BRONCOS: Elway’s unique style built Broncos into champion,
HE’S FIRM BUT FLEXIBLE AS BRONCOS BOSS
ENGLEWOOD, COLO. Once the free agent negotiating period opened in March, John Elway knew his quarterback of the future was probably in the past.
Elway didn’t know what the Houston Texans or anyone else were offering Brock Osweiler. He figured it was more than he’d offered Osweiler to stay with the Denver Broncos, given his last proposal didn’t get a response. And when the final conversation ended with Osweiler’s agents — “Are you done?” Elway recalls them asking, to which he replied, “Yeah, we’re done” — perhaps the most unusual path for any Super Bowl champion’s quest to repeat was solidified.
“You figure out, all right, we’re not going to mortgage the franchise and our future on one guy,” the Hall of Fame quarterback-turned-Broncos executive vice president of football operations said in a recent interview with USA TODAY Sports. “So we put a value on that, figure out what’s the best value for us, and once we get to that value and it goes way above that, you’ve got to make a decision.”
That decision begat others, all leading to unheralded and untested second-year quarterback Trevor Siemian
set to take his first regular-season NFL snap as a starter in Thursday’s season-opening Super Bowl rematch against reigning MVP Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers.
Osweiler had reasons for making his decision, too — not all of them financial, after he’d helped the Broncos stay alive in Peyton Manning’s injury-related absence, only to get benched in Week 17 and watch Manning steer the title run before he retired. No champ since the 2000 Baltimore Ravens has lost its top two quarterbacks before its title defense.
If the blueprint holds, it might not matter who is taking snaps, provided he can protect the ball the way Manning did in the playoffs, the Broncos can run it and the NFL’s best defense maintains its dominant form. A blowout loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII after Manning’s 2013 MVP season was evidence to Elway that a great defense will have fewer bad days than a great offense, and he changed the Broncos’ model accordingly.
But the parting with Osweiler, a draft-day deal to move up and select quarterback Paxton Lynch, a lengthy standoff with Super Bowl MVP Von Miller and other maneuvers this offseason shape an image of Elway’s broader approach — rigid by design, fluid by necessity and sufficiently effective to grab the franchise’s third Lombardi Trophy.
“Every leader has his strong points and weaknesses,” Miller said. “(Elway)’s a great leader for the Denver Broncos, and all the moves that he’s made has put us in the position we are in now: Super Bowl 50 champs, going and trying to chase another one.”
ELWAY’S NEGOTIATING STYLE
Miller felt differently in June, when details of the Broncos’ latest contract offer leaked and he posted a photo on Instagram from the team’s White House visit with Elway cropped out.
The exclusive franchise tag wasn’t the weapon the Broncos anticipated. Months of acrimony and a toothy threat to sit out the season ended with Miller signing a six-year, $114.5 million contract in July that included $70 million in guarantees — exceeding the opening offers from the star pass rusher’s side in February.
Had Miller’s deal gotten done earlier, the Broncos might have considered tagging defensive end Malik Jackson, whom Elway tried to re-sign for months, until the window opened and the Jacksonville Jaguars quickly signed him for six years, $85 million. “That kind of ended those conversations right there,” Elway said, “because we weren’t going to go there.”
In a radio interview, Miller’s agent, Joby Branion, called Elway’s negotiating style “a bit unorthodox and unconventional,” which sounded like code for bypassing the traditional exchange of ideas in favor of setting deadlines to accept Elway’s number. But the approach has paid off on other deals.
Defensive end Derek Wolfe signed a four-year, $36.7 million extension in January that looked like a bargain once the funny money started to fly in March. Left tackle Russell Okung signed what starts as a one-year, $6 million contract. Elway changed course on C.J. Anderson only after the Miami Dolphins exploited the Broncos’ low restricted free agent tender and signed the running back to a four-year, $18 million offer sheet, which Elway matched with resources freed by Jackson’s departure.
In Miller’s case, Elway (rightly) bent for an elite player. The Broncos (also rightly) didn’t consider Osweiler in the same category, which is why they didn’t consider tagging him. But they thought enough of Osweiler to offer a three-year deal worth over $45 million with $30 million in guarantees. The Texans got him for four years and $72 million with $37 million fully guaranteed — a huge number for a player with seven NFL starts but well worth it if Osweiler performs.
His departure left the Broncos to trade for veteran Mark Sanchez (who was released Saturday), meet with Colin Kaepernick (who refused a pay cut to Elway’s number, scuttling trade talks), bring in Brian Hoyer for a visit and trade up five spots in the first round for raw, talented Lynch — all while Siemian, a seventh-round pick in 2015 from Northwestern who threw for seven touchdowns in 11 games as a senior before suffering a knee injury, was on the roster.
Elway and coach Gary Kubiak say they’re confident this team can be more balanced. But Kubiak is quick to say he isn’t sure what the identity will be.
“Hey, it’s a new team, a new year,” Kubiak said. “We’ve got challenges out the kazoo and trying to get ready for the first one against Carolina.”
‘SO MUCH TURNOVER’
Former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan raises two other defining decisions of the Elway-as-executive era: trading wildly popular quarterback Tim Tebow in favor of signing Manning after Elway’s first season on the job in 2011 and swapping coach John Fox for his onetime backup and roommate, Kubiak, three years later.
Elway’s father, Jack, was a longtime football coach before he led the Broncos pro scouting department during those late-1990s title runs under Shanahan, who recalls young Elway mentioning accounting as a field of interest if he weren’t playing ball. But Elway has no formal training as a scout or in doing contracts, which might partly explain his methods.
“He knows guys that really know the difference with winning and losing — which guys are playing for a paycheck, which guys are playing because they want to win a championship. John’s always had a great eye for that,” Shanahan said. “He’s not afraid to make those (tough) decisions, which is one of the reasons he’s had that type of success.”
The day Osweiler signed with Houston, Elway told the team website he had “stayed true to our philosophy of building a team with players who want to be Denver Broncos” — a seeming jab at Osweiler, whose predecessor took a $4 million pay cut a year earlier. (Manning made the money back in incentives with the Super Bowl win.)
Asked if last year’s formula is replicable, Elway smirked and said, “I wouldn’t say that’s the easiest way to do it.” But he acknowledged “the defense is still going to lead us,” rather than putting the game on the quarterback’s shoulders.
“Why try to do something new if last year worked so good for us?” Miller said. “That’s from the front office all the way down to players in the locker room.”
Elway has evolved, but he’s not changing, even though his roster must.
“That’s why it’s such a challenge to remain great and to remain good, because there is so much turnover year to year,” Elway said, “Plus, when you’re a good football team and you do have free agents, (other teams) want your people. It makes the price go up, too. It makes it that much tougher. But we’ve got a great staff, and we’re excited about the challenge.”