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LRtagger
04-28-2008, 11:10 AM
Shanahan: smart or just desperate?
By Mark Kiszla
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 04/27/2008 01:50:05 AM MDT


Not to suggest Broncos coach Mike Shanahan has a foot fetish, but he so fell in love with the twinkle toes of his top pick Ryan Clady that it's difficult to tell if Shanahan was looking for an offensive tackle or auditioning a partner for "Dancing with the Stars."

"He will start at left offensive tackle the day he comes in," Shanahan said Saturday, after Denver used the 12th pick in the NFL draft to select Clady, a 316-pound ballerina from Boise State.

It was a safe pick by a franchise guilty of taking too many chances on me-me-me malcontents such as Javon Walker and has-beens the likes of Sam Adams.

Which makes me wonder: Has Shanahan lost his nerve after crapping out on too many personnel gambles in recent years?

The high-risk, high-reward choice for the Broncos was Oregon running back Jonathan Stewart.

Stewart doesn't dance. He knocks you down and steps on your chest on the way to the end zone.

Stewart was the bad dude a Denver offense scarce on touchdown-makers really needed.

Of course, as former general manager Ted Sundquist found out, it's Shanahan, and nobody else, who makes the important football decisions around here, bubba.

But the enduring appeal of the NFL draft is as America's favorite beauty pageant, where talent is in the eye of the beholder. All these prospects look as put-together as the hair of Mel Kiper Jr. when the meat market opens and the big board is loaded with more choices than Country Buffet.

Was Clady even the best among more than a half-dozen prospects at offensive tackle selected in the first round?

Or would Stewart have more immediate impact for a Broncos team that was outscored 64-6 last season by San Diego, the defending AFC West champions?

Shanahan, of course, owns all the shiny Super Bowl rings, while as close as I got to the team's draft war room was a plate of cookies in the media holding pen at Dove Valley.

But it says here the Broncos goofed by taking Clady over Stewart.

And here's what makes the argument so rich.

Within 10 minutes after Denver took Clady, the run-happy Carolina Panthers selected Stewart with the No. 13 pick.

So somebody hired to evaluate talent put their faith and money in Stewart.

Stewart is a 1,200-yard rushing season waiting to happen.

If Shanahan is serious about Clady being the starter when Denver opens the season in Oakland, the Broncos are asking a rookie to learn one of pro football's most demanding jobs by the seat of his pants, which is exactly where an offensive tackle can land with an ugly thump when he's beat on the pass rush.

Which, Clady said, is why left tackles are getting paid the big bucks.

The truth of the matter is Denver must trust quarterback Jay Cutler's blind side to a rookie such as Clady because Shanahan simply does not have a lot of other good options.

That's not drafting for need. That's drafting out of desperation.

Despite rumbling for 1,722 yards for Oregon in 2007 and reminding some scouts of Kansas City Chiefs bruiser Larry Johnson, there are issues with Stewart, most notably a turf-toe injury that required recent surgery.

But here's the bottom line.

In the first round, the Raiders added Arkansas running back Darren McFadden, who has the talent to be rookie of the year.

With two early selections, Kansas City took Louisiana State's Glenn Dorsey, who was the most disruptive force in college football until nagged by injury, and Virginia offensive lineman Branden Albert, a blocker some draftniks swear has more upside than Denver's top pick.

Those feet of Clady better be positively sweet.

And if not? The Broncos will have lost a step in the race with two rivals trying to get back to the top of the AFC West.

http://www.denverpost.com/kiszla/ci_9068438

Not that the Clady pick was terrible, but the people on the board who wanted Stewart or Mendenhall in the first aren't idiots and the thought can be justified. We will see how it pans out.

If he can start as a rookie and does not follow in George Foster's footsteps, then it's a good pick. I just dont see how the guy can learn our entire offense in a couple months and be expected to start on Sept 8. He is not the brightest in the bunch.

claymore
04-28-2008, 11:15 AM
I think Lex is Mark Kiszla. :tsk:

shank
04-28-2008, 11:16 AM
The high-risk, high-reward choice for the Broncos was Oregon running back Jonathan Stewart.


how the hell is stewart high risk? how is drafting LT not drafting out of need, but desperation? this guy is tarded. i didn't even like the pick all that much, but knew it was coming. clady was regarded as the #2 tackle by most people out there, and almost all people who get payed to have their opinion...

if we'd have picked stewart, this guy would have written an article about how we should have taken clady.

BroncoJoe
04-28-2008, 11:19 AM
I think Lex is Mark Kiszla. :tsk:

Beat me to it, ya bastage.

LRtagger
04-28-2008, 11:24 AM
I think Lex is Mark Kiszla. :tsk:

or Boss

I would have preferred Stewart, but what can ya do

Bronco Bible
04-28-2008, 11:26 AM
Do ya think he already had both articles written?

Ziggy
04-28-2008, 11:27 AM
If Kiszla says that drafting Clady was a huge mistake, then I'm pumped. He's wrong most all of the time. Thanks Kiz!

lex
04-28-2008, 11:43 AM
If it was me, it would have been about Mendenhall. But I would have preferred Albert or Williams. If were drafting out of need, it makes sense to get the guy who is closer to making an immediate impact. Thats great Clady is projected to be the best 5 years down the road but we're drafting for a need tha exists now. And a lot of what I had seen/read, the better choice points to Williams or Albert. Im not calling Clady an awful pick and I hope theyre right about him for Jays sake but I thought Albert and Williams made more sense.

But yeah, I was a Mendenhall guy, not Stewart.