Why adding Pat Surtain II was 'a home run for the Broncos'

[Miles]

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. —As the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft progressed on Thursday night, the board fell about how General Manager George Paton and the Broncos expected.


Three quarterbacks came off the board within the first three picks, and the Falcons and Bengals followed by selecting Kyle Pitts and Ja'Marr Chase, respectively. The Dolphins snagged Jaylen Waddle at No. 6, and the Lions selected Penei Sewell with the seventh pick. And despite the plethora of rumors about the Panthers trading back, Carolina stayed at No. 8 and selected cornerback Jaycee Horn.


Somewhere in those first eight picks, though, a team made a pick the Broncos didn't quite expect. Because while Paton said Thursday night that draft progressed largely as expected, they didn't think cornerback Pat Surtain II would make it all the way to No. 9.


Perhaps Denver thought Miami or Detroit would take a defensive player. Maybe the Broncos expected the Panthers to take Surtain over Horn. They may have even thought a team would trade in to select Surtain ahead of them at No. 9.


Surtain fell to Denver at the ninth pick, though, and Paton and the Broncos decided the value was too good to select another player.


"We had a lot of teams — three or four teams — calling us to trade back," Paton said. "We were in those discussions as we were on the clock. Again, it would've taken a haul to pass Patrick Surtain."


The 2020 SEC Defensive Player of the Year and consensus first-team All-American wasn't the only talented player on the board; Alabama quarterback Mac Jones and Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields had yet to be drafted when the Broncos made their selection.


Surtain, a dominant player in coverage who allowed just four touchdowns in 41 career games, proved himself worthy to the team's brass of the ninth-overall pick.