April 30, 2008 12:01 AM

A draft review

To lead off, Mike Ashmore in Sioux Falls, S.D., opens a draft discussion with . . .

Q: With Mike Shanahan anointing (Ryan) Clady the starter before he's had one practice with the team obviously speaks to what the Broncos staff thinks of the kid. I watched the press conference online, Shanahan seemed a bit sarcastic, but also serious about Clady getting the chance to start right away. I'm sure you were there, how did the statement land to you?

The nice thing about this draft, is that we will see if the Broncos got "the" guys in the first and second if they are starting Week 1. This would mean that Clady picked up the playbook, the speed of the game and is ready to play. Same thing with (Eddie) Royal, but he should be a lock, returning is returning, and he most definitely looks the part in that area.

A: Shanahan was not being sarcastic. He honestly believes Clady will be the team's starting left tackle by the time the season opens and as the guy with the big desk he said he would give Clady first crack at the job.

Now, that doesn't mean there won't be growing pains at one of the most difficult positions for a rookie to start -- behind perhaps only quarterback -- and that the Broncos won't have to adjust their pass protections from time to time to put somebody on Clady's outside shoulder or to leave a back in behind him.

It does mean he will get the first opportunity to start. And while it's rare for Shanahan to make those kinds of pronouncements to a rookie, it's clear he wants Clady to know he's the starter so Clady knows what's expected of him so that he will study as much as he possibly can, knowing what's at stake for him.

I'm sure it's a little bit of a message to Clady and his representatives -- Pat Dye and Bill Johnson -- as well about the importance of Clady being in camp on time. But Dye and Johnson are long-time agents and have traditionally done whatever they can to get their players signed and into camp.

Clady's footwork and quickness make him a candidate to start right away. The Broncos can make him stronger in their offseason program, but they could not construct any kind of workout program to give a player that kind of quickness at the position.

It will be a matter of Clady getting consistent in his sets in pass protection and showing enough strength in the run game. The Broncos have traditionally taken their time moving offensive linemen into the lineup, sometimes over a period of years, but they have a need at left tackle and they think Clady is a good enough prospect to make it work from the outset.

A lot of it will be mental. He has to fight through the rough spots that are inevitable when you face the better pass rushers week after week.

But the Broncos have one of the best blocking tight ends in the league -- in both the run game and pass protection -- in Daniel Graham so they have some flexibility to move Graham around in the formation to give Clady some help if needed.

Graham is routinely lauded by opposing personnel executives for what he does at the line of scrimmage. The Broncos can also roll Cutler away from that side as well at times to give Clady more time and room to work on the back side of the play.

But it would take a massive stumble in training camp for Clady not to be there on the left side in the regular-season opener. They may even play him more in the preseason just to get him those reps he needs.

As far as Royal, a punt and kickoff returner who is as aggressive to the ball as he is and has the kind of hands he has shouldn't have much trouble getting going. The thing he has the other Broncos returners haven't had in recent seasons is the confidence -- to go with his physical abilities -- that when he catches the ball he could take it the distance.

He believes it and plays like it. That's no small thing in the special teams world. To be a quality returner, you have to not only want to do the job, but you have to believe you are a threat every time you have the ball.

That rubs off on the people in front of the returner as well. They tend to block with the idea that their quality block could be the one that busts the returner loose.

It's a big deal, and Royal has that demeanor.

Dennis Smythe in Highlands Ranch followed with a little more on this year's draft class . . .

Q: The Broncos have suffered from poor drafts in recent years, partially due to their risk-taking propensity. In your opinion, does the 2008 draft class fit this typical "risky" profile because of the large number of draftees who have been injured recently? Which drafted players do you see as the riskiest?

A: On the second day of the draft, five of the seven Broncos selections had some kind of significant injury in their collegiate careers and two of the players -- Bowling Green guard Kory Lichtensteiger and Arizona State running back Ryan Torain -- are still recovering from shoulder and foot surgeries, respectively.

Torain pronounced himself "100 percent" Sunday from foot surgery that kept him out of the last six games of '07, but the Broncos may still limit his work some leading up to their June minicamps. Lichtensteiger, who had a labrum repaired, was still trying to get back to full speed having his right shoulder repaired after this past season.

Also, Arizona State safety Josh Barrett (seventh round) also had two shoulder surgeries in his career with the Sun Devils to go with wrist and knee injuries. Linebacker Spencer Larsen (sixth round) tore his right anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the '05 season. And fullback Peyton Hillis (seventh round) fractured three transverse process bones in his lower back as a freshman at Arkansas.

Other players, John Lynch included, have had the same kind of injury as Hillis and come back to play without incident. Of all the players, Torain's injury -- a Lisfranc injury -- can be a troublesome one.

Former Titans safety Blaine Bishop, for example, struggled mightily with a Lisfranc -- the arch area of the foot -- injury late in his career.

Also, a player like Barrett, who has already had multiple shoulder surgeries, is a bit of risk, especially for a high-impact position like safety where a player may be asked to play a full slate of special teams as well.

Shanahan, however, said the team got enough favorable reports about the players' physical potential that they were worth the picks. Many, many players in the league have some kind of surgery in the offseason each year.

It's just the way of the league. But soft tissue injuries are always something to look at. They are often different from most fractures, which heal and that's that.

A stress fracture can be a longstanding problem, and a player who develops one can often develop another.

But for the most part. it's the soft tissue injuries -- ligaments, muscle, cartilage, tendons, etc. -- that teams really lean on their medical staffs to give them the odds of success.

It's not a foolproof system, but Shanahan has routinely believed beyond the third round or so it can be worth the risk if the player is good enough. And he certainly thinks Torain is good enough -- he was one of Shanahan's favorite backs on the board -- and worth the risk that a new kind of surgery will be the difference.

But of the picks, Torain and Barrett would be the ones where the risk was a little higher than the others.

Allen Harrison also jumped in . . .

I thought this was a very solid draft for the Broncos. They avoided their past habit of drafting based on measurables and upside and actually took some guys with an extensive body of work in college who should do very well in the NFL. Obviously, Clady has to be everything they think he can be for it to be successful, but the biggest wild card is going to be Eddie Royal. Interesting that Shanahan took him when DeSean Jackson was still on the board, a decision that I suspect had as much to do with personality as performance. Any insight on that choice?

A: I aim to please . . . Finley signed with the 49ers, Woodyard signed with the Broncos, Hall signed with the Rams, Felton and McCray signed with the Bills, Wolfe signed with the Falcons and Geathers and Robertson signed with the Saints and Cowboys, respectively.

To find them in one spot, you can look at the "transactions'' section of the statistics page we run each day in the paper, signings will always be listed. Also most sports websites with an NFL presence usually have a transactions spot as well to look at.

To me, Royal is the better pick for an NFL team and the difference is physical strength. Jackson weighed in at 169 pounds, Royal at 184.

Royal also had 24 repetitions of 225 pounds in the bench press, which was better than many linebackers in the draft and even some linemen.

The two also had virtually the same speed numbers -- and when I watched Royal I saw more explosive speed in terms of getting back to full speed coming in and out of cuts.

So in terms of long-term durability Royal, to me, is the far safer pick. Over the years I've seen undersized players be great returners until the first time they get blasted and then they are never quite the same.

There have been exceptions -- undersized players who have had plenty of success -- but overall I think you go with the stronger player if most of the rest of the equation is the same.

Jackson is going to have to prove he can get off the jam against cornerbacks who are just as fast as he is and outweigh him by 20 pounds. No small thing and certainly something Ted Ginn ran into this past season as well.

Frank Parsons closes it out with a look at the running backs . . .

Q: I was hoping for Jonathan (Stewart), then paused for a moment when he was taken of the board after our pick. I like the two running backs selected after (Darren) McFadden -- (Stewart and Rashard Mendenhall) -- but if there was to be a pick outside of that I didn't mind it was Clady. Is Clady that good, where he can make an impact to the Broncos by starting right away at left tackle? I thought Kansas City was going to take Clady for sure. Do you have any insight if Mike didn't have Clady to choose from, how far down the board did Mike have Stewart? Are we going to be rebuilding next year? It seems like Oakland got closer to the Chargers than the Broncos are.

A: Had Clady not been available -- there were scenarios leading up to the draft when Baltimore and Cincinnati both were looking at tackles in the opening round with picks before the Broncos -- Stewart would have certainly been considered and likely the pick when the Broncos' turn arrived.

Shanahan went as far as to speak to Stewart's doctor Friday, the night before the draft, to go over Stewart's recovery from surgery in early March to repair a turf toe condition. And they got a good enough report they likely would have selected Stewart with the pick had Clady already been off the board.

Mendenhall had some fans among the coaching staff as well, including running backs coach Bobby Turner, but given a choice between the two, it likely would have been Stewart because he was 10 pounds heavier and had the same speed.

The Broncos, like most of the rest of the league, didn't spend nearly as much money as the Raiders did in the offseason. Objectively, most personnel guys around the league believe the Raiders overpaid several players, including Javon Walker and Tommy Kelly.

And even with all of that money spent, it will be how much they can do to bring quarterback JaMarcus Russell along that will determine if they can get themselves out of the AFC West cellar and compete in the division.

If Russell is not up to the task, then all of that money won't save them.

Thanks to everyone for the questions, thoughts and comments each and every week. Your participation is greatly appreciated.

This is the last Inbox for some time, but it will return just before training camp opens. I will blog some from the June minicamps as well.

That's it, and thanks.

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