{"id":862201,"date":"2026-04-09T09:34:56","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T09:34:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/862201\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T09:34:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T09:34:56","slug":"draft-expert-names-broncos-ideal-late-round-fit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/862201\/","title":{"rendered":"Draft Expert Names Broncos\u2019 Ideal Late-Round Fit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since arriving in the front office in 2021, Denver Broncos GM George Paton<\/a> has had some success uncovering late-round gems in the NFL draft. <\/p>\n

Most of Paton’s late-round picks haven’t gone on to become stars, but center Luke Wattenberg has garnered a second contract, while others, like cornerback Kris Abrams-Draine, defensive lineman Eyioma Uwazurike, and punter Jeremy Crawshaw, have become key contributors. <\/p>\n

Even wide receiver Devaughn Vele, whom Paton drafted in Round 7 back in 2024, played one season with the Broncos, working his way up to the No. 2 role opposite Courtland Sutton. The Broncos parlayed that late-round selection into a trade with the New Orleans Saints, which dealt Vele away in exchange for a fourth- and seventh-round pick. Suffice it to say, Paton knows what he’s doing late in the draft. <\/p>\n

With only one top-100 selection in the 2026 NFL draft, the bulk of Paton’s heavy lifting this year will likely be in the mid and later rounds. The Broncos need a modest hit or two to help balance out the roster. <\/p>\n

One such late-round fit, according to NFL Draft On SI’s Justin Melo<\/a>, could be USC linebacker Eric Gentry. <\/p>\n

“Linebacker was one of the positions the Denver Broncos may have considered addressing with their first-round pick before they traded it for Jaylen Waddle. USC linebacker Eric Gentry made waves at the NFL Combine for measuring in with a lanky 6-foot-7, 221-pound frame with 35-inch arms. Gentry uses that length to take advantage of a massive tackle radius, having recorded 76 takedowns in 2025,” Melo wrote. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Gentry Intrigue<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since arriving in the front office in 2021, Denver Broncos GM George Paton has had some success uncovering…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":862202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[232,231,258,2426,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-862201","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-denverbroncos","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116374070556613639","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862201","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=862201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}