Everyone in the NFL knows. Broncos coach Mike Shanahan never misses on a running back.
He finds 1,000-yard rushers the way Warren Buffett picks stocks. Some guys have the touch.
But as rookie Mike Bell, your favorite team’s new hot property at tailback, rounded a corner at practice and got his bell rung by a wicked hit, there was a nagging noise inside my head, a reason for doubt as loud and painful as Denver linebacker Al Wilson blowing up a ballcarrier.
Could Shanahan possibly be wrong this time?
“Our running backs will be great this year, no ifs, ands or buts about it,” Shanahan assured me Tuesday.
Not since 1995, when Shanahan walked in the door as Broncos coach, has the team gambled on a longer shot at tailback than Mike Bell.
I knew Terrell Davis, and Mike Bell is no TD.
By nature, selection of a tailback must rely as much on hunch as science.
“Sometimes you’re wrong, sometimes you’re right. But, at least to me, it doesn’t take long to figure it out,” said Shanahan, being too modest, given his track record.
In recent years, not even Simon Cowell has taken more nobodies off the street and turned them into American idols the way Shanahan has made overnight sensations of Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson and Reuben Droughns.
But Mike Bell? C’mon. The movie of his life plays like “Rudy” meets “Invincible.” Kid grows up cheering for Broncos. No NFL team believes in him enough to draft a slow tailback. Then, as a rookie, Bell wins first shot at one of the best gigs in pro sports before anyone in the theater has time to finish a bag of popcorn.
I want so much to buy into this fairy tale. But sorry. I can’t do it.
Every fantasy league geek in America has discovered Mike Bell.
“I hope that’s a good thing,” he said. “I hope I can win some games or money, whatever they need.”
As with so many investment propositions, however, if it sounds too good to be true, let some other fool lose his nickel on a crazy dream.
As a son of Middle America, where football was traditionally as brutal and imaginative as unrelenting gray skies in winter, I think the best running back who lived was Jim Brown. So there’s a keen appreciation for the no-nonsense ground game favored by the Broncos. “We like guys who run north and south,” Shanahan said.
With legs churning and shoulders squarely pointed at the line of attack, Mike Bell best fits the profile of what Shanahan wants in a tailback.
But this four-year starter at the University of Arizona went undrafted for a reason.
At the NFL level, Mike Bell is a good foot soldier who plods ahead with more determination than flash.
Somebody asked Tatum Bell, a third-year pro stuck at No. 2 on Denver’s depth chart, to stop and chat after the morning practice. He politely said no.
That’s OK. We all know Tatum Bell is ticked about a rap for tripping over the 10-yard line, dancing too much in the hole and running out of gas too quickly.
The truth can hurt.
“I think you can see in practice that he kind of loses a little of his speed after 10 or 15 plays. Watching exhibitions, he kind of loses a little bit of that speed during games. At the end of two tough plays, he doesn’t look like the first or second play of the game. So then you say, “OK, I’ve got to do what’s best for the team,”‘ said Shanahan, who stressed that, to be fair, Tatum Bell has not had the chance this year to prove his effectiveness as a heavy-duty back.
I cannot blame Tatum for being irked about Denver liking the wrong Bell best.
While flawed for this team’s offensive style, Tatum Bell clearly appears to be the most-talented tailback on the roster. He has a far more legitimate beef than disgruntled receiver Ashley Lelie, yet has not taken his ball and gone home to pout.
“You’ve got to play the horse you think gives you the best chance to win,” said Shanahan, who praised Tatum Bell for improving his strength as a ballcarrier, but noted Mike Bell might be stronger.
For years, it seemed to these eyes that Shanahan’s real genius with tailbacks was in picking undervalued gems rather than in designing a system capable of making any old Olandis, Mike or Reuben appear to be a star.
Maybe I had it all wrong.
Maybe Mike Bell, undrafted and largely unloved as a pro prospect, will be the next guy off the street to gain 1,000 yards rushing for the Broncos.
But if he does, Terrell Davis has absolutely no shot of being inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-820-5438 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.
