Speaking via Zoom™ in his regular pre-NFL Draft press conference, John Elway told the media on Monday afternoon that trades in the upcoming “social distance” version of the Draft could be more difficult given the logistics, but the Broncos are ready for anything.
Obviously, the time constraints—being virtual and not having everybody in the same room— makes it more difficult. That may lead to less trades. I still think there are going to be trades,” he said, adding that if anything, the Broncos have had to prepare a little bit harde “to have an idea at each position of where we are right now whether we go up or back.”
But in typical Elway fashion, the GM gave no real hints which way the Broncos may be leaning.
“I think we’re preparing ourselves to go in either direction, so kind of depending on how it falls,” he said. “We always look at the possibility of going up, and we’ll continue to do that. We’re also looking at going back. We can play around with the scenarios going up, but really it becomes dependent on who’s available whether you’re going to go up or if you sit or if you go back. We’re looking at all those combinations.”
So basically, everyone...just wait until Thursday.
Regarding being "active" in trading in the Draft, Elway says #Broncos are prepared to "go either direction depending on how it falls."
— Doctor of Words (and tights ... not homeschool) (@docllv) April 20, 2020
"We're looking at all the combinations."
Speculation is obviously still primarily that Broncos go after a top wide receiver in the first round, but Elway would also give no hints on which one. Asked about how the top three separate themselves in his opinion - CeeDee Lamb, Jerry Jeudy and Henry Ruggs III - the Broncos’ GM said “it depends.”
“It’s kind of what flavor you like because it’s a very deep draft when it comes down to receivers,” Elway said. “I think everybody obviously is going to have different views on what they think is the best fit for them. ...It’s hard to say exactly how it’s going to fall. I think the good thing is and the fortunate thing is for us, as you said, we do need a wideout—It’s a deep class. We’ll just have to see how things fall.”
Are you seeing the theme here?
“If they do go wide receiver, @SuttonCourtland’s going to have a nice running mate.” - @MoveTheSticks #BroncosDraft pic.twitter.com/9IgOmwyvqI
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) April 21, 2020
Offensive tackle is a potential option for the Broncos as well, though given Elway’s thoughts that this class has some good ones, it seems less likely he goes that direction in the first round.
“I think that’s one of the stronger positions,” he said. “That’s the thing that we’ll continue to do our mock drafts the next couple of days, just kind of play with different scenarios to see how they fall and fall with other positions and what direction we may go.”
Given that the draft will be “virtual” and each decision-maker will be isolated at his own home, Elway said they are trying to cover “every scenario” as much as they can so they can communicate quickly on Draft Night.
“We’re trying to cover everything we possibly can,” the GM said. “We won’t be able to get every scenario covered, but hopefully we can get a lot of them covered so therefore we have a good idea of which direction we would go depending on how the draft falls.”
The virtual nature will provide some “time crunch” that Elway believes could impact the amount of - or ability to effectively make - trades.
“I think as the draft goes and once we get through the first day and get through the second day, by the time we get to the third day, everybody we’ll have a pretty good feel for it,” he said. “We should make it through it just fine.”
Poll
How do you see Day 1 of the Draft "falling" for the Broncos?
This poll is closed
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25%
Denver stays at 15, picks a WR
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9%
Denver trades up, picks Ruggs III
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21%
Denver trades way up and goes for Jeudy
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36%
Denver trades back, gets OT in first plus Mims
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7%
I’m just LOL-ing at a bunch of boomers being "just fine" through a virtual draft.