Ask Mase: Let Broncos players enjoy their offseason downtime

Thinking out loud here …

The single most tired aspect of an NFL offseason is critiquing how players spend their time away from team headquarters.

Personally, I find much of what players post to be delightful. They’re living life. They’re vacationing. And they’re often giving back to their hometowns.

Saturday, we saw a video of Jerry Jeudy running routes with kids at Lamar Jackson’s football-camp day in Broward County, Fla. Jeudy is back on his home turf, spending time with football younglings, having fun with training camp still two-and-a-half weeks away.

This is the time to go home, have fun and give back. Cool to see @jerryjeudy sharing some time and moments with the kids back where he grew up. https://t.co/1laAjWwnwv

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) July 10, 2022

Meanwhile, Russell Wilson shares images and video of his travels through Europe, which include time in France, England, a day at Wimbledon, an anniversary night out with his wife in Italy, and — yes! — getting some football workouts in during his travels.

There is nothing that isn’t terrific about all of this. A mental respite is healthy, especially considering the grind that is to come.

And if the Broncos struggle this season, it won’t be because their players were off like dots on the map, spanning the globe in their travels. It won’t be because they used the six weeks between their last on-field OTA and their first training-camp practice to savor the world outside of football.

No, it’ll be for all of the REAL reasons why football teams can fall short: injuries, miscues of execution, or because the other team was just better on that day. As John Fox often said, the other team gets paid, too.

From Pablo in Fairbanks, Alaska:

What input — if any — does Randy Gradishar have in choosing the person who states his case to the HoF committee? Clearly Jeff Legwold‘s message is largely ignored.

Could Randy ask for someone else?

I believe Randy personally knows Condoleezza Rice from his Orange Crush days when Rice dated his teammate Rick Upchurch. It would get the attention of the Hall to have a fan, not some well-worn scribe, advocate on a player’s behalf. Rice is a compelling presence and a well-versed NFL fan. She’d get their attention. She has cred.

If we want the results to change perhaps we need to change the methodology. (Feel free to share this thought with Randy the next time you see him. LoL)

First of all, let’s focus on the process for Gradishar. It has to go through the Seniors Committee, which has just 12 members — roughly 25 percent of the size of the full board of selectors. Thus, most NFL teams don’t even have a presence in that room. Denver does with its selection-committee representative, Legwold of ESPN.

That being said, Legwold bears no blame for Gradishar not being in the Hall of Fame. I know a lot of people like to point the finger at the person making the case. However, this is a misguided notion.

Legwold’s research and championing of Broncos is a significant reason why Floyd Little eventually made it through the Seniors pool and why Steve Atwater’s candidacy — which was virtually dormant for a decade — revived and resulted in his induction last August.

The flaw is in the bottlenecked selection process and the gatekeeping that limits the number of senior candidates that are considered.

Condoleeza Rice would not do any better. I think those in the selection room would look askance at someone who is effectively a ringer being brought in to present Gradishar’s case. Thus, it would actually hurt his chances.

Second, the limited number of Seniors candidates passed through for nomination to the full selection committee is absurdly low. This year, the Hall inducts just one senior nominee: the late Raiders and CU wide receiver Cliff Branch. The expanded Centennial Class in 2020 included 10 seniors choices. For the upcoming 2023 class, just three of the 25 semifinalists will eventually be voted on by the entire committee next February.

Of those 25 finalists, I could make compelling arguments today for 19 of them. And some that are equally deserving as Gradishar, in my estimation, are former Bengals QB Ken Anderson, truly great offensive linemen Joe Jacoby, Bob Kuechenberg and Mike Kenn, Super Bowl V MVP Chuck Howley, ex-49ers RB Roger Craig, original Atlanta Falcon LB and perennial Pro Bowler Tommy Nobis, nine-time Pro Bowl LB Maxie Baughan, former Packers WR Sterling Sharpe — who was dazzling before a neck injury prematurely ended his career after just seven seasons — ex-Chiefs WR Otis Taylor, long-time returner extraordinare Billy “White Shoes” Johnson — who, by the way, is the only HoF-eligible player on the NFL 100 who is NOT in the Hall of Fame.

The backlog continues to increase as qualified candidates continue moving out of the modern-era pool and into the seniors pool. Jacoby, in particular, should have been selected early in his modern-era eligibility window as a great tackle on one of the defining offensive lines in NFL history — Washington’s 1980s “Hogs.”

Obviously, in Denver, the focus is on Gradishar. But the queue is stacked. Until the Hall of Fame does something to ease the backlog — like having five Seniors choices every year for, say, a decade — this issue will not fade.

From Mike in Salt Lake City:

I’ve heard you say many times that Garett Bolles struggles more at home than on road because of the psychological impact of the crowd response if he commits a holding penalty. How can we fix that? I’m talking fixing the crowd reaction, not Bolles himself. There’s 70,000 people packed in there that desperately want the Broncos to win. The last thing we want to do is negatively impact the team!

How can we start a movement that will boost Bolles’ morale in such circumstances by communicating, “That’s OK; we still love you, get it next time!”

Another key aspect of Bolles to note is that his best season was 2020. That year, the Broncos played nine games in front of zero fans because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Broncos’ season-long home and road attendance that year was 47,133.

I love your idea in theory. But as Homer Simpson said, “In theory, communism works.” The reality of humans and human nature dictate otherwise. It is nearly impossible to get 70,000-plus people to control the uncontrollable — the visceral response. In times of stress, we often revert to ingrained habits and behavior. It’s also part of why bad habits on the field — like unnecessary back-foot throws — can be hard to break.

Here in July, it sounds awesome. But in the third quarter of a tight game, when a holding penalty wipes out a 17-yard completion on second-and-8, you know exactly how people will react.

What do you think of the ELF (European League of Football)? Are you going to watch some matches, now that they are partnering up with Next Level Sports & Entertainment and stream the games via https://t.co/hiZV72B21u?

— Sebastian (@SeBronco) July 9, 2022

I follow the Wroclaw Panthers on Twitter, because Gary Kubiak is a consultant with them. However, I’m not paying much attention beyond that. I also check in on the CFL. But I only watched bits and pieces of the USFL after the first week.

One must set limits.

The NFL season is six-and-a-half months from training camp through the Super Bowl. Draft-and-free-agency season is effectively another two-and-a-half months. And then we get offseason work that extends into June.

As a spectator who left a Broncos game in 2014 and went missing for a week later said, “I had my fill of football.”

Your thoughts on the Chi Sox shorts pic.twitter.com/oLEgJCm74b

— Aniello Piro (@MediaByAP) July 8, 2022

I’ve always wondered how the White Sox’s shorts uniform came about. Clearly, the club did not consult any players. Sliding on dirt on shorts — with cuts a frequent result — sounds awful. I love seeing the old collared jerseys pop up from time to time as a throwback look. But the shorts … ugh.

(I also remember how, in the 1980s, college-football referees wore shorts during some warm-weather games. It was as odd as it sounds.)

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