Broncos Country’s proposition for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell: in future, the likes of the Kansas City Chiefs, the Los Angeles Chargers, and the Las Vegas Raiders should be forced to forfeit their first-round draft selections starting in 2023 and all drafts going forward.
Why? It hurts the Denver Broncos’ chances to win the AFC West when their division rivals have the option to select good players.
Until Goodell answers that demand, the Broncos will have to sit on the sidelines on day one of the draft next year, just like they did during the first round of the 2022 event. While the divisional rival Raiders sat on the sidelines on Thursday night along with Denver, the AFC West’s Chargers and the Chiefs made multiple moves to improve their team and change the dynamics of their rosters next season.
How did the two teams consider to be the Broncos’ biggest obstacles to winning the AFC West make out in the first round? With the Chargers owning the 17th overall selection and the Chiefs sitting with picks 29 (from the Miami Dolphins via the San Francisco 49ers) and 30, the dynamics of the division changed after a wild and unpredictable start to the 2022 draft.
Chargers: Zion Johnson | IOL | Boston College
With the 17th overall selection, the Chargers selected the Boston College offensive linemen. Measuring in at 6-foot-2.5 and 312 pounds with 34-inch arm length, Johnson was considered by most in the draft community to be the best interior offensive lineman in the entire draft class.
After starting 2020 at left tackle, Johnson moved to left guard, earning first-team All-ACC honors. With the body type many would consider an offensive tackle, he looked better on the interior this past season than he had the previous few seasons at tackle. Prior to transferring to Boston College, Johnson played the first two years of his collegiate career at Davidson.
Johnson is a technician with his hands and has a well-defined frame for an offensive lineman. Testing as a very good across the board athlete at the NFL Combine, earning a 9.74 Relative Athletic Score, he scored elite in his jumps, runs, and agility drills — only being knocked some by his overall size.
At and after the Senior Bowl, coaches raved about Johnson’s intelligence and work ethic as he was noted as one of the first and last players on the field in most practices, staying late after practice to work on snapping the ball to train at the center position to become more versatile and valuable for NFL teams. The Chargers got a very good player, no doubt.
The biggest criticism for the Chargers taking Johnson at pick 17 is no fault to his own other than the position he plays. While fielding poor interior offensive linemen has the possible impact of sinking an entire OL unit, the impact of a singular interior player can only be so great.
Furthermore, while Johnson may wind up a very good guard, interior offensive linemen, in general, are not hard to find later in the draft historically. Using a middle-of-the-first-round selection on a position that is not hard to find capable and quality starters later in the draft should draw some questions about the overall process of the selection.
It’s hard to fault the Chargers too much for selecting such a high-floor player to further invest in the protection in front of emerging superstar quarterback Justin Herbert, but this pick on the interior does not possess a super high ceiling. Will Johnson play right guard or move to left guard, kicking Matt Feiler to right tackle?
That will likely be sorted out in camp. Regardless Johnson is going to be a very good player for the Chargers and likely a good player there for the next decade, but the opportunity cost at other harder-to-find positions is worth pondering.
degrees: B-
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Chiefs: Trent McDuffie | CB | Washington
After trading up with the New England Patriots to 21 overall, sending away picks 29, 94, and 121, the Chiefs selected the diminutive but intelligent defensive back out of Washington. After not retaining the likes of Chardavious Ward in free agency, and Tyrann Mathieu still on the market with the bridge seemingly burned between the two sides, the Chiefs decided they couldn’t wait to select the fourth defensive back off the board in McDuffie.
Considered by many to be somewhat of a defensive back tweener given his lack of length possessing 29-¾-inch arm length and overall small size at 5-foot-10.75 and 193 pounds, McDuffie’s role for Kansas City in Steve Spagnolo’s defense will be interesting to follow. While McDuffie has a compact frame, that doesn’t keep him from packing a punch as he shows great ability to drive on pass catchers and close in space.
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McDuffie’s tape shows an aggressive and instinctive player that rarely was out of position, great zone awareness, and good technique in off coverage situations on the boundary for the Huskies’ defense. His best position is in question, thanks to how good he is in the run game beating blockers to their keys on the field and wrapping up as a solid form tackler.
McDuffie’s lack of length, though, may be a problem for Kansas City as the Chiefs were continuously abused by large, lengthy, X receivers in 2021 as Mike Williams and Ja’Marr Chase specifically beat up on their smaller corners. McDuffie does not help Kansas City in this regard in any way. His lack of length and size also likely is a great reason that while he is a very smart and instinctual player, he did not create many plays on the ball during his time in college.
McDuffie is a great fit for a team looking to play a lot of off coverage and just as easily could transition to a slot/safety role at the NFL level, similar to Budda Baker. If Kansas City was able to get McDuffie at selection 29, this would be a solid B+-to-A- selection, but having given up picks 95 and 121 to go get McDuffie, the grade slips a tad.
degrees: B
Chiefs: George Karlaftis | Edge | Purdue
The Chiefs were not done in Round 1 with the selection of McDuffie as the team still possessed its own selection at pick 29 overall. With needs at right tackle, in the secondary (still), and in the trenches, the Chiefs wound up with one of the youngest players in the class at Karlaftis.
Measuring in at 6-foot-3.75 and 266 pounds, with a shorter 32-⅝”-inch arm length, many predicted before Round 1 that despite the ample hype Karlaftis received early in the draft process, the boilermaker had a chance to slide out of the first round. Instead, Kansas City took the former four-star recruit.
A member of Greece’s 16-and-under water polo team, Karlaftis spent the last few seasons terrorizing quarterbacks and tackles in the Big Ten West. He is an explosive player off the snap on tape and confirmed by his jumps at the combine at 38-inch vertical and a 10-foot-1-inch broad.
With his speed to power given his burst and mass, Karlaftis could bull rush many tackles and create constant havoc in the backfield. His power moves as a pass rusher are his bread and butter and edge blockers that can’t anchor at the point of attack will struggle as he fires off into their chest.
Despite Karlaftis’ power as a rusher, his strength has not yet manifested itself as a run defender. These run defense issues are also likely increased due to his lack of length and lateral agility. Karlaftis did jump well at the Combine, but since he’s a power player as a rusher, his overall lack of size/length/and frame are big reasons he fell to selection 29 overall.
Still, Karlaftis was a highly productive edge for Purdue with power and explosiveness to rush the passer and harass quarterbacks. Considered an extremely hard worker and a very bright young man, he just recently turned 21 years old, making him one of the younger players in an overall older draft class.
Given the Chiefs’ need for a pass rush to help Chris Jones inside and play opposite Frank Clark and the value of edge in today’s league, it’s hard not to give Kansas City solid marks for this selection at 29 overall.
degrees: A-
The Takeaway
The Broncos did not pick in the first round, but Denver was able to use its first-round pick to land a franchise quarterback in Russell Wilson. The Chargers and the Chiefs made some good picks on three very high-floor players in the first round that deserves some credit, but the grade for Paton and the Broncos finally solving their post-Peyton Manning quarterback woes?
Still a solid, fat, and emphatic A.
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