Is the thin air finally getting to Mike Shanahan?

How does Denver head coach Mike Shanahan still have a job? That's the million-dollar question.

For those of you pretending to watch other sports, so far this off-season, Shanahan (who makes all personnel decisions) has:

1. brought in four defensive linemen from the worst run defense in the league,

2. signed one of the biggest busts in the modern era,

3. traded for a punter who is under a federal investigation for steroid use

4. and signed a washed up wide-out who doesn't know that he should have quit five years ago.

That's right, Shanahan has brought in four former Cleveland Browns defensive linemen, running back Ron "Thunder" Dayne, controversial punter Todd Sauerbrun and a 42-year-old Jerry Rice. Is he secretly working for the rival Kansas City Chiefs or something? How does Denver owner Pat Bowlen let this go on?

Some say "Well, the Broncos won two Super Bowls not too long ago under Mike Shanahan, so he's earned the right to take some chances."

To that I say - he won because of quarterback John Elway and blatant cheating. It's that simple. Don't believe me? Read on.

In Sept. 2004, National Football League Management Council, along with the NFL Players Association, reached a settlement agreement with the Denver Broncos. They were fined $950,000, and lost their third-round pick in the 2005 NFL Draft for blatantly attempting to circumvent the salary cap from 1996-98 with "wink wink" and secret handshake deals to numerous players. In addition, while admitting no wrongdoing, an agent of a former Broncos player paid $100,000 to charity.

That raises the question - could Denver have won back-to-back Super Bowls (XXXII and XXXIII) if they didn't cheat to keep everyone on the roster? I doubt it.

But apparently the Broncos don't value third-round picks anyway. Since they didn't have their original pick, they used a third-round compensatory pick to select Ohio State thug Maurice Clarett. You remember Clarett, right? The kid who was so dumb, he was failing his gym and black history classes at Ohio State. He's an African American student athlete for Heaven's sake. If nothing else - these two classes should be a breeze. But not for Maurice.

Then, when Clarett found himself in trouble, he attempted to shift the blame by telling on former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel and others at the school for allegedly helping him pass classes, receive money for bogus summer jobs and drive around loaner cars. Once he figured out that a long-term future at Ohio State wasn't going to work out, Clarett sued the NFL. Since he couldn't keep himself eligible and out of trouble, the NFL should have to take him, or so he thought. Two judges didn't. And Clarett sat out of football for two years. That is, until Denver had a chance to take him.

Nevermind that the rest of the league had Maurice the Moron pegged as a fifth or sixth rounder. Shanahan "knows running backs" and can do no wrong. So he took Clarett well before anyone of the other 31 teams even considered him. How did the move work out, you ask? Clarett’s tenure has come to an end without ever playing a single game (preseason or otherwise). The Broncos finally got a whiff of what the kid is all about and said “no thanks.”

And really – how well does Shanahan know running backs? In the last two seasons, Denver has let Clint Portis (1,591 yards in 2003) and Rueben Droughns (1,240 yards in 2004) go and has essentially replaced them with Clarett (temporarily, at least) and Ron Dayne – one of the biggest busts in the modern era. Dayne is a guy who won the Heisman Trophy, got drafted by the New York Giants and then midnight hit for Cinderella. He's been a waste of salary cap and a roster spot ever since. Dayne has rushed for 1,297 yards in the last three years combined - barely more than Droughns rushed last year alone.

The rest of the moves - acquiring four Cleveland Browns defensive linemen (even though they had the worst run defense in the league), trading for Todd Sauerbrun (even though the Federal government is looking into a report he was on steroids during the Panthers’ Super Bowl run) and signing Jerry Rice (in 2005, not 1995) - are all head scratchers. Did Shanahan read the defensive rankings backwards and think he was getting a bargain? With Bill Romanowski out of the league did the coach want a new supplier? Does he believe the thin air in Denver can make Rice 10 years younger (you know - back in the days when he was actually a better receiver than Darius Watts)? There's no way all of these moves can work out. Hell, if half of them work out I'd be stunned.

But, all these questions lead us to the biggest one of all - how does Shanahan still have a job?

Brian Murphy has never failed a gym or black history class, but he knows someone who has. Contact him at: murf@the5holes.com