Denver Broncos four-round mock draft: Reviving the franchise
Fourth Round: WR Allen Lazard (Iowa State), RB Mark Walton (Miami, FL)
In the fourth round, the Broncos have back-to-back selections.
This mock draft has been entirely offensive to this point, but could anyone really argue that the Broncos don’t need it?
Even this past year, when the offense was dreadful, the Broncos invested only two of their top four selections on that side of the ball (Bolles, Carlos Henderson).
The addition of Lazard will give the Broncos a big play and possession receiver threat. He’s got a well-rounded skillset and I like his potential as an NFL player to produce even more than he did in college.
Lazard has a huge catch radius, which will be a great weapon for a rookie quarterback like Baker Mayfield.
Mark Walton was injured this season, but prior to getting hurt, he was averaging seven yards per carry and had three touchdowns.
Just a season ago, Walton was a thousand-yard back for Miami and finished with 14 touchdowns. He has big play ability when healthy, and could add another dimension to the Denver offense as a pass catcher out of the backfield.
Draft Recap
1a. Connor Williams, OT, Texas
1b. Baker Mayfield, QB, Oklahoma
3. Tyrell Crosby, OL, Oregon
4a. Allen Lazard, WR, Iowa State
4b. Mark Walton, RB, Miami (FL)
This draft scenario would give the Broncos a very young core offensively, and obviously much would be dependent upon what they did in free agency and how they would proceed with certain veteran players that could be on the trade block, but the offense could look something like this:
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QB: Baker Mayfield
RB: Devontae Booker, De’Angelo Henderson, Mark Walton
WR1: Emmanuel Sanders, Jordan Taylor
WR2: Demaryius Thomas, Allen Lazard
SLOT: Carlos Henderson, Isaiah McKenzie
TE: Jake Butt, Jeff Heuerman, Austin Traylor
LT: Connor Williams
LG: Tyrell Crosby, Max Garcia, Connor McGovern
C: Matt Paradis/McGovern
RG: Ron Leary
RT: Garett Bolles
Obviously this would be a group you’d have to live through the growing pains with, but there’s a lot of talent there. You could also look to trade one of Thomas or Sanders and bring in another veteran who could provide a young quarterback with an outlet, someone that can win in man coverage and be a consistent threat in the short-intermediate area.
The running back position could use another option or two for competition’s sake, but overall, this lineup has a lot of upside despite a lot of question marks. You would also not have to sacrifice much defensively to put this unit together.