McCAFFREY HAS TEAM’S ATTENTION

No player has been more connected to the Broncos in this year’s draft process than former Valor Christian and Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey.

It’s not just a feel-good story. The interest is real.

The Broncos had a meeting with McCaffrey at the NFL combine, met with him at his pro day and had him in for a predraft visit this month. So why all the extra attention for a player who probably won’t be available when the Broncos pick at No. 20?

“He was close. And it was free,” Broncos general manager John Elway joked Monday. “And we wanted to meet with him. He’s a great kid. We like Christian a lot, and we wanted to bring him in. It was one of those (where) he was in the area, so we wanted to take advantage of that to get to see him again.”

McCaffrey could be a great fit for the Broncos, filling needs for “more juice” on offense at running back and slot receiver. He could also be a dangerous returner. But with Carolina (No. 8 pick), Cincinnati (No. 9), Philadelphia (No. 14), Indianapolis (No. 15), Washington (No. 17) and Tampa Bay (No. 19) all in need of a running back, he’ll probably be gone.

A lot of F’s, not many Y’s. There has been a lot

of talk about the deep positions in the draft. Elway mentioned cornerback, safety, running back, wide receiver and tight end, but he spent a good bit of time talking about the last of those Monday.

Alabama’s O.J. Howard leads what is considered an outstanding group of tight ends.

“It’s a deep ‘F’ class, guys that are good route runners and can move, not necessarily the strength of being an inline (blocking, or ‘Y’) tight end,” Elway said. “There are a couple of good in-line tight ends, but for the most part they are F’s. They are more scheme fits. That is why we say it is a deep class, but what happens is if that is where it falls to us in the third, fourth, fifth round, there may be a real tight end that we can go ahead and get.”

Front-office changes.

The Broncos’ draft preparation was dealt a blow the week before Super Bowl LI when top scout Adam Peters took the job as the San Francisco 49ers’ vice president of player personnel.

Denver hasn’t yet replaced Peters with a new director of college scouting, but it plans to do so after the draft.

“He did a tremendous job for us,” Elway said of Peters. “What we’ve done is spread some of the responsibility that Adam had with where we are now. Once we get through the draft and get into May, we’ll make some changes.” Cameron