dragondawg
07-10-2007, 03:25 AM
Tackling a new environment
Kennedy, Adams adjust to life with the Broncos
ENGLEWOOD - As one of the newest Broncos, Jimmy Kennedy needs a few things to survive these days.
Playbook? Check.
Workout schedule? Check.
Map? Well, much like his move to a new team, finding his way is still a work in progress.
"Man, off the field right now, I'm dying," Kennedy said with a laugh after Monday's minicamp practice. "I'm looking for places to live, trying to figure my way around, talk to different guys and see where they live and how long it takes to get here, traffic, where to eat, all of that.
"I mean, right now I'm just up the street and I got lost coming here three times already and it's only straight ahead, a right and a left, so yeah, you could say I have some things to do before I'm feeling more comfortable."
In the often transient life of the NFL, getting acclimated to new teammates, a new team and a new city can be every bit as difficult as wrestling with a new playbook or finding a spot on a new roster.
Sort of a rookie redux.
And Kennedy and Sam Adams, both veteran defensive linemen, are two of the latest additions to the team, having been added to the roster in June. Adams signed as a free agent, after considering St. Louis and Houston, while the Broncos sent a sixth-round pick in the 2008 draft to the Rams in exchange for Kennedy.
"You walk in the building that first day and nobody knows what you can do," Kennedy said. "You're here to replace someone, someone's going to lose a spot or I'm going to get kicked off the team. It's definitely nerve-racking; you just don't know anyone."
"You let your personality do its thing," Adams said. "That's always my plan. You have to let people in. This is my sixth time doing it, so you kind of learn how it goes."
How it goes can vary from player to player. As in most any workplace, some people are simply more extroverted than others.
Some dive right into locker-room conversations as they get to know the people around them. Some hold back a little longer, spend a little more time getting adjusted to their surroundings.
Some never quite adjust and find themselves doing it over again somewhere else the next year because of it.
"I love it, I do. I love that part of it," Adams said. "You have a good time with the fellas. So, nervous? No."
The Broncos are Adams' sixth team - he previously played for Seattle, Baltimore, Oakland, Buffalo and Cincinnati - to go with Pro Bowl selections and a Super Bowl ring.
"On the field, of course, that's where maybe I get nervous," Adams said. "I came here to dominate and want to show what you can do. But off the field, you know it's a respect thing. This is my 14th year; people know what you're about. And I want to show them what I'm about here."
For Kennedy, while the defensive coordinators around him seem to change every year - he had three in his four seasons in St. Louis - the Broncos are his first experience with a new team.
The Rams drafted him in 2003 (12th overall), and while the team was in a flux much of the time in the front office and on the field, there always still was some familiarity for the former first-round pick.
"So that's very different," Kennedy said. "I'm known here, maybe, as a player, but people don't know me. They know of me a little, but they don't know my personality or anything, but it'll come.
"There's always the competition thing in this league; there are only so many spots for everybody, so that's always there. But I laugh, I joke, I get along with everyone. You just know that when it's all said and done, we all have the same goal, and that's to win a championship. I'll be fine once I get the drive figured out."
ETC.: Safety Nick Ferguson was excused from practice Monday because his wife gave birth to a son. . . . NFL vice president of officiating Mike Pereira attended practice, then gave a video presentation to the Broncos players about rules changes for the upcoming season as well as "points of emphasis" for officials this season. . . . Coach Mike Shanahan said receiver Brandon Stokley, who is coming back from a ruptured right Achilles' tendon he suffered in December, is "ahead of schedule" in his rehabilitation. Shanahan said he expected Stokley to be "100 percent" for training camp. . . . Asked about the Mohawk haircut receiver Javon Walker was sporting, Shanahan said, "I thought he missed half of his head."
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/nfl/article/0,2777,DRMN_23918_5622557,00.html
Kennedy, Adams adjust to life with the Broncos
ENGLEWOOD - As one of the newest Broncos, Jimmy Kennedy needs a few things to survive these days.
Playbook? Check.
Workout schedule? Check.
Map? Well, much like his move to a new team, finding his way is still a work in progress.
"Man, off the field right now, I'm dying," Kennedy said with a laugh after Monday's minicamp practice. "I'm looking for places to live, trying to figure my way around, talk to different guys and see where they live and how long it takes to get here, traffic, where to eat, all of that.
"I mean, right now I'm just up the street and I got lost coming here three times already and it's only straight ahead, a right and a left, so yeah, you could say I have some things to do before I'm feeling more comfortable."
In the often transient life of the NFL, getting acclimated to new teammates, a new team and a new city can be every bit as difficult as wrestling with a new playbook or finding a spot on a new roster.
Sort of a rookie redux.
And Kennedy and Sam Adams, both veteran defensive linemen, are two of the latest additions to the team, having been added to the roster in June. Adams signed as a free agent, after considering St. Louis and Houston, while the Broncos sent a sixth-round pick in the 2008 draft to the Rams in exchange for Kennedy.
"You walk in the building that first day and nobody knows what you can do," Kennedy said. "You're here to replace someone, someone's going to lose a spot or I'm going to get kicked off the team. It's definitely nerve-racking; you just don't know anyone."
"You let your personality do its thing," Adams said. "That's always my plan. You have to let people in. This is my sixth time doing it, so you kind of learn how it goes."
How it goes can vary from player to player. As in most any workplace, some people are simply more extroverted than others.
Some dive right into locker-room conversations as they get to know the people around them. Some hold back a little longer, spend a little more time getting adjusted to their surroundings.
Some never quite adjust and find themselves doing it over again somewhere else the next year because of it.
"I love it, I do. I love that part of it," Adams said. "You have a good time with the fellas. So, nervous? No."
The Broncos are Adams' sixth team - he previously played for Seattle, Baltimore, Oakland, Buffalo and Cincinnati - to go with Pro Bowl selections and a Super Bowl ring.
"On the field, of course, that's where maybe I get nervous," Adams said. "I came here to dominate and want to show what you can do. But off the field, you know it's a respect thing. This is my 14th year; people know what you're about. And I want to show them what I'm about here."
For Kennedy, while the defensive coordinators around him seem to change every year - he had three in his four seasons in St. Louis - the Broncos are his first experience with a new team.
The Rams drafted him in 2003 (12th overall), and while the team was in a flux much of the time in the front office and on the field, there always still was some familiarity for the former first-round pick.
"So that's very different," Kennedy said. "I'm known here, maybe, as a player, but people don't know me. They know of me a little, but they don't know my personality or anything, but it'll come.
"There's always the competition thing in this league; there are only so many spots for everybody, so that's always there. But I laugh, I joke, I get along with everyone. You just know that when it's all said and done, we all have the same goal, and that's to win a championship. I'll be fine once I get the drive figured out."
ETC.: Safety Nick Ferguson was excused from practice Monday because his wife gave birth to a son. . . . NFL vice president of officiating Mike Pereira attended practice, then gave a video presentation to the Broncos players about rules changes for the upcoming season as well as "points of emphasis" for officials this season. . . . Coach Mike Shanahan said receiver Brandon Stokley, who is coming back from a ruptured right Achilles' tendon he suffered in December, is "ahead of schedule" in his rehabilitation. Shanahan said he expected Stokley to be "100 percent" for training camp. . . . Asked about the Mohawk haircut receiver Javon Walker was sporting, Shanahan said, "I thought he missed half of his head."
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/nfl/article/0,2777,DRMN_23918_5622557,00.html