In the quest to pull a few positives from this interminably long, and excruciatingly boring, Broncos preseason, two items immediately come to mind.
1. It’s almost over, and 2. Montrell Washington.
And that’s pretty much where it stops for the Grading the Week staff.
Broncos depth — D
If we learned anything from last Saturday’s 42-15 preseason loss in Buffalo, it was this:
The Broncos better not have poor injury luck this fall, because the guys who spent four quarters getting bullied by the Bills’ backups in Orchard Park, N.Y., could not have been more unimpressive if they tried (which, they might not have).
But, hey, at least we have Montrell Washington.
Yes, in an indication of just how dull the preseason has been as we await star quarterback Russell Wilson’s first snap on the Front Range, the most stirring news to come out of the past month has been the emergence of a punt/kick returner.
Well, that and Russ’ penchant for signing anything and everything for the assembled masses at Dove Valley.
While much of the boredom can be attributed to the cautious approach of new Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett, who’s delivered harder hugs than his starters have hits this summer, it’s also a comment on how much pain special teams has inflicted upon Broncos Country over the past few years.
It took just one 27-yard punt return against Dallas for Washington to become the apple of Broncos Twitter’s eye. Then he tacked on another punt return of 18 yards against the Cowboys, and a 35-yard kickoff return against the Bills, and it was decided he should be placed inside an oversized hamster ball like the rest of Denver’s starters.
Such is the state of preseason football in the NFL, where all good things must be saved for September.
Jose Iglesias — A-
Speaking of bright spots in otherwise drab corners of the Colorado sports world, how about the Rockies’ veteran shortstop?
The 32-year-old Cuban native, who defected to the U.S. at age 18, reached 10 years in the majors last Saturday, and he’s playing as well as he has in his entire career.
We’re not sure what magic elixir Iglesias has taken since joining Colorado this season, but bottle it and start passing it around the clubhouse. Because anything that can cause a Rockies hitter to consistently hit baseballs away from Coors Field is invaluable.
After going 2-for-4 in the Rockies’ series opener at the Mets on Thursday, Iglesias entered Friday night hitting .358 outside of LoDo. That’s the best road batting average in all of Major League Baseball — and part of a .310 season overall that’s seventh in the National League.
Which leads the Grading the Week staff to wonder: What in the world is he still doing here?
A sweet-hitting shortstop getting paid $5 million on an expiring contract should’ve been eminently movable at the trade deadline — especially one who’s clearly demonstrated he’s the polar opposite of a Coors Field creation.
We don’t care if it was for a bucket of baseballs. Anything is better than watching a player walk away for nothing in the offseason … even if Rockies management is getting used to seeing it.
That Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt was unable to cash in on Iglesias’ value last month isn’t altogether surprising. But it is troubling.
