Following the final pick of the NFL Draft on Saturday — which just so happened to belong to Denver — beat writers at The Athletic highlighted their team’s favorite draft choice.
And for Nick Kosmider, that belonged to University of Washington running back Jonah Coleman:
Mel Kiper Jr. wasn’t too high on Denver’s draft overall, giving the team a C+ in its selections and mediocre review on individual players:
What does Kiper know anyway?
My favorite picks for Denver were all the seventh-round guys — Miles Scott, Dallen Bentley and Red Murdock — and I was probably most excited about Murdock, aka “Mr. Irrelevant.”
Because I think he’ll be anything but irrelevant. And so does George Paton.
“Murdock, just man, he’s a tackling machine. Just really instinctive. Really good against the run,” the GM said. He may hold the record—you guys may know—for forced fumbles. “Everyone talked about the Texas Tech guy [Dolphins LB Jacob Rodriguez], and he was amazing, but this guy—oh my gosh, if you look at his career and all the forced fumbles he had. Just a nose for the ball, relentless motor.”
For one thing, depth at linebacker is always necessary, especially when current starters Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad aren’t getting younger.
But for another, the kid holds the NCAA record for most forced fumbles (17) after all (breaking the previous record held by former University of Buffalo linebacker Khalil Mack).
“Meticulous intent and being kind of being obsessed with it,” Murdock said of achieving that record. “Now I’m just ready to go do that on the field and help us get some wins.”
Murdock is also a big “team-first guy” as evidenced by his choice to stay at the University of Buffalo his entire collegiate career rather than enter the transfer portal.
Operating as the “quarterback of the defense,” Murdock saw his primary job as getting everyone on the same page so the defense could perform as one.
“That is what I’m looking forward to bringing to the Broncos,” Murdock said. “Being a player who is going to put the team success before all else in any instance.”
