Author: Nick

Lindsay Jones Investigates The Struggle Of Young Offensive Linemen

It’s good to see a lengthier piece on this phenomenon.

But as the NFL gathers in Indianapolis for the annual scouting combine, head coaches and general managers don’t expect the draft to be a quick fix for any teams looking to improve their offensive line.

Most of the best college offensive linemen, including multiple players who will be drafted in the first round, are considered NFL projects.

The college game now is just too different, NFL executives said, and players are entering the league with so much to learn.

Continue reading Lindsay Jones Investigates The Struggle Of Young Offensive Linemen

Mike Klis Documents Evan Mathis’s Journey To Super Bowl Champion

There is so much good stuff in this article, but it’s important to highlight the key factor that led Mathis from Philadelphia to Denver.  As Mathis said to Klis:

There were many things that Chip had done that showed me he wasn’t building a championship team. Two of the main issues that concerned me were: 1. A never-evolving, vanilla offense that forced our own defense to play higher than normal play counts. 2. His impatience with certain personality types even when they were blue-chip talents. The Broncos team I was on would have eaten Chip alive. I don’t think he could have handled the plethora of large personalities.

The first point should be a strong point against Kelly being some revolutionary genius. But the second point is more important, and it’s is a trap that so many coaches coming from college fall into. It’s easy enough to run over college-aged personalities, but players in the NFL have been through that gauntlet before, and aren’t interested in getting run over again after that experience.

I also have to highlight how he demanded to leave Philly, in a way that is a prime example of Mathis’s humor:

Most players would use their agent to handle such a task. Mathis directly texted Kelly with a YouTube video of Engelbert Humperdink singing, “Please release me, let me go. …

Given the injuries that he was going through, I would have preferred “I’ll hold the pain, release me“, but if the goal was maximum annoyance of Kelly, pure 1980s ballads are the way to go.

A Counterpoint On The Von Miller Contract Negotiations

This will be primarily a devil’s advocate post.  I still strongly believe that it’s in the best interest of the Broncos to secure a contract extension with Von Miller right now to take advantage of gaining 2016 cap space.  However, I’m resigned to the fact that this likely won’t happen, and the more likely scenario is for this to follow the same arc as Ryan Clady and Demaryius Thomas: place a franchise tender on Miller now, with an extension ultimately coming before the July 15 deadline.

However, I’m going to explore what benefits there may be to letting Miller play out the 2016 season on the franchise tag.

Continue reading A Counterpoint On The Von Miller Contract Negotiations

The Dominance Of The Pat Bowlen Era, Team By Team

So I decided to take a quickish break on this Saturday, and I investigated the win-loss records of the NFL from 1984 to present.  We all know the well-circulated stat that the Broncos under Pat Bowlen have more Super Bowl appearance (7) than losing seasons (5).  But after churning out the results, I am quite proud to discover that since 1984, the Broncos have the best winning percentage (.612) in the league, with a win-loss record of 334-212-1.  Only the Patriots (.606) and 49ers (.605) are super close, followed by the Steelers (.588) and Packers (.573).  No other teams are above .560.

When you break the records down head-to-head, another proud statistic emerges: since 1984, only 6 of the other 31 teams have a winning record against the Broncos. And with this, I will offer a pop quiz for this weekend: name those six teams.  Try your best not to cheat, or if you do, try not to share the results in the comments.  Either way, the answer may surprise you a bit.  Sometime later this weekend, I’ll create a fold to this post that will include the tables of these records below.

UPDATE: (8:15 PM MT) After a few hints, orangeandblueaussie got the six teams:

  • Dolphins (it took Tebow magic to finally beat them in Miami for the first time)
  • Jaguars (The Broncos do terribly in the state of Florida)
  • Rams (longest drought the Broncos have against any team, dating back to 2002)
  • Giants (Amani Toomer was a Bronco-killer in his career)
  • Ravens (too many bad memories to comment further)
  • Colts (it was so easy to hate Peyton Manning out of jealously in the previous decade).

The tables I promised are beyond the fold.

Continue reading The Dominance Of The Pat Bowlen Era, Team By Team

Lindsay Jones: Owen Daniels Considering Retirement

Quoth Daniels:

Of course, of course. [Retirement’s] definitely an option. But I’m a man of my word, I signed a three-year deal, so I’d like to keep playing. I feel good enough as long as I can get some work done on my 33-year-old knees.

Forget the contract: I certainly would not hold anything back against Daniels if he chose to go out on top.  Losing his production would hurt, but the expectation has to be there for Virgil Green to take on a bigger role and for Jeff Heuerman to come back off his ACL tear, regardless of whether Daniels comes back or not.

The salary cap implications for a Daniels retirement are the same as if he is cut: $2.5 million in savings and $2 million in dead money.  If Daniels were to retire, he could be subject to paying back $2 million of his signing bonus if the Broncos so choose.

Is There An Interest For A Daily Open Thread?

Jeremy helped us out by doing so for the days leading up to the Super Bowl, and I’d appreciate some feedback as to how people thought that experiment went.  If there is interest in doing this regularly, I could look into seeing if I could automatically program a post to be created daily for this purpose.  If so, I’d also like a catchier name than simply “Open Thread” so that people will know that it’s an auto-programmed post.  Please leave any good suggestions for such a name, as well.

In the meantime, feel free to use this thread as a grab bag to collect all the glorious aftermath of the Broncos winning Super Bowl 50!

Can Von Miller Become “The Highest Paid Defensive Player In Football”?

UPDATE: (10:15 MT) While I was writing this, Jason Fitzgerald gave his own take on OTC.  I recommend reading his article as well as good complementary material, as it’s more technical and less Broncos-centric than my own.

We all know that Von Miller is going to get paid.  The only question will be how much.  When insiders started suggesting the quote in the title, I took that news with little surprise or alarm.  That’s because Miller’s floor was always going to be Justin Houston’s deal agreed upon with the Chiefs last offseason.  Houston is the second highest paid player by APY, and the fourth highest in full guarantees.  With a floor that high, why not set your ceiling as high as possible if you’re Miller’s camp?

Continue reading Can Von Miller Become “The Highest Paid Defensive Player In Football”?

Who Will The Broncos Play On The Opening Week Of 2016?

As we all know well, due to the privilege of winning the Super Bowl, the Broncos will get to start their next season at home on Thursday night on NBC.  In addition to the usual division rivals, Denver will host Houston, Indianapolis, New England, Atlanta…and Carolina.

I think it’s safe to say that the Panthers game will be ruled out, as Fox will fight tooth and nail to get that game as one of their featured ones, considering they only get the Broncos twice a year under the standard scheduling rules.  That may also rule out the Falcons for similar reasons.  I think CBS will fight hard for the Patriots game since they lost it to NBC in 2015.  Gary Kubiak facing his former team in the Texans also seems destined for prime time in midseason.

My leading guess would be the Colts, with the Chiefs or Raiders also being real possibilities.  What say you?