A top edge rusher in this year’s draft class is Jared Verse. He is only one of many excellent edge-rushers that are available. Oh, and the Broncos do need an edge rusher, though it’s not THE need.
Considering all of those factors, it might make sense to take Verse at number twelve. It does to NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, who teased the Broncos in his second mock draft of the summer by taking a swipe at the Florida State product.
Pro Football Focus’s data indicates that Verse had the sixth-best pass-rush victory rate (2023) out of all FBS edge rushers with at least 100 pass-rush opportunities.
Writer of Jared Verse Jeremiah:
Another place a quarterback might end up is Denver. However, they provide a difference-maker up front in this exercise to compliment some of the young talent in the secondary.
The Broncos could need some last-minute assistance.
Pass-rush punch is what the Broncos need. The Broncos finished the 2023 season with a pass-rush win rate of 30th as a team, per ESPN Analytics.
Pro Football Focus’s statistics shows that on at least 100 pass-rush snaps, twenty-two teams had at least one edge rusher with a pass-rush victory rate greater than 13.0 percent. Nik Bonitto registered a pass-rush victory percentage of precisely 13.0 percent, but the Broncos narrowly missed that mark.
With at least 100 pass-rush snaps, that ranked him 43rd out of 129 edge rushers.
Therefore, even though the Broncos were one of ten teams without an edge rusher with a win percentage higher than 13.0 percent, they were one of eleven teams with three edge rushers with win percentages at least 12.0 percent:
Nik Bonitto, 34 out of 261, 13.0 percent
Baron Browning, 29 out of 232, 12.5 percent
Jonathan Cooper, percentage wise, 12.0% (47 of 392)
Therefore, the space has quality objects. However, they don’t seem to have an alpha. Poetry might work for that.
At twelve, the Jarred version ought to be accessible, but QB4 might not.
Jeremiah predicted that the first eight picks would see four quarterbacks taken off the board, with Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy going to the Atlanta Falcons with the eighth overall choice.
On his first-round mock, McCarthy is the final quarterback. Day 2 includes Michael Penix Jr. of Washington and Bo Nix of Oregon. In order to acquire McCarthy, the Broncos could need to trade up. Although they wouldn’t have to give up a lot of player capital, their still-compromised draft capital might make it difficult for them to move up even a few selections.
It’s a possibility Broncos Nation has to take into account: their team might not choose a quarterback in Round 1 even in a draft heavy on quarterbacks. They can still obtain assistance, nevertheless, despite this.
