Denver Broncos Training Camp Day 11 (Morning) Report

Out of pads: Hamza Abdullah (groin), Tom Nalen (knee), Chad Mustard (hamstring), Champ Bailey (hamstring) and Montrae Holland. Don't stress about Champ Bailey, I think he was just sitting out to give his friend Domonique Foxworth an equal amount of first-team reps as Dre Bly.

• The absence of Champ Bailey also affected another corner backs first-team reps, Karl Paymah, forgot about him didn't you? That's because the Broncos spent a lot of their eleven-on-eleven drills in the nickel formation.

Eddie Royal takes on the entire Denver defense.

• Cracking into the first-team were Nate Jackson, replacing Tony Scheffler at tight end and as expected middle linebacker Nate Webster replaced Niko Koutouvides in the middle (continuing their two day rotation).
  
  
• Right tackle Ryan Harris is still on his upward slope as far as solidifying himself as the right tackle goes. He's miles ahead of where he was on day one or two of training camp.
  
  
• As Jarvis Moss continues to make his case as a legitimate threat at defensive end. Though he wasn't able to get past Ryan Harris, he continues to embarrass the second-time offensive line. At one point in the eleven-on-eleven he had notched what would have been a loss of yardage tackle and a would be sack on back to back plays.

Ryan Clady shows a defensive end how not to stunt like his daddy.

• It wasn't all good for rookie Ryan Clady, Elvis Dumervil beat him during team scrimmage for a sack on Jay Cutler.
  
  
• Backup quarterback Patrick Ramsey continued to bore, unless you're a defensive fan, then he was the most entertaining player on the field.
  
  
• The other backup quarterback Darrell Hackney connected with receiver Eddie Royal for a deep pass that ended with Royal being pushed out of bounds.
  
  
• Tony Scheffler made the best of his time with Jay Cutler, snatching a ball that went for a 70+ yards ending in a touchdown.
  
  
• Kicker Matt Prater answered the, "Toro," call fourteen times in a row. Prater was exhausted after kicking field goals consistently with never more than 20 seconds on the clock. Prater went 13 of 14, missing on a 58-yarder. However, fans of Denver should look forward to more last second heart attack field goals, should it come to that for the Broncos this season.
  

Denver Broncos Training Camp Day 8 (Morning) Report

I may have jinxed our gentle giants in Dove Valley and I'm sorry. Starting free safety Hamza Abdullah (groin) and strong side linebacker Boss Bailey (knee) were both added to the list of inactives today, which includes: Tom Nalen (knee), Peyton Hillis (hamstring), Chad Mustard (hamstring), Michael Pittman (too many reps) and Montrae Holland (TFTP).

The good news?:

Brandon Marshall is Magic!

Seriously, Marshall hasn't even caught the ball and the referee is already calling a touchdown. He's so sure of his skill that he doesn't even stand up to catch anymore. Just sits in the end zone and waits. It's a sign, what Marshall is trying to illustrate with this metaphor is that even "sitting" he will be effective. He's telling fans that it's okay, look at the young boy just below the ball, he understands.

Tom Nalen's MRI was negative, which is great news to everyone, except center Casey Wiegmann, who has been filling in for the injured Nalen on the first-team offense.

I proposed this a couple of days ago (maybe even the first day of camp), what do you guys think of this for a front five: Clady, Hamilton, Nalen, Wiegmann and Kuper? Just a through, of course if missing this many reps in training camp does not affect Montrae Holland then of course swap him and Wiegmann. I love Ryan Harris and I'm assuming the coaches do too, because of the amount of first-team reps he is getting at right tackle. However, if Chris Kuper doesn't have to play right guard and the Denver staff can put him on the outside, they probably will. He's playing like a programmed machine, broken hand and all.

Nate Webster is still at middle linebacker on the first-team. As I stated yesterday, as far as I can tell it's two day rotation, Webster plays two days on first-team, then Niko Koutouvides plays two days on first-team. Who's better? Hmm... Webster's certainly more exciting to watch play, while Koutouvides seems to be the more intelligent player. They both come from good NFL pedigrees as far as previous experience, however Webster was an animal for Denver last season. Can he be trusted in pass coverage? Not as much as I would trust Koutouvides in pass coverage and here in lies the problem for Denver's coaching staff. Preseason will sort out the situation, hopefully. Let's not forgot about rookie Spencer Larsen either, while he's most likely going to go head-to-head with Jordan Beck for special teams thriller, Larsen provides nice insurance to Webster and Koutouvides.

Dre Bly's a man on a mission:

Can you imagine the results of the above picture in an actual game? Backup quarterback Patrick Ramsey would most likely have spinal fluid coming out of his nose from the hit he's about to receive. The week old battle between Bly and Domonique Foxworth is only going to get hotter. Only Denver will benefit from this competition, with both Bly and Foxworth playing to beat each other out. Foxworth is in a contract year and fans seemed to have shifted favoring Foxworth over Bly, where as their were rumblings to trade Foxworth for a fourth rounder prior to the draft. I'm hoping that the three along with rookie Jack Williams and Karl Paymah can link to form the iron curtain coverage that any team needs to force an offense to become one dimensional.

With Hamza Abdullah out, rookie Josh Barrett was given an opportunity to shine and he did, nabbing a sack during eleven-on-elevens. Roderick Rogers, whom I haven't brought up as much as I should have in the days since John Lynch evacuated, also picked off a ball today. If I'm the coach, I don't know who stays and who goes, either way, there are going to be some very talented players in a lot of the positions who won't be making the team unfortunately.

On the defensive line, Josh Mallard is continuing reps with the first team. At one point in practice the defensive line consisted of nearly all draft picks from 2007, as Jarvis Moss, Marcus Thomas and Tim Crowder front ended Denver's second-team defense.

Photo credit: Kyle Sonneman © DenverBroncos.com

Broncos sign rookie corner Jack Williams

The Denver Post is reporting that the Broncos have just signed Kent State corner back Jack Williams.

This leaves just two players for the Broncos to sign before Thursday. First round pick and assumed starting left tackle Ryan Clady and second round pick wide receiver/kick-off messiah Eddie Royal.

Williams will make a very good push on current dime corner Karl Paymah. However, having signed a four-year contract, he will most likely emerge in his second season, as both Paymah and Domonique Foxworth will be unrestricted free agents this coming off-season.

The bad news for current Broncos with these two remaining unsigned rookies, is that we will most likely see two more cuts from the current Denver roster.

Broncos Cornerback Karl Paymah convicted of DUI

The Denver Post is reporting that Denver Broncos corner back Karl Paymah has been found guilty by an Arapahoe jury of driving under the influence of alcohol after being found, "Asleep or unconscious at the wheel of his Land Rover 50 yards off of Arapahoe Road at South Parker Road at about 5 a.m. on May 26, 2006."


Two-years ago!? Don't we all wish that a certain other Bronco could get postponed this long. Wonder if Harvey Steinberg was Paymah's lawyer as well. I guess the good news if Steinberg was the lawyer, he's going to come even harder for his next DUI trial (hopefully not until September), but I feel sorry for whomever the good old City of Denver brings.

Early prediction: Steinberg wins in a close battle in a late 4th Quarter drive.

Denver Broncos will go 13-3, Part II

This took just a bit to come out, but I just wanted to add a quick update. The last time Denver went 13-3 (2005) this was their roster:

Offense

• Quarterback: Jake Plummer and Bradlee Van Pelt
• Runningbacks: Mike Anderson, Ron Dayne, Tatum Bell and Cecil Sapp
• Fullbacks: Kyle Johnson
• Wide Receivers: Ashley Lelie, Rod Smith, Darius Watts, Charlie Adams, Todd Devoe and David Terrell
• Tight Ends: Jeb Putzier, Stephen Alexander, Nate Jackson and Wesley Dukes
• Right Tackle: George Foster and Cornell Green
• Right Guard: Ben Hamilton
• Center: Tom Nalen
• Left Guard: Cooper Carlisle, Chris Myers
• Left Tackle: Matt Lepsis

Defense

• Defensive Ends: Trevor Pryce, Courtney Brown, Ebenezer Ekuban and John Engleberger
• Defensive Tackles: Gerrard Warren, Demetrin Veal and Michael Myers
• Linebackers: Al Wilson, DJ Williams, Ian Gold, Keith Burns, Patrick Chukwurah and Louis Green
• Cornerbacks: Champ Bailey, Darrent Williams, Domonique Foxworth, Karl Paymah and Roc Alexander
• Free Safeties: John Lynch
• Strong Safeties: Sam Brandon and Nick Ferguson

That was the roster the last time it happened, packed full of all pros and all stars. People who no less than three years later continue to dominate in the NFL (wait, that was me being sarcastic). A majority of those players no longer play in the NFL, are currently free agents, even knocked off the two-time Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots (Jan. 2006) and only about six (who happen to still be great players) are currently employed by the Broncos.

My point? Mike Shanahan did it with these guys, why would you doubt that he can do it with the current roster? Are we weaker in any of the above positions? Is Darrell Jackson not a more capable receiver than Ashlie Lelie? Selvin Young no more capable than Mike Anderson? Jay Cutler worse than Jake Plummer? Dre Bly less talented than Darrent Williams was? Doubters will continue to doubt of course, but I've given the believers a better argument.

Is it Sunday yet?

Nickel & Dime/Gun Control and what dialect do you speak?

One reason I love the game of football so much is its seemingly endless capacity for innovation. I was fortunate to work under a brilliant head coach who was steeped in football history. Not who necessarily won what when, but certain coaches at certain schools and what they came up with and what they called it. It wasn't just formations and defenses, it was drills, plays, blitzes, etc. All the stuff he used had the appropriate names paying homage to its originator and place of origin. That's another thing about football, the need to communicate. Certain terminology is ubiquitous while some is local dialect.

Shotgun formation has been around for a long time shooting the ball from the center to the QB. Hey, if you could snap it to a FB in Single Wing and to the punter, why not in ... shotgun. Then came the fairly recent combo of gun + option + spread formation = spread option. Then Chris Ault at Nevada shortens the gun and puts a TB behind the QB, and it's ... pistol. All this stuff is great for the game and you can see it in HS football stadia if you are a student of the game. Try it , football fans. It's not expensive and it won't interfere with college and pro ball. Surely you NFL/fantasy league guys can figure what mere high school football teams are doing. Plus, it's educational; you might learn something ... about football, that is.

Each football team must make up certain terminology. Most defenses have four DBs. So, if you take out a backer or a DL and put in a fifth DB, it got called nickel because the author thought, "One, two, three, four, five pennies make a nickel." Hey, if the HC said it, who's going to argue with his impeccable logic? After all, this is the guy who has the power to name any player anything he wants and to send assistants to scout in Jal. What if you add a sixth DB to that? Another line coach and I used to vehemently insist that you can't call it dime unless you have TEN DBs. If five DBs is nickel, ten DBs is dime. Come on! Be consistent! Actually, we just wanted to see a D w/ten DBs. Didn't Ray Rhodes try that? Once again, logic is defeated and dime is six DBs, usually with four DL and one LB.

There are certain core rules common to all levels of football (not including Arena, Canadian, XFL, etc.). Offense must line up seven players on the LOS who must be set prior to the snap of the ball. Only the players on the ends of this line are eligible to touch the ball before it touches the ground. There are four who line up in back of this line one of whom may be moving when the ball is put into play. Isn't it amazing how much variation has been derived from that? Five WR sets two of whom must be ends; empty backfield; watch out for QB draw.

Given the caliber of NFL WRs today, such an offensive formation needs the best possible defensive coverage. The Broncos' WRs seem quite deep. Could we see five wideout/empty backfield formations this year? If you want to run cover 1 against that it could be done with dime either using one DB as a FS or doubling the most dangerous receiver with one backer as a spy on the QB and rush four DL. You could have nickel cover zero and still keep a couple of backers in. With such limited time between plays, someone in the box with binoculars and a headset must do nothing but watch personnel changes going in. How they get that done amazes me.

NFL teams that run cover 2 have acquired the necessary safeties to cover deep halves. They're really more like corners. The Broncos may play more of a 4-4 w/a box safety and a deep/FS. That works great aginst the run and in cover 3, but what about nickel and dime? If it was cover 1 or zero, I'd pull both safeties and the MLB. Assuming Jack Williams makes the team, the Broncos have five good corners. If you need another DB for dime, put in the best FS type along with the five corners. When an offense lines up with four or five WRs, you don't have to play man. D can play zone even in nickel and dime. Always try to make it look like what it isn't; look like zone, play man; look like man, play zone; man under, zone deep; zone under, man deep.

Around the time of the draft it seemed there were many voicing the idea of trading Domonique Foxworth. I guess at draft time some guys think if they have twenty picks it means they're going to the Super Bowl. KC expressed some interest in Karl Paymah (love the Nordic spelling), but as I recall, Shanahan himself nixed it. Hmmm. You don't suppose any of this had to do with the departure of Ted Sundquist ... do you? I just can't imagine Mike Shanahan wanting to be rid of any of his corners. It was a surprise when Jack Williams was drafted, but it seems that NFL teams can't get enough corners. A bunch of them were drafted rather early. Remember the playoffs? Deep playoff runs like the Giants' require depth everywhere, but especially in the secondary because the teams you're facing have great receivers.

As the Broncos get ready for training camp, cornerback is the strongest, deepest, most settled position they have. This is a good thing, compadres, embrace it and desire to keep it that way as long as possible.