Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends….
It’s the middle of May, the Broncos opened up mini-camp on Monday and Travis Henry’s already come up lame. According to team officials, Henry pulled a hamstring while running sprints on Friday, which will keep him from participating during this week’s passing drills. So what’s new? … Vegas line has Selvin Young, Ryan Torain or Andre Hall picking up the slack by Week Two.
Brandon Marshall showed up to run routes and wind sprints, although his surgically repaired arm is still weeks away from being able to catch. Team officials are targeting a June 22nd return, roughly five weeks ahead of scheduled training camp. In the meantime, Sammie Parker, Darrell Jackson and Brandon Stokley will be getting the bulk of the calls.
Although he has yet to put on the pads, offensive lineman Ben Hamilton is confident he’ll be back in form for 2008, after suffering a season-ending concussion during last year’s training camp that left the veteran wondering if he’s ever be able to return.
"I worked really hard during the season last year and this offseason to get back where I am now," Hamilton told reporters. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be. It was good to hit a little bit. We didn't hit a whole lot today, but to get out there and run around with my teammates felt good."
Defensively, Jarvis Moss says he’s ready to roll after a broken leg last year that put an end to his rookie season. "I've got a little chip on my shoulder, Moss told the media. “Being out, I'm ready to go play football. I'd be ready if it started tomorrow."
ESPN Power Rankings came out and the Broncos are listed as the 23rd best team in the NFL. Considering there are 32 teams in the league, it doesn’t give a lot of promise to Shanahan’s 2008 squad. What’s worse is the fact the sports magnate has got the Arizona Cardinals, Houston Texans, New York Jets and Baltimore Ravens all listed higher in the rankings.
Not that I put a lot of weight into preseason rankings, but between the league completely shafting the team on prime time games and ESPN delegating them to the ‘we obviously stink category,’ you’ve got to wonder how a team that pulled off back to back Super Bowls less than a decade ago gets about the same amount of respect as the Oakland Raiders.
Something tells me this is going to be a long year….
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