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Broncos Williams welcomes challenge

Risk of returning kicks is draw for cornerback

Lee Rasizer, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 11, 2006 at midnight

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It's your classic risk-vs.-reward scenario.

Darrent Williams is almost certainly the Broncos' best punt returner and, perhaps, the team's top option to run back kickoffs.

He also happens to be a starting cornerback, whose value defensively was demonstrated when he missed the final month of the 2005 season because of a right groin injury.

Whether he should coexist in both realms in 2006 will be one of the key questions to be answered when the Broncos report to training camp July 27.

"If he ends up being the best returner, it'd be great to have him back there, but that's obviously a (coaching) decision, whether or not you want to risk one of your starting corners over there," Broncos general manager Ted Sundquist said, referring not only to coach Mike Shanahan but defensive assistants Larry Coyer and Bob Slowik. "But Darrent's certainly got the talent to do that."

During the Broncos' minicamp last week, only Williams and receiver Charlie Adams were back to receive the ball during punt-protection drills.

Several other players figure to at least get practice repetitions to sort out the situation.

Rod Smith and Champ Bailey have the requisite skill set but, like Williams, are starters. Receiver David Terrell is inexperienced fielding punts but, special-teams coach Ronnie Bradford said, "has shown a real knack," thus making him a candidate.

Rookies Brandon Marshall and Domenik Hixon, who has missed most of the team's organized offseason practices because of a left foot problem, also figure to get looks.

Yet Williams made it clear that, though he understands concerns about possibly spreading himself too thin, he'd be "kind of disappointed to not at least be doing punt returns" because he has a "passion" for that aspect of special teams.

He noted other starters have roles beyond their specific positions, so he shouldn't be any different.

The only flaw in that mind-set is that, unlike those other starters, defenders are trying to land the perfect shot on Williams to dislodge the ball the second it hits his hands.

"It is more dangerous," Williams said of returning punts, an area in which the Broncos ranked 11th in the NFL last season with an 8.5-yard average per attempt. "But that's why I like it so much, because it is such a risk."

Bradford maintained he has no marching orders from Shanahan to find an option other than Williams.

"Absolutely none," he said. "I mean, Jake Plummer's my starting holder. It's one of those things where (Shanahan) says, if it's going to make us successful, let's go with it."

Still, Bradford conceded, there must be a balance so Williams doesn't get worn out. It could lead to a scenario in which the cornerback gets his wish on punts but is held off the kickoff return team.

As Bradford noted, kickoffs are "one of those things where we have more guys that can catch the ball end over end than catching spirals out of the sky."

The Broncos were sure-handed in that situation last season but never got much explosiveness once the ball was fielded. They averaged only 20.7 yards per kickoff return, better than only seven teams, and their resulting average starting point per drive was the 25 1/2-yard line, which ranked in a tie for 28th with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Only six of 47 returns netted 30 yards or better, with Williams responsible for four on 18 attempts.

Cornerback Roc Alexander and Adams also handled the role and will get auditions again in camp, with running backs Cedric Cobbs, Mike Bell and Ron Dayne likely joining that group.

"Would I love to use Darrent back there every single time? Sure," Bradford said. "Did we expect him to be our starting corner his second year in the league? No. It's just one of those things where when we got him in the second round of the draft, I thought I had a returner for awhile. It's funny how things work out."

The dark-horse option to possibly protect Williams is Hixon. A fourth- round pick out of the University of Akron, Hixon was one of five college players to score on a kickoff and punt return two years ago.

His 705 kick-return yards last season were third-most in Division I-A. He's expected to be full speed once training camp opens.

"As far as explosiveness and speed goes, he certainly has the tools to do that," Sundquist said of Hixon's abilities as a returner. "Whether or not he can transfer that remains to be seen."

Many happy returns?

The Broncos' leading return specialists last season:

PUNTS Player No. FC Yds. Avg. Long TD KICKOFFS No. Yds. Avg. Long TD

Darrent Williams 17 12 148 8.7 52 0 18 431 23.9 36 0

Charlie Adams 16 5 133 8.3 32 0 10 218 21.8 32 0

Roc Alexander 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 261 21.8 31 0

Team totals 33 17 281 8.5 52 0 47 975 20.7 36 0