Report: Denver is trying to make a deal with Cleveland

The Athletic’s Michael Lombardi is a former executive in the NFL and assistant for the Patriots. On his podcast, Lombardi said that the Denver Broncos are trying to make a deal with the Cleveland Browns, who own the No. 10 overall pick. The Broncos would be leaping the San Francisco 49ers Oakland Las Vegas Raiders, and the New York Jets, all of whom have been linked to a wide receiver. It’s more likely that the Raiders pass on a receiver as they have a second first-round pick, and the Jets could also take an offensive tackle.

Because of the unknown, it makes sense for general manager John Elway to leapfrog the three teams to take his receiver of choice. Not every team will have a Jerry Jeudy as the consensus number one wideout in this draft. Some teams will have CeeDee Lamb, while others have Henry Ruggs. Asking around, league spies seem to think Denver covets Ruggs. If that’s the case, and these rankings are anywhere near accurate, that’s tremendous news for the 49ers.

If the wide receivers start going at ten, and CJ Henderson is in the top ten, then the offensive tackles or Brown/Kinlaw have to fall. The reliability of a couple of presumed outcomes is dubious at this point; they can’t all coexist. If a top tackle falls, I’d guess New York takes one with the depth of the wide receiver class. It’s a deep tackle class as well, but the top guys are significantly better than the next tier. The closer we get to the draft, the more it seems like Jeudy or Lamb will be available for the 49ers at 13.

Some other other rumors I’ve heard today:

-Eagles trying to get to 7 or 12 potentially for Lamb

-Bucs trying to get up to the Jags at 9 for an OT

-Denver trying to get up to 10 for Ruggs (which would be ironic if TB traded ahead of the Browns only for CLE to move back behind them)

-Falcons trying to move to 10/11 for Kinlaw