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(I made a quick check. If this has been posted elsewhere, please let me know.)
Lincicome: Broncos' draft won't fix their many woes
April 29, 2007
Irrelevance could well be the eventual result of the Broncos taking their slurp at the weekend's talent trough, adding what they need while changing nothing.
The Broncos were not going to get well at the draft, certainly not by adding question marks on the defensive line, taking on the University of Florida's misbehavers rather than assuming failures from Cleveland.
My re-inspection of the roster reveals that defensive tackle Gerard Warren is indeed still a Bronco, something that will be taken on faith until he plays better, and adding Gators Jarvis Moss and Marcus Thomas and Texas' Tim Crowder only crowds the general patchiness of an unreliable defensive line.
Considering that the Broncos needed to trade up four spots and give away two picks for the uncertainty of Moss and had a whole night to sleep on the risk that is Thomas, before dismissing three draft choices to get him, it must be assumed that some thought has been given to the venture.
Essentially, then, the Broncos gave away five choices for two maybes, one of whom, Thomas, had more red flags than a May Day parade.
Still, by the time the Broncos had picked, there had been four other defensive linemen chosen, while the same number went before Crowder and another 13 before Thomas.
What this means is, the Broncos were scraping all sides of the barrel, but mostly the middle and the bottom.
In the meantime, the saga of Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn played out like some sort of shotgun wedding where the groom kept shifting his feet, waiting for a bride who was late.
Given the chance at Quinn, the Broncos passed, along with 21 others, because Jay Cutler is the quarterback of the future. Still, wouldn't it have been interesting to watch Cutler squirm as Jake Plummer did when the Broncos tossed the pebble in the pond that became a lost season by picking a QB?
And, considering that all those defensive linemen were still to be summoned later, wouldn't it have been worth creating the kind of quarterback competition that Mike Shanahan so loudly endorsed last year?
Or, to suggest another road not taken, there was another Moss to be had, Randy Moss, available for pocket change, who is now a Patriot instead of a Raider. This is not necessarily good for the Broncos in any case, because Moss was a sulking liability each time I saw the Broncos play the Raiders.
It was left then for other teams to make noise, such as could be had in a draft where the overwhelming Heisman Trophy winner, Troy Smith of Ohio State, was the 174th player taken and the nearly anonymous JaMarcus Russell (a Heisman nobody)was deemed the prize of prizes.
The Broncos are in such flux that nothing out of this draft encourages enthusiasm. This is mostly tuck pointing and reroofing, and not with first-rate supplies.
Jarvis Moss is, to echo the positives, a speedy pass rusher, if a bit skinny and a bit raw. He did not start until last season in college, so it is a stretch to assume he will start his first season as a pro. Crowder is similarly a bit light but did start 47 straight games for Texas, a worthy line on his résumé.
As for Thomas, possibly the most talented and certainly the largest of them all, well, for all the chatter about character and personal conduct, he could have been on the NFL poster of commissioner Roger Goodell pointing his finger, saying, "We do not want you."
Thomas and Moss both had disciplinary issues in Gainesville, confessed as pot and hanging out with the wrong crowd.
Shanahan sees what he wants to see in the record of Thomas, considering he was kicked off his college team not a legal matter, rather imagining the 300-pound Thomas getting a legal push in the middle of the line.
After all of this, the Broncos are still in the hands of a semirookie quarterback, the usual apprenticeship being more than the five games that Cutler played (two of which he won). Unless Cutler is something between John Elway and Dan Marino, the learning curve has no place to rest.
Figure in the new running back, the juggled linebacking, the thin receiving, the aging safeties, the uncertain offensive line, but mostly the inevitable shakiness of Cutler, and the Broncos could have had the first 10 picks in the draft without fixing everything that is wrong.
Until Cutler is better seasoned, the defense is of a consistent competence and the Broncos fall into a more painless schedule, good intentions will have to do.
I'm glad Shanny doesn't think like Lincicome. That would make Shanny an idiot.
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(I made a quick check. If this has been posted elsewhere, please let me know.)
Lincicome: Broncos' draft won't fix their many woes
April 29, 2007
Irrelevance could well be the eventual result of the Broncos taking their slurp at the weekend's talent trough, adding what they need while changing nothing.
The Broncos were not going to get well at the draft, certainly not by adding question marks on the defensive line, taking on the University of Florida's misbehavers rather than assuming failures from Cleveland.
My re-inspection of the roster reveals that defensive tackle Gerard Warren is indeed still a Bronco, something that will be taken on faith until he plays better, and adding Gators Jarvis Moss and Marcus Thomas and Texas' Tim Crowder only crowds the general patchiness of an unreliable defensive line.
Considering that the Broncos needed to trade up four spots and give away two picks for the uncertainty of Moss and had a whole night to sleep on the risk that is Thomas, before dismissing three draft choices to get him, it must be assumed that some thought has been given to the venture.
Essentially, then, the Broncos gave away five choices for two maybes, one of whom, Thomas, had more red flags than a May Day parade.
Still, by the time the Broncos had picked, there had been four other defensive linemen chosen, while the same number went before Crowder and another 13 before Thomas.
What this means is, the Broncos were scraping all sides of the barrel, but mostly the middle and the bottom.
In the meantime, the saga of Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn played out like some sort of shotgun wedding where the groom kept shifting his feet, waiting for a bride who was late.
Given the chance at Quinn, the Broncos passed, along with 21 others, because Jay Cutler is the quarterback of the future. Still, wouldn't it have been interesting to watch Cutler squirm as Jake Plummer did when the Broncos tossed the pebble in the pond that became a lost season by picking a QB?
And, considering that all those defensive linemen were still to be summoned later, wouldn't it have been worth creating the kind of quarterback competition that Mike Shanahan so loudly endorsed last year?
Or, to suggest another road not taken, there was another Moss to be had, Randy Moss, available for pocket change, who is now a Patriot instead of a Raider. This is not necessarily good for the Broncos in any case, because Moss was a sulking liability each time I saw the Broncos play the Raiders.
It was left then for other teams to make noise, such as could be had in a draft where the overwhelming Heisman Trophy winner, Troy Smith of Ohio State, was the 174th player taken and the nearly anonymous JaMarcus Russell (a Heisman nobody)was deemed the prize of prizes.
The Broncos are in such flux that nothing out of this draft encourages enthusiasm. This is mostly tuck pointing and reroofing, and not with first-rate supplies.
Jarvis Moss is, to echo the positives, a speedy pass rusher, if a bit skinny and a bit raw. He did not start until last season in college, so it is a stretch to assume he will start his first season as a pro. Crowder is similarly a bit light but did start 47 straight games for Texas, a worthy line on his résumé.
As for Thomas, possibly the most talented and certainly the largest of them all, well, for all the chatter about character and personal conduct, he could have been on the NFL poster of commissioner Roger Goodell pointing his finger, saying, "We do not want you."
Thomas and Moss both had disciplinary issues in Gainesville, confessed as pot and hanging out with the wrong crowd.
Shanahan sees what he wants to see in the record of Thomas, considering he was kicked off his college team not a legal matter, rather imagining the 300-pound Thomas getting a legal push in the middle of the line.
After all of this, the Broncos are still in the hands of a semirookie quarterback, the usual apprenticeship being more than the five games that Cutler played (two of which he won). Unless Cutler is something between John Elway and Dan Marino, the learning curve has no place to rest.
Figure in the new running back, the juggled linebacking, the thin receiving, the aging safeties, the uncertain offensive line, but mostly the inevitable shakiness of Cutler, and the Broncos could have had the first 10 picks in the draft without fixing everything that is wrong.
Until Cutler is better seasoned, the defense is of a consistent competence and the Broncos fall into a more painless schedule, good intentions will have to do.
I'm glad Shanny doesn't think like Lincicome. That would make Shanny an idiot.
-----
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Center, 3. OT
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