Broncos Select FSU Edge Jermaine Johnson II at Pick 9 in Daniel Jeremiah's Mock Draft 2.0

Is this the direction the Broncos are leaning in the draft?

One of the more high-profile names in NFL draft media is NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah. A former NFL scout, Jeremiah released his mock draft 2.0 on Tuesday with a ton of surprises. 

Enclosed in Jeremiah's mock was an interesting bit of information that pertains to the Denver Broncos, both directly and indirectly. With the No. 9 overall pick, Jeremiah mocked Florida State edge rusher Jermaine Johnson II to the Broncos. 

"Johnson continues to check every box. He followed up a productive fall with a dominant week at the Senior Bowl. Denver could draft a QB but there are veteran options available.”

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Johnson had himself a week down in Mobile for the Senior Bowl. Measuring in at just shy of 6-foot-5 and 259 pounds, with a solid 33-⅝-inch arm length, he has the build to hang as both a stand-up edge rusher in a 3-4 front as well as more of a classic hand-in-the-dirt edge in a four-down scheme. 

After checking boxes for measurements, Johnson went on to be the most dominant pass rusher at the Senior Bowl practices. He won his matchups so thoroughly on Day 1 and 2 of the practices that he and his team decided that was enough and pulled him from Day 3 and the Senior Bowl game.

Johnson has taken an interesting path to the NFL. As a highly-rated recruit, he took the JUCO path initially before transferring to Georgia where he played on a rotational basis. When his path became clouded after being rendered a rotational piece and sharing reps with such talents at Georgia like Travon Walker (mocked No. 5 overall by Jeremiah and a name to highlight for the Broncos), Azeez Ojulari, and Adam Anderson, Johnson transferred to Florida State where his path to playtime was more clear in 2021.

This turned out to be a great decision for Johnson as he would go on to win ACC Defensive Player of the Year and, despite playing on a rather poor Florida State team, would rack up pressures and splash plays on tape despite garnering opposition attention as the best player on that Seminoles’ defense.

Johnson is a capable edge setter and run defender, meaning that he has an easy path to the field and can be utilized on first and second down as well as third. While having a solid array of moves as a pass rusher, he apparently displayed a few new pass rush moves on tape at the Senior Bowl that had not previously been seen on his tape, indicating that he has an understanding of the technical demand needed to succeed at the NFL level.

Johnson has fine speed and twitch and bend for an edge rusher of his size but it's not the level one would expect for a typical top-10 caliber pick at the position. He plays with a great motor and averaged 61 snaps a game. Perhaps playing fewer snaps per game would allow Johnson to display more burst and twitch on a down-to-down basis at the NFL level.

In most draft classes, Johnson appears like the type of prospect that would go in the picks 14-22 range. However, given how this class reportedly is light at the top in terms of no-doubt, blue-chip prospects, he (amongst other players) might be selected higher than what his grade would traditionally indicate. 

Johnson has a very high floor but he's perhaps not the freak athlete that makes up a majority of the truly elite pass rushers in the NFL. Even if he's not a top-10 caliber talent at edge, Johnson would add much-needed talent to the Broncos’ pass rush that ranked dead last in the NFL in 2021 per ESPN and second-to-last according to Pro Football Focus. 

Perhaps that's not surprising when considering that of the Broncos’ top-8 snap earners along the defensive line last season, the only player that wasn’t previously a seventh-round pick or an undrafted free agent was Dre’Mont Jones. Not ideal in the slightest.

Jeremiah did not link the Broncos to a specific quarterback and, as a sign of the overall lack of top talent in this class at the position, only mocked two quarterbacks in the entire first round with Kenny Pickett and Malik Willis off the board at 18 and 20, respectively. Given that this is considered a lesser class in the first round on the whole, and still only two quarterbacks were mocked in the back half of Round 1, perhaps it's as lackluster as many fear.

That said, maybe the Broncos fall in love with a QB and take him at pick No. 9 or simply plug their nose and hope for the best in selecting one from what appears to be a down year at the position, but more and more connected to the Broncos are linking the team to veteran options as opposed to drafting a signal-caller in the first round this year. 

Given the multi-year commitment that tends to accompany a top-10 quarterback and the current consensus that this class is full of solid prospects at the position but none that look like a franchise-altering talent, it might be a wiser choice for Denver to bypass the position in the first round this year and select a solid player at a position of need such as Johnson at the edge rusher position.

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