Emma: Broncos, Panthers Built From Rock Bottom To Reach Super Bowl 50
By Chris Emma--
(CBS) There's no magical formula to building a Super Bowl team. NFL general managers carry zero secrets in how to construct a champion. It's about execution.
Championship teams are built from the ground up through the draft, which serves as the lifeblood of any successful football franchise. Sure, signing big-name free agents -- Exhibit A: Peyton Manning -- fortifies a roster, but identifying talent is the key to creating a winner.
The Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers are perfect examples of building successfully through the draft. Go back through Super Bowl battles of the past, and you'll find the same for other teams, too.
Back in 2010, both the Broncos and Panthers bottomed out. Denver finished a franchise-worst 4-12 with Josh McDaniels as coach and the combination of Kyle Orton and Tim Tebow at quarterback. In turn, the Broncos earned the No. 2 pick. Meanwhile, Carolina earned the No. 1 draft pick at 2-14 in 2010, when the well ran dry on John Fox's team. The Panthers were lost at quarterback with Jimmy Clausen, Matt Moore and Brian St. Pierre.
From there, both the Broncos and Panthers fired their head coaches and went in a different direction with their franchises. Denver brought in its legend, John Elway, to oversee football operations and hired Fox as coach, fresh off his dismissal from Carolina, which went with touted defensive mind Ron Rivera as coach.
Both teams began to take shape into perennial playoff contenders with a pair of franchise-altering draft picks in the 2011 draft. With the first overall pick, the Panthers selected the much-maligned but extraordinarily promising Heisman-winning quarterback from Auburn, Cam Newton. With the second overall pick, the Broncos took Texas A&M edge rusher Von Miller, the star of their dominating defense.
When it was all said and done that 2011 season, Newton won NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, and Miller took the same honors on the defensive side.
The teams that were Nos. 1 and 2 in the draft five years ago are now atop their respective conferences. But the Broncos' and Panthers' building only began with their franchise cornerstones.
Denver followed an 8-8 campaign and playoff berth in 2011 without a first-round pick in 2012 because of the Tebow trade that McDaniels executed. The team took first-round talents in defensive tackle Derek Wolfe and quarterback Brock Osweiler in the second round, found running back Ronnie Hillman in the third round and then solidified its defense with end Malik Jackson in the fifth round and linebacker Danny Trevathan in the sixth. Wolfe, Jackson and Trevathan are current starters on the league's best defense, Hillman is the featured back and Osweiler was a solid fill-in when Manning was hurt earlier this season.
Not to be outdone, Carolina took linebacker Luke Kuechly in the first round and cornerback Josh Norman in the fifth round, arguably the best players in the league at their respective positions.
The Broncos and Panthers continued to develop in the following seasons, with Denver drafting players like Sylvester Williams, Bradley Roby, Cody Latimer and Shane Ray, who are all contributors in this run. For its part, Carolina took Star Lotulelei, Kawann Short, Kelvin Benjamin and Trai Turner. While Benjamin has been out all year with an injury, he's turned into a budding star, while the other three are starters.
There's still some youth just starting in each pipeline, too. These teams aren't going anywhere.
Signing Manning in 2012 took Denver to the level of AFC elites. Following a 43-8 throttling by the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII after the 2013 season, the Broncos revamped their defense in spring 2014 in free agency with the star power of edge rusher DeMarcus Ware, safety T.J. Ward and cornerback Aqib Talib, then found little-known talents in linebackers Brandon Marshall and cornerback Chris Harris Jr.
In recent years, Carolina built around its stars, Newton and Kuechly, by signing safety Kurt Coleman, cornerbacks Cortland Finnegan and Charles Tillman and tackle Michael Oher. They Panthers also traded for tight end Greg Olsen before the 2011 season.
Super Bowl 50 features two teams that have come a long way in reaching this point. Five years ago, the Broncos and Panthers were NFL bottom dwellers, each seeking a new direction. Both found franchise cornerstones, hit on late-round picks then built up with the free-agent market.
Now, let's see which is the best come Super Bowl Sunday.
Chris Emma covers the Chicago sports scene and more for CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670 and like his Facebook page.
