Broncos focused on 6 players in 2nd round of NFL draft

The Denver Broncos are going into the 2026 NFL draft without a first-round pick.

This marks the third time in general manager George Paton's tenure that the club has entered a draft without one of the top 32 picks. It worked out well the last two times as Denver landed outside linebacker Nik Bonitto and wide receiver Marvin Mims with their second-round picks in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

The Broncos have a good feel for drafting on Day 2, and Paton feels prepared going into next week's draft.

"We’re going to go through our process," Paton said during his pre-draft conference call with reporters on Thursday. "Our process has worked, and it continues to evolve. I think it’s better. I feel more prepared for this draft than I was for last year’s and the prior draft. We’ve done well in that realm. It doesn’t mean anything [is guaranteed]. We still go through our process."

Paton then mentioned the specific number of players the team has focused in on in the second round

"We feel like we have six players we’re kind of focused on that could be there at [pick] 62," Paton said. "We feel good about those players. We’re going to keep working through them. We’ve been down in the dungeons since the Wednesday after the owners meeting, just watching tape, had our meetings, now going through all these different scenarios. We feel good about 62. We feel good about the fourth round as well. That’s harder to predict, obviously. We like our process, we like how it’s worked, and we feel good with where we’re at.”

Paton, of course, did not reveal who those six players are (but we do know many of the players that the team has met with leading up to the draft). Perhaps Paton will be asked during his post-draft press conference if they landed one of those six prospects at No. 62.