Ex-PanthPackHawkBengal SS Marquand Manuel adds Bronc To His Title

by Jeremy Bolander on Mar 8, 2008 5:56 PM MST in Denver Broncos Roster Moves

After bolstering their linebacker corps during the week, the Broncos have moved on to the safety position by signing Marquand Manuel to a three-year contract Saturday.

Manual will receive $1.5 million a year in his deal, $2 million if he starts. And he will compete with John Lynch and Hamza Abdullah for one of the two safety positions. The Broncos will be the fifth team for Manuel, who will be entering his seventh season. He has played strong and free safety while making stops in Cincinnati, Seattle, Green Bay and Carolina. He had drawn interest from other teams as a free agent, but picked Denver.

"He was looking for an opportunity to become a starter and felt the best place would be Denver," said Ron Slavin, Manuel's agent.

Last week, the Broncos secured free-agent deals with middle linebacker Niko Koutouvides and strongside linebacker Boss Bailey.

The hope here is that not a lot of dough got spent on this one, which was probably what it would have taken to lure McCree from BUF. Crocker aparently will get nabbed by the Steelers, so that left Manuel if the Broncos wnated to get something done now.

Obviously they did.

He will compete for a starting spot in training camp, so we should at least have some of our depth issues at the position resolved now. One SAF in the draft and we should be covered!

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Finally a safety from that draft year class shows

up in Denver. I was charting all the safeties when Manuel was drafted and was hoping they would take him or one of his compatriots. I don't know anything about his health, but I am hoping that he will prove to have at least 3 to 4 years of serviceable play left.

by Arctic Bronco on Mar 8, 2008 6:04 PM MST reply actions

Leary

I'm starting to get more leary on where we are going with some of these signings. I have to agree with the guys on Sirius Blitz that I don't see where signing some of these guys will help us this year. I mean I hope we are proven wrong... I applaud the Broncos for not spending money like crazy, but this is getting crazy.

by nheimler on Mar 8, 2008 6:13 PM MST reply actions

Yes, let's not try too hard

to get good players at key positions. Let's go out and get cheap nobody's to start for us.

I sure hope these moves work out...it just feels like we are loading up with bottom of the barrel nobodys. :(

Disillusioned Rants Blog

by Tim Lynch on Mar 8, 2008 6:31 PM MST reply actions

Seems like a phased youth movement in progress

I think the right kind of FAs are getting picked up, they seem to have a couple of years of shelf life and will allow time for the youngsters to develop. If they get cut after a year or so, no big loss to the team's ability nor to the salary cap. By the time these guys wear out/down in a couple of years or so, the draft picks picked up in the hoped for youth movement should be able to become starters.

Therefore, I am a noncurrer on the inappropriateness of the FA signings.

by Arctic Bronco on Mar 8, 2008 6:44 PM MST up reply actions

I agree with you Arctic

These are exactly the type of signings we need right now.

It is difficult for fans to watch the star players get gobbled up by other teams. It's kind of like trading picks this year for good picks in the future. Both strategies are long term and require patience.

What's going on is Denver is:

Saving money
Going after the real needs in the draft
Using low cost, temporary FA answers to hold the line while the team builds the core through youth in this draft

Don't give up on '08. None of us expected us to win a SB in '08. What we are doing will clearly make the team better in '08, but more importantly make the team VERY good in '09 and well beyond!

If we went out and got major signings this year we might (MIGHT) have a great year in '08, only to not have the youth to sustain many good years down the road.

It's hard folks. But this is what we've been complaining that Shanahan hasn't been doing, and now he's going about it the right way. He's building a core of young talent to give us chances year after year instead of blowing money on FA players in a crap shoot. I agree with Arctic that this is the way to go.

"Greater is an army of sheep led by a lion, than an army of lions led by a sheep" Defoe

by Steve Nichols on Mar 8, 2008 6:55 PM MST up reply actions

An old dog learning new tricks...

Not that Shanahan is exactly old, but this shows that he is willing to do whatever he can to win, even if it means learning some new tricks. You guys are exactly right. For me, the fact that these are not high profile, over-expensive FA's is exciting. They're looking for some decent, HUNGRY players to either prove themselves or hold down the fort until the youngsters develop. Signing these 2 safeties is perfect, too, considering the weak, weak draft crop this year.

Or so I'm told.

by MN Bronco on Mar 9, 2008 3:49 PM MDT up reply actions

McCree too...

According to the Rocky Mountain News, the Broncos have agreed to terms with BOTH Manuel and McCree. I don't currently see that confirmed anywhere else, but here's the link...

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/mar/08/broncos-beef-defense-sign-mccree-and-marquand/

by Douglas A. Lee on Mar 8, 2008 7:22 PM MST reply actions