Jason Elam's move to Atlanta hasn't generated as many headlines as other offseason movement in the NFL but it will have a great impact on the Broncos all the same. His departure erases one of the last on-field links to the Elway-Davis glory days gone by. Elam was a Bronco through and through, he even married a former cheerleader, so while seeing him in a Falcon uniform won't be a Joe Namath in Rams duds-level eye-gouger, it will be odd. Elam was also busy off the field the last few years. He wrote a book called Monday Night Jihad which, as you may have guessed from the title, combines football and terrorism. It's rare that a kicker spends so long in one place with so much success and rarer still that they write fiction in the offseason, so replacing him calls for another guy who operates outside the usual box.
The kind of guy who gets drunk and insults his team's quarterback as not being a winner, perhaps? The Broncos will have Mike Vanderjagt, the idiot kicker himself, in town for a workout this week. He hasn't kicked a ball in anger since 2006 when the Cowboys released him mid-season. There's not much in the way of competition so if Vanderjagt can shake off the moss, he's got a good shot at the job. If he gets it, Jay Cutler should be wary of the mix alcohol and thin air can have on the human brain.
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