{"id":865500,"date":"2026-04-13T11:13:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T11:13:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/865500\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T11:13:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T11:13:29","slug":"denver-broncos-2026-nfl-draft-picks-biggest-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/865500\/","title":{"rendered":"Denver Broncos 2026 NFL draft picks, biggest needs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776078787_643_legwold_jeff.png&#038;h=80&#038;w=80&#038;scale=crop.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"40\" height=\"40\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Jeff LegwoldApr 13, 2026, 06:00 PM<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"icon-font-after icon-close-solid-after\" href=\"#\">Close<\/a>Jeff Legwold covers the Denver Broncos at ESPN. He has covered the Broncos for more than 20 years and also assists with NFL draft coverage, joining ESPN in 2013. He has been a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Board of Selectors since 1999, too. Jeff previously covered the Pittsburgh Steelers, Buffalo Bills and Houston Oilers\/Tennessee Titans at previous stops prior to ESPN.<\/p>\n<p>Multiple Authors<\/p>\n<p>DENVER &#8212; The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/draft\/news\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2026 NFL draft<\/a> (8 p.m. ET on ESPN, ABC, ESPN App) will start on April 23 in Pittsburgh. The <a data-clubhouse-guid=\"51042145-e3c1-0694-ae0d-f720342ff8fc\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com.sg\/nfl\/team\/_\/name\/den\/denver-broncos\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Denver Broncos<\/a> are scheduled to make seven of the draft&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com.sg\/nfl\/draft2026\/story\/_\/id\/48196141\/2026-nfl-draft-order-seven-rounds-afc-nfc-complete-257-picks\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">257 picks<\/a>, beginning with the No. 62 selection (coming in the second round on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/draft\/live\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Friday night<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>During the three-day event (Rounds 2-3 on April 24 and Rounds 4-7 on April 25), we will update this page with analysis on every pick.<\/p>\n<p>A full list of the Broncos&#8217; selections are below, in addition to positional needs.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">NFL draft coverage:<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com.sg\/nfl\/draft2026\/story\/_\/id\/46028840\/2026-nfl-mock-drafts-predictions-projections-kiper-yates-reid-miller\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Latest expert mock drafts<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com.sg\/nfl\/draft2026\/story\/_\/id\/46573669\/2026-nfl-draft-rankings-mel-kiper-big-board-top-prospects-players-positions\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kiper&#8217;s Big Board<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com.sg\/nfl\/draft2026\/story\/_\/id\/48303738\/2026-nfl-draft-team-needs-depth-chart-holes-prospect-fits\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Team needs<\/a><br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com.sg\/nfl\/draft2026\/story\/_\/id\/46149416\/2026-nfl-draft-rankings-top-prospects-position#top10\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Consensus rankings<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/draft\/news\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/_end_rule.png\" width=\"100%\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" class=\"floatleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776078809_412_den.png&#038;h=110&#038;w=110.png\" width=\"31\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Round 2: No. 62 overall<\/p>\n<p>Round 4: No. 108 (from New Orleans)<\/p>\n<p>Round 4: No. 117 (from Miami)<\/p>\n<p>Round 5: No. 170<\/p>\n<p>Round 7: No. 246<\/p>\n<p>Round 7: No. 256*<\/p>\n<p>Round 7: No. 257*<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com.sg\/nfl\/draft2026\/story\/_\/id\/48303738\/2026-nfl-draft-team-needs-depth-chart-holes-prospect-fits\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Top three needs<\/a>: TE, LB, DL.<\/p>\n<p>Other than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com.sg\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/48231337\/source-dolphins-trade-jaylen-waddle-broncos-picks\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the trade<\/a> for wide receiver <a data-player-guid=\"db4bf6c9-e27d-8382-372f-120b3da89bd6\" href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/player\/_\/id\/4372016\/jaylen-waddle\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Jaylen Waddle<\/a>, the Broncos&#8217; approach to free agency has been to re-sign their own free agents. Denver re-signed 17 of their 21 unrestricted, restricted or exclusive rights free agents. But that means the biggest needs they went into free agency with are still their biggest needs &#8212; none bigger than tight end and linebacker.<\/p>\n<p>Denver&#8217;s tight ends combined for three touchdowns last season and none averaged more than 9.8 yards per catch. The Broncos also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com.sg\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/48156566\/reports-broncos-re-sign-lb-alex-singleton-2-year-deal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">released<\/a> linebacker <a data-player-guid=\"22bed4b5-a5ad-ccac-e96e-4ba5bd7d1173\" href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/player\/_\/id\/3916903\/dre-greenlaw\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Dre Greenlaw<\/a>, who played 348 snaps despite sitting out more half the season because of injuries and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com.sg\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/46664094\/broncos-dre-greenlaw-suspended-1-game-nfl-unsportsmanlike-conduct-referee\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">one-game suspension<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Broncos have just one pick before Day 3. They need to find a starter at ____.<\/p>\n<p>Tight end. Perhaps not the starter, given coach Sean Payton&#8217;s comments about liking the group with <a data-player-guid=\"9e0efe52-174f-d361-6d08-4886592d9038\" href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/player\/_\/id\/3051876\/evan-engram\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Evan Engram<\/a> (50 catches last season) and <a data-player-guid=\"6eb28a2d-193f-f208-fde3-2fe9e37ec7a9\" href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/player\/_\/id\/3911853\/adam-trautman\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Adam Trautman<\/a> returning, but Denver certainly needs more impact. The Broncos&#8217; tight ends combined for three touchdowns last season, and none of them averaged more than 9.8 yards per reception. With no first-round pick after the Waddle trade, the Broncos have spent plenty of time with tight ends on the predraft circuit, including top-30 visits with <a data-player-guid=\"ff3a270a-6311-36f9-940e-90358e819b3e\" href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/college-football\/player\/_\/id\/4833029\/max-klare\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Max Klare<\/a> (Ohio State) and <a data-player-guid=\"8c9ba8f9-13fa-31b9-bf16-f078212b3c1d\" href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/college-football\/player\/_\/id\/4912052\/justin-joly\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Justin Joly<\/a> (NC State).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jeff LegwoldApr 13, 2026, 06:00 PM CloseJeff Legwold covers the Denver Broncos at ESPN. He has covered the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":777496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[232,231,258,2426,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-865500","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\/116397109322071643","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865500","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=865500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}