Good Morning, Broncos fans! Ouch. Adam Rank includes old friend Ebenezer Ekuban among the Cowboys' all-time draft busts. Either Dallas has just been really good at drafting, or Rank doesn't know what he's talking about. Not that Ekuban was ever a star, but he had a nine-year career - if we were to list the Broncos' biggest busts, we'd find that they hardly had NFL careers at all. Surely Rank will get to the Broncos eventually, but let's see what I can come up with: Ted Gregory, Willie Middlebrooks, Marcus Nash, Paul Toviessi, Jeremy LeSueur, Maurice Clarett, Jarvis Moss, Chris Watson, Terry Pierce, Travis McGriff, George Foster, Alphonso Smith - not all first-rounders, but all were pretty brutal picks. Who's your "favorite" Broncos bust of all time? I've already rehashed Maddox over Pickens and Lelie over Reed countless times (and will surely do so again), but those guys at least had some NFL success. Those fall more under the "really stupid picks" category rather than biggest busts. I'll go with Marcus Nash - sure, he was the 30th-overall pick after Denver's first SB win, but they could have easily gone best player with no real holes to fill and instead completely whiffed.
Broncos
Pat Bowlen emailed a letter to fans yesterday. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Matt Bowen agrees with the general idea that the Broncos and Tim Tebow will be hurt by a shortened offseason.
Like one of his readers, Legwold thinks Denver should consider Stephen Paea in the second round.
Klis hacks it up by reading into the Broncos' lack of attendance at LSU's pro day. Gil Brandt says Denver will work Peterson out privately.
CBA
Farrar details a conference call during which Drew Brees, Jeff Saturday and Kevin Mawae spoke; the players strongly contended that the timeline presented by owners last Friday and the suggestion that the players walked away from the negotiating table were both patently false. According to Mawae, the owners refused to give the players a $1 billion equity stake rather than cost credits, which seems to confirm that the owners are dealing with cooked numbers, if true.
A third judge has been assigned to the players' antitrust suit; there is a chance the case will eventually end up in front of Judge Doty.
Rep. John Conyers of Michigan spoke yesterday of eliminating the antitrust exemption relating to the NFL's broadcast rights; Farrar reacts.
According to the WSJ, NFL owners have saved up enough cash to carry them through a lost season even without their TV money. Go figure...where do you suppose they loaded up?
Jason Cole writes that unless the players gain a quick victory in court, free agency in 2011 will be similar to that of last year's.
Judy Battista on the waiting game and the players' frustrations.
Andrew Brandt goes over the basics of the disagreement again.
Chris Brown on the generally crappy media coverage of the labor issues.
MJD responds to the NFLPA's attempt to keep players from attending the draft with a "Who cares?!"
Also via MJD, the Onion Sportsdome presented a hilarious news story portraying a resolution to the lockout.
Trimmings
There will be no rule change that would prevent lost touchdowns ala Calvin Johnson in last year's opener versus the Bears.
Mike Lombardi explains what coaches around the league should be doing with all this free time.
The Raiders' players are still talking their ridiculous talk.
Andy Benoit is reviewing the film on each team's 2010 season. First up, the Packers.
An FO reader attempts to confirm or dispute the CW which holds that an offense can help "keep its own team's defense fresh" by sustaining drives. Not sure he succeeds at doing either, but it's an interesting read.
KSK interprets PK's MMQB. Plus, they got a firsthand account from Cris Collinsworth of his riverboat meal adventure.
Mockery
Gil Brandt details the pro days of LSU (and says the Broncos will work out Patrick Peterson privately) and Oregon State.
Wes Bunting shares his favorite draft prospects at each position.
Plus, three players who boosted their pre-draft grades during their pro days.
As they get ready to share their prospect grades this week, New Era Scouting explains their grading system.
Bucky Brooks has Denver taking Marcell Dareus at #2 in his first mock draft.