Author: Leo Duke

Denver desperately needs a nose tackle next season if they plan on competing defensively. Often cited as the fulcrum of a defense, the nose position is vital to a 3-4’s success. Wade Phillips knows that, we all know that. And yet, for some reason, Elway let Pot Roast walk and made only a small, late round effort to bolster the nose position. That is because Dove Valley trusts 2013 1st rounder Sylvester Williams to step up.

Continue reading “Sly” Williams Showing Well in Minicamp

Von Miller is one of my personal favorite players on the Broncos. Whether it’s his ridulous off field persona, or his insane physical gifts, he is the type of rare player you need on your defense. I can only think of one defender better than him, and that is J.J. Watt. Von is the type of guy a team in transition needs to keep around for stability. We don’t want him realizing his potential 20 sack years with another team.

The scary part is, is that Von has yet to even realize his full potential. Continue reading Why the Broncos Need to Extend Von

Interesting piece from scout.com that I thought some of you may be interested in. Chad Jensen has a very positive view on a nationally underrated Bradley Roby:

Expectations are high for second-year cornerback Bradley Roby—both from without and within the Denver Broncos organization. He was arguably the NFL’s best rookie corner in 2014, but had his ups and downs playing next to two Pro Bowlers in Chris Harris, Jr. and Aqib Talib. Often, Roby was the low-hanging fruit for opposing quarterbacks and offensive coordinators.

The opposition tried to exact their pound of flesh from Roby throughout his rookie season. He held his own.

You can ready the whole article here. Add your thoughts in the comments. And in case you forgot what a freak Bradley Roby is, this video from the article should remind you:

Hello Broncos fans!

I am introducing a new column I will be writing weekly, in which I scout the top 3 at every position in the 2016 draft. I know this is looking way ahead, but if you are a draft geek like me, it is still good to get a feel for what next offseason has in store. I also would like to mention at this point that I will not be scouting kickers or punters, sorry Marshall Morgan. Continue reading Scouting 2016: Offensive Tackle

Often times, when something becomes really popular, members of the media have a tendency to swing the pendulum too far towards exaggeration, and then instead of moving the narrative closer to the truth, they spin it all the way in the other direction. For instance, Justin Bieber or Nickelback had meteoric rises to stardom, and then, when the media got tired of praising them, they fell to the level of punchlines. In truth, the narrative should probably be somewhere in between, as competent (ish) musicians who were overrated and are now underrated.

The same principle applies to football. For instance, Tim Tebow went from the best thing since sliced bread to, well, the worst thing since plain sliced bread. In reality, he’s a decent athlete and a good leader, but probably not an NFL starting QB.

Wide Receiver has been one of the most valued positions in the NFL for a long time. They were in the spotlight even to the point of being divas. Keyshawn Johnson was the number 1 pick in the draft, and then immediately began complaining about his touches. We saw Randy Moss’s various shenanigans. Brandon Marshall was a nightmare at times. I think this quote pretty much sums up the insane inflation of the collective egos of the NFL receiver:

“I love me some me.”

-Terrell Owens

Continue reading Debunking the “Wide Receivers are Overrated” Myth

Hello Broncos Fans!

I absolute love In Thin Air. With the unfortunate demise of IAOFM, a gigantic void was left for many fans. Fortunately, and I can only speak for myself, In Thin Air has saved me from the Mile High Reports of the world. Since this is my first article on this site, I’ll start with a brief bio. I’m currently living in Philadelphia, and although I am quite a bit younger than your average contributor, I’ve bled orange and blue since I was old enough to turn on ESPN. My father, who is one of the few bigger fans than myself, transferred his VHS tapes of every Broncos game from 1982 to 2000 to DVD, so I could watch them in my room at night. So, while I admittedly do know more about the more modern teams, I can still hold my own on 80’s and 90’s Broncos knowledge. Anyways, enough about me.

Everything that I’ve read online about the 2015 Broncos has been largely pessimistic. For instance, Bleacher Report ranked John Elway’s off-season a paltry 23rd in the league here. They also predicted that we will go 10-6 and finish second in our division. Much of the reasoning makes sense. Manning looked off (to put it lightly) towards the end of last season. Our O-Line may return only one starter from last season, pending the RT position battle. We lost one of the best scoring tight ends in the league, as well as a great defensive tackle. I look at our new group however, and I see plenty of reasons for excitement.

Defense Wins Championships. This is a tried and true saying.

It’s that time of this article where I make a bold prediction. The Denver Broncos will have the top defense in the NFL in 2015. I realize that seems bold. Bleacher Report ranked our defense 10th in the league, despite finishing 3rd in total defense last year. I honestly believe that we have the coaching and the talent to achieve that lofty expectation. Continue reading The New Orange Crush