The Denver Broncos don’t have a lot of glaring needs. The Broncos made it all the way to the AFC Championship game, after all, and they came within a field goal of landing a Super Bowl berth. They’re a tough, battle-tested veteran outfit, and teams like that are usually drafting for depth and positional competition at the back of each round.
But they do have some uncertainty at linebacker, and beat writer Nick Kosmider of The Athletic chose to address that issue in his first mock draft, which was released this week. His pick is a surprising one given the obvious need for offensive playmakers, so let’s take a deeper dive into his selection and see how he justified it.
Round 1, Pick 30: CJ Allen, LB, Georgia
While linebacker might seem to be a position of strength for the Broncos, there are some issues at inside linebacker. As Kosmider mentioned, veterans linebackers Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad are both unrestricted free agents, and the Broncos have already given extensions to multiple key defensive players.
Moreover, free agent linebacker Dre Greenlaw was a disappointment, and Denver could save $6 million by cutting him, Kosmider added. Drew Sanders hasn’t been able to stay on the field due to injuries, so he’s a very cuttable depth piece at linebacker.
Allen, meanwhile, would come in with a reputation as a playmaker. He had 3.5 sacks for Georgia, along with eight tackles for a loss, four passes defended and two forced fumbles. He was a tackling machine for the Bulldogs, racking up 205 tackles in three seasons, and he’s still just 20-years old, so there’s some physical development to work with as well.
Drafting Allen would allow the Broncos to retain one of their free agents at the position and give Allen the necessary time to adjust to the speed of the NFL game.
The fan base won’t be happy about this. They want to see a running back or a wide receiver, preferably the former. There’s an obvious need at the position, but it’s hard to imagine the Broncos going there at the top of the draft.
There’s still the big question of whether Denver will resign running back J.K. Dobbins, who couldn’t quite make it back into the lineup after sustaining a Lisfranc foot injury against the Houston Texans that crippled Denver’s running game down the stretch. Allen is a solid pick, but there are plenty of other possibilities here.