The Denver Broncos took their time in selecting a tight end in the draft, and Justin Joly of NC State was the choice.
The Denver Broncos were widely expected to have interest in adding a tight end with some receiving chops, but they took their time getting to the selection. Justin Joly of North Carolina State was the choice, and his well-known college coach, Jim Mora Jr., called the shot right before the Broncos selected him.
“Your time is coming,” Mora wrote in a text to Joly after coaching him for two years at UConn, according to a piece written by Parker Gabriel of the Denver Post. “You’re coming to the Broncos.”
This didn’t happen right away, however. Joly was hoping to hear his name called in the second or third round, but instead he had to wait until Day 3 as the Broncos traded up to get him, sending pick No. 172 to the Cleveland Brown in exchange for No. 152.
The main reason Joly fell was due to injuries, according to multiple draft experts, but Mora thinks the 6’4” tight end has the elite athletic chops to succeed at the next level.
“He’s a sweetheart person but he’s very, very confident in his ability,” Mora said. “He’s got that athletic arrogance that you love in a professional athlete. He’s not an arrogant human, but athletically he believes he’s pretty darn special and I think you have that to succeed at that level.”
Joly put his sweeter side into play in his response with a text that read, “Thank you coach Mora. I needed that. This process is ruthless.”
The tight end will have his athleticism tested early and often when he gets to Denver, but the moment was all about celebration, to the point where Joly ended up apologizing about that in his conference call with Denver reporters, according to Gabriel.
“Oh my gosh,” he said. “There’s probably like 20 people at my house right now, and they all just saw the TV, and they are going crazy right now, to say the least.”
The celebration will take on new dimensions if Joly can replace Evan Engram, who hasn’t given the Broncos anything close to Denver’s initial expectations. Mora has the NFL coaching background to know what it’s going to be like for his former charge, and he thinks Joly can be a threat in the red zone, plus his skill set should translate to the pro game.
“Everything’s a tight window in the NFL,” said Mora, who coached on an NFL staff every year from 1985-2009, including head coaching stints in Atlanta and Seattle. “He’s got great concentration. He doesn’t worry about getting hit. He’s got really big hands. His hands are 10-plus inches. He doesn’t drop the ball. He’s not looking for someone who’s about to hit him. He’s got great concentration and focus on the football and he absorbs hits. He doesn’t flinch.
“You have to play that way in the NFL. You just really never are wide open in the NFL and even when you are, you’re about to get smacked.”
Joly will face an uphill climb to become a starter and a staple in Denver, but the opportunity is there, as the Broncos would love to move on from Denver and take a smaller cap hit by cutting Engram in June.