ELWAY SAYS HE’LL HIRE A GENERAL MANAGER
John Elway announced a major change in the Denver Broncos’ football operations Monday, saying he’ll hire a general manager who will report to him but have final say on the draft, free agency and the roster.
Elway, who has been GM since 2011, will remain as president of football operations in 2021, the final year of his contract.
“Working in this role for the last 10 years and going back to my playing days, I’ve always tried to do everything I can to help the Broncos win and get better,” Elway said in a statement. “As part of a transition I’ve thought about for a long time, I have made the decision to step up into an elevated role and hire a general manager to lead our personnel and football staff.”
Elway engineered a dramatic turnaround of the franchise when he returned to his beloved Broncos a decade ago, building a team that reached the playoffs in each of his first five seasons and added a third Lombardi Trophy to go with the two he won in Denver during his Hall of Fame playing career.
Elway moved on from Tim Tebow after one season, luring Peyton Manning to Denver in 2012 for the second chapter of his storied career after the Colts cut their star quarterback following a series of neck fusion surgeries.
Manning led the Broncos to a 55-17 mark over his four seasons, which included two trips to the Super Bowl, a loss to Seattle in Super Bowl 48 and a win over Carolina in Super Bowl 50.
Manning retired a month
later and the Broncos haven’t been the same since.
Head coach Vic Fangio is 12-20, just one game better than the 11-21 mark that got his predecessor, Vance Joseph, fired.
But Fangio is returning in 2021, and Elway said Fangio will have a say in who’s hired as GM, as will team president Joe Ellis.
Elway said the new GM will be “empowered to make all football decisions, working in partnership with Vic.”
Jaguars fire Marrone
Shad Khan has hired coaches and general managers before. He relied on a search firm the first time. He enlisted help from a consultant the second. He listened to friends, family, colleagues and even competitors along the way.
Now, after nine NFL seasons and little success on the field, the Jaguars owner is taking a more hands-on approach to fixing the franchise’s most glaring problems.
Khan is handling the search for his next coach and general manager mostly alone, with some help from Jaguars President Mark Lamping.
“This time around, I think I have a much better sense myself,” Khan said after firing coach Doug Marrone. “I’m the key decision maker.”
Khan plans to have the team’s next power duo report directly to him, a structure he expects will keep him in the loop on major personnel decisions.
Khan also made it clear finding a franchise quarterback — hello, Trevor Lawrence — is as important as hiring the right people to those key positions.
Khan fired Marrone a little more than 12 hours after ending the season with a 15th consecutive loss. It was a move many thought he should have made a year earlier. But Khan gave Marrone another chance to make Jacksonville a playoff contender again.
Notable
The Bills signed receiver Kenny Stills (La Costa Canyon High graduate) to their practice squad, adding valuable experienced depth to their roster in time for the playoffs. Stills is an eighthyear player who was cut by the Texans in late November.
Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz told players he plans to take at least one season off and may retire. The Eagles could look to fill the void from within.
• Olivier Vernon stepped up when the Browns needed him. They’ll have to do the same. Cleveland will make its first playoff appearance since 2002 without Vernon after the defensive end ruptured an Achilles tendon in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 24-22 win over the Steelers — a victory that sets up a first-round rematch between the rivals. Coach Kevin Stefanski said that Vernon will have surgery.
• Less than 24 hours after Cincinnati fell f lat in the final game of another frustrating season, Bengals President Mike Brown made it clear he still thinks coach Zac Taylor is the guy who can turn the ship around.
So the 37-year-old Taylor, 6-25-1 in his first two years as a head coach, will get another chance, perhaps this time with a mostly healthy team, a proper training camp, fewer COVID-19 issues, and some new players to shore up disappointing offensive and defensive lines. There likely will be some different assistant coaches, too.
• An MRI performed on Mike Evans’ injured left knee showed no structural damage and the receiver’s status for Tampa Bay’s first playoff game in 13 years is day to day. Evans was hurt during the first quarter of Sunday’s regular-season finale against Atlanta, one play after a 20-yard reception made him the first player in NFL history to begin a career with seven consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.