The Denver Broncos are looking to the future with no playoffs in 2019. Who might they pick in the 2019 NFL Draft? Here’s a fun scenario.
Just two years after their most recent head coaching search, the Denver Broncos are back to the drawing board.
John Elway’s first hire as head coach in 2011 was John Fox, a coach who brought stability to a team that desperately needed an experienced voice in the locker room. In 2015, Elway brought in Gary Kubiak to replace Fox, a hire that proved to be an immediate success as Kubiak helped lead the Broncos to their third Super Bowl in franchise history.
In 2016, Kubiak’s last season with the team as head coach, the Broncos went 9-7 and narrowly missed out on the playoffs.
Kubiak was forced to resign from his position after the 2016 season due to health concerns, and the Broncos hired Vance Joseph — a defensive coordinator candidate in the 2015 season — to take his place.
Two years later, Joseph and the Broncos have won just 11 games with a chance to win a 12th, and an 11-21 or even 12-20 record over two seasons is simply unacceptable for the standard that has been set in Denver. As a matter of fact, the Broncos are guaranteed their first back-to-back losing seasons since the early 1970s.
Regardless of the hand Joseph was dealt as head coach (and he inherited a pretty bad offensive situation), that’s not an acceptable outcome.
The Broncos are looking to the future in 2019 with eyes on their head coaching job and quarterback position as the two greatest needs.
In terms of the future of the franchise, there’s very little clarity until the Broncos find an answer at those two spots.
Elway and his front office will look to build off of a phenomenal 2018 rookie class which included a Pro Bowl selection in Phillip Lindsay. Bradley Chubb — the team’s top pick — has 12 sacks, and the Broncos appear to have found starters or key contributors in all of the top four rounds.
How will they build off of that? Right now, Denver will be picking anywhere from sixth overall in the 2019 NFL Draft to the mid-late teens. Considering how well the rest of the season has gone, it’s reasonable to assume that pick will be higher to the sixth overall spot.
Let’s take a look at another 2019 mock draft scenario heading into the final week of the regular season.