The Super Bowl 50 champs get their rings Sunday.
Wonder who will show up?
Aqib Talib (limping) in that $3,500 custom-tailored suit he intended to wear at the White House? Von Miller pirouetting in his Prince Charming outfit from “Dancing With the Stars’’? Malik Jackson arriving from Jacksonville in a new Lamborghini Aventador? Brock Osweiler in a Houston Texans jersey? Peyton Manning bringing Omaha steaks, chicken parm and Papa John’s pizza?
Will coach Gary Kubiak, sporting his other three Super Bowl rings, slide the fourth on a finger and shout: “Now, guys, one for the thumb!”?
Will Demaryius Thomas drop his ring?
There will be a grand ceremony and a big party afterward with singing (perhaps Wade Phillips and Drake doing a duet: “Cause I got a really big team, and they need some really big rings, they need some really big things”) and dancing (Von and John).
And everyone lives happily ever after.
Well, not exactly.
Four months beyond the Broncos’ drubbing and dabbing of the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50, not all has been hunky and dory in Wonderland.
Standing on the sideline on the final day of the Broncos’ mandatory minicamp (unless you have been wounded by a gunshot or if you are a franchise player who isn’t willing during a world tour to sign a $114.5 million contract), I multitasked, comparing arm strengths of quarterbacks and foot speed of defensive backs, and thinking about whatap happened since Feb. 7 in Santa Clara, Calif.
, and . Seven offensive and defensive starters from the Super Bowl are gone, and, in all, almost one-third of the 2015 roster (17 players) is not back. (Vernon Davis, we hardly knew ye.) Thatap quite a turnover for a title team.
After the Broncos won their previous Super Bowl title (XXXIII), they were without eight starters (including Elway) the next season, and they won six games. Hmm. It took years for the franchise to recover.
There is the Miller Matter. To simplify a complex issue, the Broncos and Miller, who was franchised, have agreed on , which would make the all-pro outside linebacker the highest-paid nonquarterback in NFL history, in theory. In reality, the sides disagree on the guaranteed money. The Broncos reportedly are offering $38.5 million the first two years. Miller supposedly seeks $70 million guaranteed over three years. They will reach an agreement probably the day of the July 15 deadline. Thatap when Demaryius signed last year. So, sweat.
Talib is another matter. He performed a stupid human trick — again. Aqib is a totally affable man, and exceptional player, when he’s not and, in the Super Bowl, committing personal-foul penalties, or when he goes home to Dallas and finds trouble and . A former police reporter might surmise that a bullet entering and exiting a leg on the same side of the body was fired from directly above. But .
Law enforcement authorities and the NFL are investigating. Both could come to serious conclusions for Aqib and the Broncos, who possessed, last season, the best cornerback trio in the league.
The goodbye by Manning and the defection by Osweiler are significant matters. They have been replaced by the triumvirate of Mark Sanchez, Paxton Lynch and holdover Trevor Siemian. Sanchez, who hasn’t been a full-time starter since 2012, has a cruel 86-84 touchdown-interception ratio. Paxton and Siemian have a 0-0 ratio. In regard to the three being held to a higher standard at the end of the minicamp, Kubiak said to us: “There is no time for leeway.”
Especially, no time for leeway to GM Elway.
Of Sanchez, Kubiak said: “He’s got to play really well for this team, and he’s capable of doing that. … I think we’re all pulling for him.”
It would be shocking if Sanchez doesn’t start the Broncos’ season opener against Carolina. Itap his job to lose.
Lynch’s development has been “up and down,” the coach said, then added: “Paxton is so talented. Itap an easy thing to see how gifted he is throwing the ball and stuff.”
The “stuff” is the issue. “He’s got to continue to grind in what he’s doing. A lot of expectations.”
Siemian seems most comfortable in the Kubiak system, and his arm is equal to Lynch’s. Sanchez has the third-best arm. And Siemian was handpicked by Kubiak before the 2015 draft despite his ACL surgery. But, honestly, Siemian is destined to be third string and the scout quarterback again unless bizarre things occur before or during the preseason.
However, Siemian will get a ring Sunday.
