Welcome to The Denver Post’s third Broncos mock draft of the offseason. The next installment will come the week of March 30, following availability with Sean Payton and George Paton at the NFL owners’ meetings.
Jaheim Clarke of the Illinois Fighting Illini grabs the face mask of Jonah Coleman of the Washington Huskies during the second half at Husky Stadium on October 25, 2025 in Seattle, Washington. Welcome to The Denver Post’s third Broncos mock draft of the offseason.
The next installment will come the week of March 30, following availability with Sean Payton and George Paton at the NFL owners’ meetings.Denver’s entire outlook come April is radically different, now, after the Broncos gambled a first-round, third-round and fourth-round pick in 2026 for the dynamite. Suddenly, general manager Paton has significantly fewer picks to work with, as the Broncos now face the increased importance of hitting a few key roster needs in this year’s class. The organization’s current arsenal of picks is all over the place: No. 62 , No. 108 , No. 111 , No. 170 , No. 246, No. 256, and No. 257 . The clusters there strongly hint that Denver will make some sort of move up or back in the draft order. And with the haul given up for Waddle, it’s easy to see Paton wanting to take advantage of a needy franchise and moving back in April to accumulate some more mid-round capital. With that in mind, Broncos beat reporters Parker Gabriel and Luca Evans took a new approach to this iteration of The Post’s mock draft: trades were on the table. And very much encouraged. Once again, The Post used Pro Football Focus’s mock-draft simulator — which also allows trades and approximates fair value in pick swaps — for this exercise. The last mock draft in this space, in early March, had the Broncos selecting Indiana receiver Omar Cooper Jr. at the end of the first round. This one is … rather different.There’s a realistic scenario in which the Broncos, now lacking a first-round pick, end up throwing a package together to try and move up for a gem like Notre Dame running back Jadarian Price or Vanderbilt tight end Eli Stowers. But it’d be difficult to see Paton, who has historically preferred trading back rather than trading up, taking that kind of swing after the Broncos’ trade for Waddle. Instead, The Post explored a scenario in which Paton and the Broncos trade back from No. 62. In this PFF-massaged but not-impossible development, the Broncos find a trade partner in the Cleveland Browns, who are evidently eager to jump up a few slots to take their guy at the back of the second round. Here, Denver trades pick No. 62 and pick No. 170 for pick No. 70 and pick No. 107 from Cleveland, Coleman would fit neatly into the Broncos’ current running-back room, which still needs an injection of juice after re-upping with J.K. Dobbins, Jaleel McLaughlin and Tyler Badie during free agency. If Denver is still confident in the Dobbins-RJ Harvey tandem, it’ll need a durable running back who can pick up first-down work between the tackles, bruise at the goal line, and bring some third-down heft. Coleman checks every box.. He’s not especially explosive outside the tackles, but ran for 5.5 yards per carry across his collegiate career and had 15 touchdowns on the ground in 2025. He fumbled twice in 551 collegiate carries and dropped one pass in 109 total targets, according to PFF. That’s an NFL-ready ceiling-raiser right there.Washington is shooting up draft boards after a monster performance at the combine, with a class-leading 4.33 40-yard-dash and a 39-inch vertical jump. The issue for Denver: he hasn’t been good in pass protection in college, and the Broncos need a third back whom Nix trusts in that area. South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers is sacked by Missouri's Chris McClellan, top right, during the first half of a game Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025, in Columbia, Mo. Here’s the other Browns slot, which kicks off a hilarious run of three Broncos selections in the span of five picks., and could factor into Denver’s plan to replace the departed John Franklin-Myers. He projects as more of a nose tackle at 6-foot-4 and 313 pounds — which the Broncos don’t necessarily need, with D.J. Jones and Malcolm Roach on multi-year deals — but McClellan has clear pass-rushing upside, with six sacks in 13 games last year. He’d bring another talented young body to compete in the room with veteran Eyioma Uwazurike and 2025 rookie Sai’vion Jones.Trigg will likely be sitting there for Denver in the middle rounds of April’s draft. He had terrific production last season, with 50 catches for 694 yards and six touchdowns. He played more from the slot than at in-line tight end in 2025, though, which would overlap with the strengths Denver already has at receiver. TCU defensive back Bud Clark runs a drill at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. . Anderson will likely compete for Denver’s third-safety job in 2026, but he profiles more as a special-teams ace. And the Broncos will have some decisions to make regarding Brandon Jones in the upcoming season, as the veteran starter enters the final year of his contract. Enter Clark, who brings good size , program loyalty and elite collegiate ball production . His abilities in coverage would be an excellent complement next to hard-hitting chaos agent Talanoa Hufanga, and Clark’s lengthy stint in college would likely help his evaluation here in Denver’s eyes.set to keep the same starting front around Nix for the third straight year , but have several aging starters and upcoming contract questions in that mix. It’s almost a certainty that Denver looks to their offensive line in this class, and Stephens would be a solid option. Denver scouts Iowa well , and Stephens grew from a reserve into a top-end starter across five years with the Hawkeyes. He allowed just four quarterback pressures in 304 pass-blocking snaps in 2025, according to PFF, an absurd number. Plus, he’s started solely at left guard the past two seasons — where incumbent Ben Powers’ contract is set to expire after the 2026 season. The only issue here: the arm length and overall athleticism aren’t strong.after cutting Dre Greenlaw at the start of free agency . Boettcher would bring another Oregon standout into the fold, and profiles similarly in makeup and play-style to current Broncos captain Alex Singleton. Navy running back Eli Heidenreich runs a drill at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. This might require some tequila to be wheeled into the draft room to even think about pulling this off. But, presto! Denver suddenly has a sixth-round pick again.Jaylen Waddle knew of Broncos’ interest, says reuniting with Pat Surtain II is ‘special’Renck: How new Broncos receiver Jaylen Waddle will save Davis Webb’s play-calling opportunityAt the present moment, the Broncos are sitting with three not-especially-valuable picks at the back of the seventh round. It’d be quite hard to imagine Denver taking the second-last and very-last players of April’s draft back-to-back, at compensatory picks No. 256 and No. 257. Therefore, The Post looked for a deal to move up and add an impact Day 3 skill player, and couldn’t pass up on Heidenreich here after packaging all three seventh-rounders for Heidenreich could be Payton’s new Taysom Hill, in all but size. He has one of the more unique profiles of any player in this 2026 class, running for 499 yards and catching for 941 in his senior season in Navy’s triple-option offense. Is he a receiver? Is he a running back? Is he a fullback with slot-receiver flex? Who knows. But he ran a 4.44-second 40-yard-dash at the combine. Perhaps Heidenreich could be an eventual replacement as both a returner and gadget weapon for Marvin Mims Jr., who’s currently slated to hit free agency after 2026. The potential here in Denver’s offense was too great to pass up.Delp was often stuck at the back of the pecking order of Georgia’s pass-catching options, and never caught more than 24 passes in a single season in college. His stock should riseDenver's first microdosing cafe now offering psilocybin-assisted yoga, art and moreAvalanche on U.S. 40 in Colorado mountains disrupts traffic Denver airport's top attorney accuses city officials of misconduct with Key Lime Air, Park Hill Golf CourseColorado's mountains are likely already at peak snowpack. Now the heat dome will kick off melting.Denver will rename César Chávez Park and city holiday bearing his name amid abuse allegations
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