It’s been an eventful off-season, but you know that when they lace ‘em up, the Denver Broncos will be on top of their game, and BroncosLocker.com is right there with them. This is your daily dose of Bronco-mania, from the field to the locker room to the “man on the street.” Get it all right here!
The Broncos have released linebacker Nick Greisen. He was on the Broncos’ roster last season but he never played a down for them due to a torn ACL. The Broncos didn’t want to wait for Greisen anymore. Greisen has played in 7 years in his NFL career appearing in 98 games in which he has 255 tackles, 13 passes defensed, 4 sacks, 5 forced fumbles and 1 interception. The Broncos won’t miss Greisen in 2010.
24-year old WR Eddie Royal is a very solid kickoff returner for the Broncos. Royal played in 14 games for the Broncos last season and he returned 26 kickoffs for 621 yards (23.9 avg) with 1 TD return. He has now played in 29 games in his career with the Broncos and he has returned 49 kickoffs for 1,221 yards (24.9 avg) with 1 TD return. Royal is fast and he has a ton of good moves in the open field as he is a threat to score any time he gets the ball kicked to him.
PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE BRONCOS KICKOFF RETURNERS in 2010: B+
The Broncos have signed 30-year old running back Justin Fargas. Fargas played in 12 games (4 starts) for the Raiders last season and he carried the ball 129 times for 491 yards (3.8 ypc) with 3 TD runs. He also caught 17 passes for 113 yards (6.6 avg) last year. Fargas has now played in 92 games (32 starts) in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 827 times for 3,369 yards (4.1 ypc) with 10 TD carries. He has also caught 77 passes for 523 yards (6.8 avg) in his career. This was a good signing for the Broncos as they are worried about Knowshon Moreno and Correll Buckhalter’s health right now.
The Broncos will have training camp battles to determine who starts at LG and C. LT Ryan Clady hurt himself playing basketball in the off-season tearing a patellar tendon that required surgery. He looks on track to be ready for opening day and the Broncos are happy about that because he is a solid blind side protector for Kyle Orton. LG will be a battle between rookie 2nd round pick Zane Beadles out of Utah and veteran Ross Hochenstein. Beadles appears to have a slight edge heading into training camp. Seth Olsen will battle rookie 3rd round pick J.D. Walton out of Baylor for the starting center job with Olsen holding an edge right now. RG Chris Kuper is a very solid run blocker who is a decent pass blocker. RT Ryan Harris is a very good pass blocker and he’s solid in the running game too.
PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE BRONCOS O-LINE in 2010: C+
The Broncos have lost 25-year old safety Josh Barrett on waivers to the Patriots. Barrett played in 14 games for the Broncos last season and he had 10 tackles. He played two years for the Broncos appearing in 20 games in which he made 32 tackles, defensed 4 passes and he had 1 interception. The Broncos sent Barrett through waivers with the thought of putting him on I.R. after he cleared them because he needs shoulder surgery. Usually teams don’t claim those type of players but Bill Belichick and his Patriots did.