10 Things We Should Be Talking About

One thing, Orton is only 20 months older than Kolb, which is not much.
Orton to Minnesota is looking good for me. Kyle would be GREAT there, go against the Bears (poetic justice???) and has weapons, O line and run game that would make him a star.
I want the best for Kyle…he is a great guy.
Arizona is another possible destination!

That O-line comment REALLY stings. If we whiffed on Walton and/or Beadles (or Kuper by giving him a long term 2nd deal) that is yet another major set back Denver can’t afford.

I hope your wrong. Beadles looked good until the Oakland game. I have a hard time judging Walton for some reason. With ? like Rich Quinn, McBath, Ayers, D Thomas and Cox, we can’t afford two more.

Love the Lombardi stuff. Couldn’t agree more. His credibility has really take a hit after his sour grapes song and dance once McD was fired. He is also pretty invisible on NFL network (a 3rd rate channel if there was one). Like McD, Lombardi has not had a good 2010.

It pains me to hear names like Ted Sundquist and Kubiak. Time to move in another direction instead of returning to our average roots of the early and mid 2000s. Those were far from glory years. I’m afraid Bowlen and Ellis are too lazy and/or clueless to chart a new course for this franchise so they’ll continue to reach back into their old and tired bag of tricks.

I realy like this post and can see how well thought out it is…and even found myself thinking in “Linda Richman” voice even before the end of the post – LOL

in order, my thoughts and reactions to your post…

1. Lombardi has his moments, and as difficult as it is, I try hard to take what everyone says with a grain of salt – whether they are a media individual, former player in the media, or someone on MHR – I do like John Clayton and respect what he has to say most of the time – my favorites, however, would be Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen – btw Bill Williamson on ESPN.com is easily the WORST of them all!

2. Eddie Royal traded; I almost expect this to happen…not sure why and I really like the player, but I can certainly see it happening. Washington is a possibility but not too sure on how comfortable Bowlen would be dealing players to Shanny…

3. I would be curious to hear the interview with Sunquist…keep in mind he was a part of such dubious moves as the “Browncos” – a bunch of Cleveland cast-offs playing D-line for Denver. But I would be interested to hear what he says…I really struggle with the whole “back to the future” thinking; whether that be Sunquist, Wade Phillips, Kubiak, etc…how come nobody brings up Dan Reeves? LOL – it is just as laughable as Wade returning…

4. KO will be traded or released, but most likely traded for something between a 3rd to 5th round pick…Minn makes sense, but would not be surprised if it was someone else. He may become the modern-day version of Steve DeBerg – always one step ahead of the next franchise QB in several cities

5. Andrew Luck will not be a Bronco – plain and simple – we have the right face of the franchise in Tebow

6. disagree completely here – this young offensive line needs time to gel together; I think both Beadles and Walton will be solid players, I love Clady and Harris – Kuper may be the weak link so perhaps someone to replace him but he is the only one I see not part of the long term equation

7. front 7 all the time!!!! we need to draft heavily here – agree 100% with you, whether we go 4-3 or stay 3-4 we need front 7 help desperately

8. I don’t know if Knowshon is the headliner or the change of pace guy…seriously, I question whether or not he is a legit #1 back in the NFL…so either way we need help at RB

9. Tebow = STUD – nuff said

10. defensive head coach – yeah I agree; perhaps Ron Rivera, perhaps Leslie Frasier, perhaps Mike Nolan – BUT, I would love to see Gruden and a solid d-coordinator as well – gonna be interesting to see what happens here and how Big John will put his stamp on the team right away…

once again, great post man!!

rec’s/tweeted/liked

I agree on alot of your posts.

1. I agree on that we are LOADED at WR with Rookies Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker probably going to break out next year. A 3rd Round Pick for Eddie Royal from Carolina or Washington would be great. Especially if we draft a Defensive Player with that Pick.

2. Signing a Logan Mankins or Carl Nicks would immediately elevate Denver’s Oline. I actually would want our line to look like. Ryan Clady , Logan Mankins , Joe Walton , Chris Kuper , Zane Beadles. I like Ryan Harris but he is injured all the time and it makes me worry about giving him a long term extension.

3. Defensive Coach is a must. Someone who can command some discipline.

I don’t agree on Safety – We need atleast 1 new Safety in 2011. Dawkins is probably going to retire. Renaldo Hill is below average. McBath is decent when not injured. Bruton is special team player only.

I also think that Kyle Orton is the starting QB next year. He is worlds better than Tebow.

Royal has the YAC threat plus he is younger and has more potential.. What slot receiver is going to do better then Royal in our system? also why isn’t Royal back to returning Kickoffs and Punt returns now that he is rarely used in our system?

2—yes we are deep at WR, so why get rid of Royal, who is young? Lloyd is going to be 30 next year, and Gaffney as well. I’m excited about Decker and Thomas, but I think Royal should be in the future plans. Just my opinion.

4—I think Orton brings more value than people think. His salary of 8.8 million next year is not even top 16 in the NFL. This year, the cost roughly for the average of the top ten QB’s in the NFL was roughly 16.4 million. Orton is about half of that. An NFL team has to be thinking if they can maybe draft a young QB and let him develop behind Orton, or something of the like, that he is worth a 3rd or 4th round choice. Maybe even both. He might not be a franchise quarterback, but he will and should be starting in the NFL next year, and it won’t be for us.

5—I am sick of the Andrew Luck talk also.

…

Agreed with most. Boydy, Tebow-licious, and Sayre bring up some excellent points.

For all the Orton/Champ/name your vet trade talks, he’s the one with real trade value in the sense that you’ll have more teams that might want his services and you won’t be tied down by his age (pre-prime of his career, contract friendly, etc). The real question is how our front office handles trades going forward. Do we think in terms of this year’s draft only or try and go the Patriots/Eagles route and stock pile future picks? For the teams that seem like good fits (Washington, Carolina), are we looking to acquire players in return since they don’t have a lot of picks to offer (esp, Wash)? And if so, who from those rosters could we get (maybe Chris Cooley)?

1. No opinion one way or the other

2. I’d trade Royal for a 2nd or better only. He’s too dangerous to go for less than that. I’d let Gaffney go first for sure.

3. Not excited by this…Ted didn’t do much other than say yes to everything Shanny wanted. I’d pass and look for someone better.

4. Eh…depends on if we can get value for him. I agree Minn is a good place for him to land, but will they give us a good enough draft pick and swallow his contract?

5. Laughable is your point. I can totally see us picking up Luck if we can trade Tebow. Let’s just see what position we draft in first and then figure out what we want to do…and let’s see what Tebow does in the last couple of games…though if Tebow is looking good and we have the 1st, I’d love to see us trade back and get some more picks out of it.

6. There is definitely a problem on the O-line but I disagree about them being busts all together. Linemen do need time to learn and grow. Beadles and Walton need time. The rest are solid in my opinion.

7. Yes the front 7 should be the focus, but no switching to a 4 – 3 isn’t as easy as comparing DTs to NTs. Yeah, you can get DTs easier, but you CAN’T get a dominant MLB as easy. There are gives and takes to both. If 4 – 3 was so much better no one would be running the 3 – 4. Oh yeah, and Doom did fine WHEN he was asked to drop back. He did much better than some of our other LBs do currently.

8. I agree…and while Lendale isn’t a sure thing, he’s a keeper to me…he has the power running covered…we need a faster guy now.

9. There are tons of entertaining players out there…you are just biased with Timmay love. I do agree he’s fun to watch…much more interesting than Orton. But I don’t care about interesting, I care about winning….

10. I agree with the need to focus on defense. I don’t think the HC needs to be a defensive guru though…I’m sticking with Kubes as HC and Phillips as DC with Phillips having reign over the defensive side.

Trading Royal. We need to keep quality characters on our team. He has a strong work ethic and hasnt been used properly. In the couple of games that he was featured this year he has really shined. IMO we can keep our current wr corps and trade during TC to a team that is hurting. Orton will be traded his value is currently at its highest. Im guessing a 4th rounder. As far as a defensive minded coach i like Ron Rivera. By getting Rivera we can bolster our D and make a divisional rival weaker. If we decide to go offensive minded then i think we should take a shot at Gruden. He believes in Tebow.

Nice post agree on most but… I think before anything the Broncos major concern should be to bring in and change the current culture at the top reporting to Mr. Bowlen. Not a fact, [imo] but I believe Joe Ellis is part of the problem with the executive management, a guy who in less than 2 years has helped destroy the image of the Broncos. Hence the reason he was the one explaining the firing of Josh McDaniels. Ellis over delegated responsibility to McD, Ellis was given way too much power and leeway he needs to be replaced or concenstrate on being the COO and run the business side only. Ellis had no previous experience in Football Operations and it shows. [shame on Mr. Bowlen].

Mr. Bowlen must hire an experienced and professional to restructure the Front Office. Who has the respect and appeal to attract and hire the right GM and HC to restore the lost image of the Denver Broncos. A lead person like a Bill Parcell who knows how to organize football operations, or someone like him – maybe even including John Elway.

Now, your 10 things we should be discussing;

#2. Completely disagree on trading one of the few PLAY-MAKERS left on the team. Royal’s main problem being over used on Special Teams. I would only use him on Punt or KO’s if the game was on the line. Use him more in the slot 100% of the time he will eventually replace Jabbar Gaffney as soon as next season IMO.

#4. NO on Kevin Kolb better to draft or bring in new blood as a rookie to learn the system behind Tebow and to push Brady Quinn.

BTW: I’d hire Alex Gibbs as a consultant to evaluate the Broncos O-line during the off season.

1. Don’t know enough about Lombardi to have an opinion either way. I will say this – If public and league image is a concern how can a team turn to reporter to right this ship? Reporter named Broncos GM would generate not only laughter, but perhaps even a bit of pity?

2. Considering the injuries NFL teams endure yearly – including Royal – I’m of the opinion depth at WR is more important than another draft pick. Royal, when healthy, has Welker/Stokely written all over him, but I guess Decker does too – just tougher.

3. Don’t know enough about Sundquist to have an opinion either way. I like the idea of being well respected around the league again. Let us lead. No more following.

4. Again, like Royal, if we trade Orton we lose depth. With Tebow’s style of play it comforts me to know Orton would be available. As you mentioned Orton can fill in the gaps. Only in our case it would not be for one to two years, but one or two games if Tebow is injured. With that said, I’d have a hard time not considering a second rounder for him. Look at what the Chargers got for Whitehurst last year. The value of QB’s cannot be undervalued.

5. Definitely agree that drafting Luck is a lose-lose proposition. If this is indeed the best D-line draft in years we must take advantage of this.

6. Of course we need better depth. However, I am confident that Clady, Beadles, Walton, Kuper, and Harris could be a force to reckon with once they are allowed to coalesce – barring injuries of course. We need depth, not necessarily a starter.

7. Love me some big uglies. I’m not going to debate schemes. What I do want is a defensive coordinator to maximize the talent we have regardless of what scheme we run. I know it’s been mentioned, but if we are somehow able to keep Champ hasn’t it been rumored that he may switch to safety? Either way I think we all agree that we need talent and depth everywhere on defense. The trick is maximizing what we end up with.

8. Didn’t realize how hard it would be to leave that dead horse alone. Hillis. Torain. Oops. But yes, in a running back by committee league and injury prone position, Moreno could use a partner in crime.

9. Really think you hit the nail on the head here. Regardless of all the superlatives Tebow is certainly entertaining. Tebow does demonstrate what it is supposed to mean to be a football player. Plus, all the guy does is win at every level. The upside is tremendous and worth the risk in my humble opinion.

10. What I like here is that a Plan A AND Plan B exist. I’ll let the front office do their thing, but for jeebas sake have a backup plan or two or three! Please!

…why not bulk up Decker, and turn him into a Dustin Keller-type TE? Decker is already big dude, and I know we all love the idea of Decker turning into Eddie Mac, Vers. 2.0…
but maybe we stop trading talented players away?
Eddie Royal isn’t Wes Welker, but he is great for that Y slot position. The deal-breaker is he is also a game-changer at Punt Returner, and is our most reliable Kickoff Returner.

I don’t want to see Royal go anywhere, and imagine the uproar from our already-fickle fanbase if we traded another favorite.

Talking about trading Eddie Royal is just asking to turn into Peyton Hillis 2011.

Although Royal must stay here. Rather See DT get sent out and Decker more balls.

are merely exercises in futility. They will not be coming to Denver.

“Coach, not only will I do it for you, I… I… I… yes, yes, I’ll do it for you. "

Except I wouldn’t want to trade Eddie. Even if he ends up playing special teams, he is too valuable as a return specialist as well as being a threat in the open field if he gets the ball in his hands on offense. We don’t have many of those guys, if any other. Well, there’s Tebow, but I don’t think he has the wheels that Eddie has.

Front seven should certainly be addressed early and often. Our offense is only going to get better from here on out (hopefully).

We have deprived the defense of young, superstar quality players for far too long and it’s my opinion that this is the reason more than any other for our mediocrity over the last decade, and especially recently.

With the monumental collapse of last season and games this year where we have given up far, far too many points, it doesn’t take much to figure out what needs fixing the most on our team.

Our o-line is pretty solid when all five guys are in their proper spots and executing well, as evidenced by the improvement in the ground game from the middle portion of the season up until recently. I’m not against bringing an o-lineman in, but not at the cost of using that same money on a proven defender of any variety.