Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Stay At 5 Or Make A Trade?

As the draft approaches we have seen teams make moves up and down the draft board to better position themselves for their individual team goals. The NFL holds "the combine" where teams can get a look at the top college players coming out in the draft, and see them do individual workouts, as well as interview them to get to know them better. After the combine colleges will have their "pro days" to showcase the talent on their individual teams to the NFL teams that send representatives to watch. During all this you have NFL free agency open up, and teams can make offers to players they think that will help their team in the upcoming season. Spring in the NFL is an exciting time to say the least.

Listening to the radio I have also heard that the springtime in the NFL can also be called "the season of lies", and I think that is pretty fitting. Teams will show interest in one player only to go after another, front offices will leak information to give off the impression they are looking one way when they are actually looking another. It is why trying to gauge what your team will do in the draft, and free agency is so difficult. The best anyone can do is look at their favorite teams roster, see where they have holes, and then try and make an educated guess as to what the decision makers of their favorite team are thinking. If you are a Denver Broncos fan one thing is for certain, and that is John Elway is great at making people think he is looking to go one direction, only to go the complete opposite direction when the time comes.

First we have to simply state the obvious, and that is they have two options, and they are to either keep the pick, or trade the pick away for other picks. If Denver keeps the pick I have stated that my pick would be Quentin Nelson, the guard from Notre Dame. Drafting him would give Denver one of the better guard tandems in the NFL with Nelson, and last seasons big offseason pick up Ronald Leary. With Bolles and Veldheer at each tackle, Nelson and Leary at guard, and Paradis at center, it would give the Broncos talent on the offensive line that they haven't had in years. Having a great offensive line makes everyone on the offense better. Case Keenum would have an easier time making accurate throws, and CJ Anderson would finally have a line that could consistently open lanes for him to run through. This would also make it easier to control time of possession which plays into the Broncos favor because they still have a great defense, and if we control the time of possession it will put that much more pressure on opposing teams to have to score when they have the ball. The other player I would consider at 5 if he is on the board is Bradley Chubb the defensive end from N.C. State. Either way Denver adds a player that they desperately need to either their offensive, or defensive lines. Games are won in the trenches, and this is where Denver needs the most help.

The other option Denver has is to trade the 5th pick, and get more picks in return. I think with a top 5 pick you have a chance to get a player like Von Miller, or Cam Newton. A generational player that you can build a team around. Those opportunities don't come about every year, so when they do I feel it is best to take advantage of them. However, this year there is one team I would be open to trading with, and that is the Buffalo Bills. The reason I would welcome this trade is we would get the 12th and 21st picks in the 1st round, and most likely a 2nd or 3rd round pick to go with it. If you trade with Buffalo you can take a player like Roquan Smith, or Vita Vea at 12, and still get the guard you need in Will Hernandez at 21. It would be hard for me to want to give up the 5th pick in the draft, but to be able to get a player like Vita Vea for your defensive line, and Will Hernandez for your offensive line would set Denver up for years to come.

Personally I hope that Denver makes the trade with Buffalo. The Bills can get the franchise QB they want, and Denver can add two 1st round players to their team. In a perfect world this trade would happen, and Vita Vea would be the 12th pick, and Will Hernandez would be our 21st pick. Then in the 2nd and 3rd rounds they start looking at running backs, tight ends, and linebackers.

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