GREEN BAY, Wis. — It took a while, but the Broncos added offensive weapons to Bo Nix’s arsenal.
The Broncos drafted Robert Harvey Jr. (RJ), a former Virginia quarterback who rushed for 2,993 yards as a running back the past two seasons combined for Central Florida, in the second round.
The Broncos traded back twice — from their No. 51 pick in the second round to No. 57, then again from No. 57 to No. 60 — before taking Harvey.
“It’s always a risk when you trade back,” Broncos’ general manager George Paton said about the strategy of moving back to acquire more draft capital while not losing Harvey. “We felt good about the teams behind us—maybe they already took a [running] back or it wasn’t a big need; it wasn’t their top need. So we took the risk.
“We didn’t want to lose him, obviously. But we felt like moving back would set the tone for the day, would give us flexibility to do what we want to do for the day, and it did.
“Harvey—[he] was kind of our pet cat throughout the process. His running style, he’s dynamic, really good vision, really good instincts, really good contact balance, highly explosive. We thought maybe he had the best vision in the draft. You see the plus-10s, I think he leads everyone with plus-10 runs. Home run ability… We feel like he can improve in the pass game. He wasn’t featured there, but we really liked this back.”
With their No. 74 overall selection in the third round, the Broncos took Illinois receiver Pat Bryant, who averaged 18.2 yards per catch and had 10 touchdown receptions last year.
“We always talk about, ‘Who does he remind [you of]?’” said Broncos head coach Sean Payton. “We try to find comps. There were so many things about his game that reminded me of (former Saints’ receiver) Mike Thomas. With respect to Mike who became… I mean, holy cow. You don’t ever want to put pressure on a rookie like that, we’re just talking about traits. But really explosive off the line of scrimmage, he’s very competitive, very tough.”
Thomas from 2017-19 had 104, 125 and 149 receptions for more than 1,200, 1,400 and 1,700 yards. High praise for Bryant.
“His size and his hands are outstanding,” Payton said. “Obviously he’s physical but the player comp for me—forget the jersey number—just of a lot of traits that Mike had, especially at the line of scrimmage.”
The Broncos then swapped multiple draft picks with the Philadelphia Eagles to climb back into the third round and used the penultimate selection, No. 101 overall, to select LSU defensive end Sai’vion Jones.
Harvey is 5-foot-8, 205 pounds and 24 years old, He ran the 40 meter dash in 4.4 seconds at the NFL Combine in late-February. Besides rushing for 3,792 yards on 6.5 yards per carry in his last three seasons at Central Florida, Harvey had a 75-yard catch-and-run touchdown reception against the Colorado Buffaloes back on Sept. 28.
To Harvey, succeeding as a running back was an afterthought to his childhood dream.
“At first it was pretty difficult because my whole life I played quarterback,” Harvey said in a conference call with the Denver media. “I looked at guys like Kyler Murray and Lamar Jackson when I was in high school and growing up.
“Michael Vick, especially. That’s one of the reasons I wear No. 7. I wanted to be like him in high school. Yeah, I played quarterback all through high school, got to UCF and had to change my position. UCF actually recruited me in high school as a running back but I was so stuck on thinking I’m a quarterback.
“I’m happy I made the right move. Going to UCF was the right move for me and my family.”
After spending one season at Virginia in 2019, Harvey transferred to UCF in 2020. He played very little that year — 3 yards on 3 carries — then tore his ACL in preseason training camp in 2021 and missed the entire season.
Finally, he got going in 2022 with 796 yards on 6.7 yards per carry, then followed up with 1,416 yards in 2023 and 1,577 yards in 2024.
Harvey wasn’t often deployed as a receiver out of the backfield but of his 20 catches last year, he amassed 267 yards and three TDs, including that end-to-end romp against the Buffs.
After their two trades, the Broncos moved up from pick No. 85 to No. 74 in the third round, where they took Bryant.
Bryant is 6-foot-2, 204 pounds who ran the 40 in 4.61 seconds at the NFL Combine. That’s not swift but Bryant is a pass catcher who knows how to make impact catches.
“I’m pretty sure I was on everybody’s radar but I had a lot of great conversations with the Broncos and a lot of other teams,” Bryant said in his conference call with the Denver media. “I got the call, my family got excited so just ready to get to the Broncos and go to work.”
The Broncos’ third swap of draft pick numbers resulted in fortifying their defensive line. Jones at 6-foot-5, 280 pounds would be a defensive tackle in a 4-3 defensive alignment. Broncos’ defensive line coach Jamar Cain was Jones’ D-line coach three years ago.
“When you pick me, you’re drafting a couple of players,” Jones said. “I’m not just an edge player. I can play a 4-line, a 3-line… I can play across the line. I felt like that’s the reason why they felt like I was a person they should draft.”
After all their trades, the Broncos enter the final day of the draft Saturday with one selection in the fourth round (No. 134 overall) and one pick in the sixth round (No. 197 overall).
