Free Agency Starts

The Broncos tendered a 1st and a 3rd rounder for LB Elvis Dumervil. The team also tendered a 1st for WR Brandon Marshall, QB Kyle Orton, G Chris Kuper, and a 2nd round tender for TE Tony Scheffler.

The Broncos also started their free agency period by signing DL Justin Bannan from Baltimore. Denver also resigned G Russ Hochstein and WR Brandon Lloyd

Thoughts on the Winter Olympics

I'm taking a quick break from the NFL Dream Team to talk a little about the Olympics and specifically the Hockey tournament in the 2010 Vancouver games. Hockey is my second favorite sport, and next to the Broncos winning the Super Bowl in 1997 and 1998, one of the greatest sports memories I have is when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 1994. Hockey hasn't been at the forefront since the lockout of 2004, and rarely does Hockey get any attention in this country, but the level of play at this Olympics was just amazing. Since 1998, the NHL players have participated in the Olympics, and every time the Hockey has been unreal. This year was no different. What made it even more special is that we got the dream Gold Medal game: USA vs. Canada. It was a great game, and displayed just how awesome this sport can be. Canada jumped out to the 2-0 lead, but the Americans crawled back making it 2-1 at the end of two periods. Late in the 3rd, the USA pulled the goalie and they finally scored on a Zach Parise goal with 24.4 seconds left to tie it at 2 and stun all of Canada. Overtime was fast and furious, but Canada won it on Sidney Crosby goal halfway through the extra session. It was fitting that Canada would win 3-2 in overtime on a goal by the best hockey player in the world. For the USA, it is disappointing because winning the gold on Canadian soil would have been sweet. The US was not regarded as a medal favorite because they had the youngest team in the tournament. As the tourney played out, the US played like the best team in the world. They beat Canada in the first round 5-3 (Another amazing hockey game), and they finished the first round undefeated at 3-0. They were the number 1 seed heading into the medal round and got by the Swiss 2-0 and then destroyed Finland 6-1 in the semifinals. The USA-Canada rivalry is now becoming one of the biggest rivalries in all of internation sports. This US team was fun to root for. They were the young, up and coming underdogs who no one talked about. They proved that USA Hockey is in good hands and the future is bright for the sport in this country. Once again, Hockey proved that it is a better product than all the other sports with the exception of the NFL. These last two weeks were just a joy to watch, and hopefully people in this country will begin to look at hockey in a different light. It needs more exposure, but it also needs some tweaking. The sport delivers on every level, and hopefully this run by Team USA will give the sport some sort of boost it desperately deserves. Hopefully, the NHL players will return to the Olympics in Russia in 2014 because the level of play is so good it can't be taken away from not just hockey fans, but sports fans as well. One of my goals is to witness a USA team winning the gold medal in Olympic Hockey. I was 3 months old when the Miracle on Ice happened in 1980. The USA lost to Canada in the gold medal game in 2002, and this year we fell short again to Canada in overtime. One of these Olympics we will break through, I just hope that Hockey has a chance to breakthrough in the public's eyes first.

NFL Dream Team- Wide Receivers

If you are going to create a Dream Team, you can't just pick all the best wideouts in the NFL, throw them together in some sort of offense and expect everything to click. You need specific receivers for certain roles in an offense- each guy has to be able to perform a certain task to make your offense and your team successful. Here are my picks for the Dream Team Wideouts......

Wide Receivers (5): Larry Fitzgerald (Cardinals), Andre Johnson (Texans), Randy Moss (Patriots), Wes Welker (Patriots), and Steve Smith (Panthers): Here's why I selected each of these five guys:

Fitzgerald: The best all-around receiver in the game. He can do it all: Go deep, stretch the field, go underneath, and go over the middle. He can go get the ball wherever it is thrown.

Johnson: The second best receiver would be a dangerous compliment to Fitzgerald. He can do everything you ask of him as well.

Welker: The ultimate slot receiver. He is our underneath guy that will create mismatches with linebackers and 3rd and 4th corners and defensive backs. The perfect compliment to big play guys like Johnson and Fitzgerald.

Moss: A iffy selection, but Moss can still go up and get the ball in the air. He would fill our goal line and red zone responsibilities for going up and getting all those fade routes in the endzone.

Smith: A warrior at the receiver position. He can go in motion, move around, go over the middle and stretch the field.

NFL Dream Team- Fullbacks and Running Backs

Fullbacks (2): Tony Richardson (Jets) and LeRon McClain (Ravens): Both of these players give us what we want in a fullback, they can block at the point of the attack. They are the prototypical I formation fullback, and they could also get out of the backfield if they have to.

Running Backs (4): Adrian Peterson (Vikings), Chris Johnson (Titans), Michael Turner (Falcons), and Maurice Jones-Drew (Jaguars): Peterson, fumbling issues aside, is still one of the most dominating backs in all of football. He is a star, and you need him in your dream backfield. Johnson is the most exciting and explosive back in the NFL, and for this team he could be the back you could use in a lot of nickel situations and spread formations. Turner would fill the role of the short yardage and goal line back. Jones-Drew could be the third down option, and he is also very effective at blitz pickup.

Dream Team Part 2: Offensive Line/Tight Ends

If you are going to have a Parcells and Belichick team, then you are going to get a big and physical offensive line, and tight ends who must will be required to block, but also get involved in the passing game. Here are my choices for the Dream Team Offensive Line and Tight Ends:

Centers (2): Nick Mangold (Jets) and Andre Gurode (Cowboys): The two best centers in the NFL get the nod.

Guards (3): Steve Hutchinson (Vikings), Chris Snee (Giants), and Logan Mankins (Patriots): All three players fit what Parcells and Belichick are looking for in guards: Big, physical, and aggressive.

Tackles (3): Ryan Clady (Broncos), Jordan Gross (Panthers), Joe Thomas (Browns): You can't go wrong with these three tackles. You could get use Clady at Right Tackle and start Gross at LT.

Tight Ends (3) Jason Witten (Cowboys), Antonio Gates (Chargers), and Dallas Clark (Colts): Witten is a great all-around TE, and he would be the blocker in the group. Clark would be the main receiving threat, and Gates would be the big-play option.

Dream Team Part 1: The Front Office

Allright the USA Football Dream Team selection begins with the assembling of the front office and coaching staff. Here we go...

TEAM USA PRESIDENT: Bill Polian: Polian gets the nod because he is the best executive in pro fooball for over a decade. He built the Bills into the powerhouse that they represented the AFC in the Super Bowl four years in a row. He built up the expansion Carolina Panthers from the ground up, and helped the Panthers secure a berth in the 1996 NFC Championship. Currently, he has helped build the Indianapolis Colts into the winningest team of the most recent decade. Polian is the logical choice to oversee TEAM USA.

TEAM USA VICE PRESIDENT OF FOOTBALL OPERATIONS: Bill Parcells: Who else would you want to help build any team from scratch? Parcells has an eye and a knack for building winning programs. Look how he built the Giants in the 80s, translating into two Super Bowl titles. From there, he headed to New England and took over a 1-15 franchise. He turned the Pats around and in four years had them back into the Super Bowl. After leaving the Patriots, he turned his attention to another struggling, 1-15 franchise: The New York Jets. He got the Jets to the AFC Championship two years later. After an absence from the NFL, he returned to resurrect the Cowboys and took them to the playoffs his first year on the sideline. Parcells finally settled in as a VP of Football Operations for the Miami Dolphins. The Fish finished 1-15 the year before Parcells arrived, and they finished 11-5 and back in the playoffs his first year there in 2008. The bottom line is that if you want to start or rebuild your team, then Parcells is the guy you want behind the scenes.

TEAM USA HEAD COACH: Bill Belichick: It took me about .003 seconds to figure out who would coach this team. Parcells tabs his old coaching comrade to pilot this Dream Team. Who else would you pick? Belichick is the only choice. You could make a case for the following: Bill Cowher, Mike Shanahan, Tony Dungy, Mike Holmgren, Jon Gruden, Sean Payton, Jeff Fisher and or even Tom Coughlin, but all of them can't matchup to Belichick. He is the best coach in the NFL hands down, and there is no one else close to him right now in the league. Belichick would be able to command the respect of this collection of players, and somehow he would get the Dream Team to buy into the team concept. As far as his coaching staff, one thing you can't have is too many chiefs and not enough indians. You couldn't have some type of "Dream Coaching Staff" because it just wouldn't work out well- too many egos involved. Just let Belichick assemble his usual suspects: Charlie Weis on offense, Romeo Crennel on defense, and coaches like Pepper Johnson and Dante Scarnecchia amongst others. In any event, you would feel pretty comfortable with Belichick at the controls of the Dream Team.

Dream Team NFL Style

I must admit that I'm a big fan of the Olympics. I have always watched and enjoyed the Olympic Games, going all the way the back to the days of ABC and Jim McKay. One of the best thing that ever happened to the Olympics was the creation of the Dream Team for basketball in the 1992 Summer Olympics. That was followed by the creation of the Dream Team tournament in hockey in the Winter Olympics in 1998. Both ideas were fantastic, and to see the best players represent our country is really one of the neatest things to watch in sports. Imagine if American Football was as popular around the world as basketball and hockey. How cool would it be if the USA was challenged in football by Canada, Mexico, Japan, Germany, and Russia? Actually, American Football is growing around the world. There are teams and leagues in Scandanavia, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and Asia. Could you imagine if one day the rest of the world caught up to the United States in American Football? How cool would it be if we had to send our own Dream Team to compete against the world's best in the sport that is the most popular in America? Well, thank god for the offseason because I have thought about creating a 53 man Dream Team that would take on the world and compete for a gold medal. Like Canada in hockey and the U.S. in basketball, there is so much talent to choose from, that it is important to pick the right coach and the right type of team. It can't just be a collection of Pro Bowl rosters or All-Pro teams. You have to create the right type of team with the right type of players.