John Elway is holding his cards close and has at least 10 very good reasons to do so ahead of the NFL draft, which starts Thursday.
Sure, the Broncos could trade any of those 10 picks to move up from their No. 20 slot in the first round. Or they could move back. They could stand pat, they could draft an offensive lineman or they could spend big to try to get that running back from Stanford everyone is talking about. Heck, they could even draft another pass rusher to ensure Elway’s prized defense continues to be a menace for opposing quarterbacks.
The Broncos’ draft board was completed last Thursday but they “always massage it” in the final days. The names and the order will shift — some a lot, some a little. Everything, Elway said, will be considered and calls be taken and, most likely, outsiders will see the smoke continue to build until it finally clears Thursday evening.
“Everybody is talking about moving up and down,” Elway, the team’s general manager, said Monday. “It’s that time. In the next couple of days it’ll continue and you find out who wants to do what. But until we get to draft day, you never know really how serious anybody is.”
If there’s any certainty to the Broncos’ plans now, it’s this: Elway is on the search for the top talent for the Broncos’ needs. The players with the greatest potential to help get the team back to the playoffs after a year of missing out, as well as be key pieces beyond this year.
“We want to go in picking the best football players,” Elway said. “Free agent-wise, my belief is that we fix needs in free agency. With Ron Leary and Menelik (Watson), and the offensive line and the guys we signed there and defensive line-wise what we did, we’re still going to try to draft the best football players that are going to help us and not get in a situation where we reach for one.”
The draft class appears deep with elite defenders — from corner, to safety, to pass-rushers — and is packed with playmakers. But it is shallow on offensive line talent, where the Broncos have yet to fill their void at left tackle. The limited options in free agency at tackle and a relatively weak draft class for linemen has created a situation Elway called “not ideal,” but also not final.
“Everyone talks about left tackle and right tackle. Really, I think that is old-term kind of talk,” Elway said. “You need two good tackles because they can move their pass-rushers around. If you’re weak on the right side, they’ll put them on the right side or the left side or whatever. We want to have two good tackles.
“Now, we’ve got to do a better job of helping protect them, too. I think that (offensive coordinator Mike) McCoy and the staff, looking at all of those different options protection-wise, we’re looking to help those guys, too. No matter how good of a tackle you are, there are too many great pass rushers out there. You’re going to always get beat because there are a lot of great pass rushers out there…..We can find a guy that fits that spot and also the best job of taking care of him over there, too.”
If the Broncos spend their first pick Thursday on an offensive tackle — be it Utah’s Garett Bolles, Wisconsin’s Ryan Ramczyk or maybe Alabama’s Cam Robinson — the expectation is that that player will come in and compete for a job. Just like the other rookies. But the learning curve for young offensive linemen is steep and the Broncos need help now.
“A lot of people don’t think we have a left tackle on our team,” Elway said. “Ty Sambrailo played left tackle for us two years ago and was playing very well and hasn’t been healthy. That’s always an option for us.”
Sambrailo, a second-round pick out of Colorado State in 2015, started three games as a rookie before he was lost to a shoulder injury. An elbow injury in training camp last summer appeared to hinder his play. He played 10 games, but started only four and allowed a team-high seven sacks.
“Left tackles are not easy to find,” Elway said. “We thought Ty is a guy who can compete there. (Donald) Stephenson has played a little left, Menelik has played a little left….It may not be ideal, but you never know.”
Passing up one of the many playmakers available to draft a lineman may not be easy.
Denver’s offense over the past two seasons morphed into an inconsistent unit. The Broncos need help on offense, and could find it in the draft at tight end, running back and wide receiver as well as on the line. But success depends on both talent and fit, Elway said.
“Dak (Prescott) was a good fit in Dallas,” he said of the Cowboys’ fourth-round pick, a quarterback who turned into the league’s rookie of the year last season. “You got that offensive line, you got that great running game. That’s going to help take care of a young quarterback, so the pressure wasn’t on him. He’s got people around him that are going to make him a better player.”
As for Denver’s draft plan, Elway isn’t giving away too many details. Not yet. Not as the smoke begins to build.
“It sounds like it’s real easy but until you get going and things start flying around, you never know what price it’ll cost you to go up or if you go back, if there’s a trade partner to go back,” he said. “That’s why there’s going to be a lot of smoke this week until we really get to Thursday.
“The key thing for the draft is to try to select players who can help us be a better football team.”
