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SB Nation went through and re-drafted the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft to see where players would end up after knowing what we know today one season into their careers. The first three picks remained the same, but everything went to hell from there with only two picks remaining the same.
First off, you can send Bradley Chubb to the Indianapolis Colts with the sixth-overall pick and welcome guard Quenten Nelson instead. While we love having Chubb on the team now, Nelson was the other bae of 2018 with Broncos fans.
2018 pick: Bradley Chubb, EDGE
Re-draft pick: Quenton Nelson, OG
As good as Chubb was — and with 12 sacks, he was pretty dang good — John Elway can use his second chance to address a bigger weakness by upgrading an offensive line that struggled mightily after losing center Matt Paradis to injury. Nelson was a revelation for the Colts as a rookie, emerging as a first-team All-Pro by giving Andrew Luck and Marlon Mack enough space to turn the league’s 30th-ranked scoring offense into a top-five unit in 2018.
Either could have worked, but I kind of like having the defense the central focal point of this franchise right now.
The next current Broncos to be re-drafted into the first round is their second round pick, Courtland Sutton who ended up in wide receiver purgatory with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
29. Jacksonville Jaguars
2018 pick: Taven Bryan, DT
Re-draft pick: Courtland Sutton, WR
Jacksonville needs skill players to boost one of the league’s least intimidating offenses. Sutton only caught 50 percent of his targets in his first year with a disappointing Broncos squad, but he made those touches count. He averaged nearly 17 yards per catch in 2018 and showed general manager John Elway enough to trade away a diminished Demaryius Thomas.
And last, but certainly not least, is Pro Bowl undrafted running back Phillip Lindsay who tore through secondaries in his rookie season. The red flags surrounding his size that caused him to go undrafted have evaporated with hindsight and the Philadelphia Eagles snatch him up with the final pick of the first round in the 2018 NFL Draft.
32. Philadelphia Eagles
2018 pick: n/a
Re-draft pick: Phillip Lindsay, RB
The Eagles get the lead back they need in Lindsay, who went from undrafted free agent to Pro Bowler in Denver. He’ll get an immediate behind the Philly offensive line, even if he slowed considerably at the end of last season as fatigue set in and other teams began to figure him out. He’ll also add a scoring threat to a platoon that averaged just 3.9 yards per carry in 2018 — third-worst in the NFL.
Next time you think about how bad John Elway is at doing things, remember that people out there just re-drafted three of his rookies in 2018 into the first round and only one of them was actually a first rounder.
Now he just needs to achieve this kind of things in back-to-back drafts.