Broncos 2023 NFL Draft class graded worst of all 32 teams

The Denver Broncos were unable to find enough impact players from their 2023 NFL Draft class and that is why the class graded out so poorly.

We have some grading and ranking coming out from the Denver Broncos 2023 NFL Draft class and the results were pretty bad. Chad Reuter and Eric Edholm put together a post grading all 32 draft classes from last season and the Broncos 2023 NFL Draft class ended up being a massive flop coming in 32nd overall and graded out quite poorly.

Rank 32: Denver Broncos
Class grade: D

Two years ago, the Broncos sent three players and five draft picks to Seattle for quarterback Russell Wilson and a fourth-round selection. They parted with last year’s first- and second-round picks in the deal, which has brought a very low return on investment based on Wilson’s performance with Denver over the past two seasons.

Mims jumped out to a big start for the Broncos, posting 113 receiving yards and a score against Washington in Week 2. He only bested 50 receiving yards twice over the rest of the season, though, as the team’s offense stagnated. A healthy sophomore campaign could prove quite productive for Mims.

Sanders struggled with his tackling early in his rookie season but was better later in the season. The team’s remaining picks played very little, with Moss missing time due to injury, Skinner playing one snap on defense the entire season and Forsyth failing to see action. McLaughlin ended up being a nice find as an undrafted free agent, gaining 570 yards from scrimmage.

The biggest hit predictably came from the horrendous trade for quarterback Russell Wilson and the subsequent trade for Sean Payton, which ended with Denver having very little draft capital to make enough moves for impact players. The entire analysis above is hard to argue, in fact, it might be helpful to list out their entire class for reference before proceeding.

Not a single major contributor on the list outside of Marvin Mims Jr. who really had a pedestrian rookie season despite the Pro Bowl nod. I mean I’m happy for him, but long-term we need to see him challenge for a starter-level role on offense to make this pick a success. Since the rest of the picks were essentially non-factors last season, we’ll need to look at the undrafted guys.

Many of these guys didn’t make the final roster, but the only name that really stands out is Jaleel McLaughlin. So basically the entire 2023 draft class comes down to Mims and McLaughlin. Yeah, that’s not good. And they say John Elway sucked at drafting.

As we enter draft season in a few weeks, Paton and Payton are going to need to start finding starter-level talent in the draft. The team is set to lose a lot of veterans to free agency and they can’t afford to keep whiffing on draft classes each year. The Broncos are still working through the pain of the Wilson and Payton trades and won’t have much draft capital again this year, so they need to start hitting on those picks.