INDIANAPOLIS — Prospects walk in one at a time.
At the Broncos’ reserved suite set up at Lucas Oil Stadium, the team’s long time video director Steve Boxer has his camera and tripod set up so the soon-to-be-drafted player sits in the viewfinder frame.
9NEWS has learned the Broncos have formally interviewed at least five receivers, five offensive linemen and one running back from the start of interviews Monday night through lunchtime Wednesday.
The receivers: Colorado’s Laviska Shenault, Arizona State’s Brandon Aiyuk, Alabama’s Jerry Jeudy and Henry Ruggs III, and Texas Christian’s Jalen Reagor.
The offensive linemen: Alabama tackle Jedrick Wills, Iowa tackle Tristan Wirfs, USC tackle Austin Jackson, Louisiana-Lafayette tackle Robert Hunt and Oregon guard Shane Lemieux.
And just in case this sends mocksters into predicting the Broncos are going receiver or offensive lineman, or both, in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft, they also held a formal interview with Ohio State running back J.K. Dobbins.
There will be others. The Broncos have all of the maximum 45-player interview allotment scheduled.
Back to the Broncos’ interview suite. Sitting in comfy chairs opposite the prospect are general manager John Elway, head coach Vic Fangio, director of player personnel Matt Russell and director of college scouting Brian Stark.
The Broncos also bring in director of player development Ray Jackson, Western regional scout Darren Mougey, Eastern regional scout Nick Schiralli, college scouting coordinator Dave Bratten and their team psychologist.
Good thing the Broncos left their coordinators and assistant coaches at home. Even with the formal interviews moved from a hotel to stadium suite this year, where would they put them?
The 45 prospect interviews are down from 60 in recent years. Each interview last 18 minutes – 3 minutes longer than in past years.
The interviews are important, but secondary by a mile to their college game tape. Fangio’s assistant coaches do watch the prospect interviews at their position on tape that is fed back to them by Boxer.
“I just don’t think in an 18-minute interview you can say you want this player or that player,’’ Fangio said when asked if his assistant coaches were missing out by not being part of the in-person interviews. “Now part of the scout’s job when they’re out on the road scouting players is not to just evaluate them as football players, but to evaluate them as people. Are they the kind of person you want in your program? The scouts have a good feel that way, too.
“I think the coaches would like to interview some of the players at their position but the trade-off is there’s a lot of dead time here and I just believe they’ll get more work done at home. We do have to rely on our scouts more. That’s part of their job, anyway.’’
Out goes the prospect to the next team’s suite for another 18-minute interview. Next.
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