OrangeandBlue: Denver Broncos Fan Blog

Here’s the montly summary of offseason moves made by the Broncos in March:

• Courtney Brown signed a contract extension.
• The Broncos re-signed Gerard Warren, Mike Leach, and Ron Dayne only hours after they hit the free agent market.
• The Broncos signed LB Nate Webster, formerly of the Cincinnati Bengals.
• DE Kenard Lang, formerly of the Cleveland Browns, was signed. He becomes the fifth Brownco — former DLineman for Cleveland who are now in Denver.
• Mike Anderson, Jeb Putzier, and Quentin Griffin will not be Broncos in 2006. Anderson followed Trevor Pryce to Baltimore, Putzier signed with the Texans and Quentin Griffin signed with the Chiefs. So far, no Broncos fans have shown any sorrow that Q won’t be back.
• In a three way trade involving the Jets and the Falcons, the Broncos acquired the 15th pick in the 1st round of this years draft. In order to move up, they gave up the 29th pick and a 3rd rounder this year, and a fourth round pick next year.
• The full schedule has not yet been announced, but we do know that the Broncos are playing a game in KC on the evening of Thanksgiving. It will be the first regular season ever played on the NFL Network.
• The Broncos were awarded a compensatory pick at the end of the fourth round in next month’s NFL draft.
• Though nothing official has happened, the Broncos keep looking at some other options at QB. They haven’t expressed dissatisfaction with Bradlee VanPelt, but just want to have some competition for that backup QB spot.
• The Broncos resigned LB Keith Burns. Burns’ contribution in the locker room makes him valuable, and I’m glad the Broncos are acknowledging that and keeping him around.

I believe that covers it. If anyone see anything I missed, please leave a comment.

For those who don’t follow each and every offseason move, I’m publishing these occasional off-season updates. These aren’t geared to keep you up to date on rumors, just some of the actual moves that have happened with the roster and coaching staff.

February is typically a quiet month for player movement, but there were a few key moves made by the Broncos which will have some bearing on what happens next season:

• Gary Kubiak, as expected, accepted the head coaching job of the Houston Texans.
• Many thought that Mike Heimerdinger was to be the next offensive coordinator, but he was brought in as the assistant heach coach. Rick Dennison was promoted from offensive line coach to offensive coordinator. A new offensive line coach has not been named.
• With Kubiak’s departure, there was speculation that Tom Nalen might follow Kubiak to Houston, but that speculation was quickly put to rest as the Broncos signed Nalen to a deal that would make him a Bronco for the rest of his career. This was a key move to keep the Broncos best offensive lineman on the roster.
• Matt Lepsis was also signed to a four year deal late in the month.
• In a move to get under the salary cap, RB Mike Anderson, TE Jeb Putzier, and DL Trevor Pryce were all cut by the team. There is a chance that each of them might come back, but only at significantly reduced salaries. It looks as if the RB position will be opened up for Ron Dayne and Tatum Bell, and perhaps the cutting of Putzier is a sign that the Broncos think Wesley Duke might be a key player next season.

JetsTV.com is reporting today that the Broncos are trading one of the first round picks, probably the 29th, to the Jets for John Abraham. Says the deal is to be officially announced tomorrow. We’ll have to wait and see, but there has certainly been a lot of speculation about this already.