Denver Broncos Changing Faces: Life After Elway

To say that John Elway left some mighty big shoes to fill in Denver would be something of an understatement. The man who had been the face of the Broncos for sixteen seasons was now no longer in the picture. From 1969 through 1982, I had watched the Broncos struggle to become a contender. Those changes can be found here. The came those glorious years with John Elway. The changes and successes may be found here.

Now the Broncos would have to find a way to move forward without John leading the way.

After the jump, the changes to the starting lineup that came during "Life After Elway"

The first season without Elway started by having a quarterback controversy. It was anticipated that veteran quarterback Bubby Brister would succeed Elway as the starter, but in an unexpected and sudden announcement, head coach Mike Shanahan passed the reins to rookie Brian Griese, and this was just one of the changes:

QB	Brian Griese	MLB	Al Wilson
RB	Olandis Gary	RLB	Glenn Cadrez (from MLB)
TE	Dwayne Carswell	RCB	Dale Carter
RT	Matt Lepsis	SS	Tyrone Braxton
		FS	Eric Brown (from SS)

Sadly, the Broncos failed to defend their Super Bowl title, starting the season with four straight losses on their way to a 6-10-0 season and a fifth-place finish in the AFC West.

Denver surged back in 2000, behind minor changes:

RB	Mike Anderson	LDE	Maa Tanuvasa (from RDE)
		RDE	Kavika Pittman
		RLB	John Mobley
		RCB	Terrell Buckley
		SS	Billy Jenkins

The Broncos finished with an 11-5-0 mark, a second-place AFC West finish and a wild card playoff berth. Unfortunately, Denver was hammered 21-3 by the eventual Super Bowl-winning Baltimore Ravens.

2001 saw an equal number of turnovers in starters on both sides of the ball:

RB	Terrell Davis	LDE	Keith Washington
FB	Patrick Hape	LDT	Chester McGlockton
WR	Eddie Kennison	LCB	Deltha O'Neal
LT	Trey Teague	RCB	Denard Walker
LG	Lenny Friedman	SS	Kenoy Kennedy

Strangely enough, this equal distribution of new starters led to an equal distribution of wins and losses as the Broncos finished at 8-8-0 and in third place in the AFC West.

A large number of changes in 2002 led to an improved record:

RB	Clinton Portis	LDE	Trevor Pryce (from RDT)
FB	Mike Anderson	LDT	Lionel Dalton
WR	Ed McCaffrey	RDT	Chester McGlockton (from LDT)
TE	Shannon Sharpe	LLB	John Mobley (from RLB)
LT	Ephraim Salaam	RLB	Ian Gold
LG	Steve Herndon	FS	Izell Reese
C	Ben Hamilton

Although Denver finished with a 9-7-0 record and in second place in the AFC West, the Broncos lost tie breakers which would have given them a spot in the playoffs as a wild card team.

2003 saw the Broncos bring in a new quarterback, among other new faces, and saw the team begin an upswing in their fortunes:

QB	Jake Plummer	LDT	Mario Fatafehi
WR	Ashley Lelie	RDT	Darius Holland
TE	Dwayne Carswell	RDE	Bertrand Berry
LG	Ben Hamilton (from C)	LLB	Jashon Sykes
C	Tom Nalen	RLB	Donnie Spragan
		LCB	Lenny Walls
		RCB	Kelly Herndon
		FS	Nick Ferguson
		P	Micah Knorr

Plummer led the Broncos to a 10-6-0, second place AFC West finish, and a wild card playoff spot. Unfortunately, Denver was demolished 41-10 by a Peyton Manning-led Indianapolis Colts team.

2004 brought some more changes:

RB	Reuben Droughns	LDE	Marco Coleman
TE	Jeb Putzier	RDT	Monsanto Pope
LT	Matt Lepsis (from RT)	RDE	Reggie Hayward
RT	George Foster	LLB	Donnie Spragan (from RLB)
		RLB	D. J. Williams
		FS	John Lynch

The Broncos again went 10-6-0, finished second in the AFC West, earned a wild card spot and were again demolished 49-24 by the Colts.

The following season, however, was quite different:

RB	Mike Anderson	LDE	Courtney Brown
FB	Kyle Johnson	LDT	Michael Myers
TE	Stephen Alexander	RDT	Gerard Warren
RG	Cooper Carlisle	RDE	Trevor Pryce
		LLB	D. J. Williams (from RLB)
		RLB	Ian Gold
		RCB	Darrent Williams
		SS	Nick Ferguson
		P	Todd Sauerbrun

The Broncos posted the second best record in the AFC at 13-3-0. They won their division and entered the playoffs with confidence. They earned a spot in the AFC Championship game by defeating the New England Patriots 27-13. Denver was undoubtedly relieved when the Pittsburgh Steelers downed the Indianapolis Colts 21-18 in the other AFC divisional round game. Hosting the AFC Championship game led to high expectations. Alas, this was not meant to be as the Steelers came into Denver and soundly defeated the Broncos 34-17.

2006 saw another quarterback controversy erupt, after making only minor changes, when Jake Plummer was replaced with five games left by rookie Jay Cutler:

RB	Tatum Bell	LDE	Kenard Lang
WR	Javon Walker	RDE	Ebenezer Ekuban
LT	Erik Pears
		P	Paul Ernster

The Broncos started 7-4 but finished at 9-7-0 and in third place in the AFC West.

Denver made major changes in 2007:

QB	Jay Cutler	LDE	John Engleberger
RB	Selvin Young	LDT	Sam Adams
FB	Cecil Sapp	RDT	Alvin McKinley
WR	Brandon Stokley	RDE	Elvis Dumervil
WR	Brandon Marshall	LLB	Nate Webster
TE	Daniel Graham	MLB	D. J. Williams (from LLB)
LT	Matt Lepsis	RCB	Dre Bly
LG	Chris Kuper	SS	Hamza Abdullah
C	Chris Myers
RG	Montrae Holland
RT	Erik Pears (from LT)
		P	Todd Sauerbrun

These changes did not bring success on the field as the Broncos took a step backwards, finishing 7-9-0, yet still finished ahead of the 4-12-0 Chiefs and Raiders in the AFC West.

More significant changes occurred in 2008, and the team took a step forward:

RB	Peyton Hillis	LDE	Ebenezer Ekuban
WR	Eddie Royal	LDT	Dewayne Robertson
LT	Ryan Clady	RDT	Marcus Thomas
LG	Ben Hamilton	LLB	Jamie Winborn
C	Casey Wiegmann	MLB	Nate Webster
RG	Chris Kuper (from LG)	RLB	D. J. Williams (from MLB)
RT	Ryan Harris	SS	Marquand Manuel
		FS	Marion McCree
K	Matt Prater	P	Brett Kern

The Broncos finished 8-8-0. They tied with the Chargers for first place in the AFC West but lost the playoff tiebreaker.

2009 saw the Broncos change head coaches and approximately half of the total roster. Most of the changes impacted the defensive side of the ball:

QB	Kyle Orton	LDE	Ryan McBean
RB	Knowshon Moreno	NT	Ronald Fields
LG	Russ Hochstein	LOLB	Kenny Peterson
		LILB	Andra Davis
		RILB	D. J. Williams (from RLB)
		ROLB	Elvis Dumervil (from RDE)
		RCB	Andre Goodman
		SS	Renaldo Hill
		FS	Brian Dawkins
		P	Mitch Berger

All of the changes failed to bring improvements to the Broncos as they finished 8-8-0 and in second place in the AFC West for a second year in a row.

Denver made more changes on the defensive side of the ball in 2010, but a number of questionable decisions led to the firing of head coach Josh McDaniels with three games left in the season:

WR	Jabar Gaffney	LDE	Kevin Vickerson
LG	Zane Beadles	NT	Jamal Williams
C	J. D. Walton	LOLB	Jason Hunter
		LILB	D. J. Williams (from RILB)
		RILB	Mario Haggan (from LILB)
		ROLB	Robert Ayers
		RCB	Perrish Cox
		SS	Brian Dawkins (from FS)
		FS	Renaldo Hill (from SS)
		P	Britton Colquitt

This ended up being a disastrous season for the Broncos as they finished 4-12-0 and in last place in the AFC West. The only dubious upside to the season was that Denver earned the 2nd overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft.

2011 saw the addition of John Elway as the Executive Vice-President of Football Operations and Head Coach John Fox. Between the two of them, major changes were made to both sides of the ball -- including the replacement of starter Kyle Orton with Tim Tebow after a 1-4-0 start:

QB	Tim Tebow	LDE	Robert Ayers (from ROLB)
RB	Willis McGahee	LDT	Broderick Bunkley
WR	Eric Decker	RDT	Marcus Thomas
WR	Demaryius Thomas	RDE	Elvis Dumervil
TE	Daniel Fells	WLB	D. J. Williams (from RILB)
LG	Zane Beadles	MLB	Joe Mays
RT	Orlando Franklin	SLB	Von Miller
		SS	Quinton Carter
		FS	Brian Dawkins (from SS)

Despite a 1-4-0 start, the Broncos finished 8-8-0 and in first place in AFC West. They hosted the defending AFC Champion Pittsburgh Steelers in a wild card game. Denver won on the first place of overtime -- a touchdown pass from Tebow to Demaryius Thomas. The following week, the Broncos were destroyed 45-10 by New England in the divisional round.

Some Final Thoughts

I think we can all see how changing faces is nothing new to the Broncos. Over the seasons since my parents moved to Denver, the Broncos have averaged four new starters on offense and four new starters on defense each year. They have averaged a new kicker or punter every other year.

Just as the new faces are nothing new, they are not something which should generate angst or concern. Some seasons the changes have brought improvement. Some seasons the changes have not helped. Overall, it has gone in cycles as the Broncos have worked to redefine themselves throughout their history. They have moved from a perennial bottom dweller early in their history to a back-to-back Super Bowl winning team. Now they are in the process of returning to playoff relevance once again.

I don't know about you, but I'm excited to see what new faces will be in the starting lineup for 2012 and just how far they will be able to take the Broncos -- not only in this upcoming season, but in the seasons to follow.

Go Broncos!!!!!