Who is the Broncos best special teams player?

[montrose]

Poll coming.

[BroncoBuff]

Darrell Reid has been mentioned as one of the best in the league.

(I voted McBath by mistake).

[Cito Pelon]

He may not be the 'best', but I've always admired Elvis Dumervil for playing the wedge on KO returns. Dude played almost every snap on D and still played wedge on KO returns. Kuper I believe did the same.

[Kaylore]

Last year it was Prater. He had a good year (for him). Bruton showed some flashes but he needs to be more consistent. Larsen missed most of the year but he has the potential to be as well. I'm not a big fan of Eddie back there. He runs scared.

[baja]

Cox will be this season

[Cito Pelon]

Originally Posted by Kaylore

Last year it was Prater. He had a good year (for him). Bruton showed some flashes but he needs to be more consistent. Larsen missed most of the year but he has the potential to be as well. I'm not a big fan of Eddie back there. He runs scared.

Ouch. That's kind of harsh, but I have to agree. I'm not sure Eddie really relishes returning kicks or punts. So we'll see what kind of year he puts together overall. It looks like the staff wants to relieve him of those duties, actually tried to last year with Hillis returning kicks and McKinley returning punts (at times).

[FADERPROOF]

Prater sucks.

[montrose]

I got Bruton, that dude is awesome.

[gyldenlove]

Prater, he is solid on field goals and his kickoffs are amazing. Our punt coverage unit stinks, Kern improved his net average a lot when he went to Tennessee and old man Berger didn't help much, on kickoffs however we are dominating and I believe that is mostly down to Prater.

[Swedish Extrovert]

Prater or Woodyard, depending on how you look at it.

[Kaylore]

Originally Posted by Cito Pelon

I'm not sure Eddie really relishes returning kicks or punts.

This is exactly what the problem is. Return men that do more and more in other areas of the game start to play tentatively. Royal is a small guy and my concern is that once he gets lit up, he'll become ineffectual just like Dante Hall, Devin Hester, etc.

If you look at Eddie's numbers from last year, they are toward the bottom third of the league. If you take out the San Diego game stats, which were clearly anomalous, they are among the worst of any return man who played more than 7 games. Quite frankly, he's a bad returner. That's the truth.

[Kaylore]

Originally Posted by FADERPROOF

Prater sucks.

Prater was in the top third in the league in accuracy last year and tied for third for field goals made. He also tied for second most touchbacks in the league last year. He was AFC special teams player of the month. When the game was on the line in OT he delivered, so he's shown it in the clutch.

Sure, he's not "the best" kicker in the league, but to say he flat sucks is a complete lie. He's a young kicker with a lot of talent who is getting better and was our best, most consistent ST player last year. Mind you this is on a ST unit that overall is embarrassing, but he's a bright spot that appears to be getting better.

I think Bronco fans need to realize that Jason Elam wasn't normal, or even just "pretty good." Elam was one of the best kickers of his generation and so expecting his level of success from all our kickers is unrealistic and frankly completely ridiculous.

[Broncoman13]

Originally Posted by Kaylore

Last year it was Prater. He had a good year (for him). Bruton showed some flashes but he needs to be more consistent. Larsen missed most of the year but he has the potential to be as well. I'm not a big fan of Eddie back there. He runs scared.

Prater was a stud last year... super impressive year for him and probably 2nd on my list... close 2nd.

Larsen has the knack for getting down the field, especially on kickoffs, and laying huge wood. He is fun to watch, no doubt.

Bruton, as a rookie, was showing guys how it was done. Even back to camp days it was obvious that he was a leader amongst the ST units. He made several big plays and a lot of them were in the final 6 weeks of the season. He had a bit of luck working for him, but there haven't been too many guys that can both get in position AND finish for us lately. Bruton is that guy.

[Broncoman13]

Originally Posted by Kaylore

This is exactly what the problem is. Return men that do more and more in other areas of the game start to play tentatively. Royal is a small guy and my concern is that once he gets lit up, he'll become ineffectual just like Dante Hall, Devin Hester, etc.

If you look at Eddie's numbers from last year, they are toward the bottom third of the league. If you take out the San Diego game stats, which were clearly anomalous, they are among the worst of any return man who played more than 7 games. Quite frankly, he's a bad returner. That's the truth.

There is more that goes into it than just return statistics though. I was thinking the same thing going into last year. Eddie just isn't a special return man. Then I got to watching all of the other guys that were returning kicks/punts, Eddie's competition for the job. Decision making was the real killer for most of the guys... followed closely by being able to field the punt cleanly. I think sometimes you go with the safe option. There are obviously tradeoffs, but his competition last year was Alphonso Smith and Kenny McKinley. The trade off there is obviously not enough for one of them to unseat Royal. They're not going to be any more explosive in returns than Eddie was and they run the risk of making a poor decision or muffing a catch. You think Shanahan expected huge returns when he would put Rod Smith back there to field punts in the early 2000's? No, he just wanted to make sure he got the ball back and didn't turn it over.

Curious to see how much competition there is this year for the return spots. I don't think much of J.J. Arrington. I'll go on record and say that I would be surprised if he was on our opening day roster, but I've been surprised before so we'll see...

Cox has a pretty good chance to unseat Royal. If he shows anything as a CB that makes the staff believe they could use him in some packages, he'll get a good shot at being the return man.

[baja]

Originally Posted by Kaylore

This is exactly what the problem is. Return men that do more and more in other areas of the game start to play tentatively. Royal is a small guy and my concern is that once he gets lit up, he'll become ineffectual just like Dante Hall, Devin Hester, etc.

If you look at Eddie's numbers from last year, they are toward the bottom third of the league. If you take out the San Diego game stats, which were clearly anomalous, they are among the worst of any return man who played more than 7 games. Quite frankly, he's a bad returner. That's the truth.

I have been thinking this for a while now He just does not have good instints

[Cito Pelon]

Originally Posted by Kaylore

This is exactly what the problem is. Return men that do more and more in other areas of the game start to play tentatively. Royal is a small guy and my concern is that once he gets lit up, he'll become ineffectual just like Dante Hall, Devin Hester, etc.

If you look at Eddie's numbers from last year, they are toward the bottom third of the league. If you take out the San Diego game stats, which were clearly anomalous, they are among the worst of any return man who played more than 7 games. Quite frankly, he's a bad returner. That's the truth.

Hey, old-time Bronco Billy Thompson disagrees (just thought I'd pop that in here to give The Moops a prop).

Yah, it takes a very stout player to play every ST snap as well as every snap on D or O. Which is why I admired Elvis and Kuper playing the wedge on KO returns.

Eddie hopefully will be replaced by a better return man this year. I think the staff has been trying to do that. ST returns have not been a big contributor to the overall team for a long, long, long time. I hope that's one of the things McD can improve. Shanny sure tried to do it, I hope McD actually can do it.

[Cito Pelon]

Originally Posted by Broncoman13

There is more that goes into it than just return statistics though. I was thinking the same thing going into last year. Eddie just isn't a special return man. Then I got to watching all of the other guys that were returning kicks/punts, Eddie's competition for the job. Decision making was the real killer for most of the guys... followed closely by being able to field the punt cleanly. I think sometimes you go with the safe option. There are obviously tradeoffs, but his competition last year was Alphonso Smith and Kenny McKinley. The trade off there is obviously not enough for one of them to unseat Royal. They're not going to be any more explosive in returns than Eddie was and they run the risk of making a poor decision or muffing a catch. You think Shanahan expected huge returns when he would put Rod Smith back there to field punts in the early 2000's? No, he just wanted to make sure he got the ball back and didn't turn it over.

Curious to see how much competition there is this year for the return spots. I don't think much of J.J. Arrington. I'll go on record and say that I would be surprised if he was on our opening day roster, but I've been surprised before so we'll see...

Cox has a pretty good chance to unseat Royal. If he shows anything as a CB that makes the staff believe they could use him in some packages, he'll get a good shot at being the return man.

Man, I hope to see Bruton, McBath, Prater, Cox, McKinley, Rich Quinn, and anybody else elevate the ST's. It's so helpful when you have top ST play. You see it year after year in the NFL. Often top ST play is the difference btwn making the playoffs or not, and is the difference btwn winning a playoff game, or not.

[Naggle Nole]

Originally Posted by Broncoman13

Curious to see how much competition there is this year for the return spots. I don't think much of J.J. Arrington. I'll go on record and say that I would be surprised if he was on our opening day roster, but I've been surprised before so we'll see...

Really? I always thought he was solid, though not spectacular, in the KR role for the Cards
I mean, look at the history of our ST return department. The fact that I pine for the "golden days" of Glenn Martinez make me feel embarrassed
I would think that Arrington's KR ability, along with his previous experience as a 3rd down specialist, make him a nice addition to the roster (assuming he is healthy of course)
I just hope that we haven't pigeon-holed ourselves by a lack of proper depth though
I notice people are hoping for the next Hixonesque sensation in Toney Baker or the Chef version of Ryan Torain in Kolby Smith

[Cito Pelon]

Originally Posted by Naggle Nole

Really? I always thought he was solid, though not spectacular, in the KR role for the Cards
I mean, look at the history of our ST return department. The fact that I pine for the "golden days" of Glenn Martinez make me feel embarrassed
I would think that Arrington's KR ability, along with his previous experience as a 3rd down specialist, make him a nice addition to the roster (assuming he is healthy of course)
I just hope that we haven't pigeon-holed ourselves by a lack of proper depth though
I notice people are hoping for the next Hixonesque sensation in Toney Baker or the Chef version of Ryan Torain in Kolby Smith

Ouch. But I have to agree.

[Popps]

Originally Posted by Kaylore

Prater was in the top third in the league in accuracy last year and tied for third for field goals made. He also tied for second most touchbacks in the league last year. He was AFC special teams player of the month. When the game was on the line in OT he delivered, so he's shown it in the clutch.

Sure, he's not "the best" kicker in the league, but to say he flat sucks is a complete lie. He's a young kicker with a lot of talent who is getting better and was our best, most consistent ST player last year. Mind you this is on a ST unit that overall is embarrassing, but he's a bright spot that appears to be getting better.

I think Bronco fans need to realize that Jason Elam wasn't normal, or even just "pretty good." Elam was one of the best kickers of his generation and so expecting his level of success from all our kickers is unrealistic and frankly completely ridiculous.

I'm assuming he had to be joking. (The Prater sucks comment.)

Prater was a rock last year.

[CEH]

IMO we are in far better shape with Eddie back there then at anytime during the golden era of Glenn and the "truth is" Royal is good and far from bad. Good but not great so I don't want to compare him to Cribbs or Hester.

Dismissing his two TDs in SD would be fine is he has not shown the ability to knock out 95 yard KO return, a 93 yard TD pass and a 71 yard end around long before he brought back two in SD.

If anyone was an anomaly it was Martinez and his one punt return for a TD
Besides his one punt return what else has he done for the team. Not much.

Eddie is a good returner it's just that his #1 focus is and should be being a better WR

Quick how many NFL teams put a 240 lb FB back in single kick formation to returns kicks..Exactly none and ppl get mad when he fumbles. Maybe this is the exact reason why no team asks their FB to return kicks

Roscoe Parrish was out there all last season to be had and he's a quality ST returner.

Sorry Eddie's not Josh Cribbs or that he was tied for 2nd in the NFL last year in kick returns for TDs but he's consitently shown the ability to make guys miss and turn in long runs and best of all he has consistent hands. Not his fault we have no one better. I suspect maybe a combo of JJ and Perish might replace him but he's far better than Martinez

[Cito Pelon]

Good god, I see TJ has an ad on the main page flashing "See Our Extensive Selection of Raider bedding at a discount". WTF?

[Cito Pelon]

Originally Posted by CEH

IMO we are in far better shape with Eddie back there then at anytime during the golden era of Glenn and the "truth is" Royal is good and far from bad. Good but not great so I don't want to compare him to Cribbs or Hester.

Dismissing his two TDs in SD would be fine is he has not shown the ability to knock out 95 yard KO return, a 93 yard TD pass and a 71 yard end around long before he brought back two in SD.

If anyone was an anomaly it was Martinez and his one punt return for a TD
Besides his one punt return what else has he done for the team. Not much.

Eddie is a good returner it's just that his #1 focus is and should be being a better WR

Quick how many NFL teams put a 240 lb FB back in single kick formation to returns kicks..Exactly none and ppl get mad when he fumbles. Maybe this is the exact reason why no team asks their FB to return kicks

Roscoe Parrish was out there all last season to be had and he's a quality ST returner.

Sorry Eddie's not Josh Cribbs or that he was tied for 2nd in the NFL last year in kick returns for TDs but he's consitently shown the ability to make guys miss and turn in long runs and best of all he has consistent hands. Not his fault we have no one better. I suspect maybe a combo of JJ and Perish might replace him but he's far better than Martinez

Well, Royal tries his best, but the team can upgrade. Cribbs I believe wasn't actually available, he was potentially available but got resigned before he actually made it to the available list.

The Broncs really do have to upgrade the kick/punt return department, despite the 2 KO return Td's from Royal last year. Hopefully that gets done fast.

[CEH]

Originally Posted by Cito Pelon

Well, Royal tries his best, but the team can upgrade. Cribbs I believe wasn't actually available, he was potentially available but got resigned before he actually made it to the available list.

The Broncs really do have to upgrade the kick/punt return department, despite the 2 KO return Td's from Royal last year. Hopefully that gets done fast.

I agree I want Eddie to concentrate on his new slot position and playing Hillis was an indication we need to upgrade. Before the thread turned into a bash Eddie as a bad returner I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in that I thought Eddie is a good returner. To me a good returner does not fumble and has a chance to go the distance any time he touches the ball. Eddie has shown that

Not sure where you concluded I wanted Josh Cribbs in a trade. I referred to Roscoe Parrish. Cribbs is the gold standard. Parrish was a guy who specializes in ST and was up for trade all year.

I think Cox has a chance but we have seen what fumbling will do for your PT with Josh unless your name is Knowshown Moreno.

Royal is not a bad fall back plan when all else fails

[baja]

Originally Posted by CEH

I agree I want Eddie to concentrate on his new slot position and playing Hillis was an indication we need to upgrade. Before the thread turned into a bash Eddie as a bad returner I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in that I thought Eddie is a good returner. To me a good returner does not fumble and has a chance to go the distance any time he touches the ball. Eddie has shown that

Not sure where you concluded I wanted Josh Cribbs in a trade. I referred to Roscoe Parrish. Cribbs is the gold standard. Parrish was a guy who specializes in ST and was up for trade all year.

I think Cox has a chance but we have seen what fumbling will do for your PT with Josh unless your name is Knowshown Moreno.

Royal is not a bad fall back plan when all else fails

I don't believe the fumble was the reason Hillis dod not see the field much. My guess is it was his inability to know his assignments