'A wide receiver was our No. 1 goal': Broncos able to draft Jerry Jeudy, secure top-rated player despite long odds

[Miles]

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — When the Broncos went through a series of mock drafts in the lead up to the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, Jerry Jeudy was still available at No. 15 less than 50 percent of the time.


Jeudy was selected by an earlier team so often that John Elway and the Broncos started to operate as if Jeudy would not be an option when they came on the clock with the 15th-overall pick. The Broncos, Elway said Thursday night, laid out plans for first-round scenarios based on the assumption that Jeudy wouldn't be available.


But then, somehow, he was there. And so, too, was CeeDee Lamb.


Fifteen picks into the draft, the Broncos' top two players at the team's top position of need were still on the board.


"We were actually surprised both of them got there — CeeDee as well as Jerry," said Elway on Thursday after the Broncos drafted Jeudy with the 15th-overall pick. "What we liked about Jerry was … his route-running ability, his speed, being able to plant his foot and get out of a break, the experience that he has and obviously playing in the SEC and plus the production that he's had. We met with him in Indianapolis [at the 2020 NFL Combine] and really liked him and liked his mentality and what he thought about the game of football and how he wants to attack the game of football and it's important to him.


"It was very close, but we were glad that we had an opportunity to pick — and Jerry was our guy from the get-go."


Elway said Jeudy was the No. 1 player on the team's draft board, while Lamb ranked second.


"For us to be staring at 15 [and] to sit there and look at … the top need on the board and we have our top two guys that are still on the board, well obviously we felt very comfortable with it," Elway said. "So we felt good about the opportunity there."