The Broncos picked 23-year old DE Jeremy Beal out of Oklahoma with the 247th overall pick (7th round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  Beal is 6’2″, 268 pounds and he runs a 4.9 40.  Beal is a good athlete but he might be a tad small for DE.  The Broncos will probably try to get him to gain a few pounds because he’s not fast enough to try OLB.  Beal played in 14 games (all starts) at Oklahoma last year and he had 72 tackles, 19 tackles for a loss, 8.5 sacks, batted down 7 passes, he forced 3 fumbles and he recovered 1 fumble.  Beal played in 54 games (43 starts) in his four years with the Sooners and he had 223 tackles, 58.5 tackles for a loss, he had 29 sacks, batted down 14 passes, forced 10 fumbles and he recovered 1 fumble.  The Broncos got a really solid player in the 7th round as a reward for excellent draft preparation.  Beal could be an impact pass rusher for the Broncos down the road.

The Denver Broncos took 23-year old TE Virgil Green out of Nevada with the 204th overall pick (7th round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  Green is 6’3″, 248 pounds and he runs a 4.56 40.  Green is going to be a big asset to the Broncos as he will give either Kyle Orton or Tim Tebow a nice big target to hit down the field.  Green has good hands and he can really jump.  He will need to improve as a run blocker and he might be able to be coached up there.  Green played in 14 games (all starts) at Nevada last year and he caught 35 passes for 515 yards (14.7 avg) with 5 TD grabs.  He played in 52 games (34 starts) in his four years at Nevada and he caught 72 passes for 939 yards (13.0 avg) with 11 TD grabs.  The Broncos got really good value with this pick as Green should have been long gone by the time they took him.  Green has a nice upside.

The Broncos have picked linebacker Mike Mohamed out of California with the 189th overall pick (6th round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  Mohamed is 6’3″, 239 pounds and he runs a 4.7 40.  He can handle playing inside or outside linebacker, so his versatility should help the Broncos.  He played in 11 games (10 starts) for California last year and he had 95 tackles, 5 tackles for a loss, 2 sacks, he broke up 1 pass, had 1 interception and he recovered 2 fumbles.  Mohamed played in 50 games (29 starts) in his four years with California and he had 340 tackles, 20 tackles for a loss, 7 sacks, he broke up 9 passes, had 7 interceptions and he forced 3 fumbles.  This was another solid pick for the Broncos as Mohamed should help out the rebuilding off the D.

The Broncos picked 23-year old TE Julius Thomas out of Portland State with the 129th overall pick (4th round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  Thomas is 6’4″, 251 pounds and he runs a 4.7 40.  Thomas played basketball his first four years at Portland State before turning to football in 2010.  He played in 11 games (1 start) for Portland State last year and he caught 29 passes for 453 yards (15.6 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  Thomas has a huge upside because he’s such a good athlete, but, it might take him a lot of time to adjust to the jump in competition.  Thomas also has quite a bit to learn about playing TE before he’s ready to get on a NFL field.

The Broncos picked 23-year old strong safety Quinton Carter out of Oklahoma with the 108th overall pick (4th round) of the 2011 NFL Draft.  Carter is 6’0″, 211 pounds and he runs a 4.55 40.  Carter is a solid in the box safety as he is really good with the action in front of him.  He does make plays down the field as he has good hands but he doesn’t have the speed to go toe to toe isolated against really fast receivers.  Carter played in 14 games (all starts) for Oklahoma last year and he had 96 tackles, broke up 6 passes, had 4 interceptions and he recovered 1 fumble.  Carter played in 44 games (29 starts) in his four years with the Sooners and he had 222 tackles, broke up 13 passes, had 8 interceptions and he recovered 2 fumbles.  This was a good pick for the Broncos as Carter has the upside to be a starter for them down the road.