Tatum Bell has become Mike Shanahan’s latest disposable running back.
The Broncos run through 1,000-yard running backs as if they were Styrofoam cups.
Bell (1,025 rushing yards in 2006) joins Olandis Gary (1,159, 1999), Mike Anderson (1,487 and 1,014, 2000 and ’05), Clinton Portis (1,508 and 1,591, 2002-03) and Reuben Droughns (1,240, 2004) as members of The Expendable Bunch. Associate members are Ron Dayne, Quentin Griffin, Derek Loville and Vaughn Hebron.
The unremarkable Bell, the slug George Foster and a fifth-round draft choice (No. 148 overall) are being traded to the Detroit Lions for all-pro cornerback Dré Bly and a sixth-round draft pick.
Thank you, Matt Millen.
Bly & Bailey will be slightly better together than Barnum & Bailey.
Now, though, the Broncos have, as the Fifth Dimension sang, “One Less Bell to Answer.”
Mike Bell, who rushed for 677 yards as a rookie last year, is left as the starter, and Cedric Cobbs, who carried three times for 9 yards, is the only other tailback on the roster.
In an eight-week period, the Broncos suffered their second tragic death of a young player when Damien Nash, who was No. 3 on the depth chart at tailback, died Saturday, apparently of a heart attack. Bly will replace the late Darrent Williams in the lineup.
Now the Broncos need another quality running back – someone who can start for this team for a half-dozen years or more, not for just one or two and not as a fill-in backup.
Someone like Terrell Davis. Thousand-yard runners are as common as basalt. But 2,000-yard runners are as rare as sapphires. Davis led the Broncos in rushing for four consecutive years (1995-98) before tearing up his knee. He never fully recovered and retired with 7,607 yards. Portis could be here still, but wanted out in 2004 – fortunately, for the Broncos. Champ Bailey arrived.
Portis was another victim last season of the Ex-Broncos Hex. He rushed for 2,831 yards in two seasons with Washington, but was injured in the opening exhibition game in 2006 and wounded again in the regular season. His yardage dropped to 523. Droughns had 1,232 yards with Cleveland after demanding a trade in 2005, but fell to 758 in 2006.
Gary went to Buffalo, then Detroit, then out of the league all in one year. Griffin didn’t survive training camp with Kansas City, nor did Loville with the St. Louis Rams. Hebron’s last year with the Broncos was 1998, and he didn’t play again. Anderson was waived last year, joined Baltimore and rushed for only 183 yards. Dayne did a nice job with Houston, running for 612.
Six different running backs have led the Broncos in rushing the past eight years. With the departure of Tatum Bell, there will be a seventh in the ninth year.
Tatum Bell wasn’t coming back. Mike Shanahan actually gave up on him last season. Bell had turf toe and fumble- itis, and the Broncos believed he was too small and too impassive to authority.
Of course, the offensive scheme and the coaching in Denver have been responsible for much of the running backs’ successes. But Davis and Portis could have been extraordinary runners for the Scottsdale Community College Artichokes.
The Broncos don’t need any more one-hit wonders.
They should trade Jake Plummer for a No. 3 draft pick, then package their second-round selection (56) and the first (21) to move up in the opening round again to choose one of three college runners – Adrian Peterson, Marshawn Lynch or Michael Bush. Peterson and Bush are returning from injuries, and Lynch had a few off performances as a junior, but, in this system, any of the trio will become a Pro Bowler and a 1,500-yard back.
Couple Peterson, Lynch or Bush with Cutler, and the Broncos should be set for years.
The two third-round picks can be used for defensive and offensive linemen. The Broncos have no fourth- or fifth-round choices now, but own sixth- (183) and seventh- rounders (214).
I hope that my favorite player in the draft is available at 183. He would be a Shanahan sweetheart – from one of those directional schools in Illinois. (Shanahan played at, coached at and graduated from Eastern Illinois.)
The old boy cries Wolfe.
Garrett Wolfe of Northern Illinois won’t go high because he is 5-foot-7, but he can run, and he can hide. Last season Wolfe finished with 1,928 yards, including 171 in one game … against Ohio State. He could be a kickoff and punt returner and spot back for the Broncos.
And Wolfe would be a good mascot for Captain Bly and Champ Bailey.
Staff writer Woody Paige can be reached at 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com.
