Just a little more than a month before the 2021 NFL Draft, and we have already seen a major move towards the top of the draft order, but the Denver Broncos failed to pull the trigger.
The Miami Dolphins, who were involved in both moves on March 26th, – first, they ended up moving down to 12th overall in a deal with the San Francisco 49ers, and then they moved back up to 6th overall in a deal with the Philadelphia Eagles. But a team that was not involved in this deal may have been the biggest loser of the entire flurry of moves.
The Broncos entered this offseason with a revamp happening in their front office, as John Elway moved on from the general manager role and they brought in George Patton, who has prioritized defensive additions in his first try running the team. But their offense is lacking, especially at quarterback, and they would have been smart to have at least thrown their hat into the right for the Dolphins’ no. 3 selection.
Drew Lock currently is Denver’s starting QB, a prospect taken by Elway that was seen as an unspectacular option but one that could, if put into an advantageous situation, flourish and become a top-15 starter. Not only has Lock been given plenty of chances to prove that he deserves that role for the Broncos, but he has repeatedly failed to provide enough on-field results to justify that he should not be the starter moving forward.
With a minimum of four QB’s projected to go in this year’s first-round (Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Zach Wilson, and Trey Lance), combined with the potential of either Mac Jones and/or Kyle Trask joining them, the options certainly are there for Patton and the Broncos to take advantage of. But what has kept this Broncos squad back from competing in the AFC West division is their inability to take a chance.
Lock has done nothing to earn another chance at winning the starting role, but Patton may be wanting to see him in the offense with his full stable of weapons before making that final call.
Rookie Jerry Jeudy was solid last year, but incumbent top option Courtland Sutton missed the entire year with an injury, so seeing how both options co-exist will be very important for this offense. Tight-end Noah Fant was impressive last year and his connection with Lock certainly grew over the season, but with Lock also missing time on the injury list, there was no full season with them together.
The offensive line is underrated and perfectly set up to help a rookie QB acclimate to the league, making this year’s draft the perfect time for the Broncos to make a jump up the board.
With the Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Jets, and now the Niners likely to take a QB, the first three selections seem to be locked in, position-wise. That fourth team that decides to take a QB in the first round, which seems to be between Fields and Lance, should be the Broncos, but Denver will likely need to move up from 9th overall if they want that final signal-caller.
Fighting an uphill battle in an uber-competitive AFC West division, the Broncos are hurting themselves by choosing not to make a much-needed upgrade at QB. With this draft boasting quite a few franchise-altering options in the first round, there is no better time than now to make that change happen.
Patton is just getting his fingerprints put onto this team, and adding a rookie QB into that mix puts most of the offensive weapons on the same timeline trajectory – Lock is not going to be the future starter of this team and has shown nothing that points to him ever taking that role, so this draft is the best time to take advantage of the class’s QB prospects to make sure this team is set for the future.
For the Denver fanbase, you just got to hope that not taking advantage of the Dolphins’ moves does not hurt them in their quest for a new option at QB.
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