As the defense became stacked with new players, it was loaded with talented character guys, including Keith Traylor (who went on to win the Super Bowl with New England after winning two in Denver), Alfred Williams (who had been part of the University of Colorado national championship team) and undrafted defensive line free agents Maa Tanuvasa and Harald Hasselbach.

Bill Romanowski had come in as a free agent in 1996 as well, and having won back-to-back world championships in San Francisco, "Romo" went on to join the short list of those who have done that twice, with different teams.

One of the final pieces of the puzzle was starting cornerback Darien Gordon, who was with us for just two years — but we won the Super Bowl both years and he was one of the great punt returners in our history as well.

Quarterback Bobby Brister, tight end Dwayne Carswell, running back Derek Loville, also a former 49er ("Being a champion is very difficult," he said. "We just make it look easy.") and 1997 first-round pick Trevor Pryce were among those who had to fight for playing time on that championship roster.

The process of building a roster to win a championship — the whole idea of building a team — not new.

And the Broncos have a guy doing it who has been a part of it as a Hall of Fame quarterback, and who is the only such quarterback in NFL history to then build one himself and win as a general manager as well.

It is hard to win again and again, but that is John Elway's stated goal, and it is not a process that is new to him or Broncos Country.

The process continues and is not new, but this will not be the first time the Broncos have ever done so, nor even the second.