Offseason plans come with Elway clues
In February 2014, two weeks after the Broncos were thrashed in Super Bowl XLVIII, general manager John Elway stood inside Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis and tipped his cards to his next move.
His Broncos had just been mauled by a Seattle defense Elway knew he had to match. So, as more than 300 draft prospects prepared to take the field for an array of drills and media meet-and-greets at the NFL scouting combine, Elway began to look ahead to the first step of his offseason makeover.
He talked about the need for “those strong safeties that also have the ability to cover.” He addressed the need for speed on the defensive side to handle mobile quarterbacks. He spoke of his plan to make his biggest moves on the open market.
“With free agency, we’re always trying to get ourselves in a position where when we go into the draft — we don’t have a glaring weakness where we are reaching for somebody in the draft,” Elway said. “So I think it’s important for free agency, in my opinion, to try to pick up the places where you think you have glaring holes and fill those holes, and then when you go to the draft be able to draft the best players that you hope are going to have great careers in the NFL.”
A month later, Elway was back in Colorado introducing the fruits of his free-agent spending spree: safety T.J. Ward, cornerback Aqib Talib and outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware.
Over the years, Elway has held the same approach and offered the same reasoning (almost verbatim) as he balances free agency and the draft.
When he retained Vance Joseph for a second season, Elway said he didn’t feel like he gave his rookie coach “the best opportunity to be successful” with the roster and staff constructed as it was. So, at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., last month, while Elway spoke of “the process” of evaluating both prospects and his own veteran players, he also laid out a loose plan for addressing the Broncos’ roster needs. And there are many after a 5-11 season.
“There are a lot more unknowns going into the draft than there is in free agency,” he said. “We’ll look at all of the holes that we do have, see what’s available and also how everything fits with what we want to do and the value that’s there — trying to manipulate everything to where we get the best bang for our buck when it comes down to (salary) cap dollars as well as the best football team.”
Though the Broncos are considering nearly every option available — they can with the No. 5 overall selection, an expected 10 picks total and enough cap space to be major players on the open market — Elway’s words offer clues to his plans. Or at least his hope. Much can change, however, when the free-agent market opens. Consider 2017, when the Broncos lost out to the Jaguars in a bidding war for defensive end Calais Campbell. Consider the dearth of top offensive tackle talent in free agency last year that led the Broncos to fill their biggest roster hole in the draft, with the selection of Garett Bolles in the first round.
And consider the leaguewide need for elite quarterbacks. The Broncos have needed one for two years now, as attempts to find one in the draft haven’t panned out.