Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The Broncos let go of five

To no surprise, the Broncos have made their first cuts of the offseason and released five players this evening. However, every one of these cuts were to offensive players, which should be shocking to most. Another somewhat "shock" is the release of RB Anthony Alridge who Mike Shanahan has given praise to last training camp, before he suffered a season ending ankle injury(The first of the seven runningbacks to be placed on IR this past season).

Other cuts include, RB Alex Haynes, RB PJ Pope, TE Chad Mustard, and WR Cliff Russell. Outside of Haynes and Alridge, the other three players saw playing time last year. Russell was the kick returner for the Broncos for a few weeks in the beginning of the season before he got hurt for the year, and PJ Pope started coming on towards the end of the year. Mustard was off and on all year, after getting released and resigned consistently by the Broncos all year. But this time he got released, and I think it's safe to say that he's gone for good.

What I see out of these cuts is simply the fact that when Coach McDaniels stated the offenses problems, he was specifically referring to the running game. With 3 of the first 5 cuts being RBs, I have to begin speculating. So, this makes me believe that McDaniels could be targeting a big name RB in free agency, OR, he could be looking at a top flight RB in this years draft.

Either way, the roster is getting trimmed, and the scrubs are trickling down. Personally, I love the moves because he's emptying the trashbin in his office. More specifically, he's throwing away these guys contracts.

An actual real RB in Denver next season? A 2nd round guy starting instead of a UDFA? Dare I say it?

We'll see.

No comments: