The induction ceremony will take place on September 29, at halftime of Denver's Week 4 game versus the Eagles. As for why this isn't taking place Week 8, when Mike Shanahan is in town, is beyond us (we hope it's not due to some sort of bad blood between Pat Bowlen, John Elway, and Shanahan).

Nalen was the Broncos' pivot for 14 seasons (1994-2007), playing in 194 regular-season games (188 starts), plus 13 playoff starts.

Continue reading "Tom Nalen to be inducted to Broncos Ring of Fame"

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Two years earlier, the Sport Science team put Von Miller through their testing gauntlet. I enjoy their work - they bring some solid technology to measure the things that make a certain player effective, and it highlights aspects of that player’s skill set. Even if it's a bit late, I thought I'd discuss Von's Sport Science segment here.

Watching Miller’s work is like seeing the Mikhail Baryshnikov of the NFL. Baryshnikov himself used to seem to leap up into the air and just pause there for a long moment; it was astonishing to watch. Miller reminds me of that quality - he often looks as if he’s playing at a different speed than the rest of the people on the field. He dashes through what are pauses between moments to the rest of us.

Continue reading "Von Miller and Sport Science"

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Woodson took a reported $1.8M base (including a $700K signing bonus), plus $2.5M in incentives, for a max value of $4.3M to return to Oakland. Klis says the Broncos offered a contract with a maximum value of $3.7M, and we already know the base value was more than the $940K minimum.

Was it just about the money for Woodson, as Klis suggests? If it was, the difference may have been more than just the $600K gap in max value. We don't know how much Denver was willing to guarantee, or how easily reached the incentives would have been, versus the ones he got from the Raiders.

Continue reading "It probably wasn’t just the money for Woodson Lard"

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Originally selected by Oakland fourth overall in the 1998 Draft, Woodson spent his first eight years in silver and black before heading up to the frozen tundra for seven seasons. Green Bay released the 2009 DPOY in February to avoid what would have been $9.4M in compensation for 2013.

Continue reading "Woodson snubs Broncos, returns to Raiders"

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What it doesn't mean, is that he's good enough for the NFL; the Broncos will presumably figure that out over the next few weeks and/or months.

As an example of how little regard teams can have for undrafted players, consider the case of former Stony Brook running back Miguel Maysonet.

Continue reading "Postscript: UDFAs usually go undrafted for a reason"

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Signing with them would not only be a homecoming and bring him closer to his own winery, but it would reunite Woodson with Matt Flynn and Reggie McKenzie, whom he knows from their time together in Green Bay.

As for Denver, Jeff Legwold suggests the primary sticking point between the two sides is Denver''s desire to only commit to one year with Woodson, who apparently wants a multiyear deal.

Of course, we've mentioned before that such a difference only matters if there's guaranteed money beyond the first year's compensation.

Continue reading "Raiders to make their pitch to Chuck Wood Lard"

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PFT and the DP had originally reported that the Manning restructure was strictly about adding insurance, and had no cap consequences, but that's apparently not the case.

Instead, Shutdown Corner reports that Manning received a $10M advance ($5M from each of his $20M salaries in 2013 and 2014) that will be treated as a signing bonus and be prorated over the 2013-16 seasons, $2.5M per year.

The net result is a cap savings of $2.5M in 2013 and 2014, and an additional $2.5M cap hit for each of the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

Continue reading "Manning restructure frees cap room; precursor to extensions for others?"

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It was reported in March and April that Freeney was seeking as much as $6M or even $8.5M per year, or at least the $8.5M over two years that Osi Umenyiora had gotten from Atlanta.

By allowing the market to come to him - in the form of San Diego losing pass rusher Melvin Ingram to a torn ACL - Freeney ended up with $4.75M in guarantees for 2013 in a two-year deal worth $8.75M. Another $4.6M is available in incentives, tied to his sack numbers and characterized as "realistic" based upon what he's done in the past.

Continue reading "Freeney’s wait pays off Lard"

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