INDIANAPOLIS — University of Wyoming linebacker Easton Gibbs arrived this week at the NFL scouting combine with a heavy heart.
Three members of the Cowboys’ swimming and diving team died in a car crash last Thursday on U.S. Highway 287, about 10 miles south of the Wyoming-Colorado border.
The roadway tragedy has been on Gibbs’ mind.
“It’s crazy,’’ Gibbs said Wednesday. “My heart goes out to them and their families. I’ve been praying about it. But it’s definitely hard to see. Those are our family. Wyoming athletics are a really tight-knit group, a very good culture, and so it was definitely sad to see that happen. So I have them in my prayers.”
Gibbs said he did not personally know the victims, men’s team members Charlie Clark and Luke Slabber and women’s team member Carson Muir. However, he said he knew of them.
“You see them around and everybody else knows them and things like that,’’ Gibbs said. “So you just keep them in your prayers.”
Entering the combine, NFLDraftScout.com listed Gibbs as the 13th-best inside linebacker prospect for the April 25-27 draft and projected him to be taken in the seventh round or be a highly sought-after free agent. He met with the Broncos a month ago at the East-West Shrine Bowl in Frisco, Texas, and also informally chatted with team officials this week in Indianapolis.
“It’s been really good,’’ Gibbs said of the conversations. “They’re right down the road from Lamarie, so that’s awesome. It seems like they’re a great program and a great fit.”
The Broncos could be looking for depth at inside linebacker. It’s uncertain if starter Josey Jewell will return after he becomes a free agent. Justin Strnad and Ben Niemann are also impending free agents.
Leonhard dubbed a ‘genius’
On Tuesday, Broncos coach Sean Payton lauded the addition of Jim Leonhard to his staff as defensive backs coach. On Wednesday, Leonhard was dubbed a genius by one of his former players.
Leonhard was an NFL safety from 2005-14, including spending 2012 with Denver. He then moved into college coaching, which included being Wisconsin’s defensive coordinator from 2017-22 and interim head coach to close out 2022.
“You’re getting a football genius who’s for the players above all, who is very versatile, very adaptable and able to look at his personnel and adjust his defense based on his personnel,’’ Wisconsin linebacker Maema Njongmeta said at the combine. "All-around good coach.”
Leonhard went 4-3 as Wisconsin’s interim coach before spending last season as a senior football analyst at Illinois. So why does Njongmeta consider him a genius?
“I think it was Coach Leonhard’s ability to take really complex ideas and make them really simple to the point where you’re like, ‘This is really easy,’ and you try to explain it to someone else who might not be in the program, like coaches, and they’re like, ‘This is unreal. This is crazy,’’’ Njongmeta said. “Working with him for four years was really, really cool. Missed it. Hopefully, I’ll have the opportunity again.”
Njongmeta, projected by NBADraft Scout.com to go undrafted, said he has met with the Broncos.
Liufau has ‘great’ Broncos meeting
Versatile Notre Dame linebacker Marist Liufau said he had a productive formal meeting with the Broncos on Monday night.
“It went great,’’ he said. “All the coaches were really cool. Cool people. It was a great atmosphere that I got to be around.’’
Liufau is rated by NFLDraftScout.com as the ninth-best outside linebacker prospect and projected to be selected in the fourth or fifth round. Liufau said he spent some time Monday talking with Broncos outside linebackers coach Michael Wilhoite.
Liufau said he is confident in his ability to play both inside and outside linebacker.
“For the most part, teams see me as an inside, but teams have definitely talked to me about outside and inside and just being able to play both, being able to be versatile in that aspect,’’ Liufau said. “I just want to be the best at what I’m playing at the time. If it’s inside, if it’s outside, whatever I’m at at the time. If it’s both, I want to be the best at both.”
Briefly
Florida State edge rusher Jared Verse, projected to be a first-round pick, said he met with Denver at the combine but then said he didn't. It remains to be seen if the Broncos, who hold the No. 12 pick, would select an edge rusher in the first round considering they have young players Jonathon Cooper, Baron Browning and Nik Bonitto in that role. … The Broncos need help at defensive tackle but it’s uncertain their level of interest in Byron Murphy of Texas. Murphy, projected as a first-round pick, said he has not met with the Broncos. Asked if he plans to meet with them, he said, “No, sir.”
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