Peter Schrager predicts Denver Broncos go big in 2019 Draft

NFL Network and Good Morning Football reporter Peter Schrager put out a first-round mock draft, and predicted the Denver Broncos to go big.

The Denver Broncos could go a variety of directions with their top pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, just ask head coach Vic Fangio.

Fangio stated at the 2019 NFL Scouting Combine that the Broncos need help at all three levels of their defense. He’s not wrong.

The Broncos have needs on the interior defensive line, at inside linebacker, and at cornerback. They will undoubtedly address those areas in free agency, but they could also attack one of those positions with their first-round pick.

Peter Schrager, a reporter for NFL Network and one of the hosts of Good Morning Football released a first-round mock draft where he predicts the Broncos to go ‘big’.

As of right now, he thinks the Broncos will go with Clemson defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, a supremely gifted big man who would fill the Broncos’ hole at nose tackle nicely. We’ve looked at Lawrence in a number of mock draft scenarios this offseason. He is awesome, but was also in some trouble at the end of his Clemson career for a positive drug test.

Schrager had an intriguing scoop regarding that situation.

"“A math-camp wiz kid before he opted for football over numbers, Lawrence is a disruptive force who has a college coach in Dabo Swinney doing all he can to clear Lawrence’s name after it made its way into headlines with a failed drug test for a performance-enhancing substance, which led to him being suspended for the College Football Playoff.”Peter Schrager on his Broncos selection of Dexter Lawrence"

It’s interesting to read that Lawrence’s college coach has been ‘doing all he can’ to clear the kid’s name.

Lawrence had this to say about his positive test.

"“I’m not the type of guy to do a selfish act like that. I have too much pride. I love this team and my family too much to put a substance like that in my body. I don’t know where it came from. I don’t know how it got there. I was raised different. If I did do it, I’d own up to it. All I can say is I honestly don’t know what happened, where it came from.”(via New York Post)"

Lawrence, 21, is one of the most physically imposing defensive linemen in this year’s draft class, which is absolutely loaded with them. John Elway stated at the combine he feels the defensive front is the best position group in this year’s crop, and he’s right on.

Lawrence is one of many players who will hear their names called early to come in and help an NFL team on the defensive line, but the Broncos are a particularly good fit for him.

Vic Fangio implemented a scheme in Chicago that helped another rarely gifted big man in Akiem Hicks to some of the best years of his career.

While Lawrence is listed as a nose tackle, he has the athleticism to play a number of positions on the defensive line.

Equally capable of eating up blockers as he is penetrating the line of scrimmage and making athletic tackles for loss, there may not be a better player for the Broncos to draft who could take pressure off of Von Miller and Bradley Chubb on the edge.

The Broncos would be destroying offenses from the inside out — literally — and Lawrence is the type of impact player you want with a first-round selection. If the positive drug test is something that worries teams enough to push him out of the first round, maybe they could get him there.

If Schrager says Dabo Swinney is talking with teams to get Lawrence’s name cleared, he won’t last long on draft night.

This would be a phenomenal pick for the Broncos to make, and would fall in line with John Elway’s historic trend of using a premium selection on the defensive line.