Denver Broncos land Dwayne Haskins in Peter Schrager’s mock draft

The Denver Broncos land a quarterback in Peter Schrager’s latest mock draft. Schrager sends Ohio State star Dwayne Haskins to the Broncos.

The Denver Broncos don’t have to lock in on any one position in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft, but a lot of people seem to think they’re going to take a quarterback to be the eventual successor to Joe Flacco.

I personally feel like the addition of Flacco makes a first-round quarterback less likely, but these guys have a chance to prove to John Elway they are the long-term solution for the team.

Peter Schrager of Good Morning Football and NFL Network posted his second mock draft of the offseason, and it included a bit of a surprising pick for the Broncos at quarterback.

Schrager predicts the Denver Broncos to draft Dwayne Haskins out of Ohio State, and has the following explanation for his pick:

"“Joe Flacco will be the Broncos’ quarterback for 2019, but don’t sleep on the team snagging Haskins or Drew Lock if one of those two falls to 10. Haskins ripped it at his pro day and, from what I’m told, was a “pied piper” leader on an offense littered with future professional players. John Elway swings for a quarterback again.”Peter Schrager, NFL.com"

What makes Schrager’s mock draft worth reading into more than others? Well, Schrager couldn’t care less who the Broncos pick. He’s making this mock draft based on things he’s hearing from GMs, coaches, and executives around the league.

Schrager is currently on the ground at the NFL owner meetings in Arizona where John Elway has been representing the team on the competition committee, and Vic Fangio has been mingling with his new peers in the head coaching community.

The only known interest at this point the Broncos have had in Haskins is a reported visit he will eventually take to Denver to meet with Broncos brass.

Haskins put together a Heisman-worthy season at Ohio State this past year, throwing for 4,831 yards, 50 touchdowns, and just eight interceptions on 533 passing attempts.

Haskins only has one full year of starting experience, but as Schrager said, everyone who knows him has talked up his leadership abilities and that goes back way before he even decided to enter the 2019 NFL Draft.

This piece on Haskins from SI.com looking into his football upbringing and the type of worker he is really does a great job highlighting exactly why he’s ready for the NFL.

What would make Haskins at 10 overall a great pick? He might be the ‘safest’ quarterback prospect in this year’s draft. Kyler Murray’s issue is size. Drew Lock’s issue is consistency and perhaps more importantly, accuracy.

Haskins’ issue is…his 40-yard dash time? There’s not a lot not to like about Haskins. You can pick apart his game just like everyone else, but for the most part, Haskins is just a really good player.

The assumption all offseason has been he would be off the board at six overall to the New York Giants, but Schrager seems pretty confident the Jets would prefer Lock in this scenario.

That would be something else, wouldn’t it?

Every time I have sat down to watch Haskins in this draft process, I have liked what I’ve seen.

What are the knocks against Haskins?

Despite whatever Stephen A. Smith thinks, he’s not a ‘running’ quarterback. Not only that, he ran a 40-yard dash slower than five seconds. That’s at least slightly concerning. Is that going to affect a guy in a system that requires the quarterback to get outside of the pocket?

Can he make plays off schedule?

One of the most valid criticisms of Haskins I’ve seen is that he doesn’t have a ton of ‘in-game adversity’ experience.

This guy is a pocket passer and he could win an NFL team a lot of games with his ability to pick defenses apart in that regard. As we’ve seen over time, you don’t necessarily need to have a quarterback who runs a great 40-yard dash to have good pocket presence, but there’s some growth that needs to happen with Haskins and perhaps a year behind Joe Flacco would do him wonders.

The bottom line is, no matter how bought into Flacco the Broncos are, if they feel like Haskins can be their franchise cornerstone at the position, they have to take him.