Should the Broncos address the secondary with the 5th-overall pick?
Apr 4, 2018, 7:49 PM | Updated: Apr 24, 2018, 11:14 am
With the departure of Aqib Talib this offseason and T.J. Ward’s at the end of training camp last season, the end of the “No Fly Zone” for the Denver Broncos seems imminent.
Since the arrival of Ward and Talib in free agency and Bradley Roby through the draft in 2014 — along with Darian Stewart’s arrival in 2015 — the Broncos secondary has ranked no lower than ninth in the NFL in terms of pass defense.
Stewart remains the centerpiece of younger safeties group for Denver while Roby’s poised to join All-Pro Chris Harris Jr. on the outside, making for a “good secondary,” Mark Schlereth said this week on “Schlereth and Evans.”
But, an additional high-level piece for the Broncos defensive backfield, Schlereth’s co-host Mike Evans said, could lift that unit back to the level it was when Denver won Super Bowl 50.
“If you think taking a corner at No. 5 makes you, once again, a great secondary, and this is your new ‘No Fly Zone,’ why not?” Evans said Wednesday. “We know the importance of it. We know what it means. We know what it looks like. We know the impact a dominant secondary makes for this football team.
“If you make a move where you are then automatically uber-confident that you’ve now brought in a piece that once again makes your secondary great, what would be wrong with that?”
The comments echoed those of Fox Sports football analyst Joel Klatt, who joined “Schlereth and Evans” Wednesday morning.
Klatt, who’s latest mock draft for FoxSports.com, had the Broncos taking cornerback Denzel Ward out of Roby’s alma mater Ohio State, whom he said could be the best Buckeyes defensive back to hit the NFL over the past couple of years.
“They need to shore up that position group,” Klatt said, adding that Denver’s identity as an aggressive man-coverage, get to the quarterback defense basically “won them a Super Bowl.”
And although the debate among Broncos Country and the Denver media rages on about what the club should do at the No. 5 draft position — take a quarterback, a non-quarterback, trade out, trade up — Klatt said helping the secondary is more important than finding a backup for under center.
“I think that’s more of a position of need than finding a backup quarterback to Case Keenum,” Klatt said.
Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.
