Earlier this offseason, the Denver Broncos officially moved on from Russell Wilson, cutting him loose after just two seasons and before his mammoth five-year, $240 million contract extension even kicked in. If they had to play a game tomorrow, the only two quarterbacks on the roster would be Jarrett Stidham and Ben DiNucci.
So, it’s unsurprising that they have been heavily rumored to be seeking a quarterback in next month’s draft. To get their man, though, they may have to trade up. And according to Sean Payton, that might happen. Asked at the 2024 NFL Annual Meeting in Orlando on Monday how realistic it is for the Broncos to move up in the 2024 NFL Draft, Payton simply said that it is “realistic,” according to NFL Media.
Payton even gave a hint as to where the Broncos might look to land, if they were to try to move up the board and get their quarterback of the future. “It’s good to be [Cardinals general manager] Monti (Ossenfort) right now,” he said.
So, what might it actually take for the Broncos to move up from their current spot at No. 12 to the Cardinals‘ No. 4 overall pick? To gauge the cost, we can consult several different versions of the draft pick value chart, which assigns a point value to every single pick in the draft. Teams generally have to pay a bit of a premium to move up — particularly when going up to get a quarterback and especially when jumping into the top five picks.
- Jimmy Johnson Chart: ARI trades 4 (1800) to DEN for 12 (1200), 76 (210), 2025 1st
- R.J. White Chart: ARI trades 4 (492.97) to DEN for 12 (316.41), 76 (55.22), 2025 2nd
- Rich Hill Chart: ARI trades 4 (491) to DEN for 12 (347), 76 (61), 2025 2nd
- Fitzgerald-Spielberger Chart: ARI trades 4 (2297) to DEN for 12 (1741), 76 (805), 2025 3rd
- Football Perspective Chart: ARI trades 4 (25.8) to DEN for 12 (18.8), 76 (7.8), 2025 2nd
That said, these are mostly deals that would provide around equivalent value to Arizona for moving down. And as previously noted, teams generally have to pay a premium to move up.
I’d imagine that tacking on at least an additional first-round pick to each version of the deal would be necessary, especially when you consider that, for example, the 49ers had to trade No. 12, their next two first-round picks, and a third-round pick (No. 102) to move up to No. 3 and select Trey Lance back in 2021. Given that, as Payton noted, it is good to be Monti right now, there might even need to be more of a premium attached. And given that the Broncos do not own a second-round pick, they might have to dip even further into their future draft capital than other trade-up teams in the recent past.
