Thread: The Draft Is King (Excerpt from ESPN Article). . .

Thought this was interesting, even though they fail to realize we drafted three lineman last year, not starters - but yeah.

3. The draft is king

Elvis Dumervil is Denver's only starting defensive lineman drafted by the organization. A few more defensive performances like the one Denver gave Sunday might convince the Broncos to start building through the draft instead of the free-agent scrap heap.

Only Washington has fewer of its own draft choices on its roster, a tough way to build a team in the salary-cap era. The Broncos and Redskins always seem to squeeze veteran salaries under the cap, but the approach could be catching up to the Broncos on defense.

Consider: Second-year Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy has more of his own draft choices on the Packers' roster than Denver's Mike Shanahan claims on the Broncos' roster after 13 drafts with the organization.

Thoughts?

Originally Posted by Dream

Thought this was interesting, even though they fail to realize we drafted three lineman last year, not starters - but yeah.



Thoughts?

it means that our drafting has sucked on defense

Originally Posted by Medford Bronco

it means that our drafting has sucked on defense

Not necessarily, it more so means that we don't place much emphasis on it.

Originally Posted by Dream

Not necessarily, it more so means that we don't place much emphasis on it.

then it means its time to wake up and place emphasis on it.

this is clearly not working

Ted and Shanny have done a putrid job with the defense the last few years.

When it comes to drafting D-line, we were always a day late and a dollar short. The day late representing sunday D-line selections. The dollar short representing guys like Pryce and Heyward and Berry.

But we finally got the "day late" corrected this year. Spending saturday selections on the positions.

The problem now is that we spent those selections in the '07 draft instead of the '05 and '06 drafts. And that's probably the main reason we're where we're at.

Like Ive been saying, we should target FA offensive linemen except for rare occasions and use draft picks to acquire defense and offensive skill positions. Since we have a unique blocking scheme it allows us to find value in players not otherwise widely coveted. And because of that there is less of a bidding war and we can use draft picks on other areas while getting more NFL ready linemen.

I've been preaching this for the last 3 years.

You don't need to look past organizations like Indy, NE, Chic, Pitts to know that great teams are built through the draft.

Also, great defense are built around the front 7, which Denver has a terrible mix right now. You can throw in all the Champ Bailey's and John Lynch's you want in the secondary, it doesn't matter if you aren't solid along the front 7.

Originally Posted by Dream

Thought this was interesting, even though they fail to realize we drafted three lineman last year, not starters - but yeah.



Thoughts?

My thought is that this is an ignorant comment made by a person under a deadline. I would also say that if someone wants to complain about the D-line they should point to what they would have done better. You have to look at all of the individual choices and evaluate each of them. When you do that it's hard to fault Shanahan.

We only have one drafted d-linemen that's true, but it is ignorant to say that this is a mistake made by Shanahan. Before someone jumps on the reply button to say the buck stops with him, the problems we've had, could have been there either with the draft or with the Browncos.

Let's go back to 2004 we had a solid D-line, with no immediate needs. However we got shredded by the Colts in our playoff loss our secondary was bad. It was clear that our biggest need was the secondary.

However our D-line needed some help in the Off-season as well. Hayward wanted a lot of money and it couldn't be done when our biggest need looked to be elsewhere. Who would you rather have Champ and Lynch or Hayward? Pryce was also injured, how he would play seemed pretty questionable.

The Browncos however came cheap. You can't really spin it any other way. They also produced for us. Remember that year we went 13-3, they had a lot to do with it. Even now if Brown and Ekuban were healthy, how much better would we look?

I think the Courtney Brown signing is the easiest to question he did have a hard time staying healthy, but no one saw the knee problem coming not the doctors not anyone.

Warren was huge for us, until he got paid. But I'm sure he said the right things, and who could really blame him for not being happy in Cleveland?

Ekuban was definitely a good cheap acquisition. Does anyone miss Droughns?

Meyers was just kind of thrown in there. He was solid if unable to collapse the pocket.

That let us in the 2005 draft go after what looked to be our biggest need cornerback. And he did it with a vengeance picking up three.

After the 2005 season our defense looked great. There were some people who were calling for a DT but not many. A lot of those who are now ripping Shanahan for not building through the draft were completely silent then. As I recal there was almost no consensus on who the Broncos should pick in the 2006 draft. I do know that there weren't many quality D-linemen. We still had Ekuban, Brown looked like he would return. Warren had played great and wasn't showing the attitude problems.

I wanted Haloti Ngata and thought when we traded up that's who we would get.The consensus however seemed to be WR or TE something to make our offense more explosive. That's what we got too, along with a QB. It seemed like no defense could stop Indy, but we could get an Offense that could keep up. Now was the time to get a QB of the future so that we could keep building through the draft.

Next the article completely ignores the shake ups that went on last year leading us to draft three D-linemen.

There's also the comparison between Shanny and Mcarthy which is insane. Mcarthy doesn't have control of the draft Ted THompson does. Sherman left the team in such a mess that it wasn't hard to find better players in the draft. At the same time if you're only counting the last two years it's too early to evalute the draft class because a lot of the players are still getting a pass for being young. In addition to that the packers have consistently traded down to get more picks and have had far more than we have over the past two years.

The problems we've had have been injuries. Wilson, Brown, Ekuban, Brandon all would have made us much better this year. Attitude with Warren. These are all problems that you get with draftees as well as FA's.

There are some questionable decisions like bringing back Gold, but on the whole it's hard to second guess the moves.

If you want to rip on him, who would you have picked?

it's too simplistic to say that you have to build through the draft, you have to draft and get free agents.

Originally Posted by Fan in Exile

My thought is that this is an ignorant comment made by a person under a deadline. I would also say that if someone wants to complain about the D-line they should point to what they would have done better. You have to look at all of the individual choices and evaluate each of them. When you do that it's hard to fault Shanahan.

We only have one drafted d-linemen that's true, but it is ignorant to say that this is a mistake made by Shanahan. Before someone jumps on the reply button to say the buck stops with him, the problems we've had, could have been there either with the draft or with the Browncos.

Let's go back to 2004 we had a solid D-line, with no immediate needs. However we got shredded by the Colts in our playoff loss our secondary was bad. It was clear that our biggest need was the secondary.

However our D-line needed some help in the Off-season as well. Hayward wanted a lot of money and it couldn't be done when our biggest need looked to be elsewhere. Who would you rather have Champ and Lynch or Hayward? Pryce was also injured, how he would play seemed pretty questionable.

The Browncos however came cheap. You can't really spin it any other way. They also produced for us. Remember that year we went 13-3, they had a lot to do with it. Even now if Brown and Ekuban were healthy, how much better would we look?

I think the Courtney Brown signing is the easiest to question he did have a hard time staying healthy, but no one saw the knee problem coming not the doctors not anyone.

Warren was huge for us, until he got paid. But I'm sure he said the right things, and who could really blame him for not being happy in Cleveland?

Ekuban was definitely a good cheap acquisition. Does anyone miss Droughns?

Meyers was just kind of thrown in there. He was solid if unable to collapse the pocket.

That let us in the 2005 draft go after what looked to be our biggest need cornerback. And he did it with a vengeance picking up three.

After the 2005 season our defense looked great. There were some people who were calling for a DT but not many. A lot of those who are now ripping Shanahan for not building through the draft were completely silent then. As I recal there was almost no consensus on who the Broncos should pick in the 2006 draft. I do know that there weren't many quality D-linemen. We still had Ekuban, Brown looked like he would return. Warren had played great and wasn't showing the attitude problems.

I wanted Haloti Ngata and thought when we traded up that's who we would get.The consensus however seemed to be WR or TE something to make our offense more explosive. That's what we got too, along with a QB. It seemed like no defense could stop Indy, but we could get an Offense that could keep up. Now was the time to get a QB of the future so that we could keep building through the draft.

Next the article completely ignores the shake ups that went on last year leading us to draft three D-linemen.

There's also the comparison between Shanny and Mcarthy which is insane. Mcarthy doesn't have control of the draft Ted THompson does. Sherman left the team in such a mess that it wasn't hard to find better players in the draft. At the same time if you're only counting the last two years it's too early to evalute the draft class because a lot of the players are still getting a pass for being young. In addition to that the packers have consistently traded down to get more picks and have had far more than we have over the past two years.

The problems we've had have been injuries. Wilson, Brown, Ekuban, Brandon all would have made us much better this year. Attitude with Warren. These are all problems that you get with draftees as well as FA's.

There are some questionable decisions like bringing back Gold, but on the whole it's hard to second guess the moves.

If you want to rip on him, who would you have picked?

it's too simplistic to say that you have to build through the draft, you have to draft and get free agents.

Wow, great post! It's nice how you mentioned the attitude and needs at the times of the draftings; gives a lot of perspective.

Originally Posted by Fan in Exile

If you want to rip on him, who would you have picked?

it's too simplistic to say that you have to build through the draft, you have to draft and get free agents.

When was the last SuperBowl winning team that built their team around free agents?

The Rams in 2000?

The Ravens in 1999?

Even then it can be argued that the core of that team was built through the draft.

The last 6+ years have told us, you want to have a winning season, build through free agency. You want a SuperBowl, or competitive team year in and out, build through the draft.

Whether the problem is evaluating talent, or developing that talent, Denver has been overall lousy at building through the draft during his tenure at Denver.

Originally Posted by Fan in Exile

However our D-line needed some help in the Off-season as well. Hayward wanted a lot of money and it couldn't be done when our biggest need looked to be elsewhere. Who would you rather have Champ and Lynch or Hayward? Pryce was also injured, how he would play seemed pretty questionable.

Actually it was the season after we got Champ and Lynch that we let Hayward go and it was in Pryce's absence that Hayward became the sack leader.

We have young talent at D-Line, but of course they are not the starters. Next year they may pan out, but as it stands our best pass rushers aren't getting any help.

Originally Posted by LoyalSoldier

Actually it was the season after we got Champ and Lynch that we let Hayward go and it was in Pryce's absence that Hayward became the sack leader.

We have young talent at D-Line, but of course they are not the starters. Next year they may pan out, but as it stands our best pass rushers aren't getting any help.

You're right but with Hayward it was still a money issue when our biggest needs seemed to be in other places.

Originally Posted by silkamilkamonico

When was the last SuperBowl winning team that built their team around free agents?

The Rams in 2000?

The Ravens in 1999?

Even then it can be argued that the core of that team was built through the draft.

The last 6+ years have told us, you want to have a winning season, build through free agency. You want a SuperBowl, or competitive team year in and out, build through the draft.

Whether the problem is evaluating talent, or developing that talent, Denver has been overall lousy at building through the draft during his tenure at Denver.

Actually what the last six years have taught us is that you have to do both. The teams who won had free agents and good draft picks. Draft picks because they are cheaper and free agents to plug holes, and because not all of your draft picks will pan out.

The Patriots did it that way so did the Stealers so did the Colts, that's how it works.

Originally Posted by Fan in Exile

Actually what the last six years have taught us is that you have to do both. The teams who won had free agents and good draft picks. Draft picks because they are cheaper and free agents to plug holes, and because not all of your draft picks will pan out.

The Patriots did it that way so did the Stealers so did the Colts, that's how it works.

Maybe Shanahan should pay attention to that, and Denver could actually be competitive towards the SuperBowl year in and year out, instead of having one legit SuperBowl contending team that came up short in the last 7 years.