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          NFL Nation

          Broncos' grade slips a bit in Mel Kiper's second look at 2014 draft

          • Jeff Legwold, ESPN Senior WriterJan 22, 2015, 06:00 PM ET
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              Jeff Legwold is a senior writer who covers the Denver Broncos and the NFL at ESPN. Jeff has covered the Broncos for more than 20 years, joining ESPN in 2013. He also assists with NFL draft coverage, including his annual top 100 prospects. Jeff has been a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Board of Selectors since 1999. He has attended every scouting combine since 1987.
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          ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – By the time this past season was over, the Denver Broncos' 2014 draft class had been split down a very easy-to-see line.

          If you were a defensive player, you were in uniform on game day, you were on the field, you contributed in some way. And if you were an offensive player in that draft class, you practiced a lot. But play in games? Not so much.

          And when Mel Kiper Jr. re-graded the 2014 draft for every team in the league, it was a distinction he made as well as he dropped the grade from the C-plus he gave the Broncos this past May.

          Cornerback Bradley Roby (first round) gave the Broncos all they hoped for as he quickly became a regular and a player the Broncos trusted enough to lock up in man coverage against some of the league’s more accomplished receivers.

          Roby, who played 805 snaps in regular season on defense, was also a willing participant in run fits as well, as he finished as the third-leading tackler on the team with 64 tackles, including five tackles for loss. He looks every bit a future starter and will likely play even more next season if he makes the expected jump from his rookie season to Year 2.

          Linebackers Lamin Barrow (fifth round) and Corey Nelson (seventh round) played sparingly in situational roles on defense – 49 snaps and 109 snaps, respectively – but both were regulars on special teams, with Barrow playing 74.4 percent of the snaps on special teams and Nelson 65 percent.

          On offense, however, the rookies had mostly a watch-and-learn year. Wide receiver Cody Latimer (second round), despite his potential to contribute in red-zone offense because of his size-speed combination and willingness to win a contested ball, could not overcome the Broncos’ desire for him to be able to handle all of the fine points in a complex offense with a highly-productive position group that included two 1,000-yard receivers in Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders.

          Latimer played just 37 snaps on offense all season.

          But that was far more than tackle Michael Schofield (third round), who was a game-day inactive for every game of the season and center Matt Paradis (seventh round), who spent the season on the practice squad.