured last year—held rushes against him to negative yards in a four year college career. Marcus Thomas is still one of the most athletic 300+ in the league.
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Have you considered the fact that our problems the last two years have been terrible schemes and direction and not personel.

McDaniels and Xanders had plenty of time to look at game tapes to know what they were working with. Not only what they got but also who’s getting old. When you look at our front seven and changing it to a 3-4 there are several posibilities of now unshelving Jarvis Moss as OLB or pass situation TE. Doom can now be loosed with backers behind him—or from the backer position. Powell and Thomas are both capable of anchoring the front against the run.

With DJ, Woodyard, Ayers…we now seem to be only one player short of a great 3-4 defense.

FA has set our DBs for a year…and now we have some youngsters a year to learn from some of the best.
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I’m looking for the playoffs this year !!
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Knowshon can only improve our offense and teamed with Hillis could prove dangerous. Look for Eddie to be our top receiver this year—Orton and Simms not having the arm of Cutler and Royal running the more exacting routs.

(or in this case, half orange, half blue)

Koolaid tastes good!

I was certainly shocked that we only got one guy for the front seven on D, but I am still cautiously optimistic we will be better than 8-8 next year.

At some point I would expect everyone in the “This Was a Horrible Draft” camp to just start copying and pasting the comments. I think it would save you guys a lot of time.

Trading a 1st for a 2nd has been discussed already and has a history of being done. It is surprising but many have commented on this.
We have already addressed the draft charts in some of the other forums.
The gradings for Chicago and in the sense the Jets are a joke because they threw everything into 1 player. Neither of those teams were 1 player away from being “there.”
For all the trading up we still have a pick in each round next year and added a ton of players this year.
And finally, a high round 1st next year would be a horrible burden as teams found out this year. I imagine it won’t be that high though so see comment above about 1st for 2nd rounders.

The first few posts like this were interesting but now it is just yawnsville.

While I agree some of the trades do not make any sense (in fact no real sense considering next years draft will be much better than this years), i will say that if just judged on the picks, I would not say it hurts the team. I would of been really angry if say they drafted Brace with the 2nd 1st round pick, now had they traded back and got him where NE did, then that’s good value. But the bottom line was this was a piss poor draft, especially in regards to overall talent. Expecting them to pick up 3 new starters on the D-line and 4 new LB’s this year would be rather silly. But the thing is, you can get better in other ways, NE being a good example, they had a weakness at WR, so they tried drafting some guys high (Chad Jackson) but had limited success, so they addressed it through trades (Welker and Moss) and through free agency (Stalworth and Gafney) and chose to address other areas in the draft LB/DB. So maybe (hopefully) the Broncos are looking at next year’s FA for help on the front seven and will roll with what they have this year. I much rather have them hold on to the 1st rounder next year and A. Smith better pay off and quickly or else someone needs to go, especailly if we miss a guy like Mays or Spikes.

is this

I often listen to sports radio, and one of my favorite national guys is Colin Cowherd on ESPN 1600 AM in the mornings

Just kidding :)

Adding a top notch RB, plus committing to the ground game will help out our defense immensely. Controlling the clock and grinding out long drives will let our d rest and attack.

McDaniels said before the draft that we had ammo to move up and take guys they were targeting, he said it and they did it.

A ton of people were upset at the Eddie Royal pick last year (most wanted DeSean), you just have to see how the players play.

I think you had it right with the first sentence of line (1)
The Draft is a crap shoot and I do understand your feeling about the “Kool-aid” glass is over-flowing when it really looks empty mentality by many posters on this site but if you take some time to read some of the posts all the way through they do begin to make some sense of this draft if you really feel you need to make sense out of this draft at this early a date. ( I think if you really want to grade this draft wait a couple years)

Here are a couple of other ways to see it that might settle ya down a bit, in the meantime, remember this:
Almost every successful Coach I can remember had a few rough years even Shanny

http://www.milehighreport.com/2009/4/27/855957/fun-facts-about-2008-a-2009-denver

http://www.milehighreport.com/2009/4/27/855605/mhr-university-special-report-a

If your still not feeling better remind yourself that every NFL team is gonna have to play 16 other NFL teams before this season is over (at least games that count) A LOT of things can happen in 16 games. Remember this about fun, mocking the draft can be fun, and watching the draft can be fun and grading the draft after a period of time has gone can be fun, watching the games can be fun, and isn’t that what being a fan of an NFL team is all about, having fun? Like the decisions from firing Shanny to date or not, this is your team!!! There is absolutely nothing wrong with voicing your concerns and fears but after the dust settles it could very well be that many of our biggest concerns now will simply vanish into thin air and new ones will arise. That is pretty much how an NFL season usually plays out. Good thing is you have a bunch of other guys on this site you can talk to and for the most part you will get insightful and prudent replies to your posts.

“The draft is a crap shoot and anyone who claims to be able to grade how every team did is just full of crap (I’m paraphrasing him).”

How does the rest of your post make any sense or merit reading?

Wyche has a very different take on our draft, and he analyzes it in the context of the other first year head coaches and how they fared in the draft.

Also, it seems to me that historically, espn and cbssportsline have both been extremely critical of anything the Broncos do.

for the kool-aiders on MHR to call this a bad draft

I don’t – I see them as stopgaps. Buckhalter is the only potential #1. Last year’s Pro Football Weekly Preview said he “is a decent runner but does little else well”. I think he’s better than that, with almost 5 yds/rush and 10+ yds/catch for his career.

Maybe Arrington has an upside, but Jordan has got a lot of wear on him.

Moreno looks to me like a Marshall Faulk, Marcus Allen, Steven Jackson type. And apparently a good person.

I’ve been saying the same thing for days here. This whole offseason is really hard to understand. The free agent signings in the same positions we drafted mystifies me too…

It heartens me to know a guy I respect like you feels the same after I’ve caught so much grief. :)

Just because you don’t agree with someone be it McDaniels or Cowherd, is it necessary to add derogatory adjectives?

Whether you’re pro-McDaniels or Anti-McDaniels, when the names start flowing, a lot of people stop taking the posts seriously.

I, for one, am extremely interested in hearing both sides of the argument, but after 6 hours of listening to junior high kids treat each other with disrespect, I tend to dismiss comments that I hear, whether they come from La La Land or from those who are questioning McDaniels’ choices.

And again, I really AM interested in everyone’s opinion.

Awards should be given to everyone who is passionate to voice their opinion.

Maybe Pat told the Coach he couldn’t afford 4 number 1 draft picks in two years, and money was a factor in the 2nd round trade?

from drew litton

hilarious

Some things I agree with, some things I don’t. But what was clear, in my opinion, when I heard him respond to that caller you mentioned, is that ol’ Colin has probably spent .00001% of the amount of time evaluating our draft that our MHR pundits have, and probably .0000000001% of the time that the Broncos’ staff have. Radio commentators (and TV and newspaper folks alike) have a predilction for the black and white.

I found it ironic that in the same broadcast, Cowherd gave such props to the Falcons’ GM and the decisions made there over the past few years — that’s the team Xanders came to us from.

If HT and TB and TSG are correct — and frankly they make a compelling argument, much of it based on real world xs and os coaching experience — the BPA approach was a little unexpected from us but it probably shouldn’t have been, given the pedigrees that came with our HC and GM (Patriots and Falcons). Somehow, Colin Cowherd (and almost every other pundit out there) seems to have missed it. But their job is to skim the news and form an opinion. I agree with him sometimes. But his response to that caller was fairly vapid and shallow, imho.

All the front office needs to do is trade next years 2nd for a #1. Gosh, why didn’t anyone else think of that?

Wow.

The Bronco’s most glaring need was, is, and has been for some time, improved field position. Their next need was, is, and has been for some time, time of possession.

Drinking the Kool-Aid means you believe our greatest need was defensive linemen.

Listening to Sports Radio for truth is like listening to Talk Radio for political truth. It does not exist. All that exists there is extreme opinion – left and right.

I believe those in the game and responsible for the team are much more knowledgeable than those with FCC Class 2 licenses or with talking heads.

Further, you cannot grade any draft until it plays out on the field. As another poster stated, you fill holes via Free Agency, you build teams via the DRAFT. I agree with that whole-heartedly. Witness New England, Pittsburgh and the other powerhouses in the league.

It has been disheartening to watch at time, no doubt. It has been jump off the couch and scream at the TV incoherently bad at times.

Not sure if that has been the talent or the scheme, though. It seemed to me we were either getting completely outplayed or completely outcoached. Perhaps a combination of the two,but I suspect coaching as much as anything else. I believe Mr. Bowlen saw that as well and it is what triggered his initial change.

I am not a fan of trading next year’s #1 and have posted that in response to several posts over the past few days. But, I will give them the benefit of the doubt until they are proven wrong in their thinking.

I believe what is going on here is a New England pattern being brought to Denver. It should be expected to be that, given the experience the new coach brings with him.

I see Zero fault in how NE have gone about business. I am excited with anticipation to see how it plays out here, if that is the case.

Not fully agreed with your assessment on Orton (or Simms by extension). Seems to me Orton had a winning record. Our guy did not, although he did have that rocket arm. Made some incredibly questionable throws with it as well, as all QB’s will.

From my view the Special Teams hurt this club more than the defense did. And, on defense, our backfield was as much responsible for the long runs as our Front 7. Denver clearly is doing something about the backfield and special teams. Another NE model….can never have enough RB’s and DB’s.

I would have liked to have seen, and guessed in my own mock draft, a few more DL and LB’s drafted. But, if McD is to be believed, they weren’t there for them and it made little sense to draft someone simply to cut them. I have to take him at his word there until he is shown to have no clue. Yet to play out, no doubt.

I will be concerned with the Front 7 until they show they are better. I am with you on that point. I think the other areas addressed will be better and they will, in turn, take pressure off the Front 7 (as posted in several other fanposts).

Cautiously optimistic!