Last week, the Denver Broncos traded a sixth-round draft pick to the New Orleans Saints in exchange for tight end Adam Trautman and a seventh-round pick.
Broncos coach Sean Payton is eager to reunite with Trautman, and he’s also excited about who Denver landed with the seventh-round pick: Oregon center Alex Forsyth.
“We felt really fortunate to have a chance at that center that late in the draft, considering that was a pick that we had swapped for the tight end,” Payton said. “In some of our mocks, we had actually seen that center possibly as a sixth-round player. It works out where you end up with the tight end and you still end up with the center. It doesn’t always work out that way.”
Denver thought Forsyth might go off the board in the sixth round, and The Athletic’s Dane Brugler had a fifth-round grade on the center. Landing him late in the seventh round could prove to be a steal for the Broncos.
“[He is] just tough and smart,” general manager George Paton said of Forsyth. “[We just] love the way he plays the game.”
Geoff Schwartz, a former seventh-round pick who went on to have an eight-year career as an offensive lineman in the NFL, took to Twitter last week to give Forsyth a strong endorsement.
Forsyth is going to play 10 years in the NFL. Tough as nails. So smart. Happy for him. https://t.co/w836JnHZcs
— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) April 29, 2023
If Forsyth does go on to play a decade in the NFL, selecting him in the seventh round will undoubtedly be looked at as a steal in the future.
