The Denver Broncos are in the final phases of draft evaluations. Over the past two years, the Broncos' visits haven’t correlated much to their actual draft selections, with only one player they met with in Denver being drafted, but they've had multiple visits with eventual college free-agent signings.
The Broncos' recent visit with one wide receiver is just that: a potential post-draft priority signing.
According to Mike Garafolo, the Broncos brought in Baylor's Hal Presley for a visit.
"Baylor WR Hal Presley had a pre-draft visit with the Broncos this week. He had 31 catches for 429 yards and 3 TDs this past season for the Bears after missing most of 2023 due to injury," Garafolo posted on X.
Many believe that if it weren’t for a foot injury in 2023, Presley would be viewed as a top 150 pick this year. That foot injury derailed a promising start to the 2023 season after six games and is said to have held him back in 2024.
In those six games in 2023, Presley caught 17 passes for 202 yards and followed it up with 31 catches for 429 yards and three touchdowns in 2024. Over these two seasons, he played 797 snaps, which barely beats out his best season in 2022, where he had 757 snaps.
Presley is 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds, which is a good size. His athletic testing was fine but not great.
The focus of most of the pre-draft speculation surrounding the Broncos has centered on the running back position. But wide receiver has come up more and more in the rumor mill and mock drafts, and the Broncos have continued to meet with wideouts.
“Everyone’s talking about the running backs, so that’s a good thing, right? There are a lot of running backs," Broncos GM George Paton said at the annual NFL meetings in Florida. "I think we just need to get depth everywhere. Obviously, we want to get a running back. There are other positions, we need to get stronger depth. I do think the draft matches up to some of the places we have needs.”
Head coach Sean Payton said at the Super Bowl that the Broncos are much better off at wide receiver than the outside perception would have fans believe. The Broncos flirted with a few bigger-name wideouts — like Cooper Kupp and Stefon Diggs — without seriously pursuing either, and they've met with more than a few pre-draft.
Obviously, the Broncos are looking to build the nest around Bo Nix. And whether Presley ends up fitting into that pursuit, time will tell.
Presley is a decent route runner and blocker but has seemingly slowed down since his foot injury. As an undrafted free agent, it would be a low-risk addition to see if he can turn into something in Denver.
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