Denver Broncos: Notre Dame pro day now in focus for George Paton
Denver Broncos general manager George Paton has been direct and deliberate when he speaks to the public, but he’s done an outstanding job of keeping his intentions so far in the 2021 offseason under lock and key.
With that being said, Paton can’t exactly hide his presence at major college pro days. He has been going on a nation-wide tour lately, racking up miles on the Denver Broncos’ team jet, and his latest stop will be in South Bend for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish pro day.
Paton’s decision to attend the Notre Dame pro day is significant because it’s happening on the same day as the Florida Gators (Kyle Pitts, Kyle Trask, Kadarius Toney) and LSU Tigers (Ja’Marr Chase, Jabril Cox).
The Notre Dame program could provide the Denver Broncos with a variety of impact players whether in 2021 or down the road a bit, but the featured prospects at this pro day are undoubtedly linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and offensive tackle Liam Eichenberg, both potential first-round players in April.
For the Denver Broncos, the focus is almost undoubtedly on Owusu-Koramoah either with that 9th overall pick (maybe a little rich) or in a trade-down scenario.
Why would the Denver Broncos be interested in Owusu-Koramoah?
One of the hardest hitters in the 2021 NFL Draft class, Owusu-Koramoah won the Butkus Award as the top linebacker in college football. He’s an aggressive playmaker on the defensive side of the ball who is capable of playing all over the formation, and not just because he’s a “tweener”.
When football fans think of linebackers, they’re often thinking about the traditional stack linebackers or off-ball linebackers who wear neck rolls and weigh 250 pounds.
Okay, maybe that was like 25 years ago, but the idea here is that Owusu-Koramoah is not your traditional stack linebacker. He’s smaller (6-foot-1, 221 pounds) than many off-ball linebacker but he’s going to be a great fit for the way the NFL is trending because you’re asking so much of your linebackers in terms of dropping into coverage.
This is a guy who can not only drop into coverage, he can flat-out line up in the slot and lock his guy down out there.
He plays with instincts and flies all over the field, making plays against the run, in coverage, as a pass rusher, and even on special teams.
When you’re talking about the Denver Broncos’ context, this is perhaps the ideal “type” of player you would want to pair up with Alexander Johnson at linebacker because Owusu-Koramoah doesn’t have to come off the field on passing downs and although he’s not going to be the type of guy to take on blocks, he is going to be able to slip under and get around blocks with his speed.
This is a highlight-reel type of defensive playmaker who can help your team in a variety of ways. With the upgrades the Denver Broncos have already made in the secondary, adding a player like Owusu-Koramoah at the second level who can also help you in coverage would make this defense very tough to go up against.