5 elite prospects Broncos will miss out on because of Russell Wilson trade

The Denver Broncos made a bold trade last March to get Russell Wilson from the Seattle Seahawks, and that trade certainly hasn’t paid the immediate dividends many hoped that it would. The Broncos were hailed by many as being a “quarterback away” from true contention in the AFC West, but that hasn’t proven to be the case.

Instead, Wilson has had a rather disappointing year, the Broncos are 4-10, and if the season ended today (thank goodness it doesn’t), the Broncos would be sending the Seattle Seahawks the third overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

With a couple more wins in the final three weeks of the 2022 season, the Broncos can push that pick down the board a bit to limit the damage, but what if they end up giving Seattle a top-five pick? What kinds of prospects will the Broncos be missing out on? Let’s take a look at five guys that could have potentially worn orange and blue in the NFL, but won’t, at least not in Denver.

Denver Broncos missing out on top-flight prospects in 2023 NFL Draft

1. Jalen Carter, DL, Georgia

Taking a defensive lineman with a top-five pick is perhaps not the ideal scenario if your team is really bad, but a player like Jalen Carter could certainly upgrade the whole of the Denver Broncos’ defense and would give an already top-tier unit another blue-chip player.

Carter is listed at 6-foot-3, 310 pounds, but he moves around out on the field like he’s an outside linebacker. He’s got tremendous length, power, quickness, and playmaking instincts. Again, taking a defensive lineman within the top five picks is not an ideal situation for every team but this is the kind of guy you can really build around up front in terms of his talent and ability to wreck games from the inside.

Given the fact that the Broncos could be looking at a pretty substantial reshuffling of the defensive line in the 2023 offseason, Carter might have been a nice piece for them to at least consider if they finish with a top-five pick.