Why the Broncos should go Cornerback in the first round

Summary

At this point, Isaac Yiadom is the best player available on the Broncos roster to cover up wide alongside A.J. Bouye, and that may not pair well for the defense, as Yiadom allowed a 70 percent completion percentage and 490 yards.

And also, let’s not forget that Bouye is coming from one of the worst, if not the worst season of his career. He allowed 60 catches on 92 targets for 855 yards and 3 touchdowns. That is nowhere near the Pro Bowl season he had in 2017.

Bryce Callahan is more than capable to take care of the slot, and with the signing of Jurrel Casey and Bradley Chubb coming back from injury, the wide cornerbacks are truly our only weak spot at defense.

And now we turn to the offense, where Courtland Sutton is coming of his first Pro Bowl season, with a  72/1,112/6 stat line. With Drew Lock last year, the Broncos scored an average of 21.4 points per game, that would have ranked 18th in the league (ranked 30th before that) and they already added another Pro Bowler in Melvin Gordon III who will only improve our offense even more.

The weak spot lies with DaeSean Hamilton and Tim Patrick, who combined for 515 yards on 44 catches and 1 touchdown, and even with Noah Fant rising at the end of last season, an upgrade is more than necessary at that spot.

The fact is that the Broncos already have a WR1 but do not have, for the first time in years, a lockdown corner. If A.J. Bouye does not come back to his 2017 form, and the Broncos opt to select a guy like Bryce Hall or Cameron Dantzler on Day 2, their secondary could end up being disastrous.

Getting an elite wide receiver at 15 or even trading up for Jeudy or Lamb would make Denver’s offense one of the scariest for opposing defenses in the league, but the value that Denver would be losing on the cornerbacks is just not worth it.

The gap between Kristian Fulton and Bryce Hall is way bigger than the gap between Ruggs and Tyler Johnson. It is a bold move to pass on a WR in the first round but is a move that will bring better value to the whole team.

It will take time to replace an all-time great like Chris Harris Jr., so Denver should start trying to find their guy for years to come with the 15th pick overall.