Offseason Observations Part I: The Denver Broncos

The Denver Broncos have had by far the wildest offseason of any team in the NFL. It began with the controversial firing of Mike Shanahan and hiring of Josh McDaniels, continued with an aggressive slew of free agent signings, and rocketed out of control with the Jay Cutler saga which ended in a blockbuster trade landing Cutler in Chicago. Then came a nutty draft in which the Broncos took Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno with the twelfth overall pick, traded a 2010 first-rounder to get Wake Forest cornerback Alphonso Smith, and traded their two third-round picks for the last pick of the second round, which they used to take North Carolina tight end Richard Quinn.

Let’s start with the Shanahan firing. Shanahan possesses one of the premier Xs and Os minds in football, possibly even the best. The Broncos were generally powerful on offense during his tenure, though they have had little consistency at the skill positions since the Super Bowl years of John Elway, Terrell Davis, and Shannon Sharpe. Running backs not good enough to make most NFL rosters have had great success playing for Shanahan, a long list which includes Olandis Gary, Reuben Droughns, Quentin Griffin, Mike Anderson, Tatum Bell, and Mike Bell. Half these guys are selling cell phones these days, while the other half are struggling to make NFL rosters. The only real talent Shanahan has had in the backfield since Davis is Clinton Portis, who was traded to the Redskins for Champ Bailey.

The Broncos have not had a potent passing game since Elway retired, but that all changed last year as Jay Cutler made The Leap. Ryan Clady and Eddie Royal proved to be brilliant first and second round picks, and Brandon Marshall continued to elevate his game after a turbulent offseason. The offensive line played as well as any in the league, and Peyton Hillis emerged as the most popular Bronco since Ed McCaffrey. The Broncos finished second in the league in total yards.

But the defense was atrocious – one of the worst in the history of the game according to some new-age statistics. They lacked talent in every position, had arguably the worst defensive linemen and safeties in the league, and gave up tons of big plays while creating very few.

When he was let go, Shanahan had assumed much of the organization’s personnel decisionmaking power. The Broncos were coming off a great 2008 draft, but years of defensive busts (anyone not from Colorado, have you ever heard of Jarvis Moss, Tim Crowder, Willie Middlebrooks, or Eric Brown?) left the cupboard bare. Ultimately Shanahan was fired because of his decisions regarding defensive personnel.

In a perfect world, the Broncos would have retained Shanahan while cutting back his role in personnel evaluation. Instead, owner Pat Bowlen rolled the dice on then-32 year-old wunderkind Josh Daniels, previously offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots. Defensive coordinator Bob Slowik was sent packing and replaced by ex-Niners head coach Mike Nolan. Quarterbacks coach Jeremy Bates, a sharp young mind similar to McDaniels and a close ally of Cutler’s, was uncertain of his role and decided to take a position with the USC Trojans. The Broncos also overhauled their personnel department and brought in Brian Xanders as the new General Manager.

Somewhere in this mess word leaked that McDaniels & co. were shopping Cutler around. McDaniels wanted Matt Cassel, who he coached last year in New England after Tom Brady was injured. Cutler was not pleased when he got word of these developments, and reacted immaturely. Cutler asked to be traded, and when communication between Cutler and the Broncos disintegrated, the Broncos complied with his request.

As a lifelong Denver Broncos fan and current NFL diehard, the Cutler saga made me somewhat queasy. We all know quarterback is the most important position in the league as well as the scarcest. By my count there are only 20-25 people in the world who can play quarterback at the level necessary to win in the NFL, there are only 10-15 who I would feel okay about playing for my team, there are only 5-8 who played as well as Cutler last season, and there may not be a single person in the world who possesses as much talent as Jay Cutler does for the quarterback position. So the idea of losing Cutler before his 26th birthday did not sit well with me.

But the Broncos got two first round picks, a third round pick, and Kyle Orton in exchange. Orton was really starting to figure it out himself and play at a high level before his injury midway through last season. I can live with Orton and the picks. At this moment in time, I think the best word to describe the trade is “fair.”

But why did Denver’s new brass bring in LaMont Jordan, Correll Buckhalter, and JJ Arrington, then draft Moreno at #12? Prevailing wisdom in the Rockies was that running back was not a position of need for the Broncos. Selvin Young, Andre Hall, and Hillis were all successful under Shanahan, and the hype around 2008 fourth-round pick Ryan Torain reached deafening heights during an injury-riddled rookie campaign. Even PJ Pope averaged 7.6 yards per carry last season. Merely adding one running back in the offseason would have been viewed as gratuitous; adding four including a first round pick is clearly ridiculous.

As curious as these signings were, I do have some points worth mentioning to panicking Bronco fans:

1. As both the Broncos and Patriots found out last season, you can never have enough running backs. They get injured more often than any other position and seem to function best playing two or three in a game. NFL teams should have a bare minimum of three good backs (think what Mewelde Moore did for the Steelers after Willie Parker and Rashard Mendenhall went down last season) and could get significant contributions from as many as five or six throughout the season.

2. McDaniels is clearly bringing in players to fit his system. Selvin Young and Andre Hall may have functioned competently in Shanahan’s design, but maybe they won’t for McDaniels. LaMont Jordan and Jabar Gaffney might not have helped last year’s team much, but they will help institute the McDaniels system.

3. McDaniels wants competition. He wants these guys driving each other to get better, knowing jobs are at stake. Running back is largely a position of effort, and all these guys should bring out the best in each other.

4. I watched a few Georgia games the last couple years, and always got the feeling Knowshon Moreno was the best player on the field. I never had that feeling for Matt Stafford.

5. It has occurred to me that McDaniels may have something crazy, something revolutionary in mind. Perhaps something akin to the single wing. Maybe he took a look at tape of Denver’s offensive line and ideas started popping in his mind. Maybe he wants to make a splash with something bold and creative, something that could make him a legend. It’s an unlikely theory of course, but perhaps the offense Denver plays in 2009 will be unlike any we have ever seen in the National Football League.

No matter how the rookies turn out, we already know Denver's draft was rather inefficient. They traded a first round pick for a second and later traded two third rounders for the last pick of the second round, for a player who wasn't projected to be drafted anytime soon. Changing the offense, shuffling the coaching staff, bringing in your own style of players - these things don't bother me so much. McDaniels was hired as head coach - I believe he should get a chance to put his system into play. But blatant disregard for economics, trading 1s for 2s - those sort of wasteful transactions make me nauseous. You don't see the Patriots engaging in that sort of inefficiency.