Broncos Rant

So maybe everyone was a bit optimistic about the 2008 edition of the Broncos. After starting 3-0, they are 1-3 in their last four games, including losses to one of the worst teams in the NFL and their recent Monday Night spanking. The local sports yakkers have turned negative again after they also got a bit carried away with the Broncos' September success, predicting 12 or 13 wins and noting that the Broncos were on pace to break the NFL record for points scored in a season. Even I knew that the Broncos weren't going to continue to average 30+ points a game. And what do you know? They have averaged 15 points in their last four games.

Coming into this season, I felt that the Broncos would probably contend for a playoff spot, but were probably two years away from being a serious contender. And I still feel that way. The defense is just as bad as it was last season, and the offensive talent is still young.

But contending for the Super Bowl in two years isn't automatic. The Broncos need good drafts in 2009 and 2010. The media finally figured out sometime last year the obvious, which was that the Broncos weren't very good because of their crap-tacular drafts from 2001 to 2004. They have only two players left from those drafts - guard Ben Hamilton and linebacker D.J. Williams. Although it's fair to note that they also drafted Clinton Portis during that period, who they got two good years from and then traded for Champ Bailey.

The 2005 draft looked pretty promising. But then Darrent Williams, the prize of that draft, was murdered on New Year's Day 2007. Dominique Foxworth was traded to Atlanta a few weeks ago for a 7th-round draft choice. Karl Paymah probably won't be around next year. So that's another draft which produced no long-term fruit for the Broncos.

Thank goodness the Broncos nailed the 2006 draft - picking up Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall, Tony Scheffler, and Elvis Dumervil - or else the Broncos would really be in a sorry state.

But then there is the 2007 draft - it's still early, but it's looking pretty shaky. The top two picks, Jarvis Moss and Tim Crowder, haven't shown much even though there isn't much competition on the defensive line. Third round pick Ryan Harris is starting on the offensive line, and fourth round pick Marcus Thomas is starting on the defensive line. But who knows how many of those guys will be around in three years? And the main problem isn't entirely just who the Broncos chose to draft - it's the fact that they traded FIVE additional picks to move up in the draft and select Moss and Thomas. So that's a total of SEVEN picks spent on two guys who don't appear headed for the Pro Bowl any time soon.

And let's not forget the number of other questionable choices Mike Shanahan made over 2006-07: picking up Dre Bly, Travis Henry, and Javon Walker; dumping defensive coordinator Larry Coyer for Jim Bates; and the decision to which all panicked moves since can be traced back to: replacing Jake Plummer with Jay Cutler midway through the 2006 season when Plummer would have led the Broncos to a playoff berth that season.

As to whether it was the right choice to acquire Cutler in the first place, I'm not about to suggest that. After all, Cutler is God's gift to football. My question is - why have the Broncos been so hopeless since he took over as the QB?