Dominance for years to come?

[bpc]

I was just going over some notes of mine in this post 4-1 Monday. In the middle of our offensive woes (who would have ever thought under Shanahan?) and our mind boggling defensive statistics, i've come across some brilliant realizations.

As good as our defense is playing right now, and it is great... it is destined to get better. By my account and maybe some other people actually have the information, our core defense should be intact for the next two or three years. Below is information on most of our players that have an impact on our defense including age, and contract info.

Starters such as Gerard Warren, Al Wilson, DJ Williams, Ian Gold, Champ Bailey, Darent Williams are resigned for over the next 3 years or more.

Waiting in the wings and signed for multiple seasons are key role players such as Dominique Foxworth, Elvis Dumerville, Karl Paymah, Sam Brandon, Hamza Abdullah, Curome Cox. All should be signed for at least two years or more.

Guys such as Michael Myers, Patrick Chukwurah, Ebenezer Ekuban, Demetrin Veal are on shorter contracts but are quality depth or play makers that could be retained in the offseason. Veal, Chukwurah, and Ekuban definitely should be resigned.

Minus Lynch, Ferguson and Lang, our starters average age on defense is 27.6.

Defensive Starters, age, and current contract info:
Ebeneezer Ekuban – 30 Signed 3 year contract in 2004 by Cleveland.
Gerard Warren – 28 Signed 6 year contract in 2006
Michael Myers – 30 Signed in 2004 by Cleveland, unsure of contract length.
Kenard Lang – 31 Signed 3 year contract in 2006
Al Wilson – 29 Signed 6 year contract in 2005
DJ Williams – 24 Signed 5 year contract in 2004
Ian Gold – 28 Signed 6 year contract in 2005?
Champ Bailey – 28 Signed 7 year contract in 2004
Darent Williams – 24 Signed 4 year contract in 2005
John Lynch – 35 Signed 3 year contract in 2004
Nick Ferguson – 32 Signed 4 year contract in 2004

11 starters: 29 years of age

Minus KL, JL, NF : 27.6 years of age

Subs and age: Not sure of contract lengths.
Hamza Abdullah – 23
Sam Brandon – 27
Dominique Foxworth – 23
Elvis Dumerville – 22
Curome Cox – 25
Karl Paymah – 24
Demetrian Veal – 25
Patrick Chukurah – 27

What all this info states is that we are a tremendously talented defense that has a great mixture of youth and experience and can continue to grow and get better. I think we should be trying to resign Veal, Chukwurah, Myers and Ekuban to salary cap friendly deals.

With this being stated where should we be looking with our 1st round draft pick this next year? We could pad an already stout group with an addition of a young safety or linebacker... or we could choose to throw a young disruptive DT or DE in there with our group. We have the ability to turn this unit from great to amazing. We are not that far away from having one of the truly great defenses of all time.

[Popps]

Great post, man... and some welcome optimism.

Add to that, we've got a lot of talent on O that will be coming back. Rod is and Nails are the only geezers, and we might squeeze one more year out of each. Our best WR is in his prime, we've got our future QB in waiting and our RB is only in his third year.

Plus, the Cutler pick almost assures Shanny will stick around to play with his new toy, so you gotta love that!

4-1 with a ton of upside ahead of us. I love it.

[Atwater His Ass]

I am very excited about our defense. I think our first rounder this year should be spent on a DE or a S. I like our depth on the rest of the defense and on the offensive line; QB and WR are set. We could use a stud RB and I wouldn't blame us for taking one early, but I don't think Shanny will use a high pick on a RB.

Re-enforce our DL with some young talent (I'm getting high on Elvis after the last 2 games performance), get the offense rolling (we have the talent) and we are set for a good run for the next 4-5 years.

[WABronco]

Well, if Cutler becomes a franchise QB, I'd say we have a very good chance of being competetive for quite some time.

[Hercules Rockefeller]

Denver will have the rights to Paymah and Foxworth through the '08 season and Dumervil through '09. I believe Veal is a UFA this offseason, and Myers is a UFA but has stated he wants to finish out his career here.

[Hercules Rockefeller]

I like our depth on the rest of the defense and on the offensive line; QB and WR are set. We could use a stud RB and I wouldn't blame us for taking one early, but I don't think Shanny will use a high pick on a RB.


Why is WR set when Walker is the only one who has performed, but RB is not set when Tatum is averaging over 90 yds a game this year and he wasn't even the full-time back until Week 3?

[Popps]

Denver will have the rights to Paymah and Foxworth through the '08 season and Dumervil through '09. I believe Veal is a UFA this offseason, and Myers is a UFA but has stated he wants to finish out his career here.

Veal is a dude I hope we re-sign. Stout against the run, and actually seems to have developed a few pass-rush moves.

[bpc]

I really like Veal. He has been a steal and has a great versatility. I would love to add another talent next to him and Warren. I see a great deal of potential coming from Dumervil and Chukwurah rushing on the outside. They are forcing the QB's to have to step up in the pocket. That means getting a penetrating DT who can rush on 3rd downs could really make our pass rush effective.

We have four yesterday which is pretty damn good considering we only used our front four.

[bendog]

We Suck!

[watermock]

I've been peeing on the parade all day, but in this I agree. First, Shanahan has committed to another decade. That's handled.

Hopefully, Cutler can be a true franchise QBOTF. That's hopefully handled.

Give Sapp another chance...he was devestated. He just botched it with bad technique. Nerves. He might have a long future here.

We need obvious help along the DL at any position, another impact WR, a Safety for Lynch to groom and my goodness, probably a new backup QB. I think we could pick up Tate in the second day. He had a really bad game last week. I think he would be a fine backup tho.

Yes I'm mad at our performance...I'm also optimistic about our future. We should have a boatload of picks to dance around again this year, which is remarkable considering we danced around and got Cutler and Javon.

I think we will turn our heads to offense after taking some impact player at DL first. I think we have a pretty full slate after trading Lelie.

Hey, I never thought I would get trigger fingers over Jake this year, but my mind is made up.

We still have some holes, but they are not glaring. Lynch, Rod, and Nalen will have to retire eventually, but generally this is a pretty young team.

[Atwater His Ass]

Why is WR set when Walker is the only one who has performed, but RB is not set when Tatum is averaging over 90 yds a game this year and he wasn't even the full-time back until Week 3?

I think we are good at WR with Walker, Kircus, and Marshall. Yes, those are 2 unproven guys, but I think they will fine. Hixon still hasn't gotten his chance yet either. I liked what I saw from Cutler hooking up with the younger guys and with Scheffler at TE. It could be seen as a bit of a reach, but I think we have more needs on the DL and S positions.

I like Tatum and he has been running better over the last few games, breaking tackles and getting some tough yards, but I am not convinced he is the long term answer at RB. Just my opinion, and maybe by the end of the season I will feel differently. He also got 15 and 16 carries in weeks 1 and 2 so it's not like he wasn't getting any reps and has gotten all his yards from week 3 on.

[Popps]

We Suck!

Rep.

[DB-Freak]

Just one surefire star power on the DL on the team.

Just one is all I ask.

[bpc]

I think Warren has been a huge pickup for us. Ekuban has been very solid and I think he can be a starter for at least a few more years. Myers is ho-hum. I think Veal CAN be an effective starter. Elvis and Chukwurah round out an effective group of young DE pass rushers.

I agree that we need some more young defensive linemen. I don't think we are terrible at the positions either. They are playing at a high level right now.

[BroncoFanDoug]

I have got to say, it is a wonderful thing to be a Bronco fan in 2006.

We are b****ing about a 4-1 start (which included knocking off 2 undefeated teams and 2 division rivals), Over the last decade, a disaster season is 500, the future looks even brighter


It must be very sad to be a traider fan :(

Almost enough to feel sorry for them --- NOT! Ain't it great!!!

[NFLBRONCO]

If we can land a LT backup QB S WR RB DL in the next few years we will be solid for a very long time. We are in awesome shape.

[SoCalBronco]

Starters such as Gerard Warren, Al Wilson, DJ Williams, Ian Gold, Champ Bailey, Darent Williams are resigned for over the next 3 years or more.

.

DJ and D-Will are signed for only 2 more seasons. I know he isn't a starter, but I believe Fox is signed for only 1 more season.

I hope we can trade one of the two young corners this offseason for a draft pick. Both will want to be paid like a starter and the market will probably allow for that too. We can only keep one. Gotta get value for one of them before he's gone.

[NFLBRONCO]

DJ and D-Will are signed for only 2 more seasons. I know he isn't a starter, but I believe Fox is signed for only 1 more season.

I hope we can trade one of the two young corners this offseason for a draft pick. Both will want to be paid like a starter and the market will probably allow for that too. We can only keep one. Gotta get value for one of them before he's gone.


Good point I keep forgetting about young CB's contract situation it will be interesting.

[baja]

I was just going over some notes of mine in this post 4-1 Monday. In the middle of our offensive woes (who would have ever thought under Shanahan?) and our mind boggling defensive statistics, i've come across some brilliant realizations.

As good as our defense is playing right now, and it is great... it is destined to get better. By my account and maybe some other people actually have the information, our core defense should be intact for the next two or three years. Below is information on most of our players that have an impact on our defense including age, and contract info.


Starters such as Gerard Warren, Al Wilson, DJ Williams, Ian Gold, Champ Bailey, Darent Williams are resigned for over the next 3 years or more.

Waiting in the wings and signed for multiple seasons are key role players such as Dominique Foxworth, Elvis Dumerville, Karl Paymah, Sam Brandon, Hamza Abdullah, Curome Cox. All should be signed for at least two years or more.

Guys such as Michael Myers, Patrick Chukwurah, Ebenezer Ekuban, Demetrin Veal are on shorter contracts but are quality depth or play makers that could be retained in the offseason. Veal, Chukwurah, and Ekuban definitely should be resigned.

Minus Lynch, Ferguson and Lang, our starters average age on defense is 27.6.

Defensive Starters, age, and current contract info:
Ebeneezer Ekuban – 30 Signed 3 year contract in 2004 by Cleveland.
Gerard Warren – 28 Signed 6 year contract in 2006
Michael Myers – 30 Signed in 2004 by Cleveland, unsure of contract length.
Kenard Lang – 31 Signed 3 year contract in 2006
Al Wilson – 29 Signed 6 year contract in 2005
DJ Williams – 24 Signed 5 year contract in 2004
Ian Gold – 28 Signed 6 year contract in 2005?
Champ Bailey – 28 Signed 7 year contract in 2004
Darent Williams – 24 Signed 4 year contract in 2005
John Lynch – 35 Signed 3 year contract in 2004
Nick Ferguson – 32 Signed 4 year contract in 2004

11 starters: 29 years of age

Minus KL, JL, NF : 27.6 years of age

Subs and age: Not sure of contract lengths.
Hamza Abdullah – 23
Sam Brandon – 27
Dominique Foxworth – 23
Elvis Dumerville – 22
Curome Cox – 25
Karl Paymah – 24
Demetrian Veal – 25
Patrick Chukurah – 27

What all this info states is that we are a tremendously talented defense that has a great mixture of youth and experience and can continue to grow and get better. I think we should be trying to resign Veal, Chukwurah, Myers and Ekuban to salary cap friendly deals.

With this being stated where should we be looking with our 1st round draft pick this next year? We could pad an already stout group with an addition of a young safety or linebacker... or we could choose to throw a young disruptive DT or DE in there with our group. We have the ability to turn this unit from great to amazing. We are not that far away from having one of the truly great defenses of all time.

Great post and they love playing for each other not a head case in the bunch

[No1BroncoFan]

Well, if Cutler becomes a franchise QB, I'd say we have a very good chance of being competetive for quite some time.
Even in 1999* we were more competitive than our record indicated. We have been competitive every year, even with less than stellar talent. Why is it that having Cutler be a franchise QB will suddenly give us a good chance at doing what we've been doing for years?

*Even in 1999 when we finished 6-10, a mere 12 points seperated us from the division championship:
Week 7 Oct 24 L 24-23 at New England Patriots TD instead of FG – 4 pts.
Week 10 Nov 14 L 20-17 at Seattle Seahawks TD instead of FG – 4 pts.
Week 8 Oct 31 L 23-20 vs Minnesota Vikings TD instead of FG – 4 pts.
Replace one FG with one TD in each of these games and we would have had a 9-7 record with the Chiefs and the Seahawks falling to 8-8. 12 points. That's it. Of course, with Griese at the helm it's just as well we missed the playoffs. There's no way in hell he'd win a playoff game, but had he actually led us to the playoffs we might not have gotten rid of him when we did.

Ben

[baja]

WOW just WOW

[BroncosMT]

I bet Lynch signs for a couple more years too!!! I don't know if DJ Williams will want to stay due to him not playing his natural position. Should prove to be interesting

[bpc]

Here's my list of DE's that I love... now keep in mind, I'm not going to throw the huge names on there like Gaines Adams. Only guys that I think we could possibly remotely get.

LaMarr Woodley - DE - Michigan: He has been great this year. He is undersized (6'1", 270) but I think all will admit that shouldn't be the only consideration when drafting a DE. He has 7 sacks through 7 games this year, with two recently coming against Penn State. His best games have been against some of the best players in college, Joe Thomas from Wisconsin and a highly touted OT from PSU.

Anthony Spencer - DE - Purdue: Has been huge this year for Purdue, notching sacks in all but one of his games (Iowa) and has 7 through 7 games. Has solid size at 6'3, 263lbs, great burst off the LOS.

Abraham Wright - DE - Colorado: Local product is actually the only good thing going on in Boulder this year. He has nine sacks on the year and through two seasons in Colorado has shown that he has the ability to get to the QB. Knotched 5 sacks his first season. Size is okay at 6'3, 245. More of a tweener.

MKristo Bruce - DE - WSU: This is a guy who is taking draft boards by storm. Has very good size at 6'6", 260 with the ability to get bigger. Speed is not great, but more than effective. Has tallied 10 sacks already on the year matching his amount from the previous season including sacks against top 10 schools Auburn and SoCal.

[bpc]

I think we will have rights on DJ and although we've never franchised anybody before, i wouldn't be surprised if we did for DJ.

As for Fox and DWill... i would be surprised if they both didn't try to resign in denver. They are best friends and I think they might be two who would make concessions to keep playing with each other.

I feel comfortable that Myers and Ekuban will resign if we want them back.

[Hercules Rockefeller]

Bailey- '10 (last season)
Williams- '08
Foxy and Paymah- thru '07 with an RFA year after that
Lynch- '08
Brandon- '09
Ferguson- '07
Chucky- this year
Gold- '10
DJ- '09
Al- '10
Lang- '08
Warren- '11
Myers- this year
Veal- this year
Courtney- '09
Ekuban- '07
Engleberger- '08
Dumervil- '08 with an RFA year after

[SoCalBronco]

I think we will have rights on DJ and although we've never franchised anybody before, i wouldn't be surprised if we did for DJ.

As for Fox and DWill... i would be surprised if they both didn't try to resign in denver. They are best friends and I think they might be two who would make concessions to keep playing with each other.

I feel comfortable that Myers and Ekuban will resign if we want them back.

I don't think we would franchise him...as you have noted, we don't really like that approach, prolly because it puts a big one year albatross on our cap necks, although we may do it for the purposes of securing his rights long enough to work out a trade, which would be ideal, but I hope we can work out a trade before that point.

I know Fox and D-Will like each other, but they are both smart guys, its all about the bottom line. Both want a starter's job and starter's money. At the end of the day, neither is going to take nickel money just to stay in Denver. That's just irrational. We have to pre-empt the dilemma by getting something in return this summer.

[Hercules Rockefeller]

Offense
Cooper- UFA
Eslinger, Kuper, Marshall, Hixon and Mike Bell- Same as Dumervil
Myers- same as Foxy and Paymah
Lepsis- '09
Foster- '08
Hamilton- '09
Nalen- '08
Tatum- '07
Kyle Johnson- UFA
Cecil Sapp- UFA
Cutler- '11
Plummer- '09
Scheffler- '09
Alexander- '07
Leach- '09
Walker- '11
Rod- '08
Kircus- '08

[bpc]

Bailey- '10 (last season)
Williams- '08
Foxy and Paymah- thru '07 with an RFA year after that
Lynch- '08
Brandon- '09
Ferguson- '07
Chucky- this year
Gold- '10
DJ- '09
Al- '10
Lang- '08
Warren- '11
Myers- this year
Veal- this year
Courtney- '09
Ekuban- '07
Engleberger- '08
Dumervil- '08 with an RFA year after

Excellent, I knew you would have the info. So I guess we are looking at our only major FA concerns coming up this offseason with Chuk, Veal and Myers. I think we need to resign Chuk and Veal. I like Myers and if he wants to stay, I wouldn't mind having him as a 3rd or 4th DT.

[Hercules Rockefeller]

Great bargins
Anyone on their rookie deal
Kircus
Leach
Courtney
Brandon

[bpc]

Offense
Cooper- UFA
Eslinger, Kuper, Marshall, Hixon and Mike Bell- Same as Dumervil
Myers- same as Foxy and Paymah
Lepsis- '09
Foster- '08
Hamilton- '09
Nalen- '08
Tatum- '07
Kyle Johnson- UFA
Cecil Sapp- UFA
Cutler- '11
Plummer- '09
Scheffler- '09
Alexander- '07
Leach- '09
Walker- '11
Rod- '08
Kircus- '08

Another great post. Thanks.

Looks like we are golden through 2008. You know Shanahan and the front office has to be loving looking at this situation.

Herc, do you know where we are sitting in terms of salary cap for next season? Are we over/under?

If we had any cash to play with at all, I would love to see us try and add a impact defensive lineman like Justin Smith.

[SoCalBronco]

Herc...when you give a year like 09 for example, that means through the season before, not that season right?

So 09 would be April 1, 09, rather than thru the 09 season?

[Hercules Rockefeller]

So 09 would be April 1, 09, rather than thru the 09 season?

The year listed is the final season they will be a Bronco, so Champ is listed with '10 as his final season and he'll become a UFA on March 2 (or whatever), 2011.

[SoCalBronco]

The year listed is the final season they will be a Bronco, so Champ is listed as '10 as his final season and he'll become a UFA on March 2 (or whatever), 2011.

Ah i see....I read that DJ had a 5 year deal (even though it was a 6 yr. one), because the last year voids. That's why I think he has only 2 more years left.

[bpc]

How much would we get for DJ if we transitioned him?

Doesn't matter, we need to resign the guy. I would spend 6 mill easily on DJ for the potential and talent that he already plays with. If we can sign Mobley to a huge contract, we can sign this guy. DJ IMO is twice the player that Mobley was.

I still think we have a good chance to resign both Fox and DWill. I don't know... I just have a good feeling about them.

[Hercules Rockefeller]

How much would we get for DJ if we transitioned him?


The right to match and that's it

[Hercules Rockefeller]

Herc, do you know where we are sitting in terms of salary cap for next season? Are we over/under?


I'd like to hope under. Cap is $109.5 next year and if I added right, I have them at $57.2M in just base salaries and 45 guys signed. Tough to figure out how much bonus money is out there with piss poor job that Williamson and the rest do in reporting contracts. I can't think of any real dead money out there. I can think of only 1 significant roster bonus (Walker) and that will be guaranteed and prorated out, and I'd bet Cutler is due one as well, but the same thing will happen with him as with Walker.

[baja]

How much is Jake due to make?

[Hercules Rockefeller]

How much is Jake due to make?

$5.3M in base, with a cap number of around $8.5M (my estimate)

[bpc]

I'd like to hope under. Cap is $109.5 next year and if I added right, I have them at $57.2M in just base salaries and 45 guys signed. Tough to figure out how much bonus money is out there with piss poor job that Williamson and the rest do in reporting contracts. I can't think of any real dead money out there. I can think of only 1 significant roster bonus (Walker) and that will be guaranteed and prorated out, and I'd bet Cutler is due one as well, but the same thing will happen with him as with Walker.

109 and we are at 57? Are we that much under or is the cap jumping that much? What is the cap sitting at this year?

[Hercules Rockefeller]

The cap is at $109.5M. The number I gave was just their base salaries, there's dead money and prorated signing bonus hits in there too, just can't calculate those because of the piss poor reporting on contracts the Broncos sign their players to.