Vic Fangio explains what differentiates the depth at wide receiver in this year’s draft

INDIANAPOLIS — Spoiler alert: the Broncos need a wide receiver, or two, this offseason.

It’s so apparent, in fact, in an industry full of deception, they aren’t even hiding it.

“I think it’s always good to have some young, dynamic wide receivers,” John Elway stated at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. “We’re always looking for all those.”

Not only is 2020 the year of perfect vision, but it’s also the year of the young receiver. What perfect timing for the team looking to surround Drew Lock with playmakers.

“We’re always going to try and surround the quarterback with people that he can be successful with and also protect him,” Elway said. “There’s a deep class at wide receiver this year so we’ll continue to hopefully get better there too.”

The key word being deep. That word is thrown around at the start of every year by analysts and teams as the NFL world shifts its attention to the draft. Deep. On the surface, in draft terms, it’s quite simple—there’s a plethora of talent available at a position.

But, interestingly enough, there’s more depth behind that word.

“Everybody always says the draft is deep,” Vic Fangio stated at the combine, getting philosophical about the word. “I’m saying every year at this position or that position, you look—yeah there might be six of seven or eight guys at a position, but it’s also they’re so close together that if you don’t take one of those if that’s what you want in the first round there’s a really good chance they’re all gone by the second-round pick. To me, that’s not really deep then.”

Saying that, however, this draft class rolls deeper than just six, seven and even eight guys.

“Obviously there’s a bunch of receivers as everybody’s alluded to,” Fangio said. “It seems to me that the wide receiver is a deep group because there are people that you kind of have a liking for that might be there in most of the rounds.”

Unlike other positions that may just be deep pretenders, the receiver group in 2020 isn’t one that’s going to be drained by the end of the first round. And the Broncos know that.

So while Denver desperately needs a receiver, or two, it isn’t a position that needs to be addressed in the first, or even second round. Because, as Fangio said, there are worthy receivers available in “most” rounds.

This doesn’t mean Elway won’t take a receiver in the first round. In fact, they’re doing their due diligence on the first-round receivers in the draft. At the Combine, the Broncos contingent has met with the likes of Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs III, CeeDee Lamb and Laviska Shenault, to name a few.

However, they’ve also met with first-round tackles, including Tristan Wirfs, Austin Jackson and Jedrick Wills.

In the end, not even the Broncos know what they’re going to do with their first-round pick and won’t know until they’re on the clock.

But what we do know, thanks to the Combine, is Denver believes there are worthy receivers on every day of the draft, which eases the pressure on them having to grab one in the first round.