The Denver Broncos' 2019 NFL Draft was, in hindsight, a hugely impactful draft for better and for worse. If the team could go back in time and draft in 2019 again, how different would it all look? This is going to be a fun activity. The 2019 NFL Draft was a huge one for the Denver Broncos. The team had just come off a brutal 6-10 season in 2018 and moved on from Case "Keesum" after just one season.
The team needed a new identity and a potential franchise quarterback. The Broncos ended up being a pretty solid and disciplined team in 2019 with first-year coach Vic Fangio. A few last-second victories by the opponents made the Broncos' record look a bit worse than it actually was. Anyway, that was in the past.
Well, let's stay in the past for a bit and see if we can come up with a better 2019 NFL Draft for the Denver Broncos. Before all of their pick trades, they had the following picks in the first four rounds:
1st round - 10th overall
2nd round - 41st overall
3rd round - 71st overall
4th round - 125th overall
Can the Denver Broncos make something happen in the first four rounds of the 2019 NFL Draft? Let's redraft these picks and see if we can bring in a better core than Denver did in the real thing:
Redrafting the infamous Denver Broncos' 2019 NFL Draft
First round, 10th overall: Chris Lindstrom, OG
The Denver Broncos are going to hold tight with the 10th overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft and select Chris Lindstrom, who has morphed into the best overall guard in football. The Atlanta Falcons took Lindstrom originally and inked him to a massive five-year contract extension this offseason. Lindstrom would have been a huge upgrade over the guard that Denver took in the second round, Dalton Risner.
Denver has had some interior offensive line troubles over the years, but perhaps having Lindstrom in the mix instead of Risner would have left the Broncos' OL in a much better spot than it has been lately.
Second round, 41st overall: AJ Brown, WR
For my next pick, I am going to nab AJ Brown at the 41st overall selection. This was an easy one for me, but I did almost take Elgton Jenkins, who somehow went after Dalton Risner. Anyway, back to AJ Brown. Brown comes in and gives the Denver Broncos a scary WR duo with Courtland Sutton. And Joe Flacco, who is QB of the Broncos for the 2019 NFL season, now has a shiny, new target to utilize in the passing game.
Brown has had a marvelous start to his career thus far. Brown has over 4,000 yards through four seasons and earned two Pro Bowls. He signed a rich extension with the Philadelphia Eagles last year and would have been entering his age-26 season with the Denver Broncos in 2023.
3rd round, 71st overall: Maxx Crosby, DE
Some player named Maxx Crosby was taken all the way down in the fourth round in 2019 with the 106th overall pick. Well, since we're in hindsight, let's take him this time around instead of Dre'Mont Jones, who was picked by Denver with this selection. Crosby has been a force for the Las Vegas Raiders in each year of his career. He had 10.0 sacks as a rookie and enjoyed the best year of his career in 2022.
He had four passes defended, three forced fumbles, 12.5 sacks, 89 total tackles, 22 tackles for loss, and 36 QB hits. Crosby has been an insanely productive player and would have been a huge upgrade over Dre'Mont Jones. Can you just imagine for a second if the Denver Broncos had come away with these three players with their first three picks?
Well, a huge problem I could see if this would have been the case is if Denver would have been able to pay all of these players when their time comes. The big difference here though is that I did not take a quarterback in the first or second round, so perhaps that would be a mistake on my part in this redraft.
Or, maybe with Lindstrom, Brown, and Crosby now in the mix, the Denver Broncos would be more competitive and would not have necessarily needed to take someone like Drew Lock.