Broncos failed to trade up multiple times in the second round but ended up getting “lucky”

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — John Elway ended the second day of the draft in mic-drop style, saying, “I like to be good, but I also like to be lucky,” as he walked off the stage at his post-draft press conference.

And for good reason, too.

The Broncos started the second day of the draft scheduled to wait 18 picks until their first selection at No. 51 overall. They had a dilemma, though. They didn’t want to miss out on one of the top players on their board, defensive end DeMarcus Walker, so they attempted to make multiple moves to go up the draft board and get him.

“We were making a lot of inquires about going up. We were working hard,” Elway said Friday night. “When it first got started, there was a lot of action, a lot of different things going on in that second round. We made a lot of attempts to get up. We kept missing, and sure enough, thankfully, DeMarcus kept falling back to us. We were close and couldn’t get anything done.”

Luck worked in Elway’s favor this time. Not only did he get his guy, he didn’t have to give up any additional draft picks to get him.

“It was one of those things. You can only work so hard. If you don’t force it, you do what you feel is right, you follow your gut, and at a certain point you say it’s too much, and you don’t do it,” he said. “Things have a tendency to work out. They did tonight with DeMarcus falling in the second round, and now we get to keep our third, and so we were able to get two more good football players there.”

With the additional picks, Denver selected wide receiver, and special teams star Carlos Henderson in the third round with the No. 82 overall pick and cornerback Brendan Langley with the No. 101 overall pick in the third.

In the end, Elway and Vance Joseph got their man that they wanted all along while also sticking with their main goal of the offseason, keeping the defense great.

“DeMarcus was the top guy on our board but fell to us. We were thrilled about how that fell; you never know who’s going to fall,” Elway said. “I was telling ‘VJ,’ you can never have enough of those pass rushers, and he can do it inside, and he can do it outside.”

In the game of football, much like in life, luck can occasionally be more important than skill. On Friday night, in the second-round of the draft, luck helped Elway when his ability to trade up didn’t quite go through.