The Denver Broncos 2019 NFL Draft class has been overwhelmingly seen as successful with most NFL Draft grades coming in with the higher of marks. The way John Elway was able to navigate the franchise to pick up starters with the first two picks was impressive, but it was his trade up in the second round to select quarterback Drew Lock that made the most headlines.

According to Todd McShay of ESPN, the Broncos trade up in the second round to get Lock was the best value pick of the draft for Denver.

I really like the Broncos’ strategy over the first two days of the draft. First, they moved back Thursday and selected a talented tight end in Noah Fant (Iowa) while also adding two extra picks. That trade set them up to take Lock on Friday night as a serious value. He has the best arm in the class and comes with great mobility. Frankly, I’m really shocked he fell out of the first round. His tape was up and down at Mizzou, but let’s be honest, Lock didn’t have much to work with there. And in the three-plus seasons that he started for the Tigers, he went through three coordinators and was frequently at a disadvantage in terms of offensive assets and opposing defensive prowess. There’s no need to throw him to the fire in Denver just yet with Joe Flacco in town, so he can learn how to be an NFL quarterback before bringing his athleticism to Mile High. And because Lock was actually the team’s third pick of the draft, rather than a first-rounder anointed the QB of the future, the pressure is off Flacco a bit. Denver did a nice job maneuvering this entire situation. Lock could be really special if developed properly.

I agree every step of the way with McShay here. If Denver had selected Lock with the 10th overall pick then the rug would have been pulled out from under Joe Flacco and the team wouldn’t have had much to work with in terms of additional talent out of this draft.

Instead, they picked up an extra second round pick and ended up getting two likely starters in Noah Fant and Dalton Risner before they made the move to get Drew Lock.

If Lock pans out and becomes the Broncos starter quarterback for a decade, then we’ll see this value pick come to its full fruition. Even so, if Lock ends up going the Paxton Lynch route then the Broncos really didn’t sacrifice much taking the chance where they did in this draft.

All in all it was a good weekend for Broncos fans.