Denver Broncos 2012 veteran acquisitions

Douglas Lee May 10, 2012 8:30 PM

#	Player	Pos	Ht	Wt	Age*	Terms
83	Hill, Jason	WR	6-0	202	27	Signed 2-15; 1 year, $700K
20	Adams, Mike	S	5-11	200	31	Signed 3-15; 2 years, $4M ($2M guaranteed)
18	Manning, Peyton	QB	6-5	230	36	Signed 3-20; 5 yrs, $96M ($18M guaranteed)
17	Caldwell, Andre	WR	6-0	190	27	Signed 3-21; 2 yrs, $1.8M ($200K guaranteed)
22	Porter, Tracy	CB	5-11	186	26	Signed 3-22; 1 year, $4M (likely fully guaranteed)
81	Dreessen, Joel	TE	6-4	245	30	Signed 3-23; 3 years, $8.5M ($2.5M guaranteed)
84	Tamme, Jacob	TE	6-3	236	27	Signed 3-23; 3 years, $9M ($3.5M guaranteed)
16	Hanie, Caleb	QB	6-2	222	27	Signed 3-24; 2 years, $2.25M (no guarantees)
97	Bannan, Justin	DT	6-3	312	33	Signed 4-11; 1 year, $1M (likely fully guaranteed)
14	Stokley, Brandon	WR	6-0	192	36	Signed 4-16; 1 year
29	Florence, Drayton	CB	6-0	193	32	Agreed 5-10; 2 years, $4.5M ($1.5M guaranteed, plus $1M in incentives)

* Age on 2012 birthday; See Related: 2012 Draft Picks and 2012 Undrafted Signees

Doug is IAOFM’s resident newsman and spelling czar. Follow him on Twitter @IAOFM

A Lot of the "managing" will be done at the QB level as long as Manning is here.

As for making playoffs let alone AFCG. Not happening those year with our schedule. IMHO.

Posted by Lonestar47 on 2012-05-11 20:29:41

I was thinking more like every players "numbers" as in salarys. But thanks for adding their #s to this list.

Posted by Lonestar47 on 2012-05-11 20:26:28

I was just listening to Coach Karl talk about his young team that finds itself knocking around the veteran, championship-experienced Lakers. One thing he said is that he's happy he can concentrate on coaching instead of managing. He was referring to not having "head cases" in the locker room...players or situations you have to babysit.

Then I look at this Broncos roster, including the draftees, and I gotta say this roster has a very, very strong character. And, along with amazing talents like Dumervil, Miller, and of course Manning, I'd be very, VERY surprised if this team doesn't at least make the conference championship.

IMHO, this team is the real deal....first honest one since 1998.

Posted by John Tomasik on 2012-05-11 11:24:16

I'm showing that's a total of 14.7 million in guarantees for 10 players*, or an average of 1.47 guaranteed each. Some of these guys are role players but as many as 5 could start (if you consider 12 personell to be the base package next season) All in all, that's very little financial risk to upgrade the team at a couple of key spots and fill in depth at some others. I like this approach to free agency. Avoiding the trap of chasing big-name stars (just off the top of my head, let's say, Mike Wallace) allows us the financial flexibility to make moves in the future and re-sign our own young stars as they develop. And it maintains roster space to give young players the opportunity for playing time. The lynchpin to this strategy is a bit more difficult: drafting well and developing talent. but at least we can see that we've got the right strategy in place, and at this point it's a matter of execution on those last two points.

*I'm excluding PFM for the purpose of this discussion; he's a unique player at a unique position that warrants the investment. And it's becuase we've made smart use of free agency for the last couple of years that we were able to pick up Manning to begin with.

Posted by Hercules_Rockefeller on 2012-05-11 10:09:10

Good call, Lonestar47 I've added them

Posted by Douglas Lee on 2012-05-11 05:46:12

thanks for the update on the newbies is there a list with all the players numbers on it?

Posted by Lonestar47 on 2012-05-11 01:06:25

isn't that the truth...... Peyton Manning, Bronco QB....I love seeing that

Posted by Dennis on 2012-05-10 21:56:52

Give Elway credit, Like Elvis, he came along at the right time. The right man for the job! Some other time, I'll say how Platooning and trading down will help next year. All these guys, including the draft picks, are playing for the # 1 team, so they better get motivated and play well. I should think the fans might help here. (Also the four Amigos) Good work guys!

Posted by CaptCatnip on 2012-05-10 21:25:52

Any free agent acquisition list with Peyton Freaking Manning on it is a dream list.

Posted by broncosmontana on 2012-05-10 21:21:02

They promised they would be active in FA this year and kept their promise.
Be interesting to see how many make the 53 man roster. This should be an interesting TC in many areas.
There are some indications of philosophy it might be well to catch.
For instance, Porter and Florence are pretty quick. If you assume they'll keep Bailey and Chris Harris (which everyone pretty much is), that leaves only one more spot - unless, they keep 6. Now I'm wondering if they may intend some defense packages to feature 4 DBs (with Bailey assigned the TE unless there are 3 WRs). That would impact the safeties. Maybe they keep only 4. Adams, Bruton, Quinton Carter are the quickest. But Rahim Moore and Ihenacho interest me some, even Bush.
Now, if the conditioning staff (supposedly much better) makes them stronger and more aggressive, and the coaching staff hones their techique and ability to make quick reads, with the upgrade in speed, this could be an improved backfield. Hope so.
Quietly, they also added to the WR corp. Hill's a burner (if he can make the roster), Caldwell also an upgrade. If Stokely makes the roster, it will be more for his leadership than competitive athleticism, at this point. Actually, also am curious about Dell, Willis and Orton. Thought one might make the roster. Don't know much about the new class, but Robinson intrigues me. Wonder if any of the others have much of a chance. Page is very young, but so far I'm sceptical.
At first glance, I'd say of the veteran FA acquisitions, the most vulnerable are Stokely, Hanie and Hill.
Lots of competition going into TC.

Posted by ivanthenotsobad on 2012-05-10 21:11:44

I see some signs of improvement here. Maybe Elway isn't as stupid as some suggest. Only time will tell.

Posted by Boz on 2012-05-10 21:03:51

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