The first half of the Denver Broncos season has come and gone, with the team enjoying their bye week this week. Our MHS staff reflected on several keynote topics as we all looked back on the first 13 weeks of the season.

Denver Broncos Roundtable: Grading the 2023 Draft class

The 2023 NFL Draft class for the Denver Broncos is entering their second season with the team. Who has emerged or stood out, and who hasn’t?

Cody Roark’s take:

Marvin Mims has come along strongly as of late, with Sean Payton and his staff finding the perfect mix of using him as a true weapon. Last year and a good part of the first half of this season, the utilization of Mims has been frustrating, but if finally seems like they’ve found a way to weaponize him. Whether that’s lining up in the backfield as a potential rusher or as a receiver in the slot, he’s had a drastically big impact inside of the offense the last handful of weeks, and that makes it hard to hand out a grade because of how he’s been used through the first year and a half. He’s trending towards a B+.

Drew Sanders hasn’t played a down yet in 2024 after tearing his Achilles in April, so his grade right now is inconclusive. Riley Moss has emerged nicely, earning an A grade. He can play man-to-man coverage in press and off-ball, his technique is perfect, and he’s not afraid to come up and tackle. From the 2023 class, Moss has been the biggest surprise this season, too, and it’s been fun to watch.

JL Skinner and Alex Forsyth have been very solid backend additions to that class. Skinner is emerging to be one of the team’s best special teams players, and Forsyth looked good at center in the smaller sample size he had filling in for Luke Wattenberg. Their grades are inconclusive right now.

Doug Ottewill’s take:

How did last year’s rookie class jump from a D- last year to a B+ this year? How about three parts Riley Moss and one part Marvin Mims – that’s how. Turns out that Paton and Payton were dead on with their assessment of Moss, who apparently just needed a season to get healthy. Nothing told us more about Moss’ value than when he wasn’t in the lineup following a knee injury; the defense didn’t even look the same. And Mims, while obviously talented even last season, has been utilized more – and better – than he was a season ago. The jump from these two guys alone moves the class up at least a couple of grades.

Rich Kurtzman’s take:

It’s still too early to fully evaluate 2023’s class, but I’d give it a D. Moss seems to be the one starter out of a tiny class. Mims looks like the one guy who could also become a bigger impact player, but he’s mostly disappointed to this point, too.

Shawn Drotar’s take:

Incomplete. Speedy wideout Marvin Mims, Jr. was an All-Pro as a rookie returner, but is only now starting to carve out a role in the Broncos’ offense. Rangy linebacker Drew Sanders has battled injuries that have limited the third-rounder’s development; what role he plays for the Broncos going forward is still uncertain. Sixth-round safety J.L. Skinner appears to be an adequate backup, as is seventh-round center Alex Forsyth (field goals notwithstanding). Fortunately for the Broncos, third-round cornerback Riley Moss looks like a star… if he can stay on the field. Injuries have limited him in both of his first two NFL seasons.

Rashaan Salaam would want the company.

“He would love that,” Khalada Salaam-Alaji, mother of the late CU Buffs icon told me Tuesday when I asked about Travis Hunter and the 2024 Heisman Trophy. “He would love that.

“These young men, who weren’t even born when he was playing football — he’s old enough to be their father. He would love to be a part of that. I know Rashaan would really love this. I hope it happens. It’s amazing.”

Some 2,700 miles and a coast away from Manhattan, Salaam-Alaji on Saturday will be rooting in San Diego for Hunter to become CU’s second member of the Heisman fraternity. Because nobody would be pulling harder for #HE12MAN, the Buffs’ two-way star, than her late son.

“He’s in Colorado,” Khalada said of Salaam, the ex-CU tailback whose Heisman victory (Dec. 10, 1994) celebrated its 30th anniversary on Tuesday. “His remains are in Boulder. His spirit’s there. He would really want something good to happen in Boulder.”

Khalada continues to honor her son’s legacy, and his memory, as a driver for good. She represented Rashaan when he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2022 and into the California High School Hall of Fame at the Rose Bowl last year.

These days, Salaam-Alaji is the wind beneath the wings of The Rashaan Salaam Foundation, a non-profit committed to “help children, adolescents, young adults, and athletes navigate through our complex and mentally challenging society.” The foundation held a fundraiser in Atlanta earlier this month in honor of Rashaan’s 50th birthday (Oct. 4).

“What we’re hoping is we can use all the wonderful recognition in his memory that we’ve received since he’s been gone, and do something with it,” Khalada said. “And we want the foundation to be generational. We want it to be here long after I’m gone.”

Salaam took his own life in Boulder on Dec. 5, 2016. He was 42.

“It’s so difficult this week,” Salaam-Alaji said. “It’s so difficult.”

For most Buffs fans over 35, Salaam still runs to daylight in their hearts. The minute he de-planed in Broomfield, Deion Sanders stuck a giant CU pin on the national map again. If you happened to join Buffs Nation on Dec. 3, 2022, do yourself a favor: Go to YouTube.com, or Google. Then type “Rashaan Salaam, highlights.”

Watch him juke one Miami defender, then drag two more Hurricanes with him into the end zone. Watch him fly like Superman into the end zone at Michigan Stadium. Watch him hurdle Oklahoma defenders. Watch him shatter about 486 Kansas State arm tackles. Watch him rumble for 134 yards at Nebraska. Just for fun.

Peak Salaam was the complete package, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound hammer who ran with Leroy Kelly’s anger and Gene Kelly’s grace.

In 1994, he became just the fourth Football Bowl Subdivision player to rack up at least 2,000 rushing yards before a bowl game. He led the country in rushing, scoring (24 TDs) and all-purpose yardage. His 141 yards at Michigan were the most by any opponent in Ann Arbor since Archie Griffin’s 163 back in 1973. His 11-1 Buffs faced six ranked teams over the season’s first eight weeks. Salaam averaged 173.5 rushing yards against that dirty half-dozen.

And yet the play he was proudest of came on Sept. 24, 1994, at the Big House — the block in the backfield that freed up teammate Kordell Stewart to throw the “Miracle at Michigan” to Michael Westbrook. On a team of superstars, Salaam was a bashful giant, deferential and unselfish to the last.

“I would tell (Hunter’s family) to not be fearful,” Khalada continued. “To enjoy the moment. And to help him with his finances, to make sure that (that’s taken care of) … football’s not going to last forever.

“Just enjoy it. Enjoy it. Try not to ego-trip it too hard, with the Heisman … stay connected to the God within. In the long run, that’s all I would say. Take care of yourself. Enjoy it. But protect your finances if you can.

“I appreciate it now more so than I did when it was happening.”

Her son’s relationship with the Heisman, and the expectations that came with it, became complicated. Over the 22 years after winning the award, the ex-Buffs great returned to the Heisman ceremony, as a member of college football’s most elite fraternity, just five more times. This week, like the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Canton, Ohio, is a homecoming weekend for past winners, a chance to share in the spotlight again, to catch up.

Salaam wanted to move on. He sold his Heisman ring for roughly $8,000 in 2011; he sold his statue three years later. In 2016, it fetched $399,608 in an online auction, raising funds to CTE-related medical research in Salaam’s memory.

When the soft-spoken Buffs back attended Heisman festivities as a finalist, one of his running buddies in New York was a gregarious Miami Hurricane defensive lineman named Warren Sapp.

Three decades later, that same Sapp is now a member of the CU football family, having joined Sanders’ coaching staff as a senior quality control analyst.

Sometimes, history can tie things together with wonderful, unexpected bows.

“He would love (Hunter),” Salaam-Alaji said. “There would be no competition. It would be only encouragement. And being proud. That’s who Rashaan was.”

•••

For more information on The Rashaan Salaam Foundation, or to donate, visit rashaansalaamfoundation.org

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Originally Published: December 10, 2024 at 7:29 PM MST

A Denver woman was recently left paralyzed after a random, violent attack inside her and her partner’s home in Denver. A man fired a gun during the home invasion and the woman suffered multiple bullet wounds.  

Both victims — Denie “Helene” Orr and Joanne Weiss — work for a Denver bookstore. Now they’re getting a huge outpouring of support from the bookstore’s customers as well as the community.

On the night of Dec. 1, Orr saw a man standing outside her and Weiss’ home in the Overland neighborhood. She then shut the door and ran to call 911.

“He shot out an interior door, a glass door, and shot Joanne multiple times,” said Orr.

Weiss was shot in the lung two times and still has bullets in her spine, leaving her paralyzed from the sternum down. They are injuries that will change her life forever.

“The damage to her spine was life altering,” said Orr.

The two have been in the book industry for decades and work at The Hermitage Bookshop in the Cherry Creek neighborhood.

Sam Butler, the bookshop’s general manager, said Weiss has worked at the bookshop as a researcher and bookseller for nearly 30 years, while Orr worked at the bookshop as a bookseller and cataloger for about five years.

“They really do bring the vast amount of knowledge to this place, as well as for me, personally,” said Sam Butler, the shop’s general manager. “The two of them have been professional and personal mentors in this world.”

After learning about the terrifying crime, Butler couldn’t believe what happened.

“I’m just trying to convince myself that this was a story out of fiction, that this these things don’t happen,” said Butler.

Butler wanted to help and called on the community for support. He started an online fundraising effort to help with Weiss’ hospital costs and the two’s overall recovery.

“Knowing how many people love them and have been impacted by them and the work at The Hermitage, it was the easiest thing in the world to create a link for people to go and give,” said Butler, “So they could focus on one another, focus on recovery and and regaining the joy of their home and the joy of their neighborhood and the joy of their work.”

Support is already pouring in from all over, and at last check, online fundraising efforts had reached more than $41,000 in about 24 hours.

“To see the outpouring from all these different facets of life — in the midst of a truly unknown, truly dark and wicked encounter — is the thing that gives hope,” said Butler.

 “We’ve had so much support from our neighborhood, and we’ve lived in this neighborhood for 40 years,” said Orr. “Everybody has been so supportive everywhere where we work or we live.”

Orr says while it was a traumatic experience, her and Weiss’ spirits remain bright.

“That’s not to minimize the truly horrific nature of what happened and the trauma that we’ll no doubt be dealing with for many years,” said Orr. “We’re just trying to keep things moving forward.”

Orr said Weiss is now recovering at Denver Health with a long road to recovery ahead.

“She’s doing great. She is so full of spirit and courage and brightness and positivity,” said Orr. “I’m trying to match her resilience best I can, because she’s an inspiration.”

Denver police say the case is still under investigation. No arrests have been made and there are no other updates at this time.

Anyone with information that they think might be helpful to the investigation is asked to call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720.913.STOP (7867).