Shannon Sharpe

[indianaBRONCO]

If Shannon should retire (hope not) is there anyone on the squad that can do a respectable job?
The games that I did see this year, I don't think so.
Are we going to have to suffer with another "greasy" until there is a suitable replacement or will someone step up and do the job?
Even if they draft a good TE this year he wont be able to fill the shoes of Shannon Sharpe unless he turns out to be a hiden threat like Davis was.
I would like to know what the rest of you think, good or bad.

[Return of Lava]

i think putzier and carswell can more than do the job. shannon isnt that hard to replace on the field, its the locker room and leadership that will be missed. Putzier has deceptive speed with good hands and carswell can block very well.

[indianaBRONCO]

I agree.
I should have been more specific...I meant the whole package.

[Return of Lava]

well leadership and locker room prescence really doesnt mean much. they might not have as much fun with sharpe gone, but carswell went to the probowl while sharpe was gone so it'll be easy to replace him. Still hope he stays though.

[indianaBRONCO]

I would have to disagree on the leadership part. Experience is the foundation of leadership and there is no substitute for that when a young player looks to a veteran for guidence.

[Return of Lava]

Originally posted by indianaBRONCO
I would have to disagree on the leadership part. Experience is the foundation of leadership and there is no substitute for that when a young player looks to a veteran for guidence.

thats true but carswell has a lot of experience also. rod smith and the other vets will have to step up again.

[indianaBRONCO]

We could go round and round forever on this point....the pro's and con's....we would both have good points.
My thing is Smith wont be around forever....buzz is that Eddy Mac may retire....these guys, especially Sharpe, give to much to the team on and off the field as far as leadership...how a player should act off the field and how they should perform on the field. Like I said I haven't seen that many games this year, however the ones I did see, I was not that impressed with the performance of some of the younger players.
Not to mention the fact that if they stick someone in that performs the way greasy did when he took over for Elway (what an insult) it would only hender what Shanahan is trying to accomplish.

[GIVEME6]

Sharpe's leadership will be greatly missed, that's for sure. But I think the one player that will suffer the most from his "alleged departure" is Clinton Portis. Portis is young and SEEMS to have his head on straight, but I sense that Shannon Sharpe is very much a mentor to CP and when you are a young superstar in the NFL, that is very valuable. I still think Shannon will come back for one more year, but if he doesn't we are gonna be screwed at TE. Carswell is a BLOCKING TE FIRST, and a receiver second and he is unable to shoulder the receiving load like Shannon did in quite a few games this year.

Jeb Putzier is unproven, but I do see the potential for him to become an OK tight end, but not someone who is gonna bail out "The Snake" when the going gets tough. IF the University of Folrida's TE Ben Troupe comes out in the draft this year, we should snatch him up. He has great size, better than average speed for an NFL tight end and he is "Shockey like" when it comes to busting tackles. Plus, I think he will thrive in our system.

Everyone keeps harping on Kellen Winslow Jr, but it's obvious he has character issues judging by his outburst after the loss to the VOLS, and I believe him to be a bit undersized to be an all around effective TE in the NFL. Winslow is better suited at WR if he can slim down from his 230lb frame, which would make him even faster. Ben Troupe is a solid 250 and is around 6"4. I'm not sure if there are gonna be many quality free agent TEs this offseason, but we need someone better than "House" and Putzier. Remember, BEN TROUPE. You heard it here.

[Return of Lava]

Originally posted by PLUMMERFAN16
IF the University of Folrida's TE Ben Troupe comes out in the draft this year, we should snatch him up. He has great size, better than average speed for an NFL tight end and he is "Shockey like" when it comes to busting tackles. Plus, I think he will thrive in our system.

in this quote you are talking about troupe, but you might as well be talking about putzier, he has ALL those things and more. Putzier has great size, better than average speed and is tough to bring down. Plus, he already KNOWS the system and had sharpe too look at. we shouldnt draft a TE at all IMO in the 1st round. How could you draft a TE and put that rookie in front of carswell and putzier automatically? You say putzier is unproven, he proved just as much as troupe in the NFL. Putzier had a great college career also. I think he can easily fill in for sharpe on the field. Carswell too, he already did for 2 years and went to the probowl for it too!

[Return of Lava]

Originally posted by PLUMMERFAN16
Ben Troupe is a solid 250 and is around 6"4.

Jeb Putzier is also a solid 6"4 250 lbs. why dont you give him a chance. he knows that some plays are meant for the 1st down instead of the TD so he will be able to bail out plummer just like sharpe did.

[TXBRONC]

Originally posted by indianaBRONCO
I agree.
I should have been more specific...I meant the whole package.

Leadship qualities are very important. Just ask the Chargers, they let two of their leaders go and look what happened to them. If Sharpe retirers I think their are other who can fill the void. Plummer, Wilson, Rod Smith, come to mind. As far as on the field Putzier was drafted to be the heir apparent. Carswell is not much an offensive weapon he is very good blocker, but presents no threat as down the deep middle of the field. Btw not counting Sharpe on the roster right now the Broncos still have four TE's on the team.

[Return of Lava]

i dont think the leadership loss is what made thier bad season, i think it was the fact that they lost 2 very good players and didnt have good enough backup. also they had lots of injuries to their o-line.

[TXBRONC]

Originally posted by Return of Lava
thats true but carswell has a lot of experience also. rod smith and the other vets will have to step up again.

You are right about Smith, but just because a guy is vet doen't mean he's a leader. Carswell has been with Broncos for 10 or 11 season and never ever heard his name mentioned as leader. I think is more of follower than a leader.

[Return of Lava]

Originally posted by TXBRONC
You are right about Smith, but just because a guy is vet doen't mean he's a leader. Carswell has been with Broncos for 10 or 11 season and never ever heard his name mentioned as leader. I think is more of follower than a leader.

carswell went to the probowl in sharpe's place a couple years back. he can definitely step up and be a leader. he may not be vocal as sharpe but he can produce. anyway the guy was sayin leadership comes with experience and i was just sayin that carswell had experience.

[TXBRONC]

Originally posted by Return of Lava
carswell went to the probowl in sharpe's place a couple years back. he can definitely step up and be a leader. he may not be vocal as sharpe but he can produce. anyway the guy was sayin leadership comes with experience and i was just sayin that carswell had experience.

Going to the probowl does not make him a leader. True a leader does not always have be vocal to lead, (ie Rod Smith). But when a leader speaks his teammates listen. Experience in and of itself does not make one a leader. Leaders also looked to for advise and guidence I haven't heard that being one of Carswell's strengths. As far as I can tell he has never taken on that role on the team. The reason Shanny has held on to Carswell has to do with his blocking not his pass catching ability. He not that good, and he's at best a mid range target, he's not fast enough to stretch the defense. Jeb on the hand has that ability from what I have read on him. To be honest I don't think we have seen that on the field, but I would attribute that to the fact he has not seen much playing time.