Broncos 7-round mock draft: What if John Elway goes defense first?

Second round

Projected trade

The second round has been a sweet spot for the Broncos in the last two draft classes. In 2018, they landed Pro Bowl wide receiver Courtland Sutton. In 2019, they landed Drew Lock and Dalton Risner with back-to-back picks.

I think John Elway will use his three third-round picks to move into the second round to have two picks, somewhere between 46-60. In this mock draft scenario, I traded picks 77 and 83 to the Chicago Bears for pick 50.

This would give the Broncos picks 46 and 50, and I love the idea of going back-to-back wide receivers.

With their first of two second-round picks, the Broncos take a legacy player in Jalen Reagor, the speedy receiver out of TCU.

Reagor’s father — defensive lineman Montae Reagor — was taken in the second round by the Broncos in the 1999 NFL Draft.

Although the Broncos are unquestionably a threat to take a receiver in the first round, recent history has shown that the second round has been very kind to teams when picking receivers. If Reagor is on the board with their top second-round pick, John Elway would have to be absolutely thrilled.

This Denver offense desperately needs the type of vertical speed that Reagor can provide.

This might seem like overkill, and the Broncos may not be thinking this same type of thing, but adding two receivers who would probably be first-round players in most draft classes has to be an enticing option if they were to acquire two second-round picks.

Sure, the Broncos could go with a tackle here or a safety like Jeremy Chinn (Steve Atwater’s nephew) but the prospect of adding two players like Reagor and Laviska Shenault or any combination of Reagor, Shenault, KJ Hamler, Denzel Mims, and Michael Pittman is a really tough idea to let go of.

The Broncos also have a need at the center position, so perhaps they just won’t go this route, but again — how can you pass on this? Get someone in the later rounds (which we will) who can snap the ball to Drew Lock and get a tackle later (which we will) who can develop behind Garett Bolles and Ja’Wuan James.

The opportunity to run out there offensively with Drew Lock at the QB position and a combination of Phillip Lindsay, Melvin Gordon, Courtland Sutton, Noah Fant, Jalen Reagor, and Laviska Shenault takes the Broncos from interesting to flat out legit.

It’s been a long time (okay it was only 2014) since the Broncos had an offensive core as talented as the one mentioned above.