The Denver Broncos bag tackle Gerard Warren

By Hugo Guzman | Friday, March 04, 2005 | ( 0 )

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Gerard Warren was viewed by Broncos coach Mike Shanahan as perhaps the biggest impact player available in the 2001 NFL draft, but the DT was not a serious consideration given he ultimately was taken with the No. 3 pick, well before Denver's choice at No. 24. Tuesday, Shanahan finally got his man - at a much-reduced price.

The Broncos agreed in principle to a trade that will bring Warren from the Cleveland Browns for a 4th-round draft pick, pending the ironing out of some contractual issues. No official announcement has been made. But Warren's agent, Joel Segal, confirmed the teams had agreed to the exchange.

Whether Shanahan ultimately is getting the player the organization once coveted remains to be seen. Warren (6' 4", 325 pounds) has battled the perception he is a problem child and underachiever since the Browns made him the 1st pick in the regime of former Browns coach Butch Davis.

Still, considering Denver's thin defensive line and Warren's potential upside - particularly heading into the final year of his contract - it might end up being worth the gamble. Warren had been scheduled to make $950,000 next season with the final year of his contract in 2006 already having been voided. He was owed a $1.3 million roster bonus Thursday, for which the Broncos are responsible pending a possible contract restructuring.

The potential downside for the Broncos is they are left with only 4 picks in the April 23-24 draft, with no selections in rounds 3-5. However, the Broncos are expecting to receive a 3rd-rounder as compensation later this month for the free-agent losses of Bert Berry and Ian Gold last off-season. And further picks could be accumulated if the team is able to trade DE Trevor Pryce and RB Reuben Droughns.

Denver has had only mixed success in acquiring defensive linemen in recent seasons, but many of the players who failed were older and nearing the end of their careers. Warren turns 27 in July.

One NFL front-office official who has had dealings with Warren said he expects the acquisition to be a "boom-or-bust type deal" for Denver after watching Warren play with leverage and tenacity one down and get blown off the ball and give up at other times. "He's a talented kid but immature," said the front-office official, who requested anonymity. "And if he can come in there where there's a nucleus in the locker room, where if he opens his mouth there's people that'll tell him to shut up, that'll help."

Warren's mouth got him in trouble last season. He drew a league reprimand after threatening to drive a forearm into the throat of Pittsburgh Steelers rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, saying, "Kill the head and the body's dead."

Warren has been fined at least twice for hits, including a $35,000 penalty in 2001 for a helmet-to-helmet blow to then-Jacksonville Jaguars QB Mark Brunell. Warren also was arrested in November 2001 for carrying an unlicensed firearm in his SUV and convicted of a misdemeanor for marijuana possession in 1999 while at the University of Florida.

But Andre Patterson, the newest addition to the Broncos' defensive coaching staff and Warren's position coach the past two seasons, spoke on the player's behalf to Denver's front office. "I've always believed that it takes a defensive tackle a little longer to develop into the type of player he was coming out into the National Football League," Patterson said last week at the scouting combine. "Cleveland wanted the instant success for Gerard and I think that made them impatient. But I think he's a good football player. He's got upside."

It did not help that there were reminders at Cleveland that Pro Bowl players LaDainian Tomlinson and Richard Seymour were available when Warren was drafted.

Patterson acknowledged Warren's public image might have been deserved, saying he could appear smart and thoughtful one day, "then the next day he wants to be Tupac" and take on a hip-hop, too-cool persona, "be-bopping all over the place." But Patterson, who calls Warren a close friend, added that side of the tackle rarely surfaced on the practice field and in meeting rooms. Patterson also said he believes Warren is a good person. "Nobody ever really understands him," he said, adding, "I like coaching him."

As for the DTs lack of production - his tackle totals have dropped every season and he has recorded only 16.5 career sacks - Patterson said the Browns' defensive system was a key factor. The system, Patterson said, was designed for interior linemen to handle double teams and allow the linebackers to make tackles in pursuit instead of playing to Warren's strengths as a quick, aggressive penetrator. Patterson said that, after a coaching change in November when Warren was allowed more freedom, his play improved. Warren even made the line calls in the season finale against Houston.

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	About Hugo Guzman Co-founder of RealFootball365.com. Born in Argentina, of Dominican descent, living in Hoboken, but from Miami through and ...
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