Broncos-centric observations from the first round of the NFL Draft

The beauty of any draft is how every pick tells you a lot about the state of the league, especially what teams are really thinking and what they are prioritizing moving forward. The first round is a microcosm of that, as teams set the table for what their offseason plan is and try their hardest to set themselves up for success.

With that said, here’s what we learned in round one and what it all means for the Denver Broncos.

Did Chris Harris Jr.’s value just go up?

1987 is the last time only one corner was drafted in round one, and only twice in this millennium have two or fewer cornerbacks been drafted in the first round. That just happened on Thursday night, which means there are still plenty of teams looking for cornerbacks—a position that you can never have enough of.

Not only are cornerback-needy teams still searching, breaking a record that’s stood for 32 years isn’t exaclty a ringing endorsement of this crop by the NFL.

That could become an important bargaining chip for the Broncos if forced to trade Chris Harris Jr., allowing them to get a higher pick.

The other side of the coin is that Denver would need to find a corner themselves, and while there’s depth in this group, no one offers better value than the Broncos legendary No. 25, both for potential suitors and the Orange & Blue.

John Elway’s lack of love might be shared

John Elway’s talked about “swinging and missing” on quarterbacks and “shaking trees” but he’s been fairly conservative the last two years.

After passing on Josh Rosen and Josh Allen with a top-five pick in 2018, Elway again passed on Dwayne Haskins and Drew Lock in 2019. Swinging and missing can be tough but not taking one of those quarterbacks could hurt even more if any of them pan out.

In fairness to No. 7, this year might’ve been different from last year, as the league didn’t seem to value the 2019 quarterback class.

In fact, prior to this draft, 10 of 11 signal callers drafted in the first round the past three years were acquired via trade, with the one who didn’t being first-overall pick, Baker Mayfield. That streak was broken as the New York Giants and Washington Redskins were able to sit pretty and get still get their guys.

This also means there are still plenty of intriguing arms remaining in this class, in addition to the aforementioned Rosen, who the Arizona Cardinals are moving on from. If teams like the Broncos are opting to pull the trigger on a developmental quarterback in the final two days of the draft, there are plenty of options on the board.

Or maybe we’ll just find out Elway isn’t interested in anyone this year. 

Who do you love?

Devin Bush, Jonah Williams, and the aforementioned quarterbacks, that’s ultimately who the Broncos passed on by trading down from 10th overall to 20. You don’t do that unless you’re not in love with any of the players available, a big sign of what Denver wants and how they valued the top of this draft. 

Vic Fangio wasn’t lying when he said there wasn’t a linebacker “as good” as Roquan Smith in 2019, as the Broncos passed on Bush and didn’t give their new coach a backer to seal up the middle of his defense. Offensive line coach Mike Munchak didn’t get an All-American, do-it-all lineman to patch up his favorite group, either.

All of this is to say that maybe Elway’s counting on the two veteran coaches to turn third and fourth-round prospects into first rounders, rather than giving them ready-made players. 

Instead, Rich Scangarello got a shiny new toy in Noah Fant, who could learn a few things about blocking from Munchak.

The Broncos passed on cornerbacks at 20, too, and despite having the draft capital, didn’t move up from the 20th pick to try and get another stud player for the offensive line like Garrett Bradbury.

Letting the board fall to them, it didn’t seem like the Broncos truly loved anyone who was drafted in the range of the two picks they held, outside of Fant.

We’ll see if the trusted veteran coaches can get some toys to play with on day two. 

The anti-trend league

You might think that the Broncos picking a tight end is a very conventional, old-school type of move, in truth, Denver may have been one of the few “forward thinking” teams in the entire league on Thursday night.

After all, Noah Fant isn’t some old-school tight end, he’s a movable piece, a receiver pretending to play tight end and waiting to strike as a big weapon in the passing game.

Outside of the Four Corners, where the Broncos took Fant and Cardinals selected Kyler Murray at the top of the draft, this was not a draft that showed how the NFL is evolving as a passing league.

Quarterbacks, cornerbacks and wide receivers dropped all night while 19 players were selected on either side of the trenches, a reminder that football is still a game where the big guys up front are crucial.

The one thing that was on-trend were the two safeties taken in the bottom half of round one, Darnell Savage and Jonathan Abram, two hard hitters with athleticism to cover all over the field. Players like this are the answer for more and more three-receiver sets with athletic tight ends in the mix as well. Guys like Savage and Abram allow defensive coordinators to play nickel defense and still be stout against the run, because they’re as good as linebackers in their ability to come downhill and tackle.

That’s the real battle that’s going on in the modern NFL, as teams try to become multiple on either side of the ball. With the selection of Noah Fant, the Broncos have joined the arms race of becoming harder to defend by molding two tight-end sets with three-receiver looks, the exact reason why athletic backers like the Devins and those two safeties were all selected in round one.