ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- The countdown to this year’s NFL draft is in the final days with the Denver Broncos poised to use 10 picks to create the 2015 draft class, whether that means packaging some for a trade or simply picking the 10 players they believe can pump up the roster.
So, with the bulk of their work in free agency done, this is the sixth of a position-by-position look at where things stand on the roster and what draft prospects could be a fit for the Broncos.
Today: Defensive line
Sunday: Linebacker
At the moment: In the change to a 3-4 scheme, the Broncos found themselves with defensive linemen on the roster like Derek Wolfe, Malik Jackson, Marvin Austin Jr. and Sylvester Williams, who they believed could move smoothly into the new defense.
They then signed Vance Walker, who has played both end and nose tackle in both a 3-4 and 4-3 scheme, in free agency. Add in the addition of the widely-respected Bill Kollar as the team’s new defensive line coach, and the Broncos feel like that’s a quality start in the defensive front as well as a group that gives them some situational options.
Need factor: The Broncos are of the mind that Wolfe and Jackson will play well as defensive ends in the three-man front, and that Walker gives them plenty of versatility across the front in what figures to be a five- or six-man rotation of sorts.
The unanswered question as the team moves toward its organized team activities and minicamps is whether or not Austin and Williams will be able to handle playing nose tackle in the new defense. They each have qualities that makes them candidates for the job and will certainly get an aggressive tutorial from Kollar in the weeks and months that follow, but if there is a need position in the defensive front, nose tackle is it.
The Broncos believe they can function well with either Austin or Williams in there, and that defensive coordinator Wade Phillips would vary the fronts so either of the two isn't head up on the center all the time. But if a scenario where the "best player available" is an interior defensive linemen when a Broncos pick rolls around in the draft’s first two days, that is the pick they will make.
Names to keep handy: It would take an unexpected tumble in the opening round, but Texas’ Malcolm Brown is a player who the Broncos would take a long look with the 28th pick.
A look at the game video shows Brown has worked all over the defensive front in both a 3-4 scheme as well as a 4-3 scheme in his collegiate career. At 319 pounds, he also had 70 tackles to go with 6.5 sacks last season and he was the first Longhorns defensive tackle to lead the team in both tackles for loss and sacks in the same season since 1984.
Florida State’s Eddie Goldman, at 6-foot-4, 336 pounds, is another candidate who is expected to be selected at some point in the first round. He has shown limited pass-rush skills, so the question would be if the Broncos would want to expend hefty draft capital for a player who projects to be mostly a two-down player.
Down the board, Oklahoma’s Jordan Phillips is another lineman the Broncos have kept an eye on, including inviting him for a pre-draft visit. Some evaluators in the league question Phillips’ effort at times and he had a season-ending back injury in 2013, but at 6-5 ¼, 329 pounds with a big reach, he fits the mold of what the Broncos are looking to find.
And effort questions will be put to Kollar at some point to try to set things right.
Clemson’s Grady Jarrett might be slightly undersized to consistently play head-up on the center, but he’s an active player who has shown the ability to get rid of blockers and disrupt things up front. Stanford’s David Parry, at 6-1 ¼, 308 pounds, is slightly smaller than some would like for a potential nose tackle, but the former walk-on is a powerful player who consistently wins in the middle of the line.
He was a rotational player this past season -- 49 percent of the defense’s snaps -- and would likely be a rotational player in the NFL as well.