Denver Broncos May Be Big Winners of Shedeur-to-Steelers Speculation at NFL Draft

On Thursday night, all of the speculation about what is going to happen in the NFL draft will be put to bed. The Tennessee Titans will go on the clock, and the first round will play out, and all of the guessing of who will go where will be pushed aside in favor of what actually happens in reality.

But until then, we still have some pretty busy hours of speculation.

One beneficiary of all of that speculation could be the Denver Broncos, who currently hold the No. 20 pick in the first round.

Heading into Thursday night, the draft stock of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders has bounced around quite a bit. Months ago, he was seen as a potential top pick, but in the past few days, some insiders have said its possible he falls out of the first round entirely`.

But as of Thursday morning, most draft prognosticators have Sanders going to the Pittsburgh Steelers at No. 21. It’s a pairing that would make sense—the Steelers are in need of a quarterback as they continue their game of footsie with Aaron Rodgers, and Sanders has teased the idea of teaming up with wide receivers George Pickens and DK Metcalf.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter however, the Denver Broncos have been taking calls for the No. 20 pick.

Presumably, teams would be looking to jump ahead of the Steelers for the rights to Sanders, given all of the smoke coming out of the Sanders-to-Steelers corner. That said, in the hours leading up to the NFL draft, there are bluffs and double-bluffs, smokescreens disguising fake-outs, and all sorts of other bits of trickeration as front offices jockey for position across the league.

But given the current state of the rumors, it feels possible that the Broncos are set to benefit. Should a team below the Steelers want to lock in Sanders, there is a pick with which they can potentially do it—as long as they make Denver the right offer. Further, if the Steelers want to block the Broncos from making such a move, maybe they hop up one spot to box out other suitors.

Or it’s entirely possible that a QB-needy team gets antsy and fires a pick on Sanders much higher than No. 21, and this whole case is moot before the Broncos are on the clock.

Predicting what is going to happen in the NFL draft is a fool’s errand, which is part of what makes it so much fun. Thankfully, we won’t have to wait much longer to see how it all plays out.