Just as Day 2 of the NFL draft began Friday evening, Justin Joly’s phone buzzed with a message from the Front Range.
It wasn’t the one he was hoping for, but he ended up needing it anyway.
The North Carolina State tight end undoubtedly wanted to hear his name called in Friday’s second or third round.
As he settled in to watch the proceedings that night, Joly received a text from Colorado State coach Jim Mora Jr, who recruited Joly out of high school to the University of Connecticut and coached him there for two seasons.
“Your time is coming,” it read. “You’re coming to the Broncos.”
Mora, hired by the Rams in November, spent a big chunk of his childhood in Boulder and has always been a Broncos fan. He’s also a big fan of Joly.
Little did he know, his prediction was about to come true. Just a day later than expected.
Denver coach Sean Payton and general manager George Paton watched the fourth round bleed into the fifth and got impatient waiting for their selection at No. 170, so they traded up with Cleveland to No. 152 on Saturday afternoon and landed Joly, a 6-foot-4 tight end with vice grips for hands.
“He’s a sweetheart person but he’s very, very confident in his ability,” Mora told The Post. “He’s got that athletic arrogance that you love in a professional athlete. He’s not an arrogant human, but athletically he believes he’s pretty darn special and I think you have that to succeed at that level.”
For many players, that confidence gets tested on draft weekend. When Joly didn’t get picked Friday night, Mora texted him and told him to keep his head high, remember to be grateful and to use any perceived fall in the draft as motivation going forward.
Joly’s response came Saturday morning, “Thank you coach Mora. I needed that. This process is ruthless.”
When the wait finally ended, Joly joined a conference call with Denver reporters but struggled to hear because of the noise his family and friends were making in the background.
“Oh my gosh,” he said after apologizing, though there was no need. ““There’s probably like 20 people at my house right now, and they all just saw the TV, and they are going crazy right now, to say the least.”
Now the draft process is finished and Joly can set about trying to add a dimension to the Broncos offense. His skillset is in the mold of veteran Evan Engram, who is entering the final of a two-year deal signed last spring.
Joly, Mora said, has the ability to line up attached to the formation and serve as an in-line blocker, though, “I don’t think itap where he’s going to make a living or where he’ll have the most impact, but he has the ability to move down and play off the tackle and do some things. Or in moment situations kick out. Thatap not going to be his forte, but he’s capable of that.”
Joly’s forte is catching the football. Mora said he thinks Joly will be a red zone threat sooner than later and that his skill set and demeanor are built for the pro game.
“Everything’s a tight window in the NFL,” said Mora, who coached on an NFL staff every year from 1985-2009, including head coaching stints in Atlanta and Seattle. “He’s got great concentration. He doesn’t worry about getting hit. He’s got really big hands. His hands are 10-plus inches. He doesn’t drop the ball. He’s not looking for someone who’s about to hit him. He’s got great concentration and focus on the football and he absorbs hits. He doesn’t flinch.
“You have to play that way in the NFL. You just really never are wide open in the NFL and even when you are, you’re about to get smacked.”
Mora recruited Joly out of Iona Prep in New York. Back then, Joly weighed less than 200 pounds and UConn was his only offer.
Once he got to campus, though, Mora and the Huskies staff quickly knew they had something special.
Off the field he was a kid. On the field he was a man,” Mora said. “It was just a matter of him getting bigger and we knew that was going to happen.”
Joly caught 18 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns as a true freshman, then exploded for 56 and 578 as a sophomore. Then he transferred to North Carolina State where he caught 92 more balls for 1,150 and 11 touchdowns over the past two seasons. Along the way, he kept in touch with Mora and his wife.
“He’s just a special kid in my life,” Mora said.
Mora was out for a bike ride on Saturday as Day 3 of the NFL draft kicked into gear. The Broncos selected running back Jonah Coleman at No. 108 overall, then offensive lineman Kage Casey at No. 111. They had a long wait to No. 170, but didn’t want to lose Joly.
“There’s a little bit of a sweet spot and you’re also trying to find a partner,” Denver assistant general manager Reed Burckhardt said of working to trade up. “You’re trying find the partner, then what’s the value? Is it feasible for us to do this and are we willing to do something? When Cleveland did that, OK, the price meets what we’re OK to do and a willing partner, obviously.”
Denver made the trade, giving up Nos. 170 and 182 for No. 152, landed their tight end and delivered on Mora’s prediction a day earlier.
“I grabbed my phone and looked and said, ‘oh my God the Broncos did draft him. How awesome.’”
He fired off another text to his new favorite Broncos player, who will arrive in town with the rest of the rookie class early next month for Denver’s rookie minicamp.
“I’m getting a Justin Joly Broncos jersey,” it read. “You’ve got a built-in family right here.”
