More than half of the Denver Broncos’ 2025 draft class served as team captains at the college level.
Each of the team’s first three picks — cornerback Jahdae Barron, running back RJ Harvey and wide receiver Pat Bryant — served as team captains in college. Denver’s sixth-round pick, punter Jeremy Crawshaw, was also a captain.
The Broncos do not necessarily target captains specifically, but they do deep dives into each prospect and place an emphasis on high-character players with good football IQ.
“[W]e do spend a lot of time on the football makeup and the mental makeup, what kind of teammates they are,” coach Sean Payton said. “Are they intelligent? There’s a lot that goes into that, and it’s probably one of the more challenging things. The area scouts go out and they get exposure. Now it’s hard for the area scout to really narrow down how quickly someone learns. At the school, they’ll give them an A-learn, a B-learn, and then we take that information, and we try to dive into it more but, no, it’s not an accident that these (picks) are these types of players.
“We talk about it all the time: our locker room is counting on this now. There’s a responsibility that we have each selection to bring them like-minded players that plan on winning and are used to competing and have that football DNA. This is a difficult league, and if you don’t have it, it challenges you quick.”
Last year, Broncos quarterback Bo Nix was named a team captain in his rookie season. Nix became the team’s first rookie captain since Floyd Little in 1967. Nix got a boost from being the starting quarterback, but earning a captain nod was well-deserved given his mentality and leadership. With many of their veteran captains returning, Denver seems unlikely to have any rookie captains this year. But the Broncos clearly found high-character players in this year’s class, and many of them could be candidates to become future team captains down the road.
Related: These 25 celebrities are Broncos fans.
This article originally appeared on Broncos Wire: Broncos: More than half of draft picks were team captains in college
More than half of the Denver Broncos’ 2025 draft class served as team captains at the college level.
Each of the team’s first three picks — cornerback Jahdae Barron, running back RJ Harvey and wide receiver Pat Bryant — served as team captains in college. Denver’s sixth-round pick, punter Jeremy Crawshaw, was also a captain.
The Broncos do not necessarily target captains specifically, but they do deep dives into each prospect and place an emphasis on high-character players with good football IQ.
“[W]e do spend a lot of time on the football makeup and the mental makeup, what kind of teammates they are,” coach Sean Payton said. “Are they intelligent? There’s a lot that goes into that, and it’s probably one of the more challenging things. The area scouts go out and they get exposure. Now it’s hard for the area scout to really narrow down how quickly someone learns. At the school, they’ll give them an A-learn, a B-learn, and then we take that information, and we try to dive into it more but, no, it’s not an accident that these (picks) are these types of players.
“We talk about it all the time: our locker room is counting on this now. There’s a responsibility that we have each selection to bring them like-minded players that plan on winning and are used to competing and have that football DNA. This is a difficult league, and if you don’t have it, it challenges you quick.”
Last year, Broncos quarterback Bo Nix was named a team captain in his rookie season. Nix became the team’s first rookie captain since Floyd Little in 1967. Nix got a boost from being the starting quarterback, but earning a captain nod was well-deserved given his mentality and leadership. With many of their veteran captains returning, Denver seems unlikely to have any rookie captains this year. But the Broncos clearly found high-character players in this year’s class, and many of them could be candidates to become future team captains down the road.
Related: These 25 celebrities are Broncos fans.
This article originally appeared on Broncos Wire: Broncos: More than half of draft picks were team captains in college
