Evans lukewarm on Broncos drafting TE at No. 10, wants LB instead

Since the days of Julius Thomas, the Denver Broncos haven’t had a reliable pass-catching tight end as a part of the team’s offensive arsenal.

But earlier this week, Zach Bye said on “The Drive” that he believes the Broncos couldn’t go wrong with taking Iowa prospect T.J. Hockenson if not with the No. 10 pick in the first round.

“This dude is going to be dropped into an NFL offense and be their Travis Kelce. There is a reason that he has been mocked as going before the Broncos. He’s that much of a game-changer,” Bye said, adding a guy like him won’t be in next year’s draft.

On Wednesday, however, “Schlereth and Evans” co-host Mike Evans said if the Broncos were to to after a tight end, like Hockenson, with the No. 10 pick, he’d need to have if not a Rob Gronkowski career trajectory, something near it.

“If I’m going to use the 10th-overall pick on a tight end, he better have, if not a Gronkowski career, it better be Gronkowski light. Because there’s no evidence to suggest that you use that high of a pick on a tight end,” Evans said.

Evans said that looking over the top 10 tight ends in the NFL last season not one was drafted in the first round.

“All of them, second-, third-, fourth-round picks. The closest you can come to a tight end that went in the first round (David) Njoku from Cleveland. He was the 29th pick,” Evans said.

And with the only first-round tight ends taken in the past two decades being Kellen Winslow II, Vernon Davis, and Eric Ebron, Evans said he’d just as soon draft someone that plays to new Broncos head coach Vic Fangio’s strengths: defense, specifically linebacker.

“Go get a linebacker. (Devin) White or (Devin) Bush, whoever you want, that’s got to be the guy. And if you’ve got to go up to get White, move up. Go get him. Alright?” Evans said. “Empower your head coach. Give your head coach what he knows best: linebackers.”

Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.