List of Denver Broncos first-round draft picks

Last updated

Jay Cutler earned a Pro Bowl selection with the Broncos in 2008. JayCutlergfdl.JPG
Jay Cutler earned a Pro Bowl selection with the Broncos in 2008.

The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are members of the American Football Conference West Division in the National Football League (NFL). The franchise was formed on August 14, 1959, to compete in the American Football League (AFL). The first AFL Draft was held three months later. [2] The last AFL draft the Broncos participated in was the 1966 draft, due to them joining the NFL as part of the AFL–NFL merger on June 8, 1966. [3]

Contents

The Broncos first participated in the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting, more commonly known as the NFL draft, [4] in 1967. In the NFL Draft, each NFL franchise annually seeks to add new players to its roster. Teams are ranked in reverse order based on the previous season's record; the worst record picks first, the second-worst picking second and so on. The two exceptions to this order are made for teams that appeared in the previous Super Bowl; the Super Bowl champion always picks 32nd, and the Super Bowl loser always picks 31st. Teams have the option of trading away their picks to other teams for different picks, players, cash, or a combination thereof. Thus, it is not uncommon for a team's actual draft pick to differ from their assigned draft pick, or for a team to have extra or no draft picks in any round due to these trades. [5]

The Broncos selected Roger LeClerc, a placekicker from Trinity College, in the 1960 AFL Draft. [6] In their first NFL Draft, the Broncos selected Floyd Little, a running back from Syracuse University. The Broncos have selected players from the University of Nebraska, University of Florida, and University of Tennessee three times each, the most from any university in the first-round. The team's most recent selections were Tim Tebow, a quarterback from Florida University and Demaryius Thomas, wide receiver from Georgia Tech. Three selections, Floyd Little, Merlin Olsen, and Bob Brown, were enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1982 and 2004, respectively. [7] In 1991, Mike Croel became the first Bronco to win the Defensive Rookie of the Year award, receiving 68 out of 82 votes. [8]

The Broncos' latest first-round pick is University of Oregon quarterback Bo Nix, who they picked 12th overall in the 2024 NFL draft.

Key

Randy Gradishar, a seven-time Pro Bowl participant and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Rg53dnb2.jpg
Randy Gradishar, a seven-time Pro Bowl participant and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Table key
^Indicates the player was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The Broncos did not draft a player in the first round that year.
YearEach year links to an article about that particular AFL, Common, or NFL draft.
PickIndicates the number of the pick within the first round
PositionIndicates the position of the player in the NFL
CollegeThe player's college football team

Player selections

Denver Broncos first-round draft picks
YearPickPlayer namePositionCollegeNotes
1960 Roger LeClerc C Trinity College
1961 Bob Gaiters HB New Mexico State
1962 Merlin Olsen  ^ DT Utah State
1963 Kermit Alexander DB UCLA
1964 Bob Brown  ^ OT Nebraska
1965 No pick [a]
1966 Jerry Shay OT Purdue
1967 6 Floyd Little  ^ RB Syracuse
1968 No pick [b]
1969 No pick [b]
1970 11 Bobby Anderson RB Colorado
1971 12 Marv Montgomery OT USC [c]
1972 5 Riley Odoms TE Houston
1973 9 Otis Armstrong RB Purdue
1974 14

Randy Gradishar  ^

LB Ohio State
1975 17 Louis Wright DB San Jose State
1976 15 Tom Glassic G Virginia
1977 18 Steve Schindler G Boston College
1978 27 Don Latimer NT Miami (FL)
1979 22 Kelvin Clark OT Nebraska
1980 No pick [d]
1981 15 Dennis Smith DB USC
1982 21 Gerald Willhite RB San Jose State [e]
1983 4 Chris Hinton G Northwestern
1984 No pick [f]
1985 26 Steve Sewell RB Oklahoma
1986 No pick [g]
1987 27 Ricky Nattiel WR Florida
1988 26 Ted Gregory DT Syracuse
1989 20 Steve Atwater  ^ DB Arkansas [h]
1990 No pick [i]
1991 4 Mike Croel LB Nebraska
1992 25 Tommy Maddox QB UCLA
1993 11 Dan Williams DE Toledo [j]
1994 No pick [k]
1995 No pick [l]
1996 15 John Mobley LB Kutztown
1997 28 Trevor Pryce DT Clemson
1998 30 Marcus Nash WR Tennessee
1999 31 Al Wilson LB Tennessee
2000 15 Deltha O'Neal CB California [m]
2001 24 Willie Middlebrooks CB Minnesota
2002 19 Ashley Lelie WR Hawaii
2003 20 George Foster OT Georgia
2004 17 D. J. Williams LB Miami (FL) [n]
2005 No pick [o]
2006 11 Jay Cutler QB Vanderbilt [p]
2007 17 Jarvis Moss DE Florida [q]
2008 12 Ryan Clady OT Boise State
2009 12 Knowshon Moreno RB Georgia
2009 18 Robert Ayers DE Tennessee [r]
2010 22 Demaryius Thomas WR Georgia Tech [s]
2010 25 Tim Tebow QB Florida [t]
2011 2 Von Miller LB Texas A & M
2012 No pick
2013 28 Sylvester Williams DT North Carolina
2014 31 Bradley Roby CB Ohio State
2015 23 Shane Ray LB Missouri
2016 26 Paxton Lynch QB Memphis
2017 20 Garett Bolles OT Utah
2018 5 Bradley Chubb DE NC State
2019 20 Noah Fant TE Iowa
2020 15 Jerry Jeudy WR Alabama
2021 9 Patrick Surtain II CB Alabama
2022 No pick (traded to Seattle for Russell Wilson)
2023
2024 12 Bo Nix QB Oregon

Footnotes

Related Research Articles

The 1968 NFL/AFL draft was part of the common draft, in the second year in which the NFL and AFL held a joint draft of college players. It took place at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City on January 30–31, 1968.

The 1967 NFL/AFL draft was conducted March 14–15, 1967, at the Gotham Hotel in New York City. It was the first common draft between the NFL and the AFL, part of the AFL–NFL merger agreement of June 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2007 NFL draft</span> 72nd annual meeting of National Football League franchises to select newly eligible players

The 2007 NFL draft was the 72nd annual meeting of National Football League franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 28 and April 29, 2007. The draft was televised for the 28th consecutive year on ESPN and ESPN2. The NFL Network also broadcast coverage of the event, its second year doing so. There were 255 draft selections: 223 regular selections and 32 compensatory selections. A supplemental draft was also held after the regular draft and before the regular season. This was the first draft presided over by new NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 NFL draft</span> 73rd annual meeting of National Football League franchises to select newly eligible players

The 2008 NFL draft was the 73rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 26 and April 27, 2008. For the 29th consecutive year, ESPN televised the draft; the NFL Network also broadcast the event, its third year doing so. Of the 252 selections, 220 were regular selections in rounds one through seven, and 32 were compensatory selections, distributed among rounds three through seven. As of the end of the 2018 season, 27 players have been selected to the Pro Bowl.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 NFL draft</span> 74th annual meeting of National Football League franchises to select newly eligible players

The 2009 NFL draft was the 74th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 25 and 26, 2009. The draft consisted of two rounds on the first day, starting at 4:00 pm EDT, and five rounds on the second day, starting at 10:00 am EDT. To compensate for the time change from the previous year and in an effort to help shorten the draft, teams were no longer on the clock for 15 minutes in the first round and 10 minutes in the second round. Each team now had 10 minutes to make their selection in the first round and seven minutes in the second round. Rounds three through seven were shortened to five minutes per team. This was the first year that the NFL used this format and it was changed again the following year for the 2010 NFL draft. The 2009 NFL draft was televised by both NFL Network and ESPN and was the first to have cheerleaders. The Detroit Lions, who became the first team in NFL history to finish a season at 0–16, used the first selection in the draft to select University of Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010 NFL draft</span> 75th annual meeting of National Football League franchises to select newly eligible players

The 2010 NFL draft was the 75th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The 2010 draft took place over three days, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, with the first round on April 22, 2010. The second and third rounds took place on April 23, while the final four rounds were held on April 24. Television coverage was provided by both NFL Network and ESPN.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2011 NFL draft</span> 76th annual meeting of National Football League franchises to select newly eligible players

The 2011 NFL draft was the 76th installment of the annual NFL draft, where the franchises of the National Football League select newly eligible football players. Like the 2010 draft, the 2011 draft was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, over three days: this year, the first round took place on Thursday, April 28, 2011; the second and third rounds took place on Friday, April 29; with the final four rounds on Saturday, April 30, 2011. The Carolina Panthers, who had the worst record for the 2010 NFL season at 2–14, had the right to the first selection in the draft, where they selected Auburn University quarterback Cam Newton, who was the 2010 Heisman Trophy winner. The 2011 draft is regarded as one of the most talented draft classes in NFL history, as 12 of the first 16 players have been selected to at least one Pro Bowl.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 NFL draft</span> 86th annual meeting of NFL franchises to select newly eligible players

The 2021 NFL draft was the 86th National Football League draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland, Ohio from April 29 to May 1, 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 NFL draft</span> 87th annual meeting of NFL franchises to select newly eligible players

The 2022 NFL draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise next to Las Vegas. The first round was held on Thursday, April 28, and was followed by the second and third rounds on Friday, April 29. The draft concluded with rounds 4–7 on Saturday, April 30. It was the first draft to be held in the Las Vegas metropolitan area and the state of Nevada.

References

General
Specific
  1. Rasizer, Lee (December 16, 2008). "Broncos Marshall, Cutler named to Pro Bowl team". Rocky Mountain News . Archived from the original on December 17, 2008. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
  2. "NFL History by Decade – 1951–1960". National Football League. Archived from the original on February 9, 2007. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  3. Lahman, Sean (2008). The Pro Football Historical Abstract: A Hardcore Fan's Guide to All-Time Player Rankings. Globe Pequot. p. 34 of 576. ISBN   978-1-59228-940-0.
  4. Branch, John (April 9, 2000). "The 2000 Liars Club/ Draft makes Broncos coach cloak intentions". The Gazette . Archived from the original on October 23, 2007. Retrieved July 15, 2008 via Find Articles.
  5. Pittman, Andrew; John Otto Spengler; Sarah J. Young (2008). Case studies in sport law. Human Kinetics. p. 41. ISBN   978-0-7360-6821-5.
  6. Pennington, Richard (2007). Denver Broncos Trivia Teasers. Big Earth Publishing. p. 7 of 145. ISBN   978-1-931599-92-4 . Retrieved August 19, 2009.
  7. "Hall of Famers by Year of Enshrinement". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on July 31, 2008. Retrieved August 22, 2009.
  8. "Russell, Croel get rookie honors". The Free Lance–Star . Associated Press. December 27, 1991. p. B6. Archived from the original on November 20, 2023. Retrieved August 26, 2009.
  9. "Denver Broncos: Randy Gradishar". Rocky Mountain News . Archived from the original on March 2, 2009. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  10. "Broncos; 2008 Media Guide" (PDF). Denver Broncos. p. 624 (321 of 362). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 16, 2011. Retrieved March 1, 2011.
  11. Football Register. Sporting News. 1969. p. 229. Retrieved August 7, 2009.
  12. Lea, Bud (September 22, 1971). "Devine Defends Horn Trade". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel . Retrieved August 10, 2009.[ permanent dead link ]
  13. "Jets Trade Matt Robinson to Broncos; Provide Leadership Duel in Training Camp Jets Trade Robinson to Broncos". The New York Times . February 2, 1980. p. 15. Archived from the original on July 23, 2018. Retrieved August 10, 2009.
  14. Stein, Joe (April 24, 1994). "Rams took Bettis after Cards selected Hearst". U-T San Diego . p. C12.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  15. "Notable blockbuster trades in NFL history". USA Today . August 7, 2008. Archived from the original on April 24, 2009. Retrieved August 10, 2009.
  16. Balzer, Howard M. (1988). Football Register. Sporting News. p. 206. ISBN   978-0-89204-286-9 . Retrieved August 14, 2009.
  17. "NFL Draft Trades". USA Today . April 25, 1989. p. C11.
  18. Barnard, Bill (July 8, 1989). "Cowboys make Walsh surprise pick". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Associated Press. p. 11 (6 of 23). Retrieved August 12, 2009.[ permanent dead link ]
  19. Ruxin, Robert (2004). An athlete's guide to agents. Jones and Bartlett Publishers. p. 165. ISBN   978-0-7637-2349-1 . Retrieved August 14, 2009.
  20. "Broncos; 2008 Media Guide" (PDF). Denver Broncos. p. 623 (320 of 362). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 16, 2011. Retrieved March 1, 2011.
  21. "The Broncos Acquire Vikings' Zimmerman". Los Angeles Times . August 24, 1993. p. C7.
  22. "Broncos deal for receiver Atlanta's Pritchard goes to Denver in trade involving draft picks". The Kansas City Star . Associated Press. p. C2.
  23. "Ravens, Broncos swap picks". TimesDaily . April 13, 2000. Archived from the original on November 20, 2023. Retrieved March 1, 2011.
  24. Pasquarelli, Len (April 9, 2004). "Broncos, Bengals swap draft positions". ESPN. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved August 10, 2009.
  25. LaCanfora, Jason (April 20, 2005). "Redskins Swap Draft Picks". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2009.
  26. Pasquarelli, Len (March 23, 2006). "Falcons send pick to Denver to get Abraham from Jets". ESPN. Archived from the original on May 15, 2007. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  27. "Broncos deal 22nd overall pick to 49ers". ESPN. April 20, 2006. Archived from the original on August 21, 2007. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  28. "Rams take Clemson CB Hill with 15th pick". ESPN. April 29, 2006. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  29. Legwold, Jeff (April 28, 2007). "Broncos trade up for Florida DE Moss". Rocky Mountain News . Retrieved March 1, 2011.
  30. "Cutler goes to Bears for Orton, picks". ESPN. April 3, 2009. Archived from the original on April 5, 2009. Retrieved August 12, 2009.
  31. "Draft trade tracker: Let's make a deal: Broncos make push to get receiver". National Football League. April 22, 2010. Archived from the original on April 25, 2010. Retrieved March 1, 2011.
  32. "Draft trade tracker: Let's make a deal: Broncos take a chance on Tebow". National Football League. April 22, 2010. Archived from the original on April 25, 2010. Retrieved March 1, 2011.