November 21, 2007 1:00 AM

Digging into the trenches . . .

Mitch Boehm leads it off with a look inside . . .

Q: Can you please explain how the Browns were able to grab Greg Eslinger off the Broncos practice squad? I thought that if a player makes it through waivers and is added to a team's practice squad that he is locked down to that team for the whole season. Also., I considered Greg Eslinger as a younger version of Tom Nalen. I felt he just needed to bulk up and add about 10 pounds to his frame. What did the Broncos think of him? Was he not being groomed as the replacement for Tom Nalen in a couple of years? Would they consider picking him back up if the Browns cut him?

A: Players must indeed clear waivers before they are signed back to a team's practice squad. And most teams don't claim players at that point, however, because the order of waiver claims are based on a team's finish the previous year – the teams that finished with the worst records get preference if more than one team claims the same guy.

So, the Raiders would be awarded anybody they claimed because they finished with the worst record in '06 and the Colts would only be awarded a player if they were the only team to claim him – they claimed Simeon Rice earlier this month – because they won the Super Bowl to close out last season.

Once a player is signed to a practice squad, by league rules, he can be signed off that practice squad to any team's active 53-man roster. Players cannot be signed from practice squad to practice squad.

It was made that way so developmental players couldn't be trapped in one team's system, that they would have a chance to be signed by other teams as well.

It is still always up to the player, however. He can choose to stay on a practice squad if he believes his long-term future is better to do that, but that's rare.

First there is the money issue. The Broncos practice squad players earn a maximum of $79,900 pro-rated over the 17-week season.

The minimum salary for a player on the 53-man roster – for a rookie – is $285,000 this season pro-rated over the season depending how long the player is on the active roster. Also most players are simply going to take their chances on whatever 53-man roster they can get on to build their futures.

Sometimes the team who has the player on the practice squad will say if you stay we'll sign you to the active roster and they do that, forcing another roster move there.

But overall, the Browns wanted Eslinger and he believed it was a good enough situation for him to sign.

Certainly the Broncos liked Eslinger, who had the rare double dip in college of winning both the Outland Trophy and Rimington Trophy in the same season, enough to have picked him in the sixth round of the 2006 draft.

Some scouts believed before that draft, because of Eslinger's size – now 6-3, 290 – a zone run scheme like the Broncos play would be best fit for him as a professional because of his movement skills. But I think a big moment on his developmental curve was when the Broncos elected to keep him off the 53-man roster coming out of this summer's training camp.

If they believed he had progressed enough in the offense to be Nalen's successor it is unlikely they would have exposed him to the rest of the league on the practice squad where they knew any team would have a shot at him.

Before Ben Hamilton suffered a training camp concussion that has put him on injured reserve for this season, the Broncos long-term thinking was that center was Hamilton's more natural position and that he could slide over from the left guard spot when Nalen elected to call it a career.

They expect Hamilton to return next season, recovered, but will have to see him practice and go through contact next summer to see if he has bounced back fully. This year, when Nalen suffered his season-ending biceps injury, the Broncos elected to leave Eslinger on the practice squad and move Chris Myers into the center spot.

Then after they moved Myers they also elected to sign P.J. Alexander as a backup guard and he is also working as a backup center as well. They still kept Eslinger on the practice squad at that point too.

So that shows they didn't think Eslinger was ready to make the move at that time. Again, though, this is one of their draft picks so certainly they would consider bringing him back, at least to training camp in '08, if he doesn't re-sign in Cleveland after his current deal is up.

Rod Fullenwider wants to know if Elvis Dumervil is a Broncos throwback . . .

Q: Do you think Elvis Dumervil will be moved around much the same way Karl Mecklenberg was?

A: Mecklenberg was easily one of the most under-rated Broncos by many outside the region, in my mind, because of his versatility and consistent production. Certainly he had a career worthy of at least discussion for the Hall of Fame.

However, Mecklenberg played in a 3-4, which required him to be able to function along the line of scrimmage in a rush position as well as drop out into coverage as well. It is a function of playing that defense.

So those players are up in a two-point stance in most situations and may drop down into a three-point stance on rare occasions.

For many 3-4 teams now that can be one of the more difficult positions to fill in the front seven behind finding a front-line nose tackle. So much so the Steelers took two players – Lawrence Timmons and LaMarr Woodley – with back-to-back picks in this past April's draft as they looked to fill out their four linebacker spots.

Dumervil is an end in a 4-3, which means in the Broncos current scheme he plays almost exclusively down in a three-point stance. He has played both end positions for the Broncos this season, having seen extensive time at both the rush end on the defensive right side as well as the power – or left – defensive end.

He is their best upfield rusher right now and has been for the entire season so dropping him into coverage right now is taking away their beat upfield player so they have let other linemen drop out into the passing lanes from time to time. But they have really needed Dumervil to be that consistent get up the field guy because he's done it the best.

And right now that will be his job much of the time because the Broncos haven't always gotten consistent pressure when he isn't doing that job.

Brad Helton in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., took a look up front . . .

Q: Is Ryan Harris completely healthy and how is he progressing? It seems like Matt Lepsis has lost a step. Could you foresee Harris taking over the left tackle spot next year and Lepsis moving to right tackle or a guard position?

A: Harris missed the first five games of the season after having a herniated disc repaired in his back during training camp. He has been on the active roster for the last five games and has played regularly on special teams.

The Broncos like his long-range prospects and believe he eventually could play at either tackle spot as well as inside at guard if needed. At Notre Dame he started 45 games, including eight as a true freshman at right tackle to go with 37 at left tackle.

He consistently showed quality footwork in college and handled speed rushers well which is why most scouts projected him as a left tackle in the NFL. So, if he has a quality offseason, he could come into training camp next season as a potential pick at left tackle.

He needs a little more strength and some seasoning.

And Lepsis, who started his career in the offensive line as the Broncos right tackle, could move back over if the Broncos believed Harris was ready. However, Lepsis' knee, which he had microfracture surgery as well as having his anterior cruciate ligament repaired last season, will improve with another offseason as well.

He is just over a year out from those surgeries and it often takes a player almost two years to fully regain everything he had before the injury. He has played pretty well given the circumstances this season with the Broncos playing with two starters in the offensive line on injured reserve.

And in response to a triple-digit showing about the current status of running backs Travis Henry . . .

Henry, who is facing a year-long suspension, had his appeal hearing with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell over what Henry says is a disputed failed drug test.

Having not made a decision Tuesday, it is expected the Broncos will hear from the league on Monday, the day after their game in Chicago. Henry's career with the Broncos might hang in the balance, but is financial stake in the decision is also huge.

That's because he agreed in the deal to forfeit a $6 million signing bonus - it was split into five payments he was to receive between March 2007 and March 2008. He has received four of the payments so far.

Also if he were released by the Broncos after a suspension, he also would not receive a $6 million option bonus in March that would add the 2010 season to the deal. He also has another option bonus available in 2011 for $3.9 million if the Broncos were to add that year to the deal before free agency opens that year.

So, at the moment the team is waiting to hear what was decided. Henry said following Monday's win over the Titans that he felt like it would be a "good outcome.''

Henry said the positive test is in error, that it was second-hand smoke and that he has not used marijuana since his four-game suspension in '04. Because of that suspension he was eligible to be tested up to 10 times a month for a period of two years.

That two-year period was going to end Oct. 1, just after he was informed by the league this time around of the positive test. If he is suspended for a year he is eligible, per the league's drug policy, to be tested 10 times a month for the remainder of his career.

Aaron Hatfield has been exchanging words . . .

Q: I was hoping you could lend some weight to an argument. Who do you think is a better quarterback, Jay Cutler or Eli Manning?

A: A Hatfield in a feud of sorts . . . I don't know which side of the coin you fall on, but Manning is in his fourth year as a starter, while Cutler just started his 15th game of his career Monday against the Titans.

So Manning is further along in terms of reading defenses and has worked in the glare of the New York market as well, so he's a little more versed at the moment in not letting outside things frustrate him.

Manning also threw 44 interceptions in his first three seasons combined, a lower total than the 58 his more celebrated brother – Peyton – threw in his first three years, including Peyton's 28 as a rookie.

Eli Manning's struggles have come with accuracy problems from time to time because his delivery doesn't always stay consistent. And he did not complete 58 percent of his passes in any of his first three seasons and the standard these days for quarterbacks from most offensive coordinators is to consistently be over 60 percent in completions and hopefully near 55 percent.

Manning was just over 48 percent as a rookie and just under 53 percent in his second year. That isn't where he needs to be. This season, however, he is at 60.9 percent and the production shows in the Giants record right now.

But in terms of the entire package, I've always leaned, if all things are close, to quarterbacks who can protect themselves with either scrambling or getting rid of the ball effectively before the rush gets there.

Quarterbacks cannot consistently take full-blown hits in the NFL or they simply can't stay on the field.

Cutler has those improvisational skills to get himself out of trouble – having started four years worth of SEC football at Vanderbilt, Cutler certainly faced more blitzes in college and got hit more times than any top quarterback prospect in recent memory.

It's why he has looked so unflappable when often rookie quarterbacks are dealing with their first experiences with NFL blitz packages and the speed of the players in those blitz packages. Cutler faced far worse pressure in college, which put him ahead of some other prospects.

Cutler also has a stronger arm. His battle over the long haul will be with turnovers. He believes so much in what he can do physically that he still is learning which battles he should not fight by throwing into double- or triple coverage.

It's no accident that even John Elway saw his greatest successes when he limited his turnovers. Elway threw 11 and 10 interceptions in consecutive seasons in the Broncos' back-to-back Super Bowl wins in 1997 and `98. Those two seasons were also the two lowest interception totals of his career.

Cutler has nine interceptions in 10 games after not throwing one against the Titans Monday night, his third game without an interception this season.

Still, I think Cutler's upside is still greater than Manning's and because of the moxie Cutler has already shown this year with Rod Smith and Javon Walker both out of the lineup for at least seven games to go with two starters in the offensive line on injured reserve, I'd go with Cutler overall.

I posed the questions to several personnel executives I know as well in recent days and they all chose Cutler for the long-term too, but said Manning was more polished at the moment, but that this physical edge went to Cutler as well as arm strength.

Cutler also appears to be a fast learner and handles his business in the playbook each week

And finally Matt Carter wondered about some housekeeping matters . . .

Q: I have been unable to locate your mailbag ever since the revised website went on-line. Please tell me it has not been discontinued.

A: It has not so hopefully you find this. The technical folks say the re-vamped site will take some time to get completely rolling.

Not all of the copy has moved over from the former web publishing system. But there should be a link for blogs on the sports front. And the Inbox can be found there.

That's it and happy Thanksgiving.

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