Broncos Land 4-Time Pro Bowl RB & a SB Champ CB in 2009 Re-Draft

Rewind back to the 2009 NFL draft. Matthew Stafford was selected No. 1 overall by the Detroit Lions.

11 picks later, the Denver Broncos selected Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno. But what if the Broncos could turn back time and re-do the 2009 draft?

That's exactly what Pro Football Focus' Trevor Sikkema and Max Chadwick did. Stafford stayed at No. 1 in the re-draft, but the Broncos took...

...Tennessee running back Arian Foster, who didn't even hear his name called in 2009.

"Foster went undrafted in 2009 and had a somewhat short NFL career, but it included four seasons of 1,200-plus rushing yards. His highest single-season PFF rushing grade (80.2) was in the season where he also had the most volume of his career (351 carries) — an impressive feat," PFF wrote.

The Broncos definitely needed a running back in that draft. In Josh McDaniels' maiden draft as head coach of the Broncos, he took Moreno there, and it turned out to be a very good selection for the team.

McDaniels didn't last beyond 2010, but Moreno did, serving as the running back in the most prolific offense in NFL history — the 2013 Broncos — and helping to make it to Super Bowl XLVIII. You could say that the Broncos missed on Foster, but so did literally every other team, including the Houston Texans, at least seven times.

Foster landed in the right spot, though; I'm not sure Denver would have allowed him to emerge and thrive at anywhere close to the rate and level that he did with Gary Kubiak in Houston. Foster was born for the zone blocking scheme, where vision reigns supreme, and the mandate is to find the cut-back lane, make one cut, and explode downfield.

Foster was a more decorated back, in the final analysis. But Moreno wasn't exactly chopped liver.

Cog in a Record-Breaking Machine

Moreno came 53 yards shy of a 1,000-yard rushing season as a rookie, totaling nine touchdowns from scrimmage. Injuries plagued him the following two seasons, but in 2012, the Broncos had signed Peyton Manning and still had the veteran Willis McGahee under contract.

Following the 2012 campaign, McGahee was gone, and it became the Knowshon show in Denver. Moreno would go on to rush for 1,038 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2013, with 60 receptions for 548 yards and three more touchdowns.

In that offense, there were a lot of mouths to feed, and yet Moreno gave the Broncos 1,500-plus yards from scrimmage and double-digit touchdowns. Five different Broncos skill-position players reached double-digit touchdowns that year, including Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker, Wes Welker, Julius Thomas, and Moreno.

Manning set the new NFL record with 55 passing touchdowns and 5,477 yards. The Broncos would produce an all-time record (which still stands) 606 points, and Manning would bring home his fifth NFL MVP.

Moreno would hit free agency the following offseason and played one year with the Miami Dolphins before retiring.

A Fortuitous Landing

Meanwhile, Foster would produce four 1,000-yard rushing campaigns as a Texan, including his career high in Year 2 of 1,616 with 16 touchdowns. That's a lot of ones and sixes.

It's fun to reminisce and reimagine how a draft would go down with the gift of hindsight. But Broncos Country should have no regrets in the case of Knowshon Moreno.

CB Instead of OLB

Remember, the Broncos had two first-round picks in 2009, thanks to the Jay Cutler trade. Originally, Denver drafted Tennessee defensive end Robert Ayers at No. 18 overall.

In the re-draft, PFF has the Broncos taking Nicholls State cornerback Lardarius Webb, who originally heard his name called in the third round by the Baltimore Ravens.

"Ayers had a fine career but didn’t break out until after his time in Denver. In this redraft, the Broncos pair Champ Bailey with another stud cornerback," PFF wrote. "Webb was one of the league's better run-defending cornerbacks during his career, earning PFF run-defense grades above 82.0 in each of his first five seasons with no single-season mark below 76.0 from 2009-2016."

Webb played his entire nine-year career with the Ravens, starting 86 games and winning a Super Bowl. Meanwhile, Ayers played five years in Denver, never quite living up to his first-round pedigree.

Two years after drafting Ayers, the Broncos landed Von Miller in the 2011 draft. It was the Miller and Elvis Dumervil show, while Ayers played more with his hand in the dirt.

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2013 was also Ayers' last year as a Bronco, but he would go on to play for the New York Giants and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, retiring in 2018. His career-high in sacks was nine in 2015 with the Giants.