Broncos Mailbag: Did Denver get enough value in the draft taking RB R.J. Harvey, WR Pat Bryant on Day 2?

Denver Post Broncos writer Parker Gabriel posts his Broncos Mailbag weekly during the season and periodically during the offseason Click here to submit a question Hi Parker Denver used almost all of the clock before turning in their pick Were they on the verge of trading out of that pick and it fell apart Brandon Brown Rogers Minn Hey Brandon the Broncos did indeed take the clock pretty far down in the first round Thursday night before taking Texas cornerback Jahdae Barron at No overall But that doesn t necessarily mean a deal fell apart We know they were considering trading back because general manager George Paton reported so later that night Teams talk frameworks of trades before the draft ever starts or as a pick is approaching but negotiating sometimes continues while a gang is on the clock It also doesn t hurt to wait and see if another group might call in late with an aggressive offer You saw a couple of other teams move up not far behind the Broncos too The New York Giants came back into the first round from No to nab Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart at No and then Atlanta came back in from No to No to double-dip on pass-rushers Either of those teams would have had to give up quite a bit more than they did the Giants gave up Nos and plus a third-rounder next year while Atlanta surrendered Nos and for No a seventh rounder and a first-rounder to get up to No The Broncos though ultimately decided that their best curriculum of action was to just take Barron and start working the commerce front Friday night I don t think the Broncos were wrong by picking the best performer available in Jahdae Barron but I think they outsmarted themselves by trading down and up the draft board to pick a running back they maybe could have had two rounds later and the second slowest receiver at the combine I heard they fell in love with Barron and R J Harvey Sometimes love is blind but time will tell I just felt they needed proven stars right now for this offense Am I way off base Joe C Aurora Hey Joe intriguing questions I feel pretty confident in saying UCF running back R J Harvey was not going to be available two rounds later when Denver took him No overall He might not have even been there at No their next pick The Athletic s Mike Silver was embedded in the Jacksonville draft room for example and shared that the Jaguars were aiming for either Harvey or Louisville edge rusher Ashton Gillotte at No He also indicated head coach Liam Cohen was interested in even moving up from there to get Harvey and that s just one of other teams that could have been interested Shows you the menace of even trading back from No twice when there s a player on the board you like As for Illinois receiver Pat Bryant who ran seconds in the at the combine yes he went earlier than almost any draft analyst thought he would Could they have waited until No where they traded up to get LSU defensive lineman Sai Vion Jones or even No the next day Maybe One of the reasons the draft is such great fodder is because there is perpetually a counterargument If Bryant s good you could just be happy with the pick But even if he s good you could consistently say Well they could have gotten another player at No AND him later What if Jones were taken No and Bryant No Would that feel better It s fair to point out that Bryant went earlier than expected and also fair to give it chosen time and see how it plays out Not the same situation but somewhat similar In when the Broncos traded back into the third round to take cornerback Riley Moss I broke down what the charts noted about giving up a future third-round pick to move up spots and take him And I wrote at the time that Moss was going to have to be a pretty good player in order to justify that kind of acquisition cost Well guess what Turns out he s pretty good But it didn t happen overnight either He dealt with the core muscle injury during camp his rookie year and was a special-teams-only participant down the stretch Then he broke out last year and is a core part of the group going forward Nobody s going to look back at that exchange and second-guess it at this point Feels similar with Bryant You can slice it any way you want but the bottom line is the Broncos took him in a part of the draft where the expectation is that you get real production out of him Maybe not Week but before too long Hey Parker how does our secondary look with Jahdae Barron on the unit Does he play opposite Pat Surtain II and Riley Moss moves to another spot Does he play nickel How does Ja Quan McMillian fit Mark Arvada Related Articles Broncos lose director of college scouting Brian Stark to Las Vegas Raiders Sheriff probing Jeff Sperbeck s death after he fell off golf cart John Elway was driving in California Sizing up Broncos prolific run of NFL draft trades Did Denver come out ahead Keeler Shedeur Sanders phone prank should lead to fines suspensions for Atlanta Falcons coach Renck vs Keeler Who will emerge as sleeper pick of Broncos NFL draft class Good question Mark With Barron time will tell to a few degree Part of what attracted the Broncos to him is that he s a plus athlete outside in the slot at safety and potentially even as a dime linebacker type Payton mentioned Thursday night that Denver doesn t feel the need to pigeonhole him to one position And it invariably is worth repeating What you play in camp or Year doesn t necessarily mean that s what you are long term Remember Pat Surtain II played in the slot when he first got to Denver in It seems the the bulk likely spot at the outset is to play Barron in the slot and as part of sub packages Those guys play a ton of snaps and Barron would put a pretty good battle on Ja Quan McMillian I d bet for the starting nickel job That s a premium position itself in at present s NFL Long term it s an enthralling question McMillian s a restricted free agent after this year so the association has more control with him beyond But you could see a world in which the Broncos think either Barron or Moss is their long-term answer in the slot and the other plays outside opposite Surtain I understand fans and analysts rushing to try to figure out whether Barron is replacing Moss or McMillian but let s take a deep breath It s not even OTAs yet There s a long way to go before the season starts Also keep this in mind Injuries happen Denver s been remarkably healthy the past two seasons but there s no way to guarantee that lasts And even within that run of good fitness both Surtain one encounter and Moss three missed games last year As Paton noted during the draft We saw what happens when injuries hit that position The Broncos tried playing McMillian outside in base and inside in sub They tried Levi Wallace They eventually got good production out of Kris Abrams-Draine a young contestant not to be forgotten in this conversation But without really good corners the preposterous set of quarterback talent in the AFC will roast you Barron is another move to ensure that doesn t happen to Denver Is it true that the Broncos were eyeing Emeka Egbuka with the No pick And when he went off the board it was the best member available Rick Denver Hey Rick I wouldn t be surprised if the Broncos really liked Egbuka but Paton and Payton all along stated their offensive priorities were more focused on running back and tight end That s also what we heard around the league up until the final week which is when disinformation campaigns rocket into full gear around the league You never fully know right But I thought it was engaging that all along through the spring Paton and Payton talked about liking their receivers about liking their positioning at No given what the board looked like about needing a running back and to continue fortifying their defense Then all of a sudden draft week hits and they re aggressively trying to contract up and they like the receivers in the first round and all of this other noise It s hard to categorically rule any of that out but I d just say it didn t surprise me that end of the day they ended up picking at No and their next plan was to commerce back for a running back Now the tight end thing allegedly didn t play out exactly the way they hoped but you re not often going to go through a draft and hit your top-of-the-board guys at every position you want to get They clearly didn t think running backs TreVeyon Henderson and Omarion Hampton or tight end Mason Taylor were the best use of the No pick They also had to know how unlikely it was that any of them would be around by No That s why a bargain back perpetually felt like a real possibility Instead they chose Barron over any of that The other thing I think although I don t categorically know is that if they d gone best available but Barron wasn t there it still would have been a defensive contestant rather than Egbuka or Hampton Oregon defensive lineman Derrick Harmon had certain teams somewhat concerned on the biological front but he went one pick later to Pittsburgh Then Ohio State defensive tackle Tyleik Williams went No to Detroit Neither of those would have been a big shock at No Any of our undrafted rookie free agents stand out to you I m hoping Johnny Walker Jr lands with the club Paul L Denver Hey Paul thanks for writing in Off the cuff Walker and former Michigan running back Chris Evans truly a minicamp invite not technically a rookie free agent are thought-provoking and so are the offensive linemen given that Denver didn t draft any of those Walker s teammate at Missouri defensive lineman Kristian Williams was a good college contestant too I m unfailingly interested in seeing a day or two of rookie minicamp because normally there is a performer or two that jump out that perhaps you re not expecting That doesn t inevitably mean they make the squad or that we can pick out all of the promising guys in one afternoon of watching but I remember in Brandon Johnson definitely made an impression Then in among the standouts were Jaleel McLaughlin and Alex Palczewski who each ended up making the organization along with running back Jacques Patrick who did not Then last year Devaughn Vele who was not an undrafted guy but obviously unheralded as a seventh-round pick was the big eye-catcher What surprised you the largest part about this year s Broncos draft efforts Ed Helinski Auburn N Y Hey Ed thanks for writing in as constantly I ve learned to try not to be surprised about what happens during the draft You can talk to as numerous people as manageable and have good information and all of that and there are still twists and turns and surprises In general I think I m more surprised the Broncos traded back twice on Day than I am that they stayed at No and went with the best competitor on their board though nobody present company included had them pegged as taking a cornerback in the first round Once they used their pick on Day I thought Payton might get itchy to try to move up the board in the second round But they d have had to go a long way up for a running back or a tight end The Ohio State backs were gone by No Taylor went at No and then two more tight ends came off fast too in Terrence Ferguson at No and Elijah Arroyo at No Once that happened the trade-backs made sense And they really do love Harvey So I guess the simplest way to say it is I came away surprised they didn t end up taking one of the first four running backs OR first five tight ends in the draft But hey they took the sixth quarterback last year and that worked out pretty well So let s see how it shakes out With Shedeur Sanders dropping so far in the draft did the Broncos ever consider picking him up Jimmy Lakewood Hey Jimmy man can you imagine There would have been reporters at rookie minicamp next weekend Payton made it clear on Friday night that he thinks Sanders will play in the league and that he was surprised by the fall He s also talked in the past about wanting to be a place that develops quarterbacks even if your starter is in place If Nix were a couple more years into his career Maybe I don t at all mean this as really anything to do with Sanders from a personality or persona standpoint but I d bet you there are meager things Payton is more conscious of than the ecosystem in his quarterback room They re high on quarterbacks coach Davis Webb obviously and they brought Jarrett Stidham back It feels like they re going for as much continuity around Nix as manageable day to day Maybe Sanders would have been a great add to the room I m just not surprised that the default is to rock the boat as little as practicable Still the prospect of taking Sanders on Day emerging him and allowing him to work behind the scenes for a while and then extracting excess value down the road had to at least be a little bit of a thought for a lot of teams that are set at quarterback right In Denver it would have been a great story and it would have gotten several metric tons of attention Alas Want more Broncos news Sign up for the 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