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Mile High Draft (and Free Agency) Views: Defensive Line

I had debated for the longest time where the greater need was in Denver: at offensive or defensive tackle.  It was a good thing I chose the latter, because news today may alter the description on how the Broncos should view the defensive line in the draft.  After toying with the idea for months, the team finally decided to make the plunge in trading for Jets defensive end Dewayne Robertson.  Adam Schefter of the NFL Network reports that it is for a late-round choice in 2009.

Earlier in the offseason, I had lightly lobbied for the Broncos to look at acquiring another former Jet, Jonathan Vilma.  He had gone from being Defensive Player of the Year to an unlucky bad fit for a 3-4 defense that New York had changed to under Eric Mangini.  The same held true for Robertson, who wasn’t a good fit at the nose tackle position in the defense, despite the talent that he may have.  On that basis, I’m in favor of the trade, especially considering what appears to be for low compensation

I failed to mention Robertson as a possibility because of his contract situation, where he was due a roster bonus of $3 million by June in addition to a $6.8 million base salary.  The Jets had the same problem that the Broncos did in unloading a player via trade (swap Robertson for Javon Walker) because no team would want to take on that contract.  The Jets must have felt that they should get at least something for Robertson.  On that note, The Denver Post reports that Robertson’s contract will likely be restructured to about $4 million guaranteed, which is easier for the team to swallow.

With Robertson in the fold, he would be the presumed starter alongside Marcus Thomas.  However, aside from Alvin McKinley and perhaps Josh Mallard, depth is still scant at defensive tackle, and an additional rookie would be appreciated for at least comfort.  The good news about acquiring Robertson is that the pressure is lessened a little to use a first round pick on the position.  Emphasizing this is the fact that the clear top two of the class—Glenn Dorsey of LSU and Sedrick Ellis of USC—are almost certain to be long gone by #12, no matter how good they’d look in Denver.

Who would be decent alternatives?  I’m looking for defensive tackles that have high motors and the passion to continually make plays, even if they may be a little bit less talented.  Leading the pack is Trevor Laws from Notre Dame.  If anyone watched the Senior Bowl game, one can testify to the way Laws strived to get in the backfield—and this was an exhibition game at that.  Another player to consider later on might be DeMario Pressley of North Carolina State, who obviously has the pedigree from coming from the college of Mario Williams, Manny Lawson, and John McCargo but is a good athlete in his own right.

At defensive end, the Broncos may have no choice but to be patient for a year and see what they really have in Jarvis Moss and Tim Crowder—and Elvis Dumervil is still there to be a solid pass rusher.  There could be some good depth padding picks in the second day such as Jeremy Thompson of Wake Forest, Jason Jones of Eastern Michigan, or Darrell Robertson of Georgia Tech that would do the trick.

With all the positions wrapped up, tomorrow I’ll give a preference on how I would like to see the Broncos draft go down as a whole.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 24th, 2008 at 4:15 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.