Write On Sports LLC - " Front and Center Anchors of the AFC West. PT 2 of 4" by Mykle Van Hausen

Front and Center Anchors of the AFC West. PT 2 of 4

2008-04-11 01:04:23 | By: Mykle Van Hausen

The Denver Broncos

Denver’s chosen an experienced back up with their off season signing of the Chiefs veteran Center Casey Wiegmann.

Singed to a 2 yr contract, Wiegmann certainly isn’t the long term answer the Bronco’s are going to have to find sooner or later.

One gets the feeling they’re denying the reality Tom Nalen isn’t immortal.

Pretty close though.

The 6-3, 286 lb. Center has been a rock in the middle of the O line for 14 yrs.

Talk about milking a good thing.

Nalen was taken 218th overall in the 1994 NFL Draft, but has since been to 5 Pro Bowl’s and blocked for six different 1,000 yd rushers.

Not surprisingly, the Bronco stalwart is showing signs of break wear and tear including a tear to his right biceps that not only saw him out of the line up, but onto an operating table.

The October 6th injury in the first quarter of an eventual 41-3 drubbing by the Chargers, saw Nalen on IR for the rest of the season.

Chris Myers was listed as Nalen’s back up, but as mentioned, the Bronco’s sought veteran help form KC’s aging Center Casey Wiegmann after a trade saw Myers go to Houston.

The Bronco’s will one day soon have to deal with the inevitable, but for now seem content on replacing a 14 yr Veteran with a 13 yr man in Wiegmann.

Whether Shanahan likes it or not, he needs to address the anchor of his O line and infuse some youth sooner rather than later.

They’ve gotten an extremely disproportionate amount of excellent play from a 7th rounder, but some in Denver feel its past time to groom a replacement, for as much as their Coach would like to deny it, Tom Nalen won’t play forever.

It just seems that way.

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