The Denver Broncos need a longterm answer at linebacker.
Denver picked up Alex Singleton two years ago to provide depth and play special teams, but he’s turned into a starter. That’s a win. He still has a few good years in him, but he’ll be 31 before the end of this season.
The big question is what the Broncos will do next to Singleton.
Josey Jewell, a four-year starter, left in free agency to join the Carolina Panthers. The Broncos added journeyman linebacker Cody Barton to take his place. Barton, 27, has two years of starting experience. He can hold his own in coverage but he will have an uphill battle to replace Jewell in the running game. He’s on a one-year contract.
The Broncos also have Jonas Griffith and Justin Strnad, both 27, as depth pieces. They could move 2023 third-round pick Drew Sanders back to inside linebacker, but that seems unlikely.
Denver could get by with what they have at linebacker, but there’s plenty of room for juice. A starting-caliber rookie would make sense. A developmental piece could make sense, too.
Here are five guys I’d have on my draft board if I was running the Broncos…
Payton Wilson, NC State
Range: Day 2
Let’s start with the red flags. And those will take awhile.
He’s already 24. He’s eight months older than Drew Sanders.
He’s had double-digit surgeries since leaving high school.
Oh, and he was hit by a car while running from a police officer after getting busted with a fake ID.
But if you can get past all of that—I won’t blame you if you can’t—you’ve got the most talented linebacker in the class.
And to be honest, I got past all of that in a heartbeat.
Wilson is a freak. At just under 6-foot-4 and 233 pounds, Wilson ran a 4.43 40-yard dash. The speed and burst show up on tape.
He flies into the backfield when shooting gaps and when defending outside runs. He can fight with offensive linemen. He’s a tough, high-motor defender who has the perfect attitude for the middle linebacker position.
Most of all, Wilson is a playmaker.
Wilson led all linebackers in this year’s draft class with nine tackles for loss. He’ll either rank first or second among this year’s drafted linebackers in tackles for loss and pass deflections, depending on who gets chosen.
That’s why he was a unanimous All-American and won the Butkus Award for the nation’s top linebacker.
Of all of the linebackers in the class, I like Wilson’s chances to become an All-Pro better than anybody else’s. And it isn’t close.
But you can’t draft him unless you can accept his red flags, and plenty of teams won’t.
Edgerrin Cooper, Texas A&M
Range: Day 2
Cooper excels when he’s moving forward. When he gets a ball-carrier in his sights, he turns into a missile.
With a 4.51-second 40-yard dash, Cooper is about as explosive as an off-ball linebacker can be. He’s so explosive that there have been murmurs of rushing him off the edge, although it’s unlikely that will be his final destination.
To me, Cooper is at his best off the ball where he can flow with run plays and end them. He’s capable in coverage. He can slip past blocks.
The concern might be that he’s too much o a gambler. He loves to shoot gaps, and that could burn him at the next level.
Cooper stuffed the stat sheet with 17 tackles for loss, eight sacks and two forced fumbles in his fourth and final season, which helped him to first-team All-America honors.
Junior Colson, Michigan
Range: Day 2
Colson is a very good football player. Only 21 years old, he’s fresh off being named the defensive MVP of Michigan’s national championship team and the toughest player on the team, too.
Colson was born in Haiti but was orphaned during the 2010 earthquake. He was adopted by a family that volunteered to clean the island nation up. He quickly took up sports.
Colson chose Michigan over just about every brand-name school you can think of and made an immediate impact, winning Freshman All-America honors.
At 6-foot-2 and 238 pounds, Colson is a fairly vanilla prospect in my opinion. He has the movement skills to defend sideline-to-sideline. He has a decent feel for coverage. He doesn’t miss tackles.
A true middle linebacker, Colson could be ready to start on Day 1. He’ll certainly be a three-down player by his second season. There’s no doubt in my mind he’ll have a long NFL career.
My question is whether he’ll find a way to make some splash plays. He’s a bit of a hitter, so maybe he can force some fumbles. If he can speed up his reads, maybe he could make some tackles for loss. If the cover skills tick up, he might be one of the league’s better cover lineabckers.
But, at least for now, my fear is that Colson is a jack of all trades but a master of none. He’s only 21, though, so his best is certainly to come. And if he develops a couple of tricks, he might turn out to be a very good player.
Jeremiah Trotter Jr., Clemson
Range: Day 2 or 3
If you remember watching four-time Pro Bowl linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Sr. with the Eagles, it should be easy to imagine how his son plays. It’s almost funny how similar they look. But you can imagine the limitations an early 2000s linebacker would have in the modern NFL.
Trotter plays football like a lion. He has big shoulders and even bigger shoulder pads. He plays behind them perfectly. He can pounce forward, but his lateral agility and overall speed leave plenty to desire. The NFL is trending toward jaguars and even cheetahs at linebacker. Lions are out of style.
But should they be?
The first job for a linebacker—particularly a middle linebacker like Trotter—is plugging running lanes, and it’s tough to find anybody better at that than Trotter. He has incredible instincts, high-end smarts and the power to punish runners in the hole.
There’s no doubt in my mind that he can run an NFL defense, and he just turned 21 on Christmas Eve.
Trotter is a decorated collegiate athlete, with second-team All-American honors in 2022 as his top award.
While Trotter doesn’t have the skillset to be a factor in the passing game, he’s found ways to be productive. In shallow zones over the middle, Trotter can bait passers and take advantage. His eight pass breakups this season will rank second among linebackers who hear their name called in the draft this year. He had eight breakups last year, too. His two interceptions in 2023 only trailed Payton Wilson among likely draftees, and he also had two picks in 2022.
Trotter is a two-down linebacker, and he could be one of the best in the league in the next couple of years. Unfortunately, two-down thumpers are not trendy among NFL front offices.
But if his cover instincts continue to bail him out against better athletes in the NFL, he could be special. That’s a big if.
Marist Liufau, Notre Dame
Range: Day 3
Liufau isn’t scared of anything.
The Hawaiian flies wherever he’s going. He loves to hit. He’s more than willing to battle with 300-pounders, even if he loses far more of those battles than he wins.
At 6-foot-2 and 235 pounds, Liufau has prototypical size for a modern weak-side linebacker. His 4.64-second 40-yard dash is also pretty typical, though uninspiring. But Liufau has great burst and it leads to him making a big play once or twice per game.
Liufau is certainly capable of serving as a core special teams player because of his play style. The question is whether he’ll ever be worthy of defensive reps. If he earns them, they’ll probably come in sub packages.
If I was a defensive coordinator, I’d love to have Liufau as aa third-down weapon. He can handle a heavy dose of green-dog blitzes, quarterback spies and some fairly simple coverage assignments, at least to start. He has the upside to be a very good cover player.
Think about what Ja’Quan McMillian and PJ Locke brought to the table last season. They played clean enough ball to stay on the field and made big plays when they had the opportunity. That’s the formula for Liufau.
If the Broncos can teach Liufau how to play the linebacker position more cleanly, with patience and better gap integrity, they could have a solid player on their hands.
And if Liufau is on the field, he’s going to give you a few hits per game that will provide identity to you defense.
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