Johnny Manziel will be in the Broncos’ draft room Thursday.

John Elway and John Fox will be in there too. They will be sitting in chairs at a large conference table. The third John, more universally known as Johnny Football, will have his name listed on the Broncos’ draft board, presumably near the top.

“Everybody in the top 100 will be on that board. Whether we can get to them or not, they’ll be there,” Elway, the Broncos’ general manager, said last week. “It’s kind of a new thing for us.”

When the three-day NFL draft begins Thursday with first-round selections, Elway will be in charge of the Broncos’ plans. Others in the draft room will include top personnel assistants Matt Russell and Tom Heckert and his top scouting directors, Adam Peters and Lenny McGill.

Fox, the team’s head coach, and longtime trainer Steve Antonopulos, who will have medical reports at the ready, will be in there too. So will salary cap guru Mike Sullivan and pro personnel assistant Champ Kelly.

These men will be constantly glancing up at two boards. One will have players listed by position and ranked by round. Heckert, hired last May as the Broncos’ director of pro personnel after GM stints with Philadelphia and Cleveland, uses a top-100 prospect board regardless of position.

“Tom said it helped him in the past with trades,” Elway said. “Say we’re moving back 10 spots — how many guys in our top 100 are still there, so we know how good our chances of getting one of those top 100?”

Manziel, a Texas A&M quarterback who became the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy, figures to be long gone by the time the Broncos are scheduled to use their first-round pick, the No. 31 overall selection. The Broncos won’t be drafting a quarterback anyway — not when they already have arguably the league’s best, Peyton Manning, and young backups Brock Osweiler and Zac Dysert.

Inside linebacker and cornerback are the positions to which the Broncos figure to devote their greatest attention. They should be able to get one of each during the seven-round draft. The mystery is which day, which round and what’s his name?

“It’d be nice to get a guy you like at a position we might think we’re the weakest,” Elway said. “But if he’s not there, we’ll have options at all those other positions.”

Nonstop preparation

There was chaos outside Elway’s office as laborers pulled up carpet from the hallway. Plastic-covered furniture had been moved to odd places, while windows and doors disappeared from other offices. Broncos headquarters was a mess because of its considerable renovation project.

From behind his desk, though, Elway exuded a calming assurance his Broncos are about to have a good draft, no matter that they pick near the end of each round.

Elway’s confidence stems from his draft history. His first draft, in 2011, nabbed two Pro Bowlers, Von Miller and Julius Thomas; and two other starters, Rahim Moore and Orlando Franklin.

Denver’s 2012 draft has come under scrutiny because of Derek Wolfe’s second-year medical issues and the limited playing time of second-rounder Osweiler and third-round running back Ronnie Hillman. But to the rescue came Danny Trevathan and Malik Jackson, who emerged as second-year starters on the Denver defense from the back of that draft.

The Broncos’ 2013 draft should also be evaluated after year No. 2, when first-round defensive tackle Sylvester Williams and second-round running back Montee Ball are expected to become full-time starters.

For a playoff-caliber team such as Denver, which is coming off back-to-back 13-3 seasons, that’s pretty good. This isn’t Cleveland, Oakland or Jacksonville.

“When I used to work for the 49ers years ago … I heard if you had too many rookies starting for you, you weren’t a very good team,” said Jon Gruden, an NFL analyst for ESPN and a former coach. “To be honest with you, you don’t want to have five rookie starters.”

The Broncos’ draft-room gathering Thursday will culminate thousands of hours devoted to scouting college talent. With Russell at the point, the Broncos have 11 scouts whose livelihood is college prospect evaluation. Six scouts cover specific areas; Peters cross-checks the top players across the country.

The scouts come to Broncos headquarters in the fall for a meeting to update Elway and his staff on every potential player for the next year’s draft. The scouts head back out on the road, then return for another week-long meeting before the NFL scouting combine in late February.

“So we have a peek at every guy by the time we get to the combine,” Elway said.

Along with the scouts, Russell will place a letter code on every prospect. For example, J is for junior, F is for football instincts and C might be for character.

Meanwhile, the Denver coaches get a chunk of prospects at their position to evaluate. They will watch film of 10 to 20 players and write reports on them.

For 2½ weeks, the Broncos have a full-day meeting each day on each position. When it comes time to set the draft boards, a coach might like a player better than a scout, and vice versa.

“There’s not always agreement,” Elway said. “It’s amazing how different people look at players. The Raiders and Chiefs may see guys differently than we see them.”

The final days leading up to the draft involve a heavy amount of inertia, at least physically. Mentally, the process can become exhausting.

“You stare at each name and picture in your mind what he is,” Elway said. “You keep staring at it to keep it fresh in your mind. That’s what will happen (this) week.”

Elway has final call

Thanks to a rich crop of wide receivers and more than 100 college juniors who declared their eligibility, this draft is considered to be the best in years. Rounds 4-7 appear to be loaded with players who could become starters by their second season.

The Broncos will conduct their own daily mock drafts the rest of the week. The idea is to be ready for any scenario.

“We didn’t think Sly was going to be there,” Elway said, referring to Williams in last year’s draft. “We did all of our mocks last year and he never got to us. We’ll do our mock drafts (this) week and get it to — OK, these three guys here went, who do we take? These two guys here go, who do you take? And if it so happens somebody falls to you, that’s how it was when Sly fell to us last year.”

As they get later into the draft, and the Broncos start drafting as much for need as best available player, the corresponding position coach will be called into the draft room for a last-minute recommendation.

Elway makes the final call on every selection. Is there a guy in the draft room the boss trusts more than others?

“With John (Fox) being on the defensive side for so long, and Matt playing on that side, I would rely on their opinion on a defensive guy,” Elway said. “Matt’s a very good evaluator. As well as Tom.”

When the draft is completed, the Denver coaches and personnel people will begin the frenzy that is the recruitment of undrafted rookies. Three years ago, the Broncos acquired cornerback Chris Harris this way.

That’s the funny thing about the draft. The Broncos have worked on it for a year and their future can turn on a last-minute phone call. “That’s why you can only plan so much,” Elway said. “Once the draft starts, everything starts flying.”