Draft the best player available or player of need? When it comes to Broncos and QB, it’s both (2024)

There is a gaping hole within the Denver Broncos roster that apparently not all NFL Draft “experts” view as something that needs to be immediately addressed.

That gaping hole, in fact, has been there since 2016. Attempts to hold it at bay with short-term approaches and the occasional draft bust have failed. Yet, when it comes to quarterback and the Denver Broncos, there remain some in the “expertise” of draft analysis, the only field with a worse percentage of being correct than meteorologists, that don’t believe QB is pressing enough of a need for the team who has essentially been without a QB for nearly a decade.

The reasoning, of course, is to “draft the best player available”. Teams who draft for need will always be playing for second, some will say. And to a degree, there is a fraction of truth to that. But that fraction doesn’t apply to the Broncos.

That fraction applies to teams like the Bills, Cowboys, Ravens, Bengals and similar teams who are close but not quite there in terms of Super Bowl caliber. For instance, for the Bills, maybe Josh Allen needs more protection on the interior but should Marvin Harrison, Jr. become available, it’s a no brainer. That is an instance where best player available (BPA) trumps “need”.

Yet, the Bills are a playoff team. They have the pieces. The Broncos, on the other hand are coming off of an eight-win season, have lost several impact players, have been silent in free agency, and haven’t had a good QB in the better part of a decade. This isn’t apples to apples.

Therefore, when CBS, NFL.com, ESPN, or whoever, has one of their “experts” create a mock draft where the Broncos stand pat at the 12th pick and do NOT pick a QB, well, that is an “expert” who would never last a day as a general manager in the NFL.

The reality is that for the Broncos, the best player available, no matter who is on the board, IS the quarterback. It’s up to the Broncos to determine which name is the best fit, but make no mistake, quarterback is the one and only path to move forward out of mediocrity.

What is Terrion Arnold going to do? Grab a pick while Stidham throws three? What is Brock Bowers going to do? Have four or five highlight reel catches a game in double coverage while the team can’t enter the red zone? Or how about any of the pass rushing prospects? Cool! Because having a good defense and lousy offense has done wonders for the team post-Manning.

Look at it this way. This is a big business, Fortune 500 type company. It has been bleeding money since 2016. Profits are essentially gone. There are two options to get out of the mess. Keep the status quo, play it safe, and hope a miracle falls in your lap a year or two from now, or get aggressive, take a risk, gamble a bit, and go against the grain.

The Broncos have had a top-15 pick too many times to count in recent years and have yet to play the QB card. They have gone just about every other position, and it hasn’t helped in the least. So despite what the geniuses running mock drafts would like to believe, the Broncos have one and only one option in this draft: quarterback, whichever one Sean Payton sees fit.

If he thinks otherwise, he’s now essentially as good as a mock draft expert.

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Draft the best player available or player of need? When it comes to Broncos and QB, it’s both (2024)
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