Off Season Needs

[Eliminatrix]

Denver needs to:

1. upgrade the Safety position
-Denver should trade-up to draft Kenny Philips
This should help us to not get shredded by divisional TE's

2. Acquire a true MLB!
-Move DJ back to OLB and draft a true thumper or trade for J. Vilma

We need to improve size in the middle of our defense, but keep DJ as we need athletic OLB's to cover the TE's in our division

3. improve quality depth at RB
-Draft a consistent proven RB eg.. Mike Hart(in round 3 or 4)
With Henry's status uncertain and our RB's 3-? are horrible, we should also release some "RBs" that are actually FBs eg. Mike Bell. Selvin Young has showed promise however I don't think he can carry the load for an entire season.

4. Continue to add depth to DL
-Use later draft picks to improve depth at DT and DE
Sam Adams is not the solution to our problem at DT, we have good you players on the DL and adding young depth will only improve our DL in the future. This will allow our LB to play without bein mugged.

[elevation INC]

Denver needs to:

1. upgrade the Safety position
-Denver should trade-up to draft Kenny Philips
This should help us to not get shredded by divisional TE's

2. Acquire a true MLB!
-Move DJ back to OLB and draft a true thumper or trade for J. Vilma

We need to improve size in the middle of our defense, but keep DJ as we need athletic OLB's to cover the TE's in our division

3. improve quality depth at RB
-Draft a consistent proven RB eg.. Mike Hart(in round 3 or 4)
With Henry's status uncertain and our RB's 3-? are horrible, we should also release some "RBs" that are actually FBs eg. Mike Bell. Selvin Young has showed promise however I don't think he can carry the load for an entire season.

4. Continue to add depth to DL
-Use later draft picks to improve depth at DT and DE
Sam Adams is not the solution to our problem at DT, we have good you players on the DL and adding young depth will only improve our DL in the future. This will allow our LB to play without bein mugged.





i agree about the safety, but dj is coming around as a mlb and vilma is injury prone and a waste of money, he reminds me of rice!!!!!!!!!!!!!

rb is not an issue bell is listed as a full back only because shanny didnt want to release him from the team, he was rookie of the year canidate last year


young is undrafted and cost us nothing so let him have his chance, henry is staying so get over it and bell will be there for depth instead of a rb we need a huge blocking FB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DL needs a DT and O line needs a least 2 people

[CinnaMunMun]

I would put our needs in this order:

-DT
-LB
-SS/FS
-RB

[elevation INC]

I would put our needs in this order:

-DT
-LB
-SS/FS
-RB



correct except we only need a SS because hazma is very good as a FS

also we do not need to waste anything on RB when we have young who has great speed, henry who has big contract, and mike bell who was rookie of the year canidate last year for us

[OKBroncoBoy]

Denver needs to:

1. upgrade the Safety position
-Denver should trade-up to draft Kenny Philips
This should help us to not get shredded by divisional TE's

2. Acquire a true MLB!
-Move DJ back to OLB and draft a true thumper or trade for J. Vilma

We need to improve size in the middle of our defense, but keep DJ as we need athletic OLB's to cover the TE's in our division

3. improve quality depth at RB
-Draft a consistent proven RB eg.. Mike Hart(in round 3 or 4)
With Henry's status uncertain and our RB's 3-? are horrible, we should also release some "RBs" that are actually FBs eg. Mike Bell. Selvin Young has showed promise however I don't think he can carry the load for an entire season.

4. Continue to add depth to DL
-Use later draft picks to improve depth at DT and DE
Sam Adams is not the solution to our problem at DT, we have good you players on the DL and adding young depth will only improve our DL in the future. This will allow our LB to play without bein mugged.

Let's get real!!!

1) Defensive line, defensive line & defensive line!!! For crying out loud, we are 31st in the league against the run and have no pass rush outside of Dumervil. You all will be amazed at how much better our LB's & DB's will look once they get the line fixed. You say "continue to add depth to DL", but we need PLAYERS and DEPTH. If a top DE is available--Campbell, Long, etc.--they need to move fast, then follow it up with a couple of DT's. These are both positions that are hard to fill in FA and are huge needs right now.

2) Offensive line, which can be filled in FA and using lower round picks. If Faneca does leave Pittsburgh then Denver should throw a big wad of money his way! There's going to be a number of players available and Denver never does good using high picks on OL.

3) Yes, linebacker finally. I like Vilma, but he might not be healthy for a while and I wouldn't give much for him...he could even end up being a cut. We only need one good signing and another one in the draft. Williams will be alright at MLB if he's left there and Gold is alright too. Again, and I might have to say this 100 more times, the LB's are going to be alright if they can get some players in front of them. Did I mention that we're 31st against the run? It's not because we have bad LB's guys!

4) Safety is a smaller need than peole think, although a need. Let's see who becomes available and who could fall into our lap for a reasonable price and also draft one. Sorry, but our other needs are to big!!!!!!!!! We can get a couple of stud safeties--spend big time FA money or use high picks--but in the end we will still suck if we don't fix the problems in front of them. Teams will continue to pick Denver apart no matter who plays safety. No matter who! It all starts up front fellows.

5) Running back is ONLY a need if Henry gets the boot. If he doesn't, this is a non issue. Henry, Young, Hall, Bell, even Sapp, are all options... Let's see what happens to Henry first.

[CinnaMunMun]

correct except we only need a SS because hazma is very good as a FS

also we do not need to waste anything on RB when we have young who has great speed, henry who has big contract, and mike bell who was rookie of the year canidate last year for us

Hamza did great last game, but I'm not going to call him a good safety until he proves that he can do it on a consistant basis. One game against the Chiefs offense isn't a tell-all kind of thing.

Same goes for Young. I like the guy, but he needs to keep doing it and prove that the injury bug that plagued him in college is gone for good. Henry also might not be here next year. The guy has a lot of baggage and he isn't playing up to his contract, especially being dinged up all the time. I also like Mike, but rookie of the year for us is different than rookie of the year for the NFL.

EDIT: I forgot O-line! We should also address that.

[JoRo]

I think Vilma if he could be had for a decent price would be good which may be possible, the Jets may look to improve size at that other ILB spot next to Harris... other than that I say leave DJ and worry bout the other OLB spots....Gold has been bad in coverage this year too not jus run D

[elevation INC]

I think Vilma if he could be had for a decent price would be good which may be possible, the Jets may look to improve size at that other ILB spot next to Harris... other than that I say leave DJ and worry bout the other OLB spots....




we need youth vilma has had 2 major injuries in the last 4 years, he is injury prone and a waste of FA money when we could go for briggs

[JoRo]

Name the second injury other than his knee?

That may also make him cheaper and if we traded for him he may just be glad to get outta there and into a scheme that better fits him.

[elevation INC]

Name the second injury other than his knee?

That may also make him cheaper and if we traded for him he may just be glad to get outta there and into a scheme that better fits him.

i think it was his shoulder but the knee is a big issue since it was just recently, im sorry but lance briggs would be a better choice than vilma, plus if we are going to rebuild lets focus on the draft and young free agents so we have a team that has some years in the tank.

[gyldenlove]

Throwing big money at Lance Briggs is STUPID!. Chicago knows what he can do better than any other team, if they are not throwing big money his way there is a reason. If someone knows something you don't, you can be sure doing the same thing they do is a good idea.

Vilma is injury prone, it was known in 2004 before the draft that his knee is bad and this injury is certainly not going to make it better. If he can be had for cheap it might be worth it, but he is not worth a day 1 pick.

DT and LB are our biggest need by considerable margin.

Sam Adams is on a 1 year deal and has clearly lost a lot since the glory days in Baltimore. Marcus Thomas is developing but needs to be complemented and we have no depth with Amon Gordon cut and Antwon Burton back on the practice squad.

Webster is not a good fit as outside linebacker and should be replaced, we need a faster player who can play in the flat. As for Ian Gold who seems to have his ups and downs, but mostly downs, we need a better tackler. The options seem to be either getting a new WLB (the draft is full of them) or drafting an MLB and sliding DJ back to his old position. I do think they will keep DJ in the middle, he is coming around to playing in the middle and it is almost always better to have a player with experience in the middle.

I think we will draft a DT early as the quality on that position in FA is very low. As for the linebacking position we will draft at least 1 LB in the first 3 rounds, and at least 1 more later on. I anticipate Gold will be cut due to his salary so we will need to add depth as well as at least 1 starter.

S is a position that is hard to gauge, if Abdullah plays well and can replace Ferguson he gives us the range we need. Lynch looks like he is nearing the end of his career and could be gone next season so we would need a starter for his side. Foxworth could be in the picture here. We will need to add a S for depth at the minimum but might need a starter. Decent Safeties have been available in the later rounds in the last couple of drafts and even though the position is considered weak this year, we should still be able to land a player.

OT is a need, we only have 3 tackles and considering Lepsis hasn't shown the level of play we know him for we will need to add a player.

Interior line, with Eslinger gone and Nalen injured we are getting some young players tested. Hopefully Kuper and Myers can gain from the playing time this year like Pears did last year and become good starters. Hamilton should be ready next season and can slide into the middle of Nalen is unable to return or decides to retire.

RB, If Henry is given a 1 year suspension and subsequently fired we will need to add an RB. I don't think throwing a ton of cash at Michael Turner is the answer. I would prefer to see us go with what we have and add a depth player in FA.

DE, we need to resign Ekuban, along with Crowder, Moss and Dumervil we have our starting rotation and can add a young player or a cheap free agent for depth.

WR, if Javon Walker comes back in shape this season and suffer no set backs we should add a real deep threat. We lack top speed in our current group when Walker is sidelined. Resigning Stokley who will probably command a payraise is important, he adds good hands and depth to our group. I am assuming Rod Smith is not coming back in this scenario as he could make Stokley somewhat obsolete.

[Mat'hir Uth Gan]

Let's get real!!!

1) Defensive line, defensive line & defensive line!!! For crying out loud, we are 31st in the league against the run and have no pass rush outside of Dumervil. You all will be amazed at how much better our LB's & DB's will look once they get the line fixed. You say "continue to add depth to DL", but we need PLAYERS and DEPTH. If a top DE is available--Campbell, Long, etc.--they need to move fast, then follow it up with a couple of DT's. These are both positions that are hard to fill in FA and are huge needs right now.

2) Offensive line, which can be filled in FA and using lower round picks. If Faneca does leave Pittsburgh then Denver should throw a big wad of money his way! There's going to be a number of players available and Denver never does good using high picks on OL.

3) Yes, linebacker finally. I like Vilma, but he might not be healthy for a while and I wouldn't give much for him...he could even end up being a cut. We only need one good signing and another one in the draft. Williams will be alright at MLB if he's left there and Gold is alright too. Again, and I might have to say this 100 more times, the LB's are going to be alright if they can get some players in front of them. Did I mention that we're 31st against the run? It's not because we have bad LB's guys!

4) Safety is a smaller need than peole think, although a need. Let's see who becomes available and who could fall into our lap for a reasonable price and also draft one. Sorry, but our other needs are to big!!!!!!!!! We can get a couple of stud safeties--spend big time FA money or use high picks--but in the end we will still suck if we don't fix the problems in front of them. Teams will continue to pick Denver apart no matter who plays safety. No matter who! It all starts up front fellows.

5) Running back is ONLY a need if Henry gets the boot. If he doesn't, this is a non issue. Henry, Young, Hall, Bell, even Sapp, are all options... Let's see what happens to Henry first.


This is a really good post. I think for most fans the entire concept that improving your D-line, specifically DTs, improves your entire defense as a side effect, most drastically at LB.


The only area I would even slightly disagree is at O-line. I'd probably swap O-line and Safety in your order of needs. From all intents and purposes, Tom Nalen will be back next season, as will Hamilton. Lepsis is fine. Pears is fine. Harris is developing. We have a ton of talent at OG, especially if Myers is resigned. Perhaps another OT to develop would be a good idea, but I'd like to see that targeted in the draft's 2nd day.

As for Safety, I can't imagine Foxworth would want to play that position, for less money and a greater chance at injury, and resign with Denver long term. With both Bly and Bailey under long term contracts, I doubt Foxworth will be around more then next season. Lynch and Ferguson are winding down, and while Abdullah looks promising, there is little else in the cupboard. We need an impact player at that position ready to start in the next two years. It seems much more pressing then O-line, but definitely #2 behind D-line. This is a very, very deep draft at Safety. If Phillips and/or Nic Harris come out, then I could see a 1st rounder being spent on them, otherwise Round 2 looks ear-marked for a Safety, and there are a lot of good ones available.

[OKBroncoBoy]

This is a really good post. I think for most fans the entire concept that improving your D-line, specifically DTs, improves your entire defense as a side effect, most drastically at LB.


The only area I would even slightly disagree is at O-line. I'd probably swap O-line and Safety in your order of needs. From all intents and purposes, Tom Nalen will be back next season, as will Hamilton. Lepsis is fine. Pears is fine. Harris is developing. We have a ton of talent at OG, especially if Myers is resigned. Perhaps another OT to develop would be a good idea, but I'd like to see that targeted in the draft's 2nd day.

As for Safety, I can't imagine Foxworth would want to play that position, for less money and a greater chance at injury, and resign with Denver long term. With both Bly and Bailey under long term contracts, I doubt Foxworth will be around more then next season. Lynch and Ferguson are winding down, and while Abdullah looks promising, there is little else in the cupboard. We need an impact player at that position ready to start in the next two years. It seems much more pressing then O-line, but definitely #2 behind D-line. This is a very, very deep draft at Safety. If Phillips and/or Nic Harris come out, then I could see a 1st rounder being spent on them, otherwise Round 2 looks ear-marked for a Safety, and there are a lot of good ones available.

I see your point at safety and it wouldn't bother me a bit to take one early, although I wouldn't do it in the 1st, and maybe not even the second, depending upon how it unfolds. I just think our DL needs are more severe than people think...Did I mention 31st against the run + no pass rush? I really think that a mauling guard like Faneca would be awesome and wouldn't cost us a pick. I actually like our OL entirely healthy, but Nalen and Hamilton now have issues and Nalen is getting up there even if he does come back. If Hamilton did slide to C and a guy like Faneca was brought in, we just got a little younger and a little better, which means an even better running game and a more explosive passing game.

As far as safety, I would even consider finding a team with extra safeties, but in need of a good cornerback. Swap Foxworth for a good, young safety and throw in a pick if you had to. I love Foxy, but I agree that he's only here one more year and is probably not interested in playing safety. Pick another developmental guy in the mid-late rounds and solve your safety issues without using a high pick, then pour it on the DL...

[elevation INC]

there are some great DT that will be there in the 3rd and 4th rounds, the same can not be said for safety, so u chose by what is best avilable, the DT's that are worthy of our first round pick will be gone, so get phillips, in the second rd there are some awsome LBs so get an LB the in the 3rd and 4th rds there is incredible depth for DT's here which is where we would get our D line help from, in the 5th and 6th split between the DT and O-line positions, and now u have Safety, LB, Dt, And O-line shored up

[Mat'hir Uth Gan]

there are some great DT that will be there in the 3rd and 4th rounds, the same can not be said for safety, so u chose by what is best avilable, the DT's that are worthy of our first round pick will be gone, so get phillips, in the second rd there are some awsome LBs so get an LB the in the 3rd and 4th rds there is incredible depth for DT's here which is where we would get our D line help from, in the 5th and 6th split between the DT and O-line positions, and now u have Safety, LB, Dt, And O-line shored up


I would argue this greatly.

This is a very weak draft, and front heavy, in terms of DT. Which is usually the case.

This is a VERY VERY deep draft at OLB and Safety.

[silkamilkamonic]

We need DT desperately.

Just think, when the season finishes, we could likely have only 2 DT's on our roster.

Marcus Thomas and Alvin McKinley.

Think our interior dline was bad this year? Next year it could possibly be worse.

[got_defense??]

1) Give me a nice run stopper/clogger via Draft or FA ...

2) We need and a true Safety to replace Foxworth. I understand that Fox is just filling in, but that's because we don't truly have a Safety to step in when Lynch is sidelined. Relying on your CB to do that shows a lack of depth ... we need to address that. Put Fox back in the Nickle where he can excel and do his thing ...

3) I prefer to deal with O-line issues through FA, but if it's it all possible to get a solid O-line prospect in this upcoming Draft ... go for it ... i just don't want to reach on a player. 1st day, not 2nd ...

[BroncosTX77]

We definitely need a DT bad, but unless the Broncos draft in the top 15 or reach at the end of the 1st Round it may not happen.

S
DT
LB

Those are the 3 positions Denver should be targeting in first round.


Top 5 DT as of now (considerable drop off after these 5):

Glenn Dorsey LSU-Top 5
Sedrick Ellis USC Top 15
Frank Okam Texas Top 15
Red Bryant 2nd Round-First Rd Reach
Kentwan Balmer 2nd Round-First Rd Reach :eek:

Top 5 Safeties as of now

Kenny Phillips FS Miami - Top 15 :rockon:
Reggie Smith S/CB/KR Oklahoma - Bottom 1st
Nic Harris Oklahoma FS - Bottom 1st
Tom Zbikowski S Notre Dame - 2nd
Craig Steltz S LSU - 2nd

Top 5 LB as of now

James Laurinaitis ILB OSU - Top 10
Dan Connor OLB PSU - Top 15
Keith Rivers OLB USC - Top 15
Ali Highsmith OLB LSU - Bottom 1st :fight:
Rey Maualuga MLB USC - Bottom 1st


In my opinion everyone should keep their eyes on Kenny Phillips, Ali Highsmith, and Kentwan Balmer as possible picks all dependant on how Denver finishes the season and their draft position.

[elevation INC]

We definitely need a DT bad, but unless the Broncos draft in the top 15 or reach at the end of the 1st Round it may not happen.

S
DT
LB

Those are the 3 positions Denver should be targeting in first round.


Top 5 DT as of now (considerable drop off after these 5):

Glenn Dorsey LSU-Top 5
Sedrick Ellis USC Top 15
Frank Okam Texas Top 15
Red Bryant 2nd Round-First Rd Reach
Kentwan Balmer 2nd Round-First Rd Reach :eek:

Top 5 Safeties as of now

Kenny Phillips FS Miami - Top 15 :rockon:
Reggie Smith S/CB/KR Oklahoma - Bottom 1st
Nic Harris Oklahoma FS - Bottom 1st
Tom Zbikowski S Notre Dame - 2nd
Craig Steltz S LSU - 2nd

Top 5 LB as of now

James Laurinaitis ILB OSU - Top 10
Dan Connor OLB PSU - Top 15
Keith Rivers OLB USC - Top 15
Ali Highsmith OLB LSU - Bottom 1st :fight:
Rey Maualuga MLB USC - Bottom 1st


In my opinion everyone should keep their eyes on Kenny Phillips, Ali Highsmith, and Kentwan Balmer as possible picks all dependant on how Denver finishes the season and their draft position.




I would be happy with either of those 3 underlined, however we could go for phillips or highsmith 1st and get Balmer in the 2nd or 1 of the other Dt's we talked about

[Broncosinindy]

I would argue this greatly.

This is a very weak draft, and front heavy, in terms of DT. Which is usually the case.

This is a VERY VERY deep draft at OLB and Safety.

Not to mention a DT is gonna be more help shoring up our defensive woes then a safety would.