Sitting back, marveling at the weeping pile of desperate goo that we've turned the last two Super Bowl champs into, I started asking myself: Where did our starters come from? Which regime can take the most credit for all this success? Are we building from the draft? I was surprised to see how many McDaniels holdovers we have, despite two extremely befuddling drafts and some questionable roster maneuvering. And yet somehow, I was equally surprised to see how many new starters the Elway regime has had to bring in such a short time. Make no mistake, today's starting Broncos squad is absolutely a hybrid of three different leaders.
Offense
WR Demaryius Thomas - DRAFT: McDaniels
LT Ryan Clady - DRAFT: Shanahan
LG Zane Beadles - DRAFT: McDaniels
C Manny Ramirez - FREE AGENT: Elway
RG Louis Vasquez - FREE AGENT: Elway
RT Orlando Franklin - DRAFT: Elway
TE Julius Thomas - DRAFT: Elway
WR Eric Decker - DRAFT: McDaniels
WR Wes Welker - FREE AGENT: Elway
QB Peyton Manning - FREE AGENT: Elway
RB Knowshon Moreno - DRAFT: McDaniels
Defense
LDE Derek Wolfe - DRAFT: Elway
DT Kevin Vickerson: FREE AGENT: McDaniels
NT Terrance Knighton - FREE AGENT: Elway
RDE Robert Ayers - DRAFT: McDaniels
SLB Nate Irving - DRAFT: Elway
MLB Wesley Woodyard - UDFA: Shanahan
WLB Danny Trevathan - DRAFT: Elway
LCB Champ Bailey - TRADE: Shanahan
RCB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie - FREE AGENT: Elway
SS Duke Ihenacho - UDFA: Elway
FS Rahim Moore - DRAFT: Elway
SLOT Chris Harris - UDFA: Elway
Special Teams
K Matt Prater - FREE AGENT: Shanahan
P Britton Colquitt - FREE AGENT(PS)*: McDaniels
LS Aaron Brewer - UDFA: Elway
KR/PR Trindon Holliday - WAIVER CLAIM: Elway
*Britton Colquitt was a Broncos UDFA in 2009. He was waived by the Broncos, signed to the Dolphins' practice squad, and then signed back to the Broncos active roster.
27 Starters By The Numbers
Regime
Shanahan: 4
McDaniels: 7
Elway: 16
By Way Of
Trade: 1
Waivers: 1
UDFA: 4
Free Agency: 9
Draft: 12
Notes
- I noted the leaders of each regime responsible for "last say" on personnel decisions. At times there were different GMs, Exec VPs and Coaches, but Elway, McDaniels and Shanahan were the personnel honchos in their respective eras.
- Why 27 starters? I have 12 defensive starters, including the slot corner, who often plays more snaps than some starting LBs.
- Chris Clark, now the starting LT for the foreseeable future, came as a waiver claim in the McDaniels era.
- Von Miller will obviously supplant fellow Elway draftee Nate Irving, keeping numbers the same.
Thoughts
- At first thought, would you have ever imagined that the McDaniels experiment, largely a media-gurgling-circus failure, would still be responsible for eight of our starters (now 9 with LT Clark)?
- Seeing 16 of our starters attributed to Elway is a testament to two things: The McDaniels era was majorly boom and bust. His greasy fingerprints still remain on the offense: Beadles, Moreno, Decker and Demaryius are all vital cogs in the machine. And yet, in just two years, 16 of 27 starters needed to be replaced.
- 0 starters in the defensive back seven from the McDaniels era. Hm.
- We currently have 9 starters that come as draftees or UDFAs from the Elway era. That's a solid average of three new starters per draft.
- How good does the 2011 draft look now? Four every down starters: Von Miller/Nate Irving, Orlando Franklin, Rahim Moore, Julius Thomas. With Virgil Green currently the 2nd TE.