2020 NFL Mock Draft: Unexpected first-round pick for each team
By Dan Parzych
Safety. Denver Broncos. Xavier McKinney. 15. player. 45.
Do the Denver Broncos finally have the quarterback they have spent years searching for in Drew Lock after last season?
After using a second-round pick on Lock during the draft last April, the Broncos clearly felt confident enough in the youngster one day developing into the kind of quarterback the offense needs, and this appeared to be the case during the final stretch last December.
By helping Denver win four of their final five games to close out the regular season, expectations are now rightfully high for Lock entering his sophomore NFL season, although the Broncos will still need to come through on the defensive side of the football as well.
Over the years, Denver’s defense has done most of the heavy lifting for the team while the offense struggled for the most part, so the unit should have little trouble continuing to compete at a high level.
But if the Broncos were to add a talented young safety in Xavier McKinney, it will put the defense in that much better shape to compete in the AFC West.
McKinney is currently expected to go late in the first round at the earliest once the draft gets underway on Thursday, but taking him early could benefit Denver in a big way if the Alabama star turned out to be better than expected in the NFL.