Broncos War Room

by JDub15 on Jul 2, 2011 11:20 AM EDT in Mocking the AFC West

Mocking the Draft wants to introduce you to an new article series taking a closer look at each team's draft workings. The WarRoom articles will give you a glimpse at the recent draft history and the decision-making structure of each NFL team. We will also include our thoughts about the structure and draft history.

Offensive Scheme: John Fox is reunited with his long-time quarterbacks coach from Carolina, Mike McCoy, who will serve as offensive coordinator for the 2011 Broncos. Fox ran a balanced offense in Carolina; maintaining almost an exact 50/50 run/pass ratio. He favored single back and two tight end sets, and used as much or more play action than anyone in the league.

If Tim Tebow is appointed starting QB; expect more the same in Denver as McCoy used copious amounts of play-action to highlight Tebow’s strengths and hide his limitations during his three starts in 2010.

Defensive Scheme: Fox employs a classic 4-3 defense but has asserted that he will mix in hybrid fronts; Elvis Dumervil and Von Miller coming off the edges as rush linebackers may to be too enticing to resist. Stout defenses were a John Fox trademark in Carolina; Denver fans will expect him to improve a unit that ranked 30th in total defense in 2010 (according to advanced statistics from (www.footballoutsiders.com).

Thoughts: John Elway gushed about the teamwork that occurred between the trio of Broncos decision makers; Fox, GM Brain Xanders and Elway himself. Elway asserted that all selections were made unanimously, and lionized the collaboration that took place.

What they did; The Broncos let players fall to them, and even traded down to recoup some of the draft capital that was spent during the McDaniels era. They selected players based on college productivity, impact on third down, and wisely stuck to the big programs and avoided rolling the dice on esoteric small school players. According to Elway, they stayed true to their board and didn’t reach based on need.

They added two starters at linebacker; two developmental safeties; a mean right tackle to take over when Ryan Harris leaves town, and pair of athletic tight ends.

They wisely resisted the temptation to trade back into the first round to draft the boom-or-bust Nick Fairly or the developmental Corey Liguet.

What they did not do: They didn’t draft any DT prospects despite having their pick of the litter of the second-tier guys such as Stephen Paea and Marvin Austin, both of whom could have easily been considered first round talents. They didn’t get a running back to complement Knowshon Moreno, and depth at CB looks shaky.

Recent History: Josh McDaniel’s drafts drew the ire of the Broncos fan base for neglecting the defense and dealing away picks in questionable trade-up scenarios; but he seemed to be an adept talent evaluator.

The 2011 Broncos will have McDaniel’s fingerprints all over them:

The rumor mill would suggest that Tebow is in and Kyle Orton is out; second year offensive linemen Zane Beadles and JD Walton will start at guard and center, respectively. Eric Decker should challenge the aging Jabar Gaffney to start at WR, and Perrish Cox (pending legal trouble) should claim the CB spot opposite Champ Bailey. Demaryius Thomas will contribute in some form or fashion once he returns from rehabilitating his Achilles injury; and Syd'quan Thompson may be the nickelback. Oh and that’s just the 2010 class.

Knowshon Moreno will hold onto his role as feature back (pending a big free agent acquisition), and Robert Ayers is penciled in to start at left defensive end, where he should benefit from a shift back to his natural position.

Five Year Record: 36 - 44
Coach: John Fox
GM: Brian Xanders
Draft History: Click Here to see a complete draft history

Best Pick (Past Five Drafts): OT Ryan Clady; Denver practically stole a franchise left-tackle at number 12 overall, Clady remains one of the best linemen in the league.

Worst Pick (Past Five Drafts): DE Jarvis Moss; The then Shanahan led Broncos traded up take the Florida man at 17th overall in 2007; the organization recouped 3 ½ sacks over the course of four seasons, before releasing Moss in November of last year. He was subsequently signed by the Oakland Raiders.

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Comments

Great anlysis

Although I’m not sure the O will be the same as it was in Carolina. Fox said they’re just gonna tweak the playbook, I don’t think it’ll be too similar to the Carolina playbook. Other then that, spot on

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by DBroncs1414 on Jul 2, 2011 12:20 PM EDT reply actions

Also, Fox has retained a lot of the coaches and staff members of the McDaniels offense.

Hopefully, this will result in a nice mix of both type of offenses. Another big thing for the O will be the growth of the O line. Having two rookies on the line was a big detriment to the running game and to a lesser degree, the passing game. But with Franklin likely being the RT this year, it will be another season of rookie growing pains on the line. Still think Moreno can be a 20 carries a game kind of guy when he has a decent line, but I know a lot disagree with me on that one. Good analysis on McDaniels picks, which he is to heavily criticized for IMO.

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Sincerely yours, Tortured T.O Fan

by Eddie.Teach on Jul 2, 2011 2:55 PM EDT up reply actions

I think for the OL

Clady will be much healthier, and we’ll only have one rookie instead of 2. Plus, with an OT rookie, we can use the TE to help chip and smooth the transition, but growing pains should be expected. I agree with you on Knowmo too, I think he can be good when healthy and with a halfway decent OL, but we should consider buying a back to spell him

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by DBroncs1414 on Jul 2, 2011 4:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Good points

Zane Beadles improved greatly after being moved to his natural position of LG. C JD Walton was terrible early on but improved to about average by the end of the year. I don’t know about Walton but I think Beadles has a promising future at LG.

Orlando Franklin, was in my opinion, the best draft choice the Broncos made. He will need help in pass pro but is a dominate run blocker; he should be an upgrade over a painfully average Ryan Harris.

The outlook for the O-line is definitely better than last year; they could certainly use some depth in free agency.

by JDub15 on Jul 9, 2011 6:43 PM EDT up reply actions