Elway Reveals Why he's Confident That Broncos Will Compete for Playoffs in 2020
They say the NFL is a 'got-man league'. Meaning, you've either got a franchise quarterback or you don't. And if you don't, you're dead in the water.
All the Von Millers and Bradley Chubbs in the world can't overcome the void of that quintessential franchise quarterback. The question is, do the Denver Broncos have such a bonafide signal-caller to build around?
It might be too early to anoint Drew Lock as the Broncos' next 10-year starter but it sure feels like the team finally found their guy. There's some proof in the pudding, too.
Lock went 4-1 as a starter during his five-game audition down the stretch. Three of those wins came at home but the other came on the road vs. the eventual AFC South-Champion Houston Texans.
The Broncos' road trip to Houston was Lock's signature win — a 38-24 drubbing of Deshaun Watson and company in which Denver's rookie QB became the first player in NFL history to eclipse 300 yards passing and throw three touchdown passes in his first career road start.
Those five games Lock started were a nice sample size and by the time the Broncos closed out their 2019 season, GM John Elway had seen enough from the former SEC star QB to tap Lock as the guy heading into 2020. Elway's endorsement felt a little lukewarm, however, something he said later in that same end-of-season presser revealed how the front-office czar truly feels about Lock.
"I think the most encouraging thing is you watch how this team played the whole year. They played hard the whole year," Elway said on Monday. "That, number one, is the most exciting thing. I think we were always looking, at least I was looking for, how could we—obviously at a very low point, but we needed something to get us going the other direction. I think with the youth that we have on this team, the young guys that we have and with Drew coming in, playing like he played, it feels like we’ve bounced off the bottom and now we’re heading up."
Elway isn't just confident about what the future holds with Lock under center. He's excited.
"I think it’s exciting looking forward to next year and what we can do as far as free agency as well as in the draft that we have a chance to get better,” Elway said.
Visions of building that nest around Lock are dancing in Elway's head. And there's no question the Broncos will be armed to the teeth with the resources to do just that.
When free agency rolls around in March, Denver is expected to have north of $70 million in cap space to spend, and that's before any obvious veteran roster cuts are made — like QB Joe Flacco and OG Ronald Leary.
There's a very real possibility that Elway could have as much as $85M to spend on free agents to build around Lock. As exciting as that is, keep in mind that the Broncos have several of their own key free agents to re-sign, like S Justin Simmons, DL Derek Wolfe and Shelby Harris and CB Chris Harris, Jr. It's unlikely Denver will be able to retain all four but a good portion of that cap space will be spent in the effort.
Then, there's the draft. The Broncos are projected to enter the 2020 draft with as many as 12 selections, factoring in what the team expects to be awarded by way of compensatory picks. Five of those 12 picks will be in the top-100. Denver currently holds the No. 15 overall pick.
When asked point-blank whether the playoffs are a realistic expectation for the Broncos in 2020, Elway answered with a simple, but emphatic, "Yes."
Undoubtedly, Lock has the Broncos heading in the right direction. Elway has now hauled in back-to-back draft classes that will serve as the new core of the team moving forward.
But considering the roster holes this team still has, Elway will need one more successful offseason acquisition period to get this team over the hump and back into competition in for the AFC West. Stacking impact draft classes back-to-back-to-back, Elway has the chance to be the guy who not only recruited Peyton Manning and won a Super Bowl, but also the architect of a soup-to-nuts rebuild.
"When you’re losing, the whole thing is getting that locker room turned around," Elway said on Monday. "That’s the most important thing, and where they feel like they have a chance to be successful. It’s not, ‘Here we go again.’ We’ve talked about, ‘Here we go again,’ so many different times, especially over the last couple years, because there was that feeling. I think that we’ve finally gotten rid of that feeling and that locker room feels like they’ve got a chance to be successful. They believe in the coaching staff, they feel like the young guys that we have and the excitement that Drew has brought, that locker room is excited again. I think that’s what gives you hope, and they have hope that they’re going to be able to be successful. I think that’s what going into this offseason, I’m excited about, because of what we can do."
When speaking to the disappointment of the post-Super Bowl 50 era last year, Elway made it clear that he has no intention of walking away and leaving the Broncos in the lurch for someone else to 'fix'. He wants to be the guy to turn the ship around.
Lock's emergence has given Elway a real shot of coming through in the clutch one last time for the Broncos. That's how he hopes to truly punctuate his Broncos front-office legacy.
Full story in the video above.
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