It's been 3 yearsThis March, it will be three years since Peyton Manning retired. Ezekiel Elliott wasn't in the league. Todd Gurley won Offensive Rookie of the Year. The Saints had a losing record. The Jets went 10-6. The Rams would go on to win only four games that year. And John Elway still has no plan at quarterback. To preface, Elway had a remarkable NFL career and did win a Super Bowl in his tenure as general manager/ executive vice president since 2011. But just how well has he really done? DraftingJohn Elway won the Super Bowl during the 2015-16 season and he was the general manager for the five years before that, so he must have been a pretty good drafter, right? I'm not so sure. Here's a breakdown of his 64 picks. (Note: I am not crediting Elway with undrafted free agents like Chris Harris Jr. and Phillip Lindsay). 12 defensive backs: Only five are still on the team: Bradley Roby, Brendan Langley, Justin Simmons, Will Parks, and Isaac Yiadom. No Pro Bowlers or exceptional players here. 10 offensive linemen: Five are still on the team and three, Max Garcia, Matt Paradis, and Garett Bolles, currently start. No Pro Bowlers or exceptional players here. 9 defensive linemen: Three are still on the team: Derek Wolfe, Ada, Gotsis, and DeMarcus Walker, of which only Wolfe, a decent player, and Chubb, a promising young star, are starting. Again, no Pro Bowlers but I will admit Chubb is a future star. Elway did draft Malik Jackson, who became a Pro Bowler after leaving Denver. 5 quarterbacks: Elway spent a first round pick on Paxton Lynch, a seventh round pick on Siemian, a seventh on Chad Kelly, and a second round pick on Osweiler. Lynch has been a bust who has barely played and was released. Siemian was mediocre in the season he played. Chad Kelly was released. Osweiler has been a disaster with an ugly contract that somehow ended up back on the Denver roster. Not only has there been no Pro Bowlers, it's been an absolute mess drafting quarterbacks. 7 running backs: Only four are under contract: Devontae Booker, De'Angelo Henderson, fullback Andy Janovich, David Williams, and Royce Freeman. Pretty average group of backs. 9 linebackers: Of the seven, only two are starters. Elway hit with Von Miller who has been a superstar, but, with the second pick in the 2011 draft, Miller was an obvious choice. Shane Ray has been solid for Denver, though. 6 receivers: Only Courtland Sutton started last year of an unremarkable group: Cody Latimer, Carlos Henderson, Isaiah McKenzie and DaeSean Hamilton. 4 tight ends: Julius Thomas, a fourth-round pick, has been a 2-time Pro Bowler as a Denver Bronco but left as a free agent in 2015. As is the pattern, the rest have been strictly ordinary: Virgil Green, Jeff Heuerman, Troy Fumagalli, and Jake Butt. 1 punter: Riley Dixon was a seventh-round pick in 2016. No Pro Bowl nods. (First round picks: Von Miller (2011), no pick (2012), Sylvester Williams (2013), Bradley Roby (2014), Shane Ray (2015), Paxton Lynch (2016), Garett Bolles (2017), Bradley Chubb (2018)). In conclusion, only two of sixty-four players drafted by John Elway have been Pro Bowlers as Broncos: Von Miller and Julius Thomas, who Elway was unable to resign and has been unspectacular since leaving. Malik Jackson did get a Pro Bowl nod and was drafted by Elway but earned it as a Jaguar. I think it's fair to say Elway really hasn't been even a decent drafter. Mismanagement at quarterbackSince Peyton Manning, Denver has been a revolving door of mediocre quarterbacks. Denver had a Super Bowl winning roster that carried a beaten up Peyton Manning and, following his retirement, were just waiting for that quarterback to plug in to return them to that success like Green Bay did with Aaron Rodgers and Indianapolis with Andrew Luck. However, they were instead given a first round pick that was released because he couldn't stop playing video games, and Trevor Siemian, a 7th round no-name who threw more picks than touchdowns the last season he played. Elway was willing to consider inking up Brock Osweiler to a deal but smartly pulled out when Osweiler demanded more capital. Last year, Denver added another pass rusher instead of considering trading up to take Darnold or Mayfield or even taking Rosen, Allen, or Jackson later in the draft. Easily one of the best quarterback drafts in recent drafts, Denver were content with signing Case Keenum for the season, who threw for 18 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. Typical Denver move. ConclusionA few days ago, Denver announced they signed Joe Flacco, perfectly tying into Denver's mantra of mediocrity at quarterback. It's just felt misguided and with no clear plan. The results have simply not been there for Denver, with a combined record of 20-28 in the last three seasons. If Denver wanted to change that, they would invest in a young quarterback to, at least, develop under a veteran like Flacco or Keenum. But it's just felt like Elway is shying away from finding a permanent answer and is hoping to stumble across someone and look like he knows what he's doing.
We've established that Elway really can't draft and has relied mostly off free agents to win any games. He runs away from drafting quarterbacks and has really only had one star out of sixty-four picks in the last eight years. Honestly, I'm not sure Elway would still have a job on any other team and is only still in a front office job because of his playing career and a Super Bowl ring his defense won him three years ago. I'm going to state this here and hold me to this statement; the Broncos aren't going to contend unless they secure an exceptional free agent quarterback or draft a young quarterback. If I'm the owner of the Broncos, John Elway's clock is ticking to make something happen. Go get Drew Lock, John.
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