Denver Broncos preview
By Bruce Marshall
The Gold Sheet
Football honeymoons are tricky to forecast. New coaches in rebuild mode are usually given a couple of years to get established. Those inheriting better situations are usually afforded less time. Then there's the odd example of honeymoons ending before they begin; remember Carroll Rosenbloom canning George Allen, beginning his second tour of duty with the Rams, just two games into the 1978 preseason slate?
Which brings us to the increasingly curious situation in Denver, where brash Bill Belichick disciple Josh McDaniels has been enlisted by owner Pat Bowlen to turn around Bronco fortunes after things went increasingly stale under Mike Shanahan. The Shan's final act in an otherwise decorated coaching career in the Mile High City was a collapse at the end of the '08 campaign, when Denver pulled a football equivalent of the 1964 Phillies by squandering a 3-game lead in the AFC West with just 3 weeks to go, missing the playoffs entirely. And Bowlen, tired of seeing the Broncos go sideways for much of the decade since their last Super Bowl (and John Elway's retirement), made an abrupt decision to switch course after the pratfall.
A few months later, however, we suspect Bowlen might be having some second thoughts.
That's because the confident (cocky?) 32-year-old McDaniels, fresh off a stint as the Patriots' offensive coordinator, has already shaken Bronco Nation to its core by orchestrating the following moves:
1) Firing much of a front office that nailed its first two draft picks a year ago, OT Ryan Clady & WR/KR Eddie Royal. Promoting Brian Xanders, most recently in charge of salary cap machinations, as the new GM;
2) Making an aborted attempt to acquire buddy Matt Cassel, who blossomed as a frontline NFL QB last year under McDaniels' tutelage in Foxborough. Angering incumbent Bronco QB Jay Cutler in the process;
3) Trading a disgruntled Cutler, a uniquely talented and established 25-year-old QB entering his prime, to the happy-to-oblige Bears for two No. 1s and a less talented replacement, Kyle Orton;
4) Making curious decisions on draft day, including the trade of next year's No. 1 for a 2nd-rounder who turned into a 5'81/2" DB (Wake Forest's Alphonso Smith) neither tall nor fast enough to be a frontline CB.
Maybe those were the bold moves of a personnel genius; maybe they were just pure arrogance. Whatever, most informed AFC observers believe Denver looks worse on paper than the 8-8 squad McDaniels inherited...and not just because of the Cutler trade. Aforementioned draft maneuvering also made it appear as if McDaniels were without a plan; badly needing upgrades on the stop unit, McDaniels instead took Georgia RB Knowshon Moreno with the first pick while defensive studs such as Texas' DE/LB Brian Orapko and Ohio State's DB Malcolm Jenkins were still on the board. Tennessee OLB Robert Ayers was a consolation prize later in the first round, but most insiders thought McDaniels could have done better.
Thus, instead of building an "O" around Cutler, McDaniels will do so in the fall around Orton and ex-Buc Chris Simms, immediately putting to test McDaniels' notion that he can make anyone an overachieving NFL QB. We'll see. Moreno upgrades a RB crew that was decimated (literally) by injuries LY; RB depth (LaMont Jordan & Correll Buckhalter) was also added in free agency. Royal (91 catches LY) & Brandon Marshall (104 catches LY) are a dangerous WR combo, although Marshall's litany of off-field problems and trade demands are making it unlikely that he will be extending his stay much further in the Mile High City. The mobile OL, fortified by Clady's emergence, remains functional, but PK Matt Prater (25-34 FGs LY) lacks some of the accuracy of predecessor Jason Elam.
McDaniels' job with the "O" might be a snap compared to the challenge that's confronting new d.c. Mike Nolan (recently 49er HC), who will re-align the Denver "D" in a 3-4 in hope of stemming the many leaks from a year ago. He'll need FA acquisitions Ronald Field (ex-49ers) and Darrell Reid (ex-Colts) to plug the gaps along the DL and allow LBs such as D.J. Williams (whom Nolan believes could flourish in a move to the inside) to make plays behind them. Another nice FA addition, vet SS Brian Dawkins (via Philly), provides leadership and stability in the 2ndary, although opponents will probably continue to pick on the corner opposite Champ Bailey unless another potentially handy FA pickup, Andre' Goodman (via Miami), rises to the occasion.
Bottom line...Before coming down too hard on McDaniels, it's worth mentioning that he has the right to make whatever changes he feels necessary to get the Broncos back to the postseason. We just suspect that he's needlessly put himself under an immediate gun with some of his moves, the controversial Cutler trade in particular having the potential to boomerang dramatically. And he's given Bowlen unnecessary reason to change his mind quickly about this hire if things really go pear-shaped for the Broncos this fall...or the Bears wind up in the Super Bowl.