I don't work in professional football. But sometimes I wonder what the guys who do are thinking. Usually, my thought is, "Well, they are the one with the expertise, so I guess they know what they are doing."
A few examples of times when I have had that thought, as pertaining to the hometown Denver Broncos:
2001 - The Broncos spent their #1 pick on Willie Middlebrooks, a defensive back from Minnesota. A read of his profile was rather underwhelming, so one was left to wonder what exactly they were thinking. And as it turned out, he did not have much of a pro career.
2006 - The Broncos are on their way to a fourth consecutive playoff appearance when Mike Shanahan benches Jake Plummer in favor of rookie QB Jay Cutler. The Broncos win only 2 of their final 5 games, miss the playoffs, and don't appear to be on the verge of returning anytime soon. Trading a playoff bid in order to break in a rookie QB made no sense to me.
2007 - The Broncos trade up in the first round of the draft to select a skinny defensive end named Jarvis Moss. I thought that selecting him was fine, but trading up for a player who was a little bit of a "project" as a 245 pound defensive lineman? A little bit puzzling. If you're trading up, I think the guy needs to be pretty solid. And after two seasons, Moss has produced almost nothing. Additionally, the Broncos traded a couple more picks later on to get Marcus Thomas in the fourth round. At least he is a starter, but still - they only got four players out of the 2007 draft and that probably has at least a little to do with why they haven't been very good.
2009 - I was okay with the Broncos canning Mike Shanahan. It was probably time to part company. But I admit that my initial reaction to the hiring of Josh McDaniel as head coach was "Oh, no, not him." He was way down my list of the prospective coaches. Like, at the bottom. But I figured that Pat Bowlen must have seen something in the guy - after all, I was not invited to sit in on the interviews, so what do I know? Time will tell how McDaniel will work out as the head coach.
My feeling is that maybe he makes it three years. The Broncos are so bad on defense that no one should be allowed to even say the words "Super Bowl" around here before the calendar turns to 2011. And I see that they are doing the same old yearly defensive patch-up that they always do - this time starring Brian Dawkins as the aging Pro Bowl safety who energizes the fans until they realize that time travel isn't possible. And Joshie Mac will probably have to rebuild the offense at the same time he is rebuilding the defense, since Brandon Marshall can't keep his nose clean (and people wonder how Denver managed to get him in the 4th round of the draft) and the starting QB is now alienated because Joshie Mac tried to trade him and then lied about it. Fun times!
No comments:
Post a Comment