Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - MOCK DRAFT: Denver Broncos GAMBLE In First Round of NFL Draft | Take TreVeyon Henderson

Starting point is 00:00:00 In our latest mock draft Monday, the Denver Broncos couldn't risk losing out on Trayvion Henderson. That's why they went with him at pick number 20. We'll tell you why here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Happy Monday, Broncos country. Welcome into another episode of Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast,

Starting point is 00:00:32 part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. day. This is the place where you get all your Broncos news, content coverage analysis, and more from an objective point of view every single day all year long. This is the place to be. Thank you so much to the everydayers out there in Broncos country. Thanks for tuning in, making us your first listen of the day. However, you choose to do so. And if you're not in everydayer, it's easy to become on. All you have to do is hit that subscribe to that follow button. And you'll never miss out on what's going on with your favorite team. As always, I'm your host, Cody Rourke, Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports. Join as always by Sarah

Starting point is 00:01:05 your longtime site expert over there at predominantly orange.com. Together, we bring you the best Broncos podcast in the entire world. We appreciate you so much. Broncos country. Here's what you're going to get on. Today's mock draft Monday episode of the show here. We'll tell you why the Broncos didn't want to risk on losing out on Trayvion Henderson, a potential game changer at running back for Sean Peyton.

Starting point is 00:01:26 And we'll dive deep into why Jaden Higgins, wide receiver out of Iowa State, is the perfect insurance policy for the Broncos. and also fulfills a little bit of a need for them. And on top of that, we'll close things out by highlighting rounds three and four, the Broncos reuniting Terrence Ferguson and Bo Nix together while adding a safety who can have some impact down the road for them on defense and potentially be a special team's ace right away and Malachi more. We're going to go through all of that here on today's episode of the show.

Starting point is 00:01:54 So Sarah conducted a four-round mock this week. It was my turn next week as we lead up to the NFL draft. You'll put out a mock draft on Monday that we'll react to. and kind of put things into finality here before the NFL draft begins. I went with Trayvion Henderson here in round number one, pick number 20. And this is one I felt like a month ago, if I would have done this, people would have been like, whoa, why did you do that? As we get close to the draft, the buzz around Henderson is starting to accelerate a little bit,

Starting point is 00:02:23 which was another reason why I chose to go with him at pick number 20 overall in this year's draft. Well, the perfect prospect doesn't exist. There's all, every guy has flaws, right? But I think Trayvion Henderson is the perfect example of somebody who checks every possible box that you could ask for, right? I mean, high character guy loves the game, played at a big time school at a very young age. Like I bring this up all the time when I talk about Trayvon Henderson, but he was playing in big games at Ohio State as a true freshman at 18 years old. So he's no stranger to the spotlight. And he brings all the other things to the table that you want at the position.

Starting point is 00:03:01 right i mean he's got good size he's not adrian peterson but he's what you know almost 511 2008 pounds or something like that yeah runs uh you know fast 40 yard dash he's explosive he's got quickness agility he can catch passes out of the backfield one of the best past protecting backs in this class and my favorite stat cody 667 touches at ohio state one fumble and that happened when he was a freshman all the way back in 22 or yeah 222 so So look, this is a guy that, like I said, there's no such thing as a perfect prospect. Everybody's got flaws coming out. But it's hard for me to sit here and say that Travion Henderson has a box that he doesn't check right now when you're looking at,

Starting point is 00:03:44 especially what the Broncos need. So I feel like I've been ready for this. I think let's print up the jerseys if we can already. Travion Henderson is, in my opinion, the perfect pick for the Denver Broncos. Well, and look, I think a lot of those reasons you highlighted were why I decided to select him. I mean, three of us four years at Ohio State, double digit touchdowns in terms of all-purpose production, right? You know, whether it comes in the, I think his freshman year at Ohio State, the one you mentioned, he had 15 touchdowns on the ground. He had four touchdowns as a receiver.

Starting point is 00:04:16 Last year, he had one touchdown as a receiver. He had 10 total touchdowns on the ground. But the thing is, you mentioned the past protection amount. This is why I was like, you know what, let's not overthink this, right? Because usually it goes back to the conversation we had surrounding Bow Nix last year. A lot of people said, well, you can get him in round number two. A lot of people were saying the same thing here, but there has been growing buzz. And you look at popular names like Daniel Jeremiah, Bucky Brooks, and a lot of other NFL draft names here.

Starting point is 00:04:42 There's been so much buzz as of late surrounding Trayvion Henderson, where they've even mentioned that they don't know if he would be available at 51. And that there could be teams in round number one that take him. And it's all about how you feel about a prospect. And this is where I factored in this decision into my equation. John Payton and them don't care about what other people think in terms of, well, this guy is probably a second round guy because there were a lot of people that had different grades on, right, Troy Franklin, right? A lot of people had a third or fourth round grade on Troy. The Broncos had a second round grade on Troy Franklin.

Starting point is 00:05:14 So the way they view things in the lens in which they do, they do it different than that conventional line of thinking that you see a lot of people do and you see a lot of big boards being put out there. Travion Henderson, in my opinion, is a safe pick here for the Broncos. I don't think it's risky in any way, shape, or form, and it's also a move that's not necessarily you do it based on need, but you do it because it brings instant value to what you want on the offensive side of the ball. Sarah, 7.1 yards per attempt last season, he showcased in his role at Ohio State that he has some of these Joker-like traits. And then look, there's some fans that hate the word that we use Joker. That's what Sean Payton calls the term, and he's always looking for it.

Starting point is 00:05:52 George Payton himself, you don't believe me, go back and listen to what George Payton said at the NFL annual meeting saying, we're still looking for that guy. We want to add another guy there. Evan Ingram is that guy a tight end. They may look to add that at the running back position. So that's one thing I wanted to highlight there, 7.1 yards per attempt, but also the value, Sarah. You mentioned ball security.

Starting point is 00:06:11 We already saw with Adrick estimate how important ball security is and how that can maybe impact you there. You don't have that concern necessarily, or Trayvion Henderson. You know, I think Quinn-John Jenkins, I think had four total fumbles, you know, and the amount of touches that he had. But, you know, Travion is a safe bet in this regard here. but the past protection element combined on that, Sarah, gives you value because, hey, on third down, there's not a tendency.

Starting point is 00:06:33 You know, Trayvion Henderson could be getting the ball as a rusher. He could be getting it as a receiver or he's going to be that perfect guy to stay in and protect here for Bo Nix. This is why I didn't overthink. I said, you know what? I understand this. I was leaning a Mecca at Buka. And trust me, if I knew that Trayvion Henderson would have been there at 51, I would have taken a mecca at pick number 20. I would have double, you know, back-to-back, double-dipped Ohio State Buckeyes here.

Starting point is 00:06:55 but I went with Trayvon here because he adds immediate value here to your offense, and he adds a little bit of excitement to that competition at running back. Well, and there's some talk that he is the second best running back in this draft behind Ashton Genty of Boise State. It's it only takes one team to have that, really, right? And so there's an interesting theory that was thrown out there, Cody, that, you know, maybe the Chicago Bears at 10 are the team that really likes Trayvion as the second running back. And if that's the case, then the Broncos won't have a chance to get him.

Starting point is 00:07:27 So I'm with you. I don't think there's any reason to mess around with this idea of, you know, the train that Sean Payton talks about of saying, hey, he's going to be there at 51. I just don't think that's the case. I think when you have a prospect that's this clean, like I said, nobody's perfect, but he checks pretty much every box. And we talk about clean prospects. Teams want those guys on their roster.

Starting point is 00:07:49 They want those guys in their locker room. They want people like this in their franchise. And this is a guy that a lot of coaches are going to bang the table for. And running back, I could see there being a huge run on this position well before the Broncos pick at 51 overall. There's going to have to be another tier of players in that second round that they're okay with beyond guys like Travion Henderson, Quinn Sean Judkins, Caleb Johnson. It's going to have to be like, you know, DJ Giddens, RJ Harvey, players like that that they're comfortable with at 51 because I don't. don't see it being overly likely that these guys are going to be sitting there in round two.

Starting point is 00:08:28 And I also don't think anybody in this draft really loves the idea of trading up, right? I think everybody wants to keep their picks. So if you can keep your pick and get your guy, I say do it. I don't think mess around with it. I don't think screw around with it at all. This is a situation where the running back position is the Broncos biggest need right now. And so they have to get the guy that they want. I know they're going to have multiple guys in this draft that they like or guys that

Starting point is 00:08:53 they're comfortable with in different rounds, things like that. It's not necessarily Trevion Henderson or bust, but to me, I don't know that there is a more ideal first round pick than him. Well, and look, I can even see a dilemma here, right, that the Las Vegas owners take Ashton Gentie, and I can see they've been round number two, double dipping at running back, having an improved run game. I think that's going to be the bread and butter as to what they want to do under Pete Carroll, have a strong running game, have a quarterback that can manage things well with

Starting point is 00:09:20 Gino Smith. And that would be a threat, in my opinion, to what the Broncos. one to achieve here. I think Vegas getting those two guys would be, I wouldn't say catastrophic, but I would say it would be enough to make me stress a little bit and pull my hair out. So one of the Broncos to get a weapon here, you get one who can impact you in that multifaceted department as a runner and also in the past catching game also as a pass blocker, that triangle that Sean Payton always talks about. You get the tight end, you got a receiver. Now you got a back who could do a little bit of everything that can help you out there and

Starting point is 00:09:51 adds value to a room and what you need value already as is. Broncos country, let me know your thoughts on the first round selection here. Trayvion Henderson out of Ohio State to the Broncos in my mock draft just two weeks away before the NFL draft. But we're not done yet, Broncos country. We got three more rounds to react to. And a round number two, we didn't overthink it as well. We got the Broncos some insurance policy at wide receiver.

Starting point is 00:10:13 We'll tell you why Jaden Higgins adds the best value insurance to what the Broncos want to do with the receiver position here on today's episode. On Broncos. Today's episode of Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by friends over there at Amazon Fire TV 4K. And did you know that your fire TV is also an Xbox? Turn on any TV in your gaming and entertainment hub with Firestick 4K devices. No console is required. Just grab your pair controller, subscribe, and sign into Xbox GamePass Ultimate with EA

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Starting point is 00:11:52 and Fire TV Cube, third generation. Broncos Country, we're adding a wide receiver to the roster in today's mock draft Monday. Hey, thanks so much to all of you for listening and making Lockdown Broncos, your first listen of the day. You know all throughout NFL draft season, your boys, Cody and Sarah, we're going to have you covered for a brand new episode of the show talking about all the team's picks, last minute, free agent signings. You never know when you're going to get a draft day trade.

Starting point is 00:12:18 and you never know when you're going to get a bonus episode of the show. So make sure you're subscribed if you're not already doing so, whether you're listening on a podcast platform or whether you're watching on YouTube. Cody, let's talk about your second round pick here. Really, really like this selection. Actually was just, I just wrote an article of predominantly orange.com. It came out on Sunday afternoon that talked about five wide receivers. I feel like the Broncos should be considering early in this draft.

Starting point is 00:12:45 Jaden Higgins out of Iowa State is one of those guys. And you know that if I'm talking well about a cyclone, it's probably, the guy's probably pretty good. So, you know, they've got a good program going there. Obviously, Matt Campbell does great work. He's been developing a lot of NFL caliber guys in recent years. Jaden Higgins, 6'4, 215 pounds, very, very impressive athlete, one of the highest scoring testers at the NFL scouting combine this past year. here. Talk us through the process here because we've considered receivers in the first round of

Starting point is 00:13:21 some recent mock drafts here on the show. Why Jaden Higgins here in round two? Well, look, you know, I wanted to go initially, Emeka Egg Buka, it would pick number 20, but, you know, the idea of losing out on Trevion Henderson was, it was problematic for me in my GM mind as I was going through the mock draft simulator on pro football networks there. If you want to be able to put it together, you can use your mock draft simulators over there as well. But, you know, for me, I was looking at it as like, all right, you know, which wide receivers. You know, Matthew Golden was off the board already. And I know he just recently had a top 30 visit here with the Denver Broncos. Ameca Egbuka went to the New England Patriots, unfortunately. So for me,

Starting point is 00:13:56 I was like, who is the next best pickup here? And look, there's been a lot of buzz as of late about Jaden Higgins, maybe being a surprise, maybe kind of a sneaky guy who might even sneak his way into the late round one situation. I know Steve Smith is very high on him when you look at his overall amount of draft prospects. And I believe he's got, Steve Smith has I think Jaden Higgins ranked a little bit higher than Tett McMillan. And I think that you want an honest breakdown about wide receivers. This is where I go to. I watch Steve Smith.

Starting point is 00:14:24 Like Steve Smith, he was very hard on Jerry Judy, called him a jag, just a guy. But when you look at the receiver position in totality, the way he breaks down the position from a route running standpoint, a willingness to block. There's other factors into it. Jaden Higgins is a good one. And here's the thing.

Starting point is 00:14:40 He fits the mold for what Sean and Peyton wants out of receivers. We are, Sean has never been shy from saying, I like the size at the wide receiver position here. You know, Marvin Mims is really the exception here. Troy Franklin, six foot two, but you look at a guy like Higgins, he's got six foot four fringe, six foot five. But that 215 pound frame, there's a lot of things you can do with that good size, good length. You talk about red zone opportunities. And I'm thinking to myself here, you pair Cortland Sutton up with this guy. And look, he doesn't need to be this guy right away.

Starting point is 00:15:12 And that's the reason why I also went this pick. You're getting a low-risk, high-reward type of investment here in Higgins, while you still have your development of your other guys like Devon, Valey, Troy Franklin to still kind of play out. Marvin Mim's role will be entirely different in this offense in comparison to what, you know, Higgins, Valey, and Franklin envisioned for themselves here on this offense. Marvin is a roster lock alongside Cortland Sutton. We'll talk about Sutton here in a second.

Starting point is 00:15:35 But you look at Higgins production, obviously, this past season at Iowa State. he had 87 passes caught on the year, 1,100 yards, nine touchdowns. He's a sure-handed wide receiver. That's one thing that Sean values is, you know, being able to have that. What are the Broncos needs there at the receiver position? They need someone who's not going to have a lot of drops, essentially. And look, Cortland saw a lot of volume last year. He had a lot of drops, but there were guys like Jamar Chase who had higher drops than he did last season.

Starting point is 00:16:01 A lot of it is volume-based and things of that nature. But you're getting another sure-handed guy here. And Jaden Higgins, I think, helps you with that problem. And not to make this sound like a hot take, but Sarah, I believe that Jaden Higgins might push Devon Valey for a spot. Yeah, I could very well see that. I just think that when you look at this wide receiver room, it feels incomplete as of right now.

Starting point is 00:16:21 And I'm all for player development. I'm all for these young guys getting going at the same time. I'm also all for adding and upgrading in the talent department. So if the Broncos feel like they can do that in this draft, then so be it, you know, made the best men win out there at training camp competition. What I really have enjoyed in reading and watching more about Jaden Higgins, Cody, I've seen a comparison to Nico Collins in the way that he plays the game.

Starting point is 00:16:48 I think Broncos fans would absolutely take a Nico Collins type on the roster. But he's an inside, outside player. He can do a little bit of everything for you. He's got great body control. Like you mentioned, his height, he has a 6 foot 7 inch wingspan. So we talk about catch radius that doesn't get much better than that. And we know, like you said, Sean Peyton loves big receivers. I feel like if you can get a fluid mover like Jaden Higgins,

Starting point is 00:17:12 somebody who can play inside, play outside, adjust to, you know, football's thrown however they may be. He showed that at Iowa State. He showed that he can do those sorts of things with strong, soft hands. And he's the type of player that just really to me rounds out that wide receiver room in a great way. You mentioned the word insurance. To me, I think any selection of a wide receiver, six foot four and above within the first two rounds would put Cortland Sutton on watch a little bit.

Starting point is 00:17:40 There's also been rumors too that he feels like things are progressing well with his contract situation. So I can't help but wonder how much would the NFL draft change that if at all? Or is this say, hey, we're for sure going to be pairing this guy up with Sutton for the foreseeable future. I think they are going to be pairing Cortland Sutton up with someone for the foreseeable future, at least in this situation here, because from what I do know is that Cortland Sutton, he's in a good spot right now. He and the team, he was just at this weekend. There was an event, obviously, where he was signing autographs, meeting fans,

Starting point is 00:18:09 and obviously in reference to his Sutton Sowers, which if you haven't gotten your hands on a bag, like you like sour candy, you want Sutton Sowers, highly, highly recommend. I devoured two bags of them. It's like little mini sour warheads. They're incredible. Love them there. But no, the idea is that Cortland Sutton will finish his career as a Denver Bronco. That's the goal.

Starting point is 00:18:28 That's the emphasis. That's what Cortland wants. And for him to come out and say that, hey, I feel really good about the conversations that we're having. Don even said it last year. You're important to what we want to do, even amidst the early on contract talks where he wasn't showing up for the voluntary offseason program, which does in fact begin next week here in Dove Valley. Cortland will be there alongside Bo Nix and a handful of other teammates. So to me, this is, hey, Cortland is our veteran guy, but we're also going to bring in a guy that's got similar size and that we hope by that, you know, who knows how long Cortland has when he decides to ever retire. But the idea is that Cortland will finish his career in Denver as member of the Bron. The Broncos, similar to Garrett Bulls. That's the ideal thinking here from the Broncos front office. I think Jaden Higgins would be a great ad there.

Starting point is 00:19:11 And I want to go back on something I said. I want to be very clear here. I'm not saying that Devon Veil isn't worthy of a roster spot. I think Devon Vele was so impressive. He was one of the more impressive young players that I saw last year in OTAs and in training camp. I'm just saying, I think you should go into the season with competition there for Veil Verve saying, you know what? Hey, we like Vele's size.

Starting point is 00:19:30 We like some of the intangibles. But I don't want it just like, I don't want the Broncos to hand. hand over the wide receiver room right away and just say, hey, we're content with that. I want there to be competition. I want there to be push. And I think Jaden Higgins would be a good push for Valey. And best case scenario, sir, the Broncos have one of the tallest wide receiver rooms in all the NFL. And these guys suddenly emerge and they have a couple of guys with like Troy Franklin and Marvin

Starting point is 00:19:51 Minns who have ridiculous speed. And then it really becomes pick your poison for the Broncos offense who also adds Trayvion Henderson into the mix here, our latest mock draft Monday, but Broncos country. I want to know your thoughts here so far on Jaden Higgins and Rampon. Round number two here for the Broncos at the wide receiver position. Make sure you let us know your thoughts on today's episode of the show here. But we're going to round out our mock draft here.

Starting point is 00:20:13 We go through rounds three and rounds four. We reunite Bo Nix with one of his favorite college teammates at the tight end position in Terrence Ferguson. We'll break down why that's going to be a big move here for the Broncos in round number three. And today's mock draft episode, Locked on Broncos. Today's episode of Locked on Broncos is brought to you by Nissan and the Armada. the Armada player of the week brought to your by our friends at Nissan and the all new 2025 Nissan Armada. And each week we're taking a look at our draft prospects to pick one guy that stands apart. The guy that we believe showcased the strength and the power needed to push the Denver Broncos forward as we look ahead to next season.

Starting point is 00:20:55 I mean, Sarah, this week's Armada and Clearcut Player of the Week is the player. We just talked about Jaden Higgins, wide receiver out of Iowa State, six foot four side. 25 pounds, you know, elite level hands. He's reliable in that department. Also, he's not afraid to get his hands dirty in the blocking department there. And on top of that, look, being able to do that at that size, at that weight, it shows a commitment to being heavy duty, to being rugged where the perimeter is, where you try to open things up in the run game.

Starting point is 00:21:22 And on top of that, it allows you to conquer the road with capability and confidence. Jaden Higgins can do just that. And when it comes to the Nissan Armada, they say go forth and conquer. Jaden Higgins does that. And that's exactly what I think he can do here for the Denver Broncos. Yeah, and it's clear that Jaden Higgins, our player of the week. He's out here ready to conquer the road ahead with confidence. And just like you can in the all-new Nissan Armada or any of their outstanding vehicles,

Starting point is 00:21:46 take the Nissan Armada, the Rogue or the Pathfinder, and go find your next big adventure. Shop Nissan.usa.com. The fourth quarter action of today's episode, Lockdown Broncos is here. We're going to dive deep into rounds three and round six. four of our selections here on mock draft Monday with one final mock draft coming next week as Sarah Bedinger breaks it all down for you next week here on the show. Real quick, I want to say thanks once again to everyone in Broncos country. All the every dayers who make us your first listen, however you choose to do so, you make

Starting point is 00:22:17 the show exactly what it is. Help us continue to grow the show by becoming an every day. Or if you're not yet one, subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcast so you never miss out of what's going on here. Sarah, let's dive into rounds three and rounds four. obviously in the top 100 of this mock draft. The Broncos, they go offense with three selections. Then in round number four, they go with the defensive player.

Starting point is 00:22:37 We'll get to here in a minute. But let's go into round three right here. I had the Broncos taking a tight in here, kind of completing that intertriangle that we talked about, running back, wide receiver, tight in, the first three rounds here for Bo Nix and Sean Peyton. As he enters his third season as the head coach, and Bo Nix prepares for year number two as the starting quarterback,

Starting point is 00:22:55 where all eyes are going to be on him to avoid a potential soft sophomore slump. Terrence Ferguson, in my opinion, you always want to surround your guys with someone you got familiarity with. I thought, you know, Benny Fowler did a great interview with Evan Ingram over the weekend that we saw where, and when he was going through the investment process of trying to figure out between the chargers and the Broncos, you know, of course he knew about Justin Herbert, but he's like, wow, this Bo Necks guy, I like him. He's heading in a right direction. I feel like I can develop really good chemistry with him. Well, now you get Bo Nex, a weapon in Evan Ingram, who can kind of move around and be that Joker piece that Sean Payton has been

Starting point is 00:23:28 looking for with the offense that we envision this team having. I wanted to add another tight in into the mix. And it's not necessarily a guy who's got Joker traits here, but a guy that Bose got familiarity with that's very helpful. And that's Terrence Ferguson tied in out of the University of Oregon. And in 2023, Bo Nix's final season there at Oregon with Dan Lending and company, he had 42 catches for 414 yards, six touchdowns, and a very balanced West Coast style of offense where they ran the ball really well.

Starting point is 00:23:56 Bo Nix is putting up great numbers with he, Taz. And obviously, Troy Franklin getting involved in the mix here. Ferguson was a byproduct of being able to capitalize on third down on some one-on-one situations. And I think what we saw from him at the senior bowl, I think it translates well, six foot six or six-five. He's kind of a fringe six-six player, 247 pounds. And he can run pretty fast for a guy his size and obviously, you know, of his weight there. To me, that's where I think the value is here because he can be a red zone threat.

Starting point is 00:24:28 be a third down option here for the Broncos, especially, you know, he can learn a year and maybe be involved behind Adam Trotman, who's really in the final year of his contract. I think I'll be really, really shocked if the Broncos don't come away from this draft with one of these four guys, Colson Loveland, Terrence Ferguson, Gunnardhelm, and Harold Fanon Jr. Those are the four guys that I'm keeping my eyes on. I know Colson Loven's around one guy. I still think that could be on the table. You never know. But I really love the idea of, of bringing in a secondary pass-catching threat here. Because while you have Evan Angram,

Starting point is 00:25:04 hopefully playing at a very high level, now you can add a second guy into the mix where like you mentioned with, you know, Trayvion Henderson in the backfield, you're not necessarily going to be telegraphing anything when you have these guys all out on the field. There's a number of tight ends in this class that are more than willing and capable blockers.

Starting point is 00:25:23 I love the idea of reuniting Bo Nix with his college teammate, Terrence Ferguson. I love the idea of bringing a guy back to Colorado, right, where he played his high school ball and where he calls home. All that kind of stuff is as much of a headline as that might make. And it doesn't necessarily mean anything. At the same time, I think it could mean a little bit of everything. I mean, playing in front of your hometown team, give you a little chip on your shoulder there to say, hey, I got something to prove these are the people that I kind of grew up playing in front of.

Starting point is 00:25:53 And to play with Bo Nix again, I think would give Ferguson the opportunity to really thrive as an NFL player. I think this is a perfect offense for him. He's got great athleticism. Like you said, at the senior bowl really showed that he can win those one-on-one matchups. And that's what the Broncos need more of. They need more at the tight end position guys who can win one-on-one matchups and beat man coverage. Because last year, that was non-existent, right? It was, you know, a catch or two every game from Lucas Kroll.

Starting point is 00:26:21 It was barely anything. So, man, just imagine the Broncos having a, you know, couple of options has past catching a tight end. So that would excite me greatly, Cody. I feel like Terrence Ferguson is one of those guys, like I said, one of the four tight ends in this draft that I'll be a little disappointed if the Broncos don't come away with. No, I'm with you there. And I think a large portion of Broncos country has a similar line of thinking when it comes to perceived like backs that they'd be comfortable with, tight ends, and maybe even a couple of receivers as well. I think there's a pretty good consensus from Broncos country this year in that regard here.

Starting point is 00:26:56 I like the idea of reuniting them. Obviously, look, he's also a local product. He played high school ball literally two blocks away from where I live. So that nice little Colorado connection stories there, Gunnar Helm also, you know, a local prospect here out of Denver where you played high school ball. But for me, you know, let's go to round number four here. This one, I think some people are like, wait, why did you go with this pick here? I went with Alabama Safety Malachi Moore in round number four here, Sarah.

Starting point is 00:27:21 And here's my reasoning and my thinking behind it, okay? Obviously, the Broncos safety room right now, they're a, do you look at the roster? The roster's currently has 70 players. There are a ton of dudes that can play defensive back, right? Tanner McAllister, Pedron Smith, DeLarian Turner, Yale. You got those guys in the mix. Sam Franklin, Jr., a veteran guy who just signed last week here,

Starting point is 00:27:40 is going to probably play a lot of special teams to be in line to compete. Yeah, other guys on the roster. You got Brandon Jones, PJ, Lach, Tala, Hufanga. I mean, the list goes on and on. Devin Key, J.L. Skinner. There are a lot of defensive backs at this position. My reasoning for this is that we've seen the Broncos over the last handful of years really kind of restructure and reshape what that safety room looks like, right?

Starting point is 00:28:02 We've seen George Payton previously that he hasn't been afraid at times to double dip at safety. I mean, he did it in one year with Caden Stearns and, you know, Jamar Johnson kind of in back-to-back picks, you know, a handful of years ago. Last year we didn't necessarily see them do that. They went out and they got J.L. Skinner. And the reason I went with Malachi Moore here, Look, you've got Talenoa Hufanga, Brandon Jones.

Starting point is 00:28:23 Those are your two expected starting safeties here for the Broncos this season. PJ Locke's still a veteran guy on the roster is going to be very much in the mix right here. But you also, the team wants to see J.L. Skinner take another step forward. And J.L. is going to get that opportunity. He's going to get those chances and those increased snaps this upcoming season early on, at least in training camp and obviously in the preseason, they're going to see. But this is more so like, hey, this is a guy in Malachi Moore. You look at him this last year at Alabama, seven interceptions.

Starting point is 00:28:50 He's a ball hawk, can play the middle of the field well, can come down and also help out. This gives you a developmental prospect who's got elite level ball hawking traits that I feel like are valuable in today's NFL. That's why I went with him at this position. I could have gone with the corner, but I wanted to add a safety here to shake things up, and you're getting a guy who's got very good athletic traits to boot. Yeah, 100%. And that's never a thing that teams shy away from on day three of the NFL draft is defensive backs with athletic traits. we've seen the Denver Broncos go after guys almost every single year, especially during the George

Starting point is 00:29:25 Peyton reign here at General Manager. I think that you'd be hard pressed to find. I don't have an official stat on this. I think it would be very difficult for you to find very many draft classes over the last, I don't know, 10, 15, 20 years in which any individual team doesn't take a defensive back amongst their handful of picks, however many picks it ends up being, almost always teams are taking at least one DB. And it's because you typically carry, you know, 11 guys on the roster at those positions. And so I would be shocked at the Broncos. Don't take a DB in this draft.

Starting point is 00:30:00 It could be a corner, like you said, could be a safety. And a guy who's athletic, a guy who can play special teams right away, it would be fascinating to me if the draft turned out this way, I would be willing to bank on the idea that the Broncos are then going to hand out big money contracts to not just Zach Allen, but also then John Franklin Myers and Malcolm Roach to keep that unit intact because if they pass on their first four picks on the defensive line, that would indicate to me that they feel like they've got this next window of time already locked in with the guys they have on the roster. Well, and I can tell you this, I know for a fact that Broncos want to do whatever they can to keep Malcolm Roach and John Franklin Myers in the mix. When you look at John Franklin Myers pressure percentage and the rate in which he had success against double teams and even in one-on-one situation,

Starting point is 00:30:47 he is an impact player for the Malcolm Roach. George Peyton said it was probably the best free agency signing that we had last season. So for me, I look at all these pieces and it's like you want to keep that continuity together. And of course, like the draft here, unless it's like I think rounds one and rounds two, I think that there's creed to say, okay, hey, these guys, the prospects for them will be to start or to play right away. Like you're going to have a role. But when we're getting at a round four territory, this is more so not necessarily a right now thing. This is maybe a year from now, two years, three years from now where we really hope to see something from this player.

Starting point is 00:31:22 And that's why I was like, I'm going to go with Malachi more. I didn't like the options that were available for the Broncos at defensive tackle in round number four. I wanted to go offense in the first three rounds in the top 100. So for me, I was like, you know what, I'm going to switch to safety here. I looked at edge rush a little bit. I just thought to myself, the Broncos, if they don't need that necessarily right now with the, you know, the guys that we've talked about, they're in a good spot with their pass rush. So I decided that my round four mock would be Trayvion and Henderson, round number one,

Starting point is 00:31:49 Jaden Higgins, a round number two, Terrence Ferguson, and Malachi Moore in rounds three and rounds four here. For the Denver Broncos, what they said? Broncos country, let me know what you thought about today's mock draft here on mock draft money. You'll get Sairs next week, the week that leads us directly into what's going to happen here in the NFL draft. You're going to get that. Then the next week, where it actually is draft week time, you're going to get that buildup, where it's that finality of what are the experts saying? What's the buzz now?

Starting point is 00:32:16 Is there anything coming out? We may be able to get a chance to hear from George and Sean Payton, but that is still to be determined at this point since they just met with people at the NFL annual meeting. But lockdown Broncos is your place to be every single day all year long for all your Broncos news content coverage and more. So make sure if you love this episode, share this episode with someone that you know who's a member of Broncos country. We appreciate you so much. Broncos country tomorrow's episode of the show. We are going to talk a little bit in depth about J.L. Skinner.

Starting point is 00:32:42 what are the optics for his role next season coming up for the Broncos? What's the timeline here for him? And if he plays the role of the Broncos want him to play, what might it do for the defense and the rotation going forward? We'll break that down as more on tomorrow's episode. Locked on Broncos.

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