Broncos Name Todd Helton Honorary Captain

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Since Peyton Manning‘s arrival in Denver, a favorite sight during the TV coverage of Colorado Rockies games has been the new Broncos’ quarterback cheering on his college teammate and old friend Todd Helton. He has been front row behind the backstop and he has been up in the suites, but in the last couple years Manning has been a regular attendee at Coors Field.

Manning was in attendance to honor Helton at his emotional final game at Coors Field last month, and now the Broncos franchise will take a moment to recognize the first baseman’s career today when the team takes on the Jacksonville Jaguars at Sports Authority Field.

Let’s start drafting the current version of the Colorado Sports Mount Rushmore. We know #7 is there, but when you are then looking for another player who has the combination of longevity, success, and the “face of the franchise” factor, you would have to argue that Todd Helton has a strong case to join John Elway. Yes, the Rockies enjoyed a relative lack of success as a franchise during his career, but the nature of baseball is such that Helton can only shoulder so much of that blame (it wasn’t up to him to build depth and put together a decent pitching staff, although maybe it should have been).

Helton deserves every bit of recognition he is getting on his way out, and it will be a blast to see him honored in front of a huge NFL crowd this Sunday.