How important in the history of the Denver Bronco franchise is Floyd Little?”
Before Terrell Davis, and before John Elway, the franchise player for the Denver Broncos was number 44 — Floyd Little. Little played for the Broncos from 1967 to 1975, rushing for 6,323 yards on 1,641 carries, and 43 touchdowns. Little is one of the four original Bronco Ring of Fame inductees from 1984, and his jersey number, #44, is one of two that Denver has retired. Football was the game when I was growing up in Denver, and all the guys in grade school wanted to be Floyd Little. He combined a slashing speed with rushing strength that allowed him to win the AFC rushing titles two years running, no mean feat considering the offensive lines he had. His statistics are even more amazing when you consider that the Broncos didn’t have a winning season until 1973. Floyd Little was the first No. 1 draft pick ever signed by the Broncos and was widely regarded as the first serious threat for the Broncos at running back. Little totaled 12,103 all-purpose yards during his career, including a tea
New England is not opposed, recent history demonstrates, to employing the franchise marker to retain a player’s rights, and the team did so last spring with cornerback Asante Samuel. Each year, an NFL team can use one of those tags on a player they might otherwise lose to free agency. Basically, it’s a way to resolve a contract dispute with a rising or established star who might like to sign a big contract with another team. It’s a compromise that gets the player a salary at least close to his “market value” and it give the player’s team time to try to work out a longer term deal to retaim him. If the team designates with the “franchise” tag, they have to pay him something like greater of: * the average of the top five salaries at his position, or * 120% of his previous year’s salary. If a player is hit with the “transition” tag, he is guaranteed the greater of: * the average of the top ten salaries at his position, or * 120% of his previous year’s salary. In addition, a ‘transition’ p
