It’s a rite of summer in this dusty, old cowtown, right up there with Red Rocks concerts and Fourth of July fireworks at Coors Field.
Every summer, we hype the heck out of the Broncos during training camp.
Sometimes, they prove us right. They have, after all, played in six Super Bowls and won two. Trouble is, the franchise has been around since 1960.
Do the math, bubba.
Far more often than not, the Broncos aren’t that good. The trick is figuring it out in July and August.
What do you say we change things up this summer and listen to an old sage named Mike Shanahan. Believe it or not, the Broncos’ head coach takes a realistic approach to camp.
“You have to find guys who can make a difference on the team,” Shanahan said. “We tried to address that … Hopefully this will give us the chance to do something special if we can get into the playoffs.”
To do something special, the Broncos will need special players. So how many players on the current roster fit that bill?
I’ll give you two off the top of my head — Champ Bailey and Javon Walker. I have no doubt that each will have a monster season. After that, things get a little murky.
Believe it or not, the Broncos’ only other special player may be punter Todd Sauerbrun. Dude can bang it. The only issue with him is whether he’ll keep his head on straight.
After those three, the Broncos have a lot of players, some of whom have a chance to be special — Dre Bly and Jay Cutler, for instance — but more likely will prove to be something else. As in, solid or a notch or two above. There are so many of those guys in the NFL, they’ve come up with a catch phrase for them: serviceable.
If you aren’t special or serviceable, you’re probably a role player. Daniel Graham, for example. I happen to believe he’ll catch more balls than most people think, but his forte is run blocking. Always has been, always will be.
Add it all up and what have you got? Says here the Broncos are a very good team stuck in a conference that could require greatness to win.
Jim Armstrong issues regular reports from training camp throughout the day along with video takes from the sidelines and snippets where fans get to do the talking. Visit .
