Gavino Borquez of Draft Wire recently published a list of the Top 50 rookies from the 2019 NFL season and he didn’t give much love to Denver Broncos players.
Broncos tight end Noah Fant, who was selected with the 20th overall pick in last year’s draft, is ranked No. 36. Given that there are 32 picks in the first round of the draft, that essentially means Borquez doesn’t think Fant lived up to his first-round draft status in 2019.
That seems a bit harsh — Fant led all rookie tight ends with 562 receiving yards last season.
Offensive lineman Dalton Risner is ranked No. 37, which isn’t too surprising given that he was selected with the 41st pick in the draft. He made PFWA’s All-Rookie Team, though, so he probably deserves to be a little higher.
Quarterback Drew Lock is ranked No. 46. Granted, Lock didn’t have a large sample size to judge from (five games) but it’s hard to agree with Borquez’s estimation that 45 rookies were better than Lock last season.
There is one Denver player with a flattering ranking: outside linebacker Malik Reed is ranked No. 49 despite going undrafted last year. That means if there was a re-draft and teams used Borquez’s rankings as a big board, Reed would be a second-round pick. Not bad for an undrafted rookie!
To view Draft Wire’s complete list of Top 50 rookies from 2019, click here.
