Answers in Search of a Question: Denver's 2009 Draftees

…..but I like the way you have used their statistics to try and make sense of how our rookies fared this year. Moreno as a first year back with a banged up O line did an admirable job. He looks to go strength to strength. The more contact he gains early on in the game then the more he appears to be in the game and seems to enjoy the job of a hard nosed runner. I do worry about his injuries though. There seemed moments last season where we were ready to put the ball in his hands and he was a little banged up. We have seen what hits can do to power backs such as Jamal Lewis and LT and would hope Moreno could be as productive as either. There is a little worry in my mind.

I still think we got good pick in Ayers. Yes he seemed lost earlier. Although he was on the field for a small amount of the time this season I would be interested to see if that statistic increases as the season progressed. I think he needed this year to feel the speed of the NFL and get used to the scheme. I see no reason why he can’t also improve.

One thing that has made me wonder about the Mock Drafts for the 2010 draft is why some feel we will be interested in taking a corner in the first couple of rounds?? I was impressed with McBath when he came in at the number 2 corner spot in the season and thought he did a decent job in the nickel, far better than Ty Law did for us. I don’t see why he can’t start in the non too distant future. Alphonso Smith interests me, especially as to why he played so little. I liked him at WFU and thought if nothing else he would help in our kick return game. I cannot help getting past that he was injured for part of the season. I am hoping to see him have a decent offseason and contribute more effectively on defense. To me with his size, speed and his excellent coverage during his time in the ACC he should at least help us next year in the nickel game. With Dawkins and Bailey as mentors to the likes of McBath and Alphonso Smith I am in the optimistic camp that we should be set at the CB position for a while.

Quinn at first I thought was signed purely for his ST team play. He was a demon on ST at UNC and is a formidable blocker. Also he only had 12 catches in his whole college career. The Broncos as far as reports tell us are pretty sold on him having soft hands and want to develop his route running. We saw him in running and goal line situations last season. I think it will be interesting to see how Quinn is used in the preseason. There is hope that he could complement Graham as TE2 but I would like to see an increased production in the passing game to warrant that claim

The baffling part about A Smith was his limited participation on defense. It could be accounted for his injury he sustained or lack of performance. I tend to lean on both and the reason Ty Law was brought in. Whether or not he ever makes a wide out corner will yet to be seen. He may be a nickle CB when it’s all said and done.

Ayers started to impress me in the second half of the season and I can’t put a finger on the game, but their was an upgrade of his performance later on, which is expected from a first rounder. Again, whether he will ever achieve the top honors at OLB will have to be seen.

McKinley IMO did pretty well on special teams and to my thinking, he needs to bulk up a little, he seems too skinny.

Bar injury Moreno should have a 1000 yd season this year, especially if McD does his job and vamps up the OLine.

Overall grade I would give the draft is C-

Great job – really fine research and analysis.

I noted a couple of things – Kenny McKinley did manage to return 3 punts for a total of 32 yards and 7 kickoffs, for a total of 158 yards, which isn’t bad. It was good for 22.6 yards per return. While he needs to be under Tuten’s tutelage for a while to strengthen that skinny body, he’s very fluid and elusive in space. He may take over the return work from Eddie Royal, which would be good for all – unless, of course, Denver signs Sproles, in which case all bets are off.

Quinn appeared to be struggling with the complexity of the playbook. He’s got the entire offseason to work on it – no excuses for next year. His route running isn’t bad and his hands really are pretty good. The offense in college didn’t use the TE for a receiver – it didn’t have anything to do with his skills. Some of the receivers from his college program are now in the NFL, so a receiving TE was an afterthought.

Smith did struggle and we don’t know the whole story. I can tell you this, and it applies to Eddie Royal, too. Charles Dimry used to play cornerback for the Broncos, back in the 1990’s. He’s a very nice man and has a quiet, philosophical air about him. He told me that the biggest quality a cornerback had to have, bar none, was the ability to forget the last play. Never mind if you got the INT or blew your coverage entirely. It’s a new play, and you have to be ready to do your all time best on it. tony Carter, in the little bit we saw him, looked like he understood that. Carter will contend for a job in training camp.

As to why Denver needs a corner soon – Bailey is very expensive and at the point in his career where he may be asked to take a pay cut to make the team more of a contender. We don’t know how he’ll respond. We have a better situation with Goodman (except for his tackling), but he’s in his 30’s. We need 5 good CBs. We are one short, even if Smith comes around and starts playing like he can. It’s a tough transition to the NFL.

Everyone knows that I found Ayers to be constantly improving. I’m impressed that the stats on him did record the things that he did well – like the 17 hurries. I will always recall the play where he was actually placed as the NT, was double teamed, spun out of the double team and hurried the QB. It’s hard to figure the crowd that doesn’t think that he’s first round material – he’s developing very fast. He’s not going to notch a bunch of sacks, but he’ll give you hurries, play good coverage and stop the run, which we really need. A couple of those hurries, by the way, turned into sacks for Doom, since the QB had nowhere to go.

Great article. I wish I could rec it twice.

he is being ranked against all 198 CBs to be on the field in 2009 — this means he is being compared to such players as Dawkins and Bailey.

Is Dawkins a typo there, or did I misread something?

I’ve really gotten into the PFF also. I keep hearing compaints about it. But I always say there’s no problem if there’s no solution. It’s the most comprehensive site I’ve found (thanks to your last post), and as you say, it’s a starting point.

I’ve got a warm feeling about Moreno. I think Ayers will continue to improve and agree with some of the comments above, in that just simple eye balls seem to say he got better as the season progressed. The learning curve for him is expected to take longer anyway, as he’s not just transitioning to the speed of the game, but also to standing up.

I really like what I’ve seen form both Bruton and McBath. Their stats aren’t mouth dropping or anything, but I think there’s certainly a future there.

As for Phonz, since I don’t see any post from McGeorge up above, I’ll just go ahead and say it for him: Wish we had our pick back from Seattle this year. I’m not saying Phonz won’t be great someday, but he was nothing last year. It would be hard to imagine not being able to get a better immediate pick this year if we still had at. Also for Coach’s sake, if Phonz doesn’t work out soon, he will alwyas be the battle cry, the ammunition people use to be anti-McD when we lose in the near future. But the worst part about it in my eyes, is that whether he drastically improves this year or not, the front office is going to have to spend resources before we will know. They can’t take the chance of having Ty Law be our best option again.

Anyway, great work.

I had started to make a comment that included Dawkins and Bailey, decided against it, but missed on removing Dawkins. Duh.

I’m pretty much with you on our rookies. I’ve joined the “let’s wait and see camp.” The comment I keep hearing from various sources is that it takes around 3 years for a young player to fully develop. If I see improvement in our rookies next year, I’ll be content to wait for the 3rd year to see if they pan out. If they regress next year, I’ll have some serious concerns.

He came in and had an immediate impact for us in the first couple of game and played quite well. Suddenly, he couldn’t stop a shopping cart. There is often more to these things than we know and this could be one of those times. I’m pretty comfortable giving him time to develop, and part of that is based in that early burst of obvious skill. I’m sure that the team’s patience will be limited, cost or no, but what seemed to be coming easily to him suddenly went to heck. I’d love to know why.

By the way, it wasn’t training camp, so it wasn’t just poor competition. This was regular season