On Thursday night, the 2017 NFL Draft will get underway in Philadelphia. Here in the Mile High City, former Denver Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey will be inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.
Considering both will undoubtedly be on the minds of Broncos fans, here is a story about Champ Bailey’s draft. In 1999, the Washington Redskins moved up to No. 7 and selected the cornerback out of Georgia. The general manager behind that pick was Charley Casserly.
Casserly joined Eric Goodman and Les Shapiro during Afternoon Drive on Mile High Sports Radio to discuss Bailey; stating that not even he knew how good Bailey was going to be.
“It’s not my nature to come out and say ‘this guy’s going to go to 12 Pro Bowls,’” Casserly said. “Not a lot of people predict those things when guys come out of college; but we had no reservations about taking him, and thought he’d have a long and fine career.”
The 12 Pro Bowls Bailey went to is a record for cornerbacks. Casserly thought he’d get there, just maybe not quite that frequently. He and the Redskins were very high on Champ.
“We knew he was going to be good. I mean, we took him, we traded up to get him in the first round,” he said. “So, we were all convinced this guy was going to be a heck of a player and had the ability to be a Pro Bowl corner.”
By the time Bailey was traded to the Broncos, along with a second-round selection, in exchange for running back Clinton Portis, Casserly had moved onto the Houston Texans. If he were still in Washington, would he have made the deal?
“The answer is no, No. 1; and the last thing I would have done is given the Broncos a two on top of it. Are you kidding me?”
If it was straight up, Casserly could have understood where the Redskins and Joe Gibbs were coming from. Gibbs was the coach at the time and Casserly talked to him after the deal was done. Bailey was slapped with the franchise tag, and Gibbs thought he would hold out; still it isn’t a decision Casserly would of made.
“I don’t think Joe fully understood how good Champ Bailey was, but I think they needed a running back; and they said ‘well, we’re not going to be able to sign Bailey,’” Casserly said. “I think that that’s the way it was presented to him; but there’s no way I would have done the deal, and no way I would have given them a second-round pick. My God. That was ridiculous.”
Listen to the full interview with Charley Casserly, including his thoughts about potential draft targets for the Broncos, in the podcast below.
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Catch Afternoon Drive with Goodman and Shapiro every weekday from 4p-6p on Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7 or stream live any time for the best local coverage of Colorado sports from Denver’s biggest sports talk lineup.