Broncos have plan for Robertson Posted: Friday May 23, 2008 08:26AM ET In the interest of protecting their investment and keeping their new run-stopper fresh, the Broncos are shutting down Dewayne Robertson for the rest of this passing camp. It's all part of a judicious plan the Broncos set up for the defensive tackle, who was essentially bought last month from the Jets. "He probably could practice, but we're a little bit cautious with him," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. "We know he'll be able to go in the June camp. So we want to get him stronger in a couple different areas." Robertson had wrist surgery this year and has played his entire five-year NFL career with a chronic knee problem. After consummating the trade by paying Robertson a reduced rate of $4 million in bonuses and salary this season, the Broncos opted for a less-is-more plan. Robertson, 26, will likely be among the veterans on the one-a-day schedule during training camp. And it's virtually guaranteed he will play less than 65 percent of the snaps in games. Staying below that threshold means the Broncos won't have to give the Jets a 2009 draft pick. Great,......no draft pick. I guess getting that fat contract finally off our books makes the glass half full.
We know he's likely not playing that much. The FO is taking a risk that they'll need DRob more than they think, and he'll play 65%. He's played more than that each of the last few seasons for us, and he didn't even fit the system. They probably could have gotten a late round pick, like a 6th or a 7th, but they decided to roll the dice.
They may be forced to play him more than 65%, other guys can get injured you know. At this point it does not look good, but only time will tell, it's still possible we get something back.
Yep...The Broncos aren't exactly loaded with DT's...and they only one they drafted was Powell in the 5th I think. DRob is easily the best DT on their roster right now.
still bothers me that we spent 2 1st rounders on this guy and didn't even get any residual value when we dumped him. oh well, at least we're not the chargers (and ryan leaf). i wonder if that's any consolation?
I'll always agree with you about the 2 1st rounders. The knee problems came after we drafted him. But I'll stickup for him a little bit when he was playing DT in the 4-3. The guy wasnt All-Pro, but he did strike me as a steady player. Maybe I'm way off base here.
Caught me dead wrong again. I didnt hear any of this when we drafted him. Only heard about the knee problems after his rookie season. I googled this & you are right.
Now I really know WTF you guys are talking about when bashing Bradway. Holy s--t, the guy KNOWS that D-Rob has a knee problem BEFORE he drafts him, yet coughs up 2 1st rounders????? I feel like I just found out my parents stole me from my birth mother.
also it needs to mentioned that Bradway at that time leaped frog the Patriots to get DRob because it was rumored that they were interested. so there's another way the Pats screwed us over. wish i can say we got the final laugh with the whole spygate scandal but they did win 3 championships.
Face it, we knew when we unloaded Robertson that there was a chance we'd get nothing for him. We cleared cap space and that will help us this year. Importantly, however, I would find the article very disturbing if I was a Broncos fan. For the team to decide now to play Robertson less than 65% of the snaps is amazing. How can a team be so worried about giving the Jets a low to mid-level draft pick? What if Robertson plays really well? What if other guys on the D-Line get hurt? What if the Broncos are in contention for a play-off spot? If the Broncos want to design the defense to avoid giving the Jets any draft pick, then they are a pretty sorry team. Sure, if it is at the end of the season, and the Broncos are out of it, I can see them trying to avoid giving the Jets a high draft pick, especially if it just means resting Robertson an extra couple of plays. But, to plan from the beginning of the season to keep a player off the field to avoid giving up any draft pick a year later is pretty sad. Mike
That's the risk both they and us took. They probably think they can get enough DL depth to play DRob only about 55-64% of the downs. The Jets are hoping that their DL depth is as poor as it looks, and if Denver is competing for a playoff berth, DRob might be needed to give them more downs if he's clearly better than their other options.
One thing to consider here is that there are by-laws against intentionally not living up to the playing percentages in a trade like this. If a NFL representative feels like the Broncos manipulated his playing time to be under the 65% the Jets could get the compensation anyway.
Yep, your right. It will play out the way it plays out. If the Jets wind up getting something for him, great. if not it is still great, He and his contract are gone. A potential Pro Bowler will be replacing him for half the money.
The Broncos shuffle their D-Line a lot to try and keep them fresh. The writer is pointing out that looking at recent history, no one on their line is likely to get the benchmark especially with a draft pick at stake.
