Ryan Lilja ends retirement, agrees to 1-year deal with Broncos

[COBronc78]

There is a little Brett Favre in every veteran NFL player.

Ryan Lilja is the latest to "pull a Favre." The guard-center is ending his retirement to join the Broncos, according to two NFL sources. He agreed to a one-year contract with the team Wednesday.

Lilja isn't the first to unretire. When the season ends, a physically beat-up player feels like he never wants to play again. One day after Lilja and the Kansas City Chiefs lost to the Broncos 38-3 to finish last season with a 2-14 record, he announced his retirement.

Then training camp started up again, and like Favre in 2008, 2009 and 2010, Lilja is in need of a football fix.

In the spring, Lilja started hearing from teams that wanted him to continue to play. The Broncos called Tuesday and offered Lilja an opportunity to reunite with Peyton Manning.

Lilja could be Manning's starting center in the Broncos' season opener Sept. 5 against the Baltimore Ravens at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

Manning and Lilja were teammates with the Indianapolis Colts from 2004-09. When healthy, Lilja was the Colts' starting left guard.

He played guard in his first two seasons with the Chiefs. But when Chiefs center Rodney Hudson suffered a broken leg in the third game of the 2012 season, Lilja snapped for the first time in his NFL career. He wound up playing 13 games at center.

When Broncos center Dan Koppen went down this week with a season-ending knee injury, and with J.D. Walton still a long way from returning from his ankle injury, Lilja was offered a contract in hopes he will compete with Manny Ramirez for the starting center job.

Lilja had been rehabbing toe and knee injuries when the Chiefs tried talking him out of retiring in March. Other teams also have contacted Lilja recently.
What the Broncos have that other teams don't is Manning.


Read more: Ryan Lilja signs with Denver Broncos for 1 year to compete at center - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci...#ixzz2afY25kFn
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[Chillez]

Good news. Broncos moved fast on this move.

[JakeNbake]

Tom Nalen @TomNalen 18s
broncos sign a retired center....but not me.

Thought this was funny.

[LegionOfVonDoom]

Good news. Broncos moved fast on this move.

Looks like Manny has competition now. Also doesn't bode well for our backup centers.

[Matymaddog]

Willing to be there are a fair amount of angry Chiefs fans from this move

[LegionOfVonDoom]

Thought this was funny.

hahaha, Nalen wants another SB ring ofc.

[LegionOfVonDoom]

Willing to be there are a fair amount of angry Chiefs fans from this move

Definitely as they tried to get him out of retirement as well.

[Kansas Bob]

Great move!!!!!

[atwaterandstir]

Good for us. He had talked about hitting the wall and maybe the mental break of knowing you are done helped him rejuvenate.

[Chillez]

Thought this was funny.

Haha, that's hilarious. Come on Nalen, you can come out of retirement and be Manning new starting center.

[InElwayWeTrust]

:clap:


.....

[Chillez]

Looks like Manny has competition now. Also doesn't bode well for our backup centers.

Agreed. The more competition the better.

[Bootleg]

Well done to Lilja, but more importantly well done to the Broncos

[LegionOfVonDoom]

Darren McKee @dmac1043 8m

Lilja signs a one year deal with the broncos. So much for manny being a starter

MileHighReport @MileHighReport 5m

I said Ryan Lilja was the best option after Koppen went down. Is he in football shape? How soon can he compete with Manny? We will see.

[ERoyal248]

Just saw on rotoworld.

Saw he graded out as the 14th best center in the NFL last year.

Could move Manny back to the backup C/G role.