ENGLEWOOD, Colo. --For quarterback Zac Dysert, the draft couldn't have gone any better.
"I was talking to my agent before the draft and this was out No. 1 pick," he said of the Broncos. "Everything worked out perfectly."
That might sound strange coming from a seventh-round pick, but Miami University's all-time leading passer wasn't bothered by falling to the end of the draft.
"Me and my agent talked and we said it would be better to drop in the draft and go to the right team than go early and go to the wrong team," Dysert said. "I'm happy. I am a guy of faith so I put it all in God's hand pretty much. I knew He had a tremendous plan for me and this is where I ended up. So this is the perfect plan for Him."
Dysert visited Denver prior to the draft and came away impressed. While he visited other teams where the quarterback position might have been more in flux, he acknowledged that he didn't necessarily want to go to a team and immediately step in under center.
That's why he was so excited to be picked by the Broncos. He wants to learn for a few years, and he has a chance to do just that under one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history.
"I just want to be a sponge with him and just follow him around," he said of Peyton Manning. "Just let him talk, just let me learn from him. Whatever he wants to tell me—however he wants to help me out—I'm going to do whatever I can to learn from him and the way he does things because obviously he does them the right way. I just want to be groomed by him; study the playbook just like him; watch film just like him; do the same tendencies that he does."
Offensive Coordinator Adam Gase said Dysert already has a lot of the characteristics the team looks for in its quarterbacks. Like every rookie, his biggest roadblock will be transitioning from college to the NFL level.
"I like his arm strength. I like his mobility," Gase said. "You know, he had a great career at Miami. I liked his personality. (Quarterbacks) Coach (Greg) Knapp went and worked him out and really had a great workout. When he was there in the seventh round, there were a lot of us in this building that didn't think we should pass him up. We were excited about that."
Having Executive Vice President of Football Operations John Elway, a Hall-of-Fame quarterback himself, in the building as well has Dysert all the more excited to get his career as a Bronco started.
"Like I said, I couldn't be in a better spot."
