The Denver Broncos currently hold the No. 12 overall pick in the NFL draft, but signs are pointing to the franchise moving off that pick one way or another.
"The team I feel most comfortable won't be picking where they currently sit are the Denver Broncos. Have heard from multiple teams in the top 10 the Broncos have inquired about a trade-up. Have also heard from teams picking after 12 the Broncos have discussed an appetite for trading down. It's obvious Denver desires a quarterback if it can get up to get one. And if not, it wants to accumulate draft capital and get more players."
NFL draft analyst Todd McShay also provided a report on potential Broncos' movement, with an eye specifically on "moving back."
"I keep hearing Denver now—like the more I'm talking to people in the league—Denver's not moving up," McShay reported on The Ryen Russillo Podcast (35:15 mark). "They're moving back. They want to move back."
The Broncos are in a bind. They're a rebuilding team without a franchise quarterback on the roster. They also have a shortage of draft assets (of note, the team is without a second-round pick in 2024).
They can conceivably move up and try to land a desired franchise signal-caller, but that could be a huge risk and leave them with a dearth of draft picks, much like when they acquired Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson in an ultimately failed 2022 deal.
Or they can move back, load up on picks and restock the roster in hopes of building the team back up and breaking a playoff-less streak that now stretches back to 2015. In that case, they'd be out of luck on the top quarterback prospects (e.g. any shot at landing a Drake Maye or J.J. McCarthy), but the team could construct the rest of the position groups and maybe add a QB later for some more competition to a room that already includes Jarrett Stidham, Zach Wilson and Ben DiNucci.
We'll see how it goes down soon enough with the draft beginning Thursday.
