Breaking down Shanahan's last 3 drafts in Denver....we are in good hands

[Gator Bait]

Here are Mike Shanahan's last 3 drafts. Pretty damn good to say the least.

2008

1 Ryan Clady Boise State Starting left tackle Broncos, 2x All Pro

2 Eddie Royal Virginia Tech Starting WR Broncos, has averaged over 60 catches per season in first 3 seasons

4 Kory Lichtensteiger Bowling Green Starting left guard Redskins

4 Jack Williams Kent State CB Detroit Lions

5 Ryan Torain Arizona State Starting RB Redskins

5 Carlton Powell Virginia Tech DT Jets

6 Spencer Larsen Arizona LB/FB Broncos, actually started at both positions in a single game his rookie year

7 Josh Barrett Arizona State S Patriots

7 Peyton Hillis Arkansas Starting RB Browns, 1000+ yards and 11 rushing TDs this year

2007

1 Jarvis Moss Florida Back up DE Raiders

2 Tim Crowder Texas Starting DE Tampa Bay

3 Ryan Harris Notre Dame Starting RT Broncos

4 Marcus Thomas Florida DT Broncos

2006

1 Jay Cutler Vanderbilt: Starting QB Bears, pro bowl

2 Tony Scheffler Western Michigan Two 40+ catch seasons out of four

4 Brandon Marshall Central FloridaStaring WR for the Dolphins, 2x pro bowler, All pro, 3/5 season 100+ catches

4 Elvis Dumervil Louisville Starting OLB Denver, 42 sacks in 4 season played, All pro/pro bowl (missed all last year)

4 Domenik Hixon Akron Kick returner for the Giants and #3 WR

5 Chris Kuper North Dakota Starting right guard for the Broncos and offensive captain

6 Greg Eslinger Minnesota out of the league

To sum things up:

20 players drafted

19 players still in the league (to me, this is amazing considering the turnover in the league and average length of career. The one guy that is out of the league in these three drafts was a 6th round pick)

4 pro bowlers, including 3 All Pros

11 full time starters (that means for every two players shanny drafts, at least one becomes a full time starter)

4 Offensive Lineman drafted, all of which start for their current teams (each draft included at least one starting OL)

taken 3th round or later:

2 Starting RB, 1 Starting WR, 1 Starting OT, 3 Starting OG, 1 Starting OLB ( all of which are current positions of need for the skins)

after analyzing these draft picks, positions, and the spots where they were taken, I think we can address many of our needs in this draft.

I would expect Shanahan to go OLB and QB with the first two picks and address WR, RB, and OG with our late round picks.

[terpskins10]

It's a nice breakdown, but a lot of those guys went on to start for other teams after not fitting in Denver. I'd prefer our guys to stick around and play well here.

[Skinsinparadise]

I have defended Shanny's ability with the draft quite a few times in posts. He did very well with it towards the end of his career with Denver. He did have a rough patch in the middle. I say overall he's at worst a mixed bag on personnel and IMO he doesn't stink at it as some purport. Still I'd love to have a straight stud GM like a Jerry Reese, Pioli, Polian, Thompson type. I get that to get Shanny, Danny had to work out this arrangement. But for me the biggest indictment of Danny is he never seems to go for the stud personnel man.

But yeah am willing to go for the ride with shanny and see what happen. Everyone makes mistakes with personnel but I trust in particular that Shanny will make some good decisions with offensive talent. He left Denver with a roster of young stud talent on offense but they inexplicably blew that up when he left.

[Gator Bait]

It's a nice breakdown, but a lot of those guys went on to start for other teams after not fitting in Denver. I'd prefer our guys to stick around and play well here.

true, but that is what happens when new coaches come in...they want guys to fit their system. It isn't a knock on the guys Shanahan drafted, if anything it proves they are flat out good players and can produce in other systems. Many of these players went on to have an impact in other places and some of them stuck around in Denver and still produced after Shanahan left.

[da#1skinsfan]

Its crazy how he finds those low round RB's. Peyton Hillis, what a steal.

Good post, real interesting.

[wilco_holland]

Who was with him in the FO....GM or something like that.

A lot of middle round picks look to me like risk picks...player who where talented comming out of college only they had some questionmarks like...there personality, size, speed etc.

[Reaper 21]

great post, last night i dreamnt that we traded fat al for elvis dumervil cuz dumervil couldnt fit in the 4-3 hahaha what a trade

[JohnnyUtah]

I think the most telling aspect is that only one of these players is not currently on an active roster.

This will be a nice change.

[Always A Commander Never A Captain]

It's a nice breakdown, but a lot of those guys went on to start for other teams after not fitting in Denver. I'd prefer our guys to stick around and play well here.

Not quite. A lot of these guys did fit in Denver, but the new head coach McDaniels decided he wanted to clean house of anything that felt like Shanahan, put his own image on it...or something. I don't know how anybody can justify giving away as much talent as McDaniels did.

[USS Redskins]

His trades are a disaster - he better draft well.

[wrecker]

It's a nice breakdown, but a lot of those guys went on to start for other teams after not fitting in Denver.

That is mainly because Josh McDaniel was an idiot.

[Coolio47]

That is mainly because Josh McDaniel was an idiot.

Past tense?

[jflow78]

That is mainly because Josh McDaniel was an idiot.

I second that.

Josh McDaniels single handedly took the Broncos from a playoff team to a sequel of "The Zorn Years", plus to one up the original, he got rid of a bunch of their really talented players that he didn't like.

Total genius.

[wrecker]

I have a friend that is a diehard Broncos fan and Mike Shanahan fan. He was very p'd when they let Shanahan go and was almost bought to his knees in tears when McDaniels totally decimated the team that Shanahan had put together and ended up where they are now.

[SkinsFTW]

I second that.

Josh McDaniels single handedly took the Broncos from a playoff team to a sequel of "The Zorn Years", plus to one up the original, he got rid of a bunch of their really talented players that he didn't like.

Total genius.

So what you are saying is that he out-Zorned Zorn, the original? Nice. And now we have their former HC. If he wins here, it's gotta hurt the Broncos fans even worse than Doug Williams, Timmy Smith and Ricky Sanders.

[Oldfan]

Here are Mike Shanahan's last 3 drafts. Pretty damn good to say the least.

Mike had three great drafts and didn't make the playoffs. So...why are we in good hands? If drafting wasn't his problem, there had to be SOME explanation.

[Zhouse]

Nice thread.

I was looking at last year's draft and was wondering about Erik Cook. Whatever happened to him? Any shot at competing for the starting spot next year?

How about Capers?

Edit: Dennis Morris was traded to the Rams. What did we get in return? Was it a player we ended up releasing? How about Tryon? I believe his is a draft pick.....

[MattFancy]

The thing that stands out the most to me are that 19 of the 20 are still in the league. I feel like out of the last 20 guys we drafted before Shanny, maybe a handful or so are still in the league and contributing to their teams. No one will ever hit on every pick they make and not every pick will turn out to be a star. But as long as you get can get some solid contributors, I'm happy, especially in the late rounds.

Also, it seems like Shanny does his best work after the 1st round. He gets guys like Portis, Marshall, Royal, Torain, Harris, etc. in the 2nd round and later.

[Gator Bait]

Mike had three great drafts and didn't make the playoffs. So...why are we in good hands? If drafting wasn't his problem, there had to be SOME explanation.

His three great drafts (actually I'd just say two...but combined they are 20 good looking draft picks overall) didn't have enough time to play together and develop. As someone else stated, the majority of his team was dismantled by the McDaniels regime (I'm actually a McDaniels fan). So you really can't fault Shanahan for not winning right away with a rebuilt team...sometimes it takes a few years to get everything going.

Unlike other people have mentioned though...I don't think they were bad moves by McDaniels. Cutler and Marshall are cancer in my opinion, I don't like either of them and I'm not high on Culter as a QB either. McDaniels got two first rounders for Cutler and a couple 2nds for Marshall. He also made Kyle Orton look better than Cutler last year and made Brandon Lloyd of all people look like an elite receiver. Denver has lots of young talent including Knoshon Moreno, Demaryius Thomas, Ryan Clady, Tim Tebow (yes, I think he is a winner and will do well in the NFL), Elvis Dumervile....they might not have success over night, but I think they will have a bright future.

Back on topic:

Shanahan's main problem may have been that he had too much control of the team....the offense, GM responsibilities, head coach etc. Although I'm not a Kyle Shanahan fan, it appears that Mike has delegated the offense to his son and is just acting as a head coach/personnel guy. In a perfect world...I'd rather have separation of coach and personnel, but being that it isn't that way....I feel a lot better w/ Shanahan making personnel moves for my team than the combination of Cerrato/Zorn/Snyder.

---------- Post added March-8th-2011 at 02:10 PM ----------

Nice thread.

I was looking at last year's draft and was wondering about Erik Cook. Whatever happened to him? Any shot at competing for the starting spot next year?

How about Capers?

Edit: Dennis Morris was traded to the Rams. What did we get in return? Was it a player we ended up releasing? How about Tryon? I believe his is a draft pick.....

Capers and Cook were both on the practice squad (and I believe they still are) I'm hoping that at least one of them can make the transition and at minimum be a back up on the 53 man roster. If you look at Shanahan's prior offensive lineman picks, they typically don't bust, so hopefully these guys follow trend.

I believe both Morris and Tryon were traded for conditional 7th round picks. I'm guessing that one of our two 7th round picks was for the Morris trade and the Tryon trade's conditions haven't been settled yet....that is just a guess though.

[Oldfan]

His three great drafts (actually I'd just say two...but combined they are 20 good looking draft picks overall) didn't have enough time to play together and develop. As someone else stated, the majority of his team was dismantled by the McDaniels regime (I'm actually a McDaniels fan). So you really can't fault Shanahan for not winning right away with a rebuilt team...sometimes it takes a few years to get everything going.

The year before these three drafts you cite, the Broncos were 13-3, so, "...you can't fault Shanny for not winning right away with a rebuilt team," doesn't add up.

His drafts over his ten-year span with full control, were fair. His teams averaged 9-7, but he had a poor playoff record while in full control. My own theory is that Mike isn't a Big Picture Guy. His offense puts up numbers, but it doesn't help the defense. His defensive philosophy changes every other year.

[Conn]

Well, lets hope his defensive philosophy stays the same for a few years here, then. The fact that Haslett's still here is a sign of that.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Gator, I'm high on Shanahan, but I have to question your post. How can you say that he drafted well (by taking guys like Marshall and Cutler) and then say that McDaniel's decision to trade those guys was justified because they are cancer (and you're not high on Cutler as a QB)? I don't get it. They can't be both great picks AND cancerous/not great players.

[SkinsFTW]

The year before these three drafts you cite, the Broncos were 13-3, so, "...you can't fault Shanny for not winning right away with a rebuilt team," doesn't add up.

His drafts over his ten-year span with full control, were fair. His teams averaged 9-7, but he had a poor playoff record while in full control. My own theory is that Mike isn't a Big Picture Guy. His offense puts up numbers, but it doesn't help the defense. His defensive philosophy changes every other year.

Can't argue with that. It's why I wasn't liking bringing Shanahan here in the first place. He's consistently had good offenses and has always made constant changes on the defense, even when it was already pretty good, he'd turn around and make it worse again. I think the goal here now isn't to have a top 10 defense, it's to have a defense that gets the ball back to the offense a few times a game. One of the reasons I don't see Carlos Rogers being offered a contract. If it doesn't work will be go back to the 4-3 in 2014? Who knows.

Basically, I think Shanahan would make a great offensive coordinator, kinda like Norv Turner but maybe better as a HC but not really a great one. He actually did win a couple SB's with his great team, unlike Norv in SD.

[NavyDave]

I have a friend that is a diehard Broncos fan and Mike Shanahan fan. He was very p'd when they let Shanahan go and was almost bought to his knees in tears when McDaniels totally decimated the team that Shanahan had put together and ended up where they are now.

I felt that way after what Shanny did that to our defense but hopefully that will change and everyone will have reason to about the Def or Offense soon.

[wrecker]

I felt that way after what Shanny did that to our defense but hopefully that will change and everyone will have reason to about the Def or Offense soon.

Combined with the OJ signing, if we can find a good NT and OLB to compliment RAK, I think we will be back in the top ten.