With Casey Wiegmann off to K.C. the Broncos found themselves in a need of a starting center.  With that in mind they selected center J.D. Walton out of Baylor with the 80th pick overall (3rd round) in the NFL Draft.  Walton is a very hard worked and he is smart enough to pick up NFL blocking assignments very quickly.  He comes to play every snap as he is very aggressive and provides good punch in the running game.  He also sets his feet up very well in pass protection.  Walton is 6′2″, 300 pounds giving him the size needed to deal with big nose tackles.  Walton played in 12 games (all starts) for Baylor last season and he played in 36 games (all starts) in this time there.  This was a solid pick for the Broncos as Walton could be starting at center as early as the first week of the 2010 season.

The Broncos have selected OG Zane Beadles out of Utah with the 45th overall pick (2nd round) of the NFL Draft.  The Broncos will be moving Beadles inside to guard after he started at left tackle for the Utes last season.  He projects much better inside because of his speed off the ball and willingness to hit a moving target.  He has nice size at 6′4″, 307 pounds so he should be able to deal with tackles inside at the NFL level.  Beadles played in 13 games (all starts) for Utah last season and he played in 51 games (50 starts) in his four year career there.  The Broncos might have picked Beadles a round or two too early but he fits a big need for them.

The Broncos traded back into the first round moving a 2nd, 3rd and 4th round pick to the Baltimore Ravens in order to take QB Tim Tebow of Florida with the 25th pick in the round.  Tebow really improved his stock at his Pro Day when he showed that he can be coached up as he sported a new release point on his passes.  I find it hard to believe that a lot of people doubt this guy as he is a fearless warrior and a great leader.  Tebow played in 14 games (all starts) with the Gators last season and he completed 213 of 314 passes (67.8%) for 2,895 yards with 21 TD passes and 5 INTs.  In his 4 years in Florida, Tebow played in 55 games (41 starts) and he completed 661 of 995 passes (66.4%) for 9,285 yards with 88 TD passes and 16 INTs.  The Broncos will likely bring Tebow along slowly behind Kyle Orton and Brady Quinn in 2010.

After a couple of trades down for extra draft picks the Broncos selected WR Demaryius Thomas in the first round of the NFL Draft with the 22nd pick.  Thomas is a big, physical receiver at 6′3″, 230 pounds.  Thomas played in 14 games (all starts) for Georgia Tech last season in which he caught 46 passes for 1,154 yards (25.1 avg) with 8 TD grabs.  Georgia Tech was a run first team so Thomas rarely faced the double teams that he likely will with the Broncos.  It will be interesting to see how well he handles that.  Thomas played in 39 games (36 starts) in his three years at G.T. in which he caught 120 passes for 2,339 yards (19.5 avg) with 15 TD grabs.  Thomas has the upside of being a true #1 WR in the NFL and it will be interesting to see how long it takes him to get there.

The Broncos have a lot of needs due to head coach Josh McDaniels wanting Brandon Marshall and Tony Scheffler out of town.  Luckily for the Broncos they have 4 of the top 80 picks in this draft with 7 overall picks.  The Broncos have needs at WR, G, C, S, OLB and TE heading into this weekend.  Look for the Broncos to consider WR Dez Bryant, OLB Sergio Kindle and S Taylor Mays with their first round pick.

PROJECTED FIRST ROUND PICK:  WR, Dez Bryant, Oklahoma State