Broncos LBs Webster, Koutouvides soon will know who's the middle man

ENGLEWOOD — Your guess is as good is theirs.

Neither Nate Webster nor Niko Koutouvides is sure how their battle to become the Broncos' starting middle linebacker ultimately will pan out.

At various points this summer they've traded practice days, swapped games and, so far, no one has given them a clue where their competition stands. But both are assured of one thing:

While Friday night's preseason game with the Green Bay Packers might not be the be-all, it will be the end-all of a competition that has lasted the past five months.

Koutouvides played a half with the No. 1 defense last Saturday against the Dallas Cowboys and made one tackle as Denver allowed one touchdown.

It's Webster's turn against the Packers, and the coaching staff has essentially promised to make a decision before next week's preseason finale, when the starters will not play.

"You just keep playing until you hear the word, basically," Koutouvides said. "There's not much we can do on our part except keep playing ball."
Webster and the rest of the first-team defense will play the first two quarters against Green Bay, plus the opening series of the third quarter. Koutouvides then takes over with the reserves.

"I love it, man," Webster said. "I don't feel bad at all about the situation. I feel I've done the best job I could do."

Webster, who also started the first preseason game, is currently listed as No. 1 on the team's official depth chart. But that latter document often is misleading at this early juncture. And the Denver coaching staff is known to defer to holdover players as far as providing the first crack in tight battles.

"They don't clue us in about what's going on, pretty much," Koutouvides said.

Webster entered the competition with the slight advantage of having been entrenched in Denver's defense for several years. Still, the scheme was tweaked, and last year he was playing the strong side, not the middle, so while not as steep as the one Koutouvides faced, there was a transition period for Webster.

But middle linebacker is Webster's most natural position. And he has bulled his way into the competition to a large degree with a solid offseason that was borne not only out of the desire to change Denver's defensive fortunes from a year ago but also from tragedy.

Webster's father, Nate Sr., suffered a heart attack in the offseason and was hospitalized for a month. During that time, the linebacker lost 15 pounds.

But after his dad rallied, so did Webster Jr. He rebuilt his body the right way in regaining his weight back as a 100 percent participant in the offseason strength program.

"I kind of teased them that I was stripping the engine down and was going to rebuild it," Webster said. "I wanted to put a big engine in."
Koutouvides had some weight of his own with which to deal - the expectations wrought from a three-year, $7.5 million free-agent contract.

"It's two guys who are busting their butts, two guys who can start, and two guys who both make our defense better," said Marlon McCree, who has gotten an up-close view of the battle while aligned as the deep safety on virtually every snap. "It's a coin toss . . . Both guys are fiery. Both guys are smart. Both guys hit blocks well. It's a good problem to have."

(rockymountainnews.com)