Two great articles

[Denver Native (Carol)]

I will post them both in this thread

[Denver Native (Carol)]

It all began, as much as anyone can recall, roughly eight years ago. On a Tuesday, that much they remember for sure.

Tuesday is the official off day for NFL players, but former Broncos wide receiver Rod Smith on this day had wheeled into the Boys & Girls Club in Montbello to see if he could find any dream-chasers with hopeful eyes in order to offer encouragement, and a smile or two.

"And the kid runs up to me first thing, 'Hey, gimme your phone number,' " Smith recalled. "He was always running up to me saying, 'Gimme your phone number.' I'm like man, I'm not giving you my phone number. But every time I would go (there), he was always there.

rest of article - http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_18538903

[Denver Native (Carol)]

Whenever the NFL lockout finally ends and the Broncos can start signing players, Anthony "Champ" Kelly, their assistant director of pro personnel, will start working the phones.

Alongside the rest of the Broncos' front-office team, Kelly will recruit free agents — unrestricted, college and the Broncos' own — in the frenzy expected to follow ratification of a new collective bargaining agreement.

For many of the players on the other end of those calls, the NFL is a land of dreams. But Kelly, 31, knows a little more about dreams than most. He took a decidedly unorthodox path to the Broncos' front office.

rest of article - http://www.denverpost.com/krieger/ci_18538902