Denver Broncos Offseason

Denver Broncos – The NFL is a fickle place. With their off the field drug conflicts with the league. The deaths of Darrent Williams and Damien Nash in separate off the field incidents were devastating. Then add in the complete disappointment of having an under achieving running game, when everyone has always believed you could stick anyone in that backfield and they would rush for a thousand yards. The fact it was disappointing becomes even more pronounced when you take into account the fact they brought on Travis Henry with all his baggage to improve that run game.
The Broncos also had the third most porous run defense in the league. If you can’t stop the run and can’t run the ball you don’t have a prayer. The Broncos have one of the most promising young quarterbacks in the league. You just can’t ask him to carry a team, for a whole season, this early in his career.
The Broncos seem to be the only team to make a rare big trade in the NFL. Now they have Dre Bly and Champ Bailey. Likely the best corner tandem in the league. They are very average everywhere else though. While in the past Shanahan, one of the few Coach/GM combos in the league, has traded away pick to move up for talent. They need to keep their draft picks this year and look to up grade reasonably across the board instead of going for the big splash.
They also have great young talent at wide receiver with Brandon Marshall and Brandon Stokley. You can expect that Javon Walker will be gone after his little tantrum recently. When he stated that the Broncos and himself should part ways. I don’t think they will look at this as a first round need. They will likely address this through a reasonable free agency pool. If not then they will look to later rounds for help; they aren’t in the market for a #1 receiver.
I really think they need to look for a strong middle line backer, in order to get DJ Williams back into his natural outside linebacker. With Williams talent really showing a lot more at the strong-side spot, you would almost be getting a player and a half, by filling the middle spot, and freeing Williams.
The best available linebacker at the Broncos spot will likely be Kieth Rivers (LB-USC). Rivers actually played outside linebacker through college, and would be a smaller linebacker in the middle, but Denver traditionally goes for a smaller quicker defense, so he would be a nice fit. If James Laurenitis were to slide to the Broncos, which I doubt. He is a natural inside linebacker and an even better fit than Rivers.
This is less off-season and more next season. Should the Broncos make no strides forward in their production with the talent that they have, you have to start wondering about the stability of Mike Shanahan’s job. If he were in almost any other city we would have been having this talk a lot sooner. Denver is a somewhat different situation, one because of the storied success, the Elway years, and Pat Bowlen always steadfastly backing Shanahan.

Outside Shot
From the EWWWWWWWWWWW department. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080111/wl_uk_afp/britainchildrenadoptionmarriage

Minnesota Vikings Offseason

Minnesota Vikings – The Vikings have not had a prolific receiver since losing Moss. In addition to their obvious needs at WR they need to shore up their secondary. The Vikings had the best rush defense in the league but even with that forcing the opposing quarterback to throw they managed to be the dead last passing offense. This is a very shallow draft for wide receivers. Malcolm Kelly and Desean Jackson are the only ones that I see as first round worthy. Kelly may be gone by the time the Vikings make their pick, however I think Jackson could still be available at this point. I also think that Jackson will actually end up being the best receiver in this class. If both of them are gone by this point, I think they should look at getting trading down to get Aqib Talib or Leodis Mckelvin towards the end of the draft as well as getting a possible third round pick. The possibility exists that Mike Jenkins of South Florida would be available at this point but I think it is very risky taking a guy who didn’t really play a lot of big time competition in the first round. I can’t let the draft pass without thinking of the past. Mike Lynn definitely hurt the team with the Herschel Walker deal, which I like to refer to as the original Ricky Williams deal. I also think of the good years the Randy Moss at #21. As I looked back I came across Korey Stringers name. Just a nod to the man and his family.

Outside Shot
Malik Rose pretty much made my week.
When asked about Isiah Thomas saying "the Knicks are not that far from a championship"
Malik dropped tthese gems
"We don’t have what it would take to win a championship." - Thanks Captain Obvious
"There are things in San Antonio that are different than in New York" - Really are you the only thing that isn't different??
"We have some weird personalities on this team" - That one has to be the understatement of the