Broncos Must Prioritize Talent Over Position in the 2025 NFL Draft

The Denver Broncos have to be smart in the first round.
Feb 27, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Denver Broncos general manager George Paton speaks during a press conference at the NFL Scouting Combine at Indiana Convention Center.
Feb 27, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Denver Broncos general manager George Paton speaks during a press conference at the NFL Scouting Combine at Indiana Convention Center. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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The draft is still months away, but Denver Broncos fans already have their minds made up on who the team should select at No. 20 overall in the NFL draft. Broncos Country wants a weapon for second-year quarterback Bo Nix — whether it be a running back, wide receiver, or tight end.

Any other option is unacceptable to the fanbase.

Denver obviously has a need for more playmakers surrounding Nix. The entirety of the team’s running back room could arguably be turned over, and the Broncos had one of the worst outputs in the league from their tight ends.

Outside of Courtland Sutton, the wide receiver room has more potential than realized talent at this point. If the offense is going to take another step in 2025 from the middling play from 2024, the unit needs to find more answers for its quarterback and coach.

However, the draft is not always as simple as taking the best player at position ‘X,’ as many believe. Unless a team is hyper-fixated on selecting a quarterback and picking relatively early in the draft, teams can't perfectly predict how the draft will play out in front of them and who might be available.

Furthermore, focusing solely on a singular position and bypassing talent at a different position that a team might have graded higher is not a good process. Teams can have needs entering the draft, but the reality is franchises are not (for the most part) drafting players only thinking about that prospect filling a dire need their rookie season.

Boards can and should be weighted by needs and positional value, but not to the extent an organization is simply saying no to players who grade better on their board.

What if Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, Penn State, Penn State tight end Tyler Warren, and Michigan tight end Colston Loveland are gone by pick 20, along with the top receivers in this class? What if the Broncos have a different player graded higher when they're on the clock? The reality is, yes, Denver needs a weapon, but even more than that, it needs to hit on difference-makers across the roster. The team must trust its board.

If Denver isn’t able to add a weapon to the offense in Round 1, not all is lost. There are ample other prospects who could be available at 20 that could change the dynamic of the team and add a long-term star player.

On offense, the Broncos could round out their offensive line by selecting Senior Bowl standout North Dakota State’s Gray Zabel. The Broncos could also look to add talent to the back seven of the defense, which struggled mightily down the stretch, by improving the safety position with Georgia’s Malaki Starks, South Carolina’s Nick Emmanwori, or versatile slot safety in Texas’ Jahdae Barron.

Denver could also add a toolsy linebacker to the bunch in Georgia’s Jalon Walker or Alabama’s Jihaad Campbell. Any of these players could completely change the dynamic of a Broncos defense that played moneyball and signed cheap options due to the reality of Russell Wilson’s dead cap hit in 2024.

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The Broncos also could entertain the defensive line with their first-round selection. With D.J. Jones hitting free agency and every single one of Denver’s other top snap earners last season — Zach Allen, John Franklin-Myers, and Malcolm Roach — entering the final year of their contracts, the Broncos will be adding to their defensive line at some point in the draft and as early as Round 1.

Ole Miss’ Walter Nolan, Michigan’s Kenneth Grant, Oregon’s Derrick Harmon, Ohio State’s Tyleik Williams, and Texas A&M’s Shemar Stewart are all intriguing options either at 0/1 tech or 4i/5 tech in Vance Joseph’s scheme.

With the Broncos having a full slate of draft picks this year and climbing out of cap hell following the release of Wilson, they have flexibility and options to improve the team and close the gap with the upper echelon of teams in the AFC.

Obviously, the Broncos need to add weapons to help their offense and young quarterback, but it isn’t a “first-round or bust” proposition. The Broncos simply need to trust their evaluators and their board and hit on their picks.

The value of draft picks is not based on a rookie's level of play during their first season, but rather their impact over the entirety of their rookie contracts. Over that time span, the needs for a team will fluctuate anyway.

An offensive weapon for the Broncos offense would be great, but running back, wide receiver, or tight end represent only a few of the many viable and palatable options for the Broncos in the first round of the 2025 draft.

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Nick Kendell
NICK KENDELL

Nick Kendell is a Senior Analyst at Mile High Huddle and has covered the Denver Broncos, NFL, and NFL Draft since 2017. He has covered the NFL Scouting Combine on-site, along with college pro days. Nick co-hosts the popular podcast Broncos For Breakfast and Building the Broncos.