More photos of the Denver Broncos going through unofficial offseason workouts during the NFL lockout in Colorado.

Brian Dawkins, the veteran safety, player rep and co-captain got his Denver Broncos teammates together Tuesday morning at the South Suburban Sports dome for an hour-long conditioning workout with trainer Loren Landow of the Steadman-Hawkins Clinic.

The Broncos released veteran tight end Daniel Graham earlier this year, but the Denver native will sign somewhere once the lockout ends. Meanwhile, Graham’s Daniel Graham Foundation will put on its annual free — yes, free — clinics for area youths next month. The High School Elite Football Camp will be June 17, and the Youth Fundamental football camp and the Double Dutch Jump Rope Clinic will be June 18. All events will be at Lowry Sports Park in Denver.

Former Broncos running back Floyd Little is scheduled to participate at the camps’ opening ceremony, and other Broncos alumni and current players are expected to appear and help instruct.

“We are so excited to be able to offer this opportunity to the youth in our community for free,” said Marilyn Graham, Daniel’s mother and the executive director of the foundation. “We are celebrating our fifth year and it is just as exciting as the first.”

For additional information and online registration, visit the foundation web site.

Daniel continues to be a class act, as he and his family mourn the loss of Daniel’s older brother, Jason, who passed away last month of brain cancer complications. Here’s the blog I wrote about that.

email: tfrei@denverpost.com

Terry Frei’s web site with book information and Journal

Chuck Burton, Assosciated Press

Broncos coach John Fox reacts after missing a putt on the ninth hole in a pro-am at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, N.C. on Wednesday.

This from Associated Press golf reporter Mike Cranston:

John Fox’s return to Charlotte was full of smiles, applause, positive remarks — and strikingly different colors. He also had some new company.

About four months after he was dismissed by the Carolina Panthers and hired to coach the Denver Broncos, Fox continued his tradition of playing in the Wednesday pro-am at Quail Hollow. Only this time, Fox was wearing a dark blue golf shirt with a Broncos logo and his golf bag was bright orange and blue with an even bigger Broncos emblem.

“I’m doing great,” a slimmed-down Fox said of his new job.

Bunking up with Fox this week in his home off the 14th fairway was his new boss, John Elway. The former Denver great, Broncos chief of football operations and scratch golfer also played in the pro-am in a different group. There were several orange No. 7 Elway jerseys spotted in the gallery.

Read more…

Chris Simms, the Broncos’ back up quarterback to Kyle Orton during the 2009 season, was acquitted by a New York jury today of driving while under the influence of marijuana.

Simms was represented by Denver attorney Harvey Steinberg, who spoke to The Denver Post from New York just before boarding a flight home.

“He should never have been charged,” Steinberg said. “There was no evidence. It took the jury less than an hour after three days of trial to acquit him. It’s unfortunate his reputation was besmirched by the fact there was even this allegation.’”

Simms was arrested at a checkpoint on July 1, 2010 while driving an SUV with his pregnant wife and friend Charlie Granatell. The arresting officer noted Simms took an alcohol breathalyzer that registed no reading but arrested the quarterback because of the smell of marijuana from the car. During trial testimony, Granatell said he was the only person who was smoking marijuana.

Simms, 30, is the son of CBS NFL color commentator and former New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms, who shredded the Broncos for 22 of 25 passing druing a 39-20 victory in Super Bowl XXI. It was the first of John Elway’s five Super Bowl appearances.

Steinberg has represented many Denver professional sports stars over the years and has won acquittals or ”slap-on-the-wrist” pleas in most of them.

Atlanta GM Thomas Dimitroff said Monday on Pro Football Talk Live that besides the deal he made with the Cleveland Browns while moving up from No. 27 to No. 6, he had also talked to other teams about moving up, including the Broncos, who had the No. 2 draft pick.

Before screaming at the Broncos’ braintrust for turning down an offer that would have been richer than the five-pick haul the Browns received, some clarification is needed. Starting with the fact the Falcons never made an offer to the Broncos.

According to an NFL source, Dimitroff did call the Broncos about their No. 2 pick, but it was ”weeks before” the draft. Many teams put out preliminary feelers well in advance of the draft. According to the source, Dimitroff said he would never offer draft-chart value in return for moving up from No. 27 to No. 2. The Broncos let him know they weren’t interested in trading the pick unless they got proper value for moving back.

The two sides left it at that. Nothing specific was discussed and the Broncos never heard from Dimitroff or the Falcons again.

Dimitroff wound up trading five picks _ including two first rounders and a second rounder _ to Cleveland for the right to claim Alabama receiver Julio Jones at No. 6. Dimitroff said he had talked about adjusting his trade package with some teams depending on their draft slot, but never engaged with serious talks with others. Count the Broncos among the latter.

In fact, the source said Dimitroff never made any offer to the Broncos.

UCLA safety Rahim Moore made quite an impact during his brief weekend visit to Broncos headquarters at Dove Valley.

The 45th overall pick in the draft impressed Broncos staffers and coaches with his smart, articulate manner.

Of course, the Broncos also think they have found a starter in their defensive backfield — and hopefully a playmaker. Moore picked off 10 passes for the Bruins in 2009.

Now, Moore has agreed to take your questions in the next installment of The Denver Post’s “Fan Mail” feature.

Email your questions to fanmail@denverpost.com. Please be sure to include your first name and where you are from. Questions will be accepted through Wednesday morning.

Now, John Elway, Brian Xanders and Co. must just sit back and wait.

Hamstrung by the NFL lockout — at least for now — the Broncos front office cannot sign undrafted free agents or veteran free agents until either the league and the union reach a new collective bargaining agreement or the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals rules to uphold a U.S. District Judge’s ruling in favor of the players, whichever comes first.

Xanders, the team’s general manager, said Saturday night that the team is ready to jump right into free agency whenever that may start. The team has a list of targets in the veteran free agent pool and, now that the draft is over, knowledge of exactly what positions it needs to fill most (ahem, defensive tackle). Xanders and his scouting department will also go back over its college draft board to see which players didn’t get selected over the weekend and decide which of those undrafted players it wants to try to sign when they are allowed to contact players again.

“Once they tell us the rules, we are allowed to execute the plan,” Xanders said. “We have a plan for free agency. We are ready for two systems.”

Xanders is referring to the possibility that the league will end up operating under 2010 rules, which leave players in their fourth or fifth years as restricted free agents, or the possibility that those players will become unrestricted. For the Broncos, that most affects defensive tackle Marcus Thomas and right tackle Ryan Harris, who were both given original-round tenders in March before the lockout begins, meaning teams would owe the Broncos a fourth- or a third-round pick, respectively, for signing away Thomas or Harris. Elway said Saturday night that the team hopes Thomas returns, and that this front office and coaching staff views Thomas as a much better fit for the 4-3 defense.

The team seems ready to move on from Harris, who had a stellar season in 2008 but struggled through injuries and a system change in 2009-2010. The team drafted Orlando Franklin, a hulking 320-pound run-blocking specialists in the second round on Friday. Xanders said Saturday night that if Harris returns, he and Franklin would compete and “may the best man win,” Xanders said.

For 16 seasons, John Elway stood under center for the Broncos, play calls and defensive formations racing through his mind as he watched the play clock tick down before calling for “Hut!”

Now the Broncos top football executive, Elway got the same juice in the draft room this weekend as he got on the field.

“I did. I was excited,” Elway said at the conclusion of the draft Saturday night. “I felt like I was playing a football game. I think that’s why I was exhausted every night when I left.”

Elway came back to the Broncos in an official role in January because he missed the juice of professional football. He wanted the challenge of running a team, the type of camaraderie you only find in a locker room, and after picking nine players — along with his new teammates John Fox and Brian Xanders — Elway on Saturday had that same post-win glow he often got as a player.

Elway said he often found himself behaving like he did during his playing days, pacing around the room, just as he did in the locker room before games or on the sidelines while the defense was on the field. The most excitement came, he said, when the “phones got hot” in the second round as the Broncos were fielding multiple trade offers. (The Broncos ended up swapping picks with San Francisco, who moved up to take a quarterback. Denver picked up two extra selections in the deal).

“You look at your board and it gets close to your pick who you want, and you’re hoping they fall to where you want, it’s a little bit – I mean, I was up pacing, walking around, hoping the guy we want would fall to where we wanted it too,” Elway said.

My story on Broncos’ top draft choice Von Miller, meant to be a followup companion piece to Mike Klis’ coverage of Miller at the draft in New York, is in the Sunday paper.

I’m not naive. I’ve seen a lot of athletes transformed from convivial good guys when on stage (literally and figuratively) in connection with the NFL draft, to surly and/or misbehaving jerks once they are “indoctrinated” in the pro game.

But I don’t think that’s going to happen with Miller. Read more…

The Broncos’ 2011 draft addressed seven of the nine positional needs they had identified entering this offseason.

They got two safeties. They picked up both a Sam and Mike linebacker. They drafted two tight ends. They got a right tackle.

They selected six of those seven new players in the first four rounds, four in the first three.

The two positions they didn’t attend were defensive tackle and running back. They need a starter at defensive tackle. That can only be found through trade or free agency, most likely the latter. They also need a running back to complement Knowshon Moreno. And if John Fox can lure free agent-to-be DeAngelo Williams to come join in Denver, Moreno will complement Williams.