Hamza Abdullah and John Lynch have been put on notice.
The Broncos’ starting safeties last year and subjects of lowball contract offers during the offseason, Abdullah and Lynch received serious competition Saturday with the signings of veterans Marquand Manuel and Marlon McCree.
Manuel received a three-year contract worth $1.5 million a year, $2 million if he starts.
Lynch, a free safety, returns after accepting a 36 percent paycut (from $3.12 million to $2 million) for the 2008 season. Abdullah, who played strong and free safety last season, is a restricted free agent who was briefly engaged in a multiyear contract extension with the Broncos, only to instead receive a low tender of $927,000 and seventh-round draft pick.
Other teams can present a higher bid for Abdullah, although the Broncos have the right to match any offer.
The Broncos mark the fifth team for Manuel, who will be entering his seventh season. He has played strong and free safety while making stops in Cincinnati, Seattle, Green Bay and Carolina. He had drawn interest from other teams as a free agent, but picked Denver.
“He was looking for an opportunity to become a starter and felt the best place would be Denver,” said Ron Slavin, Manuel’s agent. “He’s versatile and he’s smart. Whatever position he plays, he’ll figure it out.”
The Broncos are also the fifth team for McCree, who started the past two years in San Diego.
Plays of a Hawk and Horse.
Here’s the outline of Niko Koutouvides’ free-agent visit to Broncoland last Sunday: Having flown in from his visit to Tampa early Sunday morning, Koutouvides was taken immediately to a local hospital for a physical. He then met Mike Shanahan at the coach’s house for lunch. Then Koutouvides was taken to Broncos headquarters at Dove Valley, where he watched film of Denver’s defense. Then came dinner at Del Frisco’s.
The biggest selling point to Koutouvides, who played the previous four seasons in Seattle? The film session.
“I was looking at Denver’s defense and I thought I was looking at our defense in Seattle,” Koutouvides said. “One reason I chose Denver was because their terminology was almost identical to what we had in Seattle. It was amazing how similar it was. Tampa Bay plays a 4-3, too, but their terminology was different.”
Footnotes.
The Broncos will have to split up their scouting department Tuesday when two projected first-round receivers, Oklahoma’s Malcolm Kelly and California’s DeSean Jackson, will be participating in their pro day workouts. . . .
Locally, Northern Colorado (Dominic Breazeale, Jake Gable, D.J. Craft and Andy Birkel) and Air Force (Drew Fowler, Bobby Giannini, John Rabold and Chad Hall) will hold their pro days on March 17. CU’s pro workout (Jordon Dizon, Tyson DeVree, Terrence Wheatley, Tyler Polumbus, Hugh Charles, Kevin Eberhart, Edwin Harrison, Lionel Harris, Alonzo Barrett and Dusty Sprague) will be March 19.
Mike Klis, The Denver Post
