Broncos Round Out Practice Squad With Nalbone, Unrein

hearing Romanowski making a fool of himself on Jim Rome’s radio show? What a knob

Unrein showcases some natural bend out of his stance and does a nice job keeping his pad level down into contact and extending his arms. He possesses good length and has the ability to get his hands under the chest plate of opposing linemen and control at the point of attack. He exhibits a strong lower body and has some stack-and-shed ability. He’s consistently able to find the ball and work his way through contact in the run game.

But he isn’t a gifted athlete, lacks a great first step and doesn’t display the closing speed to consistently make plays off his frame. He always seems to be successfully fighting off blocks and working his way toward the ball but then struggles to make the play. He isn’t an explosive guy off the edge. He likes to rush from a four-point stance, but lacks the burst of speed to consistently reach the corner. He displays some natural pop on contact and does a nice job extending his long arms, rocking opposing tackles on contact and using his hands to shed blocks.

Unrein showcases above-average lateral quickness for his size and knows how to be effective on contact. But he lacks the type of athleticism needed to break down in space and close on the quarterback. He struggles to keep his pad level down on the move and can be easily washed out/sealed off plays away from his frame.

He isn’t ever going to be a guy who can make plays on the ball at the next level, but he can control blockers and win on contact. He looks like a potential developmental five-technique offensive lineman who, with some added girth and development, could earn a spot on an NFL roster.

I’ll be able to say “You just got NALBONED”

Let’s pile on more good please… I think “Darkest before Dawn” has already come, and we’re starting to see all the orange and blue morning rays now.

Reasons for pickups can be related to player or position but it’s hard avoid the conclusion that we’re still searching for a blocking TE. I’m not saying this relates to dissatisfaction with Quinn but neither is it an endorsement. However, the PS isn’t the regular roster so we have to avoid drawing conclusions that conflate the two.

Just to give you an idea, here’s the CBS projection of all the blocking TEs from 2009 on our roster:

(numbers are 2009 ranked position among TEs & projected draft slot)

~~#5 / #85 – Richard Quinn

~~#10 / #189 – Dan Gronkowski

~~#20 / #376 – John Nalbone

(also, *- #16 / #312 – Kory Sperry, no longer with team)

(also, *- [at FB]: #7 / #273 – Marquez Branson, no longer with team)

I’ve repeatedly focused on the blocking-TE issue because I think it’s a highly relevant issue concerning our offense and the 3-4 defenses (and others) that we face. Some of the TEs from 2009 were not blocking TEs but there is a clear preference apparent in our pickups. Blocking ability is obviously a key required skill but playmaking skills are quite important as long as you can block. This newer ideal TE somatotype looks more like Antonio Gates than Shannon Sharpe.

LINK

Positives: Good size, strength and effort as a blocker. Highly competitive. Surprising athleticism shown in workouts. Catches the ball cleanly and looks to turn it upfield. Can track the ball over his shoulder. Adequate agility to avoid tacklers in the open field, but good strength to run through them.

Negatives: Obvious concerns over his level of competition. Needs to improve his strength to hold up as an inline blocker at the NFL level. Marginal burst out of his breaks to gain separation. Lacks experience in a sophisticated passing offense and will need time to acclimate to a typical route-tree.

A couple points — Monmouth is hardly a football factory, so level of competition is a concern with him, but he was drafted in the 5th so that tells you something about him (rather than his school). Two, and this is just a intuition on my part — H-back usage is indicated. My feeling is that we’re still hunting for big athletes with the intelligence to perform many duties in a TE/FB rotation. It’s a big body somatotype but don’t let that deceive you into thinking that we don’t want skill and athletic ability. It’s of paramount importance that they block and great blockers combined with athletic ability are rare and go in the first round. We’re not going to spend that much (or haven’t yet) and it may not be necessary since it’s a trained position as much as anything. Larsen fits in this group, too, and he provides a template for looking at the qualities we’re looking for at this position — high effort, intelligent, knows his assignments and studies the game. These are the jumbo Swiss army knives that show a lot of looks, do a lot of blocking and are occasionally used as ballhandlers. Their size is dictated by their usage as blockers but anything they can do in the playmaking department is gravy.