Here is where the Broncos went wrong on day two of the draft

The 2022 NFL Draft is complete and the Denver Broncos have nine new players as part of their class. 

The Broncos used six of those nine selections on defense, getting an edge rusher, two defensive linemen and three new defensive backs. That takes care of three major components of the defense, but there is one glaring omission.

What about an inside linebacker? That spot has been left unaddressed, at least by filling it with a star player, for quite some time.

That will continue in 2022, but it didn’t have to. Georgia linebacker Nakobe Dean was sitting right there and he was there for multiple rounds.

The Broncos had multiple chances to draft Nakobe Dean

When the regular season ended and we started talking about the draft, the very first player I wrote about was Dean. This was before the Russell Wilson trade when the Broncos still had a first-round pick, No. 9 overall. Dean seemed like a good fit there at the time.

Once the Broncos had traded away their first-round pick and the first of two second-round picks as part of the Wilson deal, I had several articles that included Wyoming linebacker Chad Muma.

The Broncos had a chance to get both of these players but opted not to.

With their first pick, No. 64 overall, the team went with Nik Bonitto, an exciting pass-rusher from Oklahoma. There can’t be too much beef with that selection, he was targeted right in that area and he fits what George Paton is trying to do on defense.

It’s after that pick where things could have been done differently.

The Broncos traded their next pick, No. 75 overall, to the Houston Texans. Perhaps they would have grabbed Muma with this pick, but he went to the Jacksonville Jaguars at No. 70. But Dean was still there.

They traded the pick and moved back just five slots while also getting a fifth-round choice from the Texans. That’s not bad, because Dean is still on the board.

The Broncos come up at No. 80 and take UCLA tight end Greg Dulcich. It’s not a terrible pick, because the team needed more help at tight end. But to say that Dulcich will be better than Dean is risky.

The Philadelphia Eagles ended Dean’s ridiculous slide just three picks later. The Eagles also happened to have one of the best overall drafts in the entire league.

Of course, there were reports that Dean’s shoulder injury had become a major red flag for teams. It makes sense to not use a first-round pick on him for that reason, maybe even a second. But when he starts to slip into the third round and you are on the board and you need a major presence at inside linebacker?

Dean won the Butkus Award in 2021, given to the nation’s best linebacker. Go watch Georgia play Michigan in the College Football Playoff, or any Georgia came from last year really, and you’ll see why he won that award.

The winner of the Butkus Award has not been drafted this late since Rocky Calmus went at No. 77 overall back in 2002. Before that, Matt Russell went in the fourth round in 1996. Russell just happens to be the former Director of Player Personnel for the Broncos.

To pass on Dean in order to take a tight end makes little sense to me. Broncos fans are going to gush over Dulcich and all of the team’s picks the same way they did Patrick Surtain last year and while Surtain has a chance to be a great player, he’s not on the level of Micah Parsons.

Parsons, who was the player the Broncos completely missed the boat on last year, had the best defensive rookie season since Lawrence Taylor.

Kudos to the Eagles for grabbing Dean and adding him to their defense. He’ll now play with a massive chip on that same shoulder that caused him to slip, which will be fine in time.

Dean was a game-wrecker at Georgia that has sideline-to-sideline ability and makes plays all over the field. He gets knocked for his lack of size, but we can all remember Russell Wilson falling to the third round for that very same reason.

It’s worked out pretty well for Russell. It will work out pretty well for Dean, too.