Does anybody else see the Broncos as...

[dave]

Dawkins will be huge for you guys ... even if it's just for leadership.

Champ Bailey and Dre Bly not leaders, just players. Dawkins is like Ray Lewis - a damn leader.

He will give that D an attitude. And if they don't listen, he'll smack 'em into listening.

[Senser81]

And I guess you guys don't remember that Lynch was awesome in his first year as a Bronco. He was a huge reason for the team being able to beat San Diego. You could see him starting to slip in his second year with the team but he still made the Pro Bowl. Two Pro Bowl's in three years isn't bad. You could see how much the team missed him last year in run d, which was worse than ever. He was the most consistent tackler on the team for years. I would argue that he was never "great" in pass coverage to begin with, and I think the regression he went through was due to age and injuries not a team.

Champ Bailey was flat out awesome from the day he got to Denver. Under Larry Coyer from 2004-2006 he had 21 interceptions, including 10 in 2006. When Coyer was let go and Bates was brought in the team basically abandoned man defense and blitzing which would expose any CB. If you can name any of our safeties over the past two years you could probably understand why we get beat so much (Lynch, Hamza Abdullah, Dominique Foxworth, Calvin Lowry, Marlon McRee, Marquand Manuel, Roderick Rodgers, Josh Barrett). In a cover two system Bailey was handcuffed to the flats and often just ignored by the QB as the #1 WR is just motioned away from him to Dre' Bly on most occasions. Couple that with the most ineffective pass rush in the league and there is NO ONE who could have been impressive.

Yeah, I disagree with the entire concept of this thread. Bailey was more highly-regarded in Denver than in Washington, and Lynch was really good for his first couple years in Denver. I think going to Denver helped both of those guys' careers, at least initially.