Statistics<\/a> at Penn State: 58 games played, 28 starts with 223 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 6 interceptions, 2 forced fumbles.<\/p>\nHart\u2019s Projection: Top 125 Selection (Early Day 3 Grade)<\/p>\n
Why the Denver Broncos should consider drafting Wheatley<\/p>\n
The Broncos\u2019 defensive backfield is mostly set in stone for the 2026 season. However, they could certainly use some help long-term at safety. With Jones scheduled to hit free agency, finding a player who can offset his potential loss with a similar skillset would be wise to consider.<\/p>\n
There is a lot to like about Wheatley. His traits and production standout and merit mid-to-late Day 2 consideration. Alas, his lack of physicality, age, and issues with tackling may cause him to tumble down the board a bit further than he hopes. His best fit at the next level is as a deep or split-field safety who uses his coverage skills and range to make plays on the ball.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s safety class has a lot of good prospects. Scheme fit means a everything for defensive backs and NFL teams may value other prospects who have a bit more physicality and well-roundedness to his game. Nevertheless, Wheatley\u2019s productivity and coverage skills will be a plus in his favor for teams looking at add size and range to the backend of their secondary.<\/p>\n
Overall, the Penn State standout is someone the Broncos could very well consider on Day 3 with two selections in the fourth round. But how he stacks up compared to the rest of the class will be heavily influenced by Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph, defensive backs coach Doug Belk, and the team\u2019s scouting staff. I wouldn\u2019t mind Wheatley being added into the mix but feel there are quite a handful of other prospects who are better fits for the Broncos\u2019 defense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Denver Broncos will be utilizing the 2026 NFL Draft to round out any remaining depth holes on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":856259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2062],"tags":[232,231,258,1152,2426,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-856258","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-broncos","8":"tag-broncos","9":"tag-denver","10":"tag-denver-broncos","11":"tag-denver-broncos-draft","12":"tag-denverbroncos","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116355673826162896","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=856258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}