{"id":871782,"date":"2026-04-22T09:48:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T09:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/871782\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T09:48:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T09:48:16","slug":"mhr-roundup-tuesday-4-21-mile-high-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/871782\/","title":{"rendered":"MHR Roundup: Tuesday, 4\/21 | Mile High Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Horse Tracks: Draft priority is \u2018good football players\u2019<\/a>
George Paton isn\u2019t overthinking position needs heading into draft week. \u201cIt starts with just being a good football player,\u201d the GM said, emphasizing that Denver\u2019s coaching staff has earned his trust in developing high-trait players regardless of how NFL-ready they are on Day 1. Paton reiterated that he feels good about the talent available around pick No. 62 and with their pair of early fourth-rounders, pointing to the franchise\u2019s recent second-round track record \u2014 Bonitto, Mims, Harvey, Sutton \u2014 as proof the front office knows how to find impact in that range.<\/p>\n

5 defensive players the Broncos may draft in round two<\/a>
The defensive side of the second-round board highlights Texas LB Anthony Hill Jr. as an athletic, rangy blitzer, and Texas Tech\u2019s Lee Hunter as a stout run-stuffing DT who could help offset losing John Franklin-Myers. Safety also pops as a sneaky need \u2014 Brandon Jones is in a contract year coming off injury and PJ Locke left in free agency, leaving the third safety spot wide open. Despite Denver\u2019s defense leading the NFL in sacks in back-to-back seasons, the piece argues there are still holes worth addressing with premium capital on Day 2.<\/p>\n

Discussing expectations for the Broncos\u2019 draft class<\/a>
With no first or third-round pick, the MHR staff tempers expectations that this draft class will be an immediate needle-mover in Denver\u2019s Super Bowl chase. The Broncos hold seven total picks \u2014 No. 62 in Round 2 plus six Day 3 selections \u2014 and while Paton insists expectations remain \u201cvery high,\u201d the staff consensus is that the realistic goal is finding high-trait developmental players who can eventually grow into starters, not plug-and-play contributors across the board. The staff points to Denver\u2019s experience navigating three previous drafts without a first-rounder as reason for cautious optimism.<\/p>\n

Should the Broncos be aggressive moving up for their top-ranked players?<\/a>
The MHR staff is split on this one. The \u201cgo get your guy\u201d camp argues Denver is in a Super Bowl window right now and should be bold about trading up from 62, especially with a projected 10 picks in the 2027 draft giving them future capital to burn. The conservative camp prefers trading back to accumulate more selections, arguing that without a first or third-rounder you can\u2019t afford to further thin out an already limited draft haul. The middle ground: be aggressive only if there\u2019s a specific player the staff is in love with who another team is clearly targeting.<\/p>\n

Denver Broncos 2026 NFL draft big board: Offense<\/a>
MHR\u2019s final offensive big board slots Georgia Tech OG Keylan Rutledge at the top as a Tier 1 prospect \u2014 a four-year starter and back-to-back First-Team All-American who models his finishing toughness after Quinn Meinerz and could pair with him to give Denver two mauler bookends on the interior. Tier 2 features TE Eli Stowers as the \u201cJoker\u201d piece Sean Payton covets, Max Klare as the best blocking-plus-receiving TE option, Northwestern OT Caleb Tiernan as a 6\u20198\u201d high-character tackle despite shorter-than-ideal arms, and NDSU WR Bryce Lance as a contested-catch Day 3 flier. The board is heavy on tight ends, reinforcing where Denver\u2019s second-round pick likely lands.<\/p>\n

NFL and Bronco Draft History<\/a>
A deep dive into draft history and how it frames Denver\u2019s 2026 approach. The piece notes that the No. 1 overall pick has been a quarterback in 19 of the 25 drafts this century, with the remaining six being edge rushers (4) or offensive tackles (2). For Denver specifically, the article tracks the Broncos\u2019 recent second-round success \u2014 Bonitto at 64, Mims at 63 \u2014 against years of terrible second-round misses before the Paton era. The last time Denver entered a draft without a first-rounder was 2023, when they grabbed Mims and still came away with a productive class, setting the historical precedent for optimism this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Horse Tracks: Draft priority is \u2018good football players\u2019George Paton isn\u2019t overthinking position needs heading into draft week. \u201cIt…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":871783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[232,231,258,1152,2426,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-871782","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\/116447733618017403","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871782","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=871782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}