Author: Ray Crane

I’m not one to give in to speculation about future draft picks. It’s arbitrary and very rarely are predictions correct outside of the first 10 draft picks. Instead of yet another article on a whim about future draft picks, what if I were to grade the players from the previous one?

Continue reading Reviewing the 2015 Draft Picks

We won!!! First off, I want to start off by saying I told you so. Each of those key points to winning the game were met, and I couldn’t be happier. I know it’s quick, but we’re on to the offseason now and I’m excited.

Below is a list of unrestricted free agents:

• OLB Von Miller
• DE Malik Jackson
• QB Brock Osweiler
• ILB Danny Trevathan
• RB Ronnie Hillman
• S David Bruton
• DB Omar Bolden
• TE Vernon Davis
• LG Evan Mathis
• DE Antonio Smith
• OT Ryan Harris
• OT Tyler Polumbus
• WR Andre Caldwell
• WR Jordan Norwood
• WR Kyle Williams
• S Josh Bush
• S Shiloh Keo

In all seriousness, I believe Manning will likely retire, despite how frequently he dodged the question in all interviews. He’ll also drink Budweiser, apparently. We may also see Ware and Antonio Smith play their last game, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Ware tries to remain. The only way I can see him staying is if he restructures his contract to get a pay cut. Don’t forget we have the Kenny Annuke, who was placed on IR earlier this season.

Not re-signing or franchise tagging Von Miller would be the biggest mistake the Broncos will have made since hiring McDaniels to be our head coach. It has to happen. Brock Osweiler has undoubtedly shown he can lead this offense, and it is likely he will sign about a 4-year contract.

However, I wonder if we can afford Danny Trevathan and Malik Jackson, unless we reduce our expenses. Regardless, I expect most of our defense to remain outside of these guys, which will help us in the next year win many games once again.

As much as I criticized Ryan Harris, he has become a staple in our offensive line and I expect him to be re-signed along with Tyler Polumbus. Whether or not these two make the team next year is a different question, as we’ll have Ryan Clady and Ty Sambrailo back (remember them?).  Evan Mathis will unlikely get an offer to re-sign, but he will take any pay he can to stay on this team. Jordan Norwood, Kyle Williams, and Bubba Caldwell will most likely re-sign too, but whether or not they make the roster next year is a different question.

Shiloh Keo has to make the roster because of his plays, and Josh Bush played solid as well. There is going to be a tough competition keeping Omar Bolden and David Bruton on the team, however. While as good as they are on special teams, their injuries and lack of production on defense pushes their stock down. David Bruton is easily one of my favorite players on the roster, so I hope he stays on. Two of these four will be on the team next year.

I have huge question marks for Vernon Davis and Ronnie Hillman remaining on the team. Vernon Davis had limited playing time after he was acquired, and Hillman took less snaps throughout the playoffs. TE Jeff Heuerman, who was selected in the 3rd round of the draft, will likely take Davis’ spot on the roster. I wouldn’t be surprised if we sign Hillman and Davis to short-term contracts and decide whether or not to keep them on the 53-man roster by the end of the the preseason.

Reserves:

We have the following players signed to future reserves to try and make a spot on the roster:

#	NAME	POS.	HT.	WT.	AGE	EXP.	COLLEGE
	Davis, Jace	WR	6-1	206	24	1	Northern Colorado
	Gray, Cyrus	RB	5-10	206			Texas A&M
	Lowery, B.J.	DB	5-11	193			Iowa
	Posey, DeVier	WR	6-1	210	25	4	Ohio State

I expect each of these guys to give a good run for their money, but I won’t be surprised if Cyrus Gray makes the roster. He played with the Chiefs and was let go the season after tearing his ACL. He’s quick, has a good juke, and can read holes better than Hillman, in my opinion.

Draft/Free Agency:

It’s difficult to predict the draft, and anyone that says otherwise is wrong. Yes, all of us fans want to sign a better offensive linemen, or a great running back, but the truth is that John Elway finds whomever is the best player at that draft spot. It’s worked well for us these past couple of years, so I expect that to happen again this year. He’s stated again and again that he fills needs through free agency.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we pick up running back Matt Forte to rotate with CJ Anderson. Since our offense is going to see more of the Kubiak system, I expect a fullback to be picked up like Mike Tolbert or John Kuhn.

The Broncos keep flirting with Tight Ends, and we witnessed a lot of signing and cutting of Tight Ends throughout the season on the practice squad. I expect the Broncos to chase Antonio Gates, Zach Miller, Jermaine Gresham, Daniel Fells, or Tony Moeaki. I can’t foresee us going after any wide receivers based on our current depth.

I feel rather confident that we’ll try to find a right tackle, but at this time I’m not sure who that would be. Perhaps we’ll chase after Cordy Glenn. We’ll also likely try to bring in a veteran line guard like Alex Mack.

I expect little to no change in our defense. Although, we may try out some linebackers to fill in the gap Trevathan could possibly leave.

Below are our draft positions:

• First round – pick 31
• Second round – pick 63
• Third round – pick 95
• Fifth round – compensatory pick unknown
• Seventh round – 3 compensatory picks unknown

Coaching:

Letting go of Kubiak won’t happen. End of story.

Wade Phillips has openly admitted that he is a horrible head coach, to which I disagree, but this only means that we can expect him to be the defensive coordinator here until he retires.

Rick Dennison, our offensive coordinator, hasn’t had a spectacular year. In fact, it was mostly terrible. I hope he doesn’t stay, but there is a possibility Kubiak and Elway will ask him to stay one more year before making a decision.

I can’t imagine any of our assistants leaving the team either after winning the Super Bowl, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the assistants on defense get offered a position on other teams.

For lack of a better title, I couldn’t help but immediately get reminded of Super Bowl 48, which I’ll try to avoid talking about for my sake of sanity: You have an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object again. Only this time, the Broncos are the immovable object and the Panthers are the unstoppable force.

Continue reading Why we stand a chance

We went into halftime with a 7-6 lead, but 4 turnovers. After one offensive series, we saw the return of Peyton Manning come in. I wasn’t comfortable with the decision as I knew he wasn’t 100% from his injury recovery, but I’m glad his management changed the pacing of the game. Brock Osweiler was getting fooled consistently by the Chargers’ defense, which opened up to one fumble turnover and an interception. Regardless, I think either quarterback could’ve led us to a victory and I’m glad we got the #1 seed spot. Who expected the Dolphins to beat the Patriots!?

What I’m concerned about in the playoffs is that we haven’t played a full game on both offense and defense since December 6th. We either play one half or the other half, and either offense or defense shows up. We need to play both halves where both the offense and defense are full force if we want to win in the playoffs.

Continue reading Chargers at Broncos: The 10 Things I Liked and the 10 Things I Didn’t

The first half was another pathetic display where I honestly thought this game was going to continue what we saw in the second half against the Steelers. I was pleasantly surprised that we went to a no-huddle format in the second half and started a majority of plays in shotgun and pistol formations. This allowed Brock just a second or two more to throw, because our offensive line was getting manhandled the entire game.

Continue reading Bengals at Broncos: The 10 Things I Liked and the 10 Things I Didn’t

I apologize on the delay on this with holidays and all. These last two games we had a horrible second half. The media kept talking about the future of Brock Osweiler and Peyton Manning. I kept hearing conversations about how poor Brock Osweiler has played in the second half of games lately. Regardless of how he played, giving up 34 points on defense is rarely going to win games.

Continue reading Broncos at Steelers: The 10 Things I Liked and the 10 Things I Didn’t

Clancy Barone, our offensive line coach, needs to be fired. How can the offensive line not improve over a 3-month period? It’s beyond ridiculous at this point. A tackle sled would’ve performed better. Osweiler’s success in this offense has a mix of the I-Formation, and a mix of quick feet to get away from the line and scramble when necessary. In an earlier post I wrote about Manning, it’s very obvious why this offense struggles. It’s not who is at quarterback; rather, it’s who is protecting the quarterback.

Continue reading Raiders at Broncos: The 10 Things I Liked and the 10 Things I Didn’t

I’ll take a win when we get one, but I wasn’t a fan of the offense. The Broncos scored less than any other team against the Chargers. The average score against the Chargers is 28 points while we only got 17, 7 of those points coming from a defensive interception.

If we win every game the rest of this season then we are guaranteed home field in the offseason. However, the Cincinnati Bengals will be a very difficult opponent.

Continue reading Broncos at Chargers : The 10 Things I Liked and the 10 Things I Didn’t

We get to witness Brock Osweiler starting more games while Peyton Manning is recovering his injuries. Scotty Payne from Mile High Report gathered various draft reports back in 2012, which you can read here. I want to go over some of the analysis and compare to the reports against what we’ve seen so far.

Continue reading Reviewing Brock Osweiler’s Draft Report

I’m surprised I didn’t end up in the hospital after that game. What an exciting game and an even more exciting outcome!

I’m not going to talk about penalties. There were missed penalties for both teams and I don’t think any of them had more of an effect than the other. The clock runoff at the end of regulation confused everyone and I don’t think it was fair for the Patriots. Regardless, I believe the outcome would be the same. Like I’ve said before, there were over a hundred plays where the game could’ve been won or lost. Before I go into my jive, here are some fun stats:

• Tom Brady: 23/42 for 280 yards – 3 TD – 1 INT – 3 sacks
• Brock Osweiler: 23/42 for 270 yards – 1 TD – 1 INT – 3 sacks

Continue reading Patriots at Broncos: The 10 Things I Liked and the 10 Things I Didn’t