Pete Prisco regrades Denver Broncos 2015 draft class

The Denver Broncos 2015 draft class wasn’t very good in hindsight. However, in the moment, fans were mostly positive in their grading of the class. Of the 6500 votes, around 2/3’s voted A or B on the class.

John Elway and his staff seemingly filled a need at every pick. Unfortunately, nearly every pick was basically a bust. Pete Prisco was one of the few from the national media to give the Broncos a very positive grade in that moment, but as he regraded his own performance from that draft class the new grade was not so positive.

The skinny: They had nine picks in the draft and three are still on the roster. First-round pick Shane Ray has been a solid player for the Broncos, but has just 13 sacks in three seasons and is coming off an injury-shortened season where he started seven games. Second-round offensive tackle Ty Sambrailo was traded to Atlanta last year. That’s a major miss. Third-round guard Max Garcia has started 37 games the past three seasons, so there is some value there, even if he is just average. Tight end Jeff Heuerman, their other third-round pick, is projected as their starter this season, but he has just 18 catches in three seasons and tore his ACL as a rookie. This class did not bring much for the Broncos. Trevor Siemian did come in the seventh and he started at quarterback last season, but is now in Minnesota.

2015 grade: B

How I did: I liked the pick of Sambrailo, so that’s a whiff just like for the Broncos. I questioned taking Ray that high and that’s still to be determined. My third-day gem was Garcia, who has started the most games of anybody in their class.

New grade: D

Frankly, I think he is being too positive towards himself. From that draft class, the Broncos have gotten a ton of games started from four of those players. All four have been either inconsistent or colossally bad. Shane Ray would fall under the inconsistent category, while Ty Sambrailo, Max Garcia, and Trevor Siemian all proved to be terrible starters in the NFL.

How Prisco’s regrade couldn’t be an F is beyond me.

The 2015 NFL Draft will go down as one of Elway’s worst with the 2013 draft class in strong contention. Fortunately, Elway seems to have found his groove again having picked up solid talent in each of his last three draft classes.

If I were to regrade this class, I would give it an F. I would give the 2013 class an F too. The only way I would personally increase this grade is if Ray finally puts things together and has a career year in 2018. With Bradley Chubb on the roster and now likely to get more snaps than Ray, that is an unlikely outcome.

What do you think of the Broncos 2015 draft class?