The Denver Broncos on Wednesday signed free-agent guard C.J. Davis, it was announced.
Davis (6-foor-2, 308 pounds) will enter his third NFL season in 2012 after spending his first two professional campaigns (2009-10) with Carolina. He originally entered the NFL as a college free agent with the Panthers in 2009 before being placed on injured reserve at the end of training camp during his rookie season. He was signed to the Panthers' active roster from their practice squad in 2010 and played seven games for the club to close out the season.
He played 45 career games (43 starts) at the University of Pittsburgh, where he was a first-team All-Big East Conference selection as a senior. Davis attended West Alleghemy High School in Imperial, Pa., and was born on Feb. 2, 1987.
DENVER BRONCOS TRANSACTIONS (2/15/12)
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Signed (free agent) |
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Name |
Pos. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Exp. |
College |
Hometown |
|
C.J. Davis |
G |
6-2 |
308 |
3 |
Pittsburgh |
Imperial, Pa. |
Here's the Pre-Combine report on Davis from 2009
Positives: Stout wide-body inside. ... Versatile enough to handle all three interior spots. ... Nimble setting up for pass protection. ... Quick getting his hands up after the snap and can land his punch. ... Puts his man on the ground when run blocking. ... Calls blocking assignments, even before shifting to center. ... Can anchor and drive his man backward. ... Wins the leverage battle in short-yardage situations. ... Vocal leader on and off the field, coaches call him a hard worker at practice. Negatives: His lack of height may make him a better center than guard. ... Not fleet-footed when getting ahead of screens. ... Ineffective cut blocker. ... Relies on his upper-body strength too much instead of moving his feet in pass protection. ... Does not always recognize late blitzers. ... Holds too long on assist blocks and can't recover to pick up defenders going to the quarterback. ... Must lock onto defenders in the open and sustain those blocks more consistently; linebackers can disengage from him too easily.
0 recs | 32 comments
Nice depth addition
Scotty Payne - February 15, 2012
yeah seems like a decent pickup.
Seems like he’ll fight it out with Ramirez on the depth chart.
Eddie.Teach - February 15, 2012
IMO no contract for Ramirez or Hochstein.
DLMyers - February 15, 2012
I agree
Ramirez was terrible in pre season and Hoch needs to retire.
Nick Cast - February 15, 2012
Why not resign them to a minimum contract?
are you a 100% certain that this guy is better than Ramirez or Hochstein. Let them battle it out in camp and may the best man win and most likely the competition will cause all 3 to be better players.
AlbertaBronc - February 15, 2012
Hoch minimum would be higher. It goes by how long you're in the league.
Digger24 - February 15, 2012
True but not enough more that I would really care
and if he can’t make it cut him and we aren’t any worse for wear.
Plus I would like at least a couple vets at o-line. Not every player has to be young.
AlbertaBronc - February 15, 2012
According to the new CBA
The minimum for a 10+ player is 975K. Do you really think Russ worth it?
Fabio Broncos - February 15, 2012
If we can't find someone better than Hoch than yeah I'm fine with that
I’m not saying he should be guaranteed a final roster spot but I would really like to not have Kuper and Ryan Harris as the only vets on the o-line. I’m just saying if you can’t find a vet you are 100% confident is an upgrade, at the very least bring him back for camp since he’s familiar with the team and system.
If the Broncos let Hoch walk I’m fine with that and if they bring him back for TC I’m fine with that as well. Our 53 man roster for 2012 doesn’t need to be decided on until after the preseason so why not at least bring him back for camp.
AlbertaBronc - February 15, 2012
Agreed
Just adding a thought… If we can’t find a cheaper upgrade to a 975K Hoch, our FO would be very incompetent.
Fabio Broncos - February 16, 2012
Alberta
we may not be 100% sure he’s better than Man Ram / Hoch, but let’s be honest here…. how hard would it be to be better than those two? Not hard at all. We can find some more players just as good, or even a bit better than them, no problem.
PaleHorse78 - February 16, 2012
Yeah probably
and if we bring in 5 or 6 brand new guards/centers this offseason who are all definite improvements then fine let them walk.
My point is that offer them a minimum contract to come back for TC and let them battle with other players we bring in for the final roster spots on the o-line. I’m not saying they should be guaranteed a final roster spot but they are familiar with the system and the team and competition is not a bad thing. If they really are as bad as we think they are then they won’t make the final cut and it also means we have found upgrades to them.
Remember when we signed Tony Hills and everyone thought he was leaps and bounds better than anyone we had already. How many games was Hill active for last year? These guys are FA’s for a reason.
AlbertaBronc - February 16, 2012
Negatives: His lack of height may make him a better center than guard.
Sounds more like a positive for us if he can actually play Center. Goodbye Hochstein.
Digger24 - February 15, 2012
Lol, exactly what I thought
broncos7life - February 15, 2012
Well folks the Broncos offseason is on...
Another young Guard/Center to go along with Beadles, Kuper and Ramirez. Bye Mr. Hochstein, been nice watching you…
bfree2bronc - February 15, 2012
no doubt
Hoch played pretty admirably in the absence of Kuper. He got rocked in the playoff game, but up to that point, he was playing much better than he did when McD was coaching here. What was it with McD??? That dude was absolutely clueless when it came to O-Line play.
PaleHorse78 - February 16, 2012
DREAM TEAM!!
Zac Man - February 15, 2012
Thanks JB..team needed bu at c/g. Maybe push Beatles and Walton.
DLMyers - February 15, 2012
I thought you couldn't sign free-agents until March. How come this guy's sign-able?
bennybronx - February 15, 2012
He wasn't actually signed at the present time.
Kind of like the Chiefs signed Kyle McCarthy. McCarthy wasn’t signed to any sort of a contract by us.
Digger24 - February 15, 2012
we can sign FA's whenever we want
March 13th is the official start of the 2012 season and is when contracts that had one year left expire and those players become FA’s. Right now guys like Broderick Bunkley and Vincent Jackson are not FA’s because they are still under contract for another month. This guy was not under any contract so we could sign him.
AlbertaBronc - February 15, 2012
People really shouldn't say that FA begins this day since it never actually ends
it’s just a new batch of FA’s become available at that time.
AlbertaBronc - February 15, 2012
Sounds like he, too, is a better un blocker than pass protector
That’s been the story of this O-line in general, so it would be nice to see someone who excels at pass blocking for a change.
si_ice - February 15, 2012
we did resign Ryan Harris at the end of the season
AlbertaBronc - February 15, 2012
If his back is better great.
Digger24 - February 15, 2012
he's been out of football all year so lets hope
I don’t think we signed him to anything big though so the Broncos don’t really lose much if he can’t recover.
AlbertaBronc - February 15, 2012
Getting good run blockers is easy, pass blockers is another story.
This is what seperates a strength athlete from a starting offensive lineman in the NFL. In the NFL you have to have the aestheticism to keep up with the defensive lineman, d-ends and linebackers in pass protection.
This is the broncos greatest weakness as 3/5 of their o-line could not pass block last year. Hopefully, Franklin will mature from his rookie season. Even with such hopes, it leaves 2/5 that are suspect.
Keyworthpunch - February 16, 2012
did he not play in 2011?
This guy sat out all season long. Sounds like camp fodder to me.
tunesmith - February 15, 2012
Or developmental project like Ramirez...
bfree2bronc - February 15, 2012
Hard Nose Competition for Walton
We like some mean Olinemen.
HippoJohn - February 15, 2012
Kuper insurance
Broncotodd - February 15, 2012
o-line depth
we all know our backups were scary this season, so we begin to address that, now. i still say we will sign a starter inside at C or G, as well. i hope. hell, if this guy is simply stronger than beadles/walton he might take their spot. either way, we get better overall. it’s all about the o-line, keep ‘em coming efx. let’s run the damn ball like in the glory days. or last season.
davecheffy - February 15, 2012
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