Broncos select safety Will Parks with the 219th pick

ENGLEWOOD, Co – The Denver Broncos added another piece to their secondary by selecting Will Parks, a safety out of the University of Arizona, with the 219th pick of the NFL Draft.

At Arizona, Parks played in 53 games, including 31 starts during the most successful stretch in Wildcats football history from 2012-2015, he finished his career with 197 total tackles, 20.5 for loss, 20 pass breakups and four interceptions.

During his senior season, Parks led the team with 76 tackles as well as seven pass breakups. The 6-foot-1, 194 pound Philidelphia native was an honorable mention all-Pac 12 performer in 2015.

Parks ran a 4.52 40-yard dash at his pro day that went a long way towards opening eyes around the league.

“I think it helped a lot,” he told. “At the end of the day i just wanted to go out there and prove that I could have a good time.”

Parks becomes the second safety for the Broncos in the draft, afther the team selected Justin Simmons in the third round.

“I’m aware of that, Justin Simmons is a pretty good player,” he told. “We’re going to push eachother to work every day and learn from guys like T.J. Ward, [Chris] Harris, Aqib Talib all those dudes man, that’s a dream come true.”

Parks had a pre-draft wisit with the Broncos, a day he remembered most because he “shook hands with Aqib Talib. Now Talib is his temmate.

“It feels like it was just yesterday I was over there making relationships and next thing I know they gave me a phone call,” he said.

NFL.com lists Parks’ strengths as follows:

Football intelligence is what you want. Plays with above average awareness in coverage and recognizes play­-action quickly and responds by sprinting back into position. Has coverage ability in both man and zone. Balanced eye awareness between quarterback and receiver. Chest­-up tackler who explodes from hips and drives through his targets. Detail oriented team player. Willing to sacrifice body and contain run when asked to play on the edge. Pursuit effort is always on point.