The Problem With The Denver Broncos

Where do I start? The team’s ownership is a mess right now. So that sounds like a good place to start. For all the good things Pat Bowlen did for the fans of his team, leaving this team in a trust was a huge mistake. The trust started back in 2013, although most people believe that the day to day handling of the team was passed on to Joe Ellis in 2011. Joe Ellis is the COO of the team while the Elway is in charge of football operations. The trustee is not near settled and Joe Ellis is quoted as saying that 2021 would be the earliest this dispute of ownership would be settled. There are lots of rumors and quotes about where this team is going and who will eventually take over. I believe this is the start of all the problems.

Joe Ellis is the man in charge, but John Elway is the architect. This is problem number 2. John Elway will forever be my favorite quarterback. His grit, toughness, and rocket arm thrilled my generation of Broncos fans like no other player since. When he was chosen to run the football operations, I, like many others were excited. Most great players do not turn in into great football general managers. Elway has had a lot of good things happen under his tenure. Who could argue with a Super Bowl win? Elway's biggest accomplishment as GM was to win the Peyton Manning free agency. Who better to bring in a former Colt QB to win a Superbowl in Denver than the first man to do it. Along with Manning other FA started to follow. This team was starting to get stacked. Elway had a good draft in 2011 and 2012 to go along with Manning and other free agents. Which help lead to a Super Bowl win.

Elway’s draft history is the biggest issue. This is what I am going to spend most of the time on. We will start at the beginning. 2011 the Broncos have the second overall pick in the draft. They select Von Miller who would become the most disruptive player the Broncos defense has ever had. In his ninth season he is over 100 sacks. Half-way to the NFL record of 200 held by Bruce Smith. Second round pick was Rahim Moore. If I could quote Forrest Gump, “That is all I have to say about that.” After that we see Julius Thomas in the 4th round. A lot can be said about JT, but he was instrumental in Manning’s record-breaking season. Things didn’t end well here but he was a good pick at the time.

2012, This is likely Elway’s best draft. We see 3 players in this draft that will make an impact in the Superbowl run. First was Derek Wolfe taken in the 2nd round, then we see Malik Jackson in round 5 and Danny Travathan in round 6. Also, in this draft was Osweiler, Hillman, and Boldin.

2013, Elway follows up his best draft with his worst. Sylvester Williams is drafted in round 1, Montee Ball in round 2 and it gets much worst after that…

2014, Not as bad as the previous year. Best pick taken was Matt Paradis, but this draft may be better known as the Michael Schofield draft.

2015, Lots of promise from this draft, but again not much return. Shane Ray was the first pick followed by Ty Sambrailo. Never quite worked out for either of them. Jeff Heuerman has been a solid player but nothing special. Elway also drafted future starter Trevor Siemian in the 6th round in this draft.

2016, Elway did find a future starter in Justin Simmons. He has been solid but not much of a play maker outside of blocking the occasional kick. Also, of note would be the drafting of Gotsis and Janovich in this draft. Again, nothing special here just solid players still on the team.

2017, Elway drafted Garrett Bolles #20 in the first round. Next.

2018, Perhaps this is the second-best draft class for Elway, with potential to become the best. First pick was Bradley Chubb who would go on to break the Broncos rookie sack record. Round 2 another good pick in Courland Sutton. Sutton seems to be coming into his own. He is still developing but signs of greatness are there. We also see Freeman, Yiadom, Jewell, and Hamilton in this draft. Again, time will tell if this draft exceeds 2012.

2019, Too early to really grade this draft as the players only have 4 nfl games. Fant was likely taken too early but Risner may have been a steal in round 2. As far as Drew Lock, no telling. He has a strong arm and seems to have fun on the field reminding me of Brett Favre. I hope that comes true. We can better evaluate this draft after the season is over.

As I went through each round of the draft, I marked players I felt were really good. Out of the 70 total picks Elway has drafted he has hit on 9 of those players. That is just under 13%. Not good enough to develop young talent and depth on an NFL roster. The draft is the blood line of the NFL. The way the league is set up with a salary cap and free agency you must be able to reload on the fly.

Coaching has also been a mess. Elway has been unable to sustain any long-term coach for his entire tenure. We could speculate that he is hard to work for, doesn’t give the coach what they want on the field, or is a micro manager. You have had back to back first time coaches brought on to a team that is supposedly not rebuilding. If you want to hire a first-time coach and rebuild that is completely different than what is going on here. We saw John Fox get fired after a playoff loss that seemed as though he already had his next job lined up. Kubiak left the team abruptly a year after a Superbowl win. Then comes Vance Joseph. I still feel bad for the guy. He was set up to fail. He never had a chance with Siemian at QB. First time coach and a first-time staff didn’t fare well. He got 2 seasons and it was time to move on. That is unless you are moving on to another first-time coach. That is exactly what happened. Elway hires Vic Fangino and we are back to where we were before the Joseph hire. Why do we start over with another guy that has no experience?

How does this get fixed? I don’t see a path without an owner to hold people accountable. Joe Ellis does not appear to be that guy. Other than putting an end to any Mike Shannahan rumored hiring, he has been pretty quiet. This issue is likely to be unresolved for a few more years. What can be done in the interim? Glad I asked myself that question. First thing that needs to be done is stock piling future draft picks by selling off current assets. I know it’s easy to get attached to players, especially the great ones. But to fix the Broncos we need to let go of the past. Players that are trade-able, Miller, Harris JR, and Sanders should be the guys that could net you the most in return. You control guys like Lindsey, Chubb, and Risner for a few more years on the discount. So, no reason to move them. You cut ties with Flacco after the season is over. He is exactly what Baltimore fans said he was. A guy that can read one route before dumping off to his safety net.

We need a franchise QB over everything else. Every team does. I cannot say that QB is or isn’t Lock. I am unable to rate him as he hasn’t even played a regular season snap. I would keep looking to the draft every year drafting a QB until you find one that hits the franchise tag.

Next up, I would have a conversation with Elway. He would need to let go of the drafting. He has a proven record of attracting free agents, so I would keep him in a role that would allow that if he was willing. He would likely decline and we would need to look for a GM that has proven draft record. After that you would have to hire a coach who has proven ability of developing talent. That guy is in Tampa Bay right now. The right move would have been to hire Bruce Arians as the next Broncos coach. That ship has sailed. Not sure too many other guys that are available excite me. I am semi-interested in seeing what Rex Ryan could do outside of a division with Tom Brady and Bill Belicheck. Mike Shannahan rumors seem like a dead end. Tony Dungy has always been a favorite of mine. His ability to relate to players and call defense was always top notch.

No matter what happens going forward, I will always root on the Broncos. As we have seen before, teams can turn it around quickly in the NFL. I would move on from Elway. Hire a experienced coach. Then, hopefully find yourself that franchise QB and everything else will start taking care of itself.

Thank you for reading,

Ryan D Floyd