Denver Broncos Countdown to Kickoff: 55 Days

Rick Dennison

Though Rick is currently the Houston Texans offensive coordinator, he is a Bronco through and through. In fact back in 2011 when Elway was interviewing for the job and Dennison came to town he said something to the effect "I'll always be a Bronco no matter where I'm at." Rick is a graduate of Colorado State University (a former alma mater of mine, go suck it Buffs fans :P) and was an undrafted player that signed for the Broncos in 1982. He parlayed a successful camp into a 9 year career as a Bronco LB. He was always more of a reserve guy who saw significant time as a starter in 1984 (started 15 games and registered 3 sacks) 1988 (started 16 games and had an interception) and 1989 (started 11 games with a sack, INT, and fumble recovery).

Rick stepped away from football in the early 90's and returned to the Broncos in 95 as an offensive assistant. From there he climbed the coaching ladder serving in a number of different roles as the Broncos Special Teams Coach (1997-2000), Offensive Line Coach (2001-2005), and Offensive Coordinator (2006-2008). In 2009 when the Broncos hired Josh McDaniels, he was demoted to Offensive Line Coach. Finally, he was hired by Gary Kubiak to be the Texans OC in 2010 where he's remained ever since.

DJ Williams

"Haters gonna hate, lovers gonna love, I don't even want none of the above I want to P#$$ on you"

Haha, seriously, everytime I think of DJ, Dave Chappelle's parody song on R. Kelly. Not that he ever did that, I suppose it's just a weird connection I make with him and his suspension for non human urine later in his career. In any case, DJ is perhaps one of the most undervalued Broncos LB's in Denver Bronco history. In 9 years as a starting LB, he's accumulated 20.5 sacks, 628 tackles, 2 INT's and 7 fumble recoveries. He played many different spots both inside and outside, in fact many believe his lack of consistency not only with position but with defensive coordinators might have been why DJ never surpassed that line from being very good to great.

What has and will always dog DJ's time as a Bronco will be all the off the field issues he had. He pleaded guilty to DUI in 2005, had a similar incident in 2010, and was finally suspended for the bulk of 2012 after failing a drug test. It's not only that, there was smh moments like posting a picture of the Broncos defensive playbook and other boneheaded stuff.

This just goes to show you folks, what you do in your personal life has the ability to tarnish your professional life. This past offseason DJ signed a deal with the Chicago Bears.

Cool 55 Factoid

Keith Burns played in three different stints as a Bronco. In his 2nd (2000-2003) Burns also wore the #55.

Notable Broncos to wear #55:

Rick Dennison (1982-1990)

Keith Burns (2000-2003)

DJ Williams (2005-2012)

Current Bronco wearing #55:

Stewart Bradley

Read More: Denver Broncos by the numbers (#55) Kaptain Kirk