| Authored by Carl Setterlund - 5th May, 2006 - 7:12 am
 Denver Broncos
Picks:
1st Round: Jay Cutler, QB, Vanderbilt (11)
2nd Round: Tony Scheffler, TE, Western Michigan (61)
3rd Round: none
4th Round: Brandon Marshall, WR, Central Florida (119); Elvis Dumervil, DE, Louisville (126); Dominik Hixon, WR, Akron (130)
5th Round: Chris Kuper, OG, North Dakota (161)
6th Round: Greg Eslinger, C, Minnesota (198)
7th Round: none
Maybe you look at Denver’s draft and don’t think much of it, but if that’s your reaction you’re probably forgetting that they traded a second round pick to Green Bay for wide out Javon Walker. Now Walker may be coming off a serious injury but he’s no dud we know that much. Once back to full health, Denver got themselves the heir to Rod Smith which is a huge weight off Mike Shanahan’s shoulders. They cannot have been too confident before knowing they were an injury away from having a receiving core made up roughly of Ashley Lelie and Darius Watts, two underperformers.
Let’s look at the actual picks though. Before the draft, I had it in my head that it would be completely reasonable for Arizona to trade up for Leinart (which they didn’t have to do in the end), because you never know when you’re good (or at least respectable) when you’ll see a guy like that again. Denver proved my thinking wrong. They started at the 29th pick and by the end of things cheaply moved up 18 spots to get Cutler. I know this much, Mike Shanahan is absolutely in love. I’m not sure whether he’s thinking Cutler unseats Plummer by the beginning of the 2007 season, but it’s something along those lines. He knew (long after everyone else knew, but the important thing is that he figured it out) that Jake Plummer wasn’t bringing the glory days back to Mile High anytime soon. He just doesn’t have the stuff of a Super Bowl quarterback; it’s something you can start to tell over time. Cutler, I like his chances of it a little better than Jake’s, and at worst we just don’t know yet.
In the second round, Tony Sheffler was a reach. This guy looks great, but there are a lot of tight ends in this draft that look great. Denver and I will have to agree to disagree on Sheffler turning out better than Leonard Pope. Maybe I can allow some leeway with David Thomas and Dominique Byrd, but taking him over those two is questionable as well. Sheffler definitely needs to show something this year to keep that pick from being a flop.
I thought Brandon Marshall was a nice pickup in the fourth round, especially since I don’t think you can just throw Javon Walker in their and say he’s a pro bowl receiver again right after tearing up his knee. Even if Walker is better than expected, the Broncos need receiving depth in the worst way. Dumervil in the fourth round was a nice pick as well. He really slipped because of his size and speed, and I’m not going to overlook that. I’ll admit this guy could definitely end up being a bust. Sometimes though, certain guys can just play football even if they’re not physically where the others are and I think this could be one of those situations.
Dumervil has a real chance to be this year’s little-engine-that-could. I’m not a huge fan of the Broncos last pick in the fourth round. You look at a receiver like Dominik Hixon there and you sort of ask yourself “Why did they bother?” It’s just hard to justify why they took someone like him there especially with two good receivers already coming in a little earlier. This is the Tony Sheffler pick but a little bit worse. You look at a guy like Tom Nalen who is starting at center at 34 years of age and the Greg Eslinger pick in the sixth round looks so shrewd. I think Denver might have found a good starting offensive lineman way back there at the end of the sixth round. Denver’s coming out of this draft with a couple high picks that were winners (counting Javon Walker), a couple picks that already seem like losers and a couple risk-reward picks that may or may not pan out. Overall you have to think Denver did a pretty nice job addressing the future at some key positions, especially considering where they picked.
Grade: B +
During the entire month of May, RealGM's Carl Setterlund will be providing team-by-team analysis of the 2006 NFL Draft. |
