Broncos Watch Seahawks Take CB Devon Witherspoon With Top-5 Pick
On Thursday night, the Seattle Seahawks capitalized on the second first-round pick gleaned from the Denver Broncos in the Russell Wilson trade, taking Illinois cornerback Devon Witherspoon with the No. 5 overall pick.
The Seahawks aren't done fleecing the Broncos either, with another second-round pick in the bag on Friday night. Last year, Seattle used the No. 9 overall pick via Denver to select offensive tackle Charles Cross and No. 40 to take edge rusher Boye Mafe. The Seahawks also landed defensive end Tyreke Smith with the fifth-round pick (No. 158 overall) gleaned from the Broncos last year.
The Broncos went on to gain back some draft ammunition by trading away rush linebacker Bradley Chubb to the Miami Dolphins last fall. However, Denver ended up dealing that first-rounder away to the New Orleans Saints, along with a 2024 second-round pick, to acquire Sean Payton's rights.
The Broncos are hoping that a year from now, nobody will be focusing on all the premium draft capital that was dealt away in consecutive offseason because Payton will have figured out how to get Wilson back on track and will have (hopefully) returned the team to competitive relevance.
In the meantime, Broncos Country can only bide its time watching the 31 other NFL teams make pick after pick in the draft until Denver goes on the clock for the first time at No. 67 overall in the third round. However, despite having to wait so long to make a draft pick in 2023, at least the Broncos get things going with back-to-back picks (67 and 68).
"When you're picking where we are—the unique thing, which I think we both really like, is that we have back-to-back picks there," Payton said a week ago alongside Broncos GM George Paton.
With such limited resources, Paton knows the margin for error is much slimmer for the Broncos this year. Denver has to make these picks count.
"We certainly have to make some hay [with] those top third[-round picks] and really all the picks," Paton said back in March. "We only have five. Really since free agency finished, Sean [Payton], myself and a couple of our scouts, we've sat in a dark room and we've hit the draft. I didn't go to any pro days and we just focused on the draft and specifically those top [third-round picks]... We're really going to have to make hay."
Day 2 of the 2023 NFL draft kicks off on Friday night at 7 pm MDT. The Broncos will finally enter the proceedings early in Round 3.
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