Netane Muti a worthwhile risk/reward player for the Broncos

Netane Muti gets to be a Bronco after being picked with the 181st overall pick. This is what the big, strong guard will bring to the table.

With the 181st pick overall in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Denver Broncos selected offensive guard Netane Muti from Fresno State.

The Broncos keep bringing quality players even though we already are at the back-end of the 2020 NFL draft. Netane Muti would have been a top-50 pick if he had managed to stay healthy in his college career.

During his three active seasons at Fresno State, Muti played 1,273 total snaps, and 955 were in his first season. He was cut short in 2018 because of an Achilles injury, and then again in 2019 with a Lisfranc injury.

But let’s focus on what Muti can do when he is on the football field.

Muti only did the bench press at the combine, and he was the fourth-best with 44 reps. At 6-foot-3 and 315 pounds, Muti is capable of throwing any defender through the air with ease. He has the athletic profile of an elite guard.

In 697 pass-blocking snaps, Netane allowed eight hurries, five hits, and only one sack. That translates to just 1.8 percent of quarterback pressure allowed, a mark that ranks top five in the 2020 class.

Muti became unstoppable once engaged in blocks and stopped only when the defender was on the ground. His monumental upper-body strength will fit nicely on the O-line commanded by Mike Munchak, especially since he showed that he can also play as a left tackle. His incredibly light feet are a product of his agility and quickness of the line of scrimmage and give Muti the ability to move to any side of the ball. He can bulldoze on the outside and the inside.

Muti becomes a human train when commanded to block for the running backs. He will create holes and push defenders away on the left side of the field for Melvin Gordon and Phillip Lindsay. Those two should be very happy with this new acquisition.

Muti will join a newly constructed group of offensive linemen. Ja’Wuan James, Graham Glasgow, Lloyd Cushenberry III, Dalton Risner, and Garret Bolles make up the offensive line on call to cover for Drew Lock in 2020.

It’s remarkable that any of these players were on the team before 2019 except for Bolles. Muti joins a young offensive line that showed nothing but potential in 2019 and that keeps improving in the 2020 offseason.

Muti’s injury history makes him a work-in-progress prospect rather than a plug and play, but if he shows that he can stay healthy during his rookie season, he may very easily steal a starting job from year two and on. He will provide great competition and motivation to the offense.

Again, a very nice job by John Elway and the scouting team. Muti is a sixth-round pick with the potential of giving results of a first-round pick. Elway showed nothing but confidence to the Drew Lock project and now adds a human train to block for him in the years to come.