2025 NFL Draft Prospect Talk

[broncosfan_101]

We’re not very good! Let’s give ourselves some hope.

 

Been trying to map out a rough needs list in my head the past couple days. Something like:

1. Offensive weapons: WR, TE, RB…we need multiple playmakers here. 

2. OT: Bolles is a fine player, but a free agent after this year, and he’ll be 33 years old. If you can get him back for a 2-year deal at medium LT money, sure, but even then I’d be looking for a mid-round developmental project.

3. ILB: We suck here. We always suck here. I’m so tired of not being able to cover RB’s/TE’s at all.

4. DL: Would love to have A Guy here, but for the first time in a while, I don’t hate our D-line? Allen, JFM, Roach makes for a pretty decent core. But again, someone slotting in at the top of that list would be huge.

5. Safety: debated IOL here because I don’t like Powers and the jury’s still out on Wattenberg, but safety is my favourite position in football and I love having a stud back there. I’m not sold on any of Locke, Skinner, or DTY as a long-term starter. Brandon Jones is pretty good, but he should be your 2nd best starter there. 

[Broncofan]

My only comment is that we can usually find safety in late Day 2/early Day 3.   Don't hate it if we took one in Rd3+, but in general that's one of the draft inefficiencies we can exploit.  

The part that always kills me is we always ignore ILB's on Day 2.   You don't need to go R1 on ILB to find a difference maker.   I hope we go there this year, it's tiresome to watch JAG TE's and pretty much any RB torch us on Sundays.

I would also highlight whether it's UDFA or Day 3, we should re-invest in RB.  It's the cheapest market inefficiency around.     It's an outstanding RB class, and while I have hopes for Estime, I suspect Mclaughlin won't make it past his rookie contract, so we should leverage deep talent pools.

In R1, going BPA is pretty much going to fill a need we have.   T/WR stand out to me for sure.  

Edited September 11 by Broncofan

[broncos67]

I expect we end up with a Top 7 pick this year. To that end, I actually think the top of the draft sets up well for us. We're not going to be drafting a QB. I would imagine we don't take a CB either.

DL - Mason Graham could be a no brainer set it and forget it pick at DT if he's there when we pick.

WR - Tet McMillan, Luther Burden, Travis Hunter (I'm unsure where he plays in the NFL) are all going to be clear options for us

OT- Will Campbell or Kelvin Banks

DE/OLB - James Pearce

Depending on where we land, we could also be in a great position to trade down considering Sanders, Ewers, and Beck could be in high demand.

Of all these guys, I love McMillan and he would be the ideal WR for this team.

[AnAngryAmerican]

How many bad games will it take from Bo Nix before the assclown CU homers at 104.3 The Fan start talking about the Broncos trying to draft Shadeur Sanders?

[Broncofan]

8 minutes ago, AnAngryAmerican said:

How many bad games will it take from Bo Nix before the assclown CU homers at 104.3 The Fan start talking about the Broncos trying to draft Shadeur Sanders?

QB situation is so bad league-wide, Sanders is a lock for R1.   I don't think he'll be top 2 QB taken, but someone will take him R1 (there might be 3 QB's who end up ahead of him at this point, but even if he fell to 4-5, R1 ends up being the landing spot these days.  I feel sorry for that team, unless Sanders grows up in a massive way, he's set up for failure.   Physical raw tools are great, but he's not really learning anything but relying on raw ability, and his QB skills are definitely nowhere close to NFL-ready.    Worse, the moment things go sour, he blames others.  The latter is an absolute killer trait.   If you were a generational talent, MAYBE you get away with that, but lack of accountability and insight is a crushing flaw in a QB.    And if you have definite flaws, man, it's such a red flag.

 

 Frankly, that's what got Zach Wilson bum-rushed out of NYC (along with lack of growth/development, and overestimation of his skills, which weren't even close to NFL ready).   

 

Edited September 11 by Broncofan

[broncosfan_101]

1 hour ago, broncos67 said:

I expect we end up with a Top 7 pick this year. To that end, I actually think the top of the draft sets up well for us. We're not going to be drafting a QB. I would imagine we don't take a CB either.

DL - Mason Graham could be a no brainer set it and forget it pick at DT if he's there when we pick.

WR - Tet McMillan, Luther Burden, Travis Hunter (I'm unsure where he plays in the NFL) are all going to be clear options for us

OT- Will Campbell or Kelvin Banks

DE/OLB - James Pearce

Depending on where we land, we could also be in a great position to trade down considering Sanders, Ewers, and Beck could be in high demand.

Of all these guys, I love McMillan and he would be the ideal WR for this team.

Travis Hunter is a no for me. Not because I don’t think he’s a very good player, but he’ll not only have an insane amount of wear-and-tear on his body from 2-way’ing so intensely, but after never being told ‘no’ from a coach, I’m sure he’ll demand to 2-way in the NFL, as well. His 2nd contract, if his body holds up long enough to get a big one, will be a disaster. What a shame that he’s being used by Deion in order to prop up his kid’s draft stock.

Besides that, while I like James Pearce and don’t want to draft for need with a top 10 (probably top 5) pick, he would need to be BPA by a noticeable margin for me to endorse that one. I’d probably go CB before edge with that pick. 

[copeland]

The big question for me is why the RB position has been so devalued over the last 10 years. In my day, it was Walter Payton, Eric Dickerson, Marcus Allen, Barry Sanders, Emmitt smith, the list goes on. These guys dictated the game. There's a reason we still today talk about the run game being the staple, the engine, the basis for the offense to build a game plan around. For the life of me, I can not figure out why the O line and RB positions are not absolutely coveted. I realize o line is still drafted high. And I’d be the first to say it’s not just the o line the makes a run game. You have to have both talents. This crap of you can get a RB in the late rounds is bull****. The offense is dictated by the run game. Period. It opens up too much to be discounted. Give me an o line , and a talented back, and we’ll kick your butt. That’s my vote for next years draft. 

 

[broncosfan_101]

7 hours ago, Broncofan said:

The part that always kills me is we always ignore ILB's on Day 2.   You don't need to go R1 on ILB to find a difference maker.   I hope we go there this year, it's tiresome to watch JAG TE's and pretty much any RB torch us on Sundays.

Harold Perkins is such a monster. He’s more react-and-chase than pure cover, but if you want a real dawg…a guy who will give your defence an instant identity and swagger…I’m not sure there’s a better option than this guy.

The problem will be that as an ILB, you probably can’t pick him in the top 10, and there’s no way Sean trades down from what will most likely be a top 5 pick.

[Broncofan]

1 hour ago, copeland said:

The big question for me is why the RB position has been so devalued over the last 10 years. In my day, it was Walter Payton, Eric Dickerson, Marcus Allen, Barry Sanders, Emmitt smith, the list goes on. These guys dictated the game. There's a reason we still today talk about the run game being the staple, the engine, the basis for the offense to build a game plan around. For the life of me, I can not figure out why the O line and RB positions are not absolutely coveted. I realize o line is still drafted high. And I’d be the first to say it’s not just the o line the makes a run game. You have to have both talents. This crap of you can get a RB in the late rounds is bull****. The offense is dictated by the run game. Period. It opens up too much to be discounted. Give me an o line , and a talented back, and we’ll kick your butt. That’s my vote for next years draft. 

 

The biggest reason has been the short shelf life of peak play with RB's.   The number of RB's who play past age-27 at peak levels is so low.   So teams realized you don't have to draft a RB R1 anymore.   Except when the odd generational talent comes in, R2 is where elite talent goes....and that creates a ripple effect with salaries.  The top RB's are lucky to make 15M unless you're GOAT level (CMC).   What's happening with CMC now drives home that point. 

You draft an elite WR, you get a 8-10 year player career-wise in most cases.   And when you factor that top WR now get 30M AAV, vs. RB's that might get to 15M AAV, it's pretty clear why the RB's are really the most devalued position nowadays.    

[broncos67]

11 hours ago, copeland said:

The big question for me is why the RB position has been so devalued over the last 10 years. In my day, it was Walter Payton, Eric Dickerson, Marcus Allen, Barry Sanders, Emmitt smith, the list goes on. These guys dictated the game. There's a reason we still today talk about the run game being the staple, the engine, the basis for the offense to build a game plan around. For the life of me, I can not figure out why the O line and RB positions are not absolutely coveted. I realize o line is still drafted high. And I’d be the first to say it’s not just the o line the makes a run game. You have to have both talents. This crap of you can get a RB in the late rounds is bull****. The offense is dictated by the run game. Period. It opens up too much to be discounted. Give me an o line , and a talented back, and we’ll kick your butt. That’s my vote for next years draft. 

 

I completely agree we need RB. Ashton Jeanty should 100% be on our radar in Round 2 where I expect he'll go. Nicholas Singleton from PSU would be another fantastic mid-round ish option for us. I don't think we need to/should be investing in R1 RB, but Williams is cooked, McLaughlin is a COP back. Estime is meh, and we don't have anything else. 

[Broncofan]

35 minutes ago, broncos67 said:

I completely agree we need RB. Ashton Jeanty should 100% be on our radar in Round 2 where I expect he'll go. Nicholas Singleton from PSU would be another fantastic mid-round ish option for us. I don't think we need to/should be investing in R1 RB, but Williams is cooked, McLaughlin is a COP back. Estime is meh, and we don't have anything else. 

Don’t mind if we go R2 for an elite guy.   Just there’s no generational talent that can justify a R1 pick.  
 

The draft class is so loaded we could get a difference maker R3.   We need home run threats who can do it all so badly at both RB/WR.   Payton’s infatuation with size can’t come at the expense of having no home run threats on the field.  

[rcpbawler]

Didn't even make it to week two before this thread popped up, nice.

It's early and things can clearly change but I lean WR/DT with outside shots at OT/CB. That's where the value looks to be in the top 10 at least.

McMillan looks like the most likely to go #1. 6'5", can jump out of the building and is a solid route runner for a guy that size. I think someone mentioned that he was clocked at 22mph during week 1 as well so he has wheels on top of that.

I like Luther Burden a lot as well. Just because he's recent and they have similar size, some might want to compare him to Nabers coming out last year. Not sure he has as much juice but he looks fast on tape and I think he's one of the best WR with the ball in his hands in the country, something we've lacked for a while now.

Travis Hunter is still super intriguing to me. I understand why some would be scared off given the whole CU thing but he's supremely talented, whether that be at WR, CB or a bit of both. 

For DT, Mason Graham was so good last year on the way to winning the NC. I also love Deone Walker who will probably be the next 350 lb dude to blow up the combine. 

The LSU OTs, Texas dude and the guy at NC state, need to watch more but thought they looked good last year. 

Ben Morrison, Will Johnson and the aforementioned Travis Hunter at CB are also interesting.

[1234567]

On 9/11/2024 at 10:55 AM, broncosfan_101 said:

3. ILB: We suck here. We always suck here. I’m so tired of not being able to cover RB’s/TE’s at all.

100%. It’s been damn near 10 years and we STILL haven’t replaced Danny Trevathan. Haven’t even tried to. It’s insane. 

[broncos67]

On 9/13/2024 at 5:54 AM, rcpbawler said:

Didn't even make it to week two before this thread popped up, nice.

It's early and things can clearly change but I lean WR/DT with outside shots at OT/CB. That's where the value looks to be in the top 10 at least.

McMillan looks like the most likely to go #1. 6'5", can jump out of the building and is a solid route runner for a guy that size. I think someone mentioned that he was clocked at 22mph during week 1 as well so he has wheels on top of that.

I like Luther Burden a lot as well. Just because he's recent and they have similar size, some might want to compare him to Nabers coming out last year. Not sure he has as much juice but he looks fast on tape and I think he's one of the best WR with the ball in his hands in the country, something we've lacked for a while now.

Travis Hunter is still super intriguing to me. I understand why some would be scared off given the whole CU thing but he's supremely talented, whether that be at WR, CB or a bit of both. 

For DT, Mason Graham was so good last year on the way to winning the NC. I also love Deone Walker who will probably be the next 350 lb dude to blow up the combine. 

The LSU OTs, Texas dude and the guy at NC state, need to watch more but thought they looked good last year. 

Ben Morrison, Will Johnson and the aforementioned Travis Hunter at CB are also interesting.

I mean to be fair, offensive weapons have clearly been a need since last year, we did little to address it in a meaningful way, and through two weeks it's clear we are going to need to rely on the draft to at least supplement that position. I firmly believe we will look at a mid/high-priced WR if Nix shows improvement by EOY and probably a high pick as well. I think a guy like Chris Godwin would be really impactful for what Payton wants to do. If you couple that with McMillan in the draft, plus the depth we have now, that's suddenly a more dynamic WR corps

[BroncoSojia]

I know he's not eligible until 2027, but I have some really irresponsible takes about Dylan Raiola right now.