Rookie underdog Mike Bell has earned the #1 spot on the Broncos depth chart after being completely ignored in the NFL draft.

Today, Bell is the story of the city, the state and the NFL, after making the rare jump from undrafted rookie to No. 1 on the Broncos’ depth chart. In a stunning move, coach Mike Shanahan announced in a team meeting Sunday night Bell had bypassed Ron Dayne and Tatum Bell and would be running with the starters. Shanahan said Monday Mike Bell will start the Broncos’ preseason opener Friday night in Detroit. Bell is the only rookie tailback in the NFL atop his team’s depth chart.

“I’ve got to stay hungry,” he said. “I came here with a chip on my shoulder and I’ve got to continue having a chip on my shoulder.”

“Mike’s been out here killing in practices,” said Dayne, who had been running with the first team. “If I was the coach and watched, I’d have probably taken Mike, too.”

Dayne is taking his demotion in stride, but the other Bell in town is ticked.

“They don’t think I can be the man, period,” he said flatly. “They don’t think I can do 25 carries.”

“They don’t trust me,” he said, adding he is unsure whether that person is coach Mike Shanahan, running backs coach Bobby Turner or someone else making decisions in the front office.

“I’m going to keep fighting for it, and I’ve got it in the back of my mind that I’m going to be the man, but in reality, it ain’t worked like that in three years,” Bell said. “It’s a long season. Anything can happen and Mike’s looking good, I’m not taking nothing from him. But I feel like I should be the No. 1 - to be named the starter and then lose it. I don’t know, man. I’m still (ticked) off about it.”

As always with Shanahan’s teams, it’s difficult to tell how this will shake out before week 1.

Shanahan said Mike Bell’s promotion doesn’t mean the race for the starting tailback job is over. The coach made it clear Tatum Bell and Dayne still have a chance, but the rookie has been too impressive to keep down. What has most impressed the coaching staff about Mike Bell - who went undrafted after he posted slow 40-yard dash times during offseason workouts - is he runs extremely hard, and he’s a downhill runner. That fits the Broncos’ system. Many thought Cedric Cobbs, on the practice squad last year, might emerge. But he is fourth on the depth chart while the kid who has been in the Denver organization for just more than three months has stolen the show.

Blitz View: This has running back by committee written all over it. If you draft one, get two handcuffs.