Drew Lock has a chance – just a chance mind you – to become the best quarterback the Denver Broncos have ever drafted.
Drew Romo also has a chance – just a chance – to become the best catcher the Colorado Rockies have ever drafted.
And Justus Annunen has that same chance – only a chance – to become the best goaltender ever drafted by the Colorado Avalanche.
All three of these athletes are recent draft picks for organizations that are several decades old. There’s one thing the three outfits have in common: They’ve all done a lousy job at drafting and developing All-Star talent at those single critical positions.
Free agent signings can fill holes and dramatically improve a team for a short period of time. Long term success is built through the draft.
Let’s start with the Broncos.
Their drafts have been hit and miss under John Elway’s leadership, and his drafting of quarterbacks has been a subject of a lot of hand wringing around here. For whatever reason, the Hall of Fame QB has had a tough time identifying top-tier talent at the position. Paxton Lynch, anyone?
But Elway is certainly not alone. Previous decision makers drafted duds at QB, too. Tim Tebow ring a bell?
Denver has won three Super Bowl titles behind quarterbacks they did not draft, plus an AFC title game appearance behind a QB – Jake Plummer – they signed as a free agent. A shrewd and fortunate trade brought Elway to town in 1983, and he achieved a Hall of Fame career. Then-owner Edgar Kaiser and his staff deserve all the credit in the world for engineering that deal…but the fact remains Elway was not a draft choice. Same with Peyton Manning more than three decades later: A tremendous free agent signing (by Elway the GM, ironically), but not a draft pick.
Who’s the best quarterback ever drafted by the Denver Broncos? Gary Kubiak? Tommy Maddox? Jay Cutler? Brian Griese? Trevor…no. Not going there. No way. Anyway you slice it, those are slim pickings. To date, the Broncos have spent a first round draft pick on just four quarterbacks, including Maddox, Cutler, Lynch, and Tebow. Cutler probably had the best career of that bunch, but never became what he was supposed to become, even after he left the Broncos. None were ever difference makers in the NFL.
The Broncos have drafted 26 quarterbacks since the AFL – NFL merger in 1970. Lock, a second round pick whose early returns are promising, hopes to become the first to go under center and lead the Broncos to a Super Bowl. (Kubiak was 5-for-7 in relief of Elway in two Super Bowl appearances, both losses.)
As for the Rockies, they’ve been around since 1993 (started drafting in 1992) and Chris Iannetta (a 2004 4th round draft pick) is widely considered the best catcher the team has ever had. That says everything you need to know. They’ve drafted a couple dozen catchers over that period, and exactly zero have ever made an All-Star team. It’s the only position on the field where Colorado has not fielded an All-Star at some point.
Romo was a supplemental first round draft pick this past June. Coming straight out of high school, it’s likely to be five or six seasons before he shows up at Coors Field. In the meantime, none of the Rockies top 30 prospects – as currently ranked by scouting guru Jonathan Mayo – are catchers. And the club continues to struggle behind the plate.
When the Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver and became the Avalanche in 1995, they did so with a guy named Jocelyn Thibault in net. Early in the season, it became apparent to General Manager Pierre LaCroix that in order for his team to take the next step, they needed a standout (as in “stand on your head”) goalie. He engineered a trade for future Hall of Famer Patrick Roy, sending Thibault to Montreal. Roy led the Avs to a pair of Stanley Cups.
LaCroix is also responsible for the only first round draft pick ever spent on a goaltender by Colorado – Marc Denis that same season, 1995. Denis never made a splash. To date, the Avs have drafted 25 goalies since moving to town. The best of the bunch is probably Peter Budaj, who played in the league’s Young Stars game in 2007 and did well for the Slovakian national team. Maybe you’re partial to David Aebischer, Philippe Sauve or Calvin Pickard? Fact remains, though, that Colorado hasn’t been to a conference finals since Roy retired. Goaltender is a critical position and the Avs need a star there in order to get back to those finals.
Today’s Avalanche have put together one of the top-rated farm systems in the NHL, to go along with a bevy of skilled young players already here. Another one, Bowen Byram, is on the way. They’ll be a force to contend with for years to come…if they can fill that nagging void between the pipes. The current tandem of Pavel Francouz and Philipp Grubauer is adequate, but as we saw in the recent playoff loss to Dallas, not quite good enough. Like the old football adage says, when you have two quarterbacks, you don’t really have one. Same with goalies.
The Avs could perhaps, with their deep farm system, make a trade for a guy like 30-year-old Darcy Kuemper, currently with Arizona. Or they can try to develop the franchise’s first home grown All-Star in goal. Perhaps that will be young Adam Werner, a fifth-round pick in 2016 who had a brief but successful stint with the big club this past season. Or maybe it will be Annunen, the highest rated netminder in the Avs’ highly rated farm system.
However you look at it, all three of these franchises need to closely examine these blind spots they’ve had when it comes to what’s really their life blood – drafting and developing home grown talent – especially at critical positions.
Listen to Mark Knudson on Monday’s at 12:30 with Brady Hull on AM 1310 KFKA and on Saturday mornings on “Klahr and Kompany” on AM 1600 ESPN Denver.
More from The Woody Paige Sports Network:
- Target these NFL regular season win totals with confidence in 2020
- Woody Paige: That time I played blackjack with Michael Jordan in Monte Carlo
- The best dressed player from each team in the NBA bubble
- Is Drew Lock the next franchise QB for the Denver Broncos? Let’s pump the brakes for second
- Jadeveon Clowney signs one-year contract with Tennessee Titans
