Daniel Jeremiah Projects a Surprising First-Round Pick for Broncos

The Denver Broncos' 2025 campaign came to a disappointing end in the AFC championship, which means draft season is upon us. That brings mock drafts from the top analysts across the country for us to analyze and sink our teeth into.

As two teams prepare for the Super Bowl, the other 30 teams, including the Broncos, are looking to improve their rosters. The Shrine Bowl and Senior Bowl events are already in the books, with all eyes turning to the NFL Combine at the end of this month.

NFL.com's Daniel Jeremiah released his first mock draft, which featured a curious selection for the Broncos. Jeremiah had the Broncos selecting Clemson defensive lineman Peter Woods as a replacement for John Franklin-Myers.

The Broncos haven’t had contract talks with Franklin-Meyers, and he wants to test free agency, according to him, which means the need for a defensive lineman is up there, and Woods makes some sense.

"Folks around the league are split on Woods’ evaluation. Some don’t view him as a first-round pick, but he has the quickness to add to the league’s best pass-rush group as an inside rusher," Jeremiah wrote.

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Woods's Scouting Report

Clemson defensive lineman Peter Woods (11) sacks South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers (16) after the Tigers’ 28-14 win at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C. Saturday, November 29, 2025. | Ken Ruinard / USA Today Co Inc SC / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

A fun thing to note about Woods is that he also played on offense for the Clemson Tigers, rushing the ball eight times. All of them were short-yardage situations where he either picked up the first down or scored a touchdown, although he did fumble once.

Woods would line up as a fullback. He ran two routes and was used as a blocker 10 times. He did alright.

Sean Payton doesn’t seem particularly keeon on using defensive players on offense, aside from Talanoa Hufanga in victory formation, but Woods' resume is still worth noting. It was only 22 snaps on offense over three years for Woods, but how he was used made it noteworthy.

Looking over his stats and tape, there is no doubt that 2025 was a down year for Woods, which is why there is even a question about him being a first-round pick. His number of pressures went down, despite playing his highest total snap count and his highest number of pass-rush snaps.

After totaling 20 pressures in each of the first two seasons, Woods only had 14 last season, adding three sacks to bring his career total to six sacks. He picked up one more stop (21) than he did in his first two seasons (20), and he missed the same number of tackles.

These are concerns, as Woods was expected to take a step forward, not a step back. With 167 more snaps than in 2024, his production dropped.

Woods has some good quickness to his game as a pass rusher, but there isn’t much anchor strength to his game, and he can easily be bullied at the point of attack in the run game. He has solid power as a rusher, but he can struggle to tap into it.

Woods's length is questionable, which makes it difficult to unlock his power and get off blocks. We'll see how he measures at the NFL Combine.

There's no doubt the Broncos will need a defensive lineman, even with Eyioma Uwazurike and Sai'vion Jones returning to help keep their defensive line a strength with the depth. The question is, would Woods be the clear-cut starter on Denver's defensive line?

f the answer is no, the Broncos should be looking elsewhere at pick No. 30 in the first round.

Woods's Scouting Report

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