Broncos Honored with Fifth Annual Best Draft Award as Voted by NFL Peers

George Paton just hung a coveted skin on the wall at UCHealth Training Center.

If the Denver Broncos' 2021 NFL draft class is a sign of things to come under general manager George Paton, then the future should be bright in the Mile High City. While the Broncos have been commended for how well their rookie class performed last season, the most valuable recognition to date came from the team's NFL peers this week as Denver was awarded the 2022 Best Draft Award during the 13th annual Inside the League Combine Seminar.

It was the fifth annual recognition of the award and Paton and company took home the hardware. There was a ceremony to honor the Broncos at the NFL Scouting Combine. 

"It's really cool for the scouts," Paton told the Denver Post's Ryan O'Halloran. "They probably don't get enough respect for what they do in the fall, in the draft, but they're the ones doing all the work."

George Paton accepts 2021 Best Draft Award with self-deprecating humor. Wondered how he got award with 7 wins.” #9sports pic.twitter.com/Xj4b3k6xC4

— Mike Klis (@mikeklis) March 2, 2022

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After selecting Patrick Surtain II last season with the ninth overall pick, the former Alabama star produced as good of a debut campaign as any cornerback dating back to when the New Orleans Saints drafted Marshon Lattimore in 2017. Surtain displayed an eye-popping ability to stay in phase with opposing wide receivers while still being a bigger-bodied cornerback. 

Expect the 22-year-old corner to take an additional step forward in 2022, especially if the Broncos can improve their abysmal pass rush from last season. Surtain was a great first-round pick even if the Broncos are still stuck in quarterback purgatory, but it’s really Day 2 and 3 where the Broncos really separated from the NFL pack. 

With the flexibility of owning extra draft capital, Paton maneuvered the board on Day 2 to move up for running back Javonte Williams and then move down to nab both offensive lineman Quinn Meinerz and linebacker Baron Browning. All three look like ascending players with the considerable upside to become quality starters at their position in the league. 

Day 3 for the Broncos also saw the team walk away with safety Caden Sterns and rush linebacker Jonathon Cooper, both of whom played well in limited action and seem to be in line for larger roles on Denver's defense going forward. Of course, grading a rookie class just one season into its existence can be a tad foolish. 

A year after the 2018 draft, Broncos fans probably felt extremely excited about the haul of Bradley Chubb, Courtland Sutton, Royce Freeman, and DaeSean Hamilton. In 2019, after a solid rookie season, people were excited for the next steps of Noah Fant, Drew Lock, and Dalton Risner. 

Alas growth in the NFL is not linear and a class that looks good after its rookie debut may not be as promising years down the road. The Broncos are in the lead after the first lap of the race for these young players, but there are many loops to go.

Now all eyes turn to 2022 where the Broncos once again have a large heap of draft capital to spend and jockey around the draft board to target players the team’s personnel staff have identified as ‘wants’. The reality is, until Denver finds itself a quarterback worthy of being categorized as a perennial top-10 player at his position, the team’s upside will be begrudgingly capped. 

A team needs a quarterback to win consistently and contend most of the time, but if anything can be learned from Matthew Stafford’s career to date — going from a yearly losing team in Detroit to a Super Bowl Champion in Los Angeles one year later — it's that a football team needs both the quarterback and a good roster around him.

Paton needs to find the Broncos their quarterback, but also building up the team around the position is nearly as important. As long as Paton and his staff continue to draft like last season, the moment the Broncos find their guy under center, their window should burst wide open to compete almost immediately.

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