B-
Denver Broncos
A sensible, unshowy class lands the Broncos a B-.
by Todd ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 7 picks
· 2 steals
· 3 reaches
The Broncos did not so much draft Seth McGowan as overpay for him, 72 picks clear of his grade. It sets an uneasy tone for the weekend. Call it a sensible B-, earned the boring way.
On value alone, Stowers makes the weekend a net positive. They covered a lot of ground and still skipped edge rusher, which is a strange place to end up.
The roster is better shaped than it was, with linebacker chief among the fixes.
Good work on the whole, with edge rusher the one box left unchecked.
Pick-by-Pick
Nice patience on Lee Hunter, who had no business lasting to pick No. 62. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
A tight end of that caliber at the 108th pick is the definition of value, full stop. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
They reached into another round for Seth McGowan, and the board is nowhere close to agreeing. It fills a real need, too.
By-the-book stuff, Kaleb Elarms-Orr at Round 5, Pick 30 squarely in line with his ranking. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
Trey Zuhn III at pick 246 is right where the board had him, plain and simple. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
They paid up for Isaac Smith at the 256th overall pick when waiting would have done the job. A minor need, but a need all the same.
Caleb Douglas at the 257th overall pick is the pick scouts circle, and not in a good way. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.