Draft analysts predict QB pick in first round

Three weeks ahead of the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis, more than a month before the start of free agency and about 2½ months before the draft, league analysts are expecting the Broncos to nab their future quarterback at No. 5.

In his second 2018 NFL mock draft, published Tuesday, ESPN’s Todd McShay predicted the Broncos would select Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Baker Mayfield of Oklahoma in the first round. Rotoworld’s Josh Norris predicted the same last month.

In McShay’s first mock draft, he had the Broncos taking Josh Allen — whom Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller also expects the Broncos to select at No. 5.

And for variation, ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. earlier predicted Denver to select Southern California’s Sam Darnold, and Bucky Brooks of NFL.com has the Broncos taking UCLA’s Josh Rosen.

There’s a theme to this offseason for the Broncos, and it mirrors the one they had in 2016, when they traded up to draft Paxton Lynch, and the one they had in 2017, when there was uncertainty about their Week 1 starter.

Since Peyton Manning retired two years ago, the Broncos have been on a hunt for their starting quarterback and enter this offseason with an array of options, each differing in cost and potential.

Ask players, from Aqib Talib to former Broncos Terrell Davis and Shannon Sharpe, and many believe general manag- er John Elway will spend big on a veteran quarterback, either via trade or free agency.

“He’s up there kicking himself, banging his head on the wall like, ‘I can’t believe this. Two years in a row, I’m out of the playoffs,’ ” Sharpe told The Denver Post during Super Bowl LII week in Minneapolis. “He’s going to be very aggressive. John Elway doesn’t like losing.”

But draft analysts have the Broncos selecting a quarterback, too. It could be in addition to a veteran. It could be instead of a veteran.