Broncos Draft Fresno State OL Netane Muti in Sixth Round

The Denver Broncos continued their effort of building the nest around second-year QB Drew Lock on Day 3 of the 2020 NFL Draft. After taking a couple of dynamic wideouts to open the draft in Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler, the Broncos landed LSU center Lloyd Cushenberry in the third round, Missouri TE Albert Okwuegbunam in the fourth — and now in the sixth round, Fresno State OL Netane Muti.

Muti was selected with pick 181. He's an interior lineman and might be one of this draft class' biggest boom-or-bust prospects at the next level. Here's what GM John Elway tweeted about the Muti pick.

"In the sixth round, we’ve taken guard Netane Muti from Fresno St. A strong, powerful and tough player who did 44 reps at 225 at the Combine. Netane is a powerful run blocker and a strong anchor vs bullrushers as well," Elway said.

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Muti is a 6-foot-3, 315-pound mauler in the run game and boy, is he strong. He led all comers at the Combine with 44 reps on the bench press (225 pounds). Born in Tonga and growing up in Hawaii, he was on pace to have a great college career before the injury bug struck.

Muti has suffered a couple of Achilles injuries followed by a lisfranc injury that ended his final season for the Bulldogs early. The talent is there, it's just a question of staying healthy.

Here's what our Senior Draft Analyst Erick Trickel wrote about Muti a few months back:

Muti projects best to the interior at the NFL level, but he does have some tackle experience. He is a mauler in the running game that can open up huge holes for his running backs. His play is a big reason the Bulldogs have gotten over 100 yards rushing in three games our of four this season.

As a sixth-round flyer, the Broncos took a chance on a guy who could go on to really pay of big-time. Muti steps onto an interior depth chart that includes Dalton Risner and Graham Glasgow as the starting duo at guard and Elijah Wilkinson and Austin Schlottmann as the backups.

Muti will have to dethrone potentially two of those guys. Wilkinson is a near-lock to make the 2020 53-man roster as he just signed his second-round restricted free-agent tender that'll pay him $3.26 million this year.

Unlike Muti, Wilkinson provides the versatility to play inside at guard or outside at tackle, making him a valuable swing player. It'll be interesting to see how this competition shakes out when training camp finally rolls around.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.