Elway Admits to Being Very Frustrated the Last Few Years With Broncos' Offensive Impotence

In 2019, the Denver Broncos' first three draft picks were offensive players. GM John Elway followed a similar trend last weekend, taking wide receivers Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler in back-to-back picks to open the draft.

From a team-building perspective, Elway has done his level best to plug the holes on the Broncos' defense with carefully chosen additions here and there while focusing the team's premium draft capital on the offensive side of the ball.

Why? Because the GM is sick and tired of the offensive impotence that has held back the Broncos since before even Peyton Manning hung up his cleats.

"We've got to put points on the board and it's been very frustrating for all of us the last three, four years because we have not been explosive on the offensive side and even really five years," Elway admitted in his post-draft press conference last Saturday.

While even a physically compromised Manning was still better than the majority of NFL QBs, and absolutely good enough to bring home a third Lombardi Trophy, Elway's obsession with the defense post-Super Bowl XLVIII perhaps got the best of him. Call it a classic case of over-correcting.

On the heels of the Broncos' humiliating 43-8 loss to the Seattle Seahawks at MetLife Stadium, Elway stuck his foot in the ground and from a roster-building perspective, pivoted to a defense-focused approach. It paid dividends initially (hello, Super Bowl 50), but without a franchise-caliber QB to cover roster holes and raise all ships, the offense floundered in the ensuing years.

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The Broncos wandered the QB desert post-Super Bowl 50 and paid their dues to the wheel of karma. Elway's near-Biblical suffering eventually opened up the windows of heaven as the Football Gods poured out a blessing in the form of Drew Lock. How many teams find a franchise-caliber guy with their second pick in the second round?

With a talented and charismatic young signal-caller in the fold, Elway is determined to strike while the iron is hot. Not only did the Broncos draft Jeudy and Hamler back-to-back, but Elway also landed a starting center in round three in Lloyd Cushenberry, a fourth-round tight end who runs a faster 40 than Noah Fant, and bruising offensive guard in the sixth-round who possesses Day 1 upside in Netane Muti.

#Broncos will have Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy under contract in 2020 for a *combined* $4.628M cap charge.

Drew Lock, on rookie deal through 2022, will make just $813,674.

Phillip Lindsay to earn even less — $750K — before becoming RFA.

The window is OPEN for Denver.
— Zack Kelberman (@KelbermanNFL) April 30, 2020

This new influx of explosive offensive talent should have a balancing effect on the Broncos' roster and take some of the pressure off of Vic Fangio's defense. For too long, Von Miller and company have been asked to carry the load. Elway caught lightning in a bottle with this approach in 2015 but outside of that success story (it is a pretty good testimonial), the defense-first model hasn't borne much fruit of late.

"When we won Super Bowl 50, we weren't very explosive on the offensive side," Elway said. "I think we were just very good on the defensive side I think that we want a well-balanced football team. We want to play great defense, but also, we've got to be able to score points. We're able to, with our plan, do it this year."

Elway and Fangio are confident that with the few personnel tweaks made to the defense and the sudden flood of blue-chip talent on the offensive side, the Broncos will be a more balanced team. If Lock develops like the team expects, the Broncos could be a force to be reckoned with.

"With way things fell we were able to do that through Jerry in the first round, KJ in the second, and even Albert O. in the fourth round, to be able to add speed to the offense,” Elway said.

Speed is great but let's face it; Carlos Henderson and Isaiah McKenzie were fast and both busted out in Denver. That's why Coach Fanigo's reminder that this year's haul in the draft was about more than just speed.

"Adding the speed is always—it's always good to be fast, but sometimes, people make the mistake of just getting fast with players that aren't good football players," Fangio said in the same virtual presser last Saturday. "We believe our speed that we've drafted has come with players that can play the game also. It was good to get the added speed. Hopefully, we're a harder offense to defend now once it evolves and we get to playing games, but we need to score more points.”

Indeed, 17.6 points per game won't cut the mustard or serve as any sort of impetus for a Mile High turnaround. But if the moves Elway and company made over these last three drafts can move that needle to north of 20 points per game, based on Fangio's defensive wherewithal, it'll be recipe for success and redemption.

I don't envy new OC Pat Shurmur as the onus really is on him and transplanted QBs Coach Mike Shula to get the Broncos over the hump offensively, make savvy use of all the new weapons, and ensure that Lock turns the corner. Only time will tell whether Elway's strategy will pay dividends but in the meantime, there's no denying that the GM has done his part — from hiring to drafting — to give Lock every possible tool to succeed and maybe even take a quantum leap forward in year two.

#NoExcuses.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.