The Denver Broncos have to be careful to not make a huge mistake in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Recently, one of the top players and athletes in the 2025 NFL Draft class made himself known loud and clear during the NFL combine.
Nick Emmanwori, a safety from South Carolina, just did this at the combine with his testing:
South Carolina S Nick Emmanwori
— Trevor Sikkema (@TampaBayTre) February 28, 2025
HT: 6-3 1/8 (97th percentile)
WT: 220lbs (92nd percentile)
Vert: 43 (98th percentile)
Broad: 11-6 (98th percentile)
40-yard: 4.40 (94th percentile)
Comp is Steve Rogers post-super soldier serumpic.twitter.com/SI8444ELcq
This is an all-time type of athlete at the position, and he would even test well with these numbers as an inside linebacker. His RAS score (relative athletic score) is also off the charts:
Nick Emmanwori is a SS prospect in the 2025 draft class. He scored an unofficial 10.00 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 1 out of 1079 SS from 1987 to 2025.
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) February 28, 2025
Splits projected, times unofficial. Pending agis and bench, could be a new top guy!https://t.co/WDmbwaGk56 pic.twitter.com/53Vx9vR7dx
Emmanwori has been seen as one of the top defensive prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft, and there are a few mock drafts out there that have the Denver Broncos taking him with the 20th overall pick. While it may not seem like a bad pick depending on who you ask, in my opinion, a safety in the first round would be a wasteful pick, period.
We have seen the safety position in the NFL become one where teams are building their units through free agency. Some of the top safeties in the NFL this past season like Xavier McKinney, Jessie Bates III, and Brandon Jones were all free agency signings.
The position is valuable, as all 22 positions on a football field are, but it's never really been a first-round type of pick at any point in recent NFL history. We saw the Broncos sign Brandon Jones to a three-year deal last offseason. The deal pays him just over $6 million per year, and in 2024, Jones had an elite season at the position.
He was no worse than a top-10 season by a safety in 2024. And yet again, as it was last year, the free agent market at safety is flat-out stacked. It's a position that can be build through free agency, and the same thing goes for a position like inside linebacker. With the Denver Broncos having multiple urgent needs on the offensive side of the ball, using a first-round pick on a safety, of all positions, would be a huge waste, regardless of how well Nick Emmanwori tested at the NFL combine.
I understand the appeal because of his athleticism if nothing else, but that isn't a position the Broncos need to allocate a first-round pick on at this moment in time. A first-round safety feels like more of a luxury pick than anything else.