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6 biggest Broncos draft busts of the last decade

By Travis Wakeman

DENVER, CO - JANUARY 19: Montee Ball #28 of the Denver Broncos runs with the ball against the New England Patriots during the AFC Championship game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on January 19, 2014 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
DENVER, CO - JANUARY 19: Montee Ball #28 of the Denver Broncos runs with the ball against the New England Patriots during the AFC Championship game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on January 19, 2014 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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Denver Broncos
Sep 24, 2017; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Denver Broncos wide receiver Cody Latimer (14) on the sidelines during the second quarter of a game against the Buffalo Bills at New Era Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports /

The Denver Broncos are a few weeks removed from compiling their 2022 draft class and the hope will be that each of those nine players becomes a major contributing factor to the team. 

Of course, that is wishful thinking too. The draft is a selection process filled with risk and teams taking gambles on what they think a player can and will do, but in more situations than not, that doesn’t actually happen.

Many great novels could be written regarding the biggest busts in the history of the draft. The names of JaMarcus Russell, Ryan Leaf and Tony Mandarich get tossed around every time that subject comes up.

When it comes to the Broncos, looking at the last 10 years of drafts, who are some of the failed draft picks that come to mind. To be perfectly honest, there were several to choose from.

In order to be labeled as a “draft bust” here, a player had to be selected in the first three rounds between 2012-2022 but for those taken in recent years, the jury is still out. However, a guy like McTelvin Agim could soon find himself on a list like this one.

I managed to narrow it down to six players and here there are, ranked in descending order.

Broncos biggest draft busts since 2012: Brendan Langley

Denver Broncos
Sep 11, 2017; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Broncos cornerback Brendan Langley (27) is helped off the field by trainers after suffering an injury against the Los Angeles Chargers at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /

This guy had no business being drafted in the third round, but the Broncos decided to use the No. 101 overall pick of the 2017 draft on him, even though most analysts had him ranked much further down the board.

John Elway saw something in the long, athletic corner at the time but he never panned out for the Broncos and was just a terrible draft pick.

Langley played in 16 total games for the Broncos and never made a start at cornerback. Instead, the team used him as a return man briefly and then attempted to convert him to wide receiver, but that didn’t work either.

The Broncos cut him and he was chosen in the XFL draft in 2020 by the Houston Roughnecks and was later given a spot on the practice squad of the Seattle Seahawks, a stop that lasted about three weeks.

He is currently a member of the Calgary Stampeders in the CFL but as far as a professional football career goes, he has basically done nothing.

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