ENGLEWOOD – Three rounds in and the Broncos have not drafted a cornerback.
How does that Beatles song go, Chris Harris Jr.?
You say goodbye. And I say hello.
It appears the Broncos’ star cornerback isn’t going anywhere.
"We'll see," said Broncos general manager John Elway. “Like I've always said, Chris has been a great Bronco for a long time. As I've said, once we get through the draft, we'll sit down and I look forward to talking to Chris myself, personally, and see where we are."
The Broncos did listen to trade offers for Harris the past two days, but Elway said there was little interest. Most likely the lack of interest was because of Harris’ contract situation. Harris received a $1 million option bonus in March and has another $7.9 million left on his 2019 payout.
He has skipped the first four weeks of the Broncos’ offseason program in hopes of getting a new deal. He can become a free agent after this season.
Basketball Drew
Broncos new backup quarterback Drew Lock was such a good basketball player while playing in the Kansas City suburb of Lee’s Summit High School, he received basketball scholarship offers to Missouri, Oklahoma and Wichita State.
“Oklahoma and Wichita State both ended up being Final 4 teams, so that’s kind of my big claim to fame," Lock said in a conference call with the Denver media. “The reason I chose football, though, was going back on it, you can grab a lot of guys and throw them on a basketball court and do a three-point shooting contest and someone besides myself can go 8-out-of-10 because they had a lucky day.
“But in my mind, going through the whole process, seeing how I played quarterback, I didn’t think there were many people that could spin it the way I did. That’s why if I wanted to make a career out of sports, I felt I could make a career out of football the best. I’m sitting here talking to the Denver Broncos right now, so I think I ended up making a good decision."
Fant’s Jake Butt factor
Noah Fant skipped Iowa’s bowl game against Mississippi State and turned out to be the Broncos’ first-round draft pick.
Two years earlier, Michigan tight end Jake Butt played in his senior bowl game, tore his ACL and fell to the fifth round in the draft.
“That was a main factor of why I decided not to play," Fant said following his introductory press conference Friday at Broncos’ headquarters. “I was actually watching the game when Jake Butt got hurt. Him being an older guy in the Big Ten playing at Michigan -- I was watching older guys like that because I was a younger guy coming up and that played a big factor.
“Jake’s had to battle back from those injuries. Much (credit) to him fighting back from those, but I felt like if I could be proactive and not have to go through an ACL tear or anything like that, that would help me a lot."
Second career
To say Kyle McCarthy was once a role player for the Broncos “is being generous,” he said. McCarthy was a backup safety and special teams player who played in 12 games combined for the Broncos from 2010-11.
“The Tebow Years, as people liked to call it," he said.
After bouncing around the NFL as a player for four years, McCarthy got into coaching and became an agent in 2015. McCarthy is now part of the Athletes First Sports Agency and his clients include Fant, the Broncos’ first-round draft pick, and third-round pick Dre’Mont Jones.
“It’s not something I expected to do," McCarthy said in a phone interview with 9News on Friday night. “I got a call from my former agent (Brian Murphy) and we talked about it and he offered me a job. I initially turned it down.
“He came back to me and I decided to take a leap of faith and I’ve been doing it ever since."
As for Fant and Jones, McCarthy said: “Denver’s lucky to have them. They’re both phenomenal players, first of all. They’re going to help continue to build a great culture there and they’re great people. The Denver community will embrace them.
“And I told them how much they’re going to enjoy being around the Denver community and how great their fans are and how supportive the organization is for its players."
