Broncos LB Baron Browning Could Fetch Jets' 2023 3rd-Round Pick, per Analyst

If nothing else because they can, Bleacher Report floated Broncos linebacker Baron Browning in a hypothetical trade scenario with the Jets.

Naming one trade each NFL team should make this summer, the media outlet advised New York to surrender, and Denver to accept, a 2023 third-round draft pick for Browning's multi-faceted services.

"A third-round pick in the 2021 class, Browning is clearly behind starters Josey Jewell and Alex Singleton. Denver could utilize him as a pass-rusher but he's unproven in that role," BR columnist Ian Wharton wrote in June.

"The Jets can offer a natural starting role for the athletic project as well as time to develop. The Broncos should be happy to collect a solid Day 2 pick in return for someone who is no longer a schematic fit at a position without need."

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This is, to say, an uninformed take — yet another via the national media. Those who followed Browning's collegiate career are aware that he played significant edge-rushing snaps at Ohio State, the impetus for his move from inside linebacker under new Broncos defensive boss Ejiro Evero.

“He's done a great job," Evero said in May. "He did really well in the first minicamp we had. He really displayed some things, showed some really good rush ability. Obviously, with the transition, he has to get better at some of the fundamentals in terms of hitting blocks and setting the edge and he's been doing a great, great job. He's been working his butt off. He's coming along.”

Those who intimately cover the Broncos know the club cannot have too many pass-rushers. And Browning joins an imposing stable led by Bradley Chubb, Randy Gregory, and Nik Bonitto, the leader of whom publicly rubberstamped Browning's position switch.

“It’s crazy when it comes to Baron. The natural skills he has for the position—it’s amazing," Chubb said in June. "You’ll see him go out there and he just throws his shoulder down. To him it feels like he’s doing just that, but on film, it looks like the craziest thing ever. We’re trying to keep coaching him up. He’s come over to the house and asked me what I see from his play. I’m trying to be there for him like [Bills OLB] Von [Miller] and those guys were for me when I first came in and first moved to the position. It’s been great to see the natural things he has already. Once he starts adding in those little, small details, it’s going be to over with.”

In actuality, Browning is closer to a foundational piece than he is trade bait, banishing Wharton's proposal to the shadow realm. Where it belongs.

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