Broncos 2020 mock draft: Playmakers for Pat Shurmur
The Denver Broncos have hired Pat Shurmur as their new offensive coordinator. How could that affect what they do in the 2020 NFL Draft?
The Denver Broncos officially have a new offensive coordinator in Pat Shurmur, and a new system to put in place for young quarterback Drew Lock. How will Shurmur’s presence with the Broncos impact the 2020 NFL Draft?
We only have a few short months to find out.
For the time being, Broncos head coach Vic Fangio obviously felt like having the experience of Shurmur was more valuable than having the continuity of Rich Scangarello, and I, for one, am not upset about that.
While I was willing to give Scangarello at least another season to see what the offense could look like with better players, continuity, and actual direction with Drew Lock at the QB position, I think bringing in a coach like Shurmur is equally exciting with his track record of developing young players and implementing an offense born from the Andy Reid coaching tree which means the Broncos could look a bit more like the Chiefs, obviously, than the San Francisco 49ers.
“Having coached against Pat for a number of years, he’s always impressed me.”
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) January 14, 2020
Coach Fangio on his decision to name Pat Shurmur as offensive coordinator: pic.twitter.com/NScpyDFAHl
For more on the Shurmur offense schematically, check out this post from Joe Rowles.
On a basic level, the Broncos’ offense can certainly be expected to use a lot more “11” personnel versus “12” personnel, which means more 3WR sets than not.
We can also expect to see a lot more of Noah Fant split out (think Evan Engram, Travis Kelce) than he was this past season, which is an exciting thing.
The Broncos — John Elway, specifically — recognize their need for playmakers on offense and specifically at wide receiver.
“But in order to score points we’ve got to get weapons. We’re going to be looking. Wide receiver is a spot we need.’’
— Nick Kendell 🏔 (@NickKendellMHH) January 2, 2020
-John Elway in his interview w/ @MikeKlis
Because of Elway’s comments about needing a receiver as well as Vic Fangio’s emphasis on improving the offense, I think we’re going to see a meat-and-potatoes approach to free agency and an emphasis on skill players in the 2020 NFL Draft, which is the correct strategy in my opinion.
The Broncos have a number of needs this offseason, and many of those needs can (and should) be addressed with specific players in free agency.
Considering the amount of cap space and draft capital this team has, there are no shortage of scenarios to look at in the next couple of months as we approach free agency, but we can project a bit as well.
How might the Broncos’ 2020 NFL Draft class look? Using The Draft Network’s mock draft machine, I put together a class I think everyone would be able to get excited about.