April 9, 2008 12:30 AM

Another nickel for everyone's thoughts

Kaleb Harvey leads things off with a request for an offseason status report . . .

Q: What signing in this offseason do you think will have the greatest impact? I personally hope it is Niko (Koutouvides) or Boss (Bailey). Also, Boss has said that he is excited at the possibility to be a three-down player while the (strong-side linebacker) is usually the one to leave on third downs. (Middle linebackers) are usually on the field all three downs so does this mean D.J. Williams (if he is the middle linebacker) may be the odd one out again, or would they take out (Koutouvides) on third downs?

A: Any team, when it goes to the nickel – five defensive backs and two linebackers – is looking for strength and agility in the two linebackers who stay on the field. They have to be strong enough to hold up at the point of attack if an offense chooses to pound it in there anyway and they have to be able to drop into the passing lanes when necessary.

And above all since the gaps are bigger in a nickel situation – fewer players around the line of scrimmage – they have to tackle, with reliability. They cannot slide off because those are first downs waiting to happen.

Last season Ian Gold was not strong enough at the point of attack – he did not play with the explosiveness he had early in his career – and he did not have a good tackling season overall.

Bailey and Williams likely would be the two linebackers on the field in the nickel. Bailey, even with some knee troubles in his career, is still the kind of athlete people don't see very often.

I think Bailey could be the signing with the biggest impact in how the team plays both against the run as well as in the nickel situation.

It's rare that a player with that kind of speed had played plenty of strong-side linebacker in his career, but he's smart and willing to do what's necessary, too. People have said he should have made more remember-that plays in his career to this point, and while some of that may be true, I would contend the list of glamour shots for a strong-side linebacker in the league is usually not long.

Slamming the tight end out of the way on every play or whatever lineman is in front of him on the front side of most running plays is just not the shortcut to the nightly highlights.

In all of the drafts in which I've looked at players, Bailey is certainly on the short list of most athletic players I've ever seen. The guy was clocked under 4.4 in his 40s, at 233 pounds, before the '03 draft and was the leading tackler on what was the Southeastern Conference's No. 1 defense that season.

I saw that team play live twice that season and as the regulars would know in this space, I still consider his blocked field goal against Tennessee – he made the play from the middle of the field simply by jumping up and blocking the kick – just may be one of the five most athletic plays I've seen in person.

He's a good locker room guy, and while nobody really gets faster over the years because of the pounding you take in the league, he has retained plenty of that athleticism. It would be a shock to me if he doesn't impact the defense in a positive fashion.

He's a strong-side player, but he still has enough elements in his makeup to play on the weak side athletically. So that should improve the Broncos' nickel package.

Ben Boyd leads a draft grand slam . . .

Q: On the combo topic of offensive line and the draft, how are you feeling about Shanahan naming (Ben) Hamilton as the starting guard? I thought (Chris) Kuper played well last year. (I) don't remember any penalties or his opponent embarrassing him. In fact, Shanahan said after the Viking game Kuper played as well as anyone could against the Vikes' formidable defensive tackle tandem. I just remember Hamilton not being physical, and now he's coming off a year's absence and the concussion issue will always be there, so why not stay young at this position? Anyway, if Hamilton starting holds true, then they have Kuper, (Erik) Pears and (Ryan) Harris at tackle. I can see us drafting a tackle in the second round or later in that scenario and hopefully this means that Rashard Mendenhall is there for them at 12. He's young, tough, fast and hasn't had any injuries in his young career so far, it's high time they start searching for an all-around, every-down running back for Cutler, don't you think?

A: Every journey has a first step. And when Shanahan went left to right to some of us at the owners' meetings, he said if he had to play a game right now it would Kuper at left tackle, Hamilton at left guard, Tom Nalen at center, Montrae Holland at right guard and Pears at right tackle.

But that's if he had to play a game right now. All that is, for the moment, is the announced first chance for everybody to keep those positions. He won't hesitate to change if he thinks something is amiss.

But he also knows this is not a particularly good year for guards in the draft so immediate help would not be on the way from that avenue.

Shanahan admits he's not going to know if Hamilton is all the way back until they practice and play with full contact in the preseason. But Hamilton says he's ready to go and at last report he's been going through the offseason workouts without any problems in what are required by league rules to be non-contact, conditioning workouts.

As far as trading down, it is a good idea for the most part, which is why so many teams will try to do it and why so few teams will actually succeed with any real result.

Much of it is public perception. Few teams have enough personnel executives who feel good enough about their job security to simply make what would be an even trade. Everybody feels like they have to walk out the clear winner or at least clear enough their owner and their fan base will say they won.

Which is why it is usually teams with a high-profile executive making the deals. Shanahan is always willing but often can't find a partner for an even deal on the draft chart – picks are all given point values that can simply be added up in trades to equalize the value of picks on both sides of the deal.

This year that's why people expect Bill Parcells to be wheeling and dealing, even possibly with the opening pick of the draft. Parcells doesn't have to worry about his job security.

Jerry Jones will talk to teams as well, but he owns the Cowboys so he doesn't really have to answer to anyone as he works as the team's general manager as well.

The other matter is when a team sits in the top 15 or so in the opening round that is simply the best chance for the best player on the board at the time of the pick to also potentially be a player who is the biggest need.

A top eight player will likely fall to 12. It's just the way of the draft.

So they could have a chance to get more value than the pick there. Now, if they are on the clock and they didn't get that scenario, they would likely aggressively try to move out and go down a little more.

To get it done, there has to be a player somebody wants badly and believes one of the next two or three teams after the Broncos will take or the scenario doesn't shape up for trades.

As far as overall draft strategy, Shanahan wants a returner so they will give that a look all the way through the draft until they get one. Devin Thomas is certainly an option for that, but not at 12. Virginia Tech's Eddie Royal, who is also a cornerback, is another player worthy of a long look.

Offensive tackle is as deep as it's been in decades, maybe ever – especially at left tackle -- so most teams, including the Broncos will take a long look there. The Broncos, if a player like Vanderbilt's Chris Williams presented himself in the first round, would simply have to give it plenty of consideration.

The class of linebackers isn't all that good, and neither is the class of safeties. The Broncos signed two players in free agency at both positions so they will not be a priority.

Balmer is in that second-tier of defensive tackles – after (Glenn) Dorsey and (Sedrick) Ellis. He is largely a run-stuffer, but some scouts have questioned his effort against offensive linemen he should have dominated.

But that criticism isn't uncommon this time of year; it is the season of nitpicking after all. Objectively, though, I think you always have to be hesitant with a player who explodes for one big-time season, and you have to decide if it was simply physical maturity or if there was something else at work.

Balmer started more than eight games just once in his career and had more than 17 tackles in a season just once in his career – both this past season.

As far as backs – we go to the review of a previous post -- there is plenty of posturing going on around the league at the moment with concerns over Darren McFadden's potential off-the-field baggage with an arrest in his background and his public assertions he isn't going to simply disregard the people he had spent time with over the years as well as Jonathan Stewart's recent toe surgery.

That could push those two down the board some – not much because of their talent, but potentially some -- if teams follow through with the current air of concern on draft day. It's 50-50 at best they will, but it all could move Rashard Mendenhall up the board being he now is the "safest'' pick of the three top backs.

So if the first back goes off the board a little later than expected, one of the top three should be there when the Broncos pick at No. 12. Mendenhall and Stewart fit their offense better than McFadden would.

The bulk of the Broncos attack is an inside zone game, and that isn't really McFadden's strength despite his top gear and open-field ability.

Mendenhall was considered a later pick until teams started seeing him work out and really went through his body of work at Illinois. He ran a 4.45 40 at 225 pounds – some teams had him at 4.41 hand-timed – at the combine. He catches the ball well and from the Broncos perspective, he played in a zone-run scheme at Illinois.

The only concern expressed is some teams believe there may be some maturity issues, but that could be said about many players on the board.

But if McFadden is taken within the top four picks – say, to Oakland – that could start the dominoes at the position and all three could be gone by the time the Broncos pick.

I don't think they feel Henry's good health is a slam dunk for '08 given his age, wear and tear and the number of injuries he's dealt with in the last few years, so they would give a back a look though Shanahan has never taken one in the first round in his tenure.

Steve Soper in Thailand on Cutler's comments . . .

Q: I just read . . . Cutler “versus” Brandon Marshall, and I was surprised at how strong Cutler was. I wonder how this is going to affect the team – both from Marshall’s coming back from the injury and Cutler’s taking over the leadership of the team. What’s it look like right now? Will Brandon Marshall really be ready, and do you expect that there will be any drop-off in his performance from last year? Is Cutler really taking over the team from a leadership standpoint? What is he like competitively? In the end, is this incident going to help the team? I was also impressed by his candor when he discussed Javon Walker and Jason Elam.

A: Cutler basically said what some of his teammates felt. Cutler also speaks to Marshall regularly – they had gone to a basketball game together just days before the public comments – so it's also not something he hadn't already said to Marshall.

Cutler was the guy during the season who would often come up to Marshall and remind him to be careful how he presents himself. He is the quarterback, and sometimes it's the quarterback's job – whether it's telling people to shut up in the huddle or making sure people are working – to say what needs to be said.

The flip side of that is that puts the onus on Cutler to prepare as much as he can as well. He can't back off any if he's asking others to give more.

But he's been a regular at their offseason program and had already gone to Atlanta earlier in this offseason – during what had been off time for the players – with Marshall and Tony Scheffler to work out. So he has set the tone, which is part of his job.

When I covered the Titans, one of the first players to call out Albert Haynesworth publicly – an immensely talented player who had not always played like it at that point – was Steve McNair.

Haynesworth turned himself into a Pro Bowl player.

Marshall, though it's early in his rehabilitation, is said to be on track to participate at some point in the preseason. Shanahan said this past week he would simply defer to the doctors on the timetable but that they were telling him Marshall would be ready to play by the regular season.

And finally, Clint Armstrong in Ohio asked . . .

Q: How does insurance coverage work in the NFL for active players? During the season, it seems you read where dozens of players received MRIs after a game, others received X-rays, while others had surgery to repair various muscles, tendons, bones, etc. As you know, medical costs for these procedures are extremely high. Are these costs covered by a league insurance policy or a team-by-team policy that the owner pays? I can't imagine what premiums must cost to cover a team. Who is paying for all of this? Do most teams have MRI machines and X-ray machines on site, and are they performed by the team trainer or are players sent to a local hospital for these procedures? How does all this work in the NFL for active players?

A: In what is a corporate endeavor at times, the NFL has figured out, with its sheer popularity, to get people to pay the teams for medical services.

Most teams have some kind of deal – for either cash or services – for all or most of their medical services. In exchange, the hospital and the doctors get to say they are the official provider for the Broncos.

The Titans, for example, have their day-to-day operations at Baptist Sports Park. That complex was built with money the team got, a deal that included the naming rights, from Baptist Hospital in Nashville. The hospital, when I was there, even had patches on the team's practice jerseys.

In Philadelphia, the team works day-to-day in the NovaCare complex, also sponsored by their health-care provider.

Part of the deal is the players can go for MRIs and X-rays when they need them, usually first thing in the morning the day after the injury.

Teams do have insurance to cover a variety of things – like if a player slipped on the ice in the parking lot or a car windshield is broken by a wayward field goal attempt from practice.

They also have plenty of employees who aren't players that have to be covered as well.

That's it, and thanks.

Posted by at 12:30 AM | Comments (5)