Broncos News

"So at 66, Alex Gibbs will be back on the field this week, barking at the Houston Texans' offensive linemen the way he used to bark at guys up and down the trenches in Denver. "I traveled, did a lot of things and I worked out every day. But I still missed it. I just felt at the end of the day, 'What did I do today?' " Gibbs said. After a year away from football, he had to jump back in. "I promised my wife I would try, and I tried, (but) there is no way I could do that," he said of retirement."

"At 28, Kyle Shanahan is all grown up, physically and professionally. And today, when the Houston Texans start minicamp, he'll step on the field as the youngest offensive coordinator in the NFL. Those who know him best say there's no question he was born to coach. "I saw it in my son (David, an assistant with the Kansas City Chiefs) just like I saw it in Kyle," said new Texans offensive line coach Alex Gibbs, who held a similar position in Denver under Mike Shanahan. "Mike had no chance to even move him in another direction. There was no way.""

"John Lynch has found another muse beyond his usual offseason, self-motivation tactics: doubt. It's not his own misgivings but the skepticism of others that drives the Broncos safety as he goes through three daily workouts, seven days a week. Lynch is convinced there's a segment in his own organization that believes his time as a full-time player has perhaps come and gone. And while he has been down this path before, when a neck injury led to his release by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2004, the vibe feels different this time."

"Tyler Polumbus never knew being overlooked in the NFL draft could be so exciting. Within minutes of the draft's conclusion, Polumbus' phone started ringing . . . and ringing . . . and ringing. He wasn't deemed worthy of a draft choice, but suddenly he was being pursued by teams throughout the league. Talk about your surreal moments. The final pick had barely been made and Polumbus, an offensive tackle, found himself talking to Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, who beat Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher to the punch by a few seconds. "

"John Elway played with the Broncos for 16 years. Now he's teaming up with the bulls. Elway and former hockey star Wayne Gretzky each staked a claim to Pueblo-based Professional Bull Riders, Inc., the world's most-followed rodeo, the PBR said this week. "To be associated with a group of people like the Professional Bull Riders, and my good friend Wayne Gretzky, is a win-win situation for me," Elway said. "I really look forward to being involved with this great group and sharing in our successes together." "

"The Broncos reshuffled their front office Tuesday by clarifying job descriptions and hiring a new assistant general manager. Jim Goodman will operate under a revised title of vice president of football operations/player personnel. In essence, Goodman is coach Mike Shanahan's right-hand man in player acquisition and talent evaluation."

"Tyler Polumbus never knew being overlooked in the NFL draft could be so exciting. Within minutes of the draft's conclusion, Polumbus' phone started ringing . . . and ringing . . . and ringing. He wasn't deemed worthy of a draft choice, but suddenly he was being pursued by teams throughout the league. Talk about your surreal moments. The final pick had barely been made and Polumbus, an offensive tackle, found himself talking to Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, who beat Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher to the punch by a few seconds. "

"And now for one of the most common questions I get from frustrated fans in the Rocky Mountain region: Why don't you call for more coaches to be fired? The answer is simple. Because the owners who employ those coaches wouldn't listen to me if I did. Or maybe you haven't noticed the local landscape, the only dot on the pro sports map where coaches aren't hired to be fired. Denver has become the exception to the rule in pro sports. For whatever reason, local coaches are immune from the pressure felt by their contemporaries in other markets. They say they're under pressure to win, but are they?"

"Andrew Sachs, a nose guard for Cherry Creek High School, isn't just another football player. He isn't just a normal kid. He wants to be. But Sachs is the kid who pricks his finger. He's the kid with Type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is genetic. The body quits producing insulin and no longer can control blood-sugar levels. It's not a disease one brings on himself, as Sachs' mother, Trish, always wants people to know. Unlike Type 2 diabetes, which can be triggered by substance abuse or obesity, those with Type 1 diabetes are born with it. But when the disease takes hold varies. For Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler, who announced last week he has Type 1 diabetes, it took almost 25 years. Sachs was diagnosed at 9. "

"Essentially, the 2008 offseason is finished, in terms of reshaping the roster. Now it's time for coach Mike Shanahan to integrate his new players with the holdovers, beginning with the first mini-camp session on May 19. Nowhere did the Broncos have greater change than at linebacker. The Broncos will have new starters at all three positions with Niko Koutouvides in the middle, Boss Bailey at the strongside and D.J. Williams moving from the middle to the weakside. They even have a new linebacker coach in Jim Ryan, who was a Broncos linebacker for 10 years. Let's open the mail. "

"This does change things about Jay Cutler. It has to. Courage means something else now. Victory and defeat are amended, the one not so great and the other not so awful. As much as Cutler would like for us to ignore his condition, it cannot be done. Don't stare at the elephant. What identity Cutler had in football was that he was young, with a strong arm, and the Broncos had turned their future over to him. This is no small chore and would, in the best of circumstances, still be uncertain. Cutler is now identified by his disease, and will be until success reorders things."

"Just think, Broncoland, what Jay Cutler can do with proper blood-sugar levels! There's always a first time for every- thing in sports, typing that first sentence being the latest. "It's all about control," said Wade Wilson, the Cowboys' offensive coordinator. "That's keeping your blood sugars at a certain level, and if you do that there's no reason why he shouldn't have as good a career as he wants to have." Like Cutler, Wilson was 25 when he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes."

"No one chooses to have diabetes, of course, particularly not at the age of 25. It's dangerous, although not nearly as dangerous as it used to be, and it's certainly inconvenient. Had Jay Cutler been diagnosed a generation or two ago, the prospects for both his health and his football career would have been quite different from what they are today. That said, Cutler's prospects are excellent, and his diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes gives him an opportunity to help millions of American diabetics now walking around undiagnosed and untreated."

"His advice for Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler: "You have to get your diabetes under control. It's about balancing the diet, exercise and insulin shots and making the adjustments that it does take to get your body under control. Once you get that under control, it shouldn't have any effect on your athletic abilities or the way you play quarterback.""

"If life is about timing, Kerry Kinnard's is apparently impeccable. Last month, Kinnard was looking for ways to bolster her organization, Dedicated to Diabetes, which is a Denver- based group committed to education about the disease, especially in children, through the use of multimedia tools. She noticed the work Jay Cutler's foundation was doing with youths and felt it might be a good fit to get the Broncos quarterback involved."

"One thing Jay Cutler learned about diabetes before he was diagnosed with it was what it felt like to try to function with his blood sugar four or five times too high. "Just an overall tiredness all the time," Cutler said. On the field, he said that often meant feeling exhausted when he had expended little effort. It meant not being able to rebound between games, quarters or, sometimes, even plays."

"When the blood work came back April 16, and the Broncos quarterback discovered he had Type 1 diabetes, his glucose count was at 411. A potential emergency was averted, and perhaps barely, too. "I've talked to a lot of people and read stories, and the way many of them find out is, they go into a coma for two, three days and it's the only way they figured it out," Cutler said, moments after a news conference to discuss his now- public condition. "I'm fortunate that nothing happened.""

"Statistically, Jay Cutler was off to one of the best starts by an NFL quarterback in history. Given the undetected drop in physical strength he went through during the latter part of his first full season in 2007, Cutler's early performance to date is remarkable beyond stats. During his press conference Friday to address his recent diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes, Cutler said he showed up at training camp last year weighing 238 pounds and played his last game at around 203. "

"Just think, Broncoland, what Jay Cutler can do with proper blood-sugar levels!... People can now look back and sheepishly consider that whatever criticism Cutler received for his play in the latter part of the 2007 season may have been unfair. Even before the startling news that Cutler struggled through untreated diabetic symptoms in the second half of late season, he had played well ahead of the curve of young quarterbacks."

"The Broncos are prepared to take all of the measures they need to monitor quarterback Jay Cutler's health, but they are confident Cutler can manage Type 1 diabetes during the 25-year-old's playing career. Cutler was diagnosed in recent weeks with the disease, and the team's medical staff is ready to deal with a starting quarterback who is insulin dependent, team sources said Thursday night."

"Diabetes is a chronic disease of blood sugar and insulin — a protein that normally helps deliver energy-providing sugar to the body's cells. The disease takes two forms, and Type 1 diabetes — the kind affecting Jay Cutler is rarer, accounting for just 5 percent to 10 percent of all diabetics in Colorado, according to state statistics. In Type 1 diabetes, the body's immune system attacks and destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, said Peter Gottlieb, a professor of pediatrics and medicine at the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes at the University of Colorado Denver. "

"Life as Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler once knew it has changed. Cutler recently was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. The story was first reported Thursday night by The Denver Post on its website. While this is the most serious type of diabetes, making Cutler insulin dependent, the Broncos are confident it will not negatively affect his career performance. Cutler, who declined to comment, has been taking his insulin shots since he was diagnosed and has been participating in the Broncos' offseason workout program. "

"Hello, Woody. After all the free-agent signings of WRs (Keary Colbert, Samie Parker, Darrell Jackson) plus having Brandon Marshall and Brandon Stokley, why would we pick a WR with our only second-round pick? And it wasn't even DeSean Jackson from Cal, who everybody had above Eddie Royal. I'm again baffled. Can you help? -- Chris Dobson, Berkeley, Calif. Chris - I don't know who "we" are for someone who lives next to the Raiders. Is there a mouse in your pocket? "

"Brian Xanders, a young but experienced NFL executive assistant, has reached an agreement on a three-year contract to become the Broncos' new assistant general manager, an NFL source confirmed. After spending the past 14 years with the Atlanta Falcons as a coach, evaluator, contract negotiator and salary capologist, Xanders, 37, will give Shanahan a new perspective and voice. "

"A left tackle was perfect. Or if it wasn't perfect, it at least epitomized how the Broncos reshaped their roster this season. "Everything we did this offseason was solid and sure," said Broncos coach Mike Shanahan. "There were no knee-jerk decisions. We had a plan and we stuck to our plan. I think we have a better football team." "

"In with the young, out with the not-so-young. The offseason roster reduction to 80 players came into play Monday, when the Broncos were forced to cut seven players to make room for their seven undrafted free-agent rookies. Among those cut were special teams regulars Steve Cargile and Paul Smith. The Broncos also waived one former University of Colorado offensive lineman, Mark Fenton, to help make room for another, Tyler Polumbus. Also cut were defensive tackle Michael Bozeman, fullback Steven Jackson, linebacker William Kershaw and running back Marquis Weeks."

"Ryan Torain is a player. How do we know? We don't, but since he's a tailback and since the Broncos drafted him, we have our suspicions. Mike Shanahan and his staff don't always get it right on draft weekend. But they have this history of finding tailbacks in the strangest places. "

"With the highest level of their executive branch thinned since the dismissal of general manager Ted Sundquist last month, the Broncos are hoping Brian Xanders can bolster their front office. Several league sources with knowledge of the situation say Xanders, who has spent the past 14 seasons as a coach and executive with the Atlanta Falcons, has been offered the opportunity to join Jim and Jeff Goodman as the Broncos' top three front-office assistants to Mike Shanahan, who is in charge of the organization's football operations. "

"The Broncos released seven players Monday, including veteran fullback Paul Smith, to clear the way to sign their rookie free- agent crop. Smith, who got a $300,000 bonus when he signed with the team in March 2007, played in 14 games last season, largely on special teams. He didn't carry the ball and finished the season, after largely being double- teamed, with three special- teams tackles."

"If all goes well with the Broncos' draft, they will have picked up enough good players to improve on their 7-9 record last season. How to recap the Broncos' nine-pick draft? It lacked glitz. It lacked action. It lacked pot smokers and Maurice Clarett. It did not lack purpose. "We have a better team, no question about it," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said at his postdraft press conference. "No. 1, you have Ryan Clady starting off as our left tackle." "

"How important was character in the Broncos' draft of 2008? Let's put it this way: They had better have a lot of milk at their training table. After signing or drafting some questionable characters through the years, the Broncos ran a reverse Saturday and Sunday. None of their nine draftees is known to have a speck of dust on his record, much less a scrape with the law or a confrontation with a coach. "

"Wearing the expected smile of a just-completed draft, Broncos coach Mike Shanahan emerged from the team's war room Sunday to declare the team's roster got the upgrade it needed to break a two-season string of playoff misses. "We're a better team, there's no question about it," Shanahan said. The Broncos concluded their draft Sunday, making seven picks - they picked nine players in all during the weekend - as well as agreeing to terms with a handful of undrafted free agents."

"Hard work, perseverance and skill allowed Ryan Torain to become a fifth-round pick. But give an assist to modern medicine. Torain, an Arizona State running back, suffered a Lisfranc sprain in his left foot that ended his senior season after six games. Yet a new surgical procedure sped his recovery and allowed him to participate in February's scouting combine... "In the past, they used to have screws and it required two surgeries and an extra four months. But because I had the new surgery, it healed up way faster.""

"The Broncos' selections seemed solid if not sexy, serviceable if not spectacular. But if the Class of '08 ultimately turns out to be a bust, The Lost Weekend involving the other six Denver teams who did play, not draft, will rank as the most despicable, disheartening, disreputable in the city's professional sports history. Can't anybody around here win a game? 0-8. It was an Amazing Disgrace. Denver teams were outscored 207-156 and had no cowbell. "

"If it has been said once this offseason, it has been said 1,870 times (once for every point scored, including postseason, by Jason Elam): The Broncos need a kicker. For some reason, people just aren't getting it. Matt Prater is the Broncos' kicker. No matter who they bring in, the Broncos have every intention of giving Elam's job to Prater. The team worked out Mike Vanderjagt, the NFL's all-time accurate kicker, earlier this month. Didn't sign him. Why? Because Prater's their guy. "

"Round 4 (108th overall pick): C Kory Lichtensteiger: Could be Tom Nalen's successor, but has the versatility to play center or guard in the Broncos' system."

"There was no wheeling and dealing, only the usual phone calls. There was talk but not heated debate. And the cards were filled out rather quickly on the team's various draft picks. All things considered, the Broncos' weekend was almost, well, pedestrian. "We feel like everybody we got, we wanted," Jim Goodman, the team's director of player personnel, said Sunday night."

"In the weeks leading up to this year's NFL draft, two themes kept coming up over and over again as teams stared at the cascade of names in front of them. That it felt like a year when more teams than ever would reach for need, even in the first round, where such a strategy usually leads to regret as better players are left on the draft board. And that it was definitely a year for the big guys."

"Ryan Clady was able to share his special moment with about 150 of his favorite loved ones. His younger brother and two younger sisters were there. Aunts, uncles, cousins, both sets of grandparents, dad. Even 93-year-old great-grandmother Elmia was at Clady's draft party Saturday afternoon at the Los Angeles Airport Hilton, sharing in the joy that erupted the second NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced the Broncos had selected Clady with the No. 12 pick. "

"Not to suggest Broncos coach Mike Shanahan has a foot fetish, but he so fell in love with the twinkle toes of his top pick Ryan Clady that it's difficult to tell if Shanahan was looking for an offensive tackle or auditioning a partner for "Dancing with the Stars.""

"In an NFL draft long on Longs and offensive linemen, the Broncos tapped into the deepest position on the board Saturday, selecting Boise State tackle Ryan Clady with the 12th selection."

"The last time the Broncos drafted an offensive lineman this high, everything changed. By taking Ryan Clady with their No. 12 overall pick Saturday, the Broncos made the Boise State left tackle their highest drafted O-lineman since Chris Hinton was selected No. 4 overall in 1983. "

"Yet with the draft set to open this afternoon, a survey of several NFL personnel executives and some longtime league observers in recent weeks by the Rocky Mountain News concluded with consensus that the Broncos' roster was still thin, in terms of impact players and quality depth, compared with playoff teams."

"Mike Shanahan, as expected, offered few clues Friday about whom the Broncos' first-round draft pick will be today. But he strongly hinted whom it won't be: the invisible man."

"There is a knee that can't pass a physical and a player who can play when others can't. Defensive tackle Dewayne Robertson may have a knee no doctor worth his job would clear. But that hasn't stopped him from playing in every game the last two years and all but three games in his five-year NFL career. The Broncos decided Robertson was worth the risk. Woeful in stopping the run last season, the Broncos hope they moved toward solving their problem Thursday when they acquired Robertson from the New York Jets in exchange for a conditional 2009 draft pick. "

"There is air to breathe, food to eat, water to drink and a left tackle to protect a quarterback's blind side. Whether its mankind or football with a twist, the essentials to survival never vary. The Broncos leave most of life's basics to geologists, environmentalists and agriculturists. But only the Broncos can fortify the protection for quarterback Jay Cutler. With the 2008 NFL draft to be held Saturday and Sunday, all signs point to the Broncos taking a left tackle in the first round. "

"There cannot be a younger front four in the NFL. Better, maybe. More proven, certainly. But good luck finding a more dynamic defensive line than the one the Broncos figure to play in 2008. At defensive end there are Jarvis Moss and Tim Crowder, the Bronco's first- and second-round picks in the 2007 draft, and Elvis Dumervil, who already has 20 1/2 sacks in his two NFL seasons. At defensive tackle, Marcus Thomas, who started five games as a rookie last season, will be joined by Dewayne Robertson, the No. 4 overall draft pick in 2003 whom the Broncos acquired Thursday..."

"The Jets yesterday finally unloaded defensive tackle Dewayne Robertson, trading him to the Broncos for an undisclosed 2009 draft pick and possibly a second pick."

"As they prepare to make their third top-six draft pick in six years, the Jets unloaded a disappointment from the not-too-distant past, dealing nose tackle Dewayne Robertson to the Broncos Thursday in a long-anticipated trade. The Jets will receive an undisclosed conditional pick in 2009 for Robertson, who became expendable when they acquired Kris Jenkins last month from the Panthers."

""You just don't know about the intangibles," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. "How do people react under pressure? A lot of times, it has to do with the supporting cast, but can he handle the pressure? The way you get scrutinized on a day-to-day basis, how they interact with the team. "There are just so many things about a quarterback you may not know until he's actually with you.""