MOBILE, Ala. — The Broncos may not have the luxury of being able to pick a defensive lineman with the No. 15 pick. Other issues on the roster may still be more pressing by the time they are on the clock.
But if they do, then Javon Kinlaw, South Carolina’s 6-foot-6 300-pound force of nature, could be a perfect fit.
And it might have as much to do with who he is as what kind of player he has become.
Monday, inside a packed ballroom at the Renaissance Riverview hotel in downtown Mobile, Kinlaw answered a fusillade of questions with replies that were as candid as they were quick.
A team captain at South Carolina, Kinlaw talks like he plays. He quickly gets to the point. He doesn’t tap-dance.
When asked what his favorite pass-rush move was, he replied with characteristic bluntness.
“Right now, I’d just love to run through somebody. That’s it,” he said. “Point A to Point B. Simple as that.”
Kinlaw is matter-of-fact about everything, including spending part of his childhood homeless in Washington, D.C. after emigrating from Trinidad and Tobago.
“We went without electricity. No water. Things like that,” Kinlaw said. “We had to use the neighbors’ clothes to fill up totes of water. We had a gas stove; you would light the stove with a little match or something. Get a tall pot, boil the water, mix it with some cold water, mix in it a bucket, take it upstairs, shower like that. But at a younger age, we thought that was normal. That’s how we were living.”
At no point in describing what he did without as a child did Kinlaw’s voice rise or fall, or betray any emotion. These circumstances are simply the events of his life, neither good nor bad. He doesn’t mourn for what he lacked. Instead, he views all of it as making him the man that he is.
“Now that I look back at it, it was tough,” he said. “But it made me a man at a young age. I grew up early — definitely.”
And his experience shows another reason why he’s a perfect fit for the Broncos. He possesses a maturity steeled by hardship. So when he saw a blizzard of double-teams last year that limited him to six tackles for loss and six sacks in his senior season, he didn’t fret.
If he was in Denver, Kinlaw likely wouldn’t face the same attention. Not with Von Miller and Bradley Chubb around.
“They get off that rock, man. I’m telling you. I’m telling you. You’ve gotta respect it,” Kinlaw told KOA-AM 850. “They do their thing in the pass rush, but they play the run, also. They might not get that much credit toward that, but they play the run now.”
And that appreciation of playing against the run is likely music to Vic Fangio’s ears.
Kinlaw also said in the radio interview that he would love to be a Bronco. Now, with most players, you shrug at the comment. That’s what you’re supposed to say, right? You’d love to play for the team being discussed. You’d love to play anywhere.
But given how Kinlaw doesn’t trade in phony platitudes, there’s a sincerity behind it.
“It would mean a lot. I’d love to play for Denver. I’d love to give that D-line a little boost, you know what I’m saying? I think I could come in and some value at the D-tackle spot,” he told KOA. “I would love to play in Denver. Honestly. I mean that.”
With Chubb and Miller around, Kinlaw wouldn’t see the frequent double-teams that hounded him at South Carolina. He would be free to attack. The sub-package interior pass-rush combination of Kinlaw and Dre’Mont Jones could be terrifying for opposing quarterbacks.
The Broncos could have bigger needs than defensive end when Roger Goodell proclaims them to be on the clock in three months. They could have re-signed Derek Wolfe or Adam Gotsis, or made a free-agent pursuit of Chris Jones, Arik Armstead or Calais Campbell, if the Jaguars choose to release the Denver South product.
But Kinlaw might be their perfect fit.
