The Denver Broncos have (probably) just acquired Detroit Lions cornerback Dré Bly, giving up only Tatum Bell, George Foster, and a draft pick. (Wait, that's three people.)
Bly is best known for his time as the nickelback for the early-century St. Louis Rams, one of the most wretched defenses of our era. (In the nadir that was their 2000 season, the Rams gave up 29.4 points per game.) On a dangerous team that competed solely and I mean solely, on the strength of a record-setting offense, Bly was one of the very best defensive bench players.
At first glance, it seems we gave up too much for the 29-year-old defender. But when you're sitting across the proverbial bargaining table from a genius like Matt Millen, you take what you can get.
This trade seems odd to me in terms of timing, but I like it more the more time I give it. To be fair, Bly is speedy and has a nose for interceptions. He's taken five of his thirty-three career picks in for touchdowns. Think of him like Terrell Buckley, or as a better version of Deltha O'Neal.
The Broncos gave up a bit in exchange. George Foster had managed to play his way to the bench in his brief and disappointing career. (Maybe that's too harsh-is it reasonable to expect a man who's only 6'5" and 338 pounds to be able to push people out of his way?)
The draft pick is probably going to be in the fifth round. Who knows if we'll miss it? Yes, a lot of very important players are drafted in or after the fifth round-Karl Mecklenburg went in the freaking twelfth round-but in 2006, the Broncos took guard Chris Kuper in the fifth round, you know? (No offense, Chris.)
Tatum Bell is a significant loss, though I'm sure he's also a constant frustration to Broncos coaches. On one hand, he rushed for more than one thousand yards last year and has a sparkling career average of 4.9 yards per carry. On the other, he combined Terrell Davis size (5'11", 213 lbs.) with Clinton Portis speed (4.34 in the 40) but could barely hold off the competition for the starting job. Plus he goes down just a little easier than other recent Broncos runners, and Mike Shanahan has a Hardaway-like tolerance for soft runners.
Of course, the reason we needed a cornerback was the tragic death of Darrent Williams. Williams was good, and clearly our best starting option alongside Champ Bailey, but Dominique Foxworth and Karl Paymah played all right when given a chance. I thought the Broncos needed depth at corner more than they necessarily needed to find a new starter, but Bly is a welcome addition at corner.
This trade, combined with the sad and recent passing of backup Damien Nash, leaves the Broncos very thin at running back. (It's especially worrisome considering the play of our offensive line this year.) Right now the Broncos' options are Mike Bell, Cedric Cobbs, and someone named Andre Hall. I guess Cecil Sapp could move back to tailback, too.
Since this trade has made running back such a question mark, I'm hesitant to pass a final judgement until the offseason plays its course. Assuming the Broncos find a runner before the season starts, it was probably a solid move. I think. You?
Comments
I still think our best move to address the CB situation was to make a move for Nate Clements in the free agent market. Plus, there are a lot of great CB's in this year's draft (compared with few good RB's), so it's not like this trade makes sense from a draft perspective.
Plus, the timing is strange - it smacks of desperation, but we are still almost 2 months away from the draft. Strange.
I think the Broncos are much smarter than other teams when it comes to evaluating running back prospects, and I think they get better value with their picks as a result. That's how they've ended up with late-drafted performers like T.D., Mike Anderson, and Olandis Gary. (Clinton Portis, too, if only because his fall to the second round shows how bad other teams are at this. He went to Miami. He starred on a championship team. He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated in college. What else can you even do?)
Anyway, because the Broncos find runners so easily, it makes some sense to trade them for players at positions where we've had less luck, like corner. I'm just afraid the Broncos are getting arrogant to the point that they don't want to spend any resources to get a solid running back, and I think that will backfire. That's why I'm okay with the trade...if we make the effort to replace Bell.
the draft can't come soon enough, i say we put all our chips on a runner. screw the development thing, screw the diamond in the rough, i want a star.