Every team preaches drafting “the best player available” (BPA) when they go on the clock, but that doesn’t stop clubs from reaching to address needs every year.
This year, after patching numerous roster holes during free agency, the Denver Broncos can truly target the BPA when they go on the clock in the third round, regardless of the player’s position.
“We’re going to take the best player,” Broncos general manager George Paton said during his pre-draft press conference last week. “We were really aggressive in free agency. We wanted to fill as many holes with as many quality players that fit the prototype and fit our culture as we could. They just so happened to be on offense. We feel like we filled a lot of those holes.
“Now, we can draft the best player. We were good on defense last year, and we still have some talent on defense. We have a foundation. We’re not going to stretch to draft a defensive player. Both of our mindsets is to draft the best player, no matter where we are in the draft.”
When Paton says “our mindsets,” he is referring to the mindsets of himself and new head coach Sean Payton. After going heavy on offense in free agency, there’s been speculation that Denver might go heavy on defense during the draft.
While Payton admitted that the team will enter the draft with a few positions they would like to upgrade, but he and Paton both said the Broncos won’t reach to address specific positions.
“We would look at a list — and we’re not going to share the list with you — but we would look at [it like], ‘These were some things we’d like to get out of this draft, if it’s possible,’” Payton said. “But there’s an ‘if’ there, and we recognize that.”
The first round of the draft will begin on Thursday. Denver is not scheduled to pick until the third round on Friday, barring a trade.
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