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Eyebrows were raised, heads were scratched, hands were wrung this weekend as the Denver Broncos completed the first NFL draft orchestrated by new head coach Josh McDaniels and new General Manager Brian Xanders. Reviews were mixed.
A lot of us anticipated that the Broncos, with two first round picks and plenty more in the later rounds, would be one of the teams most talked about when the analysts gave out their post-draft grades. If Denver were to land a couple early round studs, perhaps John Clayton and the rest would give them a pat on the back and proclaim the event a rousing success for the Broncos. It didn’t happen like that.
Nor did the reverse happen. No one is panning this draft, either. After a flurry of activity that included the curious trading of next year’s first round pick for Seattle’s second rounder this year, the Broncos had landed 10 new players…and nobody knows exactly what to think…yet. (We do know that the rest of the teams in the AFC West were viewed in much the same manner, each getting mediocre reviews for their drafts…).
Knowshon Moreno, the newest Broncos running back, is a gifted player and could very well be the next star Denver ball carrier. Contrary to what many are saying, he DOES fill a huge need, since last year’s Broncos roster lacked even a single every-down, 20-carry-a-game runner, and none of the three running backs signed during this year’s free agency fit that description, either. Try to force guys like Peyton Hillis - a five-carry-a-game fullback - into that role, and you end up getting guys hurt. Moreno is the type of player Denver sorely lacked. One of the best ways to help a struggling defense is for your offense to be able to control the football and keep the defense off the field. Moreno will really help Denver do that. And getting Robert Ayers, the defensive end from Tennessee in the first round was also a good move. He was a guy Denver targeted in that spot from the beginning of the process.
After that, it gets a little fuzzy. Ayers was the only player picked to help the beleaguered front seven. Out of the 10 new players, six play offense. Curious.
What does this mean for 2009? Not much. This season, the first under a new regime, is going to be a rough one for Denver no matter what. Jay Cutler or no Jay Cutler, Denver is staring at a 6-10 season – if things go reasonably well. The schedule is murder and the entire roster needs a lot more bolstering before the Broncos are even back to being the Broncos of say, 2005.
Here’s the plain and simple truth: This draft, and the free agent signings that preceded it, are just single steps in a long rebuilding process. If you thought going in that this draft would be the difference between Denver going 6-10 next fall or 10-6, you were wrong. It won’t be near that easy. Bronco followers now need to exercise patience. Give the new regime a couple of years – which means playing out this season and putting another free agent period and draft in place – before deciding whether or not the new regime is the one to take the Broncos back to the top of the league.
(AP Photo of Knowshon Moreno)
Comments
Yet another issue we disagree on. And most of the experts Ive seen gave this drft a D. This draft should've been panned.
After finishing with functionally the worst defense in football, 29th statistically, logic would dictate a HUGE need to go defense picks 1-10, 1st through 7th round.
The Knowshon Moreno pick was bad for a number of reasons. The Broncos already have seven RBs on the roster and valuable cap room spent on JJ Arrington, Lamont Jordan, and Correll Buckhalter. Which leads into point number two; the single back carrying 30-35 times a game is no longer a key to success. Plenty of teams, Arizona, NY Giants, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Baltimore, Miami, Carolina, all made the playoffs and had wild success with a RB by committee approach. Moreno could be fantastic, and as a die hard Bronco fan I truly hope he’s as good as advertized. But with Brian Orakpo falling to #12, the Moreno pick is/was ill advised at best, detrimental to franchise development at worst. So Moreno DOES NOT fill a void any larger or more pressing than all three tiers of the worst Broncos’ D since the early 90’s. McXander should’ve drafted Orakpo, and I’m far from the only person to voice this sentiment.
Then they trade a #1 from next year for a second rounder this year?! All for a guy who was never projected as a first round CB. Nice maneuver, destroy or damage next year’s first round flexibility all for a guy rated only the 4th or 5th best CB and projects as a nickel corner and maybe a starter. Way too steep a price for second round talent. Then they draft a 4th round safety with the other 2nd rd pick. Nice job.
They had ten picks, the 29th ranked defense, 2nd rated offense. So they draft six offensive players versus four defensive guys. Unfathomable.
They would have been better off snagging Larry English or Orakpo at #12 then Aaron Maybin at #18, Ray Maualuga in the 2nd along with Jerron Gilbert/Michael Johnson/Sen’Derrick Marks, and turn a awful front seven into a nice defensive nucleus. Instead we got a running back we didn’t need, a DE who hopefully turns into a Justin Tuck, three defensive backs that will likely produce only on starter, and HUGE holes remaining in a bad defense. The mess that McDaniels inherited was never gonna get fixed over night but he retarded the rebuilding process for years by screwing up this draft and trading two of next year’s picks. This draft for the Broncos was a borderline disaster. I hope and pray to the football gods that I’m wrong.
Let me play Broncos GM for a minute...here's my first two rounds:
1st #12-Brian Orakpo
1st #18-Robert Ayers or Jeremy Maybin
2nd #5 (assuming I still trade next year's #1)-Ray Maualuga
2nd #16-Fili Moala or Cody Brown
2nd #32-Jarron Gilbert
That's five deffensive starters versus what McDaniels got, which is maybe two. The defense would improve, add youth, and you get a nice nucleus to build around. I hope you're right, I truly do, that we might see the fruits of this draft if we're patient enough (a very good point by the way: patience) but nearly ignoring the front seven will hurt this team more in the loong run than picking up Moreno, threee DBs, Ayers, and change will help in the long run.
I'm certainly not defending the brass on this...not yet, anyway. We do need to wait to see how these guys pan out. I know it will be hard for Bronco fans to be patient.
Two points: First, the best way to help this defense immediately is to keep them off the field. A ball control offense would be well advised. Moreno is far and away the best back now on this team. The others are journeymen. I wasn't sure why they were signed in the first place. At least now they have a go-to guy. Yes, more than one tailback will play and that's good, but of the three free agents, they did not have 20+ carries in them as a group. Moreno DID fill a big need.
Second, the only thing I can think of is that the trade of a first for a second HAD to be financially motivated. No other way to explain it. I heard one expert say that the CB they got from Wake was a "first round talent" in the second round. Perhaps - and I'm only trying to make sense here of a seemingly senseless move - they felt like they could not afford to pay four first round salaries in a two year span. I guess I could see that...but I still don't like the move.
While I like the Moreno and Ayers picks, I was generall disappointed with the rest of the draft, too. Back to the point I made weeks ago: They should have hired Scott Pioli first, and then let him hire the coach. Maybe it would have still been McDaniel, maybe not. But at least we'd have had a bonafide GM (Not that KC's draft was a whole lot better. The only saving grace of all this is that the rest of the division had less than stellar drafts, too.)
Bottom line is, no one on the outside knows exactly what kind of defensive scheme the Broncs will have on the field. Without knowing that, how can anyone truly judge what the team needs defensive needs are? I personally feel coaching was as big of an issue last year as talent was so we'll see where this goes. The one thing about this draft that chaffed me was the giving up the 1st round pick of 2010. Obviously this process will take more than one season I feel that we left a lot of flexibility for next year on the table, for a talent we most likely could have still had
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