Broncos Draft Day Gambles

There is a lot of negative commentary being made about the Denver Broncos acquisition of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow.  Many feel the Broncos gave up way too much in order to move into the end of the first round in order to draft Tebow.  Personally, I was quite shocked when I saw that the Broncos had moved up to the 25th overall selection and the next thing to be seen on the screen was Tim Tebow on his cell phone.

In order get into position to draft Tebow the Broncos sent three picks to Baltimore, which included a 2nd rounder  (43rd overall), a 3rd rounder (70th overall), and a 4th rounder (114th overall).  Many experts skilled at player evaluations deemed Tebow unready and unlikely to become a starting quarterback in the NFL.  The main concern about Tebow was his overall mechanics, most notably his throwing motion.   In the weeks leading up to the draft Tebow made every effort to correct his mechanics and improve his draft stock.  He already had high marks on the intangible assets, which included things such as, hard worker, strong leader, and great locker room presence.   Apparently, all of Tebow’s hard work paid off as McDaniels took notice and was so impressed with Tebow that he just had to have him on his team.  Rumor has it that the Buffalo Bills were also positioning themselves to make a similar move for Tebow, but it is hard to know if these rumors are true or not.  The Bills now deny they wanted to move up in the draft to select Tebow.  Although, this was a much talked about move by the Broncos it is not the first time that McDaniels made a controversial move on draft day.  He also made one last year and another prior to the move up to the 25^th overall selection.

In last year’s draft Denver traded away their number one selection in this year’s draft to Seattle in order to move up into the top of the second round in the 2010 draft to select Wake Forest cornerback Alphonso Smith.  The first rounder that was traded to Seattle in order to get Smith turned out to be the 2011 draft’s 14th overall selection and yielded the Seahawks safety Earl Thomas out of Texas.  Another scrutinized move by the Broncos was the decision to pass on Oklahoma State wide receiver Dez Bryant and go with the higher character selection of Georgia Tech wide receiver Demaryius Thomas.  From all of the pre-draft talk it was apparent that Bryant was by far the most talented of all the wide receivers in this year’s draft class.  Unfortunately for Bryant character issues caused him to drop on draft day and also made him the second wide receiver selected as opposed to the first wide receiver.  As for the selections given up to select Tebow at #25 overall the Ravens used those picks to selected Texas linebacker Sergio Kindle at number 43 overall, Oregon tight end Ed Dickson at number 70 overall, and finally BYU tight end Dennis Pitta at number 114 overall.

Everyone is ready to tie Head Coach Josh McDaniels and General Manager Brian Xanders careers in Denver to the success and development of quarterback Tim Tebow.  I on the other hand, would also like to tie the success of the other players mentioned in the paragraph above to the Head Coach and General Manager.  I realize other players could also be thrown into this discussion, particularly the two most high profile players that McDaniels sent packing:  Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall.  However, for the purpose of this article the discussion and player analysis will remain on the draft day selections.

The best way to measure the success of the moves made in the prior two NFL drafts by the Broncos staff would be to compare the selected players’ careers to the players the Broncos could have had on their roster after the 2011 draft.  Therefore, the career of Alphonso Smith should be compared to the career of Earl Thomas in Seattle, the career of Demaryius Thomas should be compared to the career of Dez Bryant in Dallas, and finally the career of Tim Tebow should be compared to the careers of Kindle, Dickson, and Pitta in Baltimore.  By comparing these players’ careers to one another it would give us a good indication of how good the moves by Denver actually were and if the Broncos regime made the right decisions.  For the sake of the Broncos organization and the careers of several players and coaches let’s hope that these decisions work out for the best.