Broncos greatly irked one AFC team with their second-round draft pick

Travis Wakeman

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Broncos greatly irked one AFC team with their second-round draft pick image

The Denver Broncos took a different approach in the 2025 NFL Draft than just about anyone expected them to take, but they grabbed a couple of players who were being targeted by the Jacksonville Jaguars, who were upset to see a pair of offensive rookies join the Broncos. 

With the No. 60 overall pick in the second round of the draft, the Broncos took a running back, but it was not one of the players many had targeted them taking with that selection. Instead, it was R.J. Harvey out of UCF. As it turns out, the Jaguars were very high on the running back as well, wanting to keep him in the state of Florida. 

As reported by Mike Silver of The Athletic, general manager James Gladstone and head coach Liam Cohen were looking to make a trade to be able to select Harvey. The Broncos beat them to the punch. Then in the third round, the Broncos grabbed Illinois wide receiver Pat Bryant, who was also high on the Jaguars' list. Because the Broncos took him much sooner than most teams had him projected to go, they stole that pick from Jacksonville as well. 

 

The Broncos jumped on Harvey, a shifty and athletic back who rushed for nearly 3,000 yards and 38 touchdowns in the last two seasons for the Knights. In doing so, they passed on running backs Kaleb Johnson, Cam Skattebo and Dylan Sampson, all players who were closely connected to the Broncos in the draft process. 

It seems that Jacksonville may have had the same hunch about Harvey. For a pick that was highly questioned when it was made, it's starting to look like the Broncos knew Harvey could potentially be a very shiny diamond in the rough. 

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Travis Wakeman

Travis Wakeman has been covering the NFL since 2012 when he started with Bleacher Report. After reporting about the Broncos there until 2016, he joined the FanSided network as a site expert covering the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers while simultaneously covering the Broncos at Broncos Wire when that site launched. He then took over the Broncos site at FanSided in March 2020 and covered the team there until spring of 2024. A lifelong Broncos fan and fan of the game, Travis is filled with sometimes useless NFL knowledge, but it always serves him well in any trivia contest. You can follow him on Twitter/X @traviswakeman10.