Broncos' Struggles Have Reportedly Pushed John Elway to Change his Offseason Approach
GM John Elway hoped that the Vic Fangio hire and acquisition of veteran QB Joe Flacco would put the Denver Broncos in position to compete in 2019 while the youth of the roster developed. Alas, Flacco's impact proved to be impotent, especially in the face of a first-time offensive play-caller navigating the pitfalls of a learning curve.
To add insult to injury, all three of Elway's prized free-agent acquisitions would go on to miss a lot of time in 2019, with OT Ja'Wuan James appearing in only three contests due to a knee injury, CB Bryce Callahan missing all 16 games due to a pre-existing foot condition, and S Kareem Jackson missing one start to injury and the final two weeks of the season to a league suspension.
It was borderline disastrous, especially as the Broncos limped out to a 2-6 start. The silver lining, though, was that it forced the Broncos to turn to their young core to keep the team afloat. And in so doing, the sun began to shine on this team once again.
The Broncos would go on to win five of their last eight games after Flacco was placed on injured reserve, punctuated by rookie QB Drew Lock's 4-1 finish to the season. Denver saw multiple young players either turn the corner or emerge, including the second-year WR Courtland Sutton, RB Phillip Lindsay, and LB Alexander Johnson, as well as rookies TE Noah Fant, OG Dalton Risner and DE Dre'Mont Jones. Heck, even the penalty-prone third-year OT Garett Bolles finished the season strong.
Finally, despite another sub-.500 finish, the Broncos finished the year on a positive note. But despite the momentum and indication that he was on the right track, Elway sought outside opinion on how best to attack the 2020 offseason, according to a recent report by ESPN's Jeff Legwold.
There are many in the league, as well as others who have known Elway throughout his career, who say the losing has pushed Elway in recent weeks to solicit opinions from those he respects.
It's a departure from what Elway said regarding his approach to team building when he took the job in 2011: "I know what I don't know."
As Legwold susses out in his illuminating article, one change Elway made to his usual offseason M.O. was to take time away from the building following the immediate end of the season before returning to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the roster and evaluate the coaches. The idea being to avoid any "false positives or false negatives" in the evaluation process of 2019.
“I think it gives us a chance—it gives us a better look at it once we get away from it," Elway said in his end-of-season presser alongside Fangio. "I think you get—especially with a coach’s view—for them being in the middle of it and as hard as they work, to be able to take some time, get some rest, get away from it, and then maybe at that point in time you have a different viewpoint, probably a better perspective... Rather than doing it on a personal side, because the coaches get connected with them. I think you get a better objective view when you get away and you’re able to go back and look at it individually.”
As Elway and Fangio ostensibly returned from their time away, the Broncos made the fateful decision to fire offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello and hire ex-New York Giants head coach Pat Shurmur to replace him. Soon after, the Broncos fired QBs Coach T.C. McCartney as Shurmur took over the purview of the offense. The coaching vacancy has yet to be filled but there is buzz that a replacement will be hired soon.
We don't know exactly who Elway has consulted for advice in the wake of the Broncos' third-straight losing season but it should serve as encouragement for fans to know that the front-office czar can acknowledge his blindspots and seek outside perspectives. And perhaps Elway and Fangio's time away, combined with the GM's pursuit of outside advice, can explain the odd timing of Scangarello's dismissal.
It was Henry Ford who coined the phrase, "If you continue to do what you've always done, you'll continue to get what you've always got."
Elway reached the top of the mountain quickly as an NFL executive, hoisting the Lombardi Trophy following Super Bowl 50, but in the wake of Peyton Manning's retirement, Elway has perhaps had to unlearn what he learned during that four-year span of unprecedented success in the Mile High City. No longer did Elway have the Sheriff to cover roster holes and imperfections. Elway would have to attack the post-Super Bowl 50 era the hard way.
It's taken some trial-and-error but Elway landed the right head coach, finally found a quarterback with long-term upside in Lock, and has shown through his last two draft classes that he learned from the errors of his ways from 2015-17.
In the NFL, it's always 'adapt or die', especially bereft of a bonafide franchise quarterback — but never one to shy away from a challenge, Elway has chosen to evolve his front-office philosophies instead of going gentle into that good night. Take heart in that.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.
