The Denver Broncos on Thursday waived tight end Brett Pierce and released fullback Cecil Sapp after reaching injury settlements with the players, Head Coach Mike Shanahan announced.

Pierce, a third-year player, was designated waived/injured (left ankle) by Denver on Saturday. He joined the Broncos as a future-contract signee on Dec. 31.

Sapp, a sixth-year player, was placed on injured reserve (left hip flexor) by the Broncos on Saturday. In 49 career games (9 starts) with the Broncos, he posted 49 rushes for 223 yards (4.6 avg.) with two touchdowns, 24 receptions for 102 yards (4.3 avg.) with one score and nine kickoff returns for 187 yards (20.8 avg.).

Sapp joined the Broncos as a college free agent from Colorado State University on May 8, 2003.

Shanny readies for practice

My first practice and my goal was to take in as much as possible.  It was great to see the Orange and Blue close up and get a real feel for just how fast, how big, and how powerful alot of these men are.  I have read through the comments and will try and touch on as much as possible.  I focused on the 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills, wanting to see how the team looked when simulating game action.  As the week/weekend moves on I will focus on different parts.

There is hope, with the off-day following on Sunday, that the team may go full-pads on Saturday morning.  I certainly hope that is the case.

Here are some of my musings, in no real order....

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The Broncs are still trying to replace Sharpe

The Broncos have always enjoyed strong Tight End play during the Mike Shanahan era.  Sure, having a Hall of Fame player at the position for let's say, a decade, substantially increases productivity, but even without Shannon Sharpe the Broncos have been able to utilize their Tight End's in their offensive sets.  A look, however, at the production coming from the position the past 5 seasons shows a disturbing trend downward -

2002 - 61 rec. / 686 yds / 3 TDs
2003 - 62 rec. / 770 yds / 8 TDs

2004 - 58 rec. / 770 yds / 3 TDs
2005 - 58 rec. / 651 yds / 1 TD
2006 - 43 rec. / 518 yds / 6 TDs

In the stats above, 2002 and 2003 were Sharpe's last two seasons as a Bronco.  After he retired, the Broncos went to more of a platoon scenario at tight end.  In 2004 it was Byron Chamberlain and Jeb Putzier.  2005 saw Putzier joined by Stephen Alexander.  In 2006, incredibly, the Broncos had 4 different tight ends make catches, rookie Tony Scheffler, Alexander, Nate Jackson and Chad Mustard.  Sure, the TD production went up, but the number of catches and yards dropped significantly.  Also suffering was the Broncos ground game.  2006 saw the Broncos finish 8th in the League in rushing, their lowest finish in the 5 years studied.  Their rush total, 2152 yards, was their lowest of the period and nearly 400 yards worse than 2005 when they finished 2nd in the League, behind only the Atlanta Falcons.  One could easily come to the conclusion that 400 yards over a 16 game season can be the difference between 13-3 and 9-7.

Things got better in 2007, with Broncos' Tight Ends combining for their best season since Sharpe retired, a subtle sign that the health of the Broncos short passing game might be starting to improve -

2007 - 71 rec. / 891 yards / 8 TDs

The running game, however, continued to decline - 1957 yards - but that number can be misleading. The Broncos averaged a healthy 4.6 yards per carry, easily enough to be successful on the ground. Being behind, forced to throw the football to stay in games, was a major factor.

For the Broncos to be successful in 2008, the Tight Ends must play well in both facets of the game. If 2007 was any indication, the Tight End position is one of strength for the Broncos heading into Training Camp. Let's take a look at each and talk about how they'll impact the roster in '08.

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