Draft day decision makers: Denver Broncos
There has been a regime change in Denver. It now looks like Hall of Fame QB John Elway has the final say, but certainly new Head Coach John Fox will have a large say in what this team does on draft day. They have a big challenge in front of them. This is a team that must wait out the success of 2010 first round draft picks Demaryius Thomas and Tim Tebow work our, or they could be harshly judged by a string of first round flame outs. More to the point this is a team in this position partly because of its failures on draft day.
Over the last five years this team has made 39 draft picks, but only 20 of them remain with the team. Sure a lot of that was due to former head coach Josh McDaniels’ purge of talent drafted by the regime prior to his, but a team cannot do this poorly on draft day. It is one of the biggest reasons they were a 4-12 team in 2010.
Of those 20 drafted players still with the team only 10 of them are starters so even the picks they have kept around have not made huge impacts. In particular the 2009 and 2008were pretty bad. The good news is Elway is a breath of fresh air, the bad news is General Manger Brian Xanders is still around. We do not yet know how much influence he will retain on draft day decisions. In the past it would seem he has let the head coach have the players and make the moves they wanted to make.
Related Links:
- Denver Broncos War Room
- Joshua Lobdell.com
