A few years ago, the Denver Broncos took a player from the school that their new ownership group has a lot of times to. Drew Sanders, the former Arkansas Razorback, Arkansas is of course where the first Walmart is as well as the headquarters, and Walmart is the business that the Waltons own, the new ownership group of the Broncos.
Now that that is out of the way -- they took him because he showed flashes of both an off-ball and an on-ball linebacker when he was in college. Sanders was the best linebacker in the country that year, and maybe the best one in his draft class. But unfortunately for him, injuries just haven't allowed him to get his career going at the rate that maybe he'd have hoped for.
During his post-draft conversations, it was often asked whether he was an on-ball or off-ball linebacker, and of course, Payton has already said a few different times what he is. But it feels like there is a theory he could actually be changing positions.
Let's just say the record has been set straight.
“No, the vision is clear," Sean Payton told a herd of reporters at OTAs earlier this week. "Inside linebacker. We think he’s a pressure player. So obviously, there are ways where you can pressure that guy from a stacked position, or to an outside position. He’s doing well handling it.”
In college, Sanders had 10 sacks his senior season and then would drop back into coverage as the linebacker and bat some passes down. With the Hogs, he did it all. But, that was in college, and the pros are not the same, or even close to the same. In the pros, you have to master one side of it first.
The Broncos see him as a guy who can pursue the QB and the ball, wherever that may be. They have a pretty deep LB room and feel like they don't necessarily need another guy who can drop back in coverage, and they like the depth and bodies that they can throw at the pass rush, creating a pretty unpredictable game plan.
So, no, there is no position change.
