LEGWOLD: Broncos need good Taylor

By Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published December 21, 2007 at 12:45 a.m.

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Photo by Al Bello / Getty Images

Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor showed a lot of heart as the Dolphins won their first game this season - a trait that will merit attention if he is traded during the offseason.

Dig through the league's vast pile of statistics and there will eventually be a page with Patrick Kerney's name at the top. It's the one with sacks, the one that says Kerney leads the NFL with 13 1/2.

Yes, the same Patrick Kerney the Broncos had made a top-shelf, send-his- old-position-coach- to-the-airport, just- got-to-have-him priority last March.

The same Patrick Kerney who signed in Seattle because many folks believe he simply got more of his guaranteed money up front, in the first year of the deal, than he could in a contract offer from the Broncos that contained roughly the same total at the bottom line.

And make no mistake, those 13 1/2 sacks, or anything close to it, would look pretty good in a Denver defense these days that has struggled to find both its identity and some consistency along the way.

Which is just exactly why, when the Miami Dolphins dangle defensive end Jason Taylor for a trade in the new year as expected, there are many in the league who believe the Broncos will be at the front of the line.

Broncos coach Mike Shanahan routinely swats away any public discourse over what he deems as "personnel issues," and Taylor's under contract anyway, so the Broncos couldn't say anything by league rules even if they weren't so averse to such things.

And March is indeed still a long way off - April's draft even further down the line - but the dots do connect after polling many league executives about where the potential action will be in the upcoming offseason.

The Dolphins, on track to finish with the league's worst record with plenty of room to spare, have an aging roster, especially on defense, and plenty of holes to fill on offense as well.

They will have the No. 1 pick of the draft but are expected to be looking for several picks instead to restock their roster, especially with no slam-dunk quarterback at the top of the board. The Broncos, even if they close with two wins, would be at 8-8 and have a pick in the upper half of the first round. The Rams were 8-8 in '06 and picked at No. 13; Carolina, at 8-8, had the No. 14 pick before trading it.

That will give Denver some juice to move if it wishes in a draft set to be loaded with talented juniors.

There is also the matter of the Broncos' difficulty, at least some agents have said, in landing their most coveted players in free agency of late because the team has chosen to split signing bonuses over multiple seasons or dole them out in multiple payments more often than some other teams.

A look at the Broncos' current payroll shows deferred bonus money negotiated into deals for Daniel Graham, Javon Walker, Matt Lepsis, Dre Bly, Travis Henry and Tom Nalen over the last two seasons alone.

And sometimes in free agency, especially if a team isn't coming off a playoff season and doesn't appear poised to make a run at a championship, players will often decide to head elsewhere for more guaranteed money in the first check that reaches their palm.

It is why at least some in the negotiation game around the league say the Broncos haven't reeled in players such as Kerney in recent free-agency junkets. The Broncos, with former Falcons assistant Bill Johnson - Kerney's former position coach and friend - were even thought to have the inside track on Kerney last March.

Johnson picked Kerney up at DIA for a visit that began with a bearhug, but that wasn't enough to bridge the business of business.

At least, in part, that also has made the Broncos one of the most active trading partners in the league, having pulled off the league's biggest trade - Clinton Portis for Champ Bailey and a draft pick in 2004 - in recent memory.

Their biggest move in free agency this year - acquiring Bly - also came in a trade, and no team in the past five years has been more willing to make more deals than the Broncos have, even going as far as to trade a former starter - Gerard Warren - to the Raiders, a team in their own division that had also once fired Shanahan.

For his part, Taylor will be 34 next season, but in this season of woe for the Dolphins, he has been one of the few consistent bright spots for a struggling team. His 10 sacks for a 1-13 team may be a more difficult feat than winning the league's Defensive Player of the Year honor was for him last season.

In the Dolphins' win on Sunday, Taylor had two sacks and blocked a field-goal attempt in a game the Dolphins won by six points. Don't think football people didn't notice that kind of effort came after 13 consecutive losses.

The Broncos, having now missed the playoffs two seasons in a row, are certainly expected to be active this offseason to change their recent ways. A player such as Taylor would not be part of a youth movement that could be at least part of the roster building, but he is one who has shown he will play at an elite level through almost any circumstance.

In short, there just aren't many of those around.

And in the coming months, there are plenty in the league who already think Shanahan will agree.

legwoldj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2359

NUMBERS GAME

6-2 record for the Chargers since receiver Chris Chambers arrived to the team in an October trade from the Miami Dolphins.

FIRST TIMER

Chargers cornerback Antonio Cromartie, above, who has gone from backup to starter this season, leads the league with 10 interceptions, including three against Peyton Manning last month. No Chargers player has led the league in interceptions.

WHAT PARITY?

Eleven teams have a chance to finish with 11 victories this season, which would be the most in league history. The record was set in 2005, when 10 teams finished with at least 11 wins, including the Broncos at 13-3.

HE SAID IT

"People make it sound like we didn't win a game. My two years there, we won the division and I was fired when we were 7-6."

Norv Turner, Chargers coach, on whether his failed experience as coach in Washington made him appreciate the Chargers' division title this year.

Point men

Three of the league's 10 all-time touchdown makers are active this season - Dallas receiver Terrell Owens, Indianapolis receiver Marvin Harrison and San Diego running back LaDainian Tomlinson. The leaders:

Player Career touchdowns

Jerry Rice 208

Emmitt Smith 175

Marcus Allen* 145

Marshall Faulk 136

Cris Carter 131

Terrell Owens 130

LaDainian Tomlinson 127

Jim Brown* 126

Walter Payton* 125

Marvin Harrison 123

• December 21, 2007

  12:13 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  LarryB writes:

  Jeff, have you seen the Broncos play, or noticed them at all? They do not need a Jason Taylor. They are loaded at defensive end. They need defensive tackles. If a Haynesworth or somebody such as he becomes available, then let's hear about it. But not a 34-year-old Taylor. Can anyone say Simeon Rice?

• December 21, 2007

  4:01 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Pigskin writes:

  Good analysis, Jeff. And a good read - please keep them coming.
  One thing I can't get past: 34.
  Taylor's age.
  How long before there's a sudden, drastic drop-off in skills? This is just the kind of signing I don't want to see - big dollars, aging player.
  I agree with LarryB, to a point. I don't know that we're "loaded" at DE, primarily because of Moss' lost year and the uncertainty about that player. But I don't want to swap anything for a guy who's been in the league this long.

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