Bronco news

[Atlas]

SoCals Link: http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=15821

Randy (Cheyenne WY): Whats up Dan love the insight! Give the Mid-West some Love. How do you feel about the Broncos off-season and draft? Do you think Keyshawn could end up in Denver? I think he would be a great fit.

SportsNation Dan Arkush: As usual, Randy, the Broncos were very aggressive. As far as their free agent additions go, I think Travis Henry should be able to fit right in to a long line of successful backs in Denver's system if he can keep out of trouble. Come to think of it, keeping out of trouble seems to be a key for a number of Broncos, including P Todd Sauerbrun, a good guy I've known going way back to his Bear days (he can be a bit goofy, but man does he have a cannon for a leg) and draftees Jarvis Moss and Marcus Thomas, who had well-documented problems in college. Mike shanahan and Pat Bowlen insist they're comfortable taking all these character risks. We'll see. As for Keyshawn in Denver, I don't really see it, but you never know. Denver is a very interesting team. Too bad the Chargers are in the same division.

[Atlas]

Lynch Foundation honors student athletes

SoCals Link: http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_5902185
By Mike Klis
Denver Post Staff Writer

On the eve of what figured to be among his most gratifying days, John Lynch was getting ready for bed when he got a phone call.

The cement floors inside Invesco Field at Mile High were flooded with 2 inches of water. Ordinarily, the heavy rain Monday night would not have been a major inconvenience, as the Broncos remain four months away from the preseason.

But because the John Lynch Foundation was to culminate a year's worth of charitable work the next day with an enormous lunch banquet for local middle school and high school student athletes, the flooding spelled a sleepless night of anxiety for the Broncos' star safety.

Thanks to water vacs and several of the foundation's closest friends, the ninth annual John Lynch Salutes the Stars went off on time, without a glitch and with a record 800 people in attendance today, double last year's crowd.

"It's a grind to put it on, but these kids are deserving," Lynch said. "This is an effort to reward the young leaders of our community who are doing the right things because so often the focus is on kids doing things wrong."

The Broncos begin their off-season workout programs Wednesday with the start of quarterback camp at their Dove Valley headquarters, but today at Invesco, football gave way to philanthropy.

Two of the Broncos' most distinguished humanitarians - Domonique Foxworth and Jay Cutler - helped Lynch present the awards, and starting strong safety Nick Ferguson was the keynote speaker.

"I wanted to help support John," Cutler said. "He's a true role model for the community."

The Broncos' second-year quarterback, Cutler has quickly followed Lynch's off-field lead as he's set up his own charitable foundation that primarily benefits after-school programs, including those attempting to quell teen violence. Cutler's foundation is gearing up for its charitable golf tournament June 11 at The Club of Pradera in Parker.

"We've had great success so far - Denver's really shown up and come together and donated a lot of money," Cutler said.

Lynch's foundation is no easy mark. Almost every major award winner today was not only a superior athlete but carried a grade-point average of at least 4.0.

The highlight of the event was the four-year college scholarships, at $5,000 a year, that the Lynch Foundation presented to five high school seniors: Heather McCaffrey of George Washington; Smoky Hill's Anne Perizzolo; Cherokee Trail's Mark Brundage; Evergreen's Armond Ismaili; and Mountain Vista's Matt Tuten, son of Broncos' strength-and-conditioning coach Rich Tuten.

Lynch said he graded Matt Tuten tougher than the other candidates but ultimately couldn't deny a student athlete who carried a 4.3 grade-point average, actively participates in Meals on Wheels, starred in football and was accepted to the University of Pennsylvania.

"I feel really appreciative," Matt Tuten said. "I know John, and I know he wouldn't have (shown favoritism). He's not like that. I think I earned it with school work and community service and athletics."

The middle school most valuable student athletes were Anna Nicole Funkhauser (Euclid) and Spencer Borison (Morey). The high school student-athlete winners were Horizon's Hannah Tuomi and Columbine's C.J. Gillman.

Gillman's father, Chuck Gillman of Columbine and Heritage High School, and Lisa Knafelc of Euclid Middle School were named teacher/coach of the year.

Also honored were three disabled athletes: Arapahoe's Alek Nyman, South High School's Brenna Sala and Longmont/Skyline's Jordan Freeman.

[SoCalBronco]

Good stuff, thanks Atlas.

[Atlas]

There is some really good info here.

Sundquist Ready To See New Broncos In Camp
By Andrew Mason, DenverBroncos.com

(CBS4/DenverBroncos.com) ENGLEWOOD, Colo. The first days of May are a blessed time for General Manager Ted Sundquist. The draft is over and free agency has for the most part concluded. The phone rings a little less frequently, and it's often family on the other end of the line, knowing that if there's a moment to steal of his time, it's almost never more likely to be pilfered than right now.

It is one of the few times where Sundquist can lean back, glance at the charts and data in which he is immersed. By this point in the year, the roster is mostly set. It isn't immune from a summertime tweak or two, but it's a safe bet that the vast majority of the coming year's contributors are already under contract.

Long-term satisfaction won't come until after a successful season. For the moment, though, Sundquist was content with the restorative work performed on the roster the previous three months.

"This is as good or better than I've ever felt with the 80-man roster," Sundquist said. "There are going to be (good) football players that have jeans and a baseball hat on Sundays. You hate to see that, but that's a good thing.

"You'll look on the sideline and go, 'God, that guy's not active today?' That's a good thing -- because it means your team is deep and has talent."

Much of what he'd done had come before the draft -- to the point where he and the Broncos felt comfortable in parting ways with their late-round draft picks in order to move up to snag targeted players in the early rounds. By his assessment, the players the Broncos could have nabbed in the final two rounds weren't going to be a part of the 53-man roster when the regular season began, in part because of the acquisitions of the previous four months.

"Throughout the offseason, to say the only way that you build a football team is through the draft is not true. Not in today's age," he said. "There's a little bit of a misnomer that teams are built through the draft. That is one aspect of how to build a football team.

"My point to that is that we have been extremely busy using the other resources that we have, a la reserve-future signings, unrestricted free agency and trades."

Much has already been written this offseason about the Broncos' early splash at the start of the league year. There were the signings of Travis Henry and Daniel Graham; there was the trade of George Foster and Tatum Bell to the Detroit Lions in exchange for Dre' Bly and a swap of second-day draft picks; Bly subsequently agreed to terms on a long-term contract before offseason conditioning workouts began.

But the story of offseason acquisitions goes back to before the Scouting Combine or the Senior Bowl ... back to a moment when the Broncos believed they would still be playing.

IN RESERVE FOR THE FUTURE

Each January, the Broncos sign several players to "reserve-future" contracts, the "future" part of the phrase denoting the fact that they do not officially kick in until the season has completed following the Super Bowl. It doesn't matter whether the team is in the midst of a playoff run as it was in January 2006 or whether it missed the playoffs entirely as was the case 12 months later; the business of player procurement continues unabated regardless of the games on the field.

In this part of building the roster, the work goes on while the season is in progress, with the Broncos bringing in players for tryouts on a weekly basis. For some, their connection with the Broncos ends there. For others, it can be the road to a contract.

The Broncos added a slew of players, including ex-Titans fullback Troy Fleming, former UAB quarterback Darrell Hackney, ex-Colorado State cornerback Eric Hill, 2006 Lions wide receiver Glenn Martinez, ex-Giants training-camp guard Kevin McAlmont, former Dolphins linebacker Eddie Moore, ex-Arizona cornerback Lamont Reid and former Cowboys offensive tackle Jacob Rogers, among others. The team also brought back seven members of its season-ending practice squad: Thump Belton, Amon Gordon, Andre Hall, Doug Nienhuis, Preston Parsons, Jeff Shoate and Cameron Vaughn.

"We added talent, guys who had started in the National Football League, guys who came out in their draft years as highly-touted players, second-round draft choices," Sundquist said. "Eddie Moore -- second-round draft choice. Teyo Johnson. A guy like Jacob Rogers; (he was) a second-round draft choice by the Dallas Cowboys. Troy Fleming at fullback. He started and played for Tennessee. A number of different players that have already been in the league, they know what it's about, you can look at them against NFL-caliber competition in your evaluation.

"I like the chances of those guys contributing in 2007 as much as an unknown factor in Rounds 6 and 7," Sundquist added. "Why spend resources in the fifth, sixth or seventh round when the signing bonuses are what they are and you know that guy is not going to beat out somebody that we added in the reserve-future category?"

With those players, the Broncos' evaluation process has already begun -- and has been under way ever since they arrived in Denver for offseason workouts in early April. Some, such as Belton, were already working out regularly weeks before the official start of the conditioning program.

"We've been in offseason conditioning program for over a month now," Sundquist said, "and we have been able to answer some of those questions with regards to how they're working out for Rich Tuten out there during the offseason, throwing the football, catching the football and all kinds of things. We had a good idea of what we already had on our football team."

The reserve-future market can't be easily dismissed. Last year, it brought the Broncos wide receiver David Kircus, tight end Chad Mustard and quarterback Preston Parsons, who was, in effect, the Broncos' third-team passer. Curome Cox, Patrick Chukwurah, Charlie Adams, Jashon Sykes, Louis Green and Kelly Herndon are among the current and former Broncos contributors who signed reserve-future contracts with the team at one point.

But scouring the waiver wires and evaluating players other teams discarded doesn't stop there.

"I would be remiss if we weren't constantly working the back end of the roster once the front end is done, constantly banging away, trying to find guys like Steve Cargile, who comes in and makes five special-teams tackles in his first two games," Sundquist said. "Quincy Morgan -- when you're struggling to find a kickoff returner, you grab him and he gives us a little spark there. That's what we're constantly, constantly, constantly doing.

"There were 11 practice-squad raids and reserve-future type guys that were on our 53-man roster (in 2006). That's way more guys that we got at the back end of the draft -- guys that we had drafted in the fifth, sixth and seventh rounds that you hope might develop into something. I feel good about that portion of the process of finding football players.

"It's as good -- or better than, I feel -- as taking a shot at a non-Division I-A player in the fifth or sixth or s seventh rounds. Everybody wants a Marques Colston. Those stories are few and far between. I've done the stats

"You hear the Colstons and you remember Terrell Davis, but for the most part, that's an anomaly. A few of those guys make practice squads, but you get just as many practice-squad guys in college free agency."

SOME SPOTS TARGETED, OTHERS NOT

Less than 48 hours before the draft, the Broncos signed linebackers Warrick Holdman and D.D. Lewis, giving the Broncos increased flexibility as their picks arrived. Linebacker was still in their sights, and Florida State's Lawrence Timmons remained one of their first-round targets, but the signings of Lewis and Holdman allowed the Broncos to turn in other directions with later picks.

More than just defensive contributions will be demanded of the new linebackers.

"Your backup linebackers are normally the leaders on your special teams, and you've got to keep that in mind," Sundquist said. "Special-teams play was a big reason why we signed D.D.. Warrick Holdman started 16 games last year for Washington; he certainly brings you experience to the linebacker corps."

One of the team's undrafted rookies from 2006 could also figure in the mix.

"Cameron Vaughn has that kind of ability if he can crack onto the active roster," Sundquist said. "So you've got to keep that in mind. There are a lot of teams in the NFL playing with linebackers that you would not want as starters, but they may carry five linebackers on game day and two of them play special teams. If one goes down, then you're crossing your fingers that you can get by. I think there's this misnomer that you've got to have another Ian Gold or D.J. Williams in the wings -- that's not the way it works."

Three months before the Broncos signed Holdman and Lewis, they picked up Moore, who spent 2006 out of football but started under assistant head coach Jim Bates in Miami.

"You're talking about a number of guys that have been out there," Sundquist said. "I feel good about that spot. I think we're as strong -- or stronger -- than a majority of teams in the league at that spot, even with the loss of Al (Wilson)."

Safety was a position that was delineated as one of need by many observers heading into the draft, but the Broncos didn't see it as such, content with starters John Lynch and Nick Ferguson and a group of backups that includes Sam Brandon returning from a torn anterior cruciate ligament and younger players in Hamza Abdullah, Steve Cargile and Curome Cox. Domonique Foxworth also started at safety in 2006.

"Where (would) a (new) guy fit?" Sundquist asked.

"It's Nick and John's jobs right now. It's their jobs. Do we have an Ed Reed-type ball-hawk back there? No, we don't. We don't. The emphasis has been on stopping the run first. We're probably playing with two strong-safety type guys right now."

And that, Sundquist said, was just fine with defensive bosses Jim Bates and Bob Slowik.

"They didn't place an emphasis in the offseason on having to have a safety," Sundquist said. "At some point in time I've got to go off of what the defensive coaches are telling me."

FINAL RESULT

That will be determined when fall arrives. For now, Sundquist is pleased with the hand his team holds.

"We continue to say, 'This is a year-in and year-out quest for the Super Bowl,'" he said. "We're not rebuilding; we're not changing the system. It is to get the best players to make a run at a championship each and every year."

And come Wednesday, the players he hopes will make that run will take their first steps together on the practice field.

[Atlas]

Favre has advantage over World Series

Bob Matthews
staff columnist

SoCals Link: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070515/SPORTS0101/705150336/-1/COLUMNS
(May 15, 2007) — I understand why Major League Baseball will revamp the 2007 World Series schedule to avoid playing on a Friday night, but it could be embarrassing when it goes head-to-head against the Green Bay Packers (Brett Favre) at the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football Oct. 29. If I were baseball commissioner Bud Selig, I'd consider a 5 p.m. start that day. Or at least pray for the baseball game to be rained out or snowed out.

On the subject of Favre, I don't blame him for being upset that his team's management passed up the opportunity to obtain wide receiver Randy Moss from Oakland for a fourth-round draft pick on NFL draft weekend. One reason Favre decided to return for a 17th NFL season is that he was told the Packers are committed to winning now. If that were true, adding Moss would've been a no-brainer.

Favre has denied a report that he asked to be traded, but I can think of at least one genuine contending team that would take him in a heartbeat and make him the starting QB — the Chicago Bears. It is extremely unlikely that the Packers would deal Favre to the team to beat in the NFC North, but it sure would be interesting.

[Atlas]

Bowlen said there would be consequences on the Lelie decision. Well, looks like the Colts are the first to suffer from it.

Colts take financial hit on Simon

Team fails to recoup $8 million bonus from injured player

SoCals Link: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070515/SPORTS03/705150422/-1/LOCAL17

Regardless of how the Corey Simon saga is resolved, it will remain a hefty financial investment for the Indianapolis Colts.

Better days: Colts defensive tackle Corey Simon celebrates during the 2005 season. He missed last season after knee surgery in training camp. - Darron Cummings / Associated Press

Team president Bill Polian said Monday the team still is gathering information regarding the health of the veteran defensive tackle and has yet to make a decision on his status for the 2007 season. However, the Colts have been unsuccessful in an attempt to recover an $8 million option bonus paid Simon prior to last season as part of the five-year, $30 million contract he signed as a free agent in 2005.

Polian described the decision as a "procedural issue'' determined by a similar case involving former Denver wide receiver Ashley Lelie. Based on language in the new labor agreement, the Broncos were unable to recover an option bonus paid to Lelie. A special master ruled in Lelie's favor in November, and a March appeal affirmed that decision.

The Colts had filed documents seeking repayment from Simon, but the Lelie decision rendered the team's actions invalid. The Colts and the league had agreed to abide by the outcome of the Lelie situation.

Two additional grievances involving the Colts and Simon are expected to be heard in June. They center around the team's decisions to place Simon on the league's non-football illness/injury list last October because of an undisclosed illness and not pay him $1.9 million of his $2.5 million base salary.

Repeated attempts to contact Simon and his agent, Roosevelt Barnes, have been unsuccessful.
The team has been noncommittal regarding Simon's status. Signs indicate he has played his final game in Indy. The most telling might have occurred when the Colts were in Miami for Super Bowl XLI against the Chicago Bears.

During daily gatherings with the media, every player under contract was made available, including those on the injured reserve list (Brandon Stokley, Montae Reagor, Mike Doss, etc.). Simon, who resides in Tallahassee, Fla., was an exception.

[Atlas]

Kitna, Henry fantasy football studs

SoCals link: http://experts.covers.com/includes/article_ce.aspx?ce=14986&theArt=138914&t=0

Henry has been a major disappointment the past couple of years, but could return to prominence escaping Tennessee’s crowded running back situation to join Denver. If Henry emerges as the Broncos’ main ball-carrier, as expected, he could contend for the league rushing lead. No coach has a better record of turning out different 1,000-yard backs than Mike Shanahan.Brady, Willis McGahee, Joseph Addai and Laurence Maroney also figure to move way up on pre-season draft lists.

[Atlas]

France weighing in on Darrent's death and NFL players.

More US professional athletes are packing heat on streets

SoCals link: http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/administration/afp-news.html?id=070515021051.zbeh73wx&cat=null
by Greg Heakes


Terry 'Tank' Johnson was milling about with some of his Chicago Bears teammates during media day at Super Bowl 41 in Miami when someone popped the question.

Why does such a big man (1.8 metres, 136 kilogrammes) need so many guns?

"Ah, well, I'm not sure, know what I mean?" Johnson said. "I'm from Arizona, man. I live in the desert and that's the kind of stuff we do in the desert."

At a time when when the United States is weakening its gun laws, more American athletes are turning to firearms for protection and security.

The 25-year-old African-American Johnson was released from an Illinois prison on Sunday after serving 60 days for a parole violation in connection with a gun charge.

Johnson was sentenced to 120 days in March following a raid at his home where he was charged with the illegal possession of six firearms and about 500 rounds of ammunition.

Johnson has been arrested three times since 2002 and police have been called to his home more than 30 times.

Soon after his latest arrest, Johnson's best friend and "bodyguard" was shot and killed at a Chicago nightclub.

Despite being a free man for the first time in two months, Johnson's immediate football career remains in limbo.

He was scheduled to meet with National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell on Wednesday in New York and could face a lengthy suspension from the league.

Athletes have been known to take guns into the locker room, on team flights and carry them in their cars.

"The majority of players in the NFL have guns," former NFL tackle Lomas Brown told The New York Times in 2003.

"Just about every player I played with had a gun. Almost every player I knew had one. Guns are rampant in football. You have all these players packing guns wherever they go. It is a disaster waiting to happen."

There have been a number of off-field incidents recently involving athletes and guns.

National Basketball Association player Stephen Jackson, of the Golden State Warriors, was arrested in October for reportedly firing a gun in "self-defence" after a dispute outside an Indianapolis strip club.

Denver Broncos player Darrent Williams was shot dead in his limousine outside a Denver nightclub five months ago following an earlier altercation.

Nine members of the Cincinnati Bengals have been arrested in the past 16 months and in 2006, 15 NFL players were arrested on violence related charges.

Many athletes say they need guns because their celebrity and wealth makes them a target.

On the grand scale, violent gun crimes are so common in America they are part of the everyday culture.

The massacre of 32 people at Virginia Tech school on April 16 was not so much an abhorrent act but its significance is derived from the number of dead.

Sadly, the shootings in Virginia Tech, the 1999 Columbine massacre and the killing of five little Amish girls six months ago in Pennsylvania have not evoked enough outrage to spur US lawmakers to enact tougher gun control laws.

It seems Americans have become inured to gun violence. Owning a firearm in pro-gun states like Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Alabama is as basic as owning jewellry or a cell phone. Gun owners even try to pack their heat with them when they venture into neighbouring land border countries like Canada and Mexico.

There are more firearm murders committed on average in the US (85) in just three days, than over an entire year in Australia which averages about 55 firearm murders annually, Canada's Maclean's magazine reported last month.

Canada averages 222 firearm murders a year compared to over 10,000 a year in the US.

There are an estimated 283 million guns among 57 million private gun owners in the US -- one for almost every American citizen, said Maclean's.

The NFL is trying to crackdown on bad behaviour among its players with lengthy suspensions, tough new rules and counselling.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell recently suspended Tennessee Titans cornerback Adam "Pac-Man" Jones for the entire 2007 season after someone, alleged to be in his group, shot two employees of a Las Vegas nightclub injuring one of them seriously during NBA All-Star Weekend.

Police believe the gunman took the firearm into the nightclub before the shooting took place outside.

The NFL's personal-conduct policy also requires players who engage in criminal activity to get a psychological evaluation and, if needed, take anger management courses.

Players convicted of a crime also face heavy fines.

[Atlas]

Neat little blurb from Detroit about Bly. Chauncy Billups die hard Bronco fan sounds like.

Ex-Lion Bly gets VIP treatment from Billups

May 14, 2007
SoCals link: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070514/SPORTS03/70514105/0/BUSINESS01

By KRISTA JAHNKE


Former Lions cornerback Dre Bly visited the end of Pistons practice today. Now a Denver Bronco, Bly will be welcome in Auburn Hills as long as Chauncey Billups is captain.

“They’re VIP with me,” said Billups, a Denver native. “Anybody who signs with the Broncos is VIP anywhere I’m at.”

Bly, who brought his two sons, chummed with Billups and Rasheed Wallace for a while before he took the floor. He wanted to challenge someone — but not anyone — to a shooting contest.

“He don’t want me,” Billups said. “He’s calling out Dale Davis.”

Davis answered. After a tough three-on-three game with fellow reserve, Davis, not exactly known for his shooting, strolled to the other end of the floor and promptly beat Bly twice in a row, shooting NBA three-pointers while Bly fired from the college line.

Afterward, Davis informed everyone in the room, “This is what I do!”

Maybe next time, they’ll have a dunk contest. The 5-foot-9 Bly told the media that he can dunk, although he refused to prove it.

Billups sounded skeptical at first, but then said he’d go with his Bronco boy.

“He probably can, I don’t know,” Billups said. “All them football players are pretty explosive, those DBs and wide receivers. They’re pretty explosive. I wouldn’t bet against it.”

[Atlas]

There's More than One Way to Build an NFL Team

Posted May 14th 2007 2:41PM by Ryan Wilson
SoCals Link: http://www.aolsportsblog.com/2007/05/14/theres-more-than-one-way-to-build-an-nfl-team/

A common misconception -- and one that I occasionally fall for -- is that in today's salary-capped NFL, the most successful teams are built primarily through the draft. That's not entirely true. The Patriots went on a spending bender this off-season, locking up Adalius Thomas, Wes Welker, Dante' Stallworth and Randy Moss (and every other available veteran wide receiver). Last year, the Ravens traded for quarterback Steve McNair, filling their biggest need; and in the two years before that, they inked cornerback Samari Rolle and wideout Derrick Mason to lucrative free-agent contracts.

The Patriots were a bad quarter of football away from the Super Bowl,and the Ravens won 13 games and earned home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. At the other end of the spectrum is the poster franchise for how things can go too far. The Redskins love signing high-priced veterans, but often at the expense finding quality role players either through free agency or the draft. The point, I guess, is that there is a balance.

One team that has seemingly mastered this is the Denver Broncos. Heading into the 2007 draft, their plan was to jettison picks -- the club only wanted a four-man draft class -- because most of the roster had been determined through free agency. Broncos general manager Ted Sundquist explains:

Throughout the offseason, to say the only way that you build a football team is through the draft is not true -- not in today's age... There's a little bit of a misnomer that teams are built through the draft. That is one aspect of how to build a football team, and my point to that is that we have been extremely busy using the other resources that we have, a la reserve-future signings, unrestricted free agency, trades and going into the draft that there are a number of different avenues that you can take to build your football team."

And that's the thing: teams have to diversify. You can't expect to build a team through just the draft, or just free agency; it's about finding the balance. And apparently, it's not as easy as it sounds.

[Atlas]

Denver Post: Cutler Will Be a Pro Bowler in '07

Posted May 13th 2007 11:17AM by Ryan Wilson

SoCals Link: http://nfl.aolsportsblog.com/2007/05/13/denver-post-cutler-will-be-a-pro-bowler-in-07/

The Denver Post's Mark Kiszla wants you to remember where you heard this: Jay Cutler will be a Pro Bowl quarterback in 2007. Kiszla makes this grand pronouncement more because the city of Denver needs a sports hero than he thinks Cutler is ready to play in a Pro Bowl. That doesn't slow him up, though:

...[I]f Broncos coach Mike Shanahan is willing to put so much pressure on the shoulders of Cutler, then it must be OK for fans to do the same.

Much has been made of the extreme makeover Shanahan gave his football roster in recent months, but if you think running back Travis Henry is going to carry the team back to Super Bowl glory, then you've been smoking the same stuff as some of those Broncos draft picks. It's perfectly legal, however, to be high on Cutler.

Zinger! Look, Cutler could certainly be a Pro Bowler next season -- Vince Young did it as a rookie -- but history suggests otherwise. That's not to say he won't be good, just that it might take more than a year and a half worth of starts before he finally "gets it."

Kiszla writes, however, that "one mistake Shanahan made with Cutler last season was not turning over the starting job to him weeks earlier." I don't get this thinking. The Broncos were 7-5 with Jake Plummer and 2-3 without him. I'm not saying that Plummer is better than Cutler long-term, but he probably shouldn't have lost his job last year.

Kiszla argues, though, that starting Cutler earlier would have helped the rookie "absorb the inevitable hard knocks, then lead a late playoff drive." Maybe. But there are plenty of examples of quarterbacks -- Carson Palmer and Philip Rivers come to mind -- who are doing alright for themselves, even though they didn't play as rookies. But hey, there's more than one way to make it to Hawaii, I guess.

[Bronco Billy]

Denver Post: Cutler Will Be a Pro Bowler in '07

Posted May 13th 2007 11:17AM by Ryan Wilson



That's a gutsy call. I hink he'll be a Pro Bowl caliber QB, but it'll be tough to draw more votes than the media darlings Manning and Brady.

[BlaK-Argentina]

Great stuff, thanks Atlas. Finally something Broncos related to read. :)

[cmhargrove]

That's a gutsy call. I hink he'll be a Pro Bowl caliber QB, but it'll be tough to draw more votes than the media darlings Manning and Brady.

The other thing he might have going in his favor is lots of tv time this year. 3 MNF games, maybe 2 other night games. He will at least have his "coming out" party to people outside of Denver.

[brncs_fan]

The other thing he might have going in his favor is lots of tv time this year. 3 MNF games, maybe 2 other night games. He will at least have his "coming out" party to people outside of Denver.

Would be nice if we could get another 60+ yd bomb out of him on MNF.

That is without setting his feet again of course.

[Billy Clyde Puckett]

[QUOTE=brncs_fan;1587916]Would be nice if we could get another 60+ yd bomb out of him on MNF.QUOTE]

It would be nice if he could lead the Broncs to 11+ wins, even if he never completed a pass longer than 10 yards.

[Bronco Billy]

The other thing he might have going in his favor is lots of tv time this year. 3 MNF games, maybe 2 other night games. He will at least have his "coming out" party to people outside of Denver.

Is is just me, or does anyone else hate having too many night games? I like being able to see the other games during the day, but I can't wait until Sunday or Monday night to see the Broncos play. Three a year is okay, but 6 or 7 is too much for me.

[watermock]

Sundy seems over anxious to explain our trading away several draft choices. He fails to mention that we traded away a third this year, and a third next year. I don't believe those are second day picks.

He doesn't sound like an idiot, but cmon. If you don't want to admit we gave up a chance for Antonio Pittman in the third that's up to him.

He does a decent job of justification, but get real. we gave up more than late second day picks.

[Atlas]

At a time when when the United States is weakening its gun laws, more American athletes are turning to firearms for protection and security.

The 25-year-old African-American Johnson was released from an Illinois prison on Sunday after serving 60 days for a parole violation in connection with a gun charge.

Johnson was sentenced to 120 days in March following a raid at his home where he was charged with the illegal possession of six firearms and about 500 rounds of ammunition.

Johnson has been arrested three times since 2002 and police have been called to his home more than 30 times.

I like how they slip "African American" in there. What does that matter I wonder???

[chaz]

I like how they slip "African American" in there. What does that matter I wonder???

i noticed that too...dont know what purpose that served in the article expect to fuel the fire of stereotypes.

[chaz]

Is is just me, or does anyone else hate having too many night games? I like being able to see the other games during the day, but I can't wait until Sunday or Monday night to see the Broncos play. Three a year is okay, but 6 or 7 is too much for me.

i actually really like it, just because it guarantees me being able to see that many games. living in minnesota, one of the day games is always the vikes, and so there is only one other slot that hopefully denver is in. i dont know how the players feel about it, but i always get really hyped up for a primetime game!