Mile High Monday: Moving up, Gordon or Fournette and “The Last Dance”

The week of the NFL draft is here! The draft season is my favorite time of year, and the draft is the culmination of all the work I’ve done traveling around the country looking at these prospects. A lot of time and energy has gone into my studying, and I love the discoveries I make each year and how much I continue to learn in the pre-draft process.

I like this week a lot. All of the work has been done, and I’ve looked at hundreds of players putting together my grades. This week, I put the film away and check in with team sources to write my first and only mock draft of the year. Then, starting on Thursday, I am on air for 30 hours over a three-day span.

I also like contemplating life and sports when driving around with the top down on my old Jeep TJ – even though with the stay-at-home order, I’m not driving as much as I used to! The following is a result of those trips during the week.

Buckle up, let’s take a ride through my thoughts.

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Moving on Up?

The Broncos have multiple options in the 2020 NFL Draft. Legendary reporter Woody Paige recently had a response to a question on Twitter that emphasizes what one of those options could be.

Paige believes the Broncos could move up in the draft to take wide receiver Jerry Jeudy from Alabama. Jeudy is the top receiver for me in this incredibly talented draft class. I love his savvy and nuance as a route-runner and he reminds me a lot of former Crimson Tide receiver Amari Cooper because of this skill.

It could go either way. Don’t believe Broncos stay at 15. My sources tell me they go up to 8 or 10 and get Jeudy.

— Woody Paige (@woodypaige) April 19, 2020

While Juedy may not be a top-10 pick, he’s going to come off the board quickly. When the Jets pick at No. 11 overall, followed by the Raiders at No. 12 and the 49ers at No. 13, we should see a run at the position. The Broncos are sitting at No. 15 overall and may miss out on the “Big 3” at the wide receiver spot including Jeudy, CeeDee Lamb (Oklahoma) and Henry Ruggs III (Alabama).

I’m always intrigued when Paige says or tweets something like this. He’s so entrenched with this team that Broncos fans know to take what he says very seriously. The run on wide receivers could start right before the Broncos, so they need to be ready to move up if Jeudy is their guy.

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Best Served Cold

Broncos running back Melvin Gordon said recently he’s relishing the opportunity to face his former team, the Los Angeles Chargers, twice a year. “Ah man, I’m looking forward to it,” Gordon said on Sirius XM NFL Radio. “I’m definitely looking forward to it. It’s gonna be exciting. I still hang out with them; they talk trash to me. It is what it is. I’ll see them boys on Sunday.”

Gordon is looking for revenge on the team that drafted him in the first round yet did not get him a second contract to stay. Things got heated last year when Gordon was holding out for more money, even though the Chargers did make him a contract offer to stay. He ended his holdout after a month and made his debut in Week 5 last year against the Broncos.

If healthy, we could see Gordon get a larger workload than he’s ever had in his pro career. New offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur is known to ride one running back as much as possible and to utilize that player as a runner and receiver out of the backfield extensively. That’s going to be Gordon if his body can hold up.

Yes, Phillip Lindsay will play into this backfield somehow – and perhaps he’s too good to keep as merely a backup. That could cut into Gordon’s production as compared to other running backs who have been featured heavily under Shurmur throughout his coaching career.

Either way, I know that Gordon is going to give the Chargers his best punch. Those two games should be among his most productive of the season. We’ve seen in hundreds of times when players play against their former team. He’ll be extra motivated to perform at a high level, although Gordon may downplay it during the week of practice leading up to the game.

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Already Gone

The Jaguars are shopping veteran running back Leonard Fournette. He is due a salary of $4.16 million in base pay in 2020 and there has been no decision about picking up his fifth-year option. Of course, the Jaguars have until May 3 to make a decision on that option for the 2021 season. This is among the reasons why the Jaguars are seeing what they could get for him in return.

As pointed out by current Broncos beat writer Ryan O’Halloran – a former Jaguars beat writer – the decision to move on from Fournette has likely been made already.

Message! https://t.co/BpHTivmtTF

— Cecil Lammey (@CecilLammey) April 18, 2020

Had the Broncos not already added Gordon in free agency, I would be promoting them looking into Fournette. Teams know what O’Halloran pointed out about the way the Jaguars do business. This means Fournette could be had for a much cheaper price than expected.

Denver isn’t going to get involved here, but teams like the Buccaneers or Seahawks could certainly use a veteran presence like Fournette in the running back room.

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The Last Dance

My favorite athlete of all-time is Michael Jordan. He’s the greatest of all-time and one of the reasons why I fell in love with the game of basketball growing up on the eastern plains of Colorado.

I’m known as a “football guy” now since covering the NFL is my career, but people who have known me my whole life know that basketball was my first love. In fact, I was a much better basketball player than I ever was a football player in high school. You know I had to wag my tongue like MJ when driving to the basket and of course I had to have the wristband on my mid-forearm like Jordan did.

I was too poor to afford the shoes in high school and this is the reason why I have such a large collection of Jordan shoes now. I have been waiting with bated breath for the ESPN docu-series “The Last Dance,” which chronicles the complete and final year of the Jordan-led Chicago Bulls.

recorded an episode of #Broncos TV today, hurrying up with my writing so I can get my popcorn ready for #TheLastDance MJ = GOAT https://t.co/j0PQGF8eRV

— Cecil Lammey (@CecilLammey) April 19, 2020

Watching the first two episodes was fantastic! The first episode was all about setup and I understood that with this being a 10-part series. The second episode just gave you a taste of what was to come. I loved seeing behind-the-scenes footage of Jordan in practice. He was relentless to his own teammates and his competitive fire is greater than any other player in the history of sport. Jordan would not be denied and watching this journey is a great trip down memory lane.

Are you watching “The Last Dance?” If so, what did you think of the first two episodes. Hit me up on social media and let me know!

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