Denver Broncos 2018 NFL Draft class gets top 10 grade

Apr 25, 2022; Englewood, CO, USA; Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton (14) works out during a Denver Broncos mini camp at UCHealth Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 25, 2022; Englewood, CO, USA; Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton (14) works out during a Denver Broncos mini camp at UCHealth Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

The Denver Broncos landed a couple of high-impact players in the 2018 NFL Draft. Bleacher Report gives that class a top 10 grade.

The Denver Broncos’ 2018 NFL Draft class is being considered one of the best from that particular year by Bleacher Report.

According to B/R, the haul for the Denver Broncos that year gets a “B” grade, but even an average grade is good enough to crack the top 10 of the entire NFL.

With just a handful of grades better than a “B” throughout the entire list, the Denver Broncos proved in this particular class that the more darts you have to throw, the better chances you’ve got at hitting a bullseye in the NFL Draft.

Denver Broncos 2018 NFL Draft class

  • Bradley Chubb, EDGE
  • Courtland Sutton, WR
  • Royce Freeman, RB
  • Isaac Yiadom, CB
  • Josey Jewell, LB
  • DaeSean Hamilton, WR
  • Troy Fumagalli, TE
  • Sam Jones, OL
  • Keishawn Bierria, LB
  • David Williams, RB

The 2018 class for the Denver Broncos also included Phillip Lindsay, who was one of the most impactful rookies from that particular class back in 2018.

What’s crazy about this class? The Denver Broncos had 10 picks. As of right now, three of them are still on the roster.

When you look at it as a 30 percent “hit” rate, it doesn’t really look all that great. When you think about it like a baseball hitter hitting .300, it seems a lot better.

Batting .300 in the NFL Draft is nothing to be ashamed of, at least in a given year.

The big issue a lot of people have taken with this draft, in hindsight, has been the fact that the team didn’t select Josh Allen when it had the opportunity to do so with the 5th overall pick.

Instead, the Broncos chose Bradley Chubb after signing Case Keenum in free agency.

We’ve seen how that worked out as 2018 was truly the only season we saw Chubb and Miller play together as Broncos, and Keenum’s time in Denver was short-lived.

Allen has become arguably the best quarterback in the entire league.

Circumstances would have been vastly different in Denver, though, and who knows if the Broncos would have actually had the patience to wait for Allen to develop over his first three NFL seasons?

Regardless of how you look back on that top pick now, at the time, it was almost certainly the right decision by John Elway and company to add Chubb alongside Von Miller in the pass rush.

Most people felt Chubb would go in the top four picks.

Getting Courtland Sutton in the second round was also a massive steal at the time. Every rumor leading up to the 2018 NFL Draft had the Dallas Cowboys taking Sutton in the first round.

They obviously didn’t do that, leaving him there for the Broncos in round two.

Josey Jewell was a steal in round four out of Iowa and remains a starter for the Broncos heading into the 2022 season.

Even though these three picks look like solid or even good ones in hindsight, there’s no question that the Broncos need bounce-back years from all three of them in 2022.

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