Strike 1: It’s Speculation Season – a favorite season for Broncos Country these days, given the team’s struggles over the past eight actual football seasons.
Everyone has an opinion of what Denver will do during the upcoming NFL Draft, and/or the free agency. Given the team’s residence in salary cap hell, the latter doesn’t appear to hold as much intrigue or promise as the former, if the goal is to turn around the team’s stagnant fortunes.
Educated guesses – and that’s all any of us are doing at this point – have to be based on two things: First, what does the team need (forget all that “best player available” stuff. Teams draft for need first and foremost) and second, who is making the decisions.
High on the needs list for Denver is a quarterback. They need help at almost every single position, but they most definitely need to draft – for the first time in the franchise’s six-plus decade history – a young and talented future “franchise” quarterback.
Second, control freak Sean Payton will be the one doing the picking.
Add these two things together, and any level of educated guesswork should lead you to believe the Broncos will be looking to draft a QB who is the anti-Russ. Payton will be looking for a quarterback who does not improvise. A guy who does exactly what his head coach tells him to do every single time. Stay on script. Hang in the pocket and go through your progressions even when everything around you is breaking down. Don’t audible. Only run when we tell you to, which might be never.
Payton doesn’t want a dual threat guy. He wants a system guy.
Hello, J. J. McCarthy.
The former Michigan Wolverine does have good feet, and can hurt teams with his running ability. But the guess is that Payton won’t hold that against him. McCarthy didn’t have to throw it all that much while leading Big Blue to the national championship last season. He simply and skillfully executed his team’s offense. He was head coach Jim Harbaugh’s dream. He also showed enough – and will get the chance to show it again at the NFL Scouting Combine and at his designated “Pro Day” in Ann Arbor – that he appears to fit the mold of what most are guessing Payton wants, more so than Michael Penix Jr. or Bo Nix, two guys that may have too much creativity and gunslinger in them for Payton’s taste.
If the Broncos stay put and make a pick at No. 12 this year, it’d be a good guess that they’ll tab McCarthy.
Meanwhile, there are two other guys with local connections that the Broncos should take if they get the chance. Badly in need of pass catchers, especially at the tight end spot, taking Colorado State product Dallin Holker – last seen by many local football fans snaring a pass off his shoe tops and turning it into a sensational catch and run touchdown in Boulder last September – would be a nice addition for the Broncos. Holker was a finalist for the Mackey Award last season, given to the top tight end in College Football. He has what scouts call a “balanced skillset,” meaning he’s not just a pass catcher. Not super-fast, he still makes big catches in tough moments, and given Denver’s glaring need at the position, would look great in predominantly orange.
Same goes for a former quarterback turned quality pass catcher with a familiar name in these parts: Luke McCaffrey. The son of Ed and brother of Christian made the journey from playing quarterback at Nebraska to becoming a wide receiver at Rice, where he became a standout pass catcher despite not having blazing speed. Great hands, an excellent football mind, the same kinds of characteristics his father had while he was a key part of two Broncos Super Bowl winning teams.
The Broncos don’t have a ton of draft picks, but if they use them wisely, adding McCarthy, Holker and McCaffrey would give the rebuild a nice jump start.
But that’s just a guess.
