Manning, Bailey, Jammer Presser: Takeaways

The Denver Broncos made their two team leaders Peyton Manning and Champ Bailey available after today's OTA, along with their newest acquisition Quentin Jammer. Everyone was brief and most of the questions were by the book, but there were some takeaways-- and here they are:

Willis McGahee:

"Whether it is a business decision for him to not be here, I don't know," Manning said when was specifically asked about McGahee's absence and indicated.

While McGahee may not be on his way out, he obviously isn't doing himself any solids by not appearing at OTAs. Of course he is completely within his rights and cannot be directly penalized in his absence. However, allowing himself to train and recoup under his own management is only letting upstarts Montee Ball and Ronnie Hillman see more and more reps with the starting team.

Peyton indicated that McGahee was a great help to him last season and that his injury really hurt the team.

Julius Thomas:

"I am not surprised by what [Thomas] is doing [in practice], he's been doing it for the last two years," Bailey said in regards to Thomas's performance today.

The talk of the day was most certainly tight end Julius Thomas, reporters even snuck questions into Champ Bailey in regards to the third year end. Thomas was splitting time with another third year tight end Virgil Green, but it was Thomas whom piqued the interest of those in attendance.

Thomas, as you may know by now, is replacing tight end Joel Dreessen in the lineup. Dreessen, John Fox announced today, underwent arthroscopic surgery on his knee. He will remain out until at least training camp. That is veteran timing to perfection.

Thomas's emergence could not have come at a better time either. Denver is currently employing five tight ends and it is tough to imagine that they would carry more than four into the regular season. Green and Thomas were draft mates and Dreessen and Jacob Tamme came in last year as part of the same free agency class.

Dreessen and Green match-up as starter and backup, but Tamme and Thomas have similar strengths, but with Thomas (and his injuries) fans have not really been able to see what the guy is capable of. Now with the way that the Broncos used Tamme last season, that role has all but been stripped away by the acquisition of Wes Welker.

This situation is only going to get more interesting as training camp kicks in.

Derek Wolfe:

"I love the confidence about him," Bailey on Wolfe, "[Wolfe is] very impressive, because you know Elvis was one of our true leaders last year, we needed someone to step up."

Bailey continued that Wolfe wanted to be the best players at his position in the league and that even as a second year player he is very impressed.

Now, where does Wolfe fit in? We can't be sure-- especially now that Shaun Phillips has arrived. However, by all indications Wolfe will have a good sophomore season.

One thing that Denver loves is depth and when you consider the situation last season where starting center J.D. Walton goes down for the year with an injury and Dan Koeppen steps in seamlessly, they may be onto something with this whole depth thing.

Quentin Jammer:

"I wanted to go somewhere where I could compete to win a championship," Jammer stated in his first response.

Jammer did not want to get into where he had offers from, but said that he wanted to play in either San Diego, Washington or Denver. He chose Denver, indicating that it was a decision based on winning a Super Bowl.

In keeping with the current trend of the Broncos liking corners who could play safety and vice-versa, Jammer says that he considers himself a football player first and foremost.

Any specifics on Jammer switching to safety were not gone into in great detail either by Jammer or Bailey, but it did not seem as if it would be an issue for the newly signed defensive back.

"It's good to have another veteran in the locker room, he can play a little safety, corner-- he's a true tackler," Bailey answered about Denver's newest resident.

Jammer returned the admiration, indicating Bailey's greatness as one of the reasons that he felt strongly that the Broncos could win a Super Bowl sooner, rather than later.