John Elway’s best trait as a GM was on display during the draft
Apr 27, 2020, 6:21 AM | Updated: 10:29 am
John Elway has some flaws as a general manager. The team’s track record in the draft and free agency during his tenure is littered with more miscalculations that anyone would like. But No. 7 has one trait that gives the Broncos a chance to succeed.
He’s not afraid to pivot.
While other executives have an approach and mindset that they stick to through thick and thin, often stubbornly watching their teams struggle for years because they can’t deviate from their cherished philosophy, Elway is willing to change directions when he thinks it’s the right thing to do. When necessary, he’s willing to do a 180 and try a completely different approach.
Such was the case following Super Bowl XLVIII. After that terrible day in New Jersey, when the Broncos were blown out 43-8 by the Seahawks, Elway totally changed the franchise’s philosophy.
That season, Peyton Manning and company were the most-prolific offense in the history of pro football. But in the biggest game of the season, they fell flat; Denver was dominated by a faster and more physical Seattle team.
So Elway decided to copy what the Seahawks had built. He set out to revamp the team’s defense, adding speed and toughness.
Gone were the likes of Paris Lenon, Nate Irving, Shaun Phillips, Duke Ihenacho and Mike Adams. Elway replaced them with DeMarcus Ware, T.J. Ward, Aqib Talib, Darian Stewart and others.
Two years later, those changes paid dividends. On the strength of the revamped defense, the Broncos won Super Bowl 50.
Now, Elway is trying to do the same on the other side of the ball. After watching Denver struggle to score points in recent seasons, he’s rebuilding the team’s offense.
It’s a process that started two years ago when the Broncos drafted Courtland Sutton. It continued last season when they used their first three picks on Noah Fant, Dalton Risner and Drew Lock. And it’s potentially culminated this year with the signing of Melvin Gordon during free agency and the selection of Jerry Jeudy, K.J. Hamler and Lloyd Cushenberry in the draft.
Denver’s projected starting offense in Week 1 will only have one player who held that same spot two years ago – left tackle Garett Bolles. The other 10 starters have been added in the past 24 months.
That’s not just a pivot; it’s a total rebuild. And it’s happened in the blink of an eye.
Elway made the decision that the Broncos needed to be more dynamic on offense and he set out to add the pieces to make that happen. It’s clearly been by design.
“We’ve got to put points on the board,” the general manager said in his post-draft press conference when asked about the focus on offense. “Seventeen points a game is not nearly enough.”
He’s completely right. Despite maintaining a top-10 defense in the years since winning Super Bowl 50, the Broncos have failed to make the playoffs in any of the last four seasons. And the last three years, they’ve posted a losing record, the first time they’ve done that since the early 1970s.
“We’ve struggled on the offensive side the last three years; we concentrated on the defensive side,” Elway added. “I felt that offensively, for us to be able to compete and give Drew (Lock) a chance to be successful, we had to get some speed and talent on that side.”
Insert Jeudy. Insert Hamler. Insert Gordon. All have game-breaking ability that will build upon the talents of Sutton and Fant, while helping Lock shine.
“We have some good players on the offense already, but we had to add to that,” Elway continued. “We just feel like we had to add that explosiveness and we were able to get that done.”
Will the latest transformation bear the same fruit as the last one? That’s a high bar, given that Elway used the Super Bowl XLVIII debacle as a catalyst to create one of the greatest defenses in NFL history. But it’s certainly off to a good start.
Lock went 4-1 during his first five starts, displaying the all-illusive “it” factor that a quarterback needs to be successful in the NFL. Sutton is a Pro Bowl-caliber player and Fant demonstrated big-play ability as a rookie in 2019.
Jeudy was widely considered the best wideout in a receiver-rich draft, boasting route-running skills that scouts have compared to Marvin Harrison. And Hamler has game-breaking speed, giving the Broncos someone they hope will be their version of Tyreek Hill.
Perhaps the best news of all is that each of those skill position players is young and relatively inexpensive. They’re all under 25 and playing under their rookie contracts. That sets Denver up to be good for quite some time.
Other general managers might not have gotten the Broncos into that position. They could’ve stuck to the formula that won them a championship, insisting that focusing on the defense was the way to go.
But Elway didn’t fall into that trap. When it became apparent that recapturing the magic of 2015 wasn’t going to happen, he wasn’t afraid to go the other direction. He wasn’t afraid to pivot.
