Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - MAILBAG: Denver Broncos NEED To Take WR In First-Round of 2025 NFL Draft
Episode Date: April 16, 2025In our latest mailbag episode, Broncos Country wants to know if the Denver Broncos need to take a wide receiver in the first-round of the 2025 NFL Draft. How would it impact the Broncos offense and th...e prospects of Devaughn Vele, A.T. Perry, Troy Franklin, and Marvin Mims? Plus, the Broncos recently hosted a potential first round cornerback for a Top-30 visit, which prompts the question as to whether or not a cornerback could be on the table for the Broncos in the first round. Cody Roark is a credentialed beat reporter for Mile High Sports and covers the Broncos daily in person. Sayre Bedinger is the site expert for Predominantly Orange. Both bring Broncos Country the most in-depth and objective coverage of the Denver Broncos. WANT MORE DAILY DENVER BRONCOS CONTENT?For all of the latest Denver Broncos news today -- Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOBroncos?sid=YouTube Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL Follow on Twitter: @CodyRoarkNFL and @SayreBedingerFollow the show on Twitter: @LockedOnBroncos Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Amazon Fire TV Stick 4kDid you know your Fire TV is also an Xbox? Turn any TV into your gaming and entertainment hub with Fire TV Stick 4K devices — no console required. Head to Amazon.com/firetvlockedon to get started. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and compatible controller required. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
The Denver Broncos and Sean Payton have a multitude of options when they're on the clock at pick number 20.
But we'll tell you why the Broncos need a first round wide receiver here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos.
You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.
What's all, Broncos country?
Welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast.
Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.
Thank you so much to all the everydayers out there in Broncos country.
Thanks so much for tuning in, making us your first listen, however you choose to do so.
And it's easy to become an everyday or all you have to do is hit that subscribe or that follow button.
And you're never going to miss out on what's going on with your favorite team.
For all your Broncos news, content, coverage, analysis, and more.
Every single day all year long, you get that here.
Lockdown Broncos, the best Broncos podcast that's out there in the entire pod sphere.
As always, I'm Cody Roark, Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports.
joined as always by Sarah Bedinger, long-time site expert over there at predominantly orange.com.
And today we're going to bring you a jam-packed episode leading us into the NFL draft.
We'll discuss why the Denver Broncos need a wide receiver in the first round of this year's NFL draft
as we open up our mail bag here.
We'll also tell you about maybe how the Broncos could invest in a cornerback in round number one.
It may not be the popular option, but anything is on the table at this point.
and then we'll share our reaction to the latest three-round mock draft put together by Field Yates over there at ESPN.com.
Sarah, my friend, look, you and I, we've been in this business a long time, and we talk football for a living.
You obviously do a lot of stuff at church.
I'm sure you get people coming up to you all the time asking you your thoughts and your questions on what do you think the Broncos are going to do.
Here I get it all the time with our friend group, but the one person who asked me the most questions as of late regarding the NFL draft,
happens to be my fiance.
And I know your wife actually asked you this question,
which are going to kick off our mailbag here today.
You know, per sources,
somebody said that she asked you,
do the Broncos need a first round wide receiver?
I know.
My wife is just all about, you know,
building around Bow Nicks right now, Cody.
She's wondering how are the Broncos going to do it?
We got the tight end.
We got the Joker.
But she wants a wide receiver.
And I keep on saying this to everybody, Cody,
that we don't have that at home right now.
We don't have it.
When you're talking about first round wide receivers, you mentioned it.
I think you and I agree.
The Broncos need a wide receiver.
It's not a wide receiver or bust in the first round,
but I think if they take one in round one, it's way less of a luxury.
You know, my wife's been asking me about this for so long.
I finally posted it on my Twitter page, just asking Broncos country,
do you see wide receiver as a luxury want right now,
or do you see it as a need for the roster?
Most people, I'm surprised to find out, Cody.
It seems like the majority of people that are jumping in my mentions are saying that
wide receiver is more of a luxury at this point.
And the reasoning that they're giving is, hey, we have Cortland Sutton.
Sounds like a deal is going to get done with him.
Got Devon Vele and Troy Franklin expecting them to break through in year two.
And Marvin Mim's second half resurgence last year really gave the fans a lot of confidence
that wide receiver is not a position of quote unquote.
need in round one.
However, I would highly disagree because the Broncos were one of the worst teams in the NFL
last year when it came to dropped passes.
I don't think they should bank everything on Velae and Franklin because we saw how
that worked out with Greg Dulcich, you know, the last couple of years when you banked
everything on his development and thought, well, surely, you know, in Sean Payton's offense,
he's going to be able to figure it out.
Surely with, you know, a better quarterback, he's going to be able to figure it out.
I just think you can't necessarily bank on that.
And there's no reason why a position that commands $40 million a year at the top of the market,
why you wouldn't take a player at that position if he was maybe the best player on your board.
It's definitely a need in my opinion.
No, I'm 110% with you.
I think it is a need here for this franchise.
And look, to the point that you made right there, I think a lot of people are comfortable saying,
hey, we're going to go into the season, Cortland Sutton, Devon, Valle, Troy Franklin, Marvin Mims, we're good to go.
that's all we need. But you have to always throw this out there. Like in the NFL as a front
office executive, I'm going to give people the mind of thinking here for a head coach and a general
manager. What if there's an injury at training camp? What if there's an injury in the preseason? What
if there's a week two injury? Are we okay with going into the season with that wide receiver room
as it currently is? And you know, we all know. The Broncos typically carry five, sometimes maybe six
wide receivers on the 53 man roster. But you are an injury way. And obviously, like if you have
injury to Cortland Sutton, knock on wood, that hopefully didn't happen. Hopefully there's no
injuries and this team can continue to stay healthy. My whole line of thinking is you're going into
that with saying like we're, we're almost banking on the fact that these guys are going to
have a drastic jump in their production, which I anticipate, I know they think that for Troy Franklin.
I know Devon Valet is excited about being able to do a little bit more, but I think from an overall
peace of mind, security type of feel, you don't have that if you don't take a while.
wide receiver in this year's draft. And I'm okay with them going wide receiver in round one.
Yeah, round two. I'm okay with that as well. But I don't think you can go into this draft and not
take a receiver because that room still has to get better around Bo Nix. And of course,
adding Evan Ingram is going to help. If they add a tight end, I'm certainly not opposed to that.
That's certainly going to help as well to combine there. And, you know, maybe a potential
lethal two tight end set. But wide receiver, this is a position, Sarah. As you mentioned,
you need some flexibility with it going forward as your other guys.
start to get into their role a little bit, right? And I know that Troy Franklin, Marvin Mims,
their roles are going to be entirely different than what the Broncos have planned for
Cortland Sutton, Devon Velae, A.T. Perry, and whoever else they decide to bring in in the
NFL draft. I absolutely agree. I think the Broncos need a wide receiver. And round one,
seems like the best bet here for them. You know me? I'm on the Emeka-Egbuka train. And I know
there's a couple other guys we talked about. We just had a mock draft a couple of days ago. We had
Jaden Higgins in round two.
He might be a late round one guy.
Yeah, I think so.
And I would not be surprised by that.
I wouldn't be surprised by a lot of things at wide receiver in this draft.
I think the thing about this draft class is that there's not a lot of blue chip talent.
Now, Travis Hunter, he is that at wide receiver.
But other than Travis Hunter and maybe a couple of other guys,
there's not a ton of players that I would say these guys would be consensus,
top five players in just about any given draft.
This is not a top heavy draft.
It's a deep draft.
And so the Broncos could get really nice value at wide receiver outside of round one.
That's where I think there's this splitting of hairs between, well, is it a round one need or is it round two, round three?
You play this, you know, puzzle game of, you know, Sudoku trying to figure out, okay, if the Broncos go running back in round one, they could go any position, rounds two and beyond.
If they go D line in round one, now they've got a pretty much.
have to take a running back round two, right?
So it pushes everything in weird positions.
I don't know.
You don't necessarily have to do anything in the NFL draft,
but certainly for what makes sense,
I think with one of the top three picks in this class,
the Broncos got to come away with the receiver, right?
I mean, it's got to be, it's got to be prioritized in that way.
So as to say, hey, with one of our top three picks,
and we feel like we're getting a guy that can contribute right away,
because that's what this team needs,
is a receiver that can contribute right away.
Whether it happens round one, two, three, I don't care.
But I think in one of those three picks, they've got to get a receiver.
Well, and it's not an indictment on any of the other receivers on the roster either.
If that's the move, you're always looking to upgrade your roster, right?
Because what's the most important piece for your franchise?
You've got your quarterback in place.
Now it's getting him the right pieces around him that are going to help him continue to take steps forward here.
I think it's, I think we easily forget the Broncos's wide receiver situation.
situation last year when it came to injuries, right?
Week one, you know, Devon Valis, he's a healthy share of target, suffers a rib
injury. He's out of the mix for a couple of weeks.
Josh Reynolds gets hurt against the Las Vegas Raiders with the hand injury.
The Broncos lose out on him.
And then we're sitting here saying like, ah, what does the wide receiver room look like?
Who's going to step up?
Who's going to get looks?
And certainly the Broncos, they went a little bit of a streak.
You know, we're not saying that.
But the wide receiver room, you know, left a lot to be desired through a good portion of the
season outside of Cortland Sutton.
until Marvin Mims really came along.
So are we okay with sitting here saying,
let's go with the status quo?
Like obviously the Broncos,
they took a step forward.
Cortland Sutton was a big part of that.
Marvin Mims,
we loved what we saw from him.
We saw the flashes from Troy Franklin.
Is that enough to go into 2025 and say,
you know what?
We're comfortable with running it back as is.
I always think the smart thing to do from an executive standpoint
is to add that insurance policy
while also making that room better.
You have to in today's NFL.
And how many episodes did we do last year throughout the season saying, wow, you know, in a situation like this,
this is where it would have been nice to have a guy like Tim Patrick in the mix.
Because remember, there was a game where Josh Reynolds, I think it was early on.
I think it was against the Seahawks.
Week one was like, wow, Josh Reynolds had an easy drop, you know, a wide open drop on a four-yard out route.
You know, little Jordan Humphrey had a drop.
We were sitting here saying the Broncos need something to inject some life or just to keep them floating at the receiver position.
I'm not comfortable with Denver just running it back as it.
is. And obviously, you know, we want to see A.T. Perry. No one's saying we don't. But
A.T. Perry was a practice squad guy, has some regular season experience with the Saints.
But aside from that, we don't know exactly what he's going to fully bring to the table.
Yet we know his traits. We know what maybe he can do. But we haven't seen it just yet. So banking on
that would be, as you say, roster malpractice, my friend. Broncos country, we want to know your
thoughts. Do you think that the Broncos need a first round wide receiver or is a luxury want as we are
posing out there? As our wives have told us.
and asked us these questions on today's mailback episode of Lockdown Broncos.
We're not done yet, Bracko's country.
We still got a lot to break down.
We got a very interesting question sent in from a mystery mockser asking whether or not the Broncos could take a cornerback in round number one.
We'll tell you why that would not be the popular pick here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos.
Today's episode Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by our friends over there at LinkedIn.
And as a small business owner, your work doesn't end when the clock hits five.
Your business is always on your mind, which means when it's time to hire, you need a partner that works just as hard as you do.
That's where LinkedIn job comes in.
When you clock out, LinkedIn clocks in.
And LinkedIn, they make it easy to post your job for free.
They share it with your network and you can get qualified candidates all in the same place.
And it's easy.
And here's how it works.
You post your job.
LinkedIn's new feature can help you write job descriptions and then quickly get your job in front of the right people with deep candidate insights.
And here's a pro tip.
Add the hashtag hiring frame to your profile picture to double your reach to qualified candidates.
No wonder, 72% of small businesses say LinkedIn helps them find high quality hires.
Just post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash locked on NFL.
That's LinkedIn.com slash locked on NFL to post your job for free.
Terms and conditions apply.
We've been talking so much about the Denver Broncos getting better hands on offense.
How about adding some more hands on defense?
Another playmaker at cornerback visited the Denver Broncos
and maybe raising the possibility of a first round cornerback
here in the 2025 NFL draft,
which is just a week away Broncos country.
Kind of crazy to think that we've already come this far.
And we're so thankful for every single one of you
that rocks with us every single day here at Lockdown Broncos.
If you're not already a subscriber,
if you're not already an everyday listener,
go ahead and become one right now.
just take a couple seconds, hit subscribe wherever you listen to podcast as well as on
YouTube. Cody, very shocking news broke on Tuesday of the Denver Broncos hosting a
cornerback who is a projected first round pick in the 2025 NFL draft for one of their
top 30 visits. Broncos as of Wednesday are no longer allowed. This is the last day to
have the top 30 visits before the draft. So this is, they snuck one in at the buzzer here. And we had
Mystery Moxter asked us the question because Mike Cliss reported Maxwell Hirsten from Kentucky,
the ball hawking corner came in for a top 30 visit.
The mystery moxter is asking, is cornerback a realistic position for this team in round one?
I would be shocked if that was the case.
And look, anything is possible in today's NFL.
And I think certainly everyone wants to go back to the Cincinnati Bengals game and say,
okay, hey, like what does that look like when you're facing two elite level?
wide receiver ones. You know, you had Pastor Tan covering Jamar Chase, T. Higgins from time to time.
Riley Moss primarily covered T. Higgins and had a rough game despite having really tightly contested coverage there.
You know, I think bringing in a corner, you know, potential first round corner for a top 30 visit,
I think is interesting. But is it on the table here for round one? Like I'm very curious what that
visit was for. What are the Broncos looking to find out here? Because look, as we have all seen from George
Peyton. I think you go back to 2021. His first draft as general manager of the Denver Broncos.
And look, obviously, Vic Fangio was the head coach. But a lot of people were saying the Broncos need
a quarterback. They need Justin Fields. And everyone was shocked. I wasn't shocked. I thought it was a great
pick. You and I've talked about this about, you know, when they went with Patrick Sertan,
I was like, man, that's a game changing cornerback right there. And certainly look at, look at how that
has aged. He has become, he's already on track for a Hall of Fame career. Defensive player
of the year he means so much to this Broncos franchise.
Would the Broncos maybe do this possibly again here in the 2025 NFL draft by shocking
everybody going with the pick that maybe they didn't foresee anyone maybe going?
Everyone's talking offense, but could corner be the secret sauce on defense?
I don't know how George and Sean Phil.
Obviously on Thursday we'll have our pre-draft press conference with them and maybe we'll get a
little bit of insight into that.
I know the Broncos are happy with their cornerback room that they currently have,
but I'm very curious as to why they were looking into a cornerback here,
obviously in the top 30 visit.
Are they trying to maybe see what other teams have met with this player?
I'm not sure where to go here.
So I mean, what are your thoughts on this?
Yeah, I think that there's a couple of stats that really stand out to me, Cody,
and the number one stat that stands out is targets.
You know, with Patrick Certan, you're not throwing to that side
the ball very often, right? I mean, 62 targets in 16 games last year and Sartan made teams pay.
It was the lowest quarterback rating into his coverage that he's allowed as an NFL player at
58.9. Lowest yards per target at 5.3. I mean, you name it basically. He dominated yards per completion.
His career average yards per completion, Cody, is 10.7. Last year, it was 8.6. So we're talking to
yards difference there.
Throwing it at Pat Sertan is fruitless in in today's NFL.
So what do you do?
You throw out the other guy, right?
Riley Moss in 14 games, listen to this, listen to this stat here.
In 14 games, Riley Moss was targeted 103 times.
That is bizarre.
I mean, teams are throwing at Riley Moss ad nauseum.
And we saw that happen in the Cincinnati Bengals game, right?
And the fact that he missed three games and was still targeted 103 times is bonkers.
And so that, I think, is why the Broncos might look at a guy like Maxwell Hirsten.
And I'm not saying he'd be the only option, but it's maybe a reason why you look at a guy who,
over the course of his last 20 games at Kentucky, had six interceptions and three forced fumbles.
This guy breaks on the ball quickly.
He's instinctive.
He's got great hands.
And three of those six interceptions, Cody, they were taken back.
for touchdowns, right? So this is a player who, remember in 2014, the Broncos just went,
they just loaded up at corner. They're like, you know what? We're getting, we're getting a keep
to leave. We re-signed Chris Harris Jr. We're bringing him back. We're going to go ahead, use our
first round pick on Bradley Robey. We're going to kill this quarterback, or cornerback need with fire.
And they did the same thing in 2021, the year they brought in Pat Sertan, right? You signed Kyle
Fuller, you sign Ronald Darby, you had Bryce Callahan already. And then you use a first round.
rounder on Pat Sartan.
I don't know.
I think that most NFL teams nowadays subscribe to this idea that you can never have too
many corners, especially when you have someone like PS2 commanding or demanding that
you throw the other way.
Well, and I think the scary thing about it is now, like you see scouting reports.
You see draft profile talk and everyone's like, everyone's trying to find the next
Pat Sertan.
That's a really cool thing to kind of be in that light of that conversation.
But obviously, you know Travis Hunter is a very, very special player.
I know he's going to obviously go in the top three.
maybe even top two at this point, you know, in the NFL draft in a week or so.
You know, Will Johnson's another name as well as cornerback.
The Michigan got a cornerback who obviously suffered an injury.
A lot of people were talking about he's got a lot of traits similar to Pat Sertan.
Obviously with his injury, does that maybe push him down a little bit to where,
hey, the Broncos actually might have a chance to get a corner like a Will Johnson?
Could it be a round two pick?
Like if he drops to round two, could the Broncos maybe make a move like that?
I think in today's NFL with how many wide receivers that teams will utilize.
Kansas City has been one of them.
Cincinnati obviously is one of those teams that does it.
You need to be able to have guys that can cover.
Now, obviously, in terms of volume of targets that Riley Moss saw,
that doesn't mean that Riley Moss is bad in any way, shape, or form.
It means that teams just don't want to risk throwing it in a passer 10.
There was one time, there was a stat that was trending,
that quarterbacks would actually have a better passer rating.
if they threw it in the dirt versus throwing it towards Pat's or Tan's way.
I don't know how the math and the calculations kind of came out to that,
but that's a pretty wild stat in and of itself.
Now he's your reigning, defending, undisputed, defensive player of the year.
What does that mean going forward?
Well, whoever's playing cornerback, you know you're going to be getting a lot of targets
because teams aren't going to want to throw it to Pat's or Tan's way.
And the thing that the Broncos made the big change up this season versus what they didn't
do in Vance Joseph's first year.
They were playing Pat Sertan off the ball quite a bit in 2023.
They didn't allow them to press as much.
And that was more so a scheme thing, whereas Pat wanted to do those things.
And then because they brought in the right pieces and they evolved the defense a little bit.
2024, we saw Pat Sertan can lock guys up.
Let them play press coverage.
Let them run with those guys.
I think having Jim Leonard was a big factor in terms of saying, hey, like, we can do this.
Like Pat, Pat Sotan, he's an absolute.
freak. He's the perfect technician at that position.
So for me, Sarah, I know the idea of maybe picking a cornerback is not going to be popular
amongst Broncos country. I don't think it would be the right move. But I could see why the
Broncos could, in fact, do that if that were the case in round number one. Could you imagine
the reaction on social media? Yeah. That happens. Anything is possible, though, Broncos country.
We want to know your thoughts as well. How would you feel if Denver selected a cornerback
with their first round pick here in the 2025 NFL draft.
We've got a lot to break down on today's Melbag episode, Lockdown Broncos.
One Broncos fans sent in a question asking us what our thoughts were on field gate to vspn.com's.
His latest mock draft that included a little bit of an offensive haul for the Broncos offense.
We'll tell you our thoughts on that and much more here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos.
Today's episode of Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by Fanduel.
And hey, the NBA playoffs, they are almost here.
In fact, my Chicago Bulls play Wednesday night.
And Fandul, giving new customers an incredible way to get in on the action.
Right now, when you join Fandul and place your first $5 bet,
you're going to get $250 in bonus bets if your bet wins.
And Fandu makes it so easy for you to get in on the action,
especially as the playoffs are here,
there's no better time to get in on all the action than when the postseason
tip off begins.
And the Denver Nuggets are going to be playing the Los Angeles Clippers this Saturday.
And right now they're the series favorite here early on at Fandual Sportsbook,
but they're going to allow you to go into any playoff matchup that you see
and you can put together a same game parlay where you can choose player points.
You can choose who's going to hit a certain amount of three-pointers.
You can even decide on who's going to score the first basket of the game
and the method in which they score, whether that's a free throw,
a layup, a slam dunk, or a three-point shot.
All inside the Fandual Sportsbook app,
they want you to get ready for the NBA playoff push.
here inside of their app.
So don't miss out, head to fanduil.com and claim your $250 in bonus bets today.
The fourth quarter action of today's episode, Lockdown Broncos is here.
And as always, Broncos country, our promise to you, the avid members and listeners out there,
we're here for you every single day all year long for all your Broncos news, content coverage,
analysis, and more.
You're not going to get a more objective point of view on everything happening with your favorite
team than right here.
Lockdown Broncos is becoming every day or if you're not yet one already.
Sarah, our mailbag, we love to open it up.
We got an interesting question sent in.
You know, sometimes like we'll react to people's mock drafts essentially.
But as you get closer, I know the ESPN and NFL network, they're doing a lot of
crossover stuff right now.
I know there's a lot of things trending towards a potential partnership or obviously
ESPN buying NFL network possibly.
But they have a lot of analysts, a lot of draft analysts.
Field Yates recently came out with a very interesting hall here.
And his latest mock draft, just a week away from the action, where the Broncos,
They focus on the offensive side of the up.
They get some interesting players here in rounds one through three.
What were our thoughts on that?
First off, you know, who were the three picks here for Field Yates' mock draft?
Yeah, I really found this to be an interesting exercise.
Field Yates alternating picks with the great Mel Kuiper Jr.
who shockingly released his final mock draft like two weeks before.
I was interested by that, Cody.
Normally no NFL draft experts are releasing a final mock two weeks out.
But I guess Mel Kuyper Jr. is calling out his shot from, you know, full court.
But this mock draft had the Broncos taking Omerion Hampton, the running back from North Carolina in round one.
I saw that Hampton recently did an interview with Shannon Sharp where he kind of vocalized that he didn't think he was even going to be there at 20 overall.
So we'll be interested to see if that happens.
Second round pick was Mason Taylor, the tight end out of LSU.
You and I have talked about how he could be one of the perfect potential fits for the Broncos in this year.
draft at tight end, one of a number of really young guys at that position who makes a lot of sense
as a past catching option and developmental joker. And then in third round,
Elic A. Ominore from Stanford, the wide receiver. I'm probably butchering his name. Cody,
I'm not as up on the draft prospects this year as I normally am. I need to learn pronunciation
for a lot of these names, but I know that the Stanford wide receiver is a big dude who can
make plays down the field, who's physical, aggressive. So I think overall, this would be a
a very interesting and maybe borderline ideal haul.
I don't know that after those first two picks,
I don't know that you could do anything that would disappoint me
after getting Hampton and Mason Taylor in rounds one and two.
Yeah, I know.
It doesn't contain, unfortunately,
any of the Ohio State Buckeyes that you and I have kind of been pounding the table
for obviously you want to pluck players off of a national championship squad.
You know, that's always something you want to do.
But obviously, A.M.
Or out of Stanford, like I said, got to get a pronunciation.
guide here. His best value in terms of his stock there as an under the radar guy probably is his game against CU two years ago where he absolutely went off and had a ridiculous game against Travis Hunter. As we mentioned, he's going to go top two, top three in this year's NFL draft. You know, obviously you talk about maybe he's able to do in his two years at Stanford, you know, in 12 games. You know, back to back years. He had he had 62 catches his first year, 63 catches in 2024. He had 1,013 yards in 2023 was six times.
touchdowns get 831 yards and six touchdowns.
So his overall receiving numbers dipped a little bit here in 2024,
but really he's kind of the same productive guy, six touchdowns.
Obviously in each the last two years, it's 12 overall TDs.
For me, I look at where he's at.
You know, I think he was number nine overall in the ACC in 2024 and overall
receptions in terms of receiving yards.
He was number seven in the PAC 12 in 2023.
He was number eight overall in the ACC in 20,
24 and then obviously he was number seven overall in 2023 in the pack 12 and yards per reception averaging 16.3 yards per catch.
Kind of I think if you're getting him in round three, that's that's a guy that's going to come in and is going to compete with guys like Devon Vele and obviously as we talked about AT Perry at that wide receiver spot there.
You know, for a sizable guy, you want that and you pair that guy next to Cortland Sutton or you factor these guys into the rotation.
I certainly wouldn't be opposed to that.
I'm not sure that would necessarily be something like if this was the hall for the Broncos.
I don't know if I'd be as excited about it in terms of three picks versus some of the three picks that we've done in some of our various mock drafts, right?
Like if you get Omarian Hanton, Mason Taylor, A. Manor out of Stanford.
I don't know if that's as strong, at least on paper, in my opinion, is getting like, okay, let's say you did get Omerian Hapton.
You got a round two, a Jaden Higgins or a Trayvion Henderson, whatever it may be.
And then a Terrence Ferguson in round number three.
Like for me, I feel like those would be better picks than this haul for the Broncos.
What did Mel Kiper have as his by chance?
Do you know that?
I can't.
I don't subscribe to ESPN Plus.
So I don't have access to that.
No, I don't either.
Yeah, I don't either.
I don't remember what Mel had for the Broncos.
I think it was, for some reason I want to say it was similar positions, you know,
in what we have here in this mock draft.
So I feel like it's kind of trending that way in terms of what people are thinking.
the Broncos are going to do. I saw, I know Mike Cliss posted a mock draft a week or so ago, Cody,
where he had the Broncos going D-line in the second round. So maybe there's some buzz building towards
that being one of the top three picks as we've kind of circled back to that. But I'm with you.
I think that with the NFL draft, it's sort of like, you know, you put together a Christmas list and
you have your wish list and you have these things that you want. And there's this frustrating element of like,
you know, okay, well, you could have your gifts spoiled before the draft and basically know what you're getting, right?
Okay, yeah, we're getting Hampton. We're getting Mason Taylor or we're getting the Ohio State guys.
For some people, that's kind of dull because it's like, you know, I know what I'm getting.
Or maybe you get something and you're like, oh, I wanted that pair, I wanted a pair of shoes, but not that pair of shoes, right?
I've been, I have my heart set on this one. So I get that aspect of the draft where we develop favorites and we kind of get like you said,
that prospect fatigue.
By the way,
Elic, Iomenor.
That's how you pronounce it.
I've looked it up.
I look up the phonetics.
Eelich,
Iomenor,
that's how you say it.
So if the Broncos draft
and we'll know how to say it
when he comes aboard the rock.
Do you remember the Broncos all pronunciation draft from,
you know,
I think it was 2020.
What was it?
Albert Oakwoodia,
Justin Arnaud,
Michael O Jemudia.
Like it was,
that was a whole lot,
man.
McElvin,
A game.
Yeah,
they put us to the test to that year.
Oh,
That was tough.
Yeah, we got spoiled in the first two rounds with Jerry, Judy, KJ.
Hamler, and then it was like a free for all of,
are you going to be able to pronounce this guy's name?
You might not.
But yeah, I'm with you.
I think prospect fatigue is a real thing.
And it's kind of like having your gift spoiled a month before Christmas.
It's like, all right, well, yeah, that was exciting a month ago.
But now we had to wait this long.
And it's like I was kind of maybe hoping for a little spice, you know, something.
I don't know.
But yeah, it's tough this time of year when we get this close to the draft.
Yeah, no, and it's also like, does it lose the value to it, right?
Like if we've been beating home this drum that it's this one guy and round number one,
it happens to be the guy, is the excitement level still there for the fan base, essentially?
Because I think you and I've been pretty consistent in who we'd taken round one.
Like you and I have been on the board of Amari and Hampton, Ameka Egg Buka,
Trayvion Henderson, Colston Loveland, like we've kind of been okay with the same few names at this point.
I don't think those names would necessarily shock or like lessen the value or like, oh, we got this guy.
Okay, we knew it all along versus I think the situation we talked about earlier, Denver added a cornerback in round number one.
That might throw everyone for an entire loop here in Broncos country.
But I mean, obviously, Sarah, the NFL draft is almost here.
We can almost get through the mock draft fatigue that is coming up.
You know, I know a lot of Broncos fans are filling that already because they've done probably 5,000 mock drafts themselves.
But the real thing is coming next week.
We'll have complete reaction to it.
And obviously, Broncos Country.
Thursday, we're going to hear from George Payton, Sean Payton,
and their pre-draft press conference with complete coverage and reaction here from myself and Sarah.
Obviously, on Friday's episode of Locked-on Broncos.
But, yeah, we just want to know what you think of today's episode of the show.
Your thoughts on Field Yates is three round mock draft that he put together over there at ESPN.com.
But with that said, that I'll wrap up today's episode of show.
Broncos Country tomorrow's episode, you know, it's Thursday.
So you know what that means takes on, take.
Thursday, send us your takes. We'll react to the best ones on tomorrow's episode of the show.
Broncos Country. We'll see you then. Appreciate you for rocking with us.
