Broncos were not looking to trade up, according to Sean Payton

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Denver Broncos stood pat on Thursday night.

They could have traded down. They had chances.

But going up? That wasn’t on their radar according to coach Sean Payton — despite rumors running rampant in the NFL media sphere prior to the draft that the Broncos were keen to dart up the board.

“I think we felt like this was a pick-at-our-number-or-possibly-move-back year based on how the board set,” Payton said after the draft.

 

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So, even though the Broncos had plenty of contact with Ashton Jeanty — according to Jeanty himself, the most contact of any team in the NFL, along with the Las Vegas Raiders, the club that picked him — they weren’t going to do something daring, as it turned out.

When the No. 20 pick arrived, cornerback Jahdae Barron wasn’t Denver’s only option.

“There was a runner that we considered in that range,” Paton said, but he added, “I think that was more of a trade-back scenario.”

Then came the possibilities of trading down. Opportunities arose, Paton said.

The New York Giants ended up trading back into the first round at the No. 25 selection to choose Mississippi quarterback Jaxson Dart, but the market to choose CU passer Shedeur Sanders in Round 1 never materialized.

So, the Broncos took Barron, who was “pretty high up on our board.”

The running back will wait.

“Like we’ve said throughout the process, there’s a lot of runners in this draft,” he said. “You never know, but we feel pretty good we’ll get a runner in this draft.

“There’s a lot of them. If there’s not that, we’ll sign one after the draft. We’ll sign a free agent.

There’s a lot of good players left in the draft and we feel good with where we’re at. A lot of offensive players, a lot of weapons left. And so we got a weapon on defense the first round.”

Of course, Paton did say in Palm Beach on March 31 that the Broncos would draft a running back. So, still expect one in the draft. And value is still there.

But the waiting will go on.

 

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