The 2021 NFL Draft is almost here, and George Paton has a lot to consider for the immediate future of the Denver Broncos in his first year on the job as general manager. Paton has come to Denver from the Minnesota Vikings, where their overall team philosophy was that more picks is better, because the more picks you have, the better chance you have on hitting in the crapshoot that is the NFL Draft.
The Denver Broncos have a talented young offense and a reloaded, veteran-laden defense. With Vic Fangio at the helm as head coach, the defense will unquestionably be a strength of the team and it has proven to be that almost regardless of who is sent out there personnel-wise.
The 2020 season was a very difficult test of the whole “next man up” philosophy as the Broncos — perhaps more than any team in the NFL besides the San Francisco 49ers — were ravaged by injuries to key players.
As of today, who knows what Paton is going to do? There are only so many directions he can go with the 9th pick that make a lot of sense. One of three quarterbacks — Mac Jones, Trey Lance, and Justin Fields — could make sense there.
An offensive tackle like Rashawn Slater or Penei Sewell could make sense.
This draft class is not renowned on the defensive side of the ball, but you could make a case for Patrick Surtain II, Jaycee Horn, or even Micah Parsons at the top of the class for the Denver Broncos if they stay put at 9 overall.
Paton has stated publicly that the Broncos like Drew Lock, and I don’t think he’s lying. Even if the Broncos do draft someone, I think Paton is willing to give Lock first dibs at the starting job this year. He is under no pressure to trade or get rid of Lock, nor should he be.
With that being said, I think Paton’s ideal scenario in the 2021 NFL Draft is to either have a QB he likes fall to his pick at 9 or trade back and accumulate picks for this year and next year.
And in this mock draft scenario, that’s what he’s going to do.
Trading down from the 9th pick using the TDN Mock Draft Machine, I ended up with multiple first-round selections just as I did in my other recent mock draft scenario. The Broncos could acquire even more picks throughout the draft if they trade players on their roster right now.
Ultimately, this mock draft includes nine selections with two in the first round and two in the third round after all of the trades were made. Let’s get to the picks.