Broncos Land First-Round OL in Dane Brugler's Mock Draft 2.0
The season is once again over early for the Denver Broncos. Missing the postseason for a seventh straight year is sending the new Walton/Penner ownership group back to the drawing board. Fortunately (for now), many can look forward to April and the promises of adding young, cost-controlled talent via the NFL draft to bolster the roster and improve the prospects for next season.
While the Broncos do not possess their first or second-round picks for the upcoming draft (picks 5 and 38 overall) after sending both to Seattle in the Wilson trade, they do still have three picks in the top 100 currently. Thanks to the Bradley Chubb trade, the Broncos now have San Francisco's first-rounder this season and a third-rounder from a trade-down last year.
Will the Broncos still have these selections when the draft finally rolls around or will Denver move around the draft board (or perhaps even trade picks to acquire the rights to Sean Payton?) Time will tell.
For as long as the Broncos possess a first-rounder, though, the team will be featured in mock drafts. One draftnik who puts in as much work covering the NFL draft as anyone is The Athletic’s Dane Brugler.
While Brugler is most renowned for his work on 'The Beast,' a document with reports and rankings on thousands of prospects (not hyperbole), he does a lot of other quality draft-related works throughout the year, including a number of mock drafts.
For his second mock draft of the season, Brugler has forecasted the Broncos to pick Florida offensive guard prospect O’Cyrus Torrence in the first round.
“How many returning starters will the Broncos have on their offensive line next season? Changes are coming. O’Cyrus Torrence is a large, physical guard with vice grips for hands and the drive power to create movement in the run game. He could be a starter in Denver from day one.”
With the three round-one caliber offensive tackles off the board in the first 11 selections in this mock, with Ohio State’s Paris Johnson Jr off the board at 7 to Las Vegas, Northwestern’s Peter Skoronski to Atlanta at 8, and Georgia’s Broderick Jones to Tennessee at 11, the pickings for worthy tackles worthy were slim.
Noteworthy, Tennessee tackle Darnell Wright (whom Jordan Reid mocked to Denver in his first mock recently) didn’t even have Wright selected in the first or second round. This is not shaping up to be a very talented offensive tackle class.
As far as Torrence, while the Broncos could certainly use help along the offensive line, it's fair to question the selection from a value perspective. Denver could possibly be looking for three new offensive line starters this offseason, and adding talent for the unit anywhere the team can find it would not be a bad idea on the surface.
Torrence is, unfortunately, a flawed prospect for a guard. While he is massive at 6-foot-5 and 345 pounds and extremely strong at the point of attack, he is far from a scheme-transcendent talent. He will likely need to be featured in a gap scheme to maximize his talent at the next level because he lacks the movement skills in space and fluidity to project as a plus player in an outside zone scheme.
Given the positional value (or lack thereof) for the interior offensive line on top of Torrence’s scheme dependence to maximize his value, it’s worth debating whether Denver would go a different direction.
The thing complicating this mock selection even further is Denver doesn’t even know what offensive scheme it will be implementing next season. If it’s a scheme that uses more inside zone and gap (such as under Mike Munchak), then Torrence would make more sense. However, if it’s a more Shanahan-esque outside zone scheme, perhaps Denver should consider other options.
With the lack of quality day-one-caliber tackle options in the draft (all being snatched up well before Denver is on the clock), and the lack of positional value for the interior O- line in the draft in general, whoever is calling the shots in Denver this offseason should look long and hard about solidifying the unit well before April. If the success of the 2023 offensive line is dependent on Denver walking away with starters in the draft, the unit is likely already sunk.
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