Just as fantasy and science fiction sell at the box office and bookstores, the draft has become wildly anticipated entertainment for football fans.
The imagination is boundless to the possibilities of what a drafted player might become. Over the years, the Denver Broncos have hit just enough with their draft picks to keep the dream alive.
With the NFL draft now two days away, 9NEWS has come up with its top 9 draft picks in Broncos’ history. Sincere apologies to Rod Smith and Chris Harris Jr. They were the two best undrafted college free agents signed by the Broncos. But they weren’t drafted so they are ineligible for the all-time best draft list.
The 9 best draft picks in Broncos history:
1. Terrell Davis, RB, 6th, 196, 1995
Had just 445 yards rushing in his senior year at Georgia. He drew a medical red flag because of his knees and indeed his career was sadly reduced to four healthy seasons. But in those four seasons he averaged 1,603 yards rushing, 38 catches and 15 touchdowns. And that was just in the regular season.
In the postseason, T.D. averaged 142.5 yards rushing and 1.5 touchdowns per game. He was the best player on the Broncos’ first two Super Bowl title teams.
It was offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak who alerted director of player personnel Bob Ferguson about Davis before they took a chance on the Bulldog tailback in the sixth round.
2. Von Miller, OLB, 1st, 2, 2011
Davis was the Broncos’ best-ever draft pick because he helped win the Broncos’ two Super Bowls. Miller is the second-best draft pick in Broncos’ history because he won them one Super Bowl.
Football people might say anyone could have picked Miller with the No. 2 overall pick in the draft. But none of the mocksters had Miller going No. 2 until days before the draft because he was a strongside linebacker. The prevailing belief at the time was strongside linebackers should go lower in the draft after Aaron Curry busted as the No. 4 overall pick with Seattle in 2009.
Most football experts thought defensive tackle Marcel Dareus or cornerback Patrick Peterson should have been the No. 2 overall pick.
But credit Matt Russell, who was then the Broncos’ director of college scouting, for pounding the table on Miller’s behalf. The 2011 draft is loaded with future Hall of Famers. But the Broncos got the most dynamic player.
3. Karl Mecklenburg, NT/DE, 12th, 310, 1983
The Broncos’ two best players through the 1980s were John Elway and Mecklenburg. Baltimore made Elway the No. 1 overall pick in the 1983 draft. Mecklenburg went 309 picks later. (The NFL Draft was trimmed from 12 to eight rounds in 1993 and then to the current seven rounds in 1994).
That Mecklenburg was listed as a nose tackle and defensive end coming out of Minnesota was fitting because he played just about everywhere but nose tackle for the Broncos.
A six-time Pro Bowler, Mecklenburg is a member of the Broncos’ Ring of Fame and is a five-time semifinalist (25 candidates) for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
4. Shannon Sharpe, WR, 7th, 192, 1990
Dan Reeves took the receiver-tight end “tweener” out of Division II Savannah State and squeezed him into an H-back position. Sharpe retired as the NFL’s all-time tight end leader in catches (815), 10,060) and touchdowns (62).
A Pro Bowler on the Broncos’ back-to-back Super Bowl championship teams of 1997-98. Arguably the largest personality in franchise history, Sharpe followed Broncos’ Elway, Gary Zimmerman and Little into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.
5. Paul Smith, LB, 9th, 222, 1968
Wound up becoming an undersized, but extremely quick and tenacious defensive tackle who had 12, 10.5 and 11 sacks from 1971-73. The first to play 10 consecutive seasons with the Broncos, he was inducted into the team’s Ring of Fame in 1986.
6. Tom Nalen, C, 7C, 218, 1994
The third of three players selected by the Broncos in the seventh and final round (Keith Burns and Butler By’not’e were the others), Nalen was cut onto the practice squad following his rookie training camp but wound up as arguably the best offensive lineman in team history.
7. Floyd Little, RB, 1st, 6, 1967
The Broncos’ first pick in the first common draft, he will always hold a special place in franchise history because after previous first-round picks Bob Gaiters, Merlin Olsen, Kermit Alexander, Bob Brown and Jerry Shay spurned the Broncos for the NFL, Little was the first to sign with Denver.
He was also dubbed “The Franchise” by the Broncos’ former P.R. boss Jim Saccomano as Little was a great running back for some downtrodden Broncos’ teams from 1967-72. His No. 44 is one of three retired by the Broncos (Elway’s No. 7 and the No. 18 worn by Frank Tripucka and Peyton Manning are the others), Little was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010.
8. Malik Jackson, DE, 5th, 137, Danny Trevathan, 6th, 188, 2012; Brandon Marshall, WR, 4th, 119, Elvis Dumervil, DE, 4th, 126, 2006.
The hazard to the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement is players can become unrestricted free agents after their fifth seasons. That means many late-round draft surprises are gone after four years. Such was the case this year with Jackson and Trevathan, who were stalwarts on the Broncos’ historic, Super Bowl-winning defense of 2015 but left for free agency and rich contracts with other teams prior to their fourth season.
Marshall had three consecutive, 100-catch seasons for the Broncos but was traded away by Broncos coach Josh McDaniels. Dumervil had 63.5 sacks in six seasons with the Broncos until he was lost through a fax transmission and the Baltimore Ravens.
9. Marlin Briscoe, RB, 14th, 357, 1968
Credit Broncos coach Lou Saban and front-office boss Fred Gehrke for realizing Briscoe was a special talent coming out of Omaha University, an NAIA program. Although a quarterback in college, the Broncos drafted him with thoughts of converting him to running back.
He opened his rookie training camp so far down on the Broncos’ quarterback depth chart, he was briefly converted to defensive back.
Injuries to multiple Broncos quarterbacks gave Briscoe a chance and he became the first African-American quarterback in NFL-AFL history. Briscoe threw 14 touchdown passes as a rookie, but he lasted only one year with the Broncos. He moved on to the Buffalo Bills, where he became one of the AFL’s top receivers.
