Good read on Rice joining the Broncos

[baja]

http://www.denverbroncos.com/page.ph...4&storyID=4170

[baja]

Shanahan, Rice in Talks

But No Promises Will Be Made to NFL's All-Time Leading Receiver
*** UPDATED 2:14 P.M. MST ***

By Andrew Mason
DenverBroncos.com

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- If Jerry Rice wants to be a Bronco, a slot on the team's roster heading into training camp is his.


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But nothing beyond that can be assured.

Head Coach Mike Shanahan wouldn't make any promises in a Thursday conversation with Rice that touched upon the potential of bringing the NFL's all-time leading receiver to the Broncos.

"Jerry knows that if he does come here, he's going to come here and compete with the rest of the guys," Shanahan said. "There's no promises of him being the third receiver, the fourth receiver, the fifth receiver. If he does come here, we're going to give him a chance to compete with the other receivers.

"I told Jerry, 'I don't know if you lost a step or two steps, but you're going to come here for one reason -- to compete with our other guys, and if you're one of our top five guys at the end of camp, you'll be on our football team. If you're not, I'd have one of the toughest jobs in the world -- to release a guy that is arguably the best player to ever play the game."

Rice -- who played under Shanahan from 1992-94 when he served as the San Francisco 49ers' offensive coordinator -- was amenable to those terms, Shanahan noted.

"Jerry said, 'Hey, Coach, I would want it no other way. I want to prove to you that I can still play, and if you don't think I can help your football team win, and it would be best for you not to have me on your football team, I understand it. I'm looking for a team that will give me a legitimate chance to compete, and I want to do it for the Denver Broncos.'"

There is no deal in place between the Broncos and the 42-year-old receiver as of yet.

"I think Jerry would like to play here," Shanahan said, "but there's always parameters that you have to work out with a contract; there's always decisions that he has to make from a family perspective.

"I'd like to talk about this Tuesday or Wednesday of next week when there is hopefully a deal done. I'm trying to be as honest as I can with (the media) right now that we don't have a deal done, but I do think there's a chance that Jerry Rice would be with the Denver Broncos, but if he was with the Denver Broncos that it would be on those terms."

Should Rice accept the no-guarantee terms, it would be a no-lose scenario in Shanahan's eyes.

"I don't see that there's any downside as long as somebody understands what the situation is going in," Shanahan said. "Now, if the person expects to be the No. 3 wide receiver -- with a guy like Darius Watts, I don't think it's fair for me to say, 'Jerry, come on in and you're going to be the No. 3 guy, or fourth guy or fifth guy.' I can't make those promises and I would never do that to a veteran player."

When asked about Rice on Thursday, safety John Lynch concurred with the notion that there is no downside to adding Rice.

"There could be absolutely nothing negative about bringing a guy like that in," Lynch said. "I would love the opportunity just to be in his presence, to be around him, to get the feel a little bit about his habits and what's made him (into) the greatness that he's achieved, because you hear all the legends of the way he works, his habits. He's the first one on the field and the last one off. Even when you've been in the league for a while, you love playing around players like that, so I would love the opportunity to play with him."

But it has to be under the afore-mentioned terms -- which weren't possible last fall when Oakland shopped Rice around the league before dealing him to Seattle, nor were they in place two months earlier after the Raiders released Tim Brown during the preseason.

Like Rice, Brown played under Shanahan earlier in his career, when Shanahan was head coach of the Los Angeles Raiders.

"One of the reasons why I didn't try to pick up Jerry Rice after Oakland (let him go) is that he expected to be the No. 3 receiver," Shanahan said. "I could not do that to Jerry Rice -- or to Tim Brown (last August after Oakland released him). All I could tell those guys is, 'I'll give you a chance to come in here and compete, but if you're looking at a guarantee, I can't promise you that.'"

At the very least, Rice's 20 seasons in the NFL and his historically diligent work ethic would offer the chance for him to lead by example.

"I definitely think you can never have enough leaders," linebacker Al Wilson said. "Especially at the wide-receiver position; with the young guys we have -- with him and a guy like Rod Smith -- I definitely think it would boost their confidence up and take them to the level at which we need them to play."

But Shanahan sees more than intangibles from his once and perhaps future protegé.

"I'm not bringing him in here just because he's a leader and he knows the game," Shanahan said. "I'm bringing him in here because I think there's a legitimate chance for him to help our football team win."

[Crushaholic]

He deserves a chance to try it. I like that there are no guarantees. Rice won't run somebody more deserving out of a spot just because he's Jerry Rice.

[wabbit]

Originally Posted by Crushaholic

He deserves a chance to try it. I like that there are no guarantees. Rice won't run somebody more deserving out of a spot just because he's Jerry Rice.

I get the sense Jerry expected a little more in the way of assurances from Shanahan.

I saw a sports report on a local station that says he was going to accept the challenege by the end of the week, but then decided he wanted to take the weekend to think it over.

I tend to believe he's mulling over the very real possibility that he could get beat out of a roster position and is weighing the risk vs reward.

Either way, his agent told local reporters a decision is likely on Monday

[Mr. Trout]

Well, even if he's lost a step or two, we all know he can still snag the balls very well.

[watermock]

Give me a freaking break. This is just honorable for Shanahan, but it's totally worthless. It's like the last car to kick out the idiot. I don't want to be the last coach to kick him onto the street. With all the other flotsam stewing in the river, the last thing we need is a Jerry Rice controversy. We allready have a bakers dozen of flavor clowns allready. I have no clue what Shanahan is thinking, other than to give Rice some respect, but cutting the guy for some NFLE guy isn't going to bode well.

Jerry, we don't need to change your depends. The only thing I can figure out is that it's a personal favor. The guy is 42. Even my cat gets tired of chasing a crunched up ball eventually. My cat vanished till 4 a.m. today, but still had time to fight with a ball of newspaper. My cat is two. Jerry is 42. It's honorable for Shanahan to open a spot, but I just don't think Jerry has anything left. If we want to bring back Atwater to cover him, we might have a battle.

Maybe Shanahan will talk to Jerry and get him to sign with the niners and retire. I don't want to see this guy go out an embarrasment.

[baja]

Jerry Rice is not a flavor clown, he may be the greatest to ever play the game. Do you respect anything?

Sure he is not the player he once was but to call him a flavor clown is just wrong.

[Atlas]

Originally Posted by baja fan

Jerry Rice is not a flavor clown, he may be the greatest to ever play the game. Do you respect anything?

Sure he is not the player he once was but to call him a flavor clown is just wrong.

Jerry Rice has no spot on this team.

[baja]

Originally Posted by Atlas

Jerry Rice has no spot on this team.

That may or may not be true it will be determined during training camp. My post is about calling Rice a flavor clown as Mock did, it just is not true and whatever you think of Rice he remains one of the greatest to ever play the game.

[Drek]

Jerry Rice has no spot on this team.

On a 3rd and 4 with the game on the line I'd rather see Rice lined up in the slot than Watts. Thats his place on the team, as another short yardage weapon. If his hands and routes are still as good as they've always been he's worth having, if not big deal, we cut him and are back to where we are now.

Worst case scenario his presence makes the young guys know that they need to earn a roster spot this spring.

[Mastermind2002]

I think in the right situations Rice could be a nice 3rd down possession guy. That's about it though.

[Drek]

I think in the right situations Rice could be a nice 3rd down possession guy. That's about it though.

Thats what we really need though. I think Watts and Putz will add a lot to our big play ability this year, but what we need is someone to compliment Rod in the short yardage/posession game.

Going into the off-season I saw the DL, OG, special teams, corner depth, and red zone offense as our big weak points to improve. DL and OG we got about as good of solutions as you could without overpaying. We drafted a big overhaul for the ST as well s corner depth at the same time. The only thing I don't think we addressed was red zone offense, in fact, I think we've lost some by Droughns leaving and the less powerful Bell taking over at RB. Anything we could grab up at this point to improve our red zone production would be worth it, even Jerry Rice as a situational short yardage #3.

What I'd really have liked to see the most was Bubba Franks for a second TE though. Then we could run a lot of two TE sets in the red zone with two dangerous TEs, I don't think many teams could handle that.