Broncos' Record of Retaining Drafted Players Ranked by OTC

The Denver Broncos enter a new era that officially gets underway when they open the season on Monday night against the Seattle Seahawks.

There's new ownership in place in Denver, a new quarterback in Russell Wilson, a new head coach in Nathaniel Hackett, and plenty of new faces on the roster.

Also, George Paton enters his second season as general manager. He took the job 18 months ago as former GM John Elway stepped away from those duties, and ultimately away from any front office role.

Before Monday's game, let's examine the roster in terms of homegrown talent and how well the Broncos have done in retaining players drafted in Elway's final years.

Over the Cap examined every NFL roster to look at elements such as homegrown talent (those drafted and developed by a team) and how much teams have retained those players they drafted.

Starting with the first piece about building through the draft, I want to focus primarily on how much the Broncos have built their roster through players that were either drafted or signed as rookies and are still with the team.

OTC's Jason Fitzgerald broke this down by looking at those only on the active roster, then again by including the practice squad. The Broncos have 54.1 percent of their roster with players they drafted and developed, below the league average of 59.2 percent. When including the practice squad, the Broncos have 54.7 percent of players they drafted or signed as rookies, below the league average of 57.3 percent.

What happens next for the Broncos? Don't miss out on any news and analysis! Take a second and sign up for our FREE newsletter and get breaking Broncos news delivered to your inbox daily!

Part of the reason the Broncos fall below the league average is that drafts from 2015 to 2017 mostly failed to produce long-term starters, with the exceptions of Justin Simmons and Garett Bolles, and that Denver traded away several players taken in recent seasons, such as Noah Fant and Drew Lock in the trade to acquire Wilson.

In Elway's final years, the draft hits didn't come as often as they did in his first two seasons with the Broncos, and there were several outright busts, notably Paxton Lynch and Carlos Henderson. Other early picks are debatable in terms of the value the Broncos got, but they didn't become long-term starters.

Regarding draft picks made since 2018, the Broncos still have 57.8 percent of those players, below the league average of 62.3 percent. Again, the departures of Lock and Fant affect that percentage, plus the decision to trade Isaac Yiadom and the waiving of Royce Freeman in his fourth season with the team, affect that percentage.

While the Broncos did retain 2018 draft picks Courtland Sutton and Josey Jewell, it would be ideal if the likes of Bradley Chubb, Dalton Risner, and Dre'Mont Jones prove themselves worthy of extensions. By doing so, that's one less player the Broncos would have to replace in either free agency or the draft after the season.

Paton's first draft class has shown some promise with the early draft picks such as Patrick Surtain II, Javonte Williams, Baron Browning, and Quinn Meinerz. Though several Day 3 picks are gone, hitting on earlier picks carries more importance. With any luck, at least a couple of those players will prove worthy of extensions when the time comes.

By doing so, the Broncos should be able to increase their percentage of homegrown players and, thus, get above league average in that aspect.

The other article Fitzgerald wrote examined roster retention, or how many players from last season teams retained going into this season. Here, the Broncos are above the league average of 63.7 percent, with 65 percent of their 2021 roster retained.

Keep in mind, though, that roster retention is not just players drafted and developed. This includes any player added in free agency or through trades in previous seasons.

Three examples of these players are Melvin Gordon, Kareem Jackson, and Eric Saubert. All signed with the Broncos as free agents in recent seasons, and all three returned to the team after exploring free agency.

In future seasons, the Broncos may allow certain players to depart, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. It may be better to allow any player who is aging to leave. That differs from draft picks, who should be entering the prime of their careers when their rookie deals expire.

For Paton, the ideal situation is to draft well so that enough talent may be replaced when that talent is aging, while any draft picks with any expiring contracts prove worth retaining. That way, the Broncos have a more stable roster and don't need to go heavy into free agency as much.

Of course, not every draft pick will hit, but the goal should be to find at least two players in each draft class who are worth extending after their rookie deals expire. Also, there will be times when some players will be allowed to leave, not because they didn't pan out, but because teams can't always keep every player drafted and must prioritize who to keep.

But if the Broncos want to stay on the right track, they need to do a good job of developing homegrown talent. By doing so, Paton could ensure the Broncos become a playoff contender and stay one.

Follow Bob on Twitter @BobMorrisSports.

Follow Mile High Huddle on Twitter and Facebook.

Subscribe to Mile High Huddle on YouTube for daily Broncos live-stream podcasts!