Wide receiver Cedric Tillman played for the Broncos from 1992-94 and still has some jerseys left from his time with the team. He wouldn’t mind, though, getting a new one to wear.

“It’d be good to see Tillman on the back of a Broncos jersey again,’’ he said. “I’d feel like I was reincarnated.”

Tillman’s son, Cedric Tillman Jr., is a receiver from Tennessee projected to be taken in the second or third round of the April 27-29 NFL Draft. And the Broncos will head into the draft with their initial picks being Nos. 67 and 68 in the third round.

It’s uncertain if Denver would look to take a receiver at that point, but the elder Tillman would welcome his son joining the Broncos.

Tillman Jr. isn’t the only highly rated receiver in the draft who is the son of a former Broncos player. North Carolina’s Josh Downs, projected to be selected late in the first round or in the second round, is the son of Gary Downs, a Denver running back in 1995. Josh also is the nephew of former Pro Bowl cornerback Dre Bly, who played for the Broncos from 2007-08 and is now a Detroit Lions assistant coach.

Draft analyst Dane Brugler rates Josh Downs as the No. 6 receiver and No. 41 overall prospect in the draft and Tillman Jr. at No. 8 and No. 57. Being a slightly higher rated prospect has played a role in Gary Downs not rooting as hard for his son to go to the Broncos as Tillman Sr. is.

“The hope would be he goes earlier,’’ Gary said from his home in suburban Atlanta, where he works for a college recruiting service. “I hope it doesn’t happen this time.”

If either Josh Downs or Cedric Tillman Jr. ends up with Denver, it would be a rarity. The only father and son to have both played for the team were linebacker Tom Graham, with the Broncos from 1972-74, and tight end Daniel Graham, with them from 2007-10.

Gary, 50, doesn’t have the ties to the Broncos that Tillman Sr., 52, does. During his one season with the team, Gary was inactive for the first 14 games before getting into the final two games for primarily special teams play. He did play some fullback in those games but didn’t get any touches.

Tillman Sr. was an 11th-round pick by the Broncos in 1992 out of Alcorn State and had 57 catches for 859 yards and four touchdowns in his three seasons for them. He had some memorable moments, including an 81-yard touchdown pass from wide receiver Arthur Marshall in 1992 against Dallas for his first career score and catching eight balls for 175 yards in a 1994 game against Atlanta.

“The Broncos were my favorite team, and I was hoping I would be drafted there,’’ Tillman Sr. said from Las Vegas, where he is part owner of a tax preparation company. “I liked the Three Amigos (wide receivers Mark Jackson, Vance Johnson and Ricky Nattiel) and I was a great admirer of John Elway.”

Tillman Sr. recalled his first meeting with the legendary quarterback.

“I was speechless,’’ he said. “Finally, he just said, ‘Catch the dang ball.”’

During his one year with the Broncos, Gary Downs developed a good rapport with Elway.

“I didn’t think much of then, but now I look back and say, ‘Wow, my locker was right next to his,’’ Gary said.

Gary was a third-round pick by the New York Giants out of North Carolina State in 1994 and ended up playing seven years in the NFL. In two stints with Giants and with Denver and Atlanta, he had a meager 149 yards rushing. But he was an ace on special teams and had two tackles on kickoff returns for the Falcons in a 34-19 loss to the Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII after the 1998 season.

“I remember when I went down to Miami for the Super Bowl, the first person checking in that ran into was John Elway,’’ Gary said. “He said, ‘Hey, Downsy.”‘

Gary and Tillman Sr. missed being teammates in 1995 since the latter was picked up by Jacksonville early that year in the expansion draft. Tillman Sr. played one final NFL season for the Jaguars, catching 30 passes for 368 yards before he said that disagreements with coach Tom Coughlin led to his exit.

Now, Gary Downs and Tillman Sr. are linked due to being former Broncos players with sons who are top receivers entering the draft.

“That’s very interesting,’’ Gary said.

“I have never met Gary but I know about his son,’’ Tillman Sr. said.

Josh Downs caught 101 passes for 1,335 yards in 2021 and 94 for 1,029 in 2022. He is projected by most draft analysts to be a slot receiver in the NFL but his father said he is being “pigeonholed” and also can play outside.

“I started working with him when he was 5 or 6 years old, working on jump cuts and lateral mobility,’’ Gary said. “I worked with him on pad level. And now Josh can take a hit. He’s used to getting hits. He’s been very durable, and the hits don’t bother him.”

One reason Josh ended up at archrival North Carolina, rather than at his father’s alma mater, was that Bly was then a Tar Heels assistant. Josh is very close to Bly, whose wife Kristin is the sister of Gary’s wife Tanya.

Tillman Sr. also started teaching his son about football when he was very young, and his son became a big Broncos fan. Tillman Sr. often told him stories about tight end Shannon Sharpe being his teammate. His son wore a Sharpe Broncos jersey as a kid and now regularly watches the Hall of Famer on his “Undisputed” television show.

Tillman Jr. wasn’t the first receiver tutored by his dad. While playing for Navy from 2013-16, Tillman Jr.’s older brother Jamir caught 91 passes for 1,626 yards. He is now a pilot in the Marines.

Tillman Jr. caught just eight passes for Tennessee from 2018-20 before breaking loose for 64 receptions for 1,081 yards in 2021. He caught 37 balls for 417 yards in 2022 while missing six games due to ankle surgery. He was clocked at 4.51 seconds in the 40-yard dash at his pro day.

“I always coached him up from Pop Warner to (Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas),’’ Tillman Sr. said. “He’s a little more athletic than I was. He’s a little faster.  He’s very determined. He’s got big catch radius.”

Tillman Sr., who has been the school’s wide receivers and freshman team coach the past 15 years, worked with both his sons at Bishop Gorman. His day job is at Business Tax Solutions, a firm where he has been one of three owners for seven years.

Tillman Sr. was an accounting major at Alcorn State. He got his start working with taxes when he hooked on with a Denver company as an intern while still a player and did forms during the offseason for two years before moving on to the Jaguars.

“I used to come into the locker room, and tell guys there are these different rules with taxes,’’ Tillman Sr. said of his Broncos years. “They used to laugh and say, ‘What do you know about taxes?’ I said, ‘I can help you.’’’

Tillman Sr. dispensed what advice he could but said he never has done a tax return for an NFL player. That figures to change soon as his son prepares to enter the league.